The GMO Answer? BAN GMOs - URGENT Report on Monsanto, Dow and Biotech Firms Uniting to Launch Disinformation Site

GMO Re-Education: Monsanto, Dow and Biotech Firms Unite to Launch Disinformation Site
July 29, 2013 | Organic Prepper | Daisy Luther

If you had a question about how to protect yourself from a criminal known to break into houses in your neighborhood, would you ask him how to protect your home and then take his suggestions, or would you be suspicious he might be answering them in a way that would make your home even easier to encroach?

If you had a question about the honesty and integrity of a person in an authority position, would you ask that person to investigate himself and then accept his findings? (I mean, if you were a normal person, not if your name is Barack or Eric.)

If a company came out with a new medication that promised to cure your ills overnight, would you ask the company that produced it whether it was safe and trust them to be honest, or would you feel that their answer might be colored by their urge to make a buck?

So why on earth would anyone possibly believe that the likes of Monsanto, Dow, and DuPont would be spreading anything but sales-driven propaganda on their new website GMOAnswers?

Are they serious or is this some kind of big public relations joke being played out on a national platform? Are we being punked?

What kind of person would look up their answers on a website SPONSORED by the very people who are putting out the toxic garbage they’d like us to believe is food?

Welcome to the compendium of disinformation!

In the most outrageous, blatant case of the foxes being put in charge of the henhouse that I have ever seen, the big biotech companies got together and launched their propaganda site GMOAnswers today. It is run by the Council for Biotechnology Information, whose members include Monsanto, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and BASF. The site contains a heavily moderated question and answer forum and a complete compendium of disinformation in the section called “Explore GMOs”.

 They purport that the website is an acknowledgement that they need to change:

Genetically modified organisms — GMOs — are a major topic of discussion today. Across our society, media and the Internet, a growing number of people have shared a wide range of questions and emotions on the topic – ranging from excitement and optimism to skepticism and even fear. 

GMO Answers was created to do a better job answering your questions — no matter what they are — about GMOs. The biotech industry stands 100 percent behind the health and safety of the GM crops on the market today, but we acknowledge that we haven’t done the best job communicating about them – what they are, how they are made, what the safety data says. 

This website is the beginning of a new conversation among everyone who cares about how our food is grown. 

Join us. Ask tough questions. Be skeptical. Be open. We look forward to sharing answers. (source)

And they tout these 5 principles:

1. Respecting people around the world and their right to choose healthy food products that are best for themselves and their families;
2. Welcoming and answering questions on all GMO topics;
3. Making GMO information, research and data easy to access and evaluate and supporting safety testing of GM products; including allowing independent safety testing of our products through validated science-based methods;
4. Supporting farmers as they work to grow crops using precious resources more efficiently, with less impact on the environment and producing safe, nutritious food and feed products;
5. Respecting farmers’ rights to choose the seeds that are best for their farms, businesses and communities and providing seed choices that include non-GM seeds based on market demands.

The most notable things that I saw about the “discussions” there is that the “experts” are all pro-GMO. There is a very subtle bias against those with concerns, despite the fact that many of them are quoting real statistics and genuine peer-reviewed studies. How many “experts” that are anti-GMO are being moderated right out of the discussion using the “House Rules“?

This website, sadly, is nothing more than an indoctrination vehicle for furthering the myths that Monsanto wants you to believe.

Biotech is on the defensive now – they have been backed into a corner by activists who insist that the GMOs in our food supply, at the very least, be labeled, so that we can make an informed decision about what we feed our families. This false transparency is their last ditch effort to head off pro-labeling legislation and to keep their toxins hidden in our food supply.

What can we do?

I’ve created my own profile over there so that I can “join the discussion.” If you decide to join me, please follow the House Rules to the best of your ability and additionally, remember that you want to garner respect, not scorn, so:

• Be courteous – we are in the right and we should take the high road in conversations
• Don’t be threatening
• Don’t use foul language
• Don’t be abusive towards others, even when you disagree or when they are abusive towards you
• Use facts and cite sources
• If you are censored unfairly, take screen shots and let those tell your story

If other people who don’t know a lot about GMOs come to the forum and see anti-GMO activists scrapping it out in an uncivil fashion, it will close their eyes to the message we are trying to share. Don’t be afraid to be passionate, but please remember that you are representing all of us who say no to GMO.

Do you remember when Cheerios launched the Facebook App that allowed consumers to share what they really thought about the toxin-laden cereal? That was a PR move that backfired dramatically when users bombarded the company’s page with anti-GMO messages.

Biotech must have missed that, because they’ve invited us to “Be skeptical. Be open. We want to hear from you.”

Let’s give them what they asked for, shall we?

RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLE:
Monsanto Spreads Propaganda in Hawaii's Largest Newspaper

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Glyphosate, Brain Damaged Babies, and Yakima Valley – A River Runs Through It

Glyphosate, Brain Damaged Babies, and Yakima Valley – A River Runs Through It
July 28, 2013 | Farm Wars | Barbara H. Peterson

The state of Washington is in a quandary. Reportedly, “A high rate of birth defects has confounded Washington health officials, who have been unable to identify a cause.”

 A report released Tuesday by the Washington State Department of Health said that, since 2010, the neighboring counties of Yakima, Benton and Franklin have an unusually high number pregnancies affected by the birth defect anencephaly, which results in a newborns’ brains being severely underdeveloped.
 
In the U.S., there are approximately one or two expected cases of anencephaly for every 10,000 annual births. However, in the three named Washington counties, with a total population of approximately 515,000, the health department found that there was an abnormally high number of cases reported from January 2010 to January 2013 with approximately eight cases of anencephaly for every 10,000 births.

Anencephaly is a birth defect, almost always fatal, where the neural tubes in the fetus do not close properly. As a result, the forward part the fetus’ brain is not developed and the other part of the brain is exposed to amniotic fluid, causing further damage. Most fetuses that develop the defect are stillborn. Those who survive to birth usually die shortly after being born.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/washington-state-health-officials-stumped-high-rate-birth/story?id=19687592

The Yakima River

Interestingly enough, the Yakima river runs through Yakima and Benton counties, and ends at the “Tri-Cities Area” at Bateman Island, in a confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia rivers at the edge of Benton and Franklin counties. In other words, the same water runs through all three counties. And this water serves as the main irrigation source for the Yakima Valley.

The Yakima River and its tributaries have been heavily altered for the purpose of irrigated agriculture. There are numerous dams and irrigation canals. Irrigation runoff is in places returned to the river through canal drains

The Yakima River provides irrigation for the dry but fertile land in the valley, and irrigated agriculture is the economic base. Agricultural land totals 1,000 square miles (2,600 km²), including irrigated pastures, orchards, grapes, hops, and field crops. A significant portion of Washington apples and cherries are grown in the valley, as well as most (75%) of the United States’s hops. Since the late 20th century, the wine industry has grown rapidly in the area. It is the location of the Yakima Valley AVA, a designated American Viticultural Area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakima_River

Monsanto, Glyphosate and Weed Control

Enter the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board (NWCB):

In the late 1960s, the state legislature established the state’s Noxious Weed Control Board, and authorized counties to establish County Weed Boards. Thirty-eight of Washington’s 39 counties have such boards. There are also a handful of Weed Districts that are contiguous with Irrigation Districts.
http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/ab_weedlaws.htm

Yes, the state of Washington is waging a war against what it determines are noxious weeds, and Glyphosate is its main weapon. In fact, it is the only chemical weapon that is allowed near irrigation outtakes.

Page 59: Glyphosate – a 5% solution of Glyphosate with a suitable surfactant provides fairly good control in some areas and is the only chemical option available for use near irrigation water outtakes.
http://agr.wa.gov/plantsinsects/weeds/npdespermits/docs/IPMFreshwaterEmergentNoxiousQuarantineListedWeeds.pdf

Glyphosate is also the main herbicide recommended for noxious weed eradication. Why? Because the FDA has declared that it is safe. And not only is the state of Washington using it on land and near irrigation outtakes, it is also entering the Yakima River through direct application because a lot of those pesky noxious weeds just love the water.

Water herbicides
The following herbicide active ingredients are allowed for use in Washington lakes and rivers under the Noxious Weed NPDES permit: 2,4-D: 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, dimethylamine salt 2,4-D: 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, butoxyethyl ester Fluridone: 1-methyl-3-phenyl-5-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4(1H)-pyridinone Glyphosate: N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, isopropylamine salt Endothall: Dipotassium salt of 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2,3-dicarboxylic acid Diquat: Dibromide 1,1′-ethylene-2,2′-bipyridyldiylium dibromide salt Triclopyr TEA ((3,5,6-tricholoro-2-pyridinyl) oxyacetic acid) Imazapyr (2-[4,5-dihydro-4-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1H- imidazol-2-yl]-3pyridinecarboxylic acid) Recommended Analysis Methods for Herbicide Residue Water Samples
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/pesticides/final_pesticide_permits/noxious/monitoring_data/lakesmonitoring_plan.html

Benton County Herbicide Treatments:

2010 – 100% of the plants were treated in the Yakima River by staff from the Benton County Noxious Weed Control Board (BCNWCB). BCNWB started with a 2% solution of glyphosate and a suitable surfactant and later switched to a 5% solution of glyphosate with a suitable surfactant. Treatments were conducted from mid – July to mid-August.
2011 –The BCNWCB treated plants from Benton City to the Columbia River with a 5% solution of glyphosate. This resulted in very little control, estimated at less than 50%. Fewer plants produced flowers than in 2010 however it should be noted that plants do not tend to flower annually anyway.

2012 –The BCNWCB plans to implement control measures behind all irrigation district diversion dams using a 5% solution of glyphosate starting in July when the water level in the river decreases

http://agr.wa.gov/plantsinsects/weeds/npdespermits/docs/IPMFreshwaterEmergentNoxiousQuarantineListedWeeds.pdf

So, with a directive from the state of Washington to eradicate noxious weeds with Glyphosate being the main herbicide recommended for that eradication both on land and in the water, one would think that the level of Glyphosate in the Yakima waterways would be monitored since this has been several years in the making. Think again.

The following reference refers to Glyphosate as a pesticide, although it is technically an herbicide – Regulatory Status: Glyphosate acid and its salts are moderately toxic compounds in EPA toxicity class II. Labels for products containing these compounds must bear the Signal Word WARNING. Glyphosate is a General Use Pesticide (GUP). This is also the most recent study that I could find:

Pesticide Occurrence and Distribution

An estimated 146 organic pesticides² were applied to crops in the Yakima River Basin during the 2000 growing season (table 3). Estimates were based on county-level agricultural statistics from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and were verified and corrected in interviews with private crop chemical consultants and agriculture-extension agents in Kittitas, Yakima, and Benton Counties. Data on right-of-way applications were obtained from State and local transportation departments and irrigation districts. Details of the pesticide compilation are provided by Ebbert and Embrey (2002). Seventy-five of the 146 applied pesticides (51 percent) were analyzed for this study, and of these 75 pesticides, 47 were detected (63 percent). Only glyphosate (Roundup^®, Rodeo^®) was applied in large amounts, but not analyzed in this study.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5180/section3.html

Anencephaly and Glyphosate

This is the smoking gun. Glyphosate has been linked to the same birth defect that the Washington State Department of Health reported to have found a high incidence of – anencephaly.

Rull et al. provided evidence of an association between maternal exposure to glyphosate herbicides and anencephaly, a type of neural tube defect, as well as with neural tube defects (NTDs) in general [71,72]–consistent with retinoic acid-linked teratogenicity.
http://earthopensource.org/files/pdfs/Roundup-and-birth-defects/Antoniou-Teratogenic-Effects-of-Glyphosate-Based-Herbicides.pdf

Connecting the Dots

Now let’s connect the dots, shall we? Three Washington counties – Yakima, Benton, and Franklin – experienced an unusually high number of birth defects at around the same time as Glyphosate was being used extensively for several years to eradicate noxious weeds on land and in the water. That birth defect is called anencephaly. Could there be a connection?

It appears that Yakima, Benton, and Franklin counties just happen to have three things in common – the Yakima River, a noxious weed eradication program using copious amounts of Glyphosate for years on both land and in the river, and an increase in anencephaly, which Glyphosate just happens to be suspected of causing.

Considering the government’s propensity to ignore any connection between Monsanto’s Glyphosate and health effects, and the fact that the EPA  just raised allowable Glyphosate levels, I think we can safely assumed that the correlation between increased usage and these brain damaged babies will not be adequately investigated.

©2013 Barbara H. Peterson

Alarming number of US citizens face poverty, 80% suffer joblessness - report

AFP Photo / Getty Images / Spencer Platt

Alarming number of US citizens face poverty, 80% suffer joblessness - report
July 29, 2013 |RT

Four out of five US adults come to grips with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least some parts of their lives. Over 41 percent of the nation's poor are whites, according to a new report.
In 2011, 46.2 million people in the US were living in poverty and the nation’s official poverty rate was 15 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009, according to the US Census Bureau. That figure appears to be the highest number seen in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been recorded.

Although poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics are proportionately nearly three times higher, by absolute numbers the predominant face of the poor is white, the latest report shows. Economic insecurity among whites is said to be more common than is shown in the government's poverty data, engulfing over 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by Oxford University Press.

Pessimism has been steadily growing across the country, with 63 percent of whites describing the US economy as ‘poor’ in the most recent AP-GfK poll. It’s believed that he growing gap between rich and poor and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs are to blame.

"If you do try to go apply for a job, they're not hiring people, and they're not paying that much to even go to work," a Buchanan County resident, 52-year-old Irene Salyers said, adding that where she lives children have "nothing better to do than to get on drugs."

Almost one out of sixteen people in the USA are living in deep poverty. The risks of poverty have been growing in recent decades, especially among people aged 35-55. For instance, people aged 35-45 had a 17 percent risk of encountering poverty during 1969-1989; the risk increased to 23 percent during the period 1989-2009.  

Over 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four, accounting for over 41 percent of the US destitute, nearly double the number of poor blacks, according to the survey data revealed by AP. By 2030 up to 85 percent of all working-age adults in the US will experience economic insecurity.

Job seekers wait in line to fill out applications for
employment during a job fair for San Francisco
(AFP Photo / Justin Sullivan)

Although by race, non-whites still have a higher risk of being economically insecure, compared with the official poverty rate, some of the biggest increases under the newer measure are among whites, with over 76 percent experiencing bouts of joblessness, life on welfare or near-poverty.

The share of children living in high-poverty neighborhoods — those with poverty rates of 30 percent or more — has increased to one in 10, putting them at higher risk of teenage pregnancy or dropping out of school. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 17 percent of the child population in such neighborhoods, compared with 13 percent in 2000, even though the overall proportion of white children in the US has been declining.

The share of black children in high-poverty neighborhoods dropped from 43 percent to 37 percent, while the share of Latino children went from 38 percent to 39 percent.

According to the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity Feeding America, over 16 million children under the age of 18 (21 percent) were in poverty in 2011.

"It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty William Julius Wilson told AP.

"There is the real possibility that white alienation will increase if steps are not taken to highlight and address inequality on a broad front," he warned.

EPA to Raise Allowable Glyphosate Pesticide Levels in Food Crops by 3,000%!

© TruthStream Media

EPA to Raise Allowable Glyphosate Pesticide Levels in Food Crops by 3,000%!
July 28, 2013 | TruthStream Media | Melissa Melton

Another win for biotech giant Monsanto equals another loss for humanity. 

Just days ago, RT.com reported that the U.S. Environmental “Protection” Agency is set to raise the allowable limits of Monsanto’s best-selling glyphosate pesticide Roundup in our nation’s food crops to ridiculously high levels:

“Through the EPA’s new standards, the amount of allowable glyphosate in oilseed crops such as flax, soybeans and canola will be increased from 20 parts per million (ppm) to 40 ppm, which GM Watch acknowledged is  over 100,000 times the amount needed to induce breast cancer cells. Additionally, the EPA is increasing limits on allowable glyphosate in food crops from 200 ppm to 6,000 ppm.”

Supposedly they were able to do this because a two-month open comment period that began May 1st drew little public resistance.


This is in spite of a flurry of new studies coming out just this month demonstrating the detrimental effects of pesticide on the environment and all manner of things living in it:

• July 19, 2013: Scientific American’s “How Pesticides Can Cause Parkinson’s” explained how a new study found these chemicals “may prevent the brain from disposing of its own toxic waste”.
• July 21, 2013: It was reported a University of California dietary toxin study found 100% of the 364 children involved were above cancer benchmark levels for excessive arsenic, dioxin, and pesticide exposure.
• July 24, 2013: In “Bees exposed to high levels of pesticides suspected in colony collapse,” the LA Times reported on yet another study which showed bee pollen from bees that service our nation’s major food crops in five different states was tainted with 35 different types of pesticide (some at lethal levels). As we’ve reported before, this will likely continue considering Monsanto purchased one of the leading bee research firms first linking glyphosate to colony collapse disorder, a firm that just so happens to also be considered a “go-to” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• July 26, 2013: The U.S. Geological Service put out a press release “Pesticide Accumulation in Sierra Nevada Frogs” which found “current-use pesticides, particularly fungicides, are accumulating in the bodies of Pacific chorus frogs in the Sierra Nevada” and noted “Pesticides continue to be a suspected factor in the decline of amphibian species across the U.S. and the world.”

It is ridiculous and goes against common sense to ignore the cumulative effects that all these chemicals in our food and environment are having on us. RT summed up the wide-ranging implications glyphosate exposure has on nearly every system in the human body:

“Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body,” independent scientist Anthony Samsel and MIT’s Stephanie Seneff concluded in the April study.

“Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.”

Yet, with a mountain of independent evidence staring the EPA right in the face, they are going to not only raise the allowable levels of this pesticide in our food, but they are going to allow a massive increase!
Why does it appear that our government is more interested in protecting the profits of mega corporations versus the safety of its people? Why are these despicable practices allowed to continue?

One clue might lie in the grand revolving door that is our government and these same corporations. Take William Ruckelshaus, for example, who was the first EPA head. He has also spent 12 years on the Monsanto Board of Directors. How about Linda J. Fisher who spent a decade working as Assistant Administrator of the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances before she left to head up Monsanto’s Washington lobbying team as the company’s Vice President of Government and Public Affairs…before again returning to the EPA.

And don’t forget Margaret Miller, who worked on Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone and even wrote the scientific report the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required on it’s supposed safety before taking a job as a Deputy Director the Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation over at the FDA where she would be in charge of reviewing her own report!

Here are some more shining exemplars when it comes to Monsanto and our revolving door government. If you could look up ‘conflict of interest’ in a dictionary, you would no doubt find this diagram:

In every article that necessitates a reason to show this revolving door diagram of our government and Monsanto, I will show it.

Because the government/big agra door is revolving so hard and so fast it’s about to break off its hinges, rather than admit the hardcore widespread damage these pesticides are causing, our government is just going to continue to raise the allowable “safe” limit like that even means anything.

Just like when the Fukushima nuclear reactor melted down following the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, instead of admitting the dangers and trying to fix the actual cause of the problem, the government just up and raised the acceptable radiation levels (as if there even is such a thing).

So where does that leave the rest of us living in a country where — even though we spend double per person on healthcare than other industrialized nations at an annual pricetag of $2.7 trillion — our life expectancy still continually declines and lags behind many other countries? We were ranked 38th in the world in 2011.

Where does that leave all the disappearing animals? Mother nature?

While the government is busy ‘updating’ things, perhaps someone up there in Washington can step away from their lobbyists and put down those heavy bags of cash for two seconds and go ahead and change the name of the country while they’re at it, you know, to make it a little more accurate.

The United Corporations of America sounds about right.

What Happened When I Refused My Tetanus Vaccine

“Well I leave it up to you, you can let the
nurse know but it’s basically you get this
or you die in 3 days. Tetanus can be
fatal and so it’s your choice.”

What Happened When I Refused My Tetanus Vaccine
July 27, 2013 | Collective Evolution | Joe Martino

I wanted to share my story about what happened when I refused my tetanus vaccine after having cut myself with a knife at home. I want to share this story not as an example of what will or will not happen every time, but more so as an example of how it’s important we stay open minded and question things before we blindly accept them.

I got into studying vaccines, their efficacy and safety a few years ago when I began to hear more and more about people being injured by vaccines. There is an unfortunate belief going around that vaccines are completely safe and scientific studies have proven this to be the case. I’m here to say, this is not true. Regardless of the fact there are studies to show efficacy and safety, there are also a large number of studies showing the dangers and lack of efficacy when it comes to vaccines. Simply search the web, published journals, study’s, books, documentaries and stories of doctors who have spoken out about this to get more information. Be careful with your sources on both sides of the argument. The existence of the argument itself shows that there is a clear case to be made when it comes to having to re-think vaccines. At this point, to continue to make uneducated decisions about vaccines has become an irresponsible choice given the amount of information now available. I’m not telling you what choice to make, but educate yourself of the dangers on both sides.

My Story
 

I was cutting a sweet potato one evening when I looked down and realized I had somehow sliced a decent portion of the tip of my pinky finger. I still don’t know how this happened, but it did. Immediately I knew I either needed stitches or glue to have it heal properly. I looked more closely at my finger and confirmed my initial thoughts. After applying some hydrogen peroxide, I hopped in the car with my girlfriend and we made our way to the hospital.

Upon arriving we went through the normal procedure in the emergency room; papers, name, health card etc. From there I went to the treatment room where I waited for a doctor for about 30 minutes. A young doctor shows up to the bed I was sitting on and introduced himself. He seemed friendly, nice, outgoing and willing to help. He looked at my wound, assessed the situation, heard my opinion of treatment and agreed. Glue it was. He then asked me if I had received a Tetanus shot in the past few years. Given I was 26, I was due to receive my next immunization, since I hadn’t received the shot he told me we would do that at the same time. I told him I would think about it. Of course, this was a bit of a stall tactic as I had no intention of getting the vaccine since I walked in the hospital. He pressed on. “You should really get the vaccine as if you aren’t up to date this could be fatal.” I then decided to ask him what the ingredients of the vaccine were. He was a tad confused and was not sure how to answer. He ended up saying it was crushed up bits of the bacteria (not live) and it would protect against allowing the bacteria to become toxic in my body if it were present. In theory he was correct. I then asked, “Does the vaccine contain thimerosal?” He looked at me and responded “I have no idea what that is.” I then let him know that it was a ethylmercury and has been shown to cause neurological damage. This is where things changed.

He chuckled  to himself almost as if to suggest I was believing in some conspiracy theory. “Most of what you hear about vaccines is not true. There are only a couple vaccines that have had bad effects on people.” he said. It’s important to note that up until this point and for the remainder of my visit I was as kind, peaceful and nice as anyone could be in speaking with another person. I said “I’m open to some of it being overstated, but I have also researched results myself so I come asking questions because of what I have found in my research.” He responded in a condescending and angry manner “Well I don’t have an information kit with me here and I don’t think these vaccines are unsafe, but the choice is still yours.” We didn’t speak more about it for the next minute or so. He filled out some paperwork and then asked again if I was going to get the shot. I told him no. He then said “Well I leave it up to you, you can let the nurse know but it’s basically you get this or you die in 3 days. Tetanus can be fatal and so it’s your choice.” He was also laughing and annoyed at this point because he could not believe I was questioning and challenging his authority. I kept with my decision of opting out of the vaccine and he simply walked away. There was no “bye”, no “have a nice night”, no chance for me to thank him, nothing. He simply turned around and walked away as if he was not happy with me at all.

When the nurse came over she asked me about the shot. When I refused she ran me through a quick explanation of how it was not the best choice and that I should get the vaccine in the next 3 days or else I could die. After I left the hospital I reflected on the entire experience and realized that it might be important to share this story as there are some interesting things to observe.

Question & Do Research
 

I don’t want to generalize, but this is not the first case I have heard, by any means, of doctors getting offended when their authority is challenged by patients. In my case, there was a clear attempt to make me fear my own death should I not follow his arrogantly delivered orders. It was very clear that me challenging him made him feel more equal to me which made him become very unpleasant and  irresponsible as a doctor. One thing we all have to remember is that every person on this planet is a human being and each of us are equal. We should never look to anyone as an authority on any matter but instead take what they have given as information from their experiences and use it to formulate our own feelings and information without blindly following it. I feel this is especially the case in the medical field as people journeying through medical training are subject to a great deal of bias that comes from teachings formulated on belief. So often, as new information comes into the medical arena, it is not updated and added to what is known presently unless there is some way to profit from the information being added to the equation. We can see this through many sectors of the medical field as pharmaceuticals is ultimately what controls the natural flow of new discoveries. If something cannot be produced and sold, it is likely that it will never see the light of day.

Where students get their medical education has a direct link to the benefits of the pharmaceutical industry as they help fund and pay for much of what schools require to operate labs, equipment etc. In exchange, those companies ask them to focus on pharmaceutical drugs and certain areas of teaching and often times textbooks are even linked to large pharmaceutical companies. We can most obviously see this happening through the cancer industry as obviously there are a number of available cures yet people are coming out of med school only focusing on mainstream chemo and radiation which have low success rates and are sometimes very lethal to the human body.

I don’t intend to encourage people to never trust a doctor. Instead I encourage you to do your research before making decisions that involved vaccines and other pharmaceuticals. A doctor rarely ever tells you the damages associated with vaccines regardless of the $2.5 billion in injury awards that has been paid out to victims of vaccine injury. Doctors are doing their jobs much of the time so you can’t always blame them. But at the same time they should be encouraged to think for themselves as well.

In my research over the years I have come across an alarming number of facts, experience and practices that make it evidently clear the mainstream medical field is not about cures and health but more so about profit and the need to create perpetual customers. I am not saying doctors have an agenda, more so that their education does and they don’t always recognize that until they begin to question it themselves. Unfortunately this usually leads to them being smeared and called a ‘quack’ for their courage to start thinking differently.

Make smart and educated decisions, not decisions based around fear. This is very important whether you are choosing mainstream or alternative medicine.

Tetanus Vaccine Facts 

Ingredients:
sodium phosphate, peptone, bovine extract (U.S. sourced), formaldehyde,
ammonium sulfate, , aluminum potassium sulfate, thimerosal (trace),
gelatin, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), modified Mueller and Miller medium,
modified Stainer-Scholte medium

Thimerosal has been linked the permanent brain damage even in small doses.

Tetanus has shown a fatality of about 10% in reported cases. Although this number is considered high, if you remember from my story, I was told I was going to die in 3 days had I not taken the vaccine. While I knew he was most likely using fear tactics, many people would have simply opted in at this point.

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/search.do?action=search&subset=nip&queryText=tetanus+ingredients&searchnow.x=-919&searchnow.y=-61

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539316/

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/thimerosal

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11064-011-0427-0

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1883449,00.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlKVkqiDmak

http://vaccines.procon.org/sourcefiles/vaccineinjurytable.pdf

As Detroit goes under, GOP says: Bailouts for banks, not people

Vacant and blighted homes in Detroit, Michigan

Press TV: As Detroit goes under, GOP says: Bailouts for banks, not people
July 27, 2013 | Common Dreams | Sarah Lazare

The Obama administration is making no sign of helping Detroit as its emergency manager and republican governor steer the city towards bankruptcy proceedings.

Yet, that is not enough assurance for some in the GOP who are pushing for passage of a law explicitly banning the bailout of Detroit, and any other municipality for that matter.

At least five republican senators have recently proposed tacking language onto spending bills that would broadly prohibit municipal bailouts.

These proposed measures, which would have far-reaching implications for towns and cities across the US if passed, are aimed towards preventing any federal aid to Detroit.

GOP leaders are attacking the city with notable venom at a time when its 700,000 residents--80 percent of whom are African-American--must contend with deepening crises of poverty and privatization.

Rising numbers of Republicans are declaring that the city has dug its own grave and does not deserve federal help. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) declared Thursday that Congress must not, under any circumstance, "bail out Detroit or any American city that mismanages its public finances."

Yet, when Wall Street took a hit from its self-made 2008 financial crisis-which devastated towns and cities across the US, including Detroit-Republicans and Democrats stood behind a massive federal bailout of big banks, pushed forward under George W. Bush, with President Obama picking up the baton.

Today, there is little interest from either side of the aisle to extend a helping hand to the largest city to file for bankruptcy in US history.

Unions appealed to members of Congress not to turn their backs on the city. In a statement Thursday, AFSCME Detroit Local 207 president Lee Saunders declared:

The whole country is watching how this crisis gets resolved. As the nation emerges from the worst of the Great Recession, it is time for Congress and the White House to make it clear they will not turn their backs on our urban centers.

Nearly 60 percent of Detroit children live in poverty and 33 percent of all land sits vacant. Half of all streetlights are non-functional, and a majority of public parks have shut down. Common Dreams

ISH/HJ

Excuse my outrage, but I think it's justified.

Excuse my outrage, but I think it's justified.
July 26, 2013 | Stefan Molyneux

He had the power to prevent the war with a word. Who else has that kind of power?


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Poisonous Veracity (Swat that Lie!)

Poisonous Veracity (Swat that Lie!)
July 26, 2013 | Global Research | John Kozy

Was any Roman ever gullible enough to believe that Romulus and Remus founded Rome after being suckled by wolves? Given the gullibility of humankind, perhaps, but if so, a revelation about human nature emerges that the policy elite would prefer to keep secret—for the most part, human beings are dumbos; they can be led by their noses to believe anything. And so they have.

That Romulus and Remus were ever suckled by wolves is absurd. But is it more absurd than that people should defend a country which they own not a single square inch of? Isn’t that like defending some far off country, like Luxemburg, to which you have no relationship? Would you volunteer to defend Uganda? Why do people volunteer to defend the U.S.A.? Why defend what’s not yours? Let those who own it defend it. But they won’t; they never have. Jefferson knew that merchants have no national loyalties.

We pretend we’re not defending land we don’t own. We claim we’re defending our beliefs, but beliefs don’t need defending. Just try to kill one, even an absurd one.

Perhaps institutions founded upon those beliefs are being defended? But why defend institutions that don’t work for you? What are we defending when we defend “our country” anyway? You likely have no idea; yet many believe they should, that it’s the right thing to do. Ever ask yourself why? No? Why not?

Somehow or other there have come to be “truths” that are never examined but which are thought to be “unquestionably” true. Almost no one questions these beliefs that are too strong to be altered by evidence even though believing them leads to horrid consequences.

There are a lot more of these than you suspect. Whole civilizations are built on them. Romulus, who never existed, still influences human actions. How in the world did human beings get into this condition?

In 1789, the French revolted, and the monarchy was overthrown. The royal nations across Europe were threatened and led a counter revolution that by 1814 had restored the old order. The restoration also destroyed the basis of everything a civilized culture could be founded on. Along with the monarchy, reason, the basis for civilization, was also discredited, The baby went with the bath. Human beings cannot be treated irrationally by rational people.

So it had to be. Civilization depends upon standards. Differences exist between right and wrong, truth and error, kindness and cruelty, honesty and fraud. Everything is not the same. But these have all come to be the same in the world we now live in. By putting down the French revolution, which was a result of the Age of Reason, reason itself had to be discredited, so a plethora of standards emerged. We now have mythical standards, scriptural standards, institutional standards, personal standards, but no rational standards. Rational man no longer exists; mankind is now almost entirely creedal. Everyone’s varied opinion is as good as truth and we’ve become willing to kill each over those creeds. Political action, in fact action of any kind, pits opinion against opinion. Americans do it, Muslims do it, Hindus do it, Sikhs do it and no search for truth ever takes place because there is no standard that can separate the true claims from the others.

When this occurred, honesty disappeared too. Everything became a lie. Politicians and the government lies. Vendors lie to consumers. Brokers lie to investors. The culture is a total fraud.

Sectarian standards are not the only standards being adopted. If the Bible can become the source of a standard, so can Mein Kampf or Qutb’s Milestones. When the values in Milestones go head to head with the values in the Old Testament all that can ensue is violence. The Israelis, when they adopt the diasporic myth and reject the findings of Shlomo Sand, are being primitive Romans who believe in Romulus. Ignorance has become today’s standard of veracity. Is Israel really the only nation with a right to exist? Just exactly does that mean? Who conferred this right?

But scripture is not the only source of these “standards” although religion is a major source. In fact, religion has such a strong hold on humanity that one cleric has founded a church that embraces all religions. Some people just can’t give it up even stripped of all its content. But religion isn’t the only source of standards, Consider for a moment the view recently expressed by a prominent television commentator that only constitutional governments are legitimate. Really? What if the constitution allows the government to do horrid things to its people? Is it still legitimate? Consider the view that democracy regardless of its form is the best type of government. Really? The U.S.A. was a “democracy” when slavery was legal. Consider the widely held view that science and technology will save mankind from its depredations? Really? Science and technology have mainly provided the means to kill vastly more people that it has enabled anyone to save. Not much hope in salvation there! Can anyone claim that providing government with a means to track and eavesdrop on the conversations of every human being is a good thing? Rely on science to your own detriment!

This lack of a standard has consequences that few recognize even though they surround us. Ignorance (crime, violence, hatred, dishonesty, just plain evil, the uncouth) can easily overwhelm society, Instead of teaching people to live together, western practice has been to force compliance by the use of law and punishment instead of conviction. But it usually takes more than one official to capture one criminal. Sooner or later the number of guards will be insufficient for the task, the number of prisons too few. At that point evil will predominate. Human beings are rapidly approaching that state. The Earth is being overcome by evil.

In the U.S.A., for instance, thanks to the wonders of technology, a young person makes a mistake and commits a crime. If convicted, s/he serves a sentence and his/her name is placed in a permanent database of offenders which employers and others are encouraged to check for background information. The class of “criminals” thus increases continually. One day it will outnumber the “law abiding.” This policy, along with many others, can only have been instituted by people dumb enough to believe that Romulus and Remus founded Rome after being suckled by wolves. Such policies are countless.

Violence can not be controlled by punishing the violent; punishment requires that the violence has already occurred. The elimination of violence requires that people be convinced that force and violence are wrong . Jim Crow cannot be eliminated by outlawing expressions; it requires the elimination of the desire to use them. But conviction requires a rational basis, not just heads full of opinions.

In rejecting the enlightened values of the age of reason, European conservatives were forced to reject reason itself, In rejecting reason itself, they enshrined a Babel of Opinions without providing any way of evaluating them. The result is that everyone’s opinion is equally true (false). (Examples can be heard on any 24 hour news channel at any time of day.) These opinions are now the basis of human action, and they are leading us to perdition. Instead of punishing people, we need to perfect them.

The problem here is that bad ideas based on big errors do not get filtered out of the public debate. In fact, the opposite happens. Politics is a marketing exercise in which the media and politicians pander to public prejudice with the result that bad ideas are actually adopted. What no one seems to realize is that we cannot kill our way to goodness or even salvation or security. One and a half billion Muslims cannot be killed without killing ourselves.

John Kozy is a retired professor of philosophy and logic who writes on social, political, and economic issues. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he spent 20 years as a university professor and another 20 years working as a writer. He has published a textbook in formal logic commercially, in academic journals and a small number of commercial magazines, and has written a number of guest editorials for newspapers. His on-line pieces can be found on http://www.jkozy.com/ and he can be emailed from that site’s homepage.

Huge Victory: Non-GMO Label for Meat, Eggs Approved for U.S. Use

© Natural Society

Huge Victory: Non-GMO Label for Meat, Eggs Approved for U.S. Use
July 26, 2013 | Natural Society | Elizabeth Renter

The American people want to know whether or not their food has genetically modified components inside. But for the most part, the FDA has resisted any efforts to label foods as GMO-free or containing GMOs. Now, however, advocates for Non-GMO foods have done their work with a different regulatory agency, the USDA, in order to get labeling approved for meats and eggs that also indicates if the animals were fed GM food, signaling a small but important success in the fight for a transparent food industry. You may have heard this news, but we’re trying to spread the word even more!

Meat and eggs derived from animals who were not fed genetically-modified feed can now be labeled as such. Companies like Mindful Meats, Mary’s Chicken, and Hidden Villa Ranch are already approved for the GMO-free label and others will likely join their ranks. But the journey to this point wasn’t a simple one.

Unlike the FDA, who normally controls food regulations, the USDA never used third-party organizations to certify food issues. Now, after a lengthy review of the Non-GMO Project, however, the USDA has determined their certification process is reliable and scientific, and is good enough to satisfy their regulatory rigors.

The Non-GMO Project worked closely with food makers like Mary’s Chicken to develop labeling standards that could be approved by the USDA. These standards needed to be “honest, accurate, and transparent,” according to NaturalNews, three things most of us want from our food regulators.

Related Read: Top 10 Worst GMO Foods for Your GMO Foods List

Prior to this approval, the USDA had denied several meat producers who wanted to use such a label. The reason: the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was not done with their review of the Non-GMO Project standards and practices. It took the USDA more than a year to make this determination as it’s obviously something they were cautious of.

“We started meeting with them to find out what the key objections were and how we navigate through that,” Dave Carter of the National Bison Association told Food Navigator. “I think it will be a very important claim for the meat industry. The non GMO label is the fastest label claim in the marketplace. Consumers want to have that option.”

“It means everything to have this label and we’re very thankful that FSIS worked with us to get this approved,” said David Pitman of Mary’s Chicken, a company that currently has 17 non-GMO verified products on the market.

These companies are rolling out their labeled products right now. While the new labeling only applies to meat and eggs, it’s certainly a victory for those of us who believe we have the right to know what we are eating.

4 Things You Should Know About Your ‘Third Eye’

Waking Times: 4 Things You Should Know About Your ‘Third Eye’
July 24, 2013 | Alternet | Scott Thill

We still lack a complete understanding of the pineal gland — but that doesn’t stop us from speculating.

Located in nearly the direct center of the brain, the tiny pinecone-shaped pineal gland, which habitually secretes the wondrous neurohormone melatonin while we sleep at night, was once thought to be a vestigial leftover from a lower evolutionary state.

Indeed, according to recent research, we could be increasing our chances of contracting chronic illnesses like cancer by unnecessarily bathing its evenings in artificial light, working night shifts or staying up too late. By disrupting the pineal gland and melatonin’s chronobiological connection to Earth’s rotational 24-hour light and dark cycle, known as its circadian rhythm, we’re possibly opening the doors not to perception, but to disease and disorder. A recently published study from Vanderbilt University has found associations between circadian disruption and heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

By hacking what pinealophiles call our mind’s third eye with an always-on technoculture transmitting globally at light-speed, we may have disadvantaged our genetic ability to ward off all manner of complicated nightmares. No wonder the pineal gland is a pop-culture staple for sci-fi, fantasy and horror fandom, as well as a mass attractor of mystics and mentalists. Its powers to divide and merge our light and dark lives only seems to grow the more we take it seriously.

“We still lack a complete understanding of the pineal gland,” University of Michigan professor of physiology and neurology Jimo Borjigin, a pioneer in medical visualization of the pineal gland’s melatonin secretion, told me. “Numerous molecules are found in the pineal, many of which are uniquely found at night, and we do not have a good idea of what their functions are. The only function that is established beyond doubt is the melatonin synthesis and secretion at night, which is controlled by the central clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and modulated by light. All else is speculative.”

Discerning between the science and speculation of the pineal gland hasn’t been easy since long before Rene Descartes called it the “principal seat of the soul” after studying it at length nearly four centuries ago. (Although “no evidence exists to support this,” clarified Borjigin.) So here’s a handy shortlist of things you should know about the pineal gland.

1. Third Eyes and Theosophistry

The current scientific understanding is that the pineal gland probably started out as an eye, and it receives signals from light and our retinas. Whether it was our only eye which shrunk into the brain once its perceptive tasks were taken care of by our two newer eyes, or whether it was a third eye with a spiritual and physical connection to previous spiritual and evolutionary states, or both, has galvanized science and speculation for centuries.

Earth’s ancient cultural histories are filled with folklore featuring both one-eyed and three-eyed beings of great power, from Shiva and Cyclops to that amiable fellow in The Twilight Zone‘s classic episode, “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” and beyond. (From Beyond even: See below.) Associations can be found in Hinduism, whose seventh primary chakra Sahasara is a multilayered lotus that looks like the pineal gland’s pinecone, and whose primary function is to perceive universal oneness, scientifically and spiritually speaking. Theosophists, who have been studying what they perceive as hidden knowledge since the Greeks and Romans ruled philosophical and scientific inquiry, have more recently claimed that the pineal gland is the spiritual engine of our evolution into “embryo gods, beings of consciousness and matter.”

 That description seems apt, given the astronomical power we have achieved in a few million yeas of evolution. While Homo sapiens‘ third eyes likely transformed into pineal glands along the way, today we can still find animals with photoreceptive third eyes, now called parietal eyes, like New Zealand’s endangered tuatara. Fossils from other ancient creatures feature similar sockets in their skulls, making our pineal gland a candidate for an ex-eye.

2. What Was Once Hidden Is Now Hi-Res

Michigan University professor Borjigin and his team are hard at work on how the pineal gland and melatonin regulate our lives.

“The central circadian clock controls timing of almost all aspects of our life, including physiology and behavior, and melatonin is the best marker to decode the fingerprints of circadian timing in both humans and animals,” he told me. “In the past, it was very difficult to study circadian properties of melatonin in animals due to technical limitations. My lab invented long-term pineal microdialysis, which permits automated, computer-controlled and high-resolution analysis of melatonin secretion from rodent pineal gland from four to 10 weeks in the same animal.”

These visualizations could go a long way toward understanding how to hack melatonin, which the pineal gland secretes when we sleep and helps the brain repair and sync our bodies to Earth’s rotation. Melatonin is a stunning compound, found naturally in plants, animals and microbes. A powerful antioxidant, its list of its medicinal uses only seems to grow each year, as we learn more about its ability to help with immune disorders, chronic illnesses, and neurodegeneration.

“Pineal microdialysis allows us to monitor melatonin secretion closely under various conditions to simulate jet lag, shiftwork, light pollution, diet manipulation and more to define the fingerprints of circadian response to environment, he added. “It also allows us to discover animals with extreme chronotypes, like early-birds or night-owls, to understand how individuals with different chronotype respond to circadian challenges differently. These are still ongoing studies, but hopefully some of the works will be published this year.”

 3. Artificial Light = Dark Future
 
What has been recently published about melatonin is already pretty significant, especially for those looking to combat breast and prostate cancer. Harvard University School of Public Health researcher Itai Kloog and his group published a series of studies in the last few years explaining how our “modern urbanized sleeping habitat” (PDF) is a massive hormone-based cancer risk. “We have blotted out the night sky” with artificial light, wrote Earth Island Journal‘s Holly Hayworth,” citing Kloog’s research and noting that half that light is wasted anyway.

“We’ve proven beyond a doubt that it’s a risk factor,” Kloog told me. “Light at night has been proven on many levels, by our group and many others, to definitely contribute to higher risk of developing hormonal cancer.”

Kloog’s team published five studies altogether, including analyses at local and global levels, and all of them found firm correlations between circadian and melatonin disruption and higher risks of cancer.

Analyzing NASA’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program archive (to illuminate Earth’s light-at-night coverage) and data from the World Health Organization, Kloog’s group “found clearly that as women were more exposed to light at nighttime, their rates of breast cancer went up. Our Israel study found that going from minimum exposure to average exposure to light at night resulted in a 36 percent higher standard rate of breast cancer, and going from average to maximum was another 26 percent increase.”

Using kernel smoothing to create density maps showing light exposure and cancer rates, Kloog’s team found that another of its studies, which sourced more than 20,000 light sources by height and intensity, showed a clear association. For their two worldwide studies, they developed an algorithm to assign population weight average light exposure for every person in every city across the world, using WHO data, and again they found a clear association between cancer and light at night.

“For average light exposure per person, if you take an underdeveloped country like Nepal, we’re talking about 0.02 nanowatts per centimeter squared,” Kloog explained. “Compare that to the United States, where the average light exposure of a person is 57.5. Up until around 120 years ago, humans were basically exposed to 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness on average, seasons and latitudes permitting of course. But since the invention of the lightbulb, we’ve artificially stretched the day. We go to sleep late at night, we have lights on while we sleep, we have a shorter sleep duration. We have a lot of factors stretching out our days, relative to the light period we experienced during millions of years of previous evolution.”

“It’s something that’s easy to take out of the equation,” Kloog told me. “Go to sleep in a dark room. Use less light. Close the shutters. Circadian disruption is carcinogenic to humans.”

4. Occult Classic

This is not to say that late-night viewing itself isn’t good for the mind, especially when it comes to pineal glands and third eyes. Because pineal glands and third eyes remain singular components of an otherwise binary brain with an extraordinary past, they have stimulated some stranger explorations of their spiritual and supernatural possibility. The pineal gland’s circadian dualism has achieved particular resonance with influential occultists like horror influential H.P. Lovecraft. Who, in turn, have spawned new generations of speculative talents that have used it as a quite flexible receptacle for expansive meaning.

 “My first exposure to the pineal gland came from Stuart Gordon’s movie adaptation of Lovecraft’s From Beyond,” Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of the cult sci-fi television classic The Middleman, told AlterNet. “In truth, everything I know about that particular endocrine body probably derives from that seminal experience, which explains why I am a television writer and not a brain surgeon.”

In From Beyond, a supernaturally activated pineal gland turns mad scientists into brain-eating zombies. The recently reissued 1957 exploitation film She Devil features a “female monster” whose hyperstimulated pineal gland turns her into ”a demon, a devil, a creature with a warped soul!” In both films, and many other third-eye head-trips, functions as a sexualized organ, rather than a circadian regulator. Today, some use melatonin supplements, available since the ’90s, to aid with sexual dysfunction. But the pineal gland’s expansive mythic and scientific history has much broader applications when it comes to folklore and entertainment.

“In The Middleman, we quickly discovered that because this most mysterious of glands is so misunderstood, even though its very name connotes a certain frisson of scientific accuracy and technical understanding, it was a fantastic shorthand for whatever otherworldly qualities we needed to justify,” Grillo-Marxuach added. “Over the course of 12 episodes, the pineal gland became the source of psychic ability, communication between parallel dimensions, the magical influence of succubi and incubi over the libidos of ordinary mortals and, finally, the power source for our main supervillain’s armageddon device. Since Stuart Gordon and H.P. Lovecraft gave me such a gift in my teenage years by providing me with so fanciful an understanding of cerebral anatomy, I figured I’d pay the favor forward as many times as possible.”

About the Author

Scott Thill runs the online mag Morphizm.com. His writing has appeared on Salon, XLR8R, All Music Guide, Wired and others.

The Hum, a Worldwide Acoustic Mystery, Stumps Researchers

The Hum, a mysterious droning sound, has been
heard in places like Bristol, England, Bondi, Australia
and Taos, N.M. (Taos Pueblo shown).
Credit: Dan Kaplan | Shutterstock.com

The Hum, a Worldwide Acoustic Mystery, Stumps Researchers
July 25, 2013 | Live Science | Marc Lallanilla

It creeps in slowly in the dark of night, and once inside, it almost never goes away.

It's known as the Hum, a steady, droning sound that's heard in places as disparate as Taos, N.M.; Bristol, England; and Largs, Scotland.

But what causes the Hum, and why it only affects a small percentage of the population in certain areas, remain a mystery, despite a number of scientific investigations. [The Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena]

Big Farma: The Hazardous Truth about Factory Farming

The Hazardous Truth about Factory Farming
July 24, 2013 | Project Censored

Factory farms are increasingly biohazards—biological breeding grounds for dangerous bacteria and viruses.  Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)—informally known as “factory farms”—pollute our air, waterways, and bodies.  Poultry- and cattle-waste has devastating effects on waterways and often contribute to algae blooms.  CAFOs produce “waste lagoons” with high concentrations of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, among other harmful substances.  Joseph Mercola reports, “Animals and workers have died or become seriously ill in swine IFAP [Industrial Farm Animal Production] facilities when hydrogen sulfide has risen from agitated manure in pits under the building.”

CAFOs are increasingly large, multiplying these negative effects.  According to Food & Water Watch’s “Factory Farm Map,” there are four factory-farmed chickens for every single American, and the number of cows on factory-farm dairies nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007.

Model Farm Project promotes alternatives to CAFOs.   In partnership with the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the Food Animal Initiative, the Model Farm Project aims “to establish an international network of viable, humane and sustainable model farms.”  They advocate for humane farms with local supply chains that provide employees with good jobs.  Alternatives to the industrial farm model employ lower density of animals, which is beneficial for both the animals and the environment.

Sources:

Joseph Mercola,  “A River Of Waste:  The Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms,” Mercola.com,  April 6, 2013,  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/06/river-of-waste-documentary.aspx.

“Factory Farm Map,” Food & Water Watch, no date, http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/states/us/.

“Model Farm Project,” http://www.modelfarmproject.org/.

Student Researchers:  Jessica Lehmann, Megan Boggs, Pete Sotiras, Chet Finster and Logan Straub (Santa Rosa Junior College)

Faculty Evaluator: Susan Rahman (Santa Rosa Junior College)

Dolphins Call Out to Each Other by 'Name' Like Humans, say British Scientists

Dolphins (Representative Image) Credit: Reuters

Dolphins Call Out to Each Other by 'Name' Like Humans, say British Scientists
July 24, 2013 | IbTimes | Drishya Nair

A new study has discovered that that bottlenose dolphins call out to each other by names, just like human beings, suggesting that the concept of naming individuals is not exclusive to our species.

According to the study by researchers from University of St. Andrews in Scotland, dolphins call out to each other by using "signature whistles."

While it was already known to science closely related dolphins do copy each other's whistles, it wasn't clear if there were any sort of signature whistles.

For the study, the researchers followed different groups of wild dolphins off the east coast of Scotland and closely monitored each of their signature whistles for a span of four months. They checked if there were any repetitive styles of whistle.

With the help of an onboard computer, the scientists then created synthetic versions of the dolphin's signature whistles without their vocal characteristics to check if the dolphins responded to the whistle pattern itself without recognizing their own voices.

The researchers also recorded and created synthetic versions of non-signature whistles.

When the synthetic versions of signature whistles were played from an underwater speaker, it was found that dolphins responded. While some of them responded by whistling back immediately, others approached the boat soon after responding. This suggested that the signature whistles may be helping lost animals reunite with their group, lead author of the study, marine biologist Stephanie King said according to a report in Los Angeles Times.

Laela Sayigh, a marine biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachussetts said that all signature whistles are different from each other. She added that females especially have very distinctive whistles which may aid calves recognize their mothers more easily.

However, Sayigh said it is not clear as to how dolphins come up with their signature whistles.

Though there is a theory that there is learning involved in the process, it is not confirmed.

 "We don't really have an exact answer," Sayigh said.

Sayigh further said that the study may help answer larger questions.

"There's a big question looming as to whether dolphins use whistles in the way we use words," Sayigh said.
"We can say 'chair' and visualize 'chair' without having to see one at the same time," Sayigh said. The question if dolphins can do the same with whistles.

King said that the research team now plans to study other whistle types.

"I think we can really open the door now and look at this in more animals," she added.

The study was published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Italy Becomes the 9th EU Nation To Ban Monsanto's GMO Corn

Italy Becomes the 9th EU Nation To Ban Monsanto's GMO Corn
July 24, 2013 | Prevent Disease | Natasha Longo

The Italians are on to something big that could cause a ripple effect throughout the EU. Three Italian ministries have signed a decree banning the cultivation of Monsanto's genetically modified corn, citing environmental concerns, the agriculture ministry said last week.

Earlier this year, Poland had become the eighth EU member state to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops. Seven other EU member states have already imposed bans on the cultivation of GM crops approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as safe: Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece and Bulgaria. Now Italy has joined the ranks.

Nation ministries continue to express concerns that GM crops may cross-pollinate with non-GM crops and Monsanto’s MON810 maize pollen may find its way into honey. There exists no scientific assessments confirming that GM crops are safe for the environment and people.

The decree, which still needs to be published in the official gazette to become binding, targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, one of two genetically modified organisms (GMO) allowed in Europe and the only one currently grown commercially.

The ban was also signed off by the health and environment ministries, with the agriculture ministry citing the crop's "negative impact on biodiversity".

"Our agriculture is based on biodiversity, on quality, and those we must continue to aim for, without games that even from an economic point of view would not make us competitive," the ministry said.

The ministry said it had already notified the European Commission and other states in the European Union of the move.

"The Commission will look into the Italian safeguard measure in more detail, and we have already asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess the scientific basis for the decision," said Frederic Vincent, the Commission's health spokesman. EFSA is the EU's food safety watchdog.

While GMO cultivation approvals are agreed jointly at the EU level, individual governments can introduce safeguards if they believe that cultivation could present a health or environmental risk. Those moves, however, are always verified by the Commission.

France put in place a similar temporary ban on GMO crops last year.

It was just two years ago that French police stood helpless as sixty people, locked inside an open-air field of genetically modified grapevines, uprooted all the plants. In Spain, dozens of people have destroyed GMO fields. In an anonymous press release that year, they wrote, “This kind of direct action is the best way to respond to the fait accompli policy through which the Generalitat, the State and the biotech multinationals have been unilaterally imposing genetically modified organisms.”

Europe is quickly becoming the most progressive continent in the world to oppose GM foods. France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Latvia and Albania have all declared many regions to be GMO-free. France made an important step in the no-GMO movement by specifically defining exactly what "GMO-free" means when it comes to food labeling. Spain and Portugal are slowing advancing but they have a long way to go before declaring most of their regions GMO-free. Britain officially supports GM crops and has trials of GMOs like potatoes planted. Austria, Greece and Poland are now completely GMO-free zones thanks to public and government support.

According to official data from last year, there was no GMO cultivation in Italy, a country fiercely protective of its agriculture, although some pro-biotech farmers have planted individual crops in recent months despite the widespread opposition.

Nearly 80 percent of Italians are in support of a ban, according to Italy's biggest farmers group Coldiretti, citing the results of a recent survey.

"The protection of Italian distinctiveness must be a policy priority since it determines the existence of 'Made in Italy', which is our engine, our future, our leverage to return to growth in the food industry," Coldiretti's president, Sergio Marini, said in a statement.

The Italian ban will be valid for a period of up to 18 months, the ministry added.

Five EU member states grew MON810 maize on 129,000 hectares in 2012, data from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications showed.

Spain was the top producer, followed by Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.

Sources:

scientificamerican.com
foodfreedom.wordpress.com
preventdisease.com

Natasha Longo has a master's degree in nutrition and is a certified fitness and nutritional counselor. She has consulted on public health policy and procurement in Canada, Australia, Spain, Ireland, England and Germany.