Health & WellnessS


Footprints

Millions Against Monsanto: Five lessons from the battle against GMOs

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Twenty years after the controversial introduction of unlabeled and untested genetically engineered foods and crops, opposition to GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and Monsanto has created one of the largest netroots-grassroots movements in the U.S.

There are arguably more important issues facing us today than the battle against Frankenfoods. The climate crisis and corporate control over the government and media come to mind. But the rapidly growing anti-GMO Movement illustrates the powerful synergy that can develop from the combined use of social media, marketplace pressure and political action. Recent developments in this sector indicate that out-of-control corporations, media, politicians and the proverbial "one percent" can be outsmarted and outmaneuvered. And quite possibly defeated.

In the wake of high-stakes multi-million dollar GMO labeling ballot initiatives in California in 2012, and Washington State in 2013, an army of organic food and natural health activists have put Corporate America and the political elite on the defensive. We've demonstrated that aggressive populist issue-framing; unconventional "inside-outside" coalition-building; marketplace pressure; and online list-building, mobilization and fundraising - strategically channeled into local and state-based political action - can begin to even up the odds between David and Goliath.

Arrow Down

Former pro-GMO scientist speaks out against GMO dangers

As mounting evidence shows genetically modified foods have dangerous health and environmental repercussions, the number of scientists willing to step forward and speak out against them is similarly growing. Dr. Thierry Vrain is just the latest of many scientists to buck Monsanto and their hired goons, changing his stance on GMOs and shouting their dangers to anyone that will listen.
Dr. Thierry Vrain
© Natural Society
Dr. Vrain is a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada. It was his job as scientist of his institute to address the public and others, assuring them of the safety of genetically engineered crops and foods. Now, 10 years after his retirement, he's changed his tune.
"In the last 10 years I have changed my position. I started paying attention to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and safety of engineered food.

I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat."
The studies commissioned by Monsanto understandably come to the conclusion that genetically modified foods and crops are both safe for the environment and safe for people. They are commissioned by the people who want that outcome. Studies from objective researchers, however, often come to very different conclusions.

Life Preserver

Your ancestors didn't sleep like you

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Ok, maybe your grandparents probably slept like you. And your great, great-grandparents. But once you go back before the 1800s, sleep starts to look a lot different. Your ancestors slept in a way that modern sleepers would find bizarre - they slept twice. And so can you.

The history

The existence of our sleeping twice per night was first uncovered by Roger Ekirch, professor of History at Virginia Tech.

His research found that we didn't always sleep in one eight hour chunk. We used to sleep in two shorter periods, over a longer range of night. This range was about 12 hours long, and began with a sleep of three to four hours, wakefulness of two to three hours, then sleep again until morning.

References are scattered throughout literature, court documents, personal papers, and the ephemera of the past. What is surprising is not that people slept in two sessions, but that the concept was so incredibly common. Two-piece sleeping was the standard, accepted way to sleep.

"It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge," Ekirch says.

An English doctor wrote, for example, that the ideal time for study and contemplation was between "first sleep" and "second sleep." Chaucer tells of a character in the Canterbury Tales that goes to bed following her "firste sleep." And, explaining the reason why working class conceived more children, a doctor from the 1500s reported that they typically had sex after their first sleep.

Comment: For more information, see our forum discussion Are You Getting Enough Sleep? Sleeping properly?


Post-It Note

This pretty much sums up the broken medical system

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The cholesterol-lowering medication Crestor (rosuvastatin) was the most prescribed medication in the United States during the last 12 months. As reported by Medscape Medical News in response to research completed by IMS Health.

Crestor topped the list of the most prescribed medications, with 23.7 million prescriptions. In terms of sales, Crestor was 5th on the list with total sales of 5.3 billion USD.

One of the reasons why Crestor has become so popular, is the JUPITER trial. In 2008, pharmaceutical companies and much of the world's media trumpeted the results of the JUPITER trial, which involved the use of Crestor for people with elevated levels of C-reactive Protein (a marker of systemic inflammation).

The results of the JUPITER trial are summarised below in the video excerpt from $TATIN NATION. An honest assessment of the published trial data shows that Crestor did not provide any meaningful benefit. That's before we even start to look at the adverse effects of Crestor, which included an increase in the risk for type 2 diabetes. However, the situation is even worse than we think.


Family

Where in the world are people most depressed?

People who think depression is a western malaise might be surprised by the results of a new study

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Depressive disorders by country. Graphic from the 'Burden of Depressive Disorders by Country, Sex, Age, and Year: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010' research paper
For those who think of depression as a byproduct of the vapidity of western materialism, this latest study by researchers in Queensland might come as something of a shock. Depression simply isn't that picky. And when it comes to depressive disorders, parts of north Africa and the Middle East suffer more than North America and western Europe.

According to the researchers, who gathered pre-existing data on clinical diagnoses up to 2010, Algeria, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan fared worse for the cumulative number of years their citizens lived with the disability of depression (YLD). (For the Middle East countries, bear in mind that this relates to data gathered before the Arab spring turned lives upside down).


Comment: Libya, Syria and Afghanistan, all war torn countries devastated by the U.S. empire, hardly any surprise then, that the inhabitants are 'depressed'.


Japan fared the best, along with Australia and New Zealand. The researchers caveated their work by acknowledging that data is patchy from some parts of the world. Intriguingly, the UK and US - countries in which reporting on mental illness and cultural reflections of depression are rapidly multiplying - appear to be far less badly afflicted than parts of Africa and eastern Europe.

Health

Kidney damage in first responders linked to 9/11

New research findings of WTC-CHEST Program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented at the 2013 American Society of Nephrology Meeting during National Kidney Week.

For the first time, researchers have linked high levels of inhaled particulate matter by first responders at Ground Zero to kidney damage. Researchers from the WTC-CHEST Program, a subset of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center for Excellence at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, presented their new findings at the 2013 American Society of Nephrology meeting on Nov. 9 during National Kidney Week.

After the 9/11 tragedy, first responders at Ground Zero were exposed to varying levels of a dust cloud of air filled with cement dust, smoke, glass fibers, and heavy metals. The WTC-CHEST Program at Mount Sinai has previously linked this particulate matter exposure to lung and heart abnormalities. However, its effects on the kidney health of first responders have never been explored until now.

Health

Measles outbreak hits Queensland

Measles vaccine
© John Woudstra
Thirty-five people have now contracted measles in Queensland in one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in Queensland's recent history.

This year 30 of the 35 measles cases have emerged since August, with eight cases now confirmed at Woodford Correctional Centre.

Last year only four Queenslanders contracted measles.

Questions are being asked if the measles outbreak is linked to overcrowding in Queensland prisons.

The Department of Justice and Attorney General on Wednesday evening confirmed there were now 6432 prisoners in Queensland jails on November 6.

It is the first time in Queensland history prisoner numbers have been more than 6000.The extra 832 prisoners include hundreds "doubling up" in cells at several prisons in the Ipswich area.

Comment: Diseases usually flourish in conditions of overcrowding and poor nutrition. Coincidentally (or not), a measles fear-mongering campaign is also underway in the UK.


Syringe

Second major measles outbreak in four months hits UK - Doctors tell parents: 'Lobotomise your children with MMR vaccine now!'

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© GETTYMeasles can be fatal.
Thousands of children are in ­danger of catching measles because their parents still refuse to let them have proper vaccinations.

Health chiefs have warned Britain is on the brink of a second major ­epidemic just four months after the previous outbreak which claimed one life and more than 1,200 victims.

The virus is highly contagious. Experts say one child with measles sitting in a classroom for just an hour will pass it on to at least 70 per cent of other pupils who are not vaccinated.

Cases have once again soared in Swansea, the area which was hit earlier this year.


Comment: Measles can indeed be a fatal disease. This is usually the case in infants with already compromised immune systems due to different factors such as poor nutrition, hygiene etc.

On the other hand, the risks associated with the administration of measles vaccines are not to be taken lightly.

A quick search of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)2 reveals nearly 5,100 vaccine-related deaths were reported in the U.S., for example, between 1990 and August 2012. The vast majority of deaths - nearly 60 percent - occurred in children under the age of three. Just over 360 of the reported vaccine-associated deaths in the US have been related to any of the measles-containing vaccines.


Comment: Coincidentally (or not) there is also another measles fearmongering campaign underway in Australia at this time.

It's strange that UK doctors today blame measles outbreaks on people refusing to lobotomise their children with the MMR vaccine... and yet just two years ago, outbreaks were also happening despite record numbers of children being vaccinated.

See also:

US Media Blackout: 'MMR Vaccine Caused Autism' Rules Italian Court

Girls aged 15 and 11 forced to have MMR jabs by High Court judge after parents disagree over vaccine

Dr Wakefield demands retraction from BMJ after documents prove innocence from allegations of vaccine autism data fraud

Vaccine Dangers: Interview with researcher Dr. Andrew Wakefield


Syringe

Is mandatory RFID chipping actually being implemented in Wyoming?

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Yet another fatal blow to American privacy and liberties.

In Hanna, Wyoming, the Obamacare RFID chips are currently being "test ran."

Over the last two weeks there has been legislation that has passed that mandates anyone who is receiving government welfare or any sort of government assistance, to get the RFID implant. It doesn't stop with welfare recipients though. This fascist invasion extends to all Police officers, military and even garbage men will be required to have the RFID chip by the end of next month or face termination from their jobs.

Tammy Josephine Laurence, a single mother of three, who is currently accepting housing assistance, was mandated to get the chip..this is what she had to say about it.
"Well, they said I better do this, or they was gonna cut the welfare. I'm a full time single mother. I got three young kids that need me at all hours and ain't no man to help. I didn't have no choice..."

Comment: This blogpost provides no evidence or sources so for now we have to assume it's bogus.


Ambulance

The surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar - Your brain's silent killers

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The new book "Grain Brain" explains how numerous neurological afflictions have a root cause of consuming too many carbs and too few healthy fats.
The following is an excerpt from the new book, GRAIN BRAIN: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain's Silent Killers by Dr. David Perlmutter (Little, Brown and Co., 2013).

Imagine being transported back to the Paleolithic era of early humans who lived in caves and roamed the savannas tens of thousands of years ago. Pretend, for a moment, that language is not a barrier and you can communicate easily. You have the opportunity to tell them what the future is like.

From a cross-legged perch on a dirt floor in front of a warm fire, you start by describing the wonders of our high-tech world, with its planes, trains, and automobiles, city skyscrapers, computers, televisions, smart phones, and the information highway that is the Internet. Humans have already traveled to the moon and back. At some point, the conversation moves to other lifestyle topics and what it's like to really live in the twenty-first century.

You dive into describing modern medicine with its stupendous array of drugs to treat problems and combat diseases and germs. Serious threats to survival are few and far between. Not many people need to worry about crouching tigers, famine, and pestilence. You explain what it's like to shop at grocery stores and supermarkets, a totally foreign concept to these individuals. Food is plentiful, and you mention things like cheeseburgers, French fries, soda, pizza, bagels, bread, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, scones, pasta, cake, chips, crackers, cereal, ice cream, and candy. You can eat fruit all year long and access virtually any kind of food at the touch of a button or short drive away. Water and juice come in bottles for transportability.

Comment: For more information, see:

Why Refined Grains Are Harmful
Your "healthy" diet could be quietly killing your brain: Q&A with David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain
The grain that damages the human brain