Health & Wellness
China has been producing fake rice for at least four years, and it is still on the market. Singapore media reported that this "rice" is produced with potatoes, sweet potatoes and - believe it or not - poisonous plastic. It is shaped like regular rice grains but remains hard after cooking and can cause serious health issues.
The rice in question China's Wuchang rice. The rice is very popular because the real Wuchang rice is famous for its smell, and it costs more for its quality (almost double the price), according to Blue Ocean Network (BON) TV report, a popular English Channel in China.
But many consumers still don't know what they're getting.
There's been a lot of hubbub surrounding our domestic battles to mandate labels for genetically modified organisms, or GMO foods. So much din, in fact, that you might not have noticed other countries out there, wrestling with their own policies on the controversial products. In fact, Scotland just made history by opting out of growing all genetically modified crops. And it might set a precedent.
Comment: What the world thinks of GMOs? Increasing number of countries banning cancer causing glyphosate and GMO's
Brill and Huffington Post are combining for a 58,000-word, 15-part Brill-reported series, "America's Most Admired Law Breaker." The unsparing investigation details how giant Johnson & Johnson violated FDA restrictions in its marketing and sale of a wildly successful anti-psychotic drug, Risperdal.
"My goal in doing this was to demonstrate that digital media can propel long-form substantive journalism rather than threaten it. And the best way to think of it is a different way to publish a nonfiction book, not just as a long magazine article that's not printed," Brill said Monday in a phone chat.
Comment: Additional information about how 'Johnson & Johnson, circumvented the FDA by cynically and successfully pushing the drug's use for very different maladies, notably in the treatment of children and the elderly':
- Johnson & Johnson Accused of Drug Kickbacks
- The Big Pharma Corporatocracy and the Culture of Corruption
- 5 shady ways Big Pharma may be influencing your doctor
- Department of Justice reaches $2.2B settlement with Johnson & Johnson to resolve unapproved drug marketing allegations
The ancient Chinese art improves physical performance and enhances quality of life, say researchers.
Tai Chi combines deep breathing and relaxation with slow and gentle movements.
Comment: Additional studies on the benefits Tai Chi:
- Tai Chi Helps People with Arthritis of the Knee
- Tai Chi beats stretching in fibromyalgia study
- Movement Therapies May Reduce Chronic Pain
- Study Shows: Tai Chi Beats Back Depression in the Elderly
- Study Shows: Tai Chi Helps Ease Parkinson's Disease Symptoms
- Poor diet had the greatest cumulative effect on worldwide deaths in 2013
- Unhealthy eating leads to more deaths through heart disease and diabetes
- Top risks for early deaths globally were high blood pressure and smoking
- Next top risks were high body mass index and high blood sugar levels
A complicated network of fluid-filled nodes, vessels, glands and organs, the lymphatic system touches almost every part of the body. Although we may not feel or see it, it's one of the most important (and often forgotten) systems of the human body. Just like the liver, kidneys, and mouth, it's important to give the lymph the attention it deserves.
The lymphatic system's main function is to cleanse toxins and protect against harmful invaders. It works by carrying our body's waste away from the tissues and into the bloodstream. It tackles toxins that are introduced to the body from both external means (food, air, personal care products, water) as well as internal ones (damaged proteins and cellular/metabolic waste), making it a key detoxification pathway. Once the toxins enter the bloodstream, they are purified through the largest lymphatic tissue in the body, the spleen. The spleen is our main immune defense, fighting infection, holding a reserve of red and white blood cells and destroying worn-out red blood cells in the body.
During the last half-century, the cosmetic industry has created the illusion that it is possible to apply toxic chemicals to their skin without poisoning their body. This allows the consumers to feel safe by wrongly believing that the skin is impermeable.
The fact is, the skin is a dynamic, living, multilayered bio-membrane which is porous at the microscopic level. The basic functions of the skin are respiration, absorption and elimination, all of which involve a dynamic exchange between the internal and external environments (nutrition in and wastes out).
Comment: Comment: 'Since your skin is absorbent, ingredients should be as pure as the foods we eat. If you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your skin!'
- The Ugly Side of Beauty, Some Cosmetics Can Be Toxic
- Pretty Ugly: Cosmetics Ingredients Linked to Breast Cancer?
- There's Lead in Your Lipstick
Under the "No Jab, No Pay Bill" introduced to Parliament, the "conscientious objector" category would be removed, making parents ineligible for full government benefits for not immunizing their children. Youngsters would only be exempt due to medical reasons.
If the law is passed, families could lose up to 15,000 Australian dollars ($11,000) per child per year in tax and child care benefits starting January 1, 2016, if their children are not inoculated. [1]
There has been a rise in unvaccinated children under age 7 in Australia, due to parental concern over the potential side effects of vaccines, and worse. Over the past decade, the number of children under 7 who aren't vaccinated has increased from 24,000 to 39,000. There are reasons for it, too. Encephalopathy, febrile seizures, anaphylaxis and hardening of the brain are two devastating conditions associated with measles immunization. And there are many reported adverse vaccine effects reported (and many more unreported) to the CDC and FDA - known as VAERS.
No matter; Australian legislators are adamant that moms and dads "jab" their kids, despite their well-founded fears.
"The choice made by some families not to vaccinate their children is not supported by public policy or medical research, nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of family payments," Social Services Minister Scott Morrison told Parliament.
Yesterday, I reported at Natural Blaze that a Gloucester, Massachusetts police department fed up with Big Pharma posted the top 5 CEO salaries and emails online. Their Facebook status erupted with cheers in the comments and many shares. The department bemoaned the city's drug problem and took aim at Big Pharma's role in creating addiction through prescription opioid painkillers.
The Big Pharma salaries were as follows:
5. Eli Lilly - John Lechleiter $14.48 million jlechleiter@lilly.com 317-276-2000
4. Abbott Labs - Miles D. White $17.7 million miles.d.white@abbott.com 847-937-6100
3. Merck - Kenneth C. Frazier $25 million + cool private jet. ken.frazier@merck.com 908-423-1000
2. Johnson & Johnson - Alex Gorsky $20.38 million ceo@jnj.com 732-524-0400
1. Pfizer - Ian Read $23.3 million ian.read@pfizer.com 212-573-2323
Comment: Health advocates target Big Pharma to combat opioid epidemic
Many in Gloucester said they would follow the police department's lead in contacting the executives of the pharmaceutical companies. "The war on drugs should always have been against big Pharma," said one commenter. "They are the real drug dealers but they line too many pockets with too much."

Melatonin shows potential to regulate relapses in multiple sclerosis.
MS is a rare disease in which the body's own immune cells attack neurons by eating away at their protective, fatty layer. This layer—the "myelin sheath"—insulates the part of the neuron that transmits signals, just like flexible plastic protects telephone cables. In MS patients, the damaged sheath disables cell-to-cell communication, knocking out vision, balance, and muscle coordination, while impairing thinking and memory. The root cause of MS is still unknown, and scientists suspect that environmental factors like low vitamin D, obesity, and viral infections could contribute.














Comment: China has a history of food safety scandals, and they are not alone in using highly questionable ingredients and processes in foodstuffs. Food regulatory agencies are simply unable to keep up with the ingenuity of food manufacturers.