[Here is an article by Ann Coulter. She makes some really good points in here although I don't always like the way she says certain things. She can be a bit vulgar at times.]
It's a one-page bill creating a free market in health insurance. Let's all pause here for a moment so liberals can Google the term "free market."
Nearly every problem with health care in this country -- apart from trial lawyers and out-of-date magazines in doctors' waiting rooms -- would be solved by my plan.
In the first sentence, Congress will amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act to allow interstate competition in health insurance.
We can't have a free market in health insurance until Congress eliminates the antitrust exemption protecting health insurance companies from competition. If Democrats really wanted to punish insurance companies, which they manifestly do not, they'd make insurers compete.
The very next sentence of my bill provides that the exclusive regulator of insurance companies will be the state where the company's home office is. Every insurance company in the country would incorporate in the state with the fewest government mandates, just as most corporations are based in Delaware today.
That's the only way to bypass idiotic state mandates, requiring all insurance plans offered in the state to cover, for example, the Zone Diet, sex-change operations, and whatever it is that poor Heidi Montag has done to herself this week.
President Obama says we need national health care because Natoma Canfield of Ohio had to drop her insurance when she couldn't afford the $6,700 premiums, and now she's got cancer.
Much as I admire Obama's use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio's state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited OB/GYN visits, among other things.
It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics -- you know, things like cancer.
The third sentence of my bill would prohibit the federal government from regulating insurance companies, except for normal laws and regulations that apply to all companies.
Freed from onerous state and federal mandates turning insurance companies into public utilities, insurers would be allowed to offer a whole smorgasbord of insurance plans, finally giving consumers a choice.
Instead of Harry Reid deciding whether your insurance plan covers Viagra, this decision would be made by you, the consumer. (I apologize for using the terms "Harry Reid" and "Viagra" in the same sentence. I promise that won't happen again.)
Instead of insurance companies jumping to the tune of politicians bought by health-care lobbyists, they would jump to tune of hundreds of millions of Americans buying health insurance on the free market.
Hypochondriac liberals could still buy the aromatherapy plan and normal people would be able to buy plans that only cover things such as major illness, accidents and disease. (Again -- things like Natoma Canfield's cancer.)
This would, in effect, transform medical insurance into ... a form of insurance!
My bill will solve nearly every problem allegedly addressed by ObamaCare -- and mine entails zero cost to the taxpayer. Indeed, a free market in health insurance would produce major tax savings as layers of government bureaucrats, unnecessary to medical service in America, get fired.
For example, in a free market, the government wouldn't need to prohibit insurance companies from excluding "pre-existing conditions."
Of course, an insurance company has to be able to refuse NEW customers with "pre-existing conditions." Otherwise, everyone would just wait to get sick to buy insurance. It's the same reason you can't buy fire insurance on a house that's already on fire.
That isn't an "insurance company"; it's what's known as a "Christian charity."
What Democrats are insinuating when they denounce exclusions of "pre-existing conditions" is an insurance company using the "pre-existing condition" ruse to deny coverage to a current policy holder -- someone who's been paying into the plan, year after year.
Any insurance company operating in the free market that pulled that trick wouldn't stay in business long.
If hotels were as heavily regulated as health insurance is, right now I'd be explaining to you why the government doesn't need to mandate that hotels offer rooms with beds. If they didn't, they'd go out of business.
I'm sure people who lived in the old Soviet Union thought it was crazy to leave groceries to the free market. ("But what if they don't stock the food we want?")
The market is a more powerful enforcement mechanism than indolent government bureaucrats. If you don't believe me, ask Toyota about six months from now.
Right now, insurance companies are protected by government regulations from having to honor their contracts. Violating contracts isn't so easy when competitors are lurking, ready to steal your customers.
In addition to saving taxpayer money and providing better health insurance, my plan also saves trees by being 2,199 pages shorter than the Democrats' plan.
Feel free to steal it, Republicans!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Introduction to Yeast Candida Infections and Associated Illness's
This site seems interesting. It is also the link to the the previous post. I haven't really read much here. It might be worthwhile checking it out.
http://www.yeast-candida-infections-uk.co.uk/
http://www.yeast-candida-infections-uk.co.uk/
Mental illness, Depression.. An infectious disease... appendix is associated with schizophrenia
As has been pointed out in previous articles by Dr Mercola Omega 3 is only one of many mineral/vitamins the average westerner is short of …But is it just a nutritional problem or is it that we are now failing to metabolise food properly because of antibiotic damaged gut flora?....from my site…. “When a pathological state exists, this finely balanced symbiosis may be damaged and cease to function normally. Several different states in the gut may exist. Symbiotic bacteria may be damaged, causing the malabsorbtion of critical vitamins and minerals. If the damage is extensive and/or long lasting, pathogenic yeast and gram-negative bacilli will begin to fill the vacuum left by the healthy bacteria.”
Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children,
Read in my site how the appendix is associated with schizophrenia. And the “chemistry of mental illness”
When we have a gut dysbiosis , Pandora’s box has been well and truly opened, restoring normal is not just a case of taking friendly probiotic bacteria , probiotic bacteria are transient they neither stay or multiply in the gut …. Read my site for more ..
www.yeast-candida-infections-
Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children,
Read in my site how the appendix is associated with schizophrenia. And the “chemistry of mental illness”
When we have a gut dysbiosis , Pandora’s box has been well and truly opened, restoring normal is not just a case of taking friendly probiotic bacteria , probiotic bacteria are transient they neither stay or multiply in the gut …. Read my site for more ..
www.yeast-candida-infections-
Fluoride
Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?
| [ Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 ] | Next >> |
Fluoride is added to the water supply of most American cities for the ostensible purpose of dental hygiene. The reader will be amazed to find out that such a thing is not only unlikely, but actually the reverse of the ongoing reality
The U.S. has been fluoridating drinking water for so many decades that we hardly think about it. Very few articles appear about fluoridation in newspapers and magazines any more. At least chlorine will evaporate from a glass of water if you let it sit for an hour or so. No such luck with fluoride. Even cooking, food processing, filtration, or digestion doesn‘t remove fluoride. Goes right up the food chain. Accumulates in fat cells.
(click on title of this post to go to Part 1 or copy and past the below link, from there you can access Part 2 and 3)
Part 1: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/02/fluoride-safety-part-one.aspx
Factory foods filled with disease
You may like you chicken baked, broiled, grilled or fried... but odds are you're also enjoying it with a heaping helping of contamination.
Consumers Union, the organization behind the magazine Consumer Reports, found bacterial contamination in nearly two-thirds of store-bought chickens during a recent test.
And guess what? That number's an improvement! Just two years ago, they found 80 percent of all supermarket chickens to be contaminated.
In the recent analysis, the company bought 382 fresh broiler chickens from 100 supermarkets in 22 states. And they found the number-two cause of food-borne illness, campylobacter, present in 62 percent of the chickens.
Not only that, but they also found salmonella – our leading cause of food-borne sickness – in 14 percent of the chickens.
Still feel like getting your meat from factory farms?
These numbers may shock you – but I'm not surprised in the least. It's a testament to American resilience that we're not dropping dead left and right from massive waves of food poisoning, and not just from the chickens.
I won't eat any of the contaminated garbage that emerges from these filthy factory operations, and not because I don't like meat. I'm a certified carnivore – but I only eat grass-fed beef and meat from free-range chickens from smaller farms that know how to keep things clean and safe.
More expensive, sure – but this isn't an area where you want to skimp, because once meat enters those big soiled slop-halls, anything can happen.
Just take a look at the recent news out of Texas, where a Tyson plant that makes seafood soup was cited for food contamination.
FDA inspectors found "serious violations" there... so here's what they did: They sat around for a couple of months... and then they wrote the plant a letter. I wonder if they used a quill dipped in ink and sent it via Pony Express, too.
Meanwhile, seafood soup from this place is out there on supermarket shelves right now... and the plant is still in operation, probably in the same condition – since the company has of course denied any problems there.
One more reason to avoid canned food at all cost.
Ruffling feathers and kicking cans,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
Consumers Union, the organization behind the magazine Consumer Reports, found bacterial contamination in nearly two-thirds of store-bought chickens during a recent test.
And guess what? That number's an improvement! Just two years ago, they found 80 percent of all supermarket chickens to be contaminated.
In the recent analysis, the company bought 382 fresh broiler chickens from 100 supermarkets in 22 states. And they found the number-two cause of food-borne illness, campylobacter, present in 62 percent of the chickens.
Not only that, but they also found salmonella – our leading cause of food-borne sickness – in 14 percent of the chickens.
Still feel like getting your meat from factory farms?
These numbers may shock you – but I'm not surprised in the least. It's a testament to American resilience that we're not dropping dead left and right from massive waves of food poisoning, and not just from the chickens.
I won't eat any of the contaminated garbage that emerges from these filthy factory operations, and not because I don't like meat. I'm a certified carnivore – but I only eat grass-fed beef and meat from free-range chickens from smaller farms that know how to keep things clean and safe.
More expensive, sure – but this isn't an area where you want to skimp, because once meat enters those big soiled slop-halls, anything can happen.
Just take a look at the recent news out of Texas, where a Tyson plant that makes seafood soup was cited for food contamination.
FDA inspectors found "serious violations" there... so here's what they did: They sat around for a couple of months... and then they wrote the plant a letter. I wonder if they used a quill dipped in ink and sent it via Pony Express, too.
Meanwhile, seafood soup from this place is out there on supermarket shelves right now... and the plant is still in operation, probably in the same condition – since the company has of course denied any problems there.
One more reason to avoid canned food at all cost.
Ruffling feathers and kicking cans,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
Behind the Push for Pasteurization
If you love your milk so fresh you can still hear the moo, watch out: Big Dairy is coming after you – again.
Two lobbying groups backed by untold piles of dirty dairy dollars are urging lawmakers to put raw milk out to pasture, calling it a "significant food safety hazard."
But as long as we're talking farm, let's call that what it really is: hogwash (yeah, another farm word came to mind first... but I try to keep this family-friendly).
The International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation want all unpasteurized products to follow the same standards as other milk products – in other words, they want everything pasteurized.
But the problem with raw milk isn't that it's dangerous – because it isn't. I've been drinking this stuff for years, and I'm just one member of a small-but-devoted army of raw-milk lovers. And believe me, we're healthier than most people.
No, the problem is that it's harder for Big Dairy to turn a profit on raw milk, and harder to tax.
Think about it – legal raw milk would mean small farmers everywhere could sell it at market price direct to consumers from roadside stands... the way many of them now sell peach pies.
Big Dairy wouldn't earn a dime off that. And Uncle Sam gets nervous because it would be difficult to keep tabs on all these small operations at tax time.
So instead, farmers are essentially forced to sell their milk to Big Dairy for a fraction of its value.
But the dairy barons can't ever tell you that... so they pretend it's about safety instead.
I'll say it again: Hogwash!
Pasteurization sucks many of the nutrients out of the milk, including vitamins C, B6 and B12. It even sucks the calcium out – any calcium you find in store-bought milk is usually added during fortification.
All that, and it's still not guaranteed to be perfectly safe. People still get sick and even die from bacteria in pasteurized milk – bacteria that, in theory, shouldn't be there.
One study found that between 1982 and 1997, 220,000 people were sickened by salmonella in pasteurized milk. During that same period, not a single person reported getting sick from raw milk.
Raw milk should be celebrated... instead, we're forced to hide and sneak and find creative ways around laws designed to stop us from getting our milk... like buying shares in cows the same way some people buy partial ownership of vacation homes.
If you're interested in all the benefits of raw milk, visit a local dairy farmer and see what he can do for you.
Not only does the real stuff taste far better than that milk-colored store-bought junk, but it contains more essential nutrients like calcium, vitamin D and a natural antibiotic called lactoferrin. Raw milk drinkers will tell you the benefits include weight loss, better immunity from colds and even pain relief.
One warning: Drinking raw milk means you may be treated like an outlaw... when all you really want is a chance to do your body good.
(From the Douglass Report )
Two lobbying groups backed by untold piles of dirty dairy dollars are urging lawmakers to put raw milk out to pasture, calling it a "significant food safety hazard."
But as long as we're talking farm, let's call that what it really is: hogwash (yeah, another farm word came to mind first... but I try to keep this family-friendly).
The International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation want all unpasteurized products to follow the same standards as other milk products – in other words, they want everything pasteurized.
But the problem with raw milk isn't that it's dangerous – because it isn't. I've been drinking this stuff for years, and I'm just one member of a small-but-devoted army of raw-milk lovers. And believe me, we're healthier than most people.
No, the problem is that it's harder for Big Dairy to turn a profit on raw milk, and harder to tax.
Think about it – legal raw milk would mean small farmers everywhere could sell it at market price direct to consumers from roadside stands... the way many of them now sell peach pies.
Big Dairy wouldn't earn a dime off that. And Uncle Sam gets nervous because it would be difficult to keep tabs on all these small operations at tax time.
So instead, farmers are essentially forced to sell their milk to Big Dairy for a fraction of its value.
But the dairy barons can't ever tell you that... so they pretend it's about safety instead.
I'll say it again: Hogwash!
Pasteurization sucks many of the nutrients out of the milk, including vitamins C, B6 and B12. It even sucks the calcium out – any calcium you find in store-bought milk is usually added during fortification.
All that, and it's still not guaranteed to be perfectly safe. People still get sick and even die from bacteria in pasteurized milk – bacteria that, in theory, shouldn't be there.
One study found that between 1982 and 1997, 220,000 people were sickened by salmonella in pasteurized milk. During that same period, not a single person reported getting sick from raw milk.
Raw milk should be celebrated... instead, we're forced to hide and sneak and find creative ways around laws designed to stop us from getting our milk... like buying shares in cows the same way some people buy partial ownership of vacation homes.
If you're interested in all the benefits of raw milk, visit a local dairy farmer and see what he can do for you.
Not only does the real stuff taste far better than that milk-colored store-bought junk, but it contains more essential nutrients like calcium, vitamin D and a natural antibiotic called lactoferrin. Raw milk drinkers will tell you the benefits include weight loss, better immunity from colds and even pain relief.
One warning: Drinking raw milk means you may be treated like an outlaw... when all you really want is a chance to do your body good.
(From the Douglass Report )
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds)
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): VOCs are a major contributing factor to ozone, an air pollutant. According to the EPA, VOCs tend to be even higher (two to five times) in indoor air than outdoor air, likely because they are present in so many household products.
Risks: Cancer, eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment
Major Sources: Drinking water, carpet, paints, deodorants, cleaning fluids, varnishes, cosmetics, dry cleaned clothing, moth repellants, air fresheners.
-Mercola.com
Risks: Cancer, eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment
Major Sources: Drinking water, carpet, paints, deodorants, cleaning fluids, varnishes, cosmetics, dry cleaned clothing, moth repellants, air fresheners.
-Mercola.com
St. Claude on Humility
"A really humble person sees only her own faults and not those of others. What a wretched occupation it is to be always examining what others do! Let us prefer rather to be blind and without judgement than to use our powers to consider and judge the actions of our neighbor. A heart that is full of the love of God occupies itself quite differently; it only thinks of suffering for Him whom it loves, and it loves all those who give it an opportunity of suffering for its Beloved."
Uses for Table Salt
This is from Jenny Thompson at HSI [Anything you have to ingest or eat I would substitute with unrefined sea salt. I actually haven't read this all the way through, but some of them seemed interesting]:
1. Soak stained hankies in salt water before washing.
2. Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away.
3. Soak fish in salt water before descaling; the scales will come off easier.
4. Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker for easier pouring.
5. Add salt to green salads to prevent wilting.
6. Test the freshness of eggs in a cup of salt water; fresh eggs sink; bad ones float.
7. Add a little salt to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.
8. A tiny pinch of salt with egg whites makes them beat up fluffier.
9. Soak wrinkled apples in a mildly salted water solution to perk them up.
10. Rub salt on your pancake griddle and your flapjacks won't stick.
11. Soak toothbrushes in salt water before you first use them; they will last longer.
12. Use salt to clean your discolored coffee pot.
13. Mix salt with turpentine to whiten your bathtub and toilet bowl.
14. Soak your nuts in salt brine overnight and they will crack out of their shells whole. Just tap the end of the shell with a hammer to break it open easily.
15. Boil clothespins in salt water before using them and they will last longer.
16. Clean brass, copper and pewter with paste made of salt and vinegar, thickened with flour
17. Add a little salt to the water your cut flowers will stand in for a longer life.
18. Pour a mound of salt on an ink spot on your carpet; let the salt soak up the stain.
19. Clean you iron by rubbing some salt on the damp cloth on the ironing surface.
20. Adding a little salt to the water when cooking foods in a double boiler will make the food cook faster.
21. Use a mixture of salt and lemon juice to clean piano keys.
22. To fill plaster holes in your walls, use equal parts of salt and starch, with just enough water to make a stiff putty.
23. Rinse a sore eye with a little salt water.
24. Mildly salted water makes an effective mouthwash. Use it hot for a sore throat gargle.
25. Dry salt sprinkled on your toothbrush makes a good tooth polisher.
26. Use salt for killing weeds in your lawn.
27. Eliminate excess suds with a sprinkle of salt.
28. A dash of salt in warm milk makes a more relaxing beverage.
29. Before using new glasses, soak them in warm salty water for awhile.
30. A dash of salt enhances the taste of tea.
31. Salt improves the taste of cooking apples.
32. Soak your clothes line in salt water to prevent your clothes from freezing to the line; likewise, use salt in your final rinse to prevent the clothes from freezing.
33. Rub any wicker furniture you may have with salt water to prevent yellowing.
34. Freshen sponges by soaking them in salt water.
35. Add raw potatoes to stews and soups that are too salty.
36. Soak enamel pans in salt water overnight and boil salt water in them next day to remove burned-on stains.
37. Clean your greens in salt water for easier removal of dirt.
38. Gelatin sets more quickly when a dash of salt is added.
39. Fruits put in mildly salted water after peeling will not discolor.
40. Fabric colors hold fast in salty water wash.
41. Milk stays fresh longer when a little salt is added.
42. Use equal parts of salt and soda for brushing your teeth.
43. Sprinkle salt in your oven before scrubbing clean.
44. Soaked discolored glass in a salt and vinegar solution to remove stains.
45. Clean greasy pans with a paper towel and salt.
46. Salty water boils faster when cooking eggs.
47. Add a pinch of salt to whipping cream to make it whip more quickly.
48. Sprinkle salt in milk-scorched pans to remove odor.
49. A dash of salt improves the taste of coffee.
50. Boil mismatched hose in salty water and they will come out matched.
51. Salt and soda will sweeten the odor of your refrigerator.
52. Cover wine-stained fabric with salt; rinse in cool water later.
53. Remove offensive odors from stove with salt and cinnamon.
54. A pinch of salt improves the flavor of cocoa.
55. To remove grease stains in clothing, mix one part salt to four parts alcohol.
56. Salt and lemon juice removes mildew.
57. Sprinkle salt between sidewalk bricks where you don't want grass growing.
58. Polish your old kerosene lamp with salt for a brighter look.
59. Remove odors from sink drainpipes with a strong, hot solution of salt water.
60. If a pie bubbles over in your oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spilled juice. The mess won't smell and will bake into a dry, light crust which will wipe off easily when the oven has cooled.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
1. Soak stained hankies in salt water before washing.
2. Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away.
3. Soak fish in salt water before descaling; the scales will come off easier.
4. Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker for easier pouring.
5. Add salt to green salads to prevent wilting.
6. Test the freshness of eggs in a cup of salt water; fresh eggs sink; bad ones float.
7. Add a little salt to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.
8. A tiny pinch of salt with egg whites makes them beat up fluffier.
9. Soak wrinkled apples in a mildly salted water solution to perk them up.
10. Rub salt on your pancake griddle and your flapjacks won't stick.
11. Soak toothbrushes in salt water before you first use them; they will last longer.
12. Use salt to clean your discolored coffee pot.
13. Mix salt with turpentine to whiten your bathtub and toilet bowl.
14. Soak your nuts in salt brine overnight and they will crack out of their shells whole. Just tap the end of the shell with a hammer to break it open easily.
15. Boil clothespins in salt water before using them and they will last longer.
16. Clean brass, copper and pewter with paste made of salt and vinegar, thickened with flour
17. Add a little salt to the water your cut flowers will stand in for a longer life.
18. Pour a mound of salt on an ink spot on your carpet; let the salt soak up the stain.
19. Clean you iron by rubbing some salt on the damp cloth on the ironing surface.
20. Adding a little salt to the water when cooking foods in a double boiler will make the food cook faster.
21. Use a mixture of salt and lemon juice to clean piano keys.
22. To fill plaster holes in your walls, use equal parts of salt and starch, with just enough water to make a stiff putty.
23. Rinse a sore eye with a little salt water.
24. Mildly salted water makes an effective mouthwash. Use it hot for a sore throat gargle.
25. Dry salt sprinkled on your toothbrush makes a good tooth polisher.
26. Use salt for killing weeds in your lawn.
27. Eliminate excess suds with a sprinkle of salt.
28. A dash of salt in warm milk makes a more relaxing beverage.
29. Before using new glasses, soak them in warm salty water for awhile.
30. A dash of salt enhances the taste of tea.
31. Salt improves the taste of cooking apples.
32. Soak your clothes line in salt water to prevent your clothes from freezing to the line; likewise, use salt in your final rinse to prevent the clothes from freezing.
33. Rub any wicker furniture you may have with salt water to prevent yellowing.
34. Freshen sponges by soaking them in salt water.
35. Add raw potatoes to stews and soups that are too salty.
36. Soak enamel pans in salt water overnight and boil salt water in them next day to remove burned-on stains.
37. Clean your greens in salt water for easier removal of dirt.
38. Gelatin sets more quickly when a dash of salt is added.
39. Fruits put in mildly salted water after peeling will not discolor.
40. Fabric colors hold fast in salty water wash.
41. Milk stays fresh longer when a little salt is added.
42. Use equal parts of salt and soda for brushing your teeth.
43. Sprinkle salt in your oven before scrubbing clean.
44. Soaked discolored glass in a salt and vinegar solution to remove stains.
45. Clean greasy pans with a paper towel and salt.
46. Salty water boils faster when cooking eggs.
47. Add a pinch of salt to whipping cream to make it whip more quickly.
48. Sprinkle salt in milk-scorched pans to remove odor.
49. A dash of salt improves the taste of coffee.
50. Boil mismatched hose in salty water and they will come out matched.
51. Salt and soda will sweeten the odor of your refrigerator.
52. Cover wine-stained fabric with salt; rinse in cool water later.
53. Remove offensive odors from stove with salt and cinnamon.
54. A pinch of salt improves the flavor of cocoa.
55. To remove grease stains in clothing, mix one part salt to four parts alcohol.
56. Salt and lemon juice removes mildew.
57. Sprinkle salt between sidewalk bricks where you don't want grass growing.
58. Polish your old kerosene lamp with salt for a brighter look.
59. Remove odors from sink drainpipes with a strong, hot solution of salt water.
60. If a pie bubbles over in your oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spilled juice. The mess won't smell and will bake into a dry, light crust which will wipe off easily when the oven has cooled.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
10 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 27 2010 | 22,801 views
February 27 2010 | 22,801 views
GM foods won’t solve the food crisis
A 2008 World Bank report concluded that increased biofuel production (crops grown for fuel rather than food) is the major cause of the increase in food prices. GM giant Monsanto has been at the heart of the lobbying for biofuels -- while profiting enormously from the resulting food crisis and using it as a PR opportunity to promote GM foods!
GM crops do not increase yield potential
Despite the promises, GM has not increased the yield potential of any commercialized crops. In fact, studies show that the most widely grown GM crop, GM soy, has suffered reduced yields.
GM crops increase pesticide use
U.S. government data shows that in the U.S., GM crops have produced an overall increase, not decrease, in pesticide use compared to conventional crops.
There are better ways to feed the world
A major UN/World Bank-sponsored report compiled by 400 scientists and endorsed by 58 countries concluded that GM crops have little to offer global agriculture and the challenges of poverty, hunger, and climate change, because better alternatives are available.
Other farm technologies are more successful
Integrated Pest Management and other innovative low-input or organic methods of controlling pests and boosting yields have proven highly effective, particularly in the developing world.
GM foods have not been shown to be safe to eat
Genetic modification is a crude and imprecise way of incorporating foreign genetic material into crops, with unpredictable consequences. The resulting GM foods have undergone little rigorous and no long-term safety testing, but animal feeding tests have shown worrying health effects.
Stealth GMOs in animal feed -- without consumers’ consent
Meat, eggs and dairy products from animals raised on the millions of tons of GM feed imported into Europe do not have to be labeled. Some studies show that if GM crops are fed to animals, GM material can appear in the resulting products, and that the animals’ health can be affected.
GM crops are a long-term economic disaster for farmers
A 2009 report showed that GM seed prices in America have increased dramatically, cutting average farm incomes for U.S. farmers growing GM crops.
GM and non-GM cannot co-exist
GM contamination of conventional and organic food is increasing. An unapproved GM rice that was grown for only one year in field trials was found to have extensively contaminated the U.S. rice supply and seed stocks. In Canada, the organic oilseed rape industry has been destroyed by contamination from GM rape. In Spain, a study found that GM maize “has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivations of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible”.
You can’t trust GM companies
The big biotech firms pushing their GM foods have a terrible history of toxic contamination and public deception. GM is attractive to them because it gives them patents that allow monopoly control over the world’s food supply. They have taken to harassing and intimidating farmers for the “crime” of saving patented seed or “stealing” patented genes -- even if those genes got into the farmer’s fields through accidental contamination by wind or insects.
Sources:
Guest Comment by Jeffrey M. Smith |
1. Eating genetically modified (GM) foods may cause disease
GMOs may be the greatest health disaster in the American diet. Within 9 years of their introduction in 1996, multiple chronic illnesses jumped from 7 percent to 13 percent of the population,[1] food allergies doubled in less time, and many other ailments have been on the rise.
Millions may already be suffering health problems caused by genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their diet. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has urged doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients, and cites animal studies that show how GMOs cause disorders such as vital organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system problems, accelerated aging, infertility, and dysfunctional regulation of insulin and cholesterol.
Baby rats from moms that ate GM soy were smaller than those fed natural soy. More than half the GM soy group died within three weeks. Irina Ermakova, 2005-2007.
2. GMOs might cause infertility or hurt newborns
When GM soy flour was added to the diets of female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks—compared to only a 10 percent death rate among mothers fed natural soy.[2] The GM-fed offspring were smaller, and later had problems getting pregnant.[3] When male rats were fed GM soy, their testicles changed from the normal pink color to dark blue.[4] Mice testicles also showed changes, including damaged young sperm cells.[5]
The DNA in mice embryos functioned differently when their parents ate GM soy.[6] And an Austrian government study reported that mice fed GM corn had fewer and smaller babies.[7]
About two dozen US farmers say that thousands of their pigs became sterile after consuming certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies, others gave birth to bags of water.
Cows and bulls also became infertile when fed the same corn.[8] Investigators in the state of Haryana, India, report that most buffalo that ate GM cottonseed had reproductive complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, infertility, and prolapsed uteruses. Many calves died.[9]
3. GM corn contains a toxic pesticide in every bite
Some GM varieties produce poison—their DNA creates an insect killing “Bt-toxin” in every cell. Monsanto and others claim that the toxin is safe for humans and mammals because the gene that produces it comes from the soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis.
Farmers have long used these natural bacteria as a pesticidal spray. But when the spray was widely dispersed to fight gypsy moths in Washington and Vancouver, about 500 people reported allergic and flu-like symptoms.[10]
Genetic engineers insert the bacteria’s toxin-creating gene into corn and cotton plants, which produce a more toxic poison. It’s thousands of times more concentrated than the spray and cannot be washed off.
Now, thousands of Indian farm laborers who are exposed to Monsanto’s Bt cotton plants are suffering from the same symptoms as those in the Pacific Northwest.[11]
In addition, thousands of sheep, goats, and buffalo have died after grazing on Bt cotton plants.[12] Countless other livestock have suffered reproductive disorders, skin disruptions, and upper respiratory ailments.
In one small feeding study, all the sheep that consumed Bt plants died within a month. Those that ate natural plants remained healthy.[13]
Bt corn is also linked to animal deaths in Germany[14] and The Philippines,[15] and according to an Italian government study, evokes serious immune responses in mice.[16] Even Monsanto’s 90-day rat feeding studies with Bt corn showed vital organ damage and signs of toxicity.[17]
4. GMOs might cause allergies
Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50 percent.[18] There are many reasons why people may be more reactive to GMOs.
- GM soy, corn, and papaya fail the allergy screening protocol recommended by the World Health Organization; their GM proteins have properties of known allergens.[19]
- The widespread collateral damage resulting from the process of creating GMOs can introduce new allergens or elevate existing ones. GM corn contains a new unintended allergen[20] and GM soy has up to seven times more of the soy allergen trypsin inhibitor.[21]
- Preliminary allergy tests confirm that some people have skin prick reactions to GM soy, but not to a wild natural variety.[22]
- Consuming GMOs may also provoke allergies to other foods.
- Mice not only reacted to Bt-toxin[23] and an experimental GM pea,[24] they then started reacting to other foods that previously had no impact.
- GM soy drastically reduces digestive enzymes in mice.[25] If your digestive ability is also impaired, you could become allergic to many types of food.
5. GMOs have higher residues of poisonous herbicide
The primary reason crops are engineered is to allow them to drink poison. They’re called herbicide tolerant, and are inserted with bacterial genes that allow them to survive otherwise deadly doses of toxic herbicide.
Biotech companies sell the seed and herbicide as a package. Monsanto sells Roundup Ready crops and Roundup herbicide. Bayer CropScience sells Liberty Link crops and Liberty herbicide.
Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on these poison drinking GMOs.[26]
Because weeds are becoming resistant to the overused herbicide, farmers are spraying considerably more each year. The last 2 years of the 13-year study alone accounted for 46 percent of the increased herbicide use.
6. GM genes can convert your intestinal bacteria into living factories that continuously produce pesticides or other harmful products
The ONLY published GMO human feeding study (that’s right, there’s only one) confirmed that genes transfer from GM soybeans into the DNA of bacteria living inside our small intestines and continue to function.[27]
Human subjects that ate Roundup Ready soybeans ended up with “Roundup Ready gut bacteria”—unkillable with Roundup. If the pesticide-producing Bt gene in corn chips were also to transfer, it could turn your intestinal flora into living pesticide factories—possibly for the long term.
7. GMOs are approved without adequate safety studies
In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration claimed they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different from conventionally grown foods. Therefore absolutely no safety studies were required.
But secret internal memos made public by a lawsuit show that the actual consensus among FDA scientists was that GMOs can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies.
Sadly, the FDA official in charge of policy ignored the warnings. He was Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former attorney and later their vice president.
Because of him, the same biotech companies who have been found guilty of hiding toxic effects of their chemical products are now in charge of determining whether their GM foods are safe. A close look at their so-called GMO safety studies shows how they rig research to avoid problems. They’ve got bad science down to a science.
Tragically, Michael Taylor, who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death in human history, is now back at the FDA as the US Food Safety Czar.
8. GMOs cause irreversible genetic pollution
GMOs cross pollinate and spread into the environment. A total recall is impossible.
The self-propagating genetic pollution already released will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste.
9. GMOs work against feeding a hungry world
The most authoritative evaluation of agriculture, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development,[28] determined that the current GMOs have nothing to offer the goals of reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, health and rural livelihoods, and facilitating social and environmental sustainability.
The report was a three-year collaborative effort with 900 participants and 110 countries, and was co-sponsored by all the majors, e.g. the World Bank, FAO, UNESCO, WHO. In reality, GMOs reduce yield,[29] increase farmers’ dependence on multinationals, reduce biodiversity, increase herbicide use, and take money away from more successful and appropriate methods.
In developing nations, GMOs can be catastrophic.
In India, for example, Monsanto convinced hundreds of thousands of farmers to take out high interest loans to pay for expensive GM cotton seeds and associated chemicals. Inconsistent yields left desperate farmers unable to even pay back their loans. The UK Daily Mail estimates that an astounding 125,000 indebted GM cotton farmers committed suicide.[30]
10. By avoiding GMOs, you help create a tipping point to drive them out of our food supply
Because GMOs give no consumer benefits, if even a small percentage of us start rejecting brands that contain them, GM ingredients will become a marketing liability. Food companies will kick them out.Take Action Against GM Alfalfa Now … We Need Your Help!
The tipping point can come quickly.
In Europe, for example, within 10 weeks of a high profile GMO safety scandal that hit the papers in 1999, virtually every major food company committed to stop using GM foods. In the US, a consumer rebellion against genetically modified bovine growth hormone used on dairy cows has also reached a tipping point. Drugged milk and/or yogurt has been rejected by Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dannon, Yoplait, and about 60 of the top 100 dairies so far.
The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a tipping point against GMOs in the US. The number of non-GMO shoppers needed is probably just 5 percent of the population.
They key is to educate consumers about the documented health dangers and provide a Non-GMO Shopping Guide, to make avoiding GMOs much easier. Thus, by choosing healthier non-GMO brands, and telling others about GMOs so they can do the same, we can quickly reclaim a non-GMO food supply.
Visit the Campaign’s website for GMO educational materials to read, watch, listen to, and pass onto others.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is, for the first time, conducting an analysis known as an environmental impact statement (EIS) on a GM crop. This crop is Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa, and we need your help to voice your opinion and help keep this plant from getting approved.About the Author
In 2006, the Center for Food Safety sued the USDA for illegally approving GM alfalfa. Federal courts agreed and banned GM alfalfa until the USDA could provide an EIS -- which they did in December 2009.
There is now a comment period open to the public, but it ends on March 3, 2010 -- so time is running out.
The USDA’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement admits that if GM alfalfa is approved:
Yet, the USDA has brushed off these concerns as insignificant, and intends to approve GM alfalfa anyway. They even went so far as to say in the EIS that consumers don't care if their organic food is GM contaminated and neither do organic farmers!
- GM contamination of non-GM and organic alfalfa crops will occur
- GM contamination will economically impact small and family farmers
- Foreign export markets will be at risk due to rejection of GM-contaminated products
- Farmers will be forced to use more toxic herbicides to remove old stands of alfalfa
This case is not only important for the future of GM alfalfa … the final decision on this case could have broad implications for the future of all GM crops.
So please call your Congressional Representatives today and ask them to urge Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack to deny approval of Monsanto's GM alfalfa.
To do so, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senator/Representative’s office. You can find the name of your Senator/Representative here.
When you speak with the agriculture staff person (or leave a message), be sure to let them know that you DO NOT support the deregulation of GM alfalfa. You can also mention these reasons, which were compiled by the Center for Food Safety, as to why:
You can also submit your comments online here, and the True Food Network has compiled a sample email that you can use for inspiration.
- GM contamination of non-GM and organic crops would be inevitable
- You won’t buy products that are GM-contaminated
- Alfalfa is a major food source for livestock and GM alfalfa would destroy the integrity of organic dairy products
- You support the rights of farmers to grow the crops of their choice, and GM contamination makes that impossible
- GM crops increase pesticide use, harming human health and the environment
- Ask your Representative and Senators to contact Secretary Vilsack and urge him to deny USDA approval of Monsanto's GM alfalfa
Again, the deadline for public comment is March 3, so please let your opinion be heard. Tell your Representative and Senators that the USDA is wrong -- you DO care if your organic food is contaminated with GM crops, and you do NOT support the approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa.
International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of GMOs. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the subject. His second, Genetic Roulette, documents the health dangers of GMOs and why current assessments are not competent to protect consumers.Please click on title of this post to go to the link to see the footnotes.
He is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, which runs the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, and lives with his wife in Iowa—surrounded by genetically modified corn and soybeans.
Saturated Fat is NOT the Cause of Heart Disease
Click on the title of this post to go to the article. Make sure after you read the article you click on the comments. Often times the comments are very informative.
Hazards of Genetically Engineered Food
Click on the title of this post and watch the video at that link.
Beeswax Candles
This is from some site I can't remember where:
Beeswax is a sweet, simple renewable fuel that burns long and bright. It is non-toxic and hypo allergenic. Beeswax has the highest melting point of any other candle wax and thus provides ridiculously long burn times.
Beeswax Emits Negative Ions!
Yes it's true and finally there is a scientific study to back up the hype! For years alternative health practitioners, entomologists and most notably beeswax candle makers have celebrated the fact that beeswax is the only candle fuel that emits negative ions which in turn cleanse the air. In a study performed by a Japanese laboratory comparing the negative ion emissions of a paraffin candle versus a beeswax candle the paraffin candle did indeed emit negative ions but did so at a significantly lower rate than the beeswax candle. So while beeswax is not the only fuel to emit negative ions it is definitely superior to paraffin and does not contain the carcinogenic compounds that paraffin does.
How do negative ions work?
Airborne contaminates like dust, mold and odors are held aloft by positively charged ions. Negative ions are drawn toward positive ions, latch on and the now weighted contaminates fall to the ground. A rainstorm is an example of a negative ionic event and that is why the air smells so fresh and clean after a rainstorm.
Types of Beeswax
The 100% pure beeswax candle market is dominated by two general types of beeswax; highly filtered beeswax and unrefined beeswax.
Highly Filtered Beeswax
Highly filtered beeswax has been cleaned of impurities (honey and pollen) using an intensive filtration system. The end product is a fantastic candle fuel but unfortunately it lacks the sweet honey fragrance found in raw beeswax. Many manufacturers and sellers of filtered beeswax candles talk about the “subtle” honey scent but really the proper description would be “barely recognizable” honey scent. Filtered beeswax can be white or yellow.
Unrefined Beeswax
Unrefined beeswax is no doubt a magical substance. It varies in appearance as radically as did the flowers from which the bees took pollen. The color ranges from a dull brown to an almost translucent bright yellow and the honey scent, while always present can also be very different from wax to wax. One thing is sure, what makes for fragrant raw beeswax also causes problems in burning. These impurities tend to clog the wick, weaken the flame and cause tunneling. The larger the diameter of candle, the more problems you will encounter. 7/8" Tapers are a great candle to use raw beeswax with; 3" pillars are more troublesome. The very lightest yellow raw waxes are certainly better than their darker counterparts but they too require a much larger, more robust wick to carry the particulate load. This can lead to excessive smoking.
New! Lightly Filtered Beeswax
At Bluecorn we have created the best of both worlds by using lightly filtered beeswax that burns cleanly and easily and retains the quintessential sweetness of the unrefined wax.
Honeycomb Beeswax
Honeycomb candles are rolled from a solid sheet of filtered beeswax that has been imprinted with the honeycomb pattern. The finished product is a very lightweight candle that burns much more quickly than a solid beeswax candle.
Beeswax is a sweet, simple renewable fuel that burns long and bright. It is non-toxic and hypo allergenic. Beeswax has the highest melting point of any other candle wax and thus provides ridiculously long burn times.
Beeswax Emits Negative Ions!
Yes it's true and finally there is a scientific study to back up the hype! For years alternative health practitioners, entomologists and most notably beeswax candle makers have celebrated the fact that beeswax is the only candle fuel that emits negative ions which in turn cleanse the air. In a study performed by a Japanese laboratory comparing the negative ion emissions of a paraffin candle versus a beeswax candle the paraffin candle did indeed emit negative ions but did so at a significantly lower rate than the beeswax candle. So while beeswax is not the only fuel to emit negative ions it is definitely superior to paraffin and does not contain the carcinogenic compounds that paraffin does.
How do negative ions work?
Airborne contaminates like dust, mold and odors are held aloft by positively charged ions. Negative ions are drawn toward positive ions, latch on and the now weighted contaminates fall to the ground. A rainstorm is an example of a negative ionic event and that is why the air smells so fresh and clean after a rainstorm.
Types of Beeswax
The 100% pure beeswax candle market is dominated by two general types of beeswax; highly filtered beeswax and unrefined beeswax.
Highly Filtered Beeswax
Highly filtered beeswax has been cleaned of impurities (honey and pollen) using an intensive filtration system. The end product is a fantastic candle fuel but unfortunately it lacks the sweet honey fragrance found in raw beeswax. Many manufacturers and sellers of filtered beeswax candles talk about the “subtle” honey scent but really the proper description would be “barely recognizable” honey scent. Filtered beeswax can be white or yellow.
Unrefined Beeswax
Unrefined beeswax is no doubt a magical substance. It varies in appearance as radically as did the flowers from which the bees took pollen. The color ranges from a dull brown to an almost translucent bright yellow and the honey scent, while always present can also be very different from wax to wax. One thing is sure, what makes for fragrant raw beeswax also causes problems in burning. These impurities tend to clog the wick, weaken the flame and cause tunneling. The larger the diameter of candle, the more problems you will encounter. 7/8" Tapers are a great candle to use raw beeswax with; 3" pillars are more troublesome. The very lightest yellow raw waxes are certainly better than their darker counterparts but they too require a much larger, more robust wick to carry the particulate load. This can lead to excessive smoking.
New! Lightly Filtered Beeswax
At Bluecorn we have created the best of both worlds by using lightly filtered beeswax that burns cleanly and easily and retains the quintessential sweetness of the unrefined wax.
Honeycomb Beeswax
Honeycomb candles are rolled from a solid sheet of filtered beeswax that has been imprinted with the honeycomb pattern. The finished product is a very lightweight candle that burns much more quickly than a solid beeswax candle.
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