Category: Blog
World Health Day
Itâs all about bringing
healthcare to everyone.
World Health Day is observed annually to create awareness about health and wellbeing and draws the attention of people from all around the world to highlight important health issues. According to the World Health Organizationâs (WHO) website: âmore than half of the worldâs 7.3 billion people do not receive all of the essential services they need. In terms of financial protection, over 800 million people spend at least 10 percent of their household budgets to pay for health care, and about 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty due to their health expenditures.â
I am wondering how many Americans are accounted for within WHOâs data. With the average insurance deductible being around $3,000, while the average saving account of many Americans is $2,000 (information casually provided by an insurance broker in an effort to sell me a second line of insurance to cover my deductible), many are actually pushed to poverty, if not bankruptcy, because of the way our health care system is provided.
The problem is not new. In his 2007 movie Sicko, director/writer Michael Moore exposed how corporations have corrupted our North American health care system, making it all about profits and not about saving lives.
But is it much with other systems? In France, where the one single payer system has long been put in place and access to health care is mostly free, doctors are regularly marching in the streets to protest their conditions. Who wants to go to years of medical training, just to be turned into five-minute prescription dispensers and see your decisions overturned by insurances? In Switzerland, a new law is being considered where Naturopaths will simply be allowed to replace G.P., a breed officially in danger of extinction.
Whatever their differences, health care systems around the world are all plagued by ever-increasing costs and long waits at hospitals for expensive conventional treatment. Some systems work better than others in terms of reimbursements, accessibility, and coverage, but they are all straining under the pressure of spiraling cost and reduced access. One would think that if there were evidence of a natural product or treatment that could begin to address these problems, it would be embraced by mainstream science and the politicians in charge of our future. Think again: with health care being a multi-billion dollar per year business, itâs no surprise that pharmaceutical companies- whose quest for innovation are solely driven by intellectual property rights- will protect their brands at all costs and decry natural solutions as quackery, even if this blanket rejection of natural treatments screams conflict of interest. To make this worse, in the face of failure, those who are supposed to be accountable for our malfunctioning public health policies will witch-hunt the free thinkers and discoverers who dare defy the laws of money, think outside the box, and, in the end, offer substantial help to humanity.
Meanwhile, patients are becoming more and more empowered and educated. In growing numbers, they are demanding new personalized solutions to replace the old one-size-fits-all approach to medicine. Doctors whose practices are thriving are those who recognize that medicine is a holistic, multifaceted discipline. They value nutrition, psychology, and environmental medicine as part of their medical practices.
Bringing healthcare to everyone is a great idea, a generous one that should be applauded. Yet, we should take the time and reflect: what kind of health care? The question is urgent, as the pollution that we have carelessly dumped into the environment since World War II, is getting back at us and affecting our health in big ways.
For most of us who get confronted with increased pollution and epidemics of cancer and other chronic diseases, all we want is the safest, most effective option available, whether itâs food, herbs, or a pharmaceutical drug. And for those who have been told their condition is terminal, alternative medicine may offer precious hope they thought was lost. But choosing between herbs and drugs is often difficult because the information that we need to make these decisions is largely unavailable.
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies invest heavily to create new-to-nature molecules they can easily patent, in order to create lucrative monopolies. That is why there is very little money and interest from the pharmaceutical companies for natural compounds (but plenty for âanalogsâ). And what if the best treatment is natural, and is of no interest to pharmaceutical companies? Today, it would go unnoticed. The system is distorted. By changing patent laws that force medical companies to create a new man-made molecule in order to be able to patent and make money on it, by changing the way scientific grants are awarded, by creating a patient-centered and health-centered health system rather than a sick-centered health system, the government could possibly create a new way to look at drugs. But this is not an easy task. On the other hand, preventing dietary supplement manufacturers from making any health claims, even when backed by solid science, deprives the public access to useful information, and is something that the government could easily change.
In 2004, Fortune magazine dedicated a full issue to cancer research. On the cover, in capital letters was the question: âWhy Weâre Losing the War On Cancer.â Under this provocative title the intriguing tagline appeared in parentheses: âAnd How to Win it.â
Clifton Leaf, the articleâs author listed a number of âmiracle cures that werenât,â including radiation therapy, Interferon, Interleukin-2, Endostatin, and Gleevec. He concluded that we need to âchange the way we think about cancerâ and went on to quote Eli Lilly’s Homer Pearce:
“I think everyone believes that at the end of the day, cancer is going to be treated with multiple targeted agentsâmaybe in combination with traditional chemotherapy drugs, maybe not. Because that’s where the biology is leading us, it’s a future that we have to embraceâthough it will definitely require different models of cooperation.”
Thatâs exactly what we need from our Health System: new models of cooperation that would tap Natureâs wonders to research molecules selective and non-toxic, able to prevent the damage to DNA structure, and to help restore cellular Health. Treatments will be cheaper, have less side effects, and we would all be healthier.
Sylvie Beljanski
Health Advocate, Public Speaker, Award Winning Author
Sun: Friend or Foe?
With it being Melanoma Awareness Day in the U.S., I wanted to say a few words about the virtual event we are organizing on May 18th. Healthy Tuesdays will be dedicated to skin cancer and the effects of the sun. With the return of the warm weather, we will finally have the opportunity to get outside and expose ourselves to the sun. The urge to enjoy it a little too much will probably be present for some, and skin cancers will become an issue that we will unfortunately discuss a lot in the coming months.
With 2 million new cases per year in the USA, skin cancer is one of the most common cancers and as such cannot be ignored. A distinction must be made between carcinomas, which are relatively easy to treat, especially with surgery at the initial stage of the disease, and melanomas, which are much more dangerous.
The skin is made up of different layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the hypodermis. The roots of melanoma will go much deeper into the dermis than the roots of other cancers, increasing the risk of metastasis. Melanoma represents the majority of deaths from skin cancer.
The Melanoma Debate
The big debate, of course, is about the causes of melanoma. Officially, the main cause of this disease is the sun. The development of melanoma is indeed accelerated if you sunbathe irresponsibly, especially by sunbathing for hours on end. Â A burn or even simply damaged skin cannot defend itself well and eventually risks developing cancer.
But studies show that people who work outdoors and are exposed to the sun on a regular basis as part of their normal physical activity, statistically develop less melanoma than others.
So, is the Sun the Main Cause of Skin Cancer?
The media keeps telling us that it is essential to put on sunscreen before going out and that we should put it back on every two hours, but it turns out that sunscreen could be a source of carcinogens. This information is now being repeated, even in the mainstream press. We must distinguish between the different types of sunscreens. There are chemical and natural (or physical) sunscreens. Natural sunscreens are made up of molecules such as zinc oxide or titanium dioxide that reflect the sun’s rays, while chemical molecules absorb UV rays.
Among these chemical molecules, we find octocrylene. Remember this name and look on the box before you buy your next sunscreen. This molecule tends to change over time or with heat. It degrades and turns into another molecule called benzophenone, which is a carcinogen. This is why you should avoid sunscreens based on chemical screen molecules.
Once Melanoma is Diagnosed, what are the Remedies?
The traditional treatments are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy (which does not work very well. For this reason, it is often combined with anti-inflammatory drugs).
There are also natural alternatives. At the end of my book Winning The War On Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure, you will find the suggested dosages by Dr. Christian Marcowith, a great friend of my father’s.
 Pao Pereira has a broad-spectrum anti-cancer activity and melanoma is among the cells that respond well
Rauwolfia Vomitoria is particularly effective for hormone-dependent tissues and the skin is a hormone-dependent tissue.
Green Teas (which was not known to be a potent anticancer agent in Dr. Marcowith’s time). According to recent studies conducted by The Beljanski Foundation, a specific blend of green teas identified by my father (OnkoTea) has been shown to be effective against different types of cancers, including breast cancer, bladder cancer and melanoma. Four lines of melanoma have been successfully tested.
- Golden Leaf of Ginkgo biloba (not green Ginkgo recommended for blood circulation or memory). Golden Ginkgo helps the regulation of nucleases, and this is very important in the fight against melanoma. The Beljanski Foundation is currently conducting studies on melanoma with Golden Ginkgo.
I look forward to seeing you at the Healthy Tuesdays conference on melanoma and at this special event, you will get to hear directly from the researcher who is currently working on our Ginkgo/melanoma project as part of The Beljanski Foundation’s research programs.
~ Sylvie Beljanski
French District Interviews Sylvie Beljanski
The story of a French woman entrepreneur that made it in New York City. A lot have tried, a few have succeeded. French District presents the journey of Sylvie Beljanski who chose the Big Apple to create an international business. Read her interview below.
French District: Can you give us an overview of your career?
Sylvie Beljanski: I was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1995 and moved to New York to join a law firm. I decided to stay in New York to create my own company and continue the research work of my father, Dr. Mirko Beljanski.French District: Why this passion for your career?
Sylvie Beljanski: Intellectually and humanly, I have the unique opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives with a natural health and non-toxic approach.Georgetown University Presentation
Natural Connection: Changing the Face of Cancer Research
I had the honor of virtually speaking to the students of Georgetown University about the work of my late father Dr. Mirko Beljanski and The Beljanski Foundation. The overall mission of the Beljanski Foundation is to study and share knowledge of effective non-toxic natural answers that work both alone and in synergy with traditional western medicine to cure cancer and other chronic diseases the natural way. Sharing this information with others is what drives me. I have been traveling all over the world since the 1990s speaking to all types of people about the research conducted on Pao pereira, Rauwolfia vomitoria, Golden Leaf of Ginkgo Biloba, RNA fragments and OnkoTea, but there was something incredibly special about being asked to speak to the students at such a prestigious university. There was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity to speak to the young generation who represent the future of medicine. If the importance of acknowledging and studying what Mother Nature can offer to us gets forgotten, there will be no alternative left to the all-chemical approach that has flourished since the 19th century. What the Beljanski Foundation is doing is offering the opportunity to research in an academic environment the benefits of select natural compounds, then making sure that the results are published and available to all through its website.
As Dr. Beljanski said, âWhen we have the power to help, we have the duty of doing so.â Nixon declared the war on cancer in 1971. Here we are 50 years and billions of dollars later and there is still so much work to be done. People need to know about all possible options to fight and beat this disease, not just what mainstream medicine has to offer. Our work gives people treatment options and the students at Georgetown really understood this important topic.
After my initial presentation, the students spent 45 minutes asking me questions ranging from the Foundationâs activities to what it takes to be a leader, a CEO, a woman and a first generation immigrant at the same time. They asked how to set priorities. Visibly they were not only interested in learning about the science, but also to be inspired. I definitively hope that I have emulated some vocation here, and the Foundation looks forward to welcoming those who have expressed a wish to spend their practicum with us. Thank you Georgetown for having me speak to the students. It was truly an honor and I am happy to have made an impact on the students.