Lita Lee's To Your Health Blog

Ten Ways Monsanto and Big Ag Are Trying to Kill You - And the Planet

2012-02-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Organic Consumers Association
February 2, 2012
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/1353f50e6ea852c8

Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health, they're destroying the planet.

Here's how:

#1 Generating Massive Greenhouse Gas Pollution (CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide) and Global Warming, While Promoting False Solutions Such as Industrial Biofuels, So-Called Drought-Resistant Crops, and Genetically Engineered Trees

#2 Polluting the Environment and the Soil-Food Web with Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers, and Persistent Toxins, Including Dioxin

#3 Draining and Polluting Wetlands and Aquifers, Turning Farmland into Desert

#4 Poisoning Wells and Municipal Drinking Water, Lakes, and Rivers

#5 Chopping Down the Rainforests for Monoculture GMO Crops, Biofuels and Cattle Grazing

#6 Increasing the Cost of Food, While Reducing Nutrition and Biodiversity

#7 Spawning Pesticide-Resistant Superbugs and Weeds, and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

#8 Generating New and More Virulent Plant, Animal and Human Diseases

#9 Utilizing Wasteful Fossil Fuel-Intensive Practices and Encouraging the Expansion of Natural Gas Fracking and Tar Sands Extraction (Which Destroy Forests, Aquifers, and Farmland)

#10 Stealing Money From the 99% to Give Huge Subsidies to the 1% Wealthiest, Most Chemical and Energy-Intensive Farms and Food Producers

It's not enough to stop eating genetically engineered food. If we want a livable planet we've got to boycott all factory farmed food and make the Great Transition from energy and chemical-intensive agriculture to a relocalized and organic system of food and farming. The World According to Monsanto is a recipe for disaster. Monsanto and Big Ag contaminate every link in the food chain, threatening the very foundation of life: living nutrient-rich soil, clean water, resilient crops, healthy animals, stable climates, and diverse food sources. The good news is that agro-ecological and organic methods can reverse this threat and sustain food production for future generations, but we don't have much time to turn things around.

Take Action

Learn more:

"What About the State of Our Planet, Mr. President?" By Will Allen and Ronnie Cummins

The Farm Bill: Subsidizing Pollution, Junk Food, and the Richest 1%

American Academy of Pediatrics Promotes Big Pharma Agenda - Labeling and Drugging 4-year-olds

2011-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

From: CCHR: Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
http://www.cchrint.org/2011/10/17/american-academy-of-pediatrics-promotes-big-pharma-agenda%E2%80%94labeling-and-drugging-4-year-olds/
Video link: http://www.cchrint.org/videos/drugs/drugging-our-children-side-effects/
Check on DRUGS to find links to incredible stories

4-year-olds on drugs? Yes. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued new treatment guidelines for “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” that say ADHD can be diagnosed in kids as early as age four, and that Ritalin and similar drugs are an appropriate treatment even for children this young.

Apparently the “Academy” has no problem with the fact that the US FDA warns drugs like Ritalin can cause hallucinations, mania, heart attack, stroke and sudden death. Nor do they consider it a problem that a diagnoses of “ADHD” is based solely on a checklist of behaviors such as “loses pencils or toys,” “often does not seem to listen,” “is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli,” “fidgets” or “runs about or climbs excessively in situations when it is not appropriate.” And for this, children as young as four should be placed on drugs that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes in the same class of highly addictive drugs as cocaine, morphine and opium?

It should come as no surprise that the chairman of the new ADHD guidelines, Mark Wolraich, MD, is a periodic consultant to Shire Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Shinogi, and Next Wave Pharmaceuticals, or that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has received millions in pharmaceutical funding—In 2011, they received from $30,000 from Pfizer; $100,000 from Eli Lilly; and $79,650 from Merck. In 2010, they received $297,750 from Pfizer; $100,000 from Merck; and $3,000 from Shire. Between 2008 and 2009, AAP received another $69,000 from Pfizer.

This isn’t the first time the AAP has come under fire for promoting a pharmaceutical agenda - in 2008, they were exposed for their financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, when the academy issued guidelines recommending statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) for kids, after it was disclosed they had received substantial contributions from pharmaceutical companies with ties to statins, including $433,000 from Merck, $835,250 from Abbott Laboratories’ Ross Product Division and $216,000 from the Bristol-Myers Squibb company Mead Johnson Nutritionals.

Here are the only guidelines (also known as facts) that the AAP should be issuing:

1) There is no medical or scientific test that can validate ADHD as a medical condition or disease. Not one. Diagnoses are 100% subjective and mean nothing in medical terms.

2) 12 International drug regulatory agencies have issued warnings on ADHD drugs such as Ritalin causing depression, insomnia, mania, hallucinations, psychosis, heart attack, stroke and sudden death. The US DEA places Ritalin in the same category of highly addictive drugs as morphine, cocaine and opium.

3) No child should ever be subjected to mind-altering, life threatening drugs based solely on a checklist of behaviors.

Related Posts

New Study Confirms: Millions of kids misdiagnosed with ADHD and drugged

Is ADHD a Fictional Disease?

FDA’s Continual Responsibility for Making Our Children Into a Nation of Drug Addicts

Study Claims “ADHD Boys” Get in More Car Accidents—Fails to Mention ADHD Drug Side Effects & Recommends…More Drugging

ADHD’s Rapid Rise: 5 Theories [And One Answer]

Study: Unvaccinated children far less prone to allergies and disease than vaccinated children

2011-10-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 13, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033858_unvaccinated_children_health.html#ixzz1agIcJAtR

(NaturalNews) It is commonly assumed that vaccinations are responsible for bringing about substantial improvements in public health, and that humans were much more prone to developing serious disease prior to their advent. But a new survey released by VaccineInjury.info debunks this myth by showing that unvaccinated children are far less prone to developing allergies, autoimmune disorders, neurological problems, endocrine diseases, and other illnesses compared to their vaccinated counterparts.

German homeopathic practitioner Andreas Bachmair compiled health data on more than 8,000 unvaccinated children from at least 15 different countries, and compared it to health data compiled on more than 17,400 vaccinated children involved in a German study known as KiGGS - The German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents.

The children involved in both studies ranged in age from 0 - 17, but most of the children involved in the unvaccinated study were eight years of age or younger. Both studies, however, used the same criteria for collecting data on children's health, and both are considered to have arrived at valid results.

In every single health category evaluated as part of both studies, the overall health of unvaccinated children was leaps and bounds ahead of the vaccinated children. The allergy rate among vaccinated children, for instance, was more than double the allergy rate among unvaccinated children. And worse, vaccinated children were found to be nearly eight times more prone to developing asthma or chronic bronchitis than were unvaccinated children.

Another significant difference between the two groups was observed in the category of autoimmune disorders. While less than half of one percent of unvaccinated children were found to have developed an autoimmune disease, roughly seven percent of vaccinated children developed one -- and according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), nearly 25 percent of Americans today suffer from at least one autoimmune disorder.

The other health categories where unvaccinated children fared better than vaccinated children included neurodermatitis, herpes, otitis media, hay fever, hyperactivity, scoliosis, epilepsy and seizures, migraine headaches, and thyroid disease. The only category where disease rates were roughly equal between the two groups was in the category of diabetes mellitus, a disease which affects only about 0.2% of children under 20 anyway.

You can view the entire Bachmair vaccination study, complete with thorough details and visual graphs, by visiting:
http://www.vaccineinjury.info/vaccinations-in-general/health-unvaccinated-children/survey-results-illnesses.html

Why should you keep your vitamin D level around 50 ng/ml?

2011-09-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Vitamin D Newsletter A Publication of the Vitamin D
September 19, 2011 -- Dr John Cannell

Why should you keep your vitamin D level around 50 ng/ml? Four different sources, using four different rationales, and four different lines of reasoning, all lead to the same conclusion.

First, what is the vitamin D level of our closest simian relatives, such as chimpanzees living wild in Africa? Professor Reinhold Vieth reports the answer is between 40 and 60 ng/ml. This, by itself, does not prove we need such levels, but it certainly raises that question.

Second, what is the vitamin D level of humans who work in the sun without clothes, such as lifeguards, and without supplementing? We lived in the sun for 2 million years, so certainly lifeguards have more natural vitamin D levels than do people who work indoors. Again, the answer is between 40-60 ng/ml. Here, we have stronger naturalistic evidence unless one assumes the vitamin D levels of indoor workers are natural.

Third, what vitamin D levels do women have to achieve to convert from having little to having lots of vitamin D in their breast milk? Professors Bruce Hollis and Carole Wagner recently answered that question, again 40-60 ng/ml, enough to sustain the infant’s vitamin D levels. One could claim breast milk is not supposed to have vitamin D in it, and that primitive man was supposed to expose newborns to sunlight. But then you would be arguing that primitive man was supposed to expose their infants to predators, which I find unlikely. Besides, we know from the second reason that any woman receiving consistent full body sun exposure would have vitamin D in her breast milk.

Finally, what is the vitamin D level of people who show no evidence of substrate starvation? That is, at what level do people begin to store the parent compound (cholecalciferol) in their fat and muscles? Professor Robert Heaney answered that question: around 40 ng/ml. I remember seeing several patients in the hospital who had vitamin D levels of 40-50 ng/ml in February. Both had worked as roofers the summer before and both had worked with their shirts off. The mechanism for humans who migrated away from the equator must have been the same, to store the parent compound in muscle and fat during the summer for use in the winter. The body stores it well before it turns on the enzymatic machinery to get rid of excess vitamin D.

So we have the above four questions, questions from four very different sources. Chimps, outdoor workers, lactating women, and clinical subjects all lead to the same answer: 40 ng/ml is the lower limit of a natural level. Taking into account errors in laboratory testing and variations in human techniques, we must accept what the Endocrine Society recently recommended, that healthy vitamin D levels are somewhere around 50 ng/ml, levels the Vitamin D Council has advocated for the last 8 years.

SANE Vax, Inc. Reports Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) DNA Contamination in Gardasil™ To FDA: Requests Public Safety Investigation

2011-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/realityzone/UFNGEhpvvax.html
September 6, 2011 By Norma 2 Comments
By Norma Erickson, President

Troy, Mont.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SANE Vax Inc. announced today they sent a certified letter to FDA Commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg to inform the agency 100% of 13 samples of Merck & Companies HPV 4 Quadrivalent vaccine, Gardasil™ have been found to be contaminated with recombinant HPV DNA. The vaccine vials were from different lots currently marketed in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France and Poland.

Medical consumers from these countries asked SANE Vax Inc. to help determine if there is residual recombinant HPV DNA in the Gardasil™ vaccine currently used by their doctors. They are concerned that the recombinant DNA, if present, may have triggered some of the autoimmune-based inflammatory disorders and malignant tumors observed among children/young women after receiving Gardasil™ vaccinations.

According to Norma Erickson, president of SANE Vax, “A sexually naïve girl developed acute juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 13 within 24 hours after the third Gardasil™ injection and her blood sample – tested two years later – was found to be positive for HPV DNA by a local clinical laboratory.” A possible connection between HPV DNA in Gardasil™ and leukemia or lymphoma has also been raised by vaccine safety advocates, said Erickson.

The letter sent to Dr. Margaret Hamburg at the FDA stated, “One of the HPV DNA fragments detected in the vaccine is part of a synthetic construct (GenBank Locus SCU55993) for HPV11 major capsid protein L1 gene, a recombinant DNA genetically engineered specifically for manufacturing of the Gardasil vaccine.” “There is no doubt that the HPV DNA found in the vaccine represents an adventitious agent left over from the DNA recombinant manufacturing process with potential adverse impacts on health safety of those vaccinated. The recombinant DNA found in Gardasil is very tightly bound to aluminum hydroxyphosphate. When injected intramuscularly, this combination may function as a DNA vaccine with uncertain consequences,” said Erickson.

Both the FDA and the vaccine manufacturer assumed that there was no HPV DNA in Gardasil™ when the vaccine was approved for marketing, according to SANE Vax. “Because one hundred percent of the samples tested were positive for HPV DNA contamination, SANE Vax Inc. requests the FDA investigate the extent of the HPV DNA contamination in the Gardasil HPV4 vaccine currently on the market and take appropriate actions to ensure public safety regarding future shipments,” stated the letter.

The HPV DNA testing was performed by Dr. Sin Hang Lee, a pathologist at the Milford Hospital pathology laboratory known in using cutting-edge DNA sequencing for molecular diagnoses. This methodology was first reported to the FDA in 2006 and has been published in various peer-reviewed scientific journals, stated Erickson.

One of many sad stories

Gone After Gardasil: Christina, Maryland
August 15, 2011
Christina Richelle Tarsell – Maryland
November 1986 – June 2008

Born in November 1986, Christina had the world by the tail. Chris was an honors student throughout high school and college. She had just completed her Junior Year in Studio Art, at Bard College in New York, and was looking forward to returning to her summer job at the Center for Curatorial Studies. Chris was also an avid and accomplished athlete. As if that were not enough, Chris took her spare time to devote herself to community service. She was active in church, Girl Scouts, the National Honor Society and Amnesty International.

All of that ended 18 days after her third injection of Gardasil, when she was found dead in her bed at college.

Written by: Norma Erickson, Vaccines Examiner
For more information, read Emily Tarsell’s story here.
Visit Chris’s website here.
email: chriscares at live dot com

Congress Bans FDA From GM Fish Approval

2011-09-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Submitted by Lois Rain on June 23, 2011 – 1:40 pm
http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/06/23/congress-bans-fda-from-gm-fish-approval/#respond
6Share

The FDA’s constant GM approvals have left us up the stream, but Congress provided the paddle! The Senate has not currently ruled on the issue. AquaBounty Frankenfish would have been the first GE animal sold for human consumption. Our grocers and plates are safe from it for now; an advisory panel suggested that more safety reviews were needed until the super size fish became dinner.

The FDA’s approval was a sure bet as they still claim its safety for consumption; California was voting to at least label it, anticipating its swift arrival. Anti-GM animal arguing points are highlighted below as well as in other HFA articles. GM fish would have opened the gates for other modified animals like Enviro-pig and cattle that are resistant to mad cow disease.

Related:

Mouse-Pig & Super-Fish Seek Approval For Human Consumption

CA Votes to Label (Not Ban) GM Frankenfish

Bioengineered Salmon: California Bill Seeks Clear Label

Biotech Salmon Leaves Many Questions

~Health Freedoms

No ‘Frankensalmon’ in America: Congress bans FDA from approving genetically modified fish
Genetically modified salmon will not go on sale in the U.S. The House of Congress has voted to ban the Food and Drug Administration from passing the fish fit for human consumption. The FDA had said last year that they thought the fish, which grows twice as fast as normal salmon, appeared to be safe.

And they were expected to rule on the modified food later this year.

But an advisory panel had indicated that more studies would be needed before it could be served on the nation’s dinner tables. The salmon which grows at double-speed was created by Massachusetts company AquaBounty. They claim it is safe and environmentally sustainable.

But Alaskan Republican Don Young moved to block the move and offered an amendment to a farm spending bill on Wednesday that would prohibit the FDA from spending money to approve AquaBounty’s application.

Other critics have labeled the modified salmon a ‘frankenfish’ that possibly could cause allergies in humans and eventually decimate the wild salmon population.

AquaBounty has added a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to produce their growth hormone all year long. The bioengineers were able to keep the hormone active by using another gene from an eel-like fish called an ocean pout that acts like an on switch for the hormone, according to the company. Conventional salmon produce the growth hormone for only part of their life cycle.

The FDA has appeared favorable toward the engineered fish, saying there are no biologically relevant difference between the engineered salmon and conventional salmon and there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from its consumption.

The agency is also considering whether the fish needs to be labeled as modified.

Approval would open the door for a variety of other genetically engineered animals, including a more environmentally-friendly pig that is being developed in Canada or cattle that are resistant to mad cow disease.

Each would have to be approved by the FDA.

The Senate has not ruled on the issue.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2004315/Congress-bans-FDA-approving-genetically-modified-fish.html

USDA Certified Organic’s Dirty Little Secret: Neotame

2011-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Farm Wars – Fighting to Save the Family Farm
http://farmwars.info/?p=4897

By Barbara H. Peterson
Farm Wars

Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.

Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from its structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. (Holisticmed.com)

But surely, this product would be labeled! NOT SO!!! For this little gem, no labeling required. And it is even included in USDA Certified Organic food.

The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for:

• USDA Certified Organic food items.
• Certified Kosher products with the official letter k inside the circle on labels. (Janet Hull)

Neotame does not have to be included in ANY list of ingredients! So, if you buy processed food, whether USDA Certified Organic or not, that food may contain Neotame because it is cost-effective, and since no one knows it is there, there is no public backlash similar to what is happening with Aspartame.

In addition, cows are likely to be fed with feed containing Neotame. A product called “Sweetos,” which is actually composed of Neotame, is being substituted for molasses in animal feed.

“Sweetos is an economical substitute for molasses. Sweetos guarantees the masking of unpleasant tastes and odor and improves the palatability of feed. This product will be economical for farmers and manufacturers of cattle feed. It can also be used in mineral mixture,” said Craig Petray, CEO, The NutraSweet Company, a division of Searle, which is a part of Monsanto. (Bungalow Bill)

Why would we feed animals food that is so distasteful that we would have to mask the unpleasantness with an artificial sweetener? Most animals will not eat spoiled, rancid feed. They know by the smell that it is not good. But if you cover up the unpleasant tastes and odors with Sweetos, and you can feed cows anything you want to.

But of course, Monsanto is no longer associated with NutraSweet. In the time-honored tradition of covering its assets, Monsanto has a proven track record of spinning off controversial portions of its company that generate too much scrutiny, such as it did with the Solutia solution.

Says the Farm Industry News, “Monsanto, which has long resided in the crosshairs of public scorn and scrutiny, appears to have dodged at least one bullet by spinning off its industrial chemical business into a separate entity called Solutia a couple of years ago. Solutia has since been hammered by lawsuits regarding PCB contamination from what were once called Monsanto chemical plants in Alabama and other states” (Source Watch)

So what is the solution to this problem? Buy local organic food, know your local farmer, and don’t buy processed foods whether they are labeled “Organic” or not.

(C) 2010 Barbara H. Peterson

The Gulf Oil Mystery Illnesses Coverup

2011-08-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Mystery Illness Confirmed By Doctor In Louisiana, BP Cover Up?
http://theintelhub.com/2011/04/22/mystery-illness-confirmed-by-doctor-in-louisiana-bp-cover-up/
The Intel Hub
By Alex Thomas
April 21st, 2011

A mystery illness that has plagued citizens in the Gulf of Mexico has now been confirmed by Dr. Mike Robichaux, a doctor based out of Raceland, Louisiana. “What’s been really unique about it is that patients have come in with a severe amount of memory loss. Very high blood pressure — blood pressures that are going sky high and then coming down to normal, and then blood sugar levels that are fluctuating. Lastly would be some pulmonary problems and some fairly serious (gastrointestinal) problems,” Robichaux told CNN on Thursday.

Dr. Robichaux has treated at least 60 patients and believes that many more are suffering from these mystery illnesses. This news has been covered up by, most corporate media outlets and newspapers.

Without courageous doctors like Dr. Robichaux, the fact that a large chunk of Louisiana citizens are suffering from a mystery illness would be labeled just another conspiracy theory. The fact that millions of gallons of toxic Corexit was sprayed throughout the Gulf of Mexico seems to have caught up to the victims of the large scale dispersant operation that was carried about by BP and the Coast Guard.

Short Life Expectancy for BP Whistleblowers?
By Pat Shannan
A number of BP whistle blowing scientists have died mysteriously, been jailed on questionable charges or disappeared without a trace.

Matthew Simmons, 67, a former energy advisor to President George W. Bush died in his hot tub in Maine last August. Simmons had been gaining popularity as a whistle blower for blaming BP for its covered-up responsibility in defacing and vandalizing the Gulf of Mexico while hiding the truth from the general public.

Four days later, Ted Stevens, the 87-year-old defrocked senator from Alaska, said to have received communications regarding BP’s faulty blowout preventer, perished in a plane crash.
Roger Grooters began a cross country bike ride in Oceanside, Calif. on Sept. 10 to draw attention to the Gulf Coast oil disaster. On Oct. 6, in front of the horrified eyes of his wife, who was trailing in a support vehicle, Grooters was struck by a truck and killed instantly in Panama City, Fla.
A month later, Dr. Geoffrey Gardner of Lakeland, Fla. disappeared. He was investigating the unexplained bird deaths near Sarasota that are suspected to have been caused by the BP oil disaster. No one has heard from or spoken with him since.

On Nov. 15, Chitra Chaunhan was found dead of cyanide poisoning in a Temple Terrace, Fla. hotel. She worked in the Center for Biological Defense and Global Health Infectious Disease Research and left behind a husband and five-year-old child.

The following week, James Patrick Black, director of operations for BP’s restoration organization for the oil spill, died near Destin, Fla. in a small plane crash.

Dr. Thomas B. Manton was one of the first to warn the public that far more oil than what BP had reported was gushing into the gulf every day and that the massive, toxic oil and chemical plumes would travel up the eastern seaboard, contaminating beaches and wildlife all the way. Dr. Tom Termotto, national coordinator of the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference, says Manton was murdered in prison. Manton had been sentenced to 15 years last August on a phony child pornography charge. Termotto and others say evidence was planted on his computer.

It is not known whether or not Anthony Nicholas Tremonte, 31, posed any threat to BP, but he too was arrested in January and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. Was this charge also faked? He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Pat Shannan is a contributing editor of American Free Press. He is also the author of several videos and books including One in a Million: An IRS Travesty, I Rode With Tupper and Everything They Ever Told Me Was a Lie. All of Pat’s books are available from FIRST AMENDMENT BOOKS. Call 202-547-5585 for availability and pricing.

Deadly new disease linked to recent crop failures and animal miscarriages caused by GM crops, pesticides

2011-07-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033043_GMOs_crop_failures.html#ixzz1SkLpraRO

(Natural News) The recent upswing in crop failures and spontaneous animal miscarriages appears to be the result of a deadly new plant disease, suggests a prominent researcher. According to ongoing research being conducted by Emeritus Professor Don Huber from Purdue University in Indiana, this disease is likely a result of genetically-modified (GM) crops and the pesticides and herbicides used to grow them.

Reported on by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the findings do not specifically pinpoint whether GMOs, their pesticides, or a combination of both is directly responsible for spawning the pathogen, but Huber says that, either way, GM systems are clearly a detriment to the environment, animal health, and likely human health.

"They're finding anywhere from 20 percent to as much as 55 percent of those [animals] will miscarriage or spontaneously abort," Huber told reporters, concerning farm animals that contact the deadly pathogen as a result of eating GM corn and soybeans. "[The pathogen] will kill a chicken embryo, for instance, in 24-48 hours."

Plants and crops are suffering the much the same fate, according to Huber, because GMOs and their chemicals are robbing soil of many nutrients, and preventing uptake of what few nutrients remain. This disruption of proper microbial balance leaves plants an easy target for many diseases that eventually kill them.

"If you have the [GM] gene present, there is a reduced efficiency for the plant to use those nutrients," added Huber. "When you put the glyphosate out then you have an additional factor to reduce the nutrient availability to the crop."

As NaturalNews reported previously, the increasing use of glyphosate, also known as Roundup, has led to skyrocketing cases of plant disease. And its many other negative effects on humans, animals, and the environment, though denied by Monsanto and others in the industry, cannot be denied based on available evidence.

To listen to ABC's complete interview with Prof. Huber, visit:
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3245624.htm

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033043_GMOs_crop_failures.html#ixzz1SkLpraRO

Fluoride Causes Brain Damage

2011-07-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Submitted by Lois Rain on June 27, 2011

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/06/27/new-study-fluoride-damages-brain-keep-from-children/

A breaking new study outright displays the unquestionable danger of fluoride use. Safety officials often dismissed fluoride concerns with the fact that water supplies contain on one part per million fluoride but the study published in Neurologia warned that this amount is dangerous.

Other severe cautions in the results include fluoride’s extreme toxicity and ability to cross the blood brain barrier, avoiding its use altogether especially for children, evidence that it can take 20 years for the toxic accumulation to manifest its effects and more. Fluoride effects biochemistry, neurological and mental development, destruction of teeth, and pregnancies. “Animal studies show fluoride’s toxic brain effects include classic brain abnormalities found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”

NEW YORK, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-US Newswire/ — “The prolonged ingestion of fluoride may cause significant damage to health and particularly to the nervous system,” concludes a review of studies by researchers Valdez-Jimenez, et al. published in Neurologia (June 2011), reports New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF). The research team reports, “It is important to be aware of this serious problem and avoid the use of toothpaste and items that contain fluoride, particularly in children as they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride.” (1)

“Fluoride can be toxic by ingesting one part per million (ppm), and the effects are not immediate, as they can take 20 years or more to become evident,” they write.

Most fluoridating U.S. public drinking water suppliers add fluoride chemicals to deliver 1 ppm fluoride (equal to about 1 milligram per quart) intending to benefit teeth and not to purify the water.

“Fluoridation clearly jeopardizes our children and must be stopped,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, NYSCOF. ”We can actually see how fluoride has damaged children’s teeth with dental fluorosis; but we can’t see the harm it’s doing to their brains and other organs. No U.S. researcher is even looking,” says Beeber.

Valdez-Jimenez, et al. describe studies that show fluoride induces changes in the brain’s physical structure and biochemistry which affects the neurological and mental development of individuals including cognitive processes, such as learning and memory. “Fluoride is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which may cause biochemical and functional changes in the nervous system during pregnancy, since the fluoride accumulates in brain tissue before birth,” they write.*
A different research team (Tang et al.) reported in 2008 that “A qualitative review of the studies found a consistent and strong association between the exposure to fluoride and low IQ.” (Biological Trace Element Research) (2)

In 2006, the U.S. National Research Council’s (NRC) expert fluoride panel reviewed fluoride toxicology and concluded, “It’s apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain.” And, “Fluorides also increase the production of free radicals in the brain through several different biological pathways. These changes have a bearing on the possibility that fluorides act to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.” (3)

On April 12, 2010, Time magazine listed fluoride as one of the “Top Ten Common Household Toxins” and described fluoride as both “neurotoxic and potentially tumorogenic if swallowed.” (4)

Phyllis Mullenix, Ph.D., was the first U.S. scientist to find evidence that fluoride damages the brain. She published her animal study in a respected peer-reviewed scientific journal in 1995 (5) and then was fired for doing so.(6)

References: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/fluoridation-news-releases/rD7pCONMcLw/discussion

Contact: Paul Beeber, JD, 516-433-8882 nyscof@aol.com
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
http://www.fluoridation.webs.com
SOURCE: NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-fluoride-can-damage-the-brain—avoid-use-in-children-124299299.html

"Fracking" is So Bad It Sets Tapwater on Fire, Just See the Documentary "Gasland": The Thom Hartmann Review

2011-05-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 1:11pm.
Thom Hartmann

THOM HARTMANN'S "INDEPENDENT THINKER" REVIEW OF THE MONTH FOR TRUTHOUT/BUZZFLASH
APRIL 2011

Each month or so, BuzzFlash is privileged to have nationally syndicated progressive talk show host, television newscasterand author Thom Hartmann review a progressive book or DVD exclusively for BuzzFlash/Truthout. See all of Thom's reviews for Truthout/BuzzFlash at "Independent Thinker."

Gasland (DVD) (Available by clicking the link, with a minimum contribution to Truthout/BuzzFlash)
Directed and Narrated by Josh Fox
Reviewed by Thom Hartmann

Both aesthetically and practically, there are several things that make Josh Fox's documentary "Gasland" extraordinary and unique - and, frankly, the sort of view that will make you want to share it with everybody you know (particularly if they are politically active or an elected official!).

The first is that Josh Fox - the guy who made the movie - is also the guy who lived the story. Rarely do we find this combination in a documentary, and when we do it's often because somebody who was already an accomplished documentarian went out in search of a story to jump into and make a movie from. In this case, the story started with Josh being offered what are really big bucks - $100,000 - for poor people in rural Pennsylvania, if only he'd let his land be used to drill for natural gas.

This started Fox on his odyssey, which led him from the hills of Pennsylvania, across the American Midwest and West, and ultimately to discoveries about mind-bogglingly corrupt deals made by the Bush Administration and Dick Cheney which - literally - have and continue to poison American citizens.

The main focus of "Gasland" is "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing, a way of busting up underground seams of shale so distributed bubbles of gas can form into large, and tappable, pools of natural gas. Think of breaking up the inside of a sponge, for example.

The technique involves a witches' brew (no slur intended on our noble Wiccan friends - just don't have a better term) of toxic chemicals, waste water, and whatever else may be at hand pumped into the ground under incredible pressure to crack or fracture these underground formations. In a perfect world -- with water tables always totally separate from the places where God put them -- it actually has a certain engineering geek elegance to it.

But this isn't that fantasy world. Instead of just recovering gas, the chemicals often seep into water tables - usually with some of the natural gas - leading to some of the most dramatic scenes in the movie where residents of gas country are able to light their tap water on fire as it's coming out of the tap.

It's a testimony to Fox's brilliant filmmaking that "fracking" has become part of our lexicon, Halliburton's and Cheney's crimes are becoming more widely known, and citizens are organizing across the nation to fight back. Another backhand testimony can be seen in all the very clean/beautiful/elegant TV ads - costing the industry millions - to try to make America's natural gas industry so pure, friendly, job-creating, and all-American. If Fox hadn't made this movie, they wouldn't have to be spending all this money to greenwash their dirty work.

This movie shows the essential goodness and, frankly, vulnerability of most middle Americans - while bringing into stark relief the horrors of the behavior of the few sociopathic predators among us who have used their lack of a conscience to elevate themselves to positions of great power and wealth.

(You can obtain a copy of the "Gasland" DVD with a minimum contribution to Truthout/BuzzFlash by clicking here.)

Thom Hartmann is a New York Times bestselling author and host of the top nationally syndicated progressive radio talk show. You can learn more about Thom Hartmann at his website and find out what stations broadcast his program. He also now has a daily television program at RT Network. You can also listen to Thom over the Internet.

You can also read Thom's seminal book on corporate personhood, "Unequal Protection," exclusively on Truthout. Or receive the book with a minimum donation to Truthout.

BOCA Burgers Admits It Uses Genetically Engineered Ingredients

2011-03-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

"It's a fact that much of the high-quality soy grown in the U.S. has been genetically engineered, so the traditional BOCA line of soy-based products may contain ingredients derived from these crops."
- BOCA's Frequently Asked Questions

BOCA Burgers is a popular so-called "natural" brand of veggie burgers owned by Kraft Foods. Companies like Kraft work hand-in-hand with Monsanto to lace common foods with GM (Genetically Modified) ingredients, with absolutely no labeling nor safety-testing required, and in many cases market these products as "natural." Kraft, North America's largest food company, has perfected the art of turning genetically engineered crops and animals raised in factory farms on GMO feed and injected with Monsanto's (now Elanco's) rBGH into "food."

While Kraft/BOCA claims to offer what they describe as "non-GMO" versions of its soy foods, these products are neither certified organic (organic prohibits GMOs) nor monitored by the Non-GMO Project, so it's impossible to verify BOCA's non-GMO claims. Likewise, Back to Nature, another so-called "natural" Kraft brand, claims that some of the corn and soy ingredients in their non-organic foods are "non-genetically engineered," but these claims are not verifiable either.

Tell Kraft you'll be boycotting BOCA Burgers, Back to Nature products, or any Kraft products that aren't certified as organic.

Take Action

A Shocking Video of a Young Marine whose Life was Ruined by a Vaccine and the Cover Up

2011-02-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Thousands and thousands have been hurt by vaccines. From the many who lost the
children they were carrying, to the young girls killed or injured by Gardasil
(which they now want to give to baby girls and boys), to the perfectly normal
kids, who, right after a shot, became autistic. Still, people who do NO
research trust their government and insist that vaccines are safe. I guess
this is survival of the smartest- those who do NOT take in the poisons the
authorities offer. The following video is by a young marine whose life has
been ruined by a vaccine with which the military secretly (without putting it
into their records) poisoned him and "thousands."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7M_TZpQiIY&feature=player_embedded

Read Lita's Other Blogs about Vaccines:

What’s Really to Blame for California’s Whooping Cough Epidemic?

2011-01-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Posted By Dr. Mercola January 07 2011

In 2010, nearly 1,000 adults and children have tested positive for whooping cough -- and more than half of them had been vaccinated. An investigation by California news agencies and watchdog organizations is raising serious concerns about whether the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine is actually working.

In the links below, you will learn just how often the vaccine fails and start to understand how vaccinated people are actually spreading the disease.

Sources:
10News December 13, 2010
KPBS December 16, 2010
KPBS December 10, 2010

Whooping Cough Cases Increase Despite High Vaccination Rates

As Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, reported:
"Even with super high pertussis vaccine coverage in America and other countries like the Netherlands, Australia, Finland and Canada, whooping cough disease cannot be prevented. Every several years a new outbreak is reported.

Why?

First, pertussis vaccines widely used since the 1950's have not prevented whooping cough disease from circulating in vaccinated populations. Unknown numbers of children and adults, who have gotten all government recommended pertussis shots, can and do develop whooping cough or are carriers without symptoms.

Because pertussis vaccine immunity is only temporary and does not last, health officials are now telling teenagers and adults to get more booster shots.

A second reason is that another Bordetella organism – parapertussis – also can cause whooping cough. B. parapertussis symptoms, while often milder, can look exactly like B. pertussis. But doctors rarely recognize or test for parapertussis. And there is NO vaccine for parapertussis.

The DTaP vaccine does not protect. Thus, whooping cough outbreaks and deaths cannot be blamed on parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. The older DPT and newer DTaP vaccines have simply never been very effective.

Whooping Cough Manufacturers Fund “Expert” Groups on Vaccine Policy

This includes the Global Pertussis Initiative, which includes 35 medical experts from 16 countries, and the International Consensus Group on Pertussis Immunization. Research from members of the Global Pertussis Initiative is widely cited and has been used for setting vaccination schedules and publicizing health guidelines in countries around the world, including the United States.

Whooping Cough Vaccine Risks You Should Know

As Barbara Loe Fisher states:
"Of all the vaccines which have been routinely used by children in the past century, the brain damaging effects of the pertussis (whooping cough) portion of DPT vaccine is among the most well documented in the scientific literature.

Here are numerous personal accounts from families of children who died or became seriously ill following the DPT vaccine in this transcript of a 1986 meeting of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee. This was shortly after a similar whooping cough outbreak in 1985, during which most of the media also blamed the outbreak on parents of unvaccinated kids.
I recommend Barbara Loe Fisher's book DPT: A Shot in the Dark, the first major, well documented critique of America's mass vaccination system.

The DTaP vaccine, this shot has been linked to:

Fever, including high fever over 105 degrees F
Seizure
Non-stop crying
Serious allergic reaction
Permanent brain damage
Coma
Swelling of the entire arm or leg where the shot was given

Get the Facts Straight Before You Vaccinate

Whooping cough is still infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, and cases increase every four to five years no matter how high the vaccination rate. Many, if not most, children and adults survive whooping cough without any complications whatsoever, but some do not.

Related Links:

Why Dr. Snyderman's Whooping Cough Vaccine Rant is a Total SHAM…
Whooping Cough Kills 5 in California -- State Declares an Epidemic
Whooping Cough Increases Despite All the Vaccinations
Vaccine Liberation Army

How Psychiatric Drugs Can Kill Your Child

2010-11-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

From the Vaccine Liberation Army

This site has many stories, DVDs, articles and the effects of drugs and vaccinations on young people. Before you take your child to a doctor for any behavior problem, please check out this site and watch the DVD.

“Had we been told the truth about the dangerous effects of the psychiatric drug our son was given, he would be alive today”

An upclose and personal story and stories given by a group of dedicated mothers, most of whom have lost a child due to the rampant doling out of prescription drugs. These gals, up close and personal, are on a mission to educate the world as to the real danger and risks of putting a child on psyche drugs. This may bring tears to your eyes. Buy a few of this DVD for your legislators and for friends that you know whose children have been labeled as ADHD or depressed. This documentary will wake them up to the reality of what dangers lie ahead!

Check out the 2,500 suicides and homicide stories.

Behavior problems are NOT a disease, they come from stress and nutritional deficiencies.

Anti-Stress Program for children: Nutritional support for mild panic, depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, insomnia and nervousness

Please take your appropriate multiple digestive enzyme - usually PAN (sugar intolerance) is indicated, 2 caps with each meal 3x/d. But, sometimes additional formulas are required. The Loomis 24-hour urine test will determine the exact formulas needed. Contact Lita Lee for more information.

Enzymes for nutritional support of stress

SvG - take 2 caps with meals for carbohydrate cravings and to stop the racing mind, relax, become serene or meditate. Can be taken between meals too.

Adr - digests sucrose and puts glucose into the brain. Take 2 caps with meals to digest sugar and to help relieve depression, stress, panic, moodiness, anger and when you wake up at night.

CLM - for nervousness and emotional upsets and for people who suffer severe emotional, mental or physical stress. Take 2 caps as needed anytime – with or between meals.

TRMA - for anxiety, sighing a lot, plus immune system problems. Take 4 caps between meals as needed.

Converting Plastic into Gasoline, Diesel, Kerosene or Gas

2010-11-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

An idea that is way past due...

Source: http://www.flixxy.com/convert-plastic-to-oil.htm

The perils of plastic are nothing new to most of us. A lesser-known fact,
however, is that plastic has a higher energy value than just about any other
type of waste. To harness this energy while addressing the waste problem,
Japanese company Blest has created a machine that converts several types of
plastic into oil.

Rather than burning the plastic using flame, which generates CO2, the
machine uses a temperature-controlled electric heater to convert plastic
into crude gas, which can then be used to power gas-based household
appliances like stoves, boilers and generators or, if refined, can even be
pumped into a car or motorcycle. Small yet highly efficient, the machine
produces nearly one liter of oil -- gasoline, diesel or kerosene -- from every
kilogram of plastic, requiring only 1 kilowatt of electricity for the
conversion.

Though the machine currently processes only plastic class 2, 3 and 4
(polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene) and not class 1 (PET bottles),
it still offers a remarkable solution to a serious problem and has many
potential applications. Blest CEO Akinori Ito says there currently over 60
machines installed at farms, fisheries and small factories in Japan as well
as a handful abroad. They can be used for everything from converting trash
left behind by tourists into oil to power tour busses and boats to powering
restaurant kitchen stoves with plastic from food packaging.

Lastly, people from around the world are anxious to know if and where they
can purchase a machine. Though the company still mainly produces larger,
industrial-use machines, Blest Co. will be more than happy to hear from you.
Please contact them directly at info@blest.co.jp.

How to Opt Out of the TSA's Naked Body Scanners at the Airport

2010-11-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/030100_naked_body_scanners_airport.html

(NaturalNews) I encountered my first airport naked body scanner while flying out of California today, and of course I decided to "opt out" of the scan. You do this by telling the blue-shirted TSA agents that you simply wish to opt out of the body scanner. Here's what happened after that.

A TSA agent told me to step to the side and stay put. He then proceeded to shout out loudly enough for all the other travelers and TSA agents to hear, "OPT OUT! OPT OUT!" This is no doubt designed to attract attention (or perhaps humiliation) to those who choose to opt out of the naked body scanner. I saw no purpose for this verbal alert because the same TSA agent who was yelling this ultimately was the one who patted me down anyway.

For the pat down, first I was required to walk through the regular metal detector. From there, I was asked if I wanted to be patted down in a private room, or if I didn't mind just being patted down in full view of everyone else. Not being a shy person in the first place, I told the agent I didn't need a private room.

He then explained to me that he was going to pat down my entire body, including my crotch and my buttocks, but that he would use the back of his hands to pat down the crotch and buttocks areas. This is probably designed to make the pat-down seem less "personal" and more detached. That way, air passengers can't complain of being felt up by TSA agents who might get carried away with the pat-down procedure. He asked if it hurt for me to be touched anywhere, and I told him no, at which point he proceeded with the pat down.

It was a well-scripted pat-down, covering all the areas of my body, including a mild crotch sweep (it wasn't especially invasive or anything, as doctors will do far worse during a physical exam). He swept my arms, legs, hips, back of the neck, ankles and everywhere else. To the TSA's credit, this guy was fast, efficient and only used a light touch that was in no way disturbing. But it did take an extra five minutes or so compared to walking through the naked body scanner.

The TSA, of course, will tell you that these machines can't possibly contribute to cancer. But they said the same thing about mammograms, and we now know that mammograms are so harmful to women's health that they actually harm ten women for everyone one woman they help (http://www.naturalnews.com/020829.html). So I'm not exactly taking the U.S. government at its word that naked body scanner radiation is "harmless."

The most fascinating part about this entire process was the curious fact that I was the only one opting out. I must have watched at least a hundred people go through this particular security checkpoint, there wasn't a single other person who opted out of the naked body scan. They all just lined up like cattle to have their bodies scanned with ionizing radiation.

It is hard for me to believe that when people are given a choice to opt out of being irradiated, they will choose to just go along with the naked body scan rather than risk standing out by requesting to opt out.

I wonder if TSA's naked body scanners enhance air travel security at all. Previous security tests conducted by the FAA show quite clearly that the greatest threat to airplane safety isn't from the passengers but from ground crews, where bombs and other materials can be quite easily smuggled onto planes.

H1N1 Swine Flu Hoax Continues

2010-10-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

H1N1 Swine Flu is Milder than Seasonal Strains, So Why is the H1N1 Vaccine Still Being Promoted This Year?

Posted By Dr. Mercola September 21 2010

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/21/h1n1-swine-flu-even-milder-than-seasonal-strains.aspx

The H1N1 flu was no more serious than most seasonal strains, according to a new study. H1N1 virus disproportionately affected children and young adults, but the symptoms and risk of complications were similar to those of seasonal influenza viruses.

Reuters reports: “This year, it is doubtful H1N1 pandemic flu will be noticed ... most people are now immune to this strain, because it spread so far and wide.”

Sources:
Business Week September 7, 2010
JAMA September 8, 2010; 304(10): 1091-1098
FoodConsumer.org September 8, 2010

It was around this time last year that swine flu hysteria was sweeping across the United States and much of the world. We were told by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that H1N1 swine flu was deadly and millions might die worldwide. The terrifying, deadly pandemic that health officials had been expecting was knocking at our doorstep … only it never materialized. Nevertheless, government agencies remained steadfast in their urgings to get vaccinated.

Swine Flu is a Mild Virus, and the Pandemic was a Fake

A new report in JAMA found that serious complications were no more likely in adults and kids with swine flu than they were in those with regular seasonal flu. This is an important finding to further solidify that the 2009 swine flu pandemic will likely go down as one of the most massive cover-ups in American history.

Within a week of Australia reporting that the swine flu virus appeared to be 40 times less lethal than originally feared, the World Health Organization (WHO) instructed countries to simply stop lab confirming suspected H1N1 cases, which meant that any and all flu-like symptoms were reported as pandemic influenza, padding the statistics.

It was only June 11, 2009 when WHO raised its swine flu pandemic alert from a 5 to a 6. By this time the swine flu virus was already showing itself to have mild symptoms, quick recovery time, and low incidence of death among the vast majority of H1N1 patients throughout the world. This allowed the drug companies to begin shipping out their profitable new H1N1 vaccine across the world.

The Swine Flu May be a Memory … but the Vaccine is Still Here and Being Promoted

While the swine flu is mild for most people, the vaccine has been causing a host of reactions in both children and adults.

According to Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center, a special government committee created to investigate last year's H1N1 swine flu vaccine for signs of a higher rate of certain kinds of reactions found that there were three signs of trouble with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine used last year. In a recent NVIC video update, Fisher explained:
"One was Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which we know has been associated with influenza vaccine since 1976 when the first swine flu vaccine was used.

There is [also] a sign of a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia is when your blood cannot produce enough platelets. It's an autoimmune type reaction.

The other is Bell's palsy. That's a facial paralysis. It's a neuroimmune reaction.

Sweden and Finland also recently sounded the alarm because young patients suddenly developed narcolepsy after being vaccinated with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. France, Germany and Norway have also started counting cases, and the EU has launched an investigation.
Earlier this year, Australia suspended use of its seasonal flu vaccine for children under the age of 5 back in April after detecting an abnormal number of side effects within 12 hours of vaccination, compared to previous years. Side effects included high fevers and seizures.

Despite outstanding questions about the safety of this year’s seasonal influenza vaccine containing the reactive H1N1 swine flu component, including warning signs from Australia and Europe about seizures and other neurological complications, the United States is now moving into the 2010-2011 flu season using a flu vaccine that may be very reactive.

Handing Out Statin Drugs at Fast Food Restaurants? What's Next?

2010-08-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

NaturalNews Insider Alert ( www.NaturalNews.com ) email newsletter
Friday, August 13, 2010
http://www.naturalnews.com/029467_statin_drugs_fast_food.html

A lead researcher from Imperial College London has declared that fast food restaurants should hand out statin drugs as if they were ketchup packets. That way, he says, people can counteract the bad effects of eating junk food with the so-called "good effects" of taking statin drugs with their meals.

This is not a joke! A medical doctor from Imperial College London whose study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology has proclaimed that people who eat burgers and milkshakes at fast food restaurants should be given free statin drugs to counteract the cholesterol effects of eating burgers.

"Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge," says Dr. Darrel Francis, lead author of study, who goes on to complain that statin drugs shouldn't be prescription drugs at all. People should be able to get them as easily as asking for a packet of ketchup: "It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge," Francis says, calling statins a "supplement" instead of a drug.

What Francis doesn't mention is the disastrous side effects of statin drugs: memory loss, extreme muscle pain and weakness, kidney failure, the loss of CoQ10 (a vital nutrient for heart health), liver damage, erectile dysfunction, constipation and much more. But this doctor from Imperial College London apparently doesn't believe such side effects are a big deal. Statin drugs are so safe, he says, that fast food restaurants should just hand them out like candy.

The very premise of this argument is extremely dangerous: That you can go ahead and keep eating toxic fast food as long as you "protect" yourself by taking dangerous chemical medications. But in the real world, where the laws of biochemistry don't cater to the absurd ideas of drug-pushing researchers, fast food is bad for your health... and so is taking chemical medications.

If Imperial College London can actually issue a press release touting this quack research, and if a high-level researcher like Dr. Darrel Francis can genuinely conclude that free medications should be handed out to customers like ketchup packets, then what else might these people come up with?

Sources for this story:
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_12-8-2010-11-24-54

Articles Related to This Article:

Ethanol and Animal Feed from Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) Corn Are the Biggest Culprits in Gulf Dead Zone

2010-07-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

#232, July 8, 2010
Dead zone in gulf linked to ethanol production
By Carolyn Lochhead

SF Gate, July 6, 2010
Straight to the Source

While the BP oil spill has been labeled the worst environmental catastrophe in recent U.S. history, a biofuel is contributing to a Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" the size of New Jersey that scientists say could be every bit as harmful to the gulf.

Each year, nitrogen used to fertilize corn, about a third of which is made into ethanol, leaches from Midwest croplands into the Mississippi River and out into the gulf, where the fertilizer feeds giant algae blooms. As the algae dies, it settles to the ocean floor and decays, consuming oxygen and suffocating marine life.

Known as hypoxia, the oxygen depletion kills shrimp, crabs, worms and anything else that cannot escape. The dead zone has doubled since the 1980s and is expected this year to grow as large as 8,500 square miles and hug the Gulf Coast from Alabama to Texas.

As to which is worse, the oil spill or the hypoxia, "it's a really tough call," said Nathaniel Ostrom, a zoologist at Michigan State University. "There's no real answer to that question."

Some scientists fear the oil spill will worsen the dead zone, because when oil decomposes, it also consumes oxygen. New government estimates on Thursday indicated that the BP oil spill had gushed as much as 141 million gallons since an oil-rig explosion and well blowout on April 20 that killed 11 workers.

Corn is Biggest Culprit

The gulf dead zone is the second-largest in the world, after one in the Baltic Sea. Scientists say the biggest culprit is industrial-scale corn production. Corn growers are heavy users of both nitrogen and pesticides. Vast monocultures of corn and soybeans, both subsidized by the federal government, have displaced diversified farms and grasslands throughout the Mississippi Basin.

"The subsidies are driving farmers toward more corn," said Gene Turner, a zoologist at Louisiana State University. "More nitrate comes off corn fields than it does off of any other crop by far. And nitrogen is driving the formation of the dead zone."

The dead zone, he said, is "a symptom of the homogenization of the landscape. We just have a few crops on what used to have all kinds of different vegetation."

In 2007, Congress passed a renewable fuels standard that requires ethanol production to triple in the next 12 years. The Department of Agriculture has just rolled out a plan to meet that goal, including building ethanol refineries in every state. The Environmental Protection Agency will decide soon whether to increase the amount of ethanol in gasoline blends from 10 percent to 15 percent.

A 2008 National Research Council report warned of a "considerable" increase in damage to the gulf if ethanol production is increased.

Antibacterial Soaps with Triclosan may be Harmful, says FDA

2010-07-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.naturalnews.com/ printable article
Originally published July 1 2010
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The FDA is reevaluating the safety of a popular chemical additive called triclosan, based on recent studies that seem to indicate it causes endocrine disruption in the body and leads to the emergence of drug-resistant "super" bacteria.

Triclosan is commonly found in liquid antibacterial hand soaps and sanitizers, dishwashing detergents, shaving gels, toothpastes, clothing and even children's toys. It was originally designed as a surgical scrub for people in the medical field, but is now used in pesticides and a variety of different consumer products to ward off pathogens.

It is so common in popular consumer goods that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), traces of triclosan can be found in the urine of about 75 percent of the population.

Triclosan is used because it is believed to be a powerful antibacterial and antifungal agent, however other than as a treatment for gingivitis in toothpaste, there is no evidence that it provides any benefits in other consumer product applications. A 2005 advisory panel to the FDA agreed, noting that there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps with triclosan work any better than plain soap and water.

"The proliferation of triclosan in everyday consumer products is so enormous, it is literally in almost every type of product – [it's in] most soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics, clothes and toys," explained Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who has been urging federal regulators to reevaluate the safety of triclosan in consumer products.

"It's in our drinking water, it's in our rivers and as a result, it's in our bodies, [and] I don't think a lot of additional data has to be collected in order to make the simple decisions about children's toys and soaps that people use. It clearly is something that creates a danger."

The Soap and Detergent Association, a group that represents the $30 billion U.S. cleaning products industry, was quick to defend the safety of triclosan, insisting that decades of research verify the chemical is safe and effective.

But many other are not buying it, including the Natural Resources Defense Council which believes that triclosan use should be restricted.

According to reports, the FDA has allegedly been working for over 38 years to establish rules for the use of triclosan but has not completed the assignment. Throughout this time the agency has continued to approve its usage, including a 1997 decision to allow its use in Colgate Total toothpaste, but is now reevaluating that decision.

Note from Lita Lee: why not use plain old natural and non-toxic soap. I use liquid soap, specifically Citricidal liquid skin cleanser. It does not contain triclosan.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040704621.html

Generation Monsanto (GM) - Why We Need Labels on GM Foods Now

2010-07-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Organic Bytes

Health, Justice and Sustainability News from the Organic Consumers Association #229
June 17, 2010

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins
http://mail.google.com/a/litalee.com/#inbox/12947a0ddac9da5d

Gen-M, the first Monsanto Generation of humans force-fed genetically modified foods hasn't reached reproductive age yet (they were born in the late 1990s). But, if a critical mass of animal feeding studies are any indication, the millennial generation, reared on Food Inc.'s unlabeled "Frankenfoods" can look forward to a long-term epidemic of cancer, food allergies, learning disabilities, sterility, and birth defects.

Corn (85% of U.S. production is GM), soy (91% GM), cotton (88% GM), canola (85% GM) and sugar beets (95% GM) are all genetically engineered by Monsanto to withstand massive doses of the company's glyphosate herbicide RoundUp, or else to exude their own pesticide, Bacillus Thuriengensis (Bt). RoundUp, the favorite weedkiller poison of non-organic farmers and gardeners, causes brain, intestinal and heart defects in fetuses. And scientists warn that RoundUp, the most extensively used herbicide in the history of agriculture, "may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious." In addition, hundreds of thousands of US dairy cows are injected with genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone (developed by Monsanto) in spite of studies linking BGH with cancer, and longstanding bans on the drug in the EU, Japan, Canada, and most industrialized nations.

With genetically modified foods and crops threatening public health and the environment, not to mention the next generation's reproductive capacity, why isn't there a massive consumer outcry to restrain Monsanto's biotech bullying and ban genetically engineered foods and agriculture?

The answer is disturbingly simple. Collusion between Monsanto and elected public officials has obscured the fact that almost all non-organic foods in the US contain GMOs. Despite poll after poll indicating that 85-95% of US consumers want mandatory labels on foods containing GMOs, Congress has heretofore listened to Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, rather than their own constituents. In the European Union, Japan, or South Korea, where GM foods must be labeled, there are no GM foods on grocery story shelves (and little or none served in restaurants), since most consumers would not buy them and a significant number would complain if they saw GMO labels on products. Consequently there are very few GM crops being cultivated in the EU (mainly a small amount of corn in Spain for animal feed).

Most Americans simply do not understand that 80% of non-organic supermarket processed foods (basically every product containing soy, corn, canola, cottonseed oil, or sugar beet derivatives) are contaminated with GMOs. While nearly everyone in North America has eaten genetically modified foods, only 26% believe that they have.

People don't think they're eating genetically modified foods because they have no way of knowing whether they are or not. Genetically modified foods aren't labeled. If we're going to save this generation from reproductive dysfunction and save our farmland from the ravages of RoundUp, we need to stop Monsanto.

The first step is to protect consumers' right to know whether their food is genetically modified. We need genetically modified food labeled now! Write your Congresspersons and 2010 candidates for the House and Senate. Tell them to support mandatory labeling of all genetically modified foods.

Don’t’ Wear GMO Clothes; Don’t Eat GMO Foods - Boycott Frankencotten and Frankenfoods

2010-06-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Gentically Modified Crop Use Makes Minor Pests a Major Problem – Part I

Posted by Dr. Mercola, www.Mercola.com , June 01 2010

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/01/gm-crop-use-makes-minor-pests-a-major-problem.aspx

Killing Off One Pest Throws Nature Out of Balance

History of Bt Cotton – Increase in Mirid Bugs

Bt cotton was engineered with a gene from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. Organic farmers use the natural form of the bacterium as an insecticide, spraying it occasionally during times of high pest infestation. The natural bacterial spray form is broken down within a few days to two weeks by sunlight, high temperatures, or substances on the leaves of plants, and can be "washed from leaves into the soil by rainfall," or rinsed by consumers.

Not so with GM Bt crops. Monsanto engineers isolated and then altered the gene that produces the Bt-toxin, and inserted it into the DNA of the cotton plant. Now every cell of their Bt cotton produces a toxic protein that kills certain pests, including the bollworm -- one of the major pests that threatened China’s cotton crops. The Bt toxin kills pests by splitting open their stomachs. “GM plants produce about 3,000-5,000 times the amount of toxin as the sprays. A Bt-producing GM plant continuously produces the toxin in every cell where it does not dissipate by weather and cannot be washed off.

When Bt cotton was first introduced, farmers were able to temporarily cut back on their use of broad-spectrum pesticides, which GM advocates use to support their flawed argument that GM crops are environmentally friendly. What happened, though, was that as bollworms decreased, mirid bugs, which are not vulnerable to the Bt toxin and were once only a minor pest in the area, increased significantly. Mirids are just as much of a threat to cotton crops as bollworms, so Chinese farmers have upped their pesticide use on the Bt cotton crops to kill the mirid bugs.
So now, not only are farmers planting Bt cotton crops to ward off bollworms, but they are spraying increasing amounts of pesticides to tackle the mirid bugs that only became a problem because of the Bt crops! This is hardly a benefit to the environment.

Mirid Bugs are a Threat to Green Beans, Vegetables, Fruits and Cereal Crops

The mirid bugs are not only a threat to cotton crops, they’re also a threat to green beans, vegetables, fruits and cereal crops as well. Worse still, the evolution of Bt-resistant bollworms worldwide have been confirmed and documented, which means Monsanto’s Bt crops are a miserable failure on all counts. Despite the fact that Bt cotton has done the area no favors whatsoever, Chinese researchers are looking into developing more GM crops that will kill both bollworms and mirid bugs -- even though it’s fairly obvious that a new pest will soon step up to take their place.

What About Bt Crops and Animals?

According to Jeffrey Smith, the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified foods, in India animals graze on cotton plants after harvest. But when shepherds let sheep graze on Bt cotton plants, thousands died. Investigations suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin. . . .” most probably Bt-toxin." In one small study, all sheep fed Bt cotton plants died; those fed natural plants remained healthy.

Jeffrey Smith visited one village in Andhra Pradesh and interviewed the villagers and reported: “Buffalo grazed on cotton plants for eight years without incident. But on January 3rd, 2008, 13 buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. All died within three days.
The village also lost 26 goats and sheep.

Buffalo in Haryana, India who are fed the Bt variety of cottonseed and oil cakes, suffered from reproductive disorders, skin problems, and sudden death of both adults and calves.
According to Jeffrey Smith: “Bt corn is also implicated in the deaths of cows in Germany, and horses, water buffaloes, and chickens in the Philippines.”

Sources:
Nature May 13, 2010
Science May 13, 2010
NYTimes.com May 4, 2010

Related Links:
Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
10 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods
Enjoy Pesticides in Every Bite of GMO Food?

Blogs from www.LitaLee.com
10/11/2008: GE Foods Freak out Rats; GE Sugar Coming To You Soon
10/28/2009: Frankencandy and Tainted Candy for Halloween?
http://blog.litalee.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

1/07/2009: How To Avoid Foods Containing Genetically Modified Organisms – Go Organic!
http://blog.litalee.com/2009_01_01_archive.html Scroll down to 1/07/09

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
http://blog.litalee.com/2009_02_01_archive.html Scroll down to 2/1/09

1/17/2010: US court rules against Monsanto's GMO sugarbeets, says USDA failed to evaluate the risks http://blog.litalee.com/2010_01_01_archive.html Scroll down to 1/13/10

Articles: Genetic Engineering - Frankenfoods and More
http://www.litalee.com/shopexd.asp?id=177

Don’t’ Wear GMO Clothes; Don’t Eat GMO Foods - Boycott Frankencotten and Frankenfoods!

2010-06-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gentically Modified Crop Use Makes Minor Pests a Major Problem – Part II

What about the Effects of Bt crops on Humans?

In India, farm workers who handle Bt crops are already reporting allergy and flu-like symptoms. There’s also concern that the Bt toxin could remain active in your intestines, turning your digestive tract into a virtual pesticide factory. As Smith says: “The only published human feeding study revealed that even after you stop eating GMOs, harmful GM proteins may be produced continuously inside of you; genes inserted into GM soy transfer into bacteria inside your intestines and continue to function.

Roundup Ready Crops have Lead to “Superweeds” which are Now Devastating Farmers
Since 1996, when GM crops were first introduced, at least 10 species of U.S. weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp herbicide. Roundup Ready soybean, cotton and corn crops are the world’s largest group of genetically modified crops. The use of Roundup herbicide has increased dramatically since the GM Roundup Ready crops were introduced. In the first 13 years, American farmers sprayed an additional 383 million pounds of herbicide due to these herbicide-tolerant crops. And now the repeated exposures have given Mother Nature all she needs to stage her comeback in the form of devastating superweeds. As a result, farmers are being forced to spray their crops with even more toxic herbicides, along with return to labor-intensive methods like pulling weeds by hand.

Just Say No to GMO!

China’s GM-induced pest problems are likely a drop in the bucket compared to what the United States is in for. The United States grows two thirds of the GM crops worldwide since 1996, when GM crops were first made available commercially. Efforts are now being made to force the labeling of all GM foods and to educate the public so that organic foods will be chosen over GM foods. The labeling campaign is making progress, thanks to the persistence of Jeffrey Smith and the Institute for Responsible Technology. This institute has compiled an excellent Non-GMO Shopping Guide that you can download for free.

Below are some GM foods you can avoid by buying only the organic varieties. However I recommend seeking only organic foods, not just avoid those listed below.

Corn
Crookneck Squash
Hawaiian papaya
Soy (I don’t recommend any soy products other than organic soy sauce or tamari -LL)
Cottenseed
Canola oil (I don’t recommend any unsaturated oils or PUFA whether it’s GM or not - LL)
GM sugar from GM Sugar Beets (as of 2009)
Zucchini squash

Sources:
Nature May 13, 2010
Science May 13, 2010
NYTimes.com May 4, 2010

Related Links:
Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
10 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods
Enjoy Pesticides in Every Bite of GMO Food?

Blogs from http://www.litalee.com/
10/11/2008: GE Foods Freak out Rats; GE Sugar Coming To You Soon
10/28/2009: Frankencandy and Tainted Candy for Halloween?
http://blog.litalee.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

1/07/2009: How To Avoid Foods Containing Genetically Modified Organisms – Go Organic!
http://blog.litalee.com/2009_01_01_archive.html Scroll down to 1/07/09

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
http://blog.litalee.com/2009_02_01_archive.html Scroll down to 2/1/09

1/17/2010: US court rules against Monsanto's GMO sugarbeets, says USDA failed to evaluate the risks
http://blog.litalee.com/2010_01_01_archive.html Scroll down to 1/13/10

Articles: Genetic Engineering - Frankenfoods and More
http://www.litalee.com/shopexd.asp?id=177

Osteoporosis Drugs Found to CAUSE Leg Fractures

2010-06-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Bisphosphonate drugs like Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva have terrible adverse side effects

www.Mercola.com April 17, 2010 - Issue 1444

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/17/osteoporosis-drug-implicated-in-thighbone-fractures.aspx

“The case reports first surfaced about two years ago -- orthopedists reported that women taking osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates to prevent broken bones were showing up with rare and serious fractures of their thighbones,” The New York Times reports. “The bone was snapping like a twig, sometimes splintering. Often there was no trauma, such as a serious fall, to bring it on. And some of the women were younger, in their 50s, with pre-osteoporosis but without the extremely fragile bones of people with the full-blown condition,” the NYT continues.
The fractures are highly unusual because they are occurring in the long bone of the thigh, when ordinarily thighbone fractures occur near the hip socket. Further, because this area does not have a rich blood supply, the fractures are difficult to heal.

Sources:
New York Times March 24, 2010
The New England Journal of Medicine March 24, 2010

Annual sales of osteoporosis drugs have about doubled to $8.3 billion since 2003, which is a solid indicator that many people are being kept in the dark about their serious risks. I have been warning about these dangerous drugs for over a decade and finally enough time has lapsed to produce the damage that I said they would if they were used long enough. Osteoporosis is NOT due to a drug deficiency and taking a drug for this will only worsen, not improve, the condition.
One simply needs to treat the CAUSE of the disease and not the symptoms. The irony is that with Fosamax you aren’t even treating the symptoms. You are just fooling your body to produce a denser bone that is actually weaker. It does this because Fosamax is a poison that kills the cells in your bone that help your body repair and replace the bone.

Osteoporosis Drugs Are Leading to Broken Bones

Fosamax is prescribed primarily to women with osteoporosis in order to make bones stronger and prevent broken bones from the disease. Recently the drugs have also been increasingly prescribed to women with osteopenia, a natural thinning of the bones as you get older, even though no conclusive benefit has been found.

Over the last couple of years, orthopedists have noticed that more women taking these drugs are suffering from serious fractures in their thigh bones -- an ordinarily rare occurrence. There are reports of the bone “snapping like a twig,” even during normal daily activities, which is again very rare as your femur (thigh bone) is one of the strongest bones in your body!

Fosamax Linked to Serious Bone Problems

Fosamax, again a drug used to strengthen bones, is associated with so many detrimental bone side effects it boggles the mind. Even reports of thigh fractures are not new. ABC News recently reported that the Food and Drug Administration asked Merck (the maker of Fosamax) to “add information about the report of femur fractures” to the medications’ package insert back in 2008! More than a year later, they finally did.

Not surprisingly, Merck also tried to hide the fact that Fosamax is causing jawbone death, a disease now known to oral surgeons as Bisphosphate-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (BRONJ) or “Fossy Jaw” -- a nasty side effect of Fosamax and related drugs that essentially causes your jawbone to rot and decay.

Bisphosphate drugs have also been associated with:

Serious eye inflammation and possible blindness
Liver damage
Atrial fibrillation
Increased risk of ulcers
Esophageal cancer
Renal failure
Skin reactions
Hypocalcemia (blood calcium levels are too low)

How Osteoporosis Drugs Kill Your Bones

Bisphosphonate drugs like Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva, are problematic because they stay in your bone indefinitely and disrupt the normal bone regeneration process.
Healthy bones maintain their strength from a continual process of bone breakdown and bone rebuilding. Osteoclasts are the cells that break down your bone, and osteoblasts are the cells that rebuild it.

Fosamax and similar drugs poison your osteoclasts, permanently killing them, so the normal bone repair process is halted. Your bones will indeed get denser. However, denser bones are NOT stronger bones, which is the part they don’t tell you. In fact, eventually your bones become weaker and more prone to fracture.

Why?

Because bone is a dynamic structure that requires the removal of unhealthy bone and REPLACEMENT with new bone to stay strong. Fosamax does NOT build any new bone. It only kills the cells that break bone down, so your bone is not benefiting from its natural regenerative process. For women who have been taking this drug for five or more years, their bones have literally lost the ability to regenerate, and this is why many be faced with more brittle bones and fractures.

Articles by Lita Lee, Ph.D. on www.LitaLee.com :
Arthritis: http://www.litalee.com/shopexd.asp?id=132
Vitamin D3 Health Benefits: http://www.litalee.com/shopexd.asp?id=414
Menopause, Osteoporosis and the ERT Fairy Tale:

http://www.litalee.com/shopexd.asp?id=203