December 2014 John Weeks Integrator Round-Up: Research

John Weeks

December 10, 2014

by John Weeks, Publisher Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports   Not Exactly What We Anticipated Department NCCAM GMOs Yeast into Opioids  In a November 18, 2014 newsletter, the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announced that

by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports

Not Exactly What We Anticipated Department: NCCAM GMOs Yeast into Opioids

In a November 18, 2014 newsletter, the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announced that Stanford researchers funded in part by NCCAM discovered that yeast, genetically modified, can "brew opioids and other opioid drugs." The researchers argue that “turning microbes into mini-factories” may remove dependencies on uncertain farming and political cycles.

Comment:  A person wise to NIH predilections might assume that the funding of research on the “modalities, systems and disciplines” associated with complementary and alternative therapies would come to this; still, I mean really, is drug development the highest and best use for those precious few NCCAM dollars? That being said, since self-activation is one pathway for a person in pain to begin to find means to reduce dependence on painkillers, this project may have an unexpected positive outcome as patients with pain rise up to demand “No GMO Opioids!”
About the Author:

John Weeks

John Weeks

John Weeks is a writer, speaker, chronicler and organizer with 32 years of experience in the movement for integrative health and medicine. the long-time founder/editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports, a primary connective terrain for the diverse stakeholders and professions in the field and was invited in May 2016 to serve as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Besides his Integrative Practitioner column, he presently writes for Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, the Huffington Post and elsewhere.

He increasingly enjoys teaching and mentoring. He has keynoted, led plenary sessions, breakouts, and offered guest lectures for dozens of organizations ranging from the Bastyr University to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the UCLA School of Medicine to the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, the AANP and AIHM to the American Hospital Association. He has consulted with insurers, employers, professional organizations, universities and government agencies at all levels.

As an organizer, Weeks convened the Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summits (2000-2002), directed the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Care (2004-2006), fund-raised the start-up of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (2002), and co-founded the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health, which he directed 2007-2015. In 2014, three consortia and others combined to grant him a Lifetime Achievement Living Tribute Award. Four academic institutions have granted Weeks honorary doctorates for his work. Seattle-based, he considers himself a particularly lucky soul to have worked remotely while living with his spouse Jeana Kimball, ND, MPH, and their children in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico for 6 of the last 15 years.

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