The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?By Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association, Jan 27, 2011
"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."
In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."
Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?
According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.
WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.
From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.
Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs
The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.
Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as "natural."
Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called "natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.
Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating "Natural" Fraud
Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as "natural," and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are "certified organic."
Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed "natural" foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a "natural" supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).
A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most "natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.
Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to "natural" imposters. It's no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and "natural" purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.
The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called "Natural" GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market
There can be no such thing as "coexistence" with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world's 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it."
The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont - the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.
Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don't hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers' right to know what's in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the "Revolving Door" between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.
With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We've got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.
The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.
Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to voluntarily implement "truth-in-labeling" practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances - similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you're interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here: http://organicconsumers.org/oca-volunteer/
To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation's largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22309.cfm
And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.
Power to the People! Not the Corporations!
Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22449.cfm
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Effect of daily aspirin on long-term risk of death due to cancer:
Published Online: 07 December 2010
Effect of daily aspirin on long-term risk of death due to cancer: analysis of individual patient data from randomised trials
Original TextProf Peter M Rothwell FMedSci a , Prof F Gerald R Fowkes FRCPE b, Prof Jill FF Belch FRCP c, Hisao Ogawa MD d, Prof Charles P Warlow FMedSci e, Prof Tom W Meade FRS f
Summary
Background
Treatment with daily aspirin for 5 years or longer reduces subsequent risk of colorectal cancer. Several lines of evidence suggest that aspirin might also reduce risk of other cancers, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract, but proof in man is lacking. We studied deaths due to cancer during and after randomised trials of daily aspirin versus control done originally for prevention of vascular events.
Methods
We used individual patient data from all randomised trials of daily aspirin versus no aspirin with mean duration of scheduled trial treatment of 4 years or longer to determine the effect of allocation to aspirin on risk of cancer death in relation to scheduled duration of trial treatment for gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal cancers. In three large UK trials, long-term post-trial follow-up of individual patients was obtained from death certificates and cancer registries.
Results
In eight eligible trials (25 570 patients, 674 cancer deaths), allocation to aspirin reduced death due to cancer (pooled odds ratio [OR] 0·79, 95% CI 0·68—0·92, p=0·003). On analysis of individual patient data, which were available from seven trials (23 535 patients, 657 cancer deaths), benefit was apparent only after 5 years' follow-up (all cancers, hazard ratio [HR] 0·66, 0·50—0·87; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·46, 0·27—0·77; both p=0·003). The 20-year risk of cancer death (1634 deaths in 12 659 patients in three trials) remained lower in the aspirin groups than in the control groups (all solid cancers, HR 0·80, 0·72—0·88, p<0·0001; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·65, 0·54—0·78, p<0·0001), and benefit increased (interaction p=0·01) with scheduled duration of trial treatment (≥7·5 years: all solid cancers, 0·69, 0·54—0·88, p=0·003; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·41, 0·26—0·66, p=0·0001). The latent period before an effect on deaths was about 5 years for oesophageal, pancreatic, brain, and lung cancer, but was more delayed for stomach, colorectal, and prostate cancer. For lung and oesophageal cancer, benefit was confined to adenocarcinomas, and the overall effect on 20-year risk of cancer death was greatest for adenocarcinomas (HR 0·66, 0·56—0·77, p<0·0001). Benefit was unrelated to aspirin dose (75 mg upwards), sex, or smoking, but increased with age—the absolute reduction in 20-year risk of cancer death reaching 7·08% (2·42—11·74) at age 65 years and older.
Interpretation
Daily aspirin reduced deaths due to several common cancers during and after the trials. Benefit increased with duration of treatment and was consistent across the different study populations. These findings have implications for guidelines on use of aspirin and for understanding of carcinogenesis and its susceptibility to drug intervention.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)62110-1/fulltext
Effect of daily aspirin on long-term risk of death due to cancer: analysis of individual patient data from randomised trials
Original TextProf Peter M Rothwell FMedSci a , Prof F Gerald R Fowkes FRCPE b, Prof Jill FF Belch FRCP c, Hisao Ogawa MD d, Prof Charles P Warlow FMedSci e, Prof Tom W Meade FRS f
Summary
Background
Treatment with daily aspirin for 5 years or longer reduces subsequent risk of colorectal cancer. Several lines of evidence suggest that aspirin might also reduce risk of other cancers, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract, but proof in man is lacking. We studied deaths due to cancer during and after randomised trials of daily aspirin versus control done originally for prevention of vascular events.
Methods
We used individual patient data from all randomised trials of daily aspirin versus no aspirin with mean duration of scheduled trial treatment of 4 years or longer to determine the effect of allocation to aspirin on risk of cancer death in relation to scheduled duration of trial treatment for gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal cancers. In three large UK trials, long-term post-trial follow-up of individual patients was obtained from death certificates and cancer registries.
Results
In eight eligible trials (25 570 patients, 674 cancer deaths), allocation to aspirin reduced death due to cancer (pooled odds ratio [OR] 0·79, 95% CI 0·68—0·92, p=0·003). On analysis of individual patient data, which were available from seven trials (23 535 patients, 657 cancer deaths), benefit was apparent only after 5 years' follow-up (all cancers, hazard ratio [HR] 0·66, 0·50—0·87; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·46, 0·27—0·77; both p=0·003). The 20-year risk of cancer death (1634 deaths in 12 659 patients in three trials) remained lower in the aspirin groups than in the control groups (all solid cancers, HR 0·80, 0·72—0·88, p<0·0001; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·65, 0·54—0·78, p<0·0001), and benefit increased (interaction p=0·01) with scheduled duration of trial treatment (≥7·5 years: all solid cancers, 0·69, 0·54—0·88, p=0·003; gastrointestinal cancers, 0·41, 0·26—0·66, p=0·0001). The latent period before an effect on deaths was about 5 years for oesophageal, pancreatic, brain, and lung cancer, but was more delayed for stomach, colorectal, and prostate cancer. For lung and oesophageal cancer, benefit was confined to adenocarcinomas, and the overall effect on 20-year risk of cancer death was greatest for adenocarcinomas (HR 0·66, 0·56—0·77, p<0·0001). Benefit was unrelated to aspirin dose (75 mg upwards), sex, or smoking, but increased with age—the absolute reduction in 20-year risk of cancer death reaching 7·08% (2·42—11·74) at age 65 years and older.
Interpretation
Daily aspirin reduced deaths due to several common cancers during and after the trials. Benefit increased with duration of treatment and was consistent across the different study populations. These findings have implications for guidelines on use of aspirin and for understanding of carcinogenesis and its susceptibility to drug intervention.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)62110-1/fulltext
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Opinion: The toxic poisoning of America
Opinion: The toxic poisoning of America
By David Zublick.
Are Americans being deliberately poisoned by the U.S. government? As far-fetched as that may sound, evidence indicates that there is an insidious plot underway that threatens the health of every man, woman and child living in America.
In two stories that have floated under the radar for the last couple of years, Congress and health authorities have been working together to pass laws that would sicken the populace and perhaps endanger their very lives.
First, there was the Energy Independence and Security Act, passed by Congress in 2007, a provision of which made it mandatory that the sale of incandescent light bulbs be banned by 2012. These bulbs would be replaced by compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which are supposed to be more energy-efficient and longer lasting.
In truth, these bulbs contain dangerous amounts of mercury, which, if broken, will pollute the environment, by seeping into groundwater, thereby threatening human health. Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum, recently wrote, “The EPA warns that if we break a CFL, we must take the pieces to a recycling center and not launder ‘clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage’.”
Incandescent bulbs contain no toxic chemicals whatsoever.
The new Congress has introduced the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, or H.R. 91,which would repeal this subsection of the current legislation, allowing Americans to purchase the light bulbs of their choice.
In introducing this bill, Congress took note of a few facts which have not been widely reported:
* Most CFLs are not manufactured in the United States.
* the amount of mercury in one bulb is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels.These bulbs need to be disposed of very carefully, and in most cases this means the inconvenience of taking them to a recycling center.
* Although we are led to believe that the CFL bulbs have a much longer lifespan than traditional incandescent bulbs, they are not designed to be turned on and off frequently. Doing so reduces their lifespan by as much as 85 percent.
* CFLs can cause skin cancer for people with a sensitivity to light.
In a second, more sinister story, health authorities are now pushing for drugs to be added to the public water supply. These drugs may cause depression and memory loss.
These statins, as they are known, supposedly lower cholesterol and help prevent heart disease and strokes. Health authorities want the drugs added to the water supply, despite the fact that many dangerous side-effects, kept secret by the drug companies have now come to light.
The Cochrane Library, in a newly released study, examined data from 34,000 patients taking these drugs and found that depression, mood swings and short-term memory loss were evident, yet were under-reported or underplayed by the drug companies that funded the research.
Why would health officials and the government want to add toxic drugs which can cause these dangerous side-effects to our water supply?
To control the populace, to keep them docile and easy to manage.
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, in a speech in March of 1962 at Berkeley University, said "there will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”
If this sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories, remember that recently the government admitted that people are already being mass medicated against their will by sodium fluoride in the water, the health effects of which include lower IQ levels, and increased docility.
It is imperative that Americans wake up to the fact that their government, in a blatant effort to control the masses, will stop at nothing, including the deliberate toxic poisoning of their citizens, to achieve their goals of a society that will acquiesce to the will of the oppressors.
Listen to America Talks weekends at 9 am Eastern time.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302793#ixzz1BsTzSkKh
By David Zublick.
Are Americans being deliberately poisoned by the U.S. government? As far-fetched as that may sound, evidence indicates that there is an insidious plot underway that threatens the health of every man, woman and child living in America.
In two stories that have floated under the radar for the last couple of years, Congress and health authorities have been working together to pass laws that would sicken the populace and perhaps endanger their very lives.
First, there was the Energy Independence and Security Act, passed by Congress in 2007, a provision of which made it mandatory that the sale of incandescent light bulbs be banned by 2012. These bulbs would be replaced by compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which are supposed to be more energy-efficient and longer lasting.
In truth, these bulbs contain dangerous amounts of mercury, which, if broken, will pollute the environment, by seeping into groundwater, thereby threatening human health. Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum, recently wrote, “The EPA warns that if we break a CFL, we must take the pieces to a recycling center and not launder ‘clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage’.”
Incandescent bulbs contain no toxic chemicals whatsoever.
The new Congress has introduced the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, or H.R. 91,which would repeal this subsection of the current legislation, allowing Americans to purchase the light bulbs of their choice.
In introducing this bill, Congress took note of a few facts which have not been widely reported:
* Most CFLs are not manufactured in the United States.
* the amount of mercury in one bulb is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels.These bulbs need to be disposed of very carefully, and in most cases this means the inconvenience of taking them to a recycling center.
* Although we are led to believe that the CFL bulbs have a much longer lifespan than traditional incandescent bulbs, they are not designed to be turned on and off frequently. Doing so reduces their lifespan by as much as 85 percent.
* CFLs can cause skin cancer for people with a sensitivity to light.
In a second, more sinister story, health authorities are now pushing for drugs to be added to the public water supply. These drugs may cause depression and memory loss.
These statins, as they are known, supposedly lower cholesterol and help prevent heart disease and strokes. Health authorities want the drugs added to the water supply, despite the fact that many dangerous side-effects, kept secret by the drug companies have now come to light.
The Cochrane Library, in a newly released study, examined data from 34,000 patients taking these drugs and found that depression, mood swings and short-term memory loss were evident, yet were under-reported or underplayed by the drug companies that funded the research.
Why would health officials and the government want to add toxic drugs which can cause these dangerous side-effects to our water supply?
To control the populace, to keep them docile and easy to manage.
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, in a speech in March of 1962 at Berkeley University, said "there will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”
If this sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories, remember that recently the government admitted that people are already being mass medicated against their will by sodium fluoride in the water, the health effects of which include lower IQ levels, and increased docility.
It is imperative that Americans wake up to the fact that their government, in a blatant effort to control the masses, will stop at nothing, including the deliberate toxic poisoning of their citizens, to achieve their goals of a society that will acquiesce to the will of the oppressors.
Listen to America Talks weekends at 9 am Eastern time.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302793#ixzz1BsTzSkKh
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Will we really see the end of the USA?
How can the American people knowingly allow the continued and costly use of American troops and contract mercenaries to police the world in more than 100 countries and military bases around the world? While at the same time American cities are being forced to lay off police in some of the most dangerous US cities and to leave our own borders wide open to unknown invaders who can penetrate our borders at any time. How can we give the any kind of assistance to our own elderly, sick, young, schools, infrastructure etc. if we’re squandering 50% of our federal budget on war mongering, WMDs and nuclear stockpiles?
What happened to all of the money that used to pay half of the police force in Camden and other American cities?
A. It went to the middle east - e.g., a $1,000,000.00 charge for each US soldier, contract mercenary and millions in newly printed USA money on a wooden pallet. Are we at least winning over there? Define "winning"........
How can we protect the good people of one of the most dangerous cities in the world if we’re policing the world under the guise of bringing democracy to certain countries and protecting us from terrorism?
"The country is totally bankrupt and we're spending trillions of dollars on these useless wars. History shows all empires "end" because they expand too far and bankrupt the country - just as the Soviet system came down." - US Rep. Ron Paul M.D. (R-Texas)
A wealthy businessman says that there will be a single event, in the very near future, which will result in “the End of America as we know it.” In fact, this wealthy guy has even created a slide show presentation, in which he lays out all the facts, the repercussions, and what you can do about it. If you haven’t seen it yet, this presentation will be a real eye-opener. In fact, it has become somewhat of an Internet sensation, with nearly 3 million views! I strongly encourage you to check it out for yourself. I promise it will change the way you think about our country and your future. http://www.stansberryresearch.com/pro/1011PSIENDVD/LPSIM171/PR
Are you ready?
__________
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS/KYW) Police officers in Camden, New Jersey began turning in their badges Tuesday as part of deep municipal layoffs destined to further erode the quality of life in one of the nation's most impoverished and crime-ridden cities.
PICTURES: America's Ten Most Dangerous Cities
As many as 383 workers, representing one-fourth of the local government work force, are expected to lose their jobs, including about half the police force and one-third of the city's firefighters.
more at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20028770-504083.html
What happened to all of the money that used to pay half of the police force in Camden and other American cities?
A. It went to the middle east - e.g., a $1,000,000.00 charge for each US soldier, contract mercenary and millions in newly printed USA money on a wooden pallet. Are we at least winning over there? Define "winning"........
How can we protect the good people of one of the most dangerous cities in the world if we’re policing the world under the guise of bringing democracy to certain countries and protecting us from terrorism?
"The country is totally bankrupt and we're spending trillions of dollars on these useless wars. History shows all empires "end" because they expand too far and bankrupt the country - just as the Soviet system came down." - US Rep. Ron Paul M.D. (R-Texas)
A wealthy businessman says that there will be a single event, in the very near future, which will result in “the End of America as we know it.” In fact, this wealthy guy has even created a slide show presentation, in which he lays out all the facts, the repercussions, and what you can do about it. If you haven’t seen it yet, this presentation will be a real eye-opener. In fact, it has become somewhat of an Internet sensation, with nearly 3 million views! I strongly encourage you to check it out for yourself. I promise it will change the way you think about our country and your future. http://www.stansberryresearch.com/pro/1011PSIENDVD/LPSIM171/PR
Are you ready?
__________
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS/KYW) Police officers in Camden, New Jersey began turning in their badges Tuesday as part of deep municipal layoffs destined to further erode the quality of life in one of the nation's most impoverished and crime-ridden cities.
PICTURES: America's Ten Most Dangerous Cities
As many as 383 workers, representing one-fourth of the local government work force, are expected to lose their jobs, including about half the police force and one-third of the city's firefighters.
more at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20028770-504083.html
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Quarter-Century After Bhopal, a Deadly Chemical's U.S. Production to End
Bayer CropScience yesterday announced to finally stop producing the Bhopal chemical MIC at its Institute/US plant. An important success after a quarter-century campaign! The company now has to ensure that all workers are offered adequate new jobs. The Coalition against Bayer Dangers, based in Germany, introduced several countermotions to Bayer´s Annual Stockholders´ Meetings demanding that MIC stockpiles in Institute are dismantled and the frequent spills of hazardous substances are stopped.
=> materials on MIC production at Institute: www.cbgnetwork.org/2627.html
=> Letter to Bayer: Stop the sale of highly poisonous pesticides immediately!
January 11, 2011, Public Integrity
Quarter-Century After Bhopal, a Deadly Chemical's U.S. Production to End
The last major U.S. producer of the chemical that killed thousands in Bhopal, India, 26 years ago - and was nearly released in a 2008 explosion in West Virginia - is ceasing production of the compound.
An announcement Tuesday by Bayer CropScience, whose plant in Institute, West Virginia, stores 14,000 pounds of methyl isocyante (MIC), comes slightly more than a week before the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is scheduled to release its final report on a 2008 explosion at the plant. The blast killed two workers, and flying metal came perilously close to breaching an MIC storage tank, board officials said.
Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of German conglomerate Bayer AG, said on its website the MIC unit in Institute would be "shut down and decommissioned in mid-2012." The company said its decision "was based on a number of factors, with both strategic and economic considerations" - notably, an agreement it struck with the Environmental Protection Agency last year to phase out production of a pesticide called Temik, of which MIC is an ingredient. The pesticide is "no longer economically viable," Bayer CropScience said.
Environmental activists claimed victory, speculating that Bayer CropScience had succumbed to pressure to stop using one of the most lethal chemicals on the planet.
"It's something we've called for for a long time," said Maya Nye, an Institute resident and a spokesperson for People Concerned About MIC. The chemical is "the worst of the worst," she said.
"The handwriting was on the wall," said Rick Hind, legislative director for Greenpeace. "They're the last man standing on a process that's infamous and connected to the world's deadliest industrial accident." The December 1984 leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal killed at least 3,000 people and injured many thousands more. The Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, once owned by Union Carbide, continued making and storing large quantities of MIC long after other companies had cut production for safety reasons.
In its press release, Bayer CropScience said the shutdown of the MIC unit in Institute and its plant in Woodbine, Georgia, would cost about 300 jobs. Hind said he was skeptical of the number. "We welcome the decision on MIC," he said, "but that should not cause any reduction in jobs." By Jim Morris http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/2823
Statement Maya Nye (Spokesperson People Concerned About MIC):
While this is a monumental step in our 26-year campaign to keep our community safe, we stand in solidarity with the workers in their time of struggle. Job blackmail is a common scare tactic used by corporations to divide communities and hide the bad business practices that threaten worker safety and job security. It is this tactic that holds us economic hostages to corporations who are willing to put profits before people and that compromise our community's health and safety. Our hearts go out to the workers who, over the next several years, will be losing their jobs. Yet we must remember that these jobs were lost to them by a company that chose not to plan ahead, not to change to safer technologies, and not to ensure their future in our community.
January 11, 2011, Charleston Gazette
Bayer to phase out MIC; cut 220 jobs
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Bayer CropScience will stop making, using and storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate at its Institute plant as part of a corporate restructuring that will cost the Kanawha Valley 220 jobs over the next several years, company officials announced Tuesday.
Bayer officials said the moves are a result of the company's agreement last August to phase out the pesticide aldicarb because of concerns it posed "unacceptable dietary risks," especially to children. Company officials also cited a 1995 pledge by Bayer to move away from products that global public health officials believe are especially dangerous.
Bayer plant manager Steven Hedrick said the jobs being eliminated would include salaried and hourly positions, but that a breakdown was not yet available.
Company officials broke the news to workers in meetings Tuesday morning, though decisions about which positions -- and which individuals -- would be affected had not yet been made.
"We will work collectively with our workforce, developing a solution that is right for our people and right for the business," Hedrick said.
Bayer officials said the timing of their announcement was not related to next week's scheduled release of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's final report on the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Bayer workers. The CSB's investigation and a related congressional hearing renewed public concern about the Institute plant's quarter-million-pound stockpile of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical that killed thousands of people in a 1984 leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India.
The 220-job reduction leaves about 280 Bayer workers and 200 contract workers at the plant.
Officials from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents hourly employees at Bayer, did not return phone calls.
Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper, who expressed grave concerns about the MIC inventory following the 2008 incident at the plant, said the goal of local officials should now be to work with Bayer to find other, "appropriate" businesses to provide jobs at the facility. "That is a good result, assuming that is possible," Carper said. "We have to save as many jobs as we can."
At a press conference at the plant, Hedrick said the facility would stop production of aldicarb, the active ingredient in its Temik brand insecticide, by the end of June 2012. And by June 2011, Bayer also plans to stop production of carbaryl, the active ingredient in the company's well-known Sevin brand pesticide, Hedrick said.
Both products are part of the carbamate family of pesticides, named because they are made in part with carbamic acid, and use MIC as a key ingredient. In a news release, Bayer said that such products have "in recent years ... been largely substituted by newer products," prompting a review by the company of its carbamates business.
Then, in August 2010, Bayer negotiated a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to phase out aldicarb by Dec. 31, 2014. EPA had sought the deal because of agency research that found kids could be exposed to up to eight times the level of the chemical considered safe. Aldicarb had been under EPA scrutiny for years, following the poisoning of banana workers in Costa Rica and consumers of tainted watermelons in Oregon and California in the 1980s. At the time of the EPA deal, Bayer officials said they would close an aldicarb-Temik formulation plant in Woodbine, Ga., but that they didn't yet know what impact it would have on the Institute plant.
But the facility and the products it makes with MIC were already under a variety of pressures.
Following a May 2009 ban on the use of the pesticide carbofuran in food, FMC Corp. in August 2010 stopped producing that material at the Institute site. Leasing plant space at Institute, FMC made carbofuran in part with MIC that it purchased from Bayer.
And Bayer had already announced in August 2009 that it would reduce its MIC inventory by 80 percent, in part by not rebuilding its methomyl-Larvin pesticide unit where the 2008 explosion occurred. A preliminary report from the CSB found that the explosion could have damaged a nearby tank of MIC in the methomyl-Larvin unit, causing a disaster that would have rivaled Bhopal.
"The decisions to exit Temik and to discontinue our methomyl and carbofuran production made it impossible to maintain competitive operations at parts of our Institute site and at the formulation unit at Woodbine," said Chris Evans, senior vice president of Bayer's North American industrial operations.
Maya Nye, spokewoman for the group People Concerned About MIC, said she was still learning details of exactly what Bayer had announced, but was concerned it would be depicted as a case of environmental and public safety protections costing jobs. "Instead of taking the opportunity to lead the industry in developing safer technologies, it has chosen to take a backseat to its competitors while taking the people of this valley as economic hostages," Nye said.
At the Bayer press conference, Evans and Hedrick both referred to a more than 10-year-old company pledge to move away from products listed as "Class I" pesticides by the World Health Organization, but neither would explain why Bayer made that pledge. In a corporate "Sustainable Development Report" posted on its Web site, Bayer says the company decided in 1995 to "gradually replace" such products, which WHO lists as "extremely hazardous. "Bayer CropScience has undertaken to continuously optimize the responsible use of its products," the company report says. "These principles cover the entire life-cycle of a product from development to use and beyond." By Ken Ward Jr.
Coalition against BAYER Dangers
www.CBGnetwork.org (in English)
CBGnetwork@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Coordination-gegen-BAYER-Gefahren-CBG/127538777294665
Tel: (+49) 211-333 911 Fax: (+49) 211-333 940
please send an e-mail for receiving the English newsletter Keycode BAYER free of charge
=> materials on MIC production at Institute: www.cbgnetwork.org/2627.html
=> Letter to Bayer: Stop the sale of highly poisonous pesticides immediately!
January 11, 2011, Public Integrity
Quarter-Century After Bhopal, a Deadly Chemical's U.S. Production to End
The last major U.S. producer of the chemical that killed thousands in Bhopal, India, 26 years ago - and was nearly released in a 2008 explosion in West Virginia - is ceasing production of the compound.
An announcement Tuesday by Bayer CropScience, whose plant in Institute, West Virginia, stores 14,000 pounds of methyl isocyante (MIC), comes slightly more than a week before the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is scheduled to release its final report on a 2008 explosion at the plant. The blast killed two workers, and flying metal came perilously close to breaching an MIC storage tank, board officials said.
Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of German conglomerate Bayer AG, said on its website the MIC unit in Institute would be "shut down and decommissioned in mid-2012." The company said its decision "was based on a number of factors, with both strategic and economic considerations" - notably, an agreement it struck with the Environmental Protection Agency last year to phase out production of a pesticide called Temik, of which MIC is an ingredient. The pesticide is "no longer economically viable," Bayer CropScience said.
Environmental activists claimed victory, speculating that Bayer CropScience had succumbed to pressure to stop using one of the most lethal chemicals on the planet.
"It's something we've called for for a long time," said Maya Nye, an Institute resident and a spokesperson for People Concerned About MIC. The chemical is "the worst of the worst," she said.
"The handwriting was on the wall," said Rick Hind, legislative director for Greenpeace. "They're the last man standing on a process that's infamous and connected to the world's deadliest industrial accident." The December 1984 leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal killed at least 3,000 people and injured many thousands more. The Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, once owned by Union Carbide, continued making and storing large quantities of MIC long after other companies had cut production for safety reasons.
In its press release, Bayer CropScience said the shutdown of the MIC unit in Institute and its plant in Woodbine, Georgia, would cost about 300 jobs. Hind said he was skeptical of the number. "We welcome the decision on MIC," he said, "but that should not cause any reduction in jobs." By Jim Morris http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/2823
Statement Maya Nye (Spokesperson People Concerned About MIC):
While this is a monumental step in our 26-year campaign to keep our community safe, we stand in solidarity with the workers in their time of struggle. Job blackmail is a common scare tactic used by corporations to divide communities and hide the bad business practices that threaten worker safety and job security. It is this tactic that holds us economic hostages to corporations who are willing to put profits before people and that compromise our community's health and safety. Our hearts go out to the workers who, over the next several years, will be losing their jobs. Yet we must remember that these jobs were lost to them by a company that chose not to plan ahead, not to change to safer technologies, and not to ensure their future in our community.
January 11, 2011, Charleston Gazette
Bayer to phase out MIC; cut 220 jobs
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Bayer CropScience will stop making, using and storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate at its Institute plant as part of a corporate restructuring that will cost the Kanawha Valley 220 jobs over the next several years, company officials announced Tuesday.
Bayer officials said the moves are a result of the company's agreement last August to phase out the pesticide aldicarb because of concerns it posed "unacceptable dietary risks," especially to children. Company officials also cited a 1995 pledge by Bayer to move away from products that global public health officials believe are especially dangerous.
Bayer plant manager Steven Hedrick said the jobs being eliminated would include salaried and hourly positions, but that a breakdown was not yet available.
Company officials broke the news to workers in meetings Tuesday morning, though decisions about which positions -- and which individuals -- would be affected had not yet been made.
"We will work collectively with our workforce, developing a solution that is right for our people and right for the business," Hedrick said.
Bayer officials said the timing of their announcement was not related to next week's scheduled release of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's final report on the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Bayer workers. The CSB's investigation and a related congressional hearing renewed public concern about the Institute plant's quarter-million-pound stockpile of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical that killed thousands of people in a 1984 leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India.
The 220-job reduction leaves about 280 Bayer workers and 200 contract workers at the plant.
Officials from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents hourly employees at Bayer, did not return phone calls.
Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper, who expressed grave concerns about the MIC inventory following the 2008 incident at the plant, said the goal of local officials should now be to work with Bayer to find other, "appropriate" businesses to provide jobs at the facility. "That is a good result, assuming that is possible," Carper said. "We have to save as many jobs as we can."
At a press conference at the plant, Hedrick said the facility would stop production of aldicarb, the active ingredient in its Temik brand insecticide, by the end of June 2012. And by June 2011, Bayer also plans to stop production of carbaryl, the active ingredient in the company's well-known Sevin brand pesticide, Hedrick said.
Both products are part of the carbamate family of pesticides, named because they are made in part with carbamic acid, and use MIC as a key ingredient. In a news release, Bayer said that such products have "in recent years ... been largely substituted by newer products," prompting a review by the company of its carbamates business.
Then, in August 2010, Bayer negotiated a deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to phase out aldicarb by Dec. 31, 2014. EPA had sought the deal because of agency research that found kids could be exposed to up to eight times the level of the chemical considered safe. Aldicarb had been under EPA scrutiny for years, following the poisoning of banana workers in Costa Rica and consumers of tainted watermelons in Oregon and California in the 1980s. At the time of the EPA deal, Bayer officials said they would close an aldicarb-Temik formulation plant in Woodbine, Ga., but that they didn't yet know what impact it would have on the Institute plant.
But the facility and the products it makes with MIC were already under a variety of pressures.
Following a May 2009 ban on the use of the pesticide carbofuran in food, FMC Corp. in August 2010 stopped producing that material at the Institute site. Leasing plant space at Institute, FMC made carbofuran in part with MIC that it purchased from Bayer.
And Bayer had already announced in August 2009 that it would reduce its MIC inventory by 80 percent, in part by not rebuilding its methomyl-Larvin pesticide unit where the 2008 explosion occurred. A preliminary report from the CSB found that the explosion could have damaged a nearby tank of MIC in the methomyl-Larvin unit, causing a disaster that would have rivaled Bhopal.
"The decisions to exit Temik and to discontinue our methomyl and carbofuran production made it impossible to maintain competitive operations at parts of our Institute site and at the formulation unit at Woodbine," said Chris Evans, senior vice president of Bayer's North American industrial operations.
Maya Nye, spokewoman for the group People Concerned About MIC, said she was still learning details of exactly what Bayer had announced, but was concerned it would be depicted as a case of environmental and public safety protections costing jobs. "Instead of taking the opportunity to lead the industry in developing safer technologies, it has chosen to take a backseat to its competitors while taking the people of this valley as economic hostages," Nye said.
At the Bayer press conference, Evans and Hedrick both referred to a more than 10-year-old company pledge to move away from products listed as "Class I" pesticides by the World Health Organization, but neither would explain why Bayer made that pledge. In a corporate "Sustainable Development Report" posted on its Web site, Bayer says the company decided in 1995 to "gradually replace" such products, which WHO lists as "extremely hazardous. "Bayer CropScience has undertaken to continuously optimize the responsible use of its products," the company report says. "These principles cover the entire life-cycle of a product from development to use and beyond." By Ken Ward Jr.
Coalition against BAYER Dangers
www.CBGnetwork.org (in English)
CBGnetwork@aol.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Coordination-gegen-BAYER-Gefahren-CBG/127538777294665
Tel: (+49) 211-333 911 Fax: (+49) 211-333 940
please send an e-mail for receiving the English newsletter Keycode BAYER free of charge
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Utah Man on Trial for 2 Sisters' Deaths Due to Pesticide Spraying
Utah Man on Trial for 2 Sisters' Deaths Due to Pesticide Spraying
It was a fateful day last February when Nathan and Brenda Toone called in Bergman Pest and Lawn Inc. to deal with a rodent problem in their yard. Three days later, both their children, Rebecca, 4, and Rachel, 15 months, were dead.
The horrific tragedy is back in the news now, a year later, as prosecutors recently set a May 2011 date for the trial of Coleman Nocks. He is the licensed technician who is accused of applying too much of the pesticide, Fumitoxin, too close to the house and, in a "negligent homicide," causing the girls' deaths. Soil moisture mixed with Fumitoxin pellets forms a poison gas, which in this case prosecutors say wafted into fissures in the house foundation and then into Rebecca's and Rachel's lungs.
In the wake of the deaths last year, it was clear that an action response was needed to prevent this disaster from ever happening again. And indeed federal regulators did take action: Last April, U.S. EPA banned Fumitoxin for use in residential areas and created a wider "buffer zone" for use away from buildings in non-residential areas.
But the resurgence of the story has one area activist again thinking harder about what more could be done.
In light of the Layton deaths, Victoria Sethunya, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has started a petition on Change.org asking that the Utah Department of Health do more to protect residents–especially renters and tenants—from the risks of pesticide poisoning.
Sethunya, who is from the African country of Lesotho, says she was once a member of a volunteer forensic pharmacology team at a set of health clinics in Lesotho, where she studied the nature of local poison and advised doctors and nurses who needed immediate emergency response information to poisoning episodes.
"Living in Utah, I have been in many places, nursing homes, schools, offices and public housing, where someone will show up with a hose and start spraying without any notice whatsover to those around poisoned environments. The death of the girls in Utah was the result of our negligence in handling poisons and we need to change," she told Change.org.
Her petition asks that the Utah Department of Health legally require that landlords provide health and safety information sheets (known as MSDS sheets) to residents of a property before a spraying either inside or outside. She says this will reduce response time in case of an accidental poisoning. She also asks that the Health Department set up a "help line" to give immediate assistance to tenants who notice landlords spraying pesticides without prior notice.
I'm not an expert in Utah laws, but this is a fair "ask" as far as I can tell. For example, the organization Healthy Child, Healthy World says on its website that "tenant rights" laws can vary widely from state-to-state, and in some places are non-existent. The group has a page dedicated to tenant advocacy that concludes that laws offer "meager protections" for tenants and condo owners trying to avoid pesticide exposure.
That's why Sethunya writes: "No one should wait to be poisoned...If we cannot learn from the death of a child, how else can we learn?"
If you own a home, like the Toone couple, you should always ask to see the MSDS sheets of a pesticide before you allow a spraying, just in case of an accident. To protect renters, you can sign Sethunya's petition to the Utah Department of Health here.
http://environment.change.org/blog/view/utah_man_on_trial_for_2_sisters_deaths_due_to_pesticide_spraying
It was a fateful day last February when Nathan and Brenda Toone called in Bergman Pest and Lawn Inc. to deal with a rodent problem in their yard. Three days later, both their children, Rebecca, 4, and Rachel, 15 months, were dead.
The horrific tragedy is back in the news now, a year later, as prosecutors recently set a May 2011 date for the trial of Coleman Nocks. He is the licensed technician who is accused of applying too much of the pesticide, Fumitoxin, too close to the house and, in a "negligent homicide," causing the girls' deaths. Soil moisture mixed with Fumitoxin pellets forms a poison gas, which in this case prosecutors say wafted into fissures in the house foundation and then into Rebecca's and Rachel's lungs.
In the wake of the deaths last year, it was clear that an action response was needed to prevent this disaster from ever happening again. And indeed federal regulators did take action: Last April, U.S. EPA banned Fumitoxin for use in residential areas and created a wider "buffer zone" for use away from buildings in non-residential areas.
But the resurgence of the story has one area activist again thinking harder about what more could be done.
In light of the Layton deaths, Victoria Sethunya, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has started a petition on Change.org asking that the Utah Department of Health do more to protect residents–especially renters and tenants—from the risks of pesticide poisoning.
Sethunya, who is from the African country of Lesotho, says she was once a member of a volunteer forensic pharmacology team at a set of health clinics in Lesotho, where she studied the nature of local poison and advised doctors and nurses who needed immediate emergency response information to poisoning episodes.
"Living in Utah, I have been in many places, nursing homes, schools, offices and public housing, where someone will show up with a hose and start spraying without any notice whatsover to those around poisoned environments. The death of the girls in Utah was the result of our negligence in handling poisons and we need to change," she told Change.org.
Her petition asks that the Utah Department of Health legally require that landlords provide health and safety information sheets (known as MSDS sheets) to residents of a property before a spraying either inside or outside. She says this will reduce response time in case of an accidental poisoning. She also asks that the Health Department set up a "help line" to give immediate assistance to tenants who notice landlords spraying pesticides without prior notice.
I'm not an expert in Utah laws, but this is a fair "ask" as far as I can tell. For example, the organization Healthy Child, Healthy World says on its website that "tenant rights" laws can vary widely from state-to-state, and in some places are non-existent. The group has a page dedicated to tenant advocacy that concludes that laws offer "meager protections" for tenants and condo owners trying to avoid pesticide exposure.
That's why Sethunya writes: "No one should wait to be poisoned...If we cannot learn from the death of a child, how else can we learn?"
If you own a home, like the Toone couple, you should always ask to see the MSDS sheets of a pesticide before you allow a spraying, just in case of an accident. To protect renters, you can sign Sethunya's petition to the Utah Department of Health here.
http://environment.change.org/blog/view/utah_man_on_trial_for_2_sisters_deaths_due_to_pesticide_spraying
Arizona shooting: Crazy talk by Palin, Beck, Coulter and others just encourages crazy people!
Arizona shooting: Crazy talk by Palin, Beck, Coulter and others just encourages crazy people - Joanna Molloy - Tuesday, January 11th 2011, 4:00 AM
Take our Poll/Tough Talk - What 'crazy talk' do you find most dangerous?
Sharron Angle: 'The first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.'
Glenn Beck: 'I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it.'
Ann Coulter: 'Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots.'
Jake Knotts: '[Nikki Haley]'s a f--king raghead. We got a raghead in Washington; we don't need one in South Carolina.'
Rush Limbaugh: 'If Obama weren't black he'd be a tour guide in Honolulu or he'd be teaching Saul Alinsky constitutional law or lecturing on it in Chicago.'
Sarah Palin: 'Don't retreat! Instead - RELOAD!'
Related News
* Sarah Palin speaks out on Gabrielle Giffords shooting
* 'We gotta stand with our North Korean allies': Sarah Palin
* Palin defends 'favoriting' anti-Obama tweet: It was an accident
* Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck will hold 9/11 event in Alaska
* Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck slam Pastor Terry Jones' plans to burn Koran on 9/11
* Crouch: Drowning out the hate hustlers
*
Enough!
We've let the haters and bullies lead the political and moral conversation for far too long.
The national dialogue has descended into a fusillade of hate from politicians, political operatives and TV and radio pundits.
There's no doubt Jared Loughner heard some of it before madness overtook him and he murdered six people and nearly killed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson supermarket on Saturday.
"People who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol," says Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
"I hope most Americans are as angry as I am ... about the vitriolic rhetoric we hear day in and day out."
"Crazy talk encourages crazy people," says David Helvarg, an ecological activist whose niece Johanna Justin-Jinich was murdered by an anti-Semite.
No one knows if Loughner ever saw Sarah Palin's Facebook map, which put Giffords' district in cross hairs.
No one knows if Loughner, who was obsessed with ultraconservative issues like big government and the need to back currency with gold, was influenced by Glenn Beck or Sen. Rand Paul.
Maybe he's just a madman who doesn't know the difference between rage and rhetoric in the tidal wave of hate politics in recent years.
There's Sarah Palin declaring: "Don't retreat ... RELOAD!"
South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts calling his Sikh-descended rival Nikki Haley, "a f--king raghead."
Nevada Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle saying if that people rise up in revolt against a liberal Congress: "The first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out."
Ann Coulter saying her only regret about Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh is that "he did not go to the New York Times Building."
And of course Glenn Beck's musing: "I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it."
It's not just the right wingers. There are the anti-everything radical survivalists and militias.
"We've seen an extraordinarily rapid expansion of hate groups," says Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"In 2008, there were 149 'patriot groups.' In 2009, that number jumped to 512."
And, of course, there are the loonies on the left that throw hateful words like "Nazis" and "racists" at people who oppose their ideas, portray American soldiers as murderers and praise terrorists who have vowed to destroy America.
Assured they have it right, the haters across the spectrum keep playing with the fire of dangerous words.
Don't they remember the angry rhetoric over the years that led James Earl Ray to murder Martin Luther King, or the hatred the helped Sirhan Sirhan put his gun to Robert Kennedy's head and pull the trigger?
If you want to see how low we've gotten, go to YouTube and watch Kennedy's speech on an inner-city street in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King was killed.
"What we need in the United States is not division ... not hatred ... not violence and lawlessness," he said. What we need, he said that dark night in 1968, "is love, and wisdom, and compassion."
True then; even truer now.
It is a message we ignore at our peril - and the peril of generations to come.
The amazing thing is that these hate creators beLIEve they are Christians! Christians are to be known by their love!
Take our Poll/Tough Talk - What 'crazy talk' do you find most dangerous?
Sharron Angle: 'The first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.'
Glenn Beck: 'I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it.'
Ann Coulter: 'Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots.'
Jake Knotts: '[Nikki Haley]'s a f--king raghead. We got a raghead in Washington; we don't need one in South Carolina.'
Rush Limbaugh: 'If Obama weren't black he'd be a tour guide in Honolulu or he'd be teaching Saul Alinsky constitutional law or lecturing on it in Chicago.'
Sarah Palin: 'Don't retreat! Instead - RELOAD!'
Related News
* Sarah Palin speaks out on Gabrielle Giffords shooting
* 'We gotta stand with our North Korean allies': Sarah Palin
* Palin defends 'favoriting' anti-Obama tweet: It was an accident
* Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck will hold 9/11 event in Alaska
* Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck slam Pastor Terry Jones' plans to burn Koran on 9/11
* Crouch: Drowning out the hate hustlers
*
Enough!
We've let the haters and bullies lead the political and moral conversation for far too long.
The national dialogue has descended into a fusillade of hate from politicians, political operatives and TV and radio pundits.
There's no doubt Jared Loughner heard some of it before madness overtook him and he murdered six people and nearly killed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson supermarket on Saturday.
"People who are unbalanced are especially susceptible to vitriol," says Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
"I hope most Americans are as angry as I am ... about the vitriolic rhetoric we hear day in and day out."
"Crazy talk encourages crazy people," says David Helvarg, an ecological activist whose niece Johanna Justin-Jinich was murdered by an anti-Semite.
No one knows if Loughner ever saw Sarah Palin's Facebook map, which put Giffords' district in cross hairs.
No one knows if Loughner, who was obsessed with ultraconservative issues like big government and the need to back currency with gold, was influenced by Glenn Beck or Sen. Rand Paul.
Maybe he's just a madman who doesn't know the difference between rage and rhetoric in the tidal wave of hate politics in recent years.
There's Sarah Palin declaring: "Don't retreat ... RELOAD!"
South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts calling his Sikh-descended rival Nikki Haley, "a f--king raghead."
Nevada Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle saying if that people rise up in revolt against a liberal Congress: "The first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out."
Ann Coulter saying her only regret about Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh is that "he did not go to the New York Times Building."
And of course Glenn Beck's musing: "I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it."
It's not just the right wingers. There are the anti-everything radical survivalists and militias.
"We've seen an extraordinarily rapid expansion of hate groups," says Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"In 2008, there were 149 'patriot groups.' In 2009, that number jumped to 512."
And, of course, there are the loonies on the left that throw hateful words like "Nazis" and "racists" at people who oppose their ideas, portray American soldiers as murderers and praise terrorists who have vowed to destroy America.
Assured they have it right, the haters across the spectrum keep playing with the fire of dangerous words.
Don't they remember the angry rhetoric over the years that led James Earl Ray to murder Martin Luther King, or the hatred the helped Sirhan Sirhan put his gun to Robert Kennedy's head and pull the trigger?
If you want to see how low we've gotten, go to YouTube and watch Kennedy's speech on an inner-city street in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King was killed.
"What we need in the United States is not division ... not hatred ... not violence and lawlessness," he said. What we need, he said that dark night in 1968, "is love, and wisdom, and compassion."
True then; even truer now.
It is a message we ignore at our peril - and the peril of generations to come.
The amazing thing is that these hate creators beLIEve they are Christians! Christians are to be known by their love!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
All drugs containing PHENYLPROPANOLAMINEare being recalled.
MAKE SURE YOU PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR EMAIL LIST EVEN IF THEY DON'T HAVE KIDS. THEY MIGHT HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS THAT HAVE KIDS.
Drug Recall - Very Serious *** Send to friends & family
CONFIRMED BY: SNOPES.COM& FDA
All drugs containing PHENYLPROPANOLAMINEare being recalled.
STOP TAKING anything containing this ingredient. It has been linked to increased hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in brain)among women ages 18-49 in the three days after starting use of medication The FDA recommended that everyone (even children) seek alternative medicine.
The following medications contain Phenylpropanolamine:
Acutrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant
Acutrim Plus Dietary Supplements
Acutrim Maximum Strength Appetite Control
Alka-Seltzer Plus Children's Cold Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine (cherry or orange)
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Original
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Flu Medicine
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Sinus Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Night-Time Cold Medicine
BC Allergy Sinus Cold Powder
BC Sinus Cold Powder
Comtrex Flu Therapy & Fever Relief
Day & Night Contac 12-Hour Cold Capsules
Contac 12 Hour Caplets
Coricidin D Cold, Flu & Sinus
Dexatrim Caffeine Free
Dexatrim Extended Duration
Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dexatrim Vitamin C/Caffeine Free
Dimetapp Cold & Allergy Chewable Tablets
Dimetapp Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels
Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough Elixir
Dimetapp Elixir
Dimetapp 4 Hour Liquid Gels
Dimetapp 4 Hour Tablets
Dimetapp 12 Hour Extendtabs Tablets
Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops
Permathene Mega-16
Robitussin CF
Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of Sinus & Nasal Congestion
Triaminic DM Cough Relief
Triaminic Expectorant Chest & Head
Triaminic Syrup Cold & Allergy
Triaminic Triaminicol Cold & Cough
I just found out and called the 800# on the container for Triaminic and they informed me that they are voluntarily recalling the following medicines because of a certain ingredient that is causing strokes and seizures in children
Orange3D Cold &Allergy Cherry (Pink)
3D Cold &Cough Berry
3D Cough Relief Yellow 3D Expectorant
They are asking you to call them at 800-548-3708 with the lot number on the box so they can send you postage for you to send it back to them, and they will also issue you a refund. If you know of anyone else with small children,
PLEASE PASS THIS ON.. THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF!
DO PASS ALONG TO ALL ON YOUR MAILING LIST so people are informed. They can then pass it along to their families.
To confirm these findings please take time to check the following:http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa/
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR CHILDREN IN CASE THEY GIVE IT TO THEIR CHILDREN OR TO FRIENDS WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
Drug Recall - Very Serious *** Send to friends & family
CONFIRMED BY: SNOPES.COM& FDA
All drugs containing PHENYLPROPANOLAMINEare being recalled.
STOP TAKING anything containing this ingredient. It has been linked to increased hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in brain)among women ages 18-49 in the three days after starting use of medication The FDA recommended that everyone (even children) seek alternative medicine.
The following medications contain Phenylpropanolamine:
Acutrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant
Acutrim Plus Dietary Supplements
Acutrim Maximum Strength Appetite Control
Alka-Seltzer Plus Children's Cold Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine (cherry or orange)
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Original
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Flu Medicine
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Sinus Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Night-Time Cold Medicine
BC Allergy Sinus Cold Powder
BC Sinus Cold Powder
Comtrex Flu Therapy & Fever Relief
Day & Night Contac 12-Hour Cold Capsules
Contac 12 Hour Caplets
Coricidin D Cold, Flu & Sinus
Dexatrim Caffeine Free
Dexatrim Extended Duration
Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dexatrim Vitamin C/Caffeine Free
Dimetapp Cold & Allergy Chewable Tablets
Dimetapp Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels
Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough Elixir
Dimetapp Elixir
Dimetapp 4 Hour Liquid Gels
Dimetapp 4 Hour Tablets
Dimetapp 12 Hour Extendtabs Tablets
Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops
Permathene Mega-16
Robitussin CF
Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of Sinus & Nasal Congestion
Triaminic DM Cough Relief
Triaminic Expectorant Chest & Head
Triaminic Syrup Cold & Allergy
Triaminic Triaminicol Cold & Cough
I just found out and called the 800# on the container for Triaminic and they informed me that they are voluntarily recalling the following medicines because of a certain ingredient that is causing strokes and seizures in children
Orange3D Cold &Allergy Cherry (Pink)
3D Cold &Cough Berry
3D Cough Relief Yellow 3D Expectorant
They are asking you to call them at 800-548-3708 with the lot number on the box so they can send you postage for you to send it back to them, and they will also issue you a refund. If you know of anyone else with small children,
PLEASE PASS THIS ON.. THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF!
DO PASS ALONG TO ALL ON YOUR MAILING LIST so people are informed. They can then pass it along to their families.
To confirm these findings please take time to check the following:http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa/
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR CHILDREN IN CASE THEY GIVE IT TO THEIR CHILDREN OR TO FRIENDS WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
Friday, January 7, 2011
Breaking News: Popular Cancer Drug Declared More Harmful Than Helpful
Breaking News: Popular Cancer Drug Declared More Harmful Than Helpful
The FDA has said that the controversial drug Avastin should be phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Recent studies show that its benefits are outweighed by dangerous side effects.
The announcement does not affect Avastin's status as a drug that can be prescribed for lung cancer, kidney cancer, colorectal cancer and brain cancer.
In 2008, the FDA granted Avastin accelerated approval for use to treat metastatic breast cancer. But studies have failed to show that patients getting Avastin lived longer than patients on standard chemotherapies.
According to CNN:
"Along with those disappointing findings, serious side effects became apparent in patients taking Avastin, including high blood pressure, internal bleeding, perforated internal organs, heart failure and heart attacks, and in some cases, even swelling of the brain."
Genentech, which makes Avastin, has a right to appeal the decision.
Folks, the best way of preventing breast cancer isn't a drug at all, and it's free! Sun exposure may be the single most effective means of reducing breast cancer, thanks to vitamin D, which forms in your body in reaction to sunlight. In a recent study, data collected over a decade from more than 67,000 women showed that women in sunny climes with high vitamin D levels were at a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer!
Sources:
CNN December 16, 2010
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention December 2, 2010
Popular Breast Cancer Drug Proven More Harmful than Helpful
Avastin, which costs about $8,000 a month and is one of the best-selling cancer drugs in the world, is now being phased out in the US due to lack of effectiveness and dangerous side effects.
As reported by CNN, the FDA has deemed the drug to be more harmful than beneficial based on recent studies, and recommends phasing it out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer.
The drug will still maintain its status as an approved therapy for lung-, kidney-, colorectal- and brain cancer, however.
The European Medicines Agency is also altering its recommendation, but rather than withdrawing approval entirely, Avastin will now only be prescribed in combination with the drug Paclitaxel for the treatment of breast cancer in the EU.
The FDA has said that the controversial drug Avastin should be phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Recent studies show that its benefits are outweighed by dangerous side effects.
The announcement does not affect Avastin's status as a drug that can be prescribed for lung cancer, kidney cancer, colorectal cancer and brain cancer.
In 2008, the FDA granted Avastin accelerated approval for use to treat metastatic breast cancer. But studies have failed to show that patients getting Avastin lived longer than patients on standard chemotherapies.
According to CNN:
"Along with those disappointing findings, serious side effects became apparent in patients taking Avastin, including high blood pressure, internal bleeding, perforated internal organs, heart failure and heart attacks, and in some cases, even swelling of the brain."
Genentech, which makes Avastin, has a right to appeal the decision.
Folks, the best way of preventing breast cancer isn't a drug at all, and it's free! Sun exposure may be the single most effective means of reducing breast cancer, thanks to vitamin D, which forms in your body in reaction to sunlight. In a recent study, data collected over a decade from more than 67,000 women showed that women in sunny climes with high vitamin D levels were at a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer!
Sources:
CNN December 16, 2010
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention December 2, 2010
Popular Breast Cancer Drug Proven More Harmful than Helpful
Avastin, which costs about $8,000 a month and is one of the best-selling cancer drugs in the world, is now being phased out in the US due to lack of effectiveness and dangerous side effects.
As reported by CNN, the FDA has deemed the drug to be more harmful than beneficial based on recent studies, and recommends phasing it out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer.
The drug will still maintain its status as an approved therapy for lung-, kidney-, colorectal- and brain cancer, however.
The European Medicines Agency is also altering its recommendation, but rather than withdrawing approval entirely, Avastin will now only be prescribed in combination with the drug Paclitaxel for the treatment of breast cancer in the EU.
Monsanto & the Merchants of Death
Monsanto & the Merchants of Death
In the 1990s, Monsanto found an ingenious way to sell large quantities of its broad-spectrum toxic herbicide RoundUp to farmers. The company's scientists gene-spliced corn, soy, cotton, and canola with foreign DNA, enabling these "Frankencrops" to survive massive doses of RoundUp. Farmers could now repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp, killing weeds but not the crop. Unfortunately, the collateral damage of heavy RoundUp spraying includes groundwater pollution, toxic residues in crops, and destruction of essential soil microorganisms. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops themselves create herbicide-resistant Superweeds and spread genetic pollution to organic and non-GMO crops as well as plant relatives. Last but certainly not least, Monsanto's GM foods have been linked to serious health damage - not only for animals, but humans as well.
Today, a major portion of cropland in the US is sown with Monsanto's "RoundUp Ready" corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Eighty percent of these GM crops are then sold as animal feed to the nation's 125,000 factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that produce most of the non-organic meat, dairy, or eggs sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants, schools, and hospitals. The other 20% of Monsanto's Genetically Modified Organisms are laced into non-organic processed foods (soy lecithin, corn or sugar beet sweeteners, cooking oils, etc.) that are found in every grocery store aisle.
There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the US spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases. Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, US factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.
Monsanto's GM crops are highly profitable for the food industry, turning cheap, federally subsidized, genetically engineered crops and GE-fed animals into cheap, ubiquitous, junky foods. But from the standpoint of public health and environmental sustainability, Monsanto and their factory farm collaborators are nothing less than merchants of disease and death.
A critical mass of consumers would turn away from GMOs and Factory Farmed meat, dairy, and eggs - if they knew what they were eating. Please join and support OCA in our new Truth-in-Labeling campaign.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm
In the 1990s, Monsanto found an ingenious way to sell large quantities of its broad-spectrum toxic herbicide RoundUp to farmers. The company's scientists gene-spliced corn, soy, cotton, and canola with foreign DNA, enabling these "Frankencrops" to survive massive doses of RoundUp. Farmers could now repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp, killing weeds but not the crop. Unfortunately, the collateral damage of heavy RoundUp spraying includes groundwater pollution, toxic residues in crops, and destruction of essential soil microorganisms. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops themselves create herbicide-resistant Superweeds and spread genetic pollution to organic and non-GMO crops as well as plant relatives. Last but certainly not least, Monsanto's GM foods have been linked to serious health damage - not only for animals, but humans as well.
Today, a major portion of cropland in the US is sown with Monsanto's "RoundUp Ready" corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Eighty percent of these GM crops are then sold as animal feed to the nation's 125,000 factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that produce most of the non-organic meat, dairy, or eggs sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants, schools, and hospitals. The other 20% of Monsanto's Genetically Modified Organisms are laced into non-organic processed foods (soy lecithin, corn or sugar beet sweeteners, cooking oils, etc.) that are found in every grocery store aisle.
There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the US spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases. Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, US factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.
Monsanto's GM crops are highly profitable for the food industry, turning cheap, federally subsidized, genetically engineered crops and GE-fed animals into cheap, ubiquitous, junky foods. But from the standpoint of public health and environmental sustainability, Monsanto and their factory farm collaborators are nothing less than merchants of disease and death.
A critical mass of consumers would turn away from GMOs and Factory Farmed meat, dairy, and eggs - if they knew what they were eating. Please join and support OCA in our new Truth-in-Labeling campaign.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm
Thursday, January 6, 2011
American "Quality of Life".
FOX always states what failures social democratic states are compared to
the GREAT AMERICAN system well here are some more facts:
http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Hate-Fox-News/646440
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/aboutnsw/lifestyle/E1_quality_of_life.htm,
AMERICA CAME 17TH
USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD
USA Ranking on Health care Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003
USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report
USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005
USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters
Without Borders 2005
USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005
USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia
"Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.
USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005
USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006
USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005
NORWAY, SWEDEN AND FINLAND, socialist countries, hmmm.
the GREAT AMERICAN system well here are some more facts:
http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Hate-Fox-News/646440
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/aboutnsw/lifestyle/E1_quality_of_life.htm,
AMERICA CAME 17TH
USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD
USA Ranking on Health care Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003
USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report
USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005
USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters
Without Borders 2005
USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005
USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia
"Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.
USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005
USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006
USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005
NORWAY, SWEDEN AND FINLAND, socialist countries, hmmm.
Were you wondering what was causing the mass die-off of birds and fish around Arkansas?
CRITICAL BREAKING NEWS
04 January 2011 - The European Union Times
Top US Official Murdered
After Arkansas Weapons
Test Causes Mass Death
Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Posted by EU Times on Jan 4th, 2011 // 79 Comments
A shocking report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a US Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.
According to this report, John P. Wheeler III, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. from 2005-2008, when he became the Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and Environment, was found brutally murdered and dumped in a landfill, and as we can read as reported by Fox News:
"Delaware Police are investigating the apparent murder of a former Bush official who also championed the fund-raising effort to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Wheeler’s body was found in Wilmington on Friday.
According to police, somebody initially reported that the body was dumped out of a refuse truck, which would have been coming from Newark, onto the landfill. Newark Police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall told Fox News that nobody had reported Wheeler missing before he was found.
The Wilmington News Journal reported that Wheeler was last seen riding an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington, Del., last Tuesday."
Chemtrail airplane.
Wheeler’s military career included writing one of the most important manuals on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons which led to his being hired in 2009 as a consultant to the Mitre Corporation, whose aviation system development department, the GRU reports, is at the forefront of creating the computer command and control systems used by the US Air Force in their fleet of aerial spraying planes.
These aerial spraying planes, this report continues, are based at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas that over the past few months have been involved with ‘test dispersants’ of poisonous gasses in the Afghanistan War Theater using chemical weapons stocks obtained from Iraq and held at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, also located in Arkansas.
Important to note about the Pine Bluff Arsenal, which calls itself “America’s Arsenal”, is that it is one of the World’s most specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products and services bases which Russia had previously accused of not fully reporting the chemical agents removed from Iraq, between 2003 and 2008, and taken to the US for testing and subsequent destruction.
According to this report, the US relocated from Iraq to the Pine Bluff Arsenal an estimated 63,000 metric tonnes of the poisonous gas Phosgene that is described as one of the most feared chemical weapons ever used due to its ability to literally cause the lungs and respiratory system to explode.
Nearly immediately after Russia accused the US this past summer of not fully destroying Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpile the Pine Bluff Arsenal began an ‘accelerated’ disposal programme injecting it deep into the ground in central Arkansas, but which, unfortunately, since this past September, has caused over 500 minor earthquakes to occur raising the concerns of their local population.
More frightening, however, is the claim made in this report that the Americans have also begun shipping ‘massive quantities’ of Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks to Afghanistan where when used they will be able to say they had nothing to do with it, and believe no one will be able to prove it either.
Important to note about Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks are that they are no longer able to be made by any Western country, including the United States, which makes its value as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) incalculable, especially in a war situation like Afghanistan where the enemy forces are firmly entrenched in hostile terrain.
To the direct reason for Wheeler’s murder, this report says, was this past week’s transport of Iraqi Phosgene poisonous gas aboard a US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft from Little Rock Air Force Base enroute to Afghanistan that shortly after takeoff had a ‘critical malfunction’ of its aerial spraying computer directed command and control system over central Arkansas causing the deaths of thousands of red-wing blackbirds.
According to US reports an estimated 4,000 of these birds were killed outright and were quickly removed by US Environmental Services workers wearing hazmat suits and gas masks. Another US report states that cause of death to these thousands of birds was “ trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding” which this GRU report states is consistent with Phosgene exposure.
Even more chilling than this incident is this GRU report stating that it was the second “accidental” release of Phosgene poisonous gas in as many days, as the day before, this same US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft also had a “critical malfunction” causing a release over the Arkansas River that killed over 100,000 fish.
Upon Wheeler discovering what was happening with Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpiles, this report continues, he traveled from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C. where he openly confronted and threatened to expose the Pentagon and White House Officials responsible. Being a Vietnam Veteran who was responsible for having the famous memorial to that war erected, Wheeler was more than knowledgeable about the United States massive chemical and biological attacks in that conflict and had vowed to not let happen again.
Sadly, but all too common in the United States these days, when Wheeler threatened to go public with what was happening he was targeted for death, and as a “sign” to anyone else thinking of going against the regime, had his body dumped in a garbage pit for all the World to see.
Today, another great American was murdered in an effort to save his country from destruction. Sadly, his death will go barely noticed; the American people seem no longer to care as they continue to seek their solace in their propaganda media lies rather than confronting the brutal truth about the monsters they have let rule over them.
For hundreds of thousands of other Americans they have become so disassociated with what is happening to, and around them, they have proclaimed May 21, 2011 as the day the World will end and are giving up everything in preparing to meet their God.
The great American Revolutionary leader Noah Webster once said, “Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”
The Americans living today have utterly failed to heed these words and have, instead, become just what their masters have always intended for them to be… imbeciles. May God have mercy on them all.
Source http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/top-us-official-murdered-after-arkansas-weapons-test-causes-mass-death/
Related posts:
Massive black bird deaths now happening in Louisiana
Thousands of birds fall from the sky in Arkansas
Georgia nabs Russian 'spy ring,' angering Moscow
Mystery over Russian general found dead on Turkish beach
Top US Senator Assassinated As Obama "Weather War" Plunges World Into Chaos
04 January 2011 - Natural News - Mike Adams
Why are the animals dying? Birds,
fish wiped out in mysterious deaths
04 January 2011 - The European Union Times
Top US Official Murdered
After Arkansas Weapons
Test Causes Mass Death
Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Posted by EU Times on Jan 4th, 2011 // 79 Comments
A shocking report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a US Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.
According to this report, John P. Wheeler III, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. from 2005-2008, when he became the Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and Environment, was found brutally murdered and dumped in a landfill, and as we can read as reported by Fox News:
"Delaware Police are investigating the apparent murder of a former Bush official who also championed the fund-raising effort to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Wheeler’s body was found in Wilmington on Friday.
According to police, somebody initially reported that the body was dumped out of a refuse truck, which would have been coming from Newark, onto the landfill. Newark Police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall told Fox News that nobody had reported Wheeler missing before he was found.
The Wilmington News Journal reported that Wheeler was last seen riding an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington, Del., last Tuesday."
Chemtrail airplane.
Wheeler’s military career included writing one of the most important manuals on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons which led to his being hired in 2009 as a consultant to the Mitre Corporation, whose aviation system development department, the GRU reports, is at the forefront of creating the computer command and control systems used by the US Air Force in their fleet of aerial spraying planes.
These aerial spraying planes, this report continues, are based at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas that over the past few months have been involved with ‘test dispersants’ of poisonous gasses in the Afghanistan War Theater using chemical weapons stocks obtained from Iraq and held at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, also located in Arkansas.
Important to note about the Pine Bluff Arsenal, which calls itself “America’s Arsenal”, is that it is one of the World’s most specialized munitions and chemical-biological defense products and services bases which Russia had previously accused of not fully reporting the chemical agents removed from Iraq, between 2003 and 2008, and taken to the US for testing and subsequent destruction.
According to this report, the US relocated from Iraq to the Pine Bluff Arsenal an estimated 63,000 metric tonnes of the poisonous gas Phosgene that is described as one of the most feared chemical weapons ever used due to its ability to literally cause the lungs and respiratory system to explode.
Nearly immediately after Russia accused the US this past summer of not fully destroying Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpile the Pine Bluff Arsenal began an ‘accelerated’ disposal programme injecting it deep into the ground in central Arkansas, but which, unfortunately, since this past September, has caused over 500 minor earthquakes to occur raising the concerns of their local population.
More frightening, however, is the claim made in this report that the Americans have also begun shipping ‘massive quantities’ of Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks to Afghanistan where when used they will be able to say they had nothing to do with it, and believe no one will be able to prove it either.
Important to note about Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stocks are that they are no longer able to be made by any Western country, including the United States, which makes its value as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) incalculable, especially in a war situation like Afghanistan where the enemy forces are firmly entrenched in hostile terrain.
To the direct reason for Wheeler’s murder, this report says, was this past week’s transport of Iraqi Phosgene poisonous gas aboard a US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft from Little Rock Air Force Base enroute to Afghanistan that shortly after takeoff had a ‘critical malfunction’ of its aerial spraying computer directed command and control system over central Arkansas causing the deaths of thousands of red-wing blackbirds.
According to US reports an estimated 4,000 of these birds were killed outright and were quickly removed by US Environmental Services workers wearing hazmat suits and gas masks. Another US report states that cause of death to these thousands of birds was “ trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding” which this GRU report states is consistent with Phosgene exposure.
Even more chilling than this incident is this GRU report stating that it was the second “accidental” release of Phosgene poisonous gas in as many days, as the day before, this same US Air Force KC-767 tanker aircraft also had a “critical malfunction” causing a release over the Arkansas River that killed over 100,000 fish.
Upon Wheeler discovering what was happening with Iraq’s Phosgene poisonous gas stockpiles, this report continues, he traveled from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C. where he openly confronted and threatened to expose the Pentagon and White House Officials responsible. Being a Vietnam Veteran who was responsible for having the famous memorial to that war erected, Wheeler was more than knowledgeable about the United States massive chemical and biological attacks in that conflict and had vowed to not let happen again.
Sadly, but all too common in the United States these days, when Wheeler threatened to go public with what was happening he was targeted for death, and as a “sign” to anyone else thinking of going against the regime, had his body dumped in a garbage pit for all the World to see.
Today, another great American was murdered in an effort to save his country from destruction. Sadly, his death will go barely noticed; the American people seem no longer to care as they continue to seek their solace in their propaganda media lies rather than confronting the brutal truth about the monsters they have let rule over them.
For hundreds of thousands of other Americans they have become so disassociated with what is happening to, and around them, they have proclaimed May 21, 2011 as the day the World will end and are giving up everything in preparing to meet their God.
The great American Revolutionary leader Noah Webster once said, “Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”
The Americans living today have utterly failed to heed these words and have, instead, become just what their masters have always intended for them to be… imbeciles. May God have mercy on them all.
Source http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/top-us-official-murdered-after-arkansas-weapons-test-causes-mass-death/
Related posts:
Massive black bird deaths now happening in Louisiana
Thousands of birds fall from the sky in Arkansas
Georgia nabs Russian 'spy ring,' angering Moscow
Mystery over Russian general found dead on Turkish beach
Top US Senator Assassinated As Obama "Weather War" Plunges World Into Chaos
04 January 2011 - Natural News - Mike Adams
Why are the animals dying? Birds,
fish wiped out in mysterious deaths
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