In the 3D model presented in this study, Ebola-encoded structures are shown in maroon, and structures from human cells are shown in grey. The Ebola model is based on X-ray analysis, NMR spectroscopy, and general virology data published in the last two decades. Some protein structures were predicted using computational biology techniques, such as molecular modeling.

The model includes 11 types of Ebola and human proteins 18900 nucleotides of genomic RNA and more than 2.5 million of different lipid molecules.

[Via DesignYouTrust.com]

Though GMOs have increasingly characterized American food since 1996, these actions come in response to the Obama Administration’s approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered sweet corn, alfalfa and sugar beets. The usual approval process was fast tracked for sweet corn in particular, because it involves a combination of two previously approved traits, according to Food and Water Watch in a blast-email. The group also says that the combination of traits has never been through a safety evaluation.

GMOs in agriculture are crops with built-in pesticides or other features. The laboratory process involves inserting the gene of one organism into another. Monsanto is regarded as nearly synonymous with GMOs because their patented GE products accounted for 95% of soybeans and 80% of corn in the US in 2009. Though GMOs might be found amongst the vegetables, it is more likely to be found in processed food. A 2011 report of the Congressional Research Service states: “60%-70% of all processed U.S. foods likely contain some GE material.”

Continue Reading This Article

Join One of More than 100 World Food Day Events Nationwide!

October 16: Biggest U.S. Day of Action Yet for Labels on Genetically Engineered Food!

The Organic Consumers Association’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign is marking Non-GMO Month (October) and World Food Day (October 16) with more than 100 World Food Day events nationwide, making it the biggest single day of action for labels on genetically engineered food in U.S. history.

- Map of More than 100 Millions Against Monsanto Events, October 16
- List of Events by State

Anger and frustration over the problem of unlabeled genetically engineered ingredients in our food reached a high point this year when the Obama Administration approved Monsanto’s sweet corn, alfalfa, and sugar beets without any regulations to prevent contamination of organic varieties and no labeling requirements, and also indicated that it will approve the first genetically engineered animal for human consumption, AquaBounty salmon, again without the labels demanded by 93% of U.S. consumers.

Read Full Article Here

First, the FDA has issued draft guidance for complying with the New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification protocols contained by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). As you may recall, DSHEA said that supplements already on sale prior to the passage of the act were “grandfathered” in, and did not have to be reviewed by the FDA. New supplements developed after the Act have been in a kind of limbo waiting for the FDA to spell out the procedures to be followed.

These new supplements have always been at risk because of the uncertainly surrounding their regulatory status. And many of these new supplements are extremely important for our health. We won’t name them, because to do would be to put a bull’s-eye on them for the FDA to shoot at, but you would recognize many of them and may be currently taking them.

DSHEA was passed in 1994. The FDA has thus taken seventeen years to provide regulatory guidance for these new supplements. Now a draft version of guidance is here, and it isn’t good. It is just another effort by the FDA to suffocate the supplement industry so that everything—supplements and drugs alike—will go through the vastly expensive drug approval process, a process that pays for FDA salaries.

We have said it before and we will say it again. Supplements cannot usually be patented. No non-patentable substance can be taken through a drug approval process that on average costs a billion dollars. If supplements are treated like drugs, there simply won’t be any supplements. The FDA knows this perfectly well.

The new draft guidance is written in the usual regulatory non-English, but buried within it are definitions of “new supplements” that will make more and more supplements subject to the new rules. The rules themselves are designed to make it harder and harder to market new supplements, all of which will need to submit notification to an agency that is fundamentally hostile to the supplement industry. Not only does each supplement require its own notification, a separate notification must be submitted by each company that offers it. Additionally, notification must be submitted again if the supplement is reformulated in any way or offered in combination with any other supplement or ingredient. Based on what the FDA has done in the past, many more applications will be rejected than accepted and the cost of the whole process will be high.

Read Full Article Here

Even as thousands of Japanese workers struggle to contain the ongoing nuclear disaster, low levels of radiation from those power plants have been detected in foods in the United States. Milk, fruits and vegetables show trace amounts of radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daichi power plants, and the media appears to be paying scant attention, if any attention at all. It is as if the problem only involves Japan, not the vast Pacific Ocean, into which highly radioactive water has poured by the dozens of tons, and not into air currents and rainwater that carry radiation to U.S. soil and to the rest of the world. And while both Switzerland and Germany have come out against any further nuclear development, the U.S. the nuclear power industry continues as usual, with aging and crumbling power plants receiving extended operating licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as though it can’t happen here. But it is happening here, on your dinner plate.

Taking a page from the BP pubic relations handbook, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and the Japanese government have downplayed the extent of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daichi, in which three of six nuclear reactors are in ongoing meltdown. According to Japanese nuclear engineer Naoto Sekimura, nuclear fuel rod meltdown at the damaged plants began only hours after the tsunami, and the situation has not been contained. There is still an ongoing threat of a total “China Syndrome” meltdown, and Japanese officials now say that the three damaged plants may possibly continue to emit uncontrolled radiation for another year.

According to Greenpeace, the ocean around large areas of Japan has been contaminated by toxic radioactive agents including cesium, iodine, plutonium and strontium. These radioactive agents are accumulating in sea life. Fish, shellfish and sea vegetables are absorbing this radiation, while airborne radioactive particles have contaminated land-based crops in Japan, including spinach and tea grown 200 miles south of the damaged nuclear plants. Meanwhile, on U.S. soil, radiation began to show up in samples of milk tested in California, just one month after the plants were damaged.

Radiation tests conducted since the nuclear disaster in Japan have detected radioactive iodine and cesium in milk and vegetables produced in California. According to tests conducted by scientists at the UC Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering, milk from grass fed cows in Sonoma County was contaminated with cesium 137 and cesium 134. Milk sold in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Vermont and Washington has also tested positive for radiation since the accident.

Additionally, drinking water tested in some U.S. municipalities also shows radioactive contamination. Is the fallout from Fukushima Daichi falling on us? Yes, it is.

Read Entire Article Here

Check out this article for natural ways to protect yourself from the harmful affects of radiation on the body.

The product in question: unpasteurized milk.

It’s a battle that’s been going on behind the scenes for years, with natural foods advocates arguing that raw milk, as it’s also known, is healthier than the pasteurized product, while the Food and Drug Administration says raw milk can carry harmful bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria.

“It is the FDA’s position that raw milk should never be consumed,” said Tamara N. Ward, spokeswoman for the FDA, whose investigators have been looking into Rainbow Acres for months, and who finally last week filed a 10-page complaint in federal court in Pennsylvania seeking an order to stop the farm from shipping across state lines any more raw milk or dairy products made from it.

The farm’s owner, Dan Allgyer, didn’t respond to a message seeking comment, but his customers in the District of Columbia and Maryland were furious at what they said was government overreach.

“I look at this as the FDA is in cahoots with the large milk producers,” said Karin Edgett, a D.C. resident who buys directly from Rainbow Acres. “I don’t want the FDA and my tax dollars to go to shut down a farm that hasn’t had any complaints against it. They’re producing good food, and the consumers are extremely happy with it.”

The FDA’s actions stand in contrast to other areas where the Obama administration has said it will take a hands-off approach to violations of the law, including the use of medical marijuana in states that have approved it, and illegal-immigrant students and youths, whom the administration said recently will not be targets of their enforcement efforts.

Raw-milk devotees say pasteurization, the process of heating food to kill harmful organisms, eliminates good bacteria as well, and changes the taste and health benefits of the milk. Many raw-milk drinkers say they feel much healthier after changing over to it, and insist they should have the freedom of choice regarding their food.

One defense group says there are as many as 10 million raw-milk consumers in the country. Sales are perfectly legal in 10 states but illegal in 11 states and the District, with the other states having varying restrictions on purchase or consumption.

Many food safety researchers say pasteurization, which became widespread in the 1920s and 1930s, dramatically reduced instances of milk-transmitted diseases such as typhoid fever and diphtheria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no health benefit from raw milk that cannot be obtained from pasteurized milk.

Read Entire Article

The kidneys of males were the most affected, experiencing 43.5 percent of all the changes. The livers of females followed at more than 30 percent. Other organs may have been affected too, including the heart and spleen, and blood cells.

According to the Institute for Responsible Technology:

“The GM soybean and corn varieties used in the feeding trials ‘constitute 83 percent of the commercialized GMOs’ that are currently consumed by billions of people. While the findings may have serious ramifications for the human population, the authors demonstrate how a multitude of GMO-related health problems could easily pass undetected through the superficial and largely incompetent safety assessments that are used around the world.”

Further, the biotechnology firm Monsanto is only an FDA approval away from its latest monstrosity — soybeans that have been genetically modified to produce omega-3 fats. That FDA approval is expected this year.

Monsanto plans to include GM soybean oil in every product it can — baked goods, baking mixes, breakfast cereals, cheeses, frozen dairy desserts, pasta, gravies and sauces, fruit juices, snack foods, candy, soups, and more.

According to Forbes:

“Monsanto is so despised by environmentalists that Google’s first suggested search term for the St. Louis company is ‘Monsanto evil.’ Readers … voted Monsanto the world’s most evil corporation in a January poll, giving the corporation a whopping 51 percent of the vote.”

Scientists have also introduced human genes into 300 dairy cows in a process that they say will cause the cows to produce milk with the same properties as human breast milk. They believe that this could provide an alternative to formula milk for babies.

Critics of GM technology questioned the safety of milk from genetically modified animals, and also its potential effect on the cattle’s health.

According to the Telegraph:

“The researchers used cloning technology to introduce human genes into the DNA of Holstein dairy cows before the genetically modified embryos were implanted into surrogate cows … [T]he researchers said they were able to create cows that produced milk containing a human protein called lysozyme.”

SOURCE

Turns out all our suspicions were correct. The bill was intended as a broad catch-all that would by agency regulation be implemented to criminalize anything but state approved, registered, licensed and fee paid, health activity.

A closer look at the attempt by North Carolina legislators to criminalize anything other than state sponsored health care is quite revealing. Below is the bill text, sort of, with some observations about the language, or lack thereof, defining what this bill is actually intended to do.

What is apparent is that it is the first step in implementing various aspects of Codex Alimentarius which excludes any health practice not listed in the Codex. Codex specifically targets and intends to end the use of alternative therapies and also vitamins and supplements.

Please note that this bill does not contain any statement of legislative intent. In other words, what is the intention of this bill, exactly?

Now, commonsense would tell you that in all likelihood North Carolina already does have laws, regulations, statutes, codes and whatever else they could throw in there, on the books regarding the practice of medicine. And, I think it safe to presume there are also copious amounts of criminal statutes, regulations, etc., dealing with illegal practice of medicine. So what could be the possible future intention and use of this bill, as obviously it is not to simply reign in marauding fraudulent medical practitioners who might be invading North Carolina, performing surgeries, handing out toxic pharmaceuticals and not paying a fee to the state to perform these activities. The books are full of laws criminalizing and enforcement of illegal medical practitioners.

So let us take a closer look at this “bill” which is attached below.

The first thing you will note is that it says “a bill to be Entitled”, a clear indicator that the actual bill itself is either not written or not presented.

Second: There is no statement of legislative intent. This leaves interpretation of the bill up to the corporate state agency that will be charged with implementing the bill, along with writing, after the fact, statutes and regulations, including enforcement provisions which will of course establish a fleet of agents and operatives who will act as “medical police”.

Third: The bill deals with nothing other than making criminal, anything not registered, licensed and fees paid. This is not about health care or criminal activity (remember there are tons of laws on the books already dealing with this).

Its about establishing Codex guidelines and the collection of new revenue. It also will force the adoption of Codex guidelines as part of the contract (you applied for contract with the state asking permission to do business when you fill out the application for license). You are applying for a license to conduct business: this is an application of contract. Once you obtain the new license you are now bound to adhere to the code of the agency controlling the guidelines. Codes are the terms of contract law.

Fourth: The bill is so broadly written so as to allow broad interpretation by the agency charged with administering it. And this is where things will go awry.

While many of us immediately realized this bill was written vaguely so as to accommodate the coming criminalization of naturopathy, homeopathy, mid-wiving and aromatherapy, if it was performed without a license (you aren’t doing anything harmful or illegal you just aren’t paying the state another fee to do it) it would also adversely affect internet sales of vitamins and supplements, including herbal remedies. In order to sell via the net in North Carolina, you would have to register, pay the fee and get a license.

Also, conspicuous in its absence, is the definition of what “medicine” is under this bill. Is this orthodox state approved medical practice? Is it confined to this? Or does it include anything the state defines as medical practice after the fact?

Turns out all our suspicions were correct. The bill was intended as a broad catch-all that would by agency regulation be implemented to criminalize anything but state approved, registered, licensed and fee paid, health activity. Enter these three new bills, launched after SB 31 was outed for the attack on alternative health services that it was intended to be.

* SB 467 Naturopathic Licensing Act (Hartsell, R-Cabarrus)
* HB 522 Midwifery Licensing Act ( Human Services Committee)
* HB 847 Naturopathic Doctors Licensing Act

Researching these bills I find that virtually every state of the Union is introducing identical bills simultaneously. In almost all instances these bills are being introduced by Republicans. This is a concerted effort across all states, by Republicans, to criminalize anything other than state approved, licensed, registered and fees paid alternative health practices. These bills are a direct attack on the individuals right to obtain the healthcare of their choice.

Apparently, North Carolina just as every other state finds no problem with toxic pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other lethal practices as long as these things are administered by state approved agents. Hundreds of thousands of people are harmed, and an average of 250,000 die each year by these things and yet we see no bills coming out of any state to stop, penalize or limit their use.

Anytime a legislator introduces a bill that lacks any real substance in the way of defining what the bill will address and is only one paragraph you can take it to the bank that the bill is not intended to do anything other than lay the foundations for agency regulations. Agency regulations are not subject to the constitution and do not recognize any rights or protections afforded you in that document. The real dirty deed will be done by the corporate state or federal agency. These kinds of vague and broadly written “bills” that lack any true definition or intention, are simply the keys used to open the doors to unconstitutional assaults on your rights.

Please check your own state for recent bills that address these same issues. North Carolina isn’t alone in this.

********

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2011 S 2 SENATE BILL 31 Judiciary I Committee Substitute Adopted 3/3/11 Short Title: Clarify Penalty Unauth. Practice of Medicine. (Public) Sponsors: Referred to: February 3, 2011

*S31-v-2*

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

1 AN ACT TO CLARIFY THE PENALTY FOR THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF

2 MEDICINE.

3 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

4 SECTION 1. G.S. 90-18(a) reads as rewritten:

5 Ҥ 90-18. Practicing without license; penalties.

6 (a) No person shall perform any act constituting the practice of medicine or surgery, as

7 defined in this Article, or any of the branches thereof, unless the person shall have been first

8 licensed and registered so to do in the manner provided in this Article.

9 Any person who practices medicine or surgery without being duly licensed and

10 registered, as provided in this Article, the person shall not be allowed to maintain any action to

11 collect any fee for such services. The person so practicing without license being duly licensed

12 and registered shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor,Class I felony, except that if the person

13 so practicing without a license is an out-of-state practitioner who has not been licensed and

14 registered to practice medicine or surgery in this State, the person shall be guilty of a Class I

15 felony. any person who has a license or approval under this Article that is inactive due solely to

16 the failure to complete annual registration in a timely fashion as required by this Article or any

17 person who is licensed, registered, and practicing under any other Article of this Chapter shall

18 be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

19 SECTION 2. This act becomes effective December 1, 2011, and applies to 20 offenses committed on or after that date. 21

http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/north-carolina-not-the-only-state-trying-to-criminalize-alternative-health-services/

The Philadelphia sample is below the EPA’s maximum contaminant level (MCL) for iodine-131 in water, but the Little Rock sample is almost three times higher. However, the Food and Drug Administration observes a much higher standard for milk, and all milk samples collected so far are well below that level.

Read Entire Article ]]> http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/us-milk-drinking-water-radiation-hit-new-highs/feed/ 1 http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/3-mit-plunger-heals-wounds-quickly-with-suction/ http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/3-mit-plunger-heals-wounds-quickly-with-suction/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:48:26 +0000 Survival Spot http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/?p=7447

Danielle Zurovcik SM '07 demonstrates how to use the negative pressure pump to seal an arm wound. Photo: Melanie Gonick

Nobody knows precisely why it works, but doctors have known for decades that the healing process for open wounds can be greatly speeded up by applying negative pressure — that is, suction — under a bandage sealed tightly over the affected area. The speculation is that it helps by drawing bacteria and fluid away from the wound, keeping it cleaner.

For patients, there is a benefit even beyond the speedier healing. Traditional dressings need to be removed and replaced — sometimes painfully — up to three times a day, but with the negative pressure system dressings can be left in place for a few days. But in the developing world, there’s a problem: The systems are expensive, and they need to be plugged in or powered by batteries that last only a few hours. In many developing nations, a reliable source of electricity is rarely available.

That’s the problem that students in an MIT mechanical engineering class decided to tackle a few years ago. With the help of Dr. Robert Sheridan from Massachusetts General Hospital, the students developed a simple, inexpensive and lightweight version of the system that required no power supply and could be left in place for days. One of those students, Danielle Zurovcik SM ’07, continued to work on the project and made it the subject of her master’s thesis. She has continued to work on it on the side as she pursues her doctorate.

The project was part of a mechanical design class taught by mechanical engineering professor Alexander Slocum in collaboration with local hospitals through a Boston-based organization called the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.

Earlier this semester, Zurovcik, who had been making plans for field tests of the patent-pending device at a rural clinic in Rwanda this fall, was asked by the nonprofit healthcare organization Partners in Health to take part in earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. She traveled there with a supply of 50 of the current version of the plastic, molded pumps, which cost about $3 each. (The only portable versions on the market today cost $100 a day just to rent, and must have their batteries recharged after about six hours.)

The device, a cylinder with accordion-like folds, is squeezed to create the suction, and then left in place, connected to the underside of the wound dressing by a thin plastic tube. At that point, it requires no further attention: “It holds its pressure for as long as there’s not an air leak,” Zurovcik explains. For that reason, a suitable dressing that can hold the seal is a crucial element of the system.

The Haitian patients who were treated with the device were pleased with how it worked. While the team didn’t have time to conduct long-term evaluations, Zurovcik says, “In the short term, we systematically evaluated the wounds, and were able to verify that negative-pressure therapy was being applied and the healing process was underway.”

‘Enormous potential’

The trip to Haiti was led by Dr. Robert Riviello of the Division of Trauma, Burn and Surgical Critical Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Riviello estimates that between 50 million and 60 million people in low-income countries suffer from acute and chronic wounds, and a large number of them would benefit from negative-pressure wound therapy. He says the device “has the potential to be a great benefit to patients around the world” once a few technical hurdles are cleared.

“Our biggest challenge at the moment is ensuring a reliably intact seal on human skin [that can be] easily applied,” Riviello says. “If we can resolve this, then I think there is enormous potential.”

Zurovcik notes that an improved version of the device — one that maintains a more constant pressure and is smaller and so easier to conceal when being worn for days — has been developed and is being manufactured now.

Zurovcik and her team designed the devices to be made in a sustainable way. They can be manufactured locally in many developing nations, using equipment that already exists there, she says. She is already in discussions with a plastic molding company in Rwanda, she says.

She plans to go to Rwanda in the fall to test the new version of the device, which is small enough to carry in a pocket. “Their clinics are filled with wounds,” she says, noting that the injuries are often severe because patients avoid going to clinics as long as they can. The clinics themselves “don’t have power, don’t have a lot of supplies. I’d like to be able to bring something simple, that patients would be able to care for on their own.”

In The World is a column that explores the ways members of the MIT community are developing technology — from the appropriately simple to the cutting edge — to help meet the needs of communities around the planet, especially those in the developing world. If you have suggestions for future columns, please e-mail newsoffice@mit.edu.

[Via MIT.EDU]

If you are unfamiliar with the provisions and implications of S. 510, please visit:

Food Safety Modernization Act

Food Safety Bill Attack on Small Farmers and Food Freedom

Rep. John Eklund (R-Cheyenne) recently reintroduced the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, according to a recent report in the Casper Star-Tribune. Though the bill is a slightly toned down version of a previous food freedom bill that died in committee, it provides some exemptions from S. 510 for homemade foods, and it represents a positive step in the right direction.

Read Entire Article Here

This issue is really starting to get a lot of attention – make sure you’re stocked up on your long-term food storage now while it’s still affordable.

The cost of food will soar by 50 percent over the next few decades as the world becomes racked by famine, mass migrations and riots, experts have warned.

The increase will be triggered by the exploding world population, rising cost of fuel and increased competition for water, according to a leading Government think-tank.

Spiraling food prices will push hundreds of millions of people into hunger, trigger mass migration and spark civil unrest, the report warned.

Food crisis: A leading Government think tank has warned scaremongering over GM farming is no longer acceptable

And in the UK, the price of basics such as bread, rice and milk will spiral to inflation-busting record prices within the next few decades.

The report, from Foresight, a think-tank set up to predict future crises, called for ‘urgent action’ to prevent food shortages, and said genetically modified crops may be needed to prevent famines.

Even a ‘modest’ rise in food prices could push 100million people into hunger, the report warned.

The world is facing a commodities crisis that could leave millions unable to afford the rising costs of food as population levels soar

Global food prices are already at a record high. Last month the price of cereals, sugar and meat soared on the world’s markets after a series of crop failures caused by bad weather.

Foresight predicted that the world’s population would rise from 6.9billion today to around 9billion by the middle of the century.

As the world gets more crowded and more wealthy, demand for food, water and energy will soar.

At the same time, climate change will increase the risk of droughts, floods and crop failures – creating a ‘perfect storm’ of food shortages and above-inflation rises in prices.

Co-author Prof Charles Godfray of Oxford University said: ‘There is a very large risk of a quite substantial increase in prices over the next 30 or 40 years.

‘We are going to have to produce considerably more food. So, inescapably, we are going to have to produce more food from the same amount of land without wrecking the environment.’

The report, written by 40 scientists in 35 countries, calls for a ‘green revolution’ to boost production using traditional, organic and genetically modified crops – designed to be resistant to drought or salt water – and better training for farmers in less well-off countries.

It also called for a massive crackdown on food waste. A typical British household wastes £500 to £700 a year on food that they buy and then throw away.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
MORE:

Food Prices Set to Soar as Trouble Hits Crops

7 Reasons Food Shortages Will Become a Global Crisis

Australian Floods Raise Fears of Wheat Shortage
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Professor Sherman Robinson of Sussex University, one of the report’s authors, said food prices could go up by 50 per cent over the next few decades.

‘The robust conclusion is that the long run decline in food prices is over,’ he said.

Professor John Beddington, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, said the food system was failing.

‘Firstly it is unsustainable, with resources being used faster than they can be naturally replenished,’ he said.

‘Secondly a billion people are going hungry with another billion people suffering from “hidden hunger”, whilst a billion people are over-consuming.’

SOURCE

(NaturalNews) A new study from the University of California, San Francisco reveals that 100 percent of expectant mothers (sample size = 268) are contaminated with highly toxic synthetic chemicals. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, concluded, “Certain PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, PFCs, phenols, PBDEs, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and perchlorate were detected in 99 to 100% of pregnant women.”

These chemicals are known to exhibit various harmful effects on human biology, covering everything from neurological and infertility problems to cancer and hormonal disorders. Many of the chemicals found in these women have been banned for not just years, but decades.

Where do all these chemicals come from? Pesticides are sprayed on crops, of course, and the new so-called “Food Safety” bill passed by Congress does absolutely nothing to reduce pesticide levels of food (that’s not part of their definition of “safety,” apparently). In addition, S.510 actually places a new burden on U.S. farmers, shifting the competitive advantage to food importations from countries where the most toxic pesticides are still legal to use. (Yes, farms outside the U.S. can spray DDT on their crops, then import them into the USA for consumption.)

Phthalates are chemical plasticizers. Pharmaceutical pills are often coated with phthalates to give them a shiny finish. They’re also used in children’s toys, medical devices, personal care products, sunscreens and even sex toys. On the personal care side, phthalates are found in perfumes, eye shadow, liquid soap, nail polish and hair spray.

Phthalates are known as “endocrine disruptors” because they interfere with normal endocrine system function — potentially leading to obesity and birth defects.

Perchlorate, also known as the “rocket fuel chemical,” is used in the manufacture of automobile airbags and other vehicle parts. It’s also present in many fireworks, and is frequently found contaminating the water supply.

We could go on with more details, but here’s the point: We live in a toxic stew of synthetic chemicals — chemicals that the plastics industry and the American Chemistry Council tend to say are all completely harmless, of course. The FDA allows thousands of other chemicals to be used in food and personal care products, and the processed food manufacturers inject an alarming array of toxic chemicals into their foods (and food packaging materials).

MORE:

• Senate Bill S.510 Food Safety Modernization Act Vote Imminent Would Outlaw Gardening and Saving Seeds
• VT Tells Feds to Shove S.510 Will Other States Follow?

The average U.S. consumer bathes their clothing in extremely toxic fabric softeners and perfumed laundry detergents that make them smell like walking fragrance factories. The exhaust air from dryer vents even pollutes the air in residential neighborhoods and apartment buildings.

With all this going on, is anybody really surprised that 100% of pregnant women are contaminated with toxic chemicals?

The Roman Empire poisoned itself with lead in the water supply. The American empire has decided to poison itself with the “miracle of modern chemistry” as found in all the pesticides, plasticizers, additives, preservatives and other chemicals that a typical first-world consumer poisons themselves with a thousand times a day.

You just gotta love Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and all the other consumer product companies using synthetic chemicals to manufacture personal care products. It is corporations like these, in my opinion, whose products are poisoning our bodies and contaminating our world with dangerous synthetic chemicals. That’s why I personally refuse to buy any products manufactured by such companies.

Ten powerful ways to protect yourself from toxic chemicals

If you want to protect yourself from these toxic chemicals, here’s how to do it:

#1) Don’t put anything on your skin you wouldn’t eat! Avoid all mainstream consumer skin care, cosmetics and personal care products, period! Need soap? Try natural, organic brands like Dr Bronner’s, AnnMarie Gianni or Pangea Organics.

#2) Don’t eat foods made with chemicals you can’t pronounce. Read the ingredients labels. If the list of ingredients is too long and complex to figure out, it’s probably made more with chemicals than actual food.

#3) Don’t poison your body with over-the-counter drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals. If you do need to use medication for short-term emergency use, be sure to detoxify your liver afterwards.

#4) Detox your liver, kidneys and colon at least once a year. You can do this with a juice fast combined with detox supplements such as those offered by www.GlobalHealingCenter.com or www.BaselineNutritionals.com (get professional guidance from a naturopath before fasting).

#5) Drink more water. Most people simply don’t consume enough water to effectively remove toxins from their bodies. If you don’t like water by itself, drink fresh vegetable juices such as celery or cucumber juice (which are actually structured water).

#6) Cleanse your body with parsley, alfalfa, red clover, chlorella or chlorophyll. All these substances can help cleanse your body and eliminate toxic substances that may be detrimental to your health.

#7) Don’t fill your home or apartment with products that off-gas toxic chemicals: Air fresheners, perfumed candles, particle board furniture, carpets, glues, etc.

#8) Don’t cook on non-stick cookware. These are the worst! Invest in quality copper-clad stainless steel pans and use those. They’ll last a lifetime and they don’t contaminate your body with chemicals. Don’t eat at restaurants that use non-stick cookware. (That’s just about every restaurant in the world, it seems…)

#9) Buy certified organic products. In the USA, the USDA Organic Seal is a trusted seal that genuinely indicates organic quality (both in foods and personal care products). Don’t be fooled by brand names that use the word “organics” in their name but aren’t really organic. For example, “Bob’s Organics” may or may not actually be organic. The Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org) can keep you posted on what’s what.

#10) Get the cancer out of your laundry! Stop washing your clothes in toxic brand-name laundry detergents, and stop using brand-name fabric softeners or dryer sheets. Do you have any idea what chemicals are used in those products? The truth would astonish you.

And, of course, keep reading NaturalNews.com to stay up to speed on what’s really good for you versus things that actually threaten your health. There is absolutely no question that the average chemical contamination of NaturalNews readers is far below that of typical American consumers.

Stay healthy by staying informed. Don’t become another contaminated victim of the chemical industry.

SOURCE

Photo Courtesy: Flickr

Armand and Teddi Bechard and their children have been in the raw milk business for nearly five years but, for nearly the last two, they’ve been facing lawsuits from the State of Missouri and the City of Springfield. The Bechard family believes raw cows’ milk is best.

“People been drinking it for centuries; it’s good for you. It doesn’t make sense to pasteurize it. If God made it to be drank raw, that’s the way it ought to be,” says Armand Bechard.

They drink it themselves and now sell only to others who call and order.

Read Full Story

Let’s get this straight. The government acknowledges the risk of a worldwide flu pandemic. It acknowledges that conventional drugs cannot cure big viruses-like the mononucleosis and hepatitis viruses, many influenza viruses, and many others. It acknowledges that many bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics and are killing increasing thousands. It acknowledges the risk of a worldwide drug-resistant TB pandemic.

Despite acknowledging all this, it now insists on wiping out one of the best potential treatments for these conditions and for certain cancers as well. And why is this being done? What possible rationale is offered? Because it’s dangerous? No. Because it can’t be patented and therefore won’t be taken through the standard FDA approval process. No matter that vitamin C is one of the least toxic components of our food supply and liquid forms of it have been used safely for decades.

Read Full Article

The resolution declares that food freedom is a “fundamental prerequisite to life,” and that individuals have every right to save seeds, grow what they wish, and buy and sell the fruits of their labor without interference from an over-zealous, tyrannical government. And if any federal official tries to infringe on these rights, the People “shall resist any and all” of them.

Read Full Story

Exposure to high levels of fluoride results in a condition known as fluorosis, in which tooth enamel becomes discolored. The condition can eventually lead to badly damaged teeth. The new study found that fluoride intake during a child’s first few years of life is significantly associated with fluorosis, and warned against using fluoridated water in infant formula.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is of a similar opinion. According to their website:

“Recent evidence suggests that mixing powdered or liquid infant formula concentrate with fluoridated water on a regular basis may increase the chance of a child developing … enamel fluorosis.”

Read Full Article

(NaturalNews) Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called “the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America.” It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public’s right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer’s markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don’t comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

Read full article