American Journal of Medicine article urges early use of HCQ and zinc, says tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19 are dying unnecessarily(1) Sweden tightens COVID rules, but still no lockdown(2) YouTube deletes video of doctor testifying to Senate Committee on effectiveness of Ivermectin(3) American Journal of Medicine article now urges early use of HCQ and zinc(4) How to nebulize at home with food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide, Aqueous iodine, and Saline (salt)(5) Google plan to re-rank the internet, censoring views it dislikes(1) Sweden tightens COVID rules, but still no lockdownhttps://news.yahoo.com/swedish-parliament-grants-government-wider-111151699.htmlSweden tightens COVID rules, but still no lockdownUpdated January 9, 2021STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden tightened social distancing rules for shopping centres, gyms and private gatherings on Friday and said it was ready to close businesses if needed, but stopped short of a lockdown to fight the spread of the pandemic.Earlier in the day, parliament voted the government wider powers to close businesses and limit the size of public and private gatherings as an addition to what have so-far been mostly voluntary measures to ensure social distancing."Today, the government has not decided on the closure of businesses, but the government is ready to make that kind of decision as well," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told a news conference."This is not something that we take lightly, but people's lives and health are at stake." >From Sunday, gyms, sports centres, shopping malls and public pools will have to set a maximum number of visitors based on their size.In addition, private gatherings will also be limited to 8 people, a rule which until now has only affected public events.Sweden registered 7,187 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to statistics from the public health agency.Deaths now total 9,433 - a rate per capita several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours', but lower than in many European countries that opted for lockdowns.The high death toll - particularly among residents of care homes for the elderly - has led to heavy criticism of Lofven for not acting sooner and more decisively.But the government has in part, been hamstrung by a lack of legal tools to impose the kind of far-reaching measures adopted by other countries in Europe."The Swedish corona strategy has always been a combination of tougher rules, prohibitions and, not the least, that people themselves assume great responsibility," Lofven said."At the same time it has been obvious that Sweden needs legislation that better hits the mark to handle COVID-19 and limit contagion."Even after parliament voted for the new, temporary law, the government will not be able to impose curfews or a domestic travel ban.(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Simon Johnson; editing by Niklas Pollard and Angus MacSwan)Originally published January 8, 2021  (2) YouTube deletes video of doctor testifying to Senate Committee on effectiveness of Ivermectinhttps://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-deletes-videos-of-doctors-testifying-in-senate-homeland-committee/January 29, 2021YouTube deletes videos of doctors testifying in Senate Homeland Committee as "coronavirus misinformation"By Christina MaasPosted 7:36 pmGoogle-owned YouTube has removed several videos on Senator Ron Johnson’s channel over coronavirus "misinformation."The videos that were removed featured medical professionals testifying on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments. One video features Dr. Pierre Kory testifying in a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, is the chair of the senate committee.During the hearing, Dr. Kory talked about the effectiveness of Ivermectin, an anti-parasite medication used to treat scabies and other parasitic infections, in the treatment of COVID-19."In the last three to four months, emerging publications provide conclusive data on the profound efficacy of the anti-parasite, antiviral drug, anti-inflammatory agent called ivermectin in all stages of the disease," Dr. Kory said in the video."Social media censorship just ratcheted up to a new level. Google’s YouTube removed two videos of doctors testifying under oath at my U.S. Senate hearing on early treatment of COVID. Another body blow to freedom of speech and expression. Very sad and scary. Where does this end?" Sen. Johnson said in a statement after the video was deleted by YouTube."Apparently, the ‘doctors’ at Google know more about practicing medicine than heroic doctors who have the courage and compassion to actually treat COVID patients and save lives," he added.Google and other big tech platforms consider any coronavirus information not backed by the UN, WHO, and local public health bodies, such as the US CDC and FDA, as false information."YouTube doesn’t allow content that spreads medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19," a statement on Google’s website says.In a January 26 letter sent to YouTube content creators, the platform’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, said, since February 2020, the platform had removed more than half a million videos for violating the COVID-19 rules."It’s a priority to continue to update our approach to responsibility so people find high-quality information when they come to our platform," Wojcicki wrote in the letter. "We’re always working to strike the right balance between openness and responsibility as we meet the guidelines set by governments around the world."(3) American Journal of Medicine article now urges early use of HCQ and zinchttps://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/02/01/hydroxychloroquine-and-zinc-for-coronavirus.aspxJournal of Medicine Says HCQ + Zinc Reduces COVID DeathsAnalysis by Dr. Joseph MercolaFact CheckedFebruary 01, 2021Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors around the world reported high success rates using an inexpensive treatment protocol of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and zinc, typically in combination with an antibiotic to treat secondary bacterial infections.Almost immediately, government health agencies and mainstream media started attacking the treatment, going so far as to ban the prescription and use of HCQ for COVID-19 in some areas. Over time, it became painfully clear that a concerted and coordinated effort to prevent its use was afoot.   One of the most obvious reasons for why certain individuals and companies might want to prevent the use of an inexpensive generic drug is because it might eliminate the need for a vaccine or other antiviral medication under development.1 Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested, and drug companies were, and still are, counting on a massive payday. As noted by Dr. Meryl Nass in a June 27, 2020, blog post:2"Hydroxychloroquine has been used safely for 65 years in many millions of patients. And so the message was crafted that the drug is safe for its other uses, but dangerous when used for COVID-19. It doesn’t make sense, but it seems to have worked. Were these acts carefully orchestrated? …Might these events have been planned to keep the pandemic going? To sell expensive drugs and vaccines to a captive population? Could these acts result in prolonged economic and social hardship, eventually transferring wealth from the middle class to the very rich?"Politicizing Medicine Has Grave ConsequencesThe fight over HCQ also appears to have had political underpinnings, and by politicizing medicine, the media has played a role that can readily be likened to agents of genocide. There’s no telling how many lives may have been saved had they done their due diligence and reported the science truthfully.Most of us in the holistic field have been aware that the intent of censorship is to mislead people. After all, a majority of news outlets rely on revenue from advertisers, and drug companies tend to spend the most. As a result, what the drug industry wants is what the media deliver.During this pandemic, conventional doctors have gotten a taste of what it’s like as well and, clearly, many have been absolutely floored by it. It’s certainly understandable, because to censor potentially lifesaving medical treatment during a global pandemic really brings it to a whole new level of evil.As just one example among many, July 23, 2020, Dr. Harvey A. Risch, professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, published an op-ed in Newsweek in which he expressed his dismay and frustration:3"I have authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and currently hold senior positions on the editorial boards of several leading journals.I am usually accustomed to advocating for positions within the mainstream of medicine, so have been flummoxed to find that, in the midst of a crisis, I am fighting for a treatment that the data fully support but which, for reasons having nothing to do with a correct understanding of the science, has been pushed to the sidelines.As a result, tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19 are dying unnecessarily … I am referring, of course, to the medication hydroxychloroquine.When this inexpensive oral medication is given very early in the course of illness, before the virus has had time to multiply beyond control, it has shown to be highly effective, especially when given in combination with the antibiotics azithromycin or doxycycline and the nutritional supplement zinc."In what appears to be an effort to change the tide, a medical review4 in the January 2021 issue of The American Journal of Medicine now urges early use of HCQ and zinc. The authors include Risch, as well as a long list of medical doctors from hospitals around the world.The Importance of Early Outpatient TreatmentRisch’s paper, "Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection," points out that:5"In the absence of clinical trial results, physicians must use what has been learned about the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in determining early outpatient treatment of the illness with the aim of preventing hospitalization or death …Therapeutic approaches based on these principles include 1) reduction of reinoculation, 2) combination antiviral therapy, 3) immunomodulation, 4) antiplatelet/antithrombotic therapy, and 5) administration of oxygen, monitoring, and telemedicine."The authors stress that "Most patients who arrive to the hospital … with COVID-19 do not initially require forms of advanced medical care," and that, therefore, "it is conceivable that some, if not a majority, of hospitalizations could be avoided with a treat-at-home first approach."They also stress that since it can take up to a week to get PCR test results back, it’s important to start treatment before results are known. "For patients with cardinal features of the syndrome (i.e., fever, body aches, nasal congestion, loss of taste and smell, etc.) … treatment can be the same as those with confirmed COVID-19," they say.The Case for HCQ and ZincIn terms of early drug treatment for patients who are quarantining at home, the authors recommend using a combination of HCQ and zinc lozenges, along with several other drugs (depending on your symptoms).HCQ is a zinc ionophore, meaning it shuttles zinc into the cell, and there’s compelling evidence to suggest the primary benefit of the HCQ protocol actually comes from the zinc, which effectively inhibits viral replication.While I will review those here, keep in mind that I do not necessarily recommend using all of them, as in some cases there are safer alternatives. At the end of this article, I will summarize my personal at-home treatment recommendation, which I believe is among the absolute safest and most effective.That said, in his paper, Risch and his co-authors explain the rationale for using HCQ and zinc as follows:6"Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is an antimalarial/anti-inflammatory drug that impairs endosomal transfer of virions within human cells. HCQ is also a zinc ionophore that conveys zinc intracellularly to block the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is the core enzyme of the virus replication.The currently completed retrospective studies and randomized trials have generally shown these findings:1.when started late in the hospital course and for short durations of time, antimalarials appear to be ineffective2.when started earlier in the hospital course, for progressively longer durations and in outpatients, antimalarials may reduce the progression of disease, prevent hospitalization, and are associated with reduced mortality …A typical HCQ regimen is 200 mg bid for 5 days and extended to 30 days for continued symptoms. A minimal sufficient dose of HCQ should be used, because in excessive doses the drug can interfere with early immune response to the virus ...Zinc is a known inhibitor of coronavirus replication … This readily available nontoxic therapy could be deployed at the first signs of COVID-19. Zinc lozenges can be administered 5 times a day for up to 5 days and extended if needed if symptoms persist.The amount of elemental zinc lozenges is <25% of that in a single 220-mg zinc sulfate daily tablet. This dose of zinc sulfate has been effectively used in combination with antimalarials in early treatment of high-risk outpatients with COVID-19."It’s worth noting that in areas where hydroxychloroquine is hard to get a hold of, the nutritional supplement quercetin may be a useful (and perhaps even better) substitute, as its primary mechanism of action is identical to that of the drug. It also has antiviral activity of its own.You can learn more about this in "Is Quercetin a Safer Alternative to Hydroxychloroquine?" "Quercetin Boosts Interferon Response to Viruses and COVID-19" and "How to Improve Zinc Uptake with Quercetin to Boost Immune Health."Zinc Is a Crucial KeyWhile much attention is placed on HCQ, it in and of itself is not the answer. Zinc is. Both HCQ and quercetin are zinc ionophores, meaning they shuttle zinc into the cell,7,8 and there’s compelling evidence to suggest the primary benefit of the HCQ protocol actually comes from the zinc, which effectively inhibits viral replication.9If given early, zinc along with a zinc ionophore should, at least theoretically, help lower the viral load and prevent the immune system from becoming overloaded. The problem is that zinc does not readily enter cells, which is why a zinc ionophore is needed.Evidence of this was presented in a September 2020 study10 in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. In it, they compared outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients treated with one of three regimens: HCQ alone, Azithromycin alone, or a triplet regimen of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc.While the addition of zinc had no impact on the length of hospitalization, ICU duration or duration of ventilation, univariate analyses showed it did:Increase hospital discharge frequencyDecrease the need for ventilationDecrease ICU admission ratesDecrease the rate of transfer to hospice for patients who were never admitted to the ICUDecrease mortalityAs noted by the authors:11"After adjusting for the time at which zinc sulfate was added to our protocol, an increased frequency of being discharged home (OR 1.53 …) reduction in mortality or transfer to hospice remained significant (OR 0.449 …). This study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for COVID-19."Another paper that addressed the crucial role of zinc was published in the September 2020 issue of Medical Hypotheses:12"Besides direct antiviral effects, CQ/HCQ [chloroquine and/or hydroxychloroquine] specifically target extracellular zinc to intracellular lysosomes where it interferes with RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity and coronavirus replication.As zinc deficiency frequently occurs in elderly patients and in those with cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, or diabetes, we hypothesize that CQ/HCQ plus zinc supplementation may be more effective in reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality than CQ or HCQ in monotherapy. Therefore, CQ/HCQ in combination with zinc should be considered as additional study arm for COVID-19 clinical trials."Antibiotics, Steroids and Other Treatment AdditionsIn addition to HCQ and zinc, Risch13 et.al also recommend using one of two antibiotics — azithromycin or doxycycline — primarily to address secondary bacterial infections. Azithromycin also has antiviral properties and anti-inflammatory effects, while doxycycline has "multiple intracellular effects that may reduce viral replication, cellular damage, and expression of inflammatory factors."According to the authors, COVID-19 studies that used azithromycin found "markedly reduced durations of viral shedding, fewer hospitalizations, and reduced mortality combination with HCQ."People with known or suspected arrhythmias, and anyone taking a contraindicated medication, should get a thorough workup and review of baseline electrocardiogram though before receiving HCQ and/or azithromycin. In those worried about azithromycin’s effects on the heart, doxycycline is a better alternative as it has no ill effects on your heart. On the downside, it can cause gastrointestinal upset and esophagitis instead.An important side note here is that while not addressed in this paper, all antibiotics have the drawback of disrupting your gut microbiome, and should therefore be used only if absolutely needed.Risch14 et.al also recommend using corticosteroids, which have immunomodulating effects and help reduce the effects of cytokine storms. As explained in their paper:"In COVID-19, some of the first respiratory findings are nasal congestion, cough, and wheezing. These features are due to excess inflammation and cytokine activation.Early use of corticosteroids is a rational intervention for patients with COVID-19 with these features as they would be in acute asthma or reactive airways disease … One potential dosing scheme for outpatients starting on day 5 or the onset of respiratory symptoms is prednisone 1 mg/kg given daily for 5 days with or without a subsequent taper."Other treatment additions include:Colchicine, a nonsteroidal antimitotic that has been shown to reduce D-dimer levels and improve outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patientsAntiplatelet agents such as aspirin (81 mg daily) or heparin to treat the abnormal blood clotting sometimes seen in COVID-19Supplemental oxygen if neededTo reduce the risk of self-reinoculation (since the virus is airborne), they also recommend opening windows and/or spending long periods of time outdoors (away from others) without a face covering.The figure below, from The American Journal of Medicine and republished in Science Direct,15 illustrates the different approaches to home care suggested depending on whether you are healthy, have a single comorbidity or several, and at which point in the disease process the various drugs should be administered.Treatment algorithm for COVID-19-like and confirmed COVID-19 illnessHydroxychloroquine Has a Proven Safety ProfileWhile media headlines have painted HCQ as a life-threatening drug, it actually has a very robust safety profile that goes back decades. In a paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology,16 Risch reviewed several large-scale studies demonstrating the safety of the medication.In his Newsweek article,17 he also pointed out that the adverse event reports cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when it warned HCQ might cause cardiac arrhythmia, especially when administered with azithromycin, were from patients who had used HCQ for very long periods of time for the treatment of chronic conditions such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. The same risks simply do not apply when you’re taking HCQ for a few days or weeks."Even if the true rates of arrhythmia are tenfold higher than those reported, the harms would be minuscule compared to the mortality occurring right now in inadequately treated high-risk COVID-19 patients," Risch wrote.18"This fact is proven by an Oxford University study of more than 320,000 older patients taking both hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, who had arrhythmia excess death rates of less than 9/100,000 users … A new paper in the American Journal of Medicine by established cardiologists around the world fully agrees with this."Indeed, the so-called evidence that HCQ causes lethal heart problems has been shown to be fraudulent. One study was retracted after it was discovered the data had been manufactured, and other large-scale trials were all using toxic doses.While doctors reporting success with the drug were using standard doses around 200 mg per day for either a few days or maybe a couple of weeks, studies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates-funded19 Recovery Trial used 2,400 mg of hydroxychloroquine during the first 24 hours — three to six times higher than the daily dosage recommended20 — followed by 400 mg every 12 hours for nine more days for a cumulative dose of 9,200 mg over 10 days.Similarly, the Solidarity Trial,21 led by the World Health Organization, used 2,000 mg on the first day, and a cumulative dose of 8,800 mg over 10 days. These doses are simply too high.Meanwhile, a July 1, 2020, retrospective analysis22,23,24 of 2,541 patients in Michigan found use of hydroxychloroquine alone cut mortality by more than half, from 26.4% to 13.5%. Patients received 400 mg of hydroxychloroquine twice on day 1, followed by 200 mg twice a day for the next four days.No adverse heart-related events were observed. Hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin had a mortality rate of 20.1%, and azithromycin alone had a mortality rate of 22.4%. The azithromycin was dosed as 500 mg on day 1, followed by 250 mg once a day for the next four days.According to the authors,25 "The combination of hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin was reserved for selected patients with severe COVID-19 and with minimal cardiac risk factors." Unfortunately, zinc was not included in this trial."Physicians who have been using these medications in the face of widespread skepticism have been truly heroic," Risch wrote in Newsweek.26 "They have done what the science shows is best for their patients, often at great personal risk.I myself know of two doctors who have saved the lives of hundreds of patients with these medications, but are now fighting state medical boards to save their licenses and reputations. The cases against them are completely without scientific merit …As all know, the medication has become highly politicized. For many, it is viewed as a marker of political identity, on both sides of the political spectrum. Nobody needs me to remind them that this is not how medicine should proceed … Reality demands a clear, scientific eye on the evidence and where it points"With that in mind, evidence that HCQ could be useful against SARS-CoV-2 goes as far back as 2005, when the article "Chloroquine Is a Potent Inhibitor of SARS Coronavirus Infection and Spread" was published in the Virology Journal.27Did Dr. Anthony Fauci, appointed to lead the White House Pandemic Response Team, know about this? One could argue he should have. And, if he did, why didn’t he say something? According to this study:28"… chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells. These inhibitory effects are observed when the cells are treated with the drug either before or after exposure to the virus, suggesting both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage."In other words, chloroquine functioned as both a prophylactic (prevention) and a treatment against SARS coronavirus. This is precisely what many doctors have found with HCQ as well — a drug that is very similar to chloroquine but has a safer profile — when used against SARS-CoV-2.Nebulized Peroxide — My Favorite Treatment ChoiceWhile HCQ with zinc appears to be a very useful early treatment choice, my personal choice for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms is nebulized peroxide. This is a home remedy I recommend everyone familiarize themselves with, as in many cases it can improve symptoms in mere hours. You can also use it as a preventive strategy if you know you’ve been exposed to someone who is ill.Nebulizing hydrogen peroxide into your sinuses, throat and lungs is a simple, straightforward way to augment your body’s natural expression of hydrogen peroxide to combat infections and can be used both prophylactically after known exposure to COVID-19 and as a treatment for mild, moderate and even severe illness.Dr. David Brownstein, who has successfully treated over 100 COVID-19 patients with nebulized peroxide, published a case paper29 about this treatment in the July 2020 issue of Science, Public Health Policy and The Law. He also reviews its benefits in "How Nebulized Peroxide Helps Against Respiratory Infections."Nebulized hydrogen peroxide is extremely safe, and all you need is a desktop nebulizer and food-grade hydrogen peroxide, which you’ll need to dilute with saline to 0.1% strength. I recommend buying these items beforehand so that you have everything you need and can begin treatment at home at the first signs of a respiratory infection.hydrogen peroxide dilution chartIn the video above, I go over the basics of this treatment. Be sure to buy a nebulizer that plugs into an electrical outlet, as battery-driven ones are too low-powered to be truly effective. Also make sure your nebulizer comes with a face mask, not just a mouth piece. If it doesn’t come with a face mask, you can pick one up separately. Just search Amazon for "nebulizer face mask for adults."- Sources and References1 Gates Notes April 30, 20202 Anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com June 27, 20203, 17, 18, 26 Newsweek July 23, 20204, 5, 6, 13, 14 The American Journal of Medicine January 2021; 134(1): 16-227 PLOS ONE 2014; 9(10): e1091808, 9 Preprints April 6, 2020 DOI: 10.20944/preprints202004.0124.v110 Journal of Medical Microbiology September 15, 2020; 69(10)11 medRxiv May 8, 2020 DOI: 10.1101/2020.05.02.20080036 (PDF)12 Medical Hypotheses September 2020; 142: 10981515 Science Direct January 202116 American Journal of Epidemiology May 27, 2020, kwaa09319 Age of Autism June 16, 202020 Uptodate.com Hydroxychloroquine21 The Solidarity Trial22 International Journal of Infectious Diseases July 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.09923 Epoch Times July 2, 202024 Just the News July 3, 202025 International Journal of Infectious Diseases July 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.099, Patients27, 28 Virology Journal 2005; 2: 6929 Science, Public Health Policy and The Law July 2020; 1: 4-22 (PDF)(4) How to nebulize at home with food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide, Aqueous iodine, and Saline (salt)https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/09/13/how-to-nebulize-hydrogen-peroxide.aspxHow Nebulized Peroxide Helps Against Respiratory InfectionsAnalysis by Dr. Joseph MercolaFact CheckedSeptember 13, 2020Hydrogen peroxide sits inside and outside cells of your cells in low levels, ready and waiting to be generated in greater amounts as soon as a pathogen is detected by your immune systemNebulizing hydrogen peroxide into your sinuses, throat and lungs is a simple, straightforward way to augment your body’s natural expression of hydrogen peroxide to combat infectionsIn addition to having direct viricidal effects, iodine improves white blood cell function and thyroid hormone production. This provides a metabolic boost to white blood cells to increase hydrogen peroxide antimicrobial properties which is one way your immune system works to kill pathogensVitamin C also increases hydrogen peroxide production when used at high doses, while vitamin A helps modulate your immune systemBuy a desktop nebulizer and stock food-grade hydrogen peroxide, Lugol’s iodine and some saline. That way, you have everything you need and can begin treatment at home at the first signs of a respiratory infectionDr. Mercola Interviews the ExpertsThis article is part of a weekly series in which Dr. Mercola interviews various experts on a variety of health issues. To see more expert interviews, click here.Dr. David Brownstein, who has a clinic just outside of Detroit, has successfully treated over a hundred patients with what has become my favorite intervention for COVID-19 and other upper respiratory infections, namely nebulized hydrogen peroxide. He has published the results of his work in a study that you can download here.Since I first wrote about it at the beginning of April 2020, I've received impressive testimonials of its effectiveness from friends and acquaintances who got severely ill and used it.Brownstein is probably best known for his promotion of iodine and its supplementation. He was also an early adopter of vitamin D optimization and nebulized peroxide. He explains the background that led him to his current regimen:"The history goes back about 28 years when I began practicing holistic medicine. Of course, we would see people with influenza and influenza-like illnesses every fall and winter, so I started searching for things that would help people's immune systems …We initially started using vitamin C and vitamin D. I started to check vitamin D levels in 1992. What I found was the vast majority of my patients, well over 90%, were deficient in vitamin D, and those who had more chronic issues and were sicker in general, they usually had lower levels of vitamin D ...Then I came across vitamin A. I originally read the research on how vitamin A helped third world countries when they had measles infections and helped … [patients] recover uneventfully if they had enough vitamin A, so I quickly added vitamin A to the regimen.A few years later, I learned about iodine. Iodine has direct viricidal effects. It has immune system effects. It helps the white blood cells produce hydrogen peroxide to fight viral and bacterial infections, as well as thyroid effects. Iodine got added to the regimen, and so the original treatment of our patients was vitamins A, C, D and iodine at high doses for about four days.What we found was our patients did not develop pneumonia, did not get hospitalized, did not die from flu and other influenza-like illnesses at anywhere near the rates that they should have when you looked at the published rates of problems with these illnesses."Hydrogen Peroxide and OzoneWhile attending an oxidative medicine course, Brownstein learned about hydrogen peroxide. At that point, he and his staff started using nebulized hydrogen peroxide and intravenous (IV) hydrogen peroxide. That was back in the mid-1990s. So, he has been using nebulized peroxide clinically for 25 years now, which is longer than anyone I know of.With each revision of his original protocol, patients seemed to fare better. Fast-forward another couple of years, at another medical course, he learned about the benefits of ozone."That was the latest addition to it. What we found over 28 years of using this therapy is that our patients did well. I never made a claim that this cured any influenza or influenza-like illness. What it does is it supports the immune system in multiple ways, and people get over it just like they've gotten over it for eons of time," Brownstein says."If we didn't get over these viral illnesses, we wouldn't survive as a human species, so it certainly makes sense we'd want a strong immune system in place when we get exposed to these pathogenic organisms.When COVID-19 came around … we were warned that we're going to have millions of deaths, and this is going to be the biggest medical catastrophe in our lifetimes …Everyone was on edge, and I had a meeting with my staff at the end of a work week. It was the last Thursday in February. And I told the staff that the first 28 years of our holistic practice was truly practice for this pandemic … And I said, 'I think we've got this covered.'I said, 'I can't guarantee anyone anything, but we've treated coronavirus in past years' … Coronavirus is known to be part of the influenza-like illnesses … I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work for this illness as it has worked for the other viral/coronavirus illnesses that we've been treating.'"107 Patients — One Hospitalization, Zero DeathsBrownstein and the other physicians in his practice first started treating COVID patients in the middle of a Detroit winter under full social distancing and lockdown restrictions. As a result, he had to treat patients who were ill in a drive-through manner in his clinic parking lot. They'd stick their arm out their car window, and Brownstein and his colleagues would do an IV of hydrogen peroxide and vitamin C and intramuscular shots of ozone."I vividly remember the snow coming down on my face mask as I'm shaking my head like a dog in order to clear my face shield, trying to put the IV in," he says. "At the end of the treatment, we would do ozone. We didn't want to do IV ozone outside because the elements weren't good, so we decided to do intramuscular ozone.People who were sick, who couldn't breathe, we'd meet them in the parking lot. At the end of the IVs, we'd open their car door and have them stick their rear end out the car door. We'd put ozone in each [butt] cheek and send them on their way.We got them hooked up on a nebulizer too, nebulizing hydrogen peroxide and iodine. After they started the therapies, usually after the first nebulized treatment, their airways would open up, and they could breathe again. We ended up treating 107 patients that I wrote about in the published, peer-reviewed [paper]. We had one hospitalization, no ventilators, no deaths."The case report,1 "A Novel Approach to Treating COVID-19 Using Nutritional and Oxidative Therapies," was published in Science, Public Health Policy, and The Law in July 2020. For a couple of months, Brownstein would post video interviews with his patients, in which they told their story.He removed all of them after receiving a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission, saying that because there's no established prevention, treatment or cure for COVID-19, any mention thereof falls in violation of FTC law."In their first letter to me, they said, 'Because there's no human clinical studies documenting what you say works, you need to remove it.' So, after we published the [case review], my lawyer wife sent the FTC a letter saying, 'Here's a published study. We'd like to put my study on my website without comment.' And they said, 'No, it's not a randomized. We want a randomized controlled study.'So, we felt like we had punched the ball into the end zone, and then they moved the goal post back 30 yards, but that's where we stand right now with it. And we're still treating patients with it. The study was on 107 patients. We've probably treated 10 more patients since then, still with good success.I wrote in the article that the reason I didn't do a randomized study was it's unethical for me to withhold that treatment from people when I'm as certain as I can be that the therapy was going to work. There's no way I could sleep at night if I was randomizing people to get the therapy, and others to not get the therapy.COVID was a new illness. We had never seen it. Nobody had ever seen it. There were no randomized studies. There's no reason to. Too many people were dying. We've already had over 100,000 deaths. It's just tragic, and it's really going to be a stain on medicine when the final autopsy is written on this."Boosting Your Immune Function Is ImperativeInterestingly, as explained by Brownstein, in addition to having direct viricidal effects, iodine also stimulates and supports the immune system. It increases the killing effect of hydrogen peroxide production in your white blood cells by improving white blood cell and thyroid function, which is one way our immune system works to kill pathogens. Vitamin C directly increases hydrogen peroxide production when used at high doses, he says, while vitamin A helps modulate your immune system."Perhaps instead of just relying on masks and social isolation, we should be talking about the immune system," Brownstein says. "How do we support it? And I'd like to throw out the question: Since when did talking about supporting the immune system become illegal? Since when do you have to be quiet about it?Unfortunately, in this time and age, this is where we're at right now, and it's a sad time … I've been writing a book on a holistic approach to viruses. And in this book … I say that this illness is an example of what's wrong with our country.The health of our country is in such decline, we finish last or nearly last in every single health indicator when compared to other Western countries, and this is why we've got hit so hard with this. And nobody talks about our health. All they're talking about is masks, social isolation and wait for a vaccine.What about the next virus that comes around? What are they going to do about that one? And my comments on this warp speed vaccine to the world is, I hope it's safe and effective, but I don't think I'll be first in line getting this thing, not when it's bypassing all the safety studies …What I'd be first in line with is trying to figure out how I'm going to support my immune system, so when I'm confronted with these different viruses — because after this one, there's going to be the next one — you're not going to depend on another warp speed project. You're going to depend on yourself to get over these things. We can do it."How to Do Nebulized Hydrogen Peroxide — The BasicsNebulized hydrogen peroxide is extremely safe. Brownstein has used it for 25 years with no ill effects being found. It's also incredibly inexpensive, and you can administer it at home, without a prescription. In my view, it is one of the absolute best therapies for viral infections like SARS-CoV-2 or even worse respiratory viruses that will likely be unleashed in the future.You need to buy a desktop nebulizer (it needs to produce a very fine mist and desktop versions are stronger than handheld battery operated models). The one I use is the Pari Trek S Compressor Aerosol System. The large battery option is unnecessary as you can simply plug in the device to run it when you need it.Please understand, though, that the Pari Trek S is designed to treat asthmatics and as such only comes with a mouthpiece. While this would get the peroxide in the lungs where it is needed, it does nothing to reach the sinuses, which are also likely infected. This is why it would be worth pick up some face masks on Amazon to use instead of the mouthpiece as they are only about $10.It is important to acquire this BEFORE you need it, as the sooner you treat the infection the better your results will be, although the testimonials are unbelievably impressive even in late stage illness. It is not necessary to treat yourself preventively, but only if you are sick or exposed to someone who is.While I've been using a 0.1% dilution, Brownstein uses an even lower concentration of just 0.04%. Neither Brownstein nor I recommend using commercial 3% hydrogen peroxide found in most grocery stores, however, as it has potentially toxic chemical stabilizers in it. Then take 3-5 ml and put that into the nebulizer and inhale the entire amount. You can do this every hour when you are sick until you start to notice improvement and then back down to every 4-6 hours and continue until you are over the illness.Since you are not using full strength 3% peroxide and diluting it by 30 to 50 times, it is unlikely the stabilizers will present a problem, but to be safe it is best to use FOOD-GRADE peroxide. Also remember not to dilute it with plain water as the lack of electrolytes in the water can damage your lungs if you nebulize that. You will need to use saline or add a small amount of salt to the water to eliminate this risk.peroxide dilution chartsBrownstein also dilutes the peroxide with sterile water and saline rather than distilled water. Using saline prevents the osmotic differential that can cause damage to lung cells. Brownstein dilutes the 35% food-grade peroxide as follows. When nebulizing, Brownstein also adds one drop of 5% Lugol's solution to the nebulizer as well.Dilute 35% food-grade peroxide down to 3% by mixing 1 part peroxide with 10 parts sterile waterTake 3 cubic centimeters (CCs) of that 3% dilution and add it to a 250CC bag of normal saline. This brings it down to a .04% hydrogen peroxide concentrationSample Case HistoryBrownstein relates the case of a 67-year-old male patient. The man developed COVID-19 symptoms, and after seven or eight days could not breathe and went to the hospital where he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. After two days of treatment, which included oxygen, he felt only slightly better, but was released from the hospital due to a shortage of beds."They sent him home on oxygen and told him, 'Only come back if you can't breathe.' So he goes home, and he calls me on the phone, crying, 'I'm going to die. They sent me home to die.'I said to him, 'You're not going to die. Do you have a nebulizer?' And he said, 'No.' And I'm like, 'We need to start nebulizing right away … Send your wife over. We'll put a nebulizer in the car and tell you how to do it.' So, we mixed up the solution for him, and she brought the nebulizer home.I called him up at the end of the day. He had done three nebulizer treatments, and he said that after the second nebulizer treatment his lungs started to open up. He felt about 70% better and didn't feel like he was going to die at that point.He was still coughing and short of breath, but not like he was. After the third treatment, he said he was even better … So, this nebulizer thing really does work.The one thing I'd like your readers to know, the handheld nebulizers don't work as well. I had a handful of patients who were using a handheld nebulizer and trying it with the same solution.They were calling me back saying, 'It's not working.' When they got a desktop model, a little stronger model, it worked. So, I encourage people not to use a handheld nebulizer. Use a desktop model. It's a little bit stronger."Nebulized Peroxide Typically Improves Symptoms Within HoursThis story echoes the experiences of personal acquaintances who have tried the treatment. After two treatments, they felt significantly better. After the third treatment, their breathing was restored and they were well on their way to a full recovery.You'd be hard-pressed to find another treatment that works within hours. Brownstein agrees that this scenario is consistent with what he has encountered among his own patients."Usually, everything feels better within a couple of hours of starting nebulizing," he says. When asked about how others in the medical community have responded to his blog posts about the treatment, he replies:"In the middle of the crisis as I was posting … I started hearing from doctors all over the country, especially in New York and New Jersey. They were hospital physicians … They didn't know what to do. The therapies weren't working.No. 1, they want the therapy for their family, and No. 2, they want to help their patients. So, I was hearing from doctors. They were interested. I heard from a couple of local doctors who sent patients to us whom they couldn't help.They had nothing to offer them ... and [those patients] got better … It was really the first time I got a bunch of emails, messages and phone calls from doctors saying, 'Hey, tell me how it works. Tell me what you're doing.'"Hydrogen Peroxide FactsIn my April 2020 article, "Could Hydrogen Peroxide Treat Coronavirus?" I reviewed some of the basic science of how hydrogen peroxide works, as well as some of the studies assessing its therapeutic potential.The most relevant study2 was published in March 2020 in the Journal of Hospital Infection. They studied 0.5% hydrogen peroxide, and found it killed human coronaviruses, including the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS. Here are a few additional facts that explain how and why hydrogen peroxide works so well for respiratory infections:1.Hydrogen peroxide freely crosses cell membranes and does not readily oxidize biological molecules, including lipids and proteins.3 It does however react with iron. The presence of free, unbound iron in high concentrations in pathogens is what allows them to be selectively targeted by hydrogen peroxide.High concentrations of iron result in a rapid breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals and water. The hydroxyl radical, a potent oxidizing agent, kills any pathogens present. (Under normal, healthy circumstances, hydrogen peroxide merely breaks down into oxygen and water.)2.Peroxide is generated by activated phagocytes (pathogen-killing immune cells) at sites of inflammation.4 Phagocytes also contain high amounts of ascorbate (vitamin C), which directly donate electrons to peroxide to generate the pathogen-killing hydroxyl radical inside the infected cells. Vitamin C also helps generate increased amounts of extracellular hydrogen peroxide, which further boosts the elimination of pathogens.53.Hydrogen peroxide is continually generated inside all cells in your body, including the epithelial lining of your lungs. (Hydrogen peroxide is present in the air exhaled by healthy human subjects, and when inflammation is present, more peroxide is found in the exhaled breath.6) The presence of excreted peroxide on these surface cells in the airways is part of a healthy, at-the-ready immune response.74.Aside from its anti-pathogen properties, hydrogen peroxide is also recognized as an important signaling molecule, both intracellular and extracellular, influencing and modulating multiple metabolic processes.8In summary, hydrogen peroxide sits inside and outside your cells in low levels, ready and waiting to be generated in greater amounts as soon as a pathogen is detected by the immune system by NADPH Oxidase (NOX).Its presence in your human body (at varying amounts depending on whether infection is present), and the lack of toxic metabolites, are indicative of its safety and nontoxic nature.Similarly, as noted by Brownstein, hydrogen peroxide is extremely safe to use and nebulize at the diluted levels suggested. It's also effective. All pathogens studied to date have been found to succumb to hydrogen peroxide, albeit at varying concentrations and for different amounts of exposure.So, nebulizing hydrogen peroxide into the sinuses, throat and lungs is a simple, straightforward way to augment your body's natural expression of hydrogen peroxide to combat infection."There are cheap and effective ways to treat patients suffering from [COVID-19], and we should be studying this. We should be allowed to report on it, and we should be allowed to study it. [If we were], we wouldn't have the travesty that's happened to our country." ~ Dr. BrownsteinWhile individual sensitivities to inhaled peroxide vary, even very low concentrations (below 3%) have been shown to reliably kill most pathogens.9,10,11,12 Through trial and error, Brownstein found 0.04% was the lowest concentration at which patients report significant improvement, which is why he recommends that level of dilution.Summary of TreatmentTo summarize, here's how I would treat myself or a family member:At the very first signs of a respiratory infection, dilute food-grade hydrogen peroxide down to a 0.1% (my recommendation) or 0.04% solution (Dr. Brownstein's recommendation). If you want, you can add one drop of 5% Lugol's iodine solution, and nebulize using a desktop nebulizer.Start taking quercetin and zinc, as an adjunctive therapy as soon as you know you have an infection, as the earlier you start the better. This treatment is likely ineffective late in the course of the illness as it works to inhibit viral replication. If the virus has already reproduced, it is too late and the horse is out of the barn.The key is to have everything you need readily available. Have it in your possession before you need it. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so procure the nebulizer, peroxide and iodine before you get ill.If you're exposed to someone who is sick, you can use the nebulized peroxide as a prophylactic, but if you're healthy, it's not recommended to nebulize daily. For prevention, also make sure your vitamin D level is above 40 ng/mL.In the later stages of disease, NAC may be really useful. The MATH+ protocol developed by Dr. Paul Marik uses methylprednisolone, vitamin C, thiamine (vitamin B1) and heparin. Heparin is administered because COVID-19 is a blood disorder too. There are clotting complications, and the heparin seems to improve that.NAC also prevents platelet aggregation and abnormal blood clotting. It also reduces oxidative stress and increases glutathione levels, both of which play important roles in this disease. In my view, quercetin, zinc, glutathione, vitamin D and nebulized peroxide is a home run."There are cheap and effective ways to treat [COVID-19], and we should be studying this," Brownstein says. "We should be allowed to report on it, and we should be allowed to study it. [If we were], we wouldn't have the travesty that's happened to our country."- Sources and References1 Science, Public Health Policy, and The Law in July 2020; 2(4): 22 (PDF)2 J Hosp Infect. 2020 Mar;104(3):246-2513 FEBS Letters December 2000; 486(1): 10-134 The Journal of Clinical Investigation May 1975;55(5):945-9555 Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy January 2019; 109:2119-21276 Respiration 2012; 84:291-2987 The Israel Medical Association Journal May 2020; 22(5):2788 Neuroscientist May 12, 2012;17(4):389-4069 Infect Immun. 1983 Jan; 39(1): 456–45910 Appl Environ Microbiol. 1997 Oct; 63(10): 3916–391811 Appl Microbiol. 2011 May;52(5):555-812 Journal of Hospital Infection April 2014; 86(4): 255-259(5) Google plan to re-rank the internet, censoring views it dislikeshttps://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/30/sharyl-attkisson-big-tech-censorship.aspxBig Tech Is Controlling What You See Onlineby Dr. Joseph MercolaJanuary 30, 2021In this episode of Full Measure, award-winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson takes on Big Tech and its censorship of the information you see daily on the internet.1 Restriction of free speech has accelerated in recent months, when Facebook, Twitter and YouTube took the unprecedented steps of silencing the U.S. president's social media accounts.While many welcomed the censorship, others spoke out against the violation of free speech and the precedence it sets for the future. Even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he was uneasy about the decision, tweeting on January 13, 2021:2"Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation."Regardless of one's political affiliations, the move highlights the immense control that corporations have over online information and how it can be yielded to support, or dismantle, certain agendas.Efforts to Combat 'Fake News' Ramped Up After ElectionZachary Vorhies was a Big Tech insider for more than eight years. A former senior software engineer at Google and Google's YouTube, he said everything was great — and then something happened: Donald Trump won the election in 2016. In the first week after the 2016 election, Vorhies told Attkisson, Google had an all-hands meeting.The company's CFO broke down in tears over the election results, while founder Sergey Brin said he was personally offended by them. In short, the bosses at Google were devastated by Trump's unexpected victory, and soon after Vorhies said, "The company took a hard left and abandoned liberal principles and went toward authoritarian management of products and services."Eventually, as Vorhies realized Google is manipulating public opinion and the political landscape, he resigned so he could warn the public that Google appeared to be attempting a coup on the president. He echoed these sentiments during our 2019 interview, and shared his inside knowledge of this global monopoly, revealing why Google is not a reliable source of information anymore.While some of the information revealed is related to politics, you can read about my views about the two-party U.S. federal government. The point of sharing this information is that Google is manipulating search results to reflect its views and influence social behavior while denying this is happening.How Google Is Altering RealityAccording to Vorhies, at the all-hands meeting that took place shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that one of the most successful things they had done during the election was applying "machine learning" to hide fake news.Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that's behind Google's rampant censorship — something they've dubbed Machine Learning Fairness, or ML Fairness. "As you imagine," Vorhies said during our 2019 interview (hyperlinked above), "they're not going to call their censorship regime something bad. They're going to call it something like 'fairness.'""So, if you're against that, you're against fairness. It's a euphemism. I discovered there was this umbrella project, 'ML Fairness,' and there were these subcomponents like 'Project Purple Rain,' which is a 24-hour response team that is monitoring the internet," he said.By 2017, Vorhies had uncovered more than 950 pages of confidential Google documents showing a plan to re-rank the entire internet based on Google's corporate values, using machine learning to intervene for "fairness." He resigned in June 2019 and turned over the documents to the Department of Justice, then released them to the public via Project Veritas to expose Google's censorship activities.3 According to Project Veritas:4"Things got political in June 2017 when Google deleted 'covfefe' out of its arabic translation dictionary in order to make a Trump tweet become nonsense. This would have been benign if it weren't for the coincidence of the main stream media attempting to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from the presidency, a week later.At this point Zach Vorhies became suspicious that Google might be engaging in a seditious conspiracy to remove the President of the United States. Zach decided that the document cache had to be provided to the appropriate law enforcement agencies (Department of Justice) to disclose the seditious activity, and to the public in order to let them know the full extent of Google's information control abilities."'Algorithmic Unfairness' Tackles the Narrative of RealitySusan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, made pushing down "fake news" and increasing "authoritative news" sound like a good thing, Attkisson reported,5 but when Vorhies looked at Google's design documents, the fake news they were censoring wasn't really fake."I was apolitical," he said, "but I started to think, is this really fake news? Why are they defining it as fake news in order to justify censorship?" Part of this involved Google's efforts at social reconstruction to correct "algorithmic unfairness," which could be any algorithm that reinforces existing stereotypes.Could objective reality be algorithmically unfair? Google says yes. Vorhies used the example of doing a Google search for CEOs, and the images returned included mostly men. Although it's reality, this could be considered algorithmically unfair and, according to Google, justifies intervention in order to fix it. He also uses the example of the autofill search recommendations that pop up if you do a Google search.Autofill is what happens when you start typing a search query into a search engine and algorithms kick in to offer suggestions to complete your search. If you type "men can," you may get autofill recommendations such as "men can lactate" and "men can get pregnant," or "women can produce sperm" — things that represent an inversion of stereotypes and a reversal of gender roles.We've been led to believe that whatever the autofill recommendations are is what most people are searching for — Google has stated that the suggestions given are generated by a collection of user data — but that's not true, at least not anymore. As Vorhies said during our 2019 interview:"This story about the autofill first got disclosed by Dr. Robert Epstein, who is a Harvard-trained psychologist and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today. What he said was that Google had flipped a bunch of votes for Hillary using this autosuggest feature. I've investigated this claim. I've verified it to be true … It turns out that a lot of the popular searches were being suppressed.… The most significant thing about this feature is the fact that you don't expect to have this part of your online experience to be hatched for political reasons. You think that this is legitimately what other people are searching for. As a result, you don't have your filters on. Your brain puts on these filters when it starts to evaluate politically charged information.When you read a newspaper article, you may be thinking to yourself, 'This may be true, this may not.' You're skeptical. But when you're typing into a search, you don't think that because you don't think that's rigged, so whatever bias is inherent in that search result slips through and goes directly into your subconscious. This is what Epstein was explaining."Vorhies said his tipping point came when Pichai told Congress the company doesn't filter based on political bias and blacklist websites. "That's when I saw that Sundar Pichai was lying to Congress by saying that they don't use blacklists."6Big Tech Fact-Checking Ramped UpThe sudden onslaught of "fact-checking" organizations is another form of censorship that's interfering with free discourse. Citing data from Duke University Reporters' Lab, Attkisson says "fact check groups more than quadrupled in number over five years from 44 to 195." Fact-checking now represents a multimillion-dollar industry that stands to benefit certain interests."Facebook and Google are major funders of news organizations and fact check efforts," Attkisson reports, "spending hundreds of millions of dollars." The problem with labeling something as "false and misleading information" is the damage that occurs if said information is not actually false or misleading. When a banner pops up on social media warning readers that the content is false, most people will not click through.According to the Poynter Institute, one of Facebook's fact-checking partners, which bills itself as a "global leader in journalism" that believes that a free press is essential,7 once a Facebook post is flagged as false by a fact-checker, its reach is decreased by an average of 80%.8Further, Facebook's list of trusted fact-checking partners is also heavily conflicted. Children's Health Defense sued Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg and three of its fact-checking partners — Science Feedback, Poynter Institute and PolitiFact9 — alleging, in part, that they are not independent or fact-based, even though they describe themselves as such.Fact Checkers Receive Millions From Political GroupsPolitiFact is a branch of the Poynter Institute that says fact-checking journalism is its "heart,"10 while Science Feedback is a French organization that claims it verifies the "credibility" of "influential" science claims in the media.11Science Feedback, which often sides with the vaccine industry, was also used to discredit a documentary that tied the coronavirus to a lab in Wuhan, China, but Science Feedback's source was a U.S. scientist who worked at the Wuhan lab.Further, according to Attkisson, PolitiFact received millions from groups looking to reimagine capitalism, count immigrants in the U.S. census and change voting processes for presidential elections from the electoral system to a popular vote.PolitiFact also received $900,000 from the Democracy Fund, which is a major funder of anti-Trump political efforts, while the left-leaning Open Society Foundations and Omidyar Network gave the Poynter Institute $1.3 million for its international fact-checking network.12Attkisson says fact-checking censorship ramped up in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign with Twitter censoring or labeling Trump's tweets and a New York Post exposé on Joe Biden's son, and, after the election, YouTube banning videos disputing Biden's victory. Ultimately, what's wrong with companies trying to keep harmful information or conspiracy theories from reaching people?As Vorhies said, "The problem is that they're a monopoly. And if they're going to put their finger on the public narrative, that's going to be meddling in the election."13'Jumping From the Fireplace Into a Fire'Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act provides internet platforms liability protection for user-generated content. Big Tech is pushing for the inclusion of protection mirroring Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in various free trade agreements, to protect them from foreign regulations.While Section 230 makes free speech online possible for everyone, it also allows Google, YouTube and Facebook to filter out and censor whatever they want while still qualifying as a platform rather than a curator of content.Congress has threatened to punish Big Tech by stripping them of the legal protections in Section 230, but the government stepping in could add another layer of problems, Attkisson says. Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, agreed, noting14:"Just because you have a problem it doesn't mean that every solution is the right one. And I think we could really jump from a fireplace into a fire if we then decide that we're going to let whoever is in charge of the government decide what we see."Efforts to shut down public discussions and information are in full force. So, what can you do? Knowledge truly is power, so look beyond fact-checkers' labels and the top of Google's canned search results — and the corporations behind them — in your search for truth. There are alternatives for most if not all Google products, and by using these other companies, we can help them grow so that Google becomes less and less relevant.- Sources and References1, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14 Full Measure January 10, 20212 Twitter January 13, 20213, 4 Project Veritas April 6, 20207 Poynter, About, 20208 Poynter December 14, 20189 LawStreet Media August 18, 202010 PolitiFact, Our Process, 202011 Science Feedback, About, 2020