(http://www.good.is)Voting day, November 5, is coming up fast for I-522, a Washington initiative that would mandate labeling of packaged foods containing genetically engineered ingredients, also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The bill is similar to Prop 37, which was defeated in California last year after national corporations, such as Monsanto, DuPont and PepsiCo, donated $46 million to oppose it. Supporters of consumers' fundamental right to know what they are purchasing are worried that I-522 might see similar defeat, as those same profit-obsessed companies have contributed over $7.2 million to defeat the initiative, compared to the $6.9 million raised so far by its proponents.
One of the ridiculous, misleading claims being espoused by the perpetuators of the status quo is that, as if manufacturers didn't already change their labels often for advertising or regulatory purposes, GMO labeling would somehow drive up the price of food products, a claim that has been debunked several times by independent researchers. Now, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a popular company that makes and sells organic soap, has changed their iconic label to help spread the word for the Yes on 522 campaign.
The soap company has done this in the face of deceitful reports about the huge increase in costs that changing a label would supposedly cause. The soaps are organic and non-GMO, meaning that their labeling would not even be affected by the initiative. Despite this, they have been a huge supporter of the campaign, being one of its top donors, with contributions totaling more than $1.7 million. Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is dedicated to a number of causes, consumers' rights to know and transparent labeling being among them.
From "Why Dr. Bronner's is on a Soapbox for GMO Labeling" on Good.is:
We cap executive compensation at five to one per our lowest paid position, and dedicate profits not needed for the business to charitable and activist causes. We have prioritized labeling of genetically modified foods alongside supporting at-risk youth programs, re-commercializing industrial hemp, animal advocacy, fairness in trade, and other worthwhile efforts. My brother and I wrote this new GMO info label in the tradition of our grandfather, Dr. Emanuel Bronner, and his "All-One" philosophy, and on behalf of our commitment to healthy and sustainable agriculture, corporate accountability, and the consumers' right to know - all of which embody the social and ecological principles that inform the philosophy printed on the original castile liquid soap labels.
The I-522 campaign is an important issue for everyone, even if you don't live in Washington. If it succeeds, it could trigger further action around the country to help protect consumers and establish transparent labeling regulations. GMOs have been linked to a wide variety of health and environmental problems, and even if they hadn't been, there is no reason that they should be hidden in the foods we ingest. Join Dr. Bronner's, Natural News and thousands of other concerned organizations and individuals in supporting the Yes on 522 campaign to ensure a healthier, safer and more informed future for us all.
(http://www.breitbart.com)"The website never crashed. It is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability," Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said of the Healthcare.gov website during her testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
There are several problems with Sebelius' claim. First of all, the website could hardly be called "functional," considering that it hasn't functioned for millions of Americans and that it certainly doesn't function as it was intended or promised to. Secondly, her statement, "at a slow speed and very low reliability," doesn't make the situation seem any better. According to Sebelius, the website functions; it's just incredibly slow and unreliable. At least it never crashed. Oh, wait.
Directly contradicting Sebilius' statement, Breitbart reported, "Just minutes before Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was set to testify on Capitol Hill, the Healthcare.gov site crashed. Spot checks verified that the State of North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Maryland, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, and New Hampshire are all down - which likely means the entire federal site is down."
Healthcare.gov was down for at least thirty minutes into Sebelius' testimony.
Hm, that's ironic. Kind of like how it's ironic that the Obama administration was warned a month in advance that the site was not ready to launch but then decided to proceed with the launch anyways. And then acted like 1) nothing was wrong, and 2) they had no idea about the website's problems. Or ironic in the way that Obama lied to millions of Americans, repeatedly promising us all for years and over two presidential elections that people would be able to keep their health insurance plans if they so choose, which has turned out to not be true at all, as many Americans are now losing their health care plans or being forced to pay new skyrocketing costs.
The Swedish researchers noted that elderly people tend to be more sedentary and get less exercise than other age groups, so they decided to examine the association between non-exercise physical activity and the risk of a first cardiovascular disease event and total mortality. The researchers examined 4232 60-year-old individuals; physical activity and exercise habits - including fixing up the car, home repairs, cutting the lawn, blackberry picking and going hunting - were assessed by a questionnaire, and cardiovascular health was evaluated through physical examinations and laboratory tests. The participants were then followed for an average of 12.5 years.
The results of the study showed that those who were more active, with or without exercise, had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and generally lived longer. "Being active reduced the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 27%, and death from any cause by 30%, during the 12-year study," BBC News reported.
This study shows what a phenomenal difference that physical activity can make on a person's health. The health benefits are obviously not just from intense exercise but from being active. Activities around the house, such as gardening, can extend one's life by years. Sedentary lifestyles are often linked to health problems like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So one should look for something to do everyday and always be active to ensure a long, happy, healthy life.
The study's abstract concluded, "A generally active daily life was, regardless of exercising regularly or not, associated with cardiovascular health and longevity in older adults."
(http://www.motherjones.com)The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) claims on their website that their objective "is to restore science and common sense to personal and public health decisions in order to foster a scientifically sound and sensible public health policy for the American people." However, what that means for them apparently doesn't mean the same thing for other people, as they routinely oppose introduced measures to protect public health. It often finds itself fighting against public health, consumer safety and environmental advocates. It has defended hydraulic fracturing, a controversial natural gas extraction method, saying that "fracking doesn't pollute water or air." The ACSH has downplayed the role that sugary beverages play in obesity and diabetes, and it has denied the harmful effects of toxic chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and pesticides such as atrazine.
The ACSH asserts that its conclusions are based off of unbiased science, but internal financial documents recently provided to Mother Jones show how the organization depends on funding from industries that have financial stakes in shaping scientific debate.
As reported by Mother Jones, "from July 1, 2012, to December 20, 2012, 58 percent of donations to the council came from corporations and large private foundations. ACSH's donors and the potential backers the group has been targeting comprise a who's-who of energy, agriculture, cosmetics, food, soda, chemical, pharmaceutical, and tobacco corporations. ACSH donors in the second half of 2012 included Chevron ($18,500), Coca-Cola ($50,000), the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation ($15,000), Dr. Pepper/Snapple ($5,000), Bayer Cropscience ($30,000), Procter and Gamble ($6,000), agribusiness giant Syngenta ($22,500), 3M ($30,000), McDonald's ($30,000), and tobacco conglomerate Altria ($25,000). Among the corporations and foundations that ACSH has pursued for financial support since July 2012 are Pepsi, Monsanto, British American Tobacco, DowAgro, ExxonMobil Foundation, Phillip Morris International, Reynolds American, the Koch family-controlled Claude R. Lambe Foundation, the Dow-linked Gerstacker Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Searle Freedom Trust."
Dr. Gilbert Ross, the group's executive director, who previously lost his medical license after defrauding New York State's Medicaid program of around $8 million, did not dispute the financial documents. The ACSH doesn't disclose its funding sources, because "the sources of our support are irrelevant to our scientific investigations," Ross said. "Only science-based facts hold sway in our publications, even if the outcome is not pleasing to our contributors."
The ASCH claims that it doesn't accept donations from corporations or groups for specific research projects, but a March 1992 internal memo obtained by Consumer Reports revealed that ACSH staffers would ask the Calorie Control Council, a trade group made up of diet food and drink companies, and a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that owned the US marketing rights to Splenda for contributions in return for a research paper touting artificial sweeteners.
The documents elucidate ACSH staffers' methods of approaching potential corporate financial contributors with pitches aimed at specific issues. For example, last year, the documents note that the group planned to "seize opportunities to cultivate new funding possibilities (Prop 37, CSC, and corporate caving, etc.)." Proposition 37 was the failed 2012 California ball initiative that would have mandated GMO food labeling. "CSC" means "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics," suggesting that ACSH planned on approaching cosmetic companies for funding based on the perceived consumer safety of their products.
According to Mother Jones, the ACSH "received a $37,500 donation in 2012 from the American Petroleum Institute related to 'fracking.' That year, it also received other energy industry funds, including $18,500 from Chevron and $75,000 from the ExxonMobil Foundation."
The ACSH was once against smoking; however, the new documents reveal that the organization planned to receive a total of $338,200 from tobacco companies between July 2012 and June 2013. The documents also list Reynolds American and Phillip Morris International as expected to make contributions of $100,000 each in 2013. The ACSH has recently given increased support for e-cigarettes and other forms of smokeless tobacco, and the documents show that it is using this newly developing industry to seek more funding.
You can read the entire report, http://www.motherjones.com by Andy Kroll and Jeremy Schulman at Mother Jones. Click here to see the ACSH financial documents.
Writing for market-ticker.org, Karl Denninger analyzed the data tables and brought up several interesting statistical facts.
"First, if you're '27', the average premium is $266.20/month or $3,194.40 per year," he wrote. This is especially distressing considering the fact that the average 27-year-old doesn't have an extra $3,200 in disposable income to spend; as it is, many of them are already struggling to cover mandatory expenses such as food and shelter.
Even worse than that, the "'average' 50 year old premium, again, for single coverage, is $452.87, or $5,434.44/year," Denninger reported. These prices are likely a better improvement for the 50-year-olds than what the 27-year-olds are getting, especially for those who already have illnesses.
Smokers' premiums are drastically surcharged at a reported rate of 1.5 times that of non-smoker premiums. At least that might convince people to switch to healthier habits.
Parents should be worried too, as Denninger writes, "If you are a single parent with kids (rather common) the premium on average is $610.23/month or about $7,300, and if you're a couple it's $647.86 (again, $7,774 annually.)"
Some people will receive tax credits to offset the new expenses; however, this doesn't actually make the price decrease, it simply means that the federal government will cover part of the cost, with tax money collected from you and your neighbors.
Again, these prices are for "average 50-year-olds," those over 50 will have to pay much more for each year of age. Reports show that couples who are 59 could be faced with bills in the area of $15,000.
These deals may be great for sick people, but they certainly screw over young, healthy, hard working Americans. Someone who has an expensive health condition might be ecstatic about the idea of paying $3,200 a year and getting $30,000 or more in treatment costs, but it is hardly fair to the people paying that amount or more and receiving nothing in return.
That is another major downfall to Obamacare: it relies on forcing young people to sign up and give away their wage slave earnings for false medical security, or else be threatened and fined by the IRS. If the people that don't benefit from this wealth redistribution policy refuse to pay into it, the system would collapse on itself.
Finally, it should be remembered that even though your government is going to force you to pay hundreds or thousands more dollars than necessary, you don't even get to choose how that exorbitant amount is spent. It will be spent in the conventional medical sick care industry. It won't help you or any health-conscious individuals save money on preventative medicine, nutritional supplements or functional foods, products that are saving peoples' health and actually reducing the financial burden on the medical system. That, in contrast to the popular saying, is like having your cake taken away from you and then eaten by someone else.
(http://www.cornucopia.org)As many readers already know, Washington's I-522 is a citizen's initiative on the November 5 ballot that would mandate GMO labeling on food packages in the state. It came about as an effort to make the food industry more transparent and to ensure consumers' right to know what is in the products they buy and the foods they ingest. Of course, that is perceived as a huge threat to certain agricultural, chemical and food businesses, which have spent over $7.2 million on a campaign of disinformation. Many of those companies hid behind the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) to illegally launder money for their campaign against Washington citizens and to conceal their identities, fearing public backlash could hurt their sales. Washington's Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, filed a lawsuit demanding the GMA reveal the identities of the donors in compliance with state law.
With the identities of the GMA members revealed, The Cornucopia Institute has released an up-to-date infographic detailing the financial expenditures of both the supporters and opponents of I-522.
"Consumers might be surprised to find out that some of their favorite organic and natural brands, hiding behind their lobbyist, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, are contributing bushel baskets of cash towards thwarting their right to make informed choices in the supermarket," says Mark Kastel, Cornucopia's Codirector.
After Prop 37, a similar GMO labeling measure, was defeated in California last year, the Cornucopia Institute exposed many prominent organic and "natural" brands that actually oppose GMO food labeling, including Kashi, Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen and Santa Cruz and Knudsen, owned by Kellogs, General Mills and Smucker's, respectively. Because of the negative publicity this brought, companies tried to hide behind the GMA to oppose the Washington initiative. Most of the campaign contributions against the initiative come from large, out-of-state businesses that fear losing profits, while donations in support of consumers' rights have mostly come from organic brands and concerned individuals, who have raised nearly $6.9 million.
"Consumers and food citizens are increasingly interested in 'voting with their forks,' and many want to support companies that share their values," observes Jason Cole, a researcher for Cornucopia who compiled the data for the infographic. "We think these conscious eaters will appreciate the infographic created by Cornucopia to help them make their purchasing decisions."
(http://www.philly.com)When an expecting mother is HIV-positive, doctors normally put the pregnant woman on two antiretroviral medications in order to avoid having the virus be transmitted to their unborn children. However, in one case from Mississippi, doctors were unaware of the mother's HIV infection until after she gave birth to a little girl, who was thus born with the virus.
The little girl's pediatrician, Dr. Hannah Gay, hence launched HIV treatment almost immediately, just 30 hours after she was born. Gay also decided to use a combination of three antiretroviral drugs, all at doses commonly used to treat HIV-infected infants. Repeated tests showed that the treatment lowered the levels of HIV in the infant's blood until, at 29 days, it reached undetectable levels. Treatment continued over until the girl was 18 months old, at which point doctors lost track of her and treatment ceased.
It was not until 10 months later that the doctors next saw the child. Repeated standard HIV tests were performed on the child, none of which detected the virus in her blood. The child is now three tears old and still appears to be cured; however, according to philly.com, "A couple of tests have found very low-level indications of HIV in the girl's blood, but doctors cannot tell if they are false positives or simply remnants of the eradicated virus." Because of this, researchers say that the girl is in remission rather than cured.
The two important factors that led to the newborn's successful treatment appear to have been the combination of drugs used and the timing with which treatment began. This case could help improve treatment for other infants born with HIV, but is unlikely to help adults who acquire the virus, since they usually don't become aware of it until much later. As reported by philly.com, "Based on this girl's case, a federally funded study set to begin in early 2014 will test the early treatment method to determine whether the approach could be used in all HIV-infected newborns."
(http://www.cbsnews.com)CBS News recently unveiled yet another problem with Healthcare.gov: A new online feature stemming from the Obama administration's efforts to improve the website can dramatically underestimate insurance costs.
The administration's latest attempt to deceive the American public into believing that Obamacare's implementation is going smoothly lumps potential customers into two age categories: 49 or under and 50 or older. The prices it shows those in the 49 or under group are based on what a 27-year-old would pay, while those in the 50 or older category see prices for 50-year-olds. This means that a lot of people, especially those who are not 27 or 49 years old, are getting wrong, misleading price estimates. In some cases, people could have to pay twice what the website claims for them.
Jonathon Wu, an industry analyst, says that this is "incredibly misleading for people that are trying to get a sense of what they're paying."
CBS News analyzed the case of a 48-year-old woman from Charlotte, N.C.: According to HealthCare.gov, she would pay $231 a month, but the actual plan on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina's website costs $360, more than 50 percent higher. The difference: Blue Cross and Blue Shield requests your birthday before providing more accurate estimates.
The difference between estimates and actual costs are even more shocking for older Americans. A 62-year-old, also from Charlotte, looking for the same basic plan would see on Healthcare.gov a price estimate of $394, while the actual price is $634.
(http://townhall.com)On Thursday, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Jane Norton, the former executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health, filed a lawsuit against Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood. The lawsuit alleges that Colorado government officials have allocated $14 million from taxpayers for Planned Parenthood funding, clearly violating a voter-approved amendment to the state's constitution which prohibits subsidizing abortions.
According to state legislation that was approved by voters twice, "No public funds shall be used by the State of Colorado, its agencies or political subdivisions to pay or otherwise reimburse, either directly or indirectly, any person, agency or facility for the performance of any induced abortion...."
However, as the Norton v. Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood complaint states, "Upon information and belief, since about January 15, 2009 to the present date, the Colorado Government Defendants and other Colorado government agencies have provided approximately $14 million in public funds to Defendant Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood and thereby have, in violation of Colorado's Abortion Funding Prohibition Amendment, directly or indirectly subsidized Planned Parenthood Services' abortion operations."
In this video filmed October 3, 2013, Peter C. Gotzsche informs his audience in Helsingor, Denmark, of many of the "gangster" methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to push their pills for profits with zero regard for human life. He talks about how criteria for diagnosing various diseases has eroded for decades, now allowing physicians, for example, to diagnose a widower with depression after only two weeks of normal mourning. He also cites stastics, stating that one popular antidepressant caused 50% of patients to develop sexual problems, as opposed to the 5% risk claimed by Big Pharma. Gotzsche goes on to address other atrocities in the pharmaceutical industry, many of which he also writes about in his book, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma has Corrupted Healthcare. Watch this informative video and be sure to look for his book in stores or online!
From YouTube description: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. In his latest ground-breaking book, Peter C. Gotzsche exposes the pharmaceutical industries and their charade of fraudulent behavior, both in research and marketing where the morally repugnant disregard for human lives is the norm. He convincingly draws close comparisons with the tobacco conglomerates, revealing the extraordinary truth behind efforts to confuse and distract the public and their politicians. The book addresses, in evidence-based detail, an extraordinary system failure caused by widespread crime, corruption, bribery and impotent drug regulation in need of radical reforms.
(http://www.cornucopia.org)On Friday, October 18, the Grocery Manufacturers Association released a list of contributors to the anti-GMO labeling No on 522 campaign after the Washington Attorney General filed suit for violating state election disclosure requirements.
The list was made up of some of the largest food products manufacturers, including many of the most prominent brands in natural and organic food. The following list shows the disclosed companies and the amounts of funding contributed:
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC $120,846 The J. M. Smucker Company $241,091 Rich Products Corporation $24,049 General Mills, Inc. $598,819 PepsiCo, Inc. $1,620,899 Bunge North America, inc. $94,993 Bumble Bee Foods, LLC $36,073 Bush Brothers & Company A $16,233 Moody Dunbar, Inc. $1,804 Dean Foods Company $120,245 Kellogg Company $221,852 Nestle USA, Inc. $1,052,743 ConAgra Foods $285,281 Bimbo Bakeries USA $94,693 Welch Foods, Inc. $28,859 Knouse Foods Cooperative, Inc. $14,429 Bruce Foods Corporation $3,006 Abbott Nutrition $127,459 Campbell Soup Company $265,140 Del Monte Foods Company $86,576 Sunny Delight Beverages Company $21,043 Shearer's Foods, Inc. $25,251 Mondelez Global LLC $144,895 Land O'Lakes, Inc. $99,803 The Coca-Cola Company $1,047,332 The Hillshire Brands Company $97,398 The Hershey Company $248,305 Hormel Foods Corporation $52,908 Clement Pappas & Company, Inc. $21,043 McCormick & Company, Inc. $102,208 Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. $55,313 FlowersFoods, Inc. $141,288 Cargill, Inc. $98,601 The Clorox Company $12,024
Total: $7,222,500.
These are the companies that decided that they don't want their customers to know what is in the products they buy. These companies hid behind a national association to disguise their role in influencing elections and misleading consumers. They deserve to lose at least as much as they contributed to their campaign of misinformation. Please join in spreading consumer awareness about these companies and let everyone know to avoid buying their products, so they realize just how damaging their actions can be and hopefully adopt better practices, with consumer safety in mind, in the future.
(http://preventdisease.com)Dr. Dwight Lundell, M.D., released a very humble and revealing article in 2012 on the true causes of heart disease. He opens his statement by freely admitting that he and the other prominent physicians he had trained with for years were wrong about their assumptions on heart disease. Scientific literature and seminars had convince him and his colleagues that heart disease simply resulted from high cholesterol and that the only way to treat it was to prescribe cholesterol-lowering medications and low-fat diets.
Lundell then goes on to state how it was discovered "a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease.... The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences."
He then says that, even though 25% of the U.S. population takes statin drugs and we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans are dying of heart disease than ever before. Inflammation is what causes cholesterol to accumulate in the walls of blood vessels and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely around the body, so inflammation is what is to blame for heart disease.
Lundell explains that inflammation is your body's natural defense to a foreign invader, such as a bacteria, toxin or virus, and that chronic inflammation occurs when the human body is continuously exposed to injury by toxins or foods that it was never designed to process. He then makes a shocking statement: "The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine."
According to Lundell, the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and their derivative products) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils, such as soybean, corn and sunflower, that are found in many processed foods. These are exactly the kind of foods that have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades, all the while slowly poisoning everyone.
While omega-6 oils are essential, they must be in correct balance with omega-3s. The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in today's mainstream American diet is ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1, while the correct, healthy balance would be around 3:1.
All the processed, sugar-packed, oil-soaked foods we eat contribute to chronic inflammation and cardiovascular disease. In order to rid ourselves of inflammation, we must return to foods closer to their natural state. People should choose complex carbohydrates in the form of colorful fruits and vegetables. Olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef are healthier choices than corn or soybean oil. Modern medicine's mistaken cholesterol theory led to the very diets causing inflammation and heart disease today.
Lundell concludes his article with hopeful advice: "What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet."
Dr. Dwight Lundell's full article can be found here.
(http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com)America's food stamp riots are coming. We've already seen a small sample of the inevitable this past weekend, when a "temporary system failure" caused Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to stop working in 17 U.S. states. The glitch in the system spurred "mini-riots" at Wal-Marts and other retailers that rely heavily on food stamp users.
At some Wal-Mart stores in Louisiana, EBT cards were not showing any limits on Saturday night, allowing families to essentially "buy" merchandise for free. Word quickly spread, and the stores' shelves were cleared within two hours. Management eventually had to call in local law enforcement, and after the situation was contained, the frenzied shoppers simply left, abandoning overflowing shopping carts. Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said, "It was worse than any black Friday" that he's ever seen.
This happened less than three hours after the glitch in the system occurred. Imagine what would happen if the EBT system went offline for 24, 48 or 72 hours in every city simultaneously. Rioting and looting would occur at nearly every Wal-Mart across the country, and it wouldn't be confined to just that retailer. All stores would be ransacked, as people who have no concept of private property hoard as much as they can as quickly as they can. Our entire economic system would collapse.
Evidence of the coming collapse is all around us. A growing trend among desperate women is to sell their hair, eggs and breast milk to make ends meet. Law enforcement in many parts of America is becoming more and more militaristic and authoritative. Incidences of police brutality, violations of Constitutional rights and plain abuse are growing disturbingly more common. Take for example this video of a drunken off-duty police officer arresting a female soldier, screaming at her and causing her great pain, all because she refused his sexual advances. Major financial institutions are picking up on the signs too and are starting to prepare for the worst. Chase Bank recently sent letters to its business customers, warning them about new limits on cash withdrawals and restricting them from sending international wire transfers.
Fortunately, the collapse has been delayed by Congress raising the debt ceiling, yet again. Eventually though, we will have to stop paying our debt with more debt, or America's welfare system, now catering to 50 million people, will collapse. A system that entrenches itself in debt, steals from hard workers and encourages others to sit around collecting government benefits has no alternative but to collapse on itself. When it does, those who have been taught to rely on the government for sustenance will contribute to mass looting, rioting and the general collapse of Western civilization. The system is stealing from our children, our grandchildren and our future so that we can live comfortably in the short-term, but we will eventually have to own up to our decisions and pay the price.
(http://seattletimes.com)Air pollution has long been suspected as a contributor to lung cancer, but its role as a carcinogen has only just recently been confirmed. On Thursday, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, declared that air pollution is a carcinogen comparable to other known dangers, including asbestos, tobacco and ultraviolet radiation.
"The air most people breathe has become polluted with a complicated mixture of cancer-causing substances," said Kurt Straif, head of the IARC department that evaluates carcinogens. According to The Seattle Times, "he said the agency now considers pollution to be 'the most important environmental carcinogen,' ahead of second-hand cigarette and cigar smoke."
The IARC previously declared components of air pollution, such as diesel exhaust, to cause cancer, but this is the first time that air pollution in general has been deemed carcinogenic. Individual risk from air pollution is low, but sources of exposure are widespread and often unavoidable.
"Air pollution is a complex mixture that includes gases and particulate matter, and [the] IARC said one of its primary risks is the fine particles that can be deposited deep in the lungs of people," The Seattle Times reported.
To reach their conclusion, the IARC analyzed over 1,000 studies and determined that there was enough evidence that exposure to air pollution causes lung cancer to classify it as a carcinogen.
(http://www.foodfirst.org)According to an October 10 press release, genetically modified corn has been banned in Mexico. Judge Jaime Eduardo Verdugo J. of the Twelfth Federal District Court for Civil Matters of Mexico City has ruled that GM corn poses "the risk of imminent harm to the environment." He has also ordered SAGARPA and SEMARNAT, Mexico's equivalent to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and EPA, respectively, to immediately "suspend all activities involving the planting of transgenic corn in the country and end the granting of permission for experimental and pilot commercial plantings."
Because of this decision, biotech companies like Monsanto and DuPont/Pioneer are barred from planting or selling GM corn within Mexico's borders. Rene Sanchez Galindo, legal counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said that the ruling includes the possibility of "criminal charges for the authorities responsible for allowing the introduction of transgenic corn in our country."
(http://www.cornucopia.org)Last September, thousands of bees were mysteriously found dead in Minneapolis. Considering the continuing decline in bee population that threatens drastic consequences for our environment, the University of Minnesota's Bee Lab and Bee Squad teamed up with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to investigate the cause of the massive die-off.
The investigators gathered samples of dead bees and sent them to a lab in North Carolina, where it was confirmed that the bees had been poisoned by fipronil, an insecticide commonly used by commercial companies around the foundations of buildings. According to the MDA, fipronil sprayed on a house's foundation likely got on nearby plants, and from there foraging bees accidently carried the chemical back the hive.
The investigators determined that the insecticide was not applied by state or local government workers. The poison was probably sprayed either commercially or by a resident. Since the incident occurred in a residential area, it would likely be difficult to find out who is responsible for the bee kill. The MDA said that it is not going to investigate the matter further.
This incident serves as a perfect example of the vast unintended consequences that chemicals can have on our environment and shows that, contrary to what is conventionally practiced, the utmost caution should be used when working with pesticides.
(http://www.cornucopia.org)James Riddle, the esteemed former chairman of the National Organic Standards Board sent his resignation letter dated October 11, 2013, to the Organic Trade Association. In his letter, Riddle corrects several false statements given by the OTA's new president, Melody Meyer, and cites her attitude as the reason for his resignation.
Riddle describes the many contributions that he has made to the organic movement over the years:
I have been involved in the organic sector since the early 1980's as a producer, inspector, trainer, policy specialist, outreach coordinator, grant program administrator, activist and eater - as well as serving on the National Organic Standards Board. I have been a member of the Organic Trade Association since the early 1990's, was co-author of OTA's American Organic Standards and wrote OTA's comments on the USDA's second proposed organic rule.
He then corrects false statements in an article written by Meyer and entitled "Stop the lies and get behind your National Organic Program":
In her article, Ms. Meyer displayed an alarming lack of understanding of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the National Organic Program (NOP) Final Rule, as well as disrespect for public interest groups who have been part of the organic movement from the beginning.
For starters, Ms. Meyer stated: "In 2001 the first US organic standards were written into law after years of discussion, discovery and scientific review." This statement is incorrect. The law, OFPA, was passed in 1990. The NOP Final Rule (which is a regulation, not a law) was released in December 2000 and took effect in October 2002.
In discussing allowed and prohibited substances on the National List, Ms. Meyer overlooks the fact that OFPA only allows the use of synthetic and non-organic substances as "exemptions." Those exemptions are required by OFPA to sunset, or end, after 5 years, unless the allowances are reviewed and renewed by the NOSB, which has statutory authority over the content of the National List.
Ms. Meyer states: "All that's changed is it now takes two-thirds majority to vote to list and two-thirds to delist."
That is a huge change, and one that does not comply with the OFPA's clear language regarding the powers of the NOSB to determine substances and annotations on the National List; OFPA's sunset provisions; and the need for any action of the Board to be based on a 2/3 majority "decisive vote."
Despite the NOP's new directive, OFPA (the law) has not changed. Substances sunset from the National List unless they are reviewed and renewed by a decisive 2/3 vote of the NOSB. In order for listings to be legally valid, they need to be renewed following an affirmative vote of the Board. Any substance renewed by a less than 2/3 affirmative vote will certainly be subject to legal challenge.
Ms. Meyer goes on to state: "Elsewhere the article cites the 'lack of public input on this process.' This statement is, again, outrageously bogus."
The NOP's new directive was issued without any discussion with the Board at a public meeting. There was no vote of the Board to support the directive, and no opportunity for members of the public to offer input to the NOSB or the NOP on the directive.
This situation is analogous to the 4 "retracted directives" that were issued by the NOP in 2004, when I served on the NOSB. Those directives would have: a) allowed the labeling as "organic" of products not covered by NOP standards; b) allowed the use of antibiotics in dairy cattle to be used in organic production; c) allowed the use of fish meal in livestock feed; and d) allowed the use of pesticides with unknown inert ingredients. They were issued with no NOSB consultation or public comment.
After public outcry, USDA Sec. Anne Veneman intervened, ordered the directives withdrawn, and ordered staff to work in close consultation with the NOSB on future draft rules, policies and directives. It appears that those lessons have been forgotten. Consulting with the NOSB on implementing OFPA is required by law.
Finally, Ms. Meyer suggests that persons with concerns "reach out to the NOP directly. They are always available to answer questions and concerns." Not! The NOP's website is not even operational during the shutdown!
Riddle then states how he has stuck with OTA, even as they implemented policies that he's disagreed with, such as pushing for new taxes on certified organic operations, leaving programs to benefit organic producers unfunded and advocating "for the allowance of questionable artificial (i.e. synthetic) additives used in organic food production and processing."
Riddle concludes his letter, and his OTA membership, thusly:
But the positions taken and attitude displayed by the OTA's new president are too much. I cannot, in good conscience, renew my OTA membership.
You can read Riddle's full letter here. Meyer's article can be found here.
(http://vetmarch.com)As many people already know, the Obama administration has been actively trying to make the government shutdown appear worse than it actually is, harassing tourists, "closing" part of the OCEAN and preventing veterans from visiting the very monuments that honor the sacrifices they've made for our freedom and prosperity. To make Americans suffer and hopefully blame Republicans for the continuing shutdown, the tyrant has closed off access to the World War II, Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Veterans memorials. Naturally, this immature act of selfishness has upset people across the nation, and now a group plans to rebel against these unacceptable policies and honor our veterans for the selfless risks they took.
To give our veterans the recognition and respect they deserve, to protect our democratic system of government from an increasingly tyrannical bureaucracy ruled by the executive office and to show Washington that "We the People" are still in charge, we should join together and take back our memorials and monuments. There are two ways that you can help accomplish this goal:
1. Sign the petition on vetmarch.com to re-open the war memorials. Once signed, the petition will be delivered to every member of the Senate and the House and will be posted on the White House website.
2. Join millions of other patriotic Americans for a march at the World War II memorial at the National Mall on October 13, 2013, 9:00 am.
(http://firstread.nbcnews.com)A recent poll held by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal shows that, if they had the chance, 60 percent of Americans would fire every representative in Congress.
The poll asked Americans this question: "If there were a place on your ballot that allowed you to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including your own representative, would you do this, or not?" 60 percent of respondents said yes, 35 percent said no, and 5 percent said not sure.
That is up from July, when 57 percent said yes, and is the highest figure ever for that poll's question.
47 percent of Americans polled say that they do not strongly identify with either the Republican or Democrat party. Only 14 percent of Americans "think things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction," as opposed to 78 percent of Americans who "feel things are off on the wrong track." This is the most negative response in this since October 2012, when the same number said the country was off on the wrong track and only 12 percent believed we were headed in the right direction.
Americans' belief in the economy is just as pessimistic. Just 17 percent think the economy will improve next year, whereas 42 percent think that it will get worse.
Peter D. Hart, who conducted the poll with Bill McInturff, points out that the situation is ripe for the rise of independent or third-party candidates. According to Hart, "Somewhere, someone's going to pick up and run with the 'throw them all out'" banner.
(http://seattletimes.com)An outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella has the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) considering closing three California poultry plants operated by Foster Farms. The outbreak has sickened at least 279 people nationwide, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 42 percent of those sickened have been hospitalized. According to the Seattle Times, the USDA sent a letter to Foster Farms on Monday saying that "sanitary conditions at the facilities were so poor that they posed a 'serious ongoing threat to public health.'"
The excessive use of antibiotics in the poultry industry is being blamed for the antibiotic-resistance seen in some strains of salmonella. The USDA has ordered Foster Farms to develop a plan by Thursday to clean up the poultry plants. No recalls have been issued, but Kroger announced that it would pull chicken from the three plants off of their grocery shelves.
The poultry from the plants are marked with USDA inspection numbers P6137, P6137A or P7632. Thoroughly cooking chicken to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill salmonella. Use separate cutting boards and avoid washing poultry in the sink as an extra precaution, as doing so could spread bacteria.
