Wednesday, September 26, 2007 by: Mike Adams

A test of air freshener products recently conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that 12 out of 14 popular air freshener products contained a chemical known to be harmful to the health of humans. Phthalates, known to cause reproductive problems and hormone disruption in humans, were found in virtually all air freshener brands, including several Walgreens-branded air fresheners that the popular retailer has now pulled off its shelves.

Neither the FDA nor the EPA conducts any safety testing or spot checking of toxic chemicals in air freshener products. Essentially, consumers could be exposed to any number of toxic airborne chemicals from air freshener products, with no warning whatsoever. The safety of chemicals used in these products is utterly ignored by the FDA in much the same way that perfumes and cosmetic products containing cancer-causing chemicals are routinely ignored by the agency. The FDA makes virtually no effort to protect American consumers from cancer-causing or hormone-disrupting chemicals in tens of thousands of consumer products, and were it not for the efforts of consumer advocacy groups and environmental protection groups like the NRDC, no one would be protecting consumers at all. (U.S. government agencies usually have to be sued by groups like the CSPI or Public Citizen before they will take any pro-consumer action…)

Only two products tested by the NRDC — Febreze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects — contained virtually no detectable levels of phthalates, yet the twelve other products tested positive for the chemical even though some were labeled “unscented” and none of them listed phthalates as an ingredient. Some products were even labeled “All natural!” (Which just goes to demonstrate, yet again, that the “All natural” claim is meaningless.)

Walgreens pulls its air freshener products

According to the NRDC, the air freshener products with the highest levels of detectable phthalates were Walgreens Air Freshener, Walgreens Scented Bouquet, and Ozium Glycolized Air Sanitizer. Walgreens has since pulled its air freshener products from its shelves, apparently out of this newly revealed health concern.

Four consumer advocacy groups (and environmental groups) are now filing a petition with the EPA and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), calling for the agency to start testing air freshener products for this toxic chemical. The four groups include the Sierra Club, Alliance for Healthy Homes and the National Center for Healthy Housing.

All this brings to mind an important question: Why hasn’t some government agency taken steps to test these toxic chemicals in air freshener products before?
Toxic products for the home are found everywhere

The sad truth is that you can walk down the aisle of just about any popular retailer (Walgreens, Wal-Mart, etc.) and find literally hundreds of different products that contain dangerous chemicals, many of which are well known to promote cancer. These chemicals are openly added to laundry detergents, skin creams, cosmetics, pet products, household cleaners, car cleaners, dish soap, perfumes, shampoos and many other products regularly used by consumers. Of course, most consumers have no idea they’re consuming cancer-causing ingredients, and most retailers seem to have no interest whatsoever in testing their products for dangerous chemical substances.

Why was Walgreens selling products if it didn’t know what was in them? And what about retailers like Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam’s Clubs? Aren’t they also aware that many of their consumer products contain cancer-causing chemicals?

The sad truth is that most brand-name consumer products contain at least one toxic chemical, and that’s true for food as much as it is for home care products. Unless you’re shopping at a health food store and buying truly natural, organic, unscented and environmentally responsible products, you can bet there are toxic chemicals all over your home (and in your body) right now.

The average American consumer uses close to 100 toxic chemicals before she even leaves the house in the morning. Many of those chemicals are encountered in the morning during showering, shaving, skin care, hair care and application of cosmetics. Other chemicals are encountered in breakfast foods, including bacon, sausage, processed milk, breads and other processed foods. By the time the average consumer leaves their home in the morning, they’ve already poisoned their liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart, lungs and brain. A typical American consumers has over 300 different synthetic chemicals in their body right now. Is it any wonder degenerative disease rates have skyrocketed in the U.S. over the last several decades?

Lots of chemical contaminants now emerging

I think the U.S. population is suddenly waking up to the fact that the vast majority of popular products marketed to them and sold at retailers are, in one way or another, dangerous to their health.

People have suddenly come to realize that brand-name dog food is so toxic that it will kill your dog, that toys from China contain dangerous levels of lead, that perfume products can contain as many as 21 different cancer-causing chemicals and that even popular laundry detergent products wash your clothes in a toxic brew of synthetic chemicals and artificial fragrances. Sites like NewsTarget and the Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org) are, of course, trying to do something about this by educating consumers. We’ve even gone out of our way to acquire thousands of kilograms of natural laundry detergent to replace the toxic, brand-name detergents sold in stores (watch for an announcement in the next two days, or click here to see our new soap nuts product). Our aim is to eliminate chemicals in 500,000 loads of laundry in the next 90 days, protecting consumers from cancer and protecting the environment from the downstream toxicity caused by the use of commercial laundry detergents (which are dangerous to aquatic ecosystems).

The bottom line to all this is that corporations are selling consumers a cocktail of toxic chemicals found in tens of thousands of different products, none of which are effectively regulated by any government agency. Across the industry, there seems to be no concern whatsoever for the safety of consumers, and that’s why everything from pet food to perfume is now manufactured with chemicals that are well known to cause cancer, infertility, neurological disorders and many other serious health problems.

Believe me: The discovery of phthalates in air freshener products is just the tip of the iceberg. What other chemicals lurk in these same air freshener products? And can you imagine all the toxic chemicals found in high-fragrance shampoos, nail polish, makeup remover and dryer sheets? When the truth comes out about those products someday, consumers are going to shocked to discover just how toxic their homes (and bodies) have become thanks to the relentless use of synthetic chemicals by commercial product manufacturers.

This stuff gets absorbed intothe food at the grocery store!

Oh,and here’s another huge “Wow” realization that, I guarantee you, nobody else is talking about these days: Many of these toxic fragrance chemicals escape from their product bottles, circulate in the air at grocery stores, and get absorbed by other food products sold in the same store.

I’m not kidding: That’s why the peaches I once bought at Costco smell like Tide laundry detergent. It’s because the peaches have soaked up some chemicals from the Tide! It’s why fresh produce sold at grocery stores sometimes tastes like soap, or why water sold in cheap plastic jugs easily soaks up fragrance chemicals and tastes like Bounce dryer sheets. Any food item you buy from a retailer that sells toxic cleaning products is, itself, slightly toxic.

Right now, nobody is talking about this. This risk of chemical cross-contamination hasn’t even been admitted to by mainstream scientists, the FDA, the EPA or any government agency. And yet it’s a huge issue that impacts virtually all consumers; even healthy consumers who think they’re reading labels and making smart shopping choices. If they’re buying food or beverages under the same roof as a store that sells garden pesticides, toxic air fresheners, chemical-soaked dryer sheets or other products containing dangerous chemicals, then they’re buying chemically contaminated food!

It’s yet another reason to buy from local farmers’ markets or co-op stores. Support Community-Supported Agriculture organizations (CSAs) and grow what you can yourself, in your own back yard, where the food goes from your garden to your plate, without being subjected to toxic chemicals in the air. And get some detox products to get rid of these chemicals. Some great sources include Heavy Metal Detox from www.DetoxMetals.com and Metal Magic from www.BaselineNutritionals.com (another interesting product is Natural Cellular Defense which I recommend through a friend Jason Groode at http://www.mywaiora.com/195399 )

Trust me on this issue: We’ve only heard the beginning of all this. Just wait until scientists someday wake up and start realizing that virtually everything sold at most retailers is contaminated with toxic chemicals — even when those chemicals are not added to the products during manufacturing! Just remember this:

Products sitting on the shelves at retailers exchange molecules. Fruits and vegetables absorb molecules in the air, and solvent chemicals can go right through plastic containers. When you buy something at a store, you’re buying a little bit of everything in the store! It’s another reason to stop shopping at retailers that sell pesticides, toxic soaps, laundry products, solvents and cleaners. Get your food from a FOOD store, and make sure it’s real food (not that processed garbage).

By the way, you can read the original NRDC press release at:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070919.asp

FREE your Mind

Barry Bittman M.D.

It’s time to emerge from the doldrums.

In fact, you don’t have any time to waste - especially if you want to add quality years to your life. Mayo Clinic researchers finally gave us the proof we need to kick our negative friends and loved-ones where it hurts the most - right in the attitude!

According to a recent article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the actual difference between optimists and pessimists just might amount to about 12 years of life. The Mayo team began by examining personality tests performed in the early and mid ’60s. They proceeded to look well into future to see how things turned out. Actually they followed their subjects (about 30 years), to scientifically measure the relationship between attitude and longevity. Simply stated, they’ve shown what many have known all along - the mind and body are an inseparable team!

Dr. Toshihiko Maruta, the study’s chief investigator stated, “The important thing is that we’ve proven the relationship scientifically, and made a correlation between how people see the world when they’re young and how they turn out 30 years later.”

You might be thinking that optimism vs. pessimism depends on one’s environment, circumstances and stressors. While I’m certainly not doubting these factors play a role, I recognize that people, even under the worst conditions, have the innate capacity to be positive and hopeful.

Ultimately, it’s not the stress that kills us. Rather, it’s our perception of stress that makes the difference.

Perception seems to determine whether that pink slip on Friday heralds doomsday or a new chance for realizing our dreams. It has also been shown to determine the killing capacity of specific cells in our body that fight cancer. The scratch on your car door can only destroy your day if you allow it to do so. Yes, we do have a choice!

In fact, we have the capacity to change and to adopt a new belief system whenever the opportunity arises. We also have the ability to create that opportunity. I suppose that’s one of the perks of being human.

And when it comes to change, we should all be experts by now. For nothing really stands still in life. As Tony DeFail and I noted in our book, Maze of Life, “three things in life are certain: death, taxes and change.”

Yet what changes and what needs to change are often quite different. Some people simply don’t know where to begin. I often suggest finding a role model and discovering their formula for succeeding. The one thing I can assure you is that no pessimist ever built a steady stream of successes. Why not consider these basic observations:

• People who believe they can’t - don’t.
• People who believe it’s impossible - never succeed.
• People who believe they can’t win - lose.
• People who believe life isn’t worth living - die.

While we;ve heard these statements over and over again, did you ever realize that the common denominator is “belief.” The good news is that beliefs are changeable. We can learn to cope and to de-stress ourselves. The capacity to develop a positive attitude is within us.

The problem, however, is that attitudinal change requires work and determination. Unfortunately, it’s easier to sulk than to discover something positive. It’s far simpler to sink into despair that it is to rise above a situation. It requires far less effort to wage war than to recreate peace.

So what is the formula for optimism?

Begin with a healthy dose of determination, add willingness to develop a positive belief system and sprinkle in a comforting sense of hope. Find a role model, take a class, sit in the park, watch children play and imagine how wonderful the next moment can be. For stringing together a series of wonderful moments is all it takes to create the future of our dreams.

You’ll soon discover that when positive change begins within, everything seems to magically change around us. The glass that was once half empty is now the one that’s half full. The obstacle we counted on (the one preventing us from moving ahead) is now seen as an opportunity in disguise. The life we failed to appreciate suddenly yields 12 more years of incredible moments. All it takes is a kick in the attitude - Mind Over Matter!

© 2000 Barry Bittman, MD all rights reserved

FREE your Mind

Monday, September 17, 2007 by: Mike Adams
Printable version   Key concepts: water, farmers and pesticides.

These days, it seems increasingly difficult to know what to shop for at the grocery store. Is organic always better than conventional? What if it’s an “organic” product that’s been flown half-way around the world, burning up fossil fuels that contribute to global warming? How do you decide what’s better: A conventional apple grown locally with chemical pesticides, or an organic apple from another continent?

This is a common conundrum among consumers: How do you decide which grocery products are best for not just your own personal health, but also the health of the planet? It’s a more complex decision than it might first seem. For one thing, much of the information necessary to make an informed decision simply isn’t available to consumers. There is not determined enforcement of the rule, for example, that foods are accurately labeled with their country of origin. Nor is there any requirement to disclose which foods were grown with pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals banned in the United States (and U.K.) but still legal in other places like Central and South America.

If that last sentence surprises you, it should: not one in a hundred American consumers are aware that it is perfectly legal for U.S. chemical companies to export dangerous chemical pesticides (like DDT) that have been banned for use on crops in the United States. Those pesticides are sold to countries with lower environmental and health standards which turn around and use them on crops that are exported right back to the USA. So U.S. consumers end up eating produce grown with the very same pesticides banned in the United States, and it’s all perfectly legal and openly accepted by the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In the U.S., there’s also the issue of so-called “illegal immigrants” (which I believe to be a strange term, since in my opinion there’s no such thing as an “illegal” human being). On one hand, U.S. consumers demand cheap produce that can only be grown and harvested with the help of illegal immigrant labor. On the other hand, Americans grumble about too many Mexicans migrating into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, claiming they are stealing jobs and bankruptcing cities and states. And yet, not surprisingly, when most consumers have a choice between a $3 apple grown on a farm that pays legal wages to U.S. workers and a $1 apple grown on a farm that pays “illegal” wages to an undocumented worker from Mexico, most Americans will choose the $1 apple (and in doing so, they are in fact continuing to vote for the very illegal immigration they claim to oppose).

Challenging to consumers

Making an informed produce purchasing decision at the grocery store, it turns out, is nearly impossible these days. There’s no way to know where the food came from, what soils it was grown in, the immigration status of those who harvested it, and which chemicals were used on it. And to make matters worse, powerful food corporations are constantly trying to water down the definition of “organic” to include the agricultural use of obscene substances such as raw human sewage. (Fortunately, that was not ultimately allowed under the “organic” label, but the food companies tried to sneak it in!)

The only way to truly know where your food comes from is to know your local farmers. When you know the people growing your food, and you can meet them face to face, then you know what you’re getting. That’s why I’m a huge supporter of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), farmers’ markets, backyard gardening and local food co-ops. Through organizations like these, consumers can maintain close relationships with the people who grow their food, and farmers are able to exercise far greater control over what they grow, how they grow it, and how much they get paid for it.

Large commercial food companies like ADM would prefer that farmers remain isolated from consumers. They want all the food processing to go through them first, where they set the prices and conditions that farmers are forced to accept. Other corporations have used intellectual property control over genetically modified seeds to threaten farmers who are refusing to adopt their pesticide-ready crop varieties. It’s all part of a plan to control the global food supply — an endeavor that inevitably destroys local farming as well as agricultural biodiversity (which leaves crops susceptible to future wipeouts from infectious disease).

Sure, these companies can produce a nice, round, shiny apple at the grocery store for an unbelievably low price, but at what cost to the world? The existence of that apple is based on numerous inputs that may be highly detrimental to the health of the planet as a whole: The burning of fossil fuels for farming and transportation, the use of chemical pesticides that wash downstream and poison aquatic ecosystems, the use of artificial fertilizers that lack real soil nutrition, the destruction of microbial life in agricultural soils, the loss of biodiversity and the subsequent decline in wildlife populations, and so on.

The history is all there

When you look at an apple, you’re really looking at an historical account of everything that happened to bring you that apple. The whole story is written into that apple. There’s the intention of the people involved with producing that apple, the health of the soils, the use of chemicals (or not) on the apple, the impact on the environment, and much more.

An organic, locally-farmed apple from a small family farm tells a very different story: Respect for nature, positive intention, healthful soils, humility in nature, connection with plants and animals, biodiversity, minimal use of fossil fuels, and so on. This is the kind of apple I’d like to eat… how about you?

Now here’s the real kicker in all this: When you eat an apple, you absorb and assimilate the story that went into creating that apple! So eating an organic, locally-grown, consciously-harvested apple gives you not only nourishment and biochemical nutrition, it also gives you the positive energy of abundance, humility, harmony and happiness. A conventionally-grown apple, on the other hand, is more likely to give you the story of greed, desperation, depletion, fear and disease. Is that the energy you want circulating in your veins?

An apple, you see, is made of much more than its chemical constituents. All fruits and vegetables have water, and water stores emotional energy, passing it on to those who consume the water. Since an apple is probably something like 75% water by volume, eating an apple is actually an exercise in chewing mostly on water.

Aren’t you curious to know what kind of energy and intention is in that water? You should be. Because beyond the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in the apple, the water impacts your body, mind and spirit more than anything else. And one of the reasons we see so much obesity in America today is because people are eating empty, lifeless food products that provide only calories but no energetic nourishment. The food is mostly an empty shell, lifeless and devoid of positive vibration (and then they cook it, irradiate it and process it even more to give it shelf life!).

For the most part, the food isn’t being grown, harvested and sold at a high enough vibration to end the cravings human beings have for nourishment at all levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. The food being sold today is missing something, and if you want complete food that’s nourishing at all levels, I strongly recommend you grow it yourself or work with local farmers who you know are passionate about cooperating with nature to maximize abundance for themselves and those around them.

FREE your Mind

Last week, I told you about fast-food chains like McDonald’s gobbling up the real estate near public schools in urban areas, arguably a strong contributor to the epidemic of obesity in this country, particularly among children.

This week, McDonald’s is launching a national physical education program for elementary school kids, which many experts — me included — believe is no more than a clever advertising scheme tailor-made for the Golden Arches’ target audience.

Some 31,000 elementary schools in the United States, encompassing 7 million students, have agreed to use McDonald’s “Passport to Play” program this year, a great way for the fast-food giant to expose their toxic high-fat foods to a captive and impressionable audience.

No doubt in my mind the Harvard researcher who oversaw the recent fast-food real estate study had it right when she called the Passport program a Trojan horse that allows McDonald’s to maintain their brand-name awareness in our public schools.

If parents don’t take control over their kids’ eating habits in short order, they could grow up suffering from health problems typically found in middle-aged adults.

USA Today September 13, 2005

FREE your Mind

Speaking with the patients that I have, I see that many do not want to make dietary changes in there life, in order to be healthy. Generally this comes about when I suggest cleansing, which I must admit, at first I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to change my life style. Understanding that food is not as important as your health, it seems as if we as a generally group may have this backwards. Does the food control you, or do you control your food intake? check out this article I found:

Fast Food

Hamburgers and French fries could be as addictive as heroin, scientists have claimed. Researchers in the United States have found evidence to suggest people can become overly dependent on the sugar and fat in fast food. The controversial findings add weight to claims that over-eating is simply down to a lack of self-control. It may also explain soaring rates of obesity in the western world.

Dr John Hoebel and colleagues at Princeton University in New Jersey based their theory on a study of rats.

‘Cold turkey’

They found that rats fed a diet containing 25% sugar are thrown into a state of anxiety when the sugar is removed. Their symptoms included chattering teeth and the shakes - similar to those seen in people withdrawing from nicotine or morphine, according to researchers. Dr Hoebel said he believed high-fat foods stimulate opioids or ‘pleasure chemicals’ in the brain. “The implication is that some animals - and by extension some people - can become overly dependent on sweet food,” he said.

Further studies published in New Scientist magazine back up this theory.

Ann Kelley, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, studied the behaviour of rats after the were given sweet, salty and fatty foods. She found a link between the brain’s pleasure chemicals and a craving for this type of food. She stimulated the rats’ brains with a synthetic version of the natural opioid enkephalin. This caused rats to eat up to six times their normal intake of fat. In addition, Dr Kelley identified long-lasting changes in rats’ brain chemistry - similar to those caused by extended use of morphine or heroin. Dr Kelley said: “This says that mere exposure to pleasurable tasty foods is enough to change gene expression and that suggests that you could be addicted to food.”

However, other experts expressed doubts over whether people can become addicted to food.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition lobby group in Washington DC, said there was a lack of evidence. “I think the burden is on advocates of the addiction argument to provide evidence of addiction,” he said.

Dr Jeane Randolph, from the University of Toronto, dismissed the theory. She said fast food causes blood sugar to peak and then plunge, creating a natural desire for another snack. “It’s a set-up for a late-afternoon binge rather than addiction,” she said.

FREE your Mind

This is good inormation to know when your out at your local grocer, are you getting the quality you think you are?

Health: Certain pomegranate juice products deceive consumers with dishonest labels and ingredients, reveals new consumer guide A new consumer guide published on NewsTarget.com reveals that some pomegranate juice products sold in grocery stores are actually made with sugar water and “junk juice” blends. While pictures on the front of the juice products show pomegranates…

FREE your Mind

I wanted to share this article with you, our modernized system is falling apart, day by day. There are many holes in what has been given to us as fact. How can our government give us something saying it is safe by there standards, but it is hurting more than helping. There is only one answer to this, and I am sure you can come to this conclusion by yourself, just follow the money$!

New online consumer health guide reveals nutritional deficiencies caused by prescription drugs Monday, September 10, 2007 by: Mike Adams

NewsTarget.com, a leading natural health news and information site, has launched NewsTarget DrugWatch(TM), a free online resource that reveals the nutritional deficiencies caused by over 540 brand-name prescription drugs. The pages are provided free of charge as a service to enhance the health and safety of consumers: http://www.NewsTarget.com/DrugWatch_Home.html

All prescription drugs have unintended side effects, and many drugs deplete the body of essential nutrients. Today, most consumers are not being told about these drug-induced nutritional deficiencies, and they continue taking pharmaceuticals without knowing they are often leaving their body in a dangerous state of nutrient depletion that can lead to chronic degenerative disease. Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, for example, greatly interfere with Coenzyme Q10 production (a nutrient essential for cellular energy), but instead of being told to take supplemental CoQ10, many patients suffering from fatigue and exhaustion on statin drugs are simply diagnosed with another disease and given yet another prescription drug to take.

Antidepressant drugs, as another example, interfere with the metabolism of carbohydrates. Most people taking antidepressants are deficient in the B vitamins (especially folic acid). Supplementing with B vitamins has been found to either make the antidepressant drugs seem more effective or eliminate the need for the drugs altogether.

The NewsTarget DrugWatch database aims to teach consumers how to protect themselves from the nutrient depletions caused by pharmaceuticals by compensating with nutrient supplementation through either foods or dietary supplements. When pharmaceuticals cause an accelerated loss of vitamins, minerals or other important nutrients, consumers can protect their health by either finding a natural way to end dependence on the pharmaceutical or by supplementing with the proper nutrients to avoid the inevitable onset of nutritional deficiency diseases.

The NewsTarget DrugWatch resource also lists warnings about which nutrients should be avoided while taking certain drugs, along with notes about which nutrients may actually potentiate the pharmaceuticals, allowing patients to safely take a lower dose (under the supervision of a qualified health professional, of course). Herbal interactions are listed, covering herbs like Ginkgo Biloba and St. John’s Wort, among many others.

Over 540 brand-name drugs are listed in the NewsTarget DrugWatch database, including Amoxicillin, Celebrex, Prozac, Ibuprofen, Risperdal and others. Each health caution is backed by cited references. The data for this consumer guide was provided by Applied Health (www.AppliedHealth.com), a nutritional research and solutions company specializing in restorative nutritional therapies.

The NewsTarget DrugWatch database is updated monthly to reflect the latest research about drug-induced nutrient deficiencies. It is financially supported by the presence of Google advertising on each page, keeping it free to the public.

The NewsTarget DrugWatch database can be accessed here:
http://www.NewsTarget.com/DrugWatch_Home.html

FREE your Mind

CAFTA and CODEX What is CODEX and CAFTA? by Jon Rappoport JULY 15, 2005. On Wednesday night, I appeared on a panel on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. We discussed the implications of the July 4 ruling by Codex on vitamins and minerals. Since then, I’ve received emails asking me to repeat my position. There is much to say about this, but I’ll boil it down for the moment. Codex Guidelines are suggestions and recommendations and they are labeled “optional.” However, the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided, some time ago, to use these guidelines as hard and fast rules that bind all 172 WTO-member nations, including the US. One can find wording in the GATT Treaty—which is the basis for WTO—that would allow member nations to wriggle out of WTO commands when those commands conflict with domestic laws of WTO-member nations. BUT the rubber meets the road when a member nation files a grievance with WTO, claiming that another member nation is restraining free trade. At that point, we are into the Twilight Zone. GATT language, no GATT language—everything becomes the kingdom of the WTO grievance panel. They decide. They issue rulings. They punish, they reward. And their decision, after possible appeal, is final. If a member nation that is found guilty of restraint of free trade refuses to abide by that decision, huge $$ sanctions ensue. Let me give you a recent example of the eccentricity (to say the least) of the WTO. This past spring, Antigua filed a grievance against the US. Well, it was really against THE STATE OF UTAH. But the US government is the umbrella that, in WTO’s eyes, rules Utah. Antigua is big on Internet gambling. Companies based there run gambling sites. These are legal. These companies are very, very interested in business from the US. Utah, however, has a state law against gambling. You may think that law is wonderful or silly, but it is the law. So Antigua filed a grievance with WTO: Utah can’t reject Antigua-based gambling websites. That’s “restraint of free trade.” In this case, we are talking about “the electronic export of gambling business from Antigua into the US.” The WTO panel mulled this over and decided that Antigua was right. So it issued a ruling. Utah can’t reject Antigua gambling sites. Utah would have to change its law. That’s how bizarre and intrusive WTO can get. How could a grievance based on vitamins and minerals affect US consumers? Right now, we have a law in the US, called DSHEA, that gives US supplement manufacturers pretty wide latitude in the types and potencies of vitamins and minerals they can sell INSIDE THE US. Other nations are not so free in their laws. Germany and Brazil, for instance. So let’s say that Germany and Brazil file a grievance with the WTO. Basically, the grievance says this: “We are exporting our supplements into the US. But we are being deprived of income, because we are selling a narrow range of supplements at low potencies. Why? Well, that’s what we can manufacture under our own domestic laws. However, when our supplements reach the shores of the United States, they knock up against a fantastic cowboy situation. Hundreds and hundreds of wild and weird supplements at high potencies are being sold inside the US. How can we compete? We estimate we are each losing $200 million a year in sales. If the US had supplement laws that harmonized with our own, we could compete. Help us.” Now, the WTO panel does a Utah: “Yes, we agree. This is outrageous. The US must harmonize its supplement law to fall in line with the laws of countries like Germany and Brazil. In fact, a risk assessment done by CODEX (this hasn’t actually been done yet) states a range of acceptable supplements and acceptable potencies, and the US is grossly exceeding these standards. So the US has to gut DSHEA and put in a new harmonized law, or it will have to pay a total of $400 million a year to Brazil and Germany until it DOES put in a new and better law.” Couldn’t happen? Wouldn’t happen? Too crazy to happen? Ask the people of Utah. They are guilty of being electronic-gambling criminals, as far as WTO is concerned. Meanwhile, the FDA loves Codex and looks forward to influencing Codex’s upcoming risk assessment of vitamins and minerals. The FDA would love to destroy DSHEA and institute new draconian supplement law in the US. Codex, you have to understand, in its guidelines, made a few key choices. For example, it decided that supplements are basically for SUPPLEMENTATION OF DAILY DIET and not for PREVENTION OF CHRONIC DISEASES. It decided, on the issue of safe upper limits for supplements (potencies) to forget RDAs (recommended daily allowances or doses) and instead go for SCIENTIFICALLY ESTABLISHED RISK ASSESSMENT. This last fork in the road means that some organization (not yet chosen) will study supplements and put out a report that claims to know the safe upper limits of potencies. I think you can see where these two basic choices are heading. These choices will impact how WTO, in turn, rules on grievances member nations file against, say, the US. Is the roof going to cave in tomorrow? No. Is all this a major step on the road toward perdition? Yes. Is the game over? No. Has the struggle moved to a new level? Yes. Can an international body (WTO) exercise control over US domestic laws? Yes. Do we need to get out of WTO? Yes. Is there another phase of WTO-type control that is waiting in the wings? Yes. Is it called CAFTA (Central American Free Trade treaty)? Yes. Has it passed the US Senate? Yes. Has it passed the House? Not yet. The White House is working behind the scenes to twist arms and obtain the last few votes needed. Does CAFTA contain language that would put further pressure on the US to harmonize its supplement law with the laws of other nations where there are far more restrictions on the sale of supplements? Yes. Article 3 of CAFTA: “Member nations shall base their food safety [supplement safety included] measures on international [Codex] standards, guidelines or recommendations.” Is there also is a bill in the US Congress now that would rip apart the DSHEA law? Yes. HR 3156. 3156 establishes a similar risk-analysis assessment that Codex decreed needed to be done. 3156 states that even a relatively small risk of adverse health effects could be grounds for outlawing a supplement, unless “sufficient benefit” exists. These would be judgments, of course, for some “science” panel to make. 3156 states that the FDA can ban any supplement even though “there are uncertainties” as to the level of potency where the risk would occur. Other enemies of supplements in the US are urging further gutting of DSHEA. Supplement manufacturers would have to prove that their supplements are safe, whereas under DSHEA, this burden falls on the government, because THE TRACK RECORD OF SUPPLEMENT SAFETY HAS BEEN EXTRAORDINARY. Supplement manufacturers would have to somehow keep records of adverse health events. This is treating supplements like drugs. Unlike supplements, we know that medical drugs approved by the FDA kill at least 100,000 people in the US every year. Codex is one vector in the squeeze play that is threatening health all over the world   Below is a list of articles with the most recent ones listed first. GLOBAL VITAMIN GUIDELINES ONE STEP CLOSER Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Under pressure from big agribusiness, the USDA is deliberately refusing to take action against factory farms who are unethically selling their products as ‘organic.’ SENATE BILL 1873 BANS DRUG & VACCINE DAMAGE CLAIMS Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Under pressure from big agribusiness, the USDA is deliberately refusing to take action against factory farms who are unethically selling their products as ‘organic.’ Stop Factory Farm Dairy Feedlots from Labeling Their Products as Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Under pressure from big agribusiness, the USDA is deliberately refusing to take action against factory farms who are unethically selling their products as ‘organic.’ Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Information about CAFTA and CODEX and laws affecting your access to vitamins and supplements. Codex allows Deadly Pesticides Topic: CAFTA and CODEX CAFTA, CODEX, health, vitamins, supplements, legislation, law, laws, pesticides Congressional Rollcall CAFTA Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Information about CAFTA and CODEX and laws affecting your access to vitamins and supplements. White House Spins Its CAFTA Lies Topic: CAFTA and CODEX Information about CAFTA and CODEX and laws affecting your access to vitamins and supplements.

FREE your Mind

Experts in the scientific communities as well as homeopathy and holistic sciences have proven the “Memory” of water; the carrying capacity of water for “energy,” and the ability of water to “remember”. Experts realize that water retains information, even after the most stringent purification and filtration processes. This is termed the energy signature or vibrational imprint. The vibrational imprint of toxins (mercury, lead, chromium, etc.) can be picked up by the water molecule and are in turn passed on toliving organisms. As you see from the pictures below, words, thoughts and sounds directly affect the water in your body and all living organisms.

Spring Water of Saijo, Japan	Biwako Lake, the largest lake at the center of Japan and the water pool of the Kinki Region. Pollution is getting worse	Spring Water of Sanbuichi Yusui, Japan
Yodo River, Japan, pours into the Bay of Osaka. The river passes through most of the major cities in Kasai.	Antarctic Ice	Fountain in Lourdes, France

Fujiwara Dam, before offering a prayer	Fujiwara Dam, after offering a prayer

After seeing water react to different environmental conditions, pollution and music, Mr. Emoto and colleagues decided to see how thoughts and words affected the formation of untreated, distilled, water crystals, using words typed onto paper by a word processor and taped on glass bottles overnight. The same procedure was performed using the names of deceased persons. The waters were then frozen and photographed.

Untreated Distilled Water	You Make Me Sick . I Will Kill You	Love and Appreciation
Adolph Hitler	Mother Teresa	Thank You

Biological organisms respond to and are affected by energetic frequencies in the same way that they respond to and are affected by physical matter. In fact, living organisms will spend enormous amounts of energy compensating for the discordant harmonics created by the bad energy messages in water.

The bodies of all living organisms are composed largely of water. About 70 to 90 percent of all organic matter is water. The chemical reactions in all plants and animals that support life take place in a water medium. Water not only provides the medium to make these life sustaining reactions possible, but water itself is often an important reactant or product of these reactions. In short, the chemistry of life is water chemistry.

We have made great advancements in the study and function of water. The water used in our Cellular Formula is a highly structured, microcrystalline, frequency enhanced, magnetized purified form. Our water is in its purest form and has been stabilized with light, sound and love frequencies. The surface tension has also been reduced to facilitate absorption by all of your body’s cells.

What does Ph of water mean?

On the pH scale, which ranges from 0 on the acidic end to 14 on the alkaline end, a solution is neutral if its pH is 7. At pH 7, water contains equal concentrations of H+ and OH- ions. Substances with a pH less than 7 are acidic because they contain a higher concentration of H+ ions. Substances with a pH higher than 7 are alkaline because they contain a higher concentration of OH- than H+. The pH scale is a log scale so a change of one pH unit means a tenfold change in the concentration of hydrogen ions.

IMPORTANCE OF BALANCING PH

Living things are extremely sensitive to pH and function best (with certain exceptions, such as certain portions of the digestive tract) when solutions are nearly neutral. Most interior living matter (excluding the cell nucleus) has a pH of about 6.8.

Blood plasma and other fluids that surround the cells in the body have a pH of 7.2 to 7.3. Numerous special mechanisms aid in stabilizing these fluids so that cells will not be subject to appreciable fluctuations in pH. Substances, which serve as mechanisms to stabilize pH, are called buffers. Buffers have the capacity to bond ions and remove them from solution whenever their concentration begins to rise. Conversely, buffers can release ions whenever their concentration begins to fall. Buffers thus help to minimize the fluctuations in pH. This is an important function because many biochemical reactions normally occurring in living organisms either release or use up ions.

THE WATER BOOM

We are now in the midst of a water boom. In Japan and other countries consumers are buying various kinds of bottled and canned water even though water is one of our most abundant vital resources.

Two of the most common factors in chronic disease and un-natural aging are dehydration, or “drying-out,” and the accumulation of toxins in the cells created by the overuse of prescribed drugs.

Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time). Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure.

Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value. We suggest adding 3 tablespoons of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar per gallon of distilled. This supplies the body with over 90% of the minerals needed on a daily basis.

The Nationwide Food Consumption Surveys have indicated that a portion of the population may be mildly dehydrated. Several factors may increase the likelihood of chronic, mild dehydration, including a poor thirst mechanism, dissatisfaction with the taste of water, consumption of caffeine and alcohol, exercise and environmental conditions. Dehydration of as little as 2% loss of body weight results in impaired physiological and performance responses. Water consumption can have an effect on the risk of urinary stone disease, cancers of the breast, colon and urinary tract, childhood and adolescent obesity, mitral valve prolapse, salivary gland function, and overall health in the elderly (Kleiner 1999).

HYDRATION AS RELATED TO AGE

Hydration or water availability to cells and tissues is important for increasing the overall function and health of cells. Research has shown that babies have a higher level of intracellular water typically than aging adults. Szent-Gyorgyi in the “Pathology of Water: made the association that muscle tissue, cartilage, connective tissue including skin, “aged” or became less pliable with time due to the lack of water provided to cells and tissues. Much of his early research was with muscle tissue and he realized that the aging process was substantially due to cellular and tissue effects of dehydration (Szent-Gyorgyi 1971). Lack of intracellular water or dehydration is predicted today to be part of the “aging” process. It stands to reason that water and the many roles it plays generally and specifically for all parts of the body will enhance may biochemical and physiological functions important to overall health when it is available to cells and tissues.

SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF WATER IN THE BODY

It has recently been discovered that cell membranes have specific enzyme transport proteins that specifically regulate water molecules into the cell, called aquaporins. The coiled DNA molecule (blueprint instructions directing the construction and activity of all cell components) is saturated with water at specific sites that are necessary for its structure, repair, replication, and function. Numerous chemical reactions depend on water and it is a factor itself in many biochemical reactions. Water availability is important to cells, and to the fluid surrounding the cells called interstitial fluids (fluids that surround joints, muscles, and organs) and to the matrix of the blood.

Cell membranes contain hundreds of embedded large protein molecules (enzymes) that are responsible for recognizing hormones, transporting nutrients (vitamins, trace elements, and salts), and water itself. Large molecules on cell surfaces and within the cell often attach water at specific locations and the water molecules assist in helping the molecules hold their shapes in order to function properly when necessary.

Fluids fill every space in cells and between them. As the primary fluid in the body, water serves as a solvent for minerals, vitamins, amino acids, glucose, and many other nutrients. Water also plays a key role in the digestion, absorption, transportation, and use of nutrients. Water is the medium for the sale elimination of toxins and waste products and whole body thermoregulation is critically dependent on it. From energy production to join lubrication to reproduction, there is no system in the body that does not depend on water (Kleiner 1999).

Written by: Dr. Edward F. Group III , D.C.. Ph.D
Pictures and some text from “The Message from Water” by Massaru Emoto.

FREE your Mind

Thursday, August 30, 2007 by: Mike Adams

Have you ever wondered what processed meats look like up close? You may not want to know… especially after you view the photos we’ve released today of some popular processed meat products. These macro photos, taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XT and a specialized high-end macro lens, show processed meats from Jimmy Dean and Oscar Mayer in jaw-dropping detail. You’ll see blobs of fat, stringy textures, curious color variation of meat parts and black chunks of something we cannot yet identify. They’re all available for viewing right now on NewsTarget.com as part of our Photo Tours feature.

I took these pictures in my own kitchen (which turned out to be a problem because my kitchen soon reeked of processed meat odors). To acquire these common processed meat items, I visited the local Wal-Mart and purchased three products off the shelf:

• Oscar Mayer Cotto Salami
• Jimmy Dean pork sausage
• Oscar Mayer Smokies (wieners)

I then took each product home, opened it and began taking photos at various magnifications. All the photos shown here are un-edited (no Photoshop) except for adjusting brightness and contrast. These processed meats photos are accurate depictions of the products.

Click here to view the photos now.

My aim in doing this is to show people exactly what they’re eating, up close, if they eat processed meats. While I can marginally tolerate the consumption of organic, free range meat products from animals that are ethically raised and honorably slaughtered, I am adamantly opposed to modern factory farms (cattle feedlots, chicken lots, etc.) as well as the use of toxic, cancer-causing additives in processed meat products. As I’ve covered in previous articles here on NewsTarget, processed meats are linked to an increase in various cancers, including pancreatic cancers, brain tumors and colon cancers. Feeding hot dogs to children, in my opinion, is a form of child cruelty. Allowing these products to remain in the national food supply is, in my opinion, a form of mass chemical poisoning of the public.

I believe that most consumers who eat processed meat products do so blindly, without really thinking about what they’re eating and where it came from. This macrophotography project is intended to show consumers exactly what they’re really swallowing when they eat these processed meat products.

WARNING: The detail in these photos is astonishing, and many people will likely be grossed out or sickened by viewing them. Do not view them if you’ve just eaten processed meats!

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Nothing in these photos is intended to imply that these processed meat products do not meet FDA or USDA regulations. I have no doubt these products meet all minimum government requirements for human consumption. Then again, the USDA openly approves the use of chicken poop as cattle feed, so you can’t exactly say that USDA regulators are really interested in food regulations that most intelligent consumers would agree with. In any case, these photos do not show any evidence whatsoever that Jimmy Dean or Kraft Foods are violating food safety regulations. They merely show these foods at great magnification where visual details are much easier to study. The salami product, in particular, is made with beef hearts!

Here are the three products viewed in this Photo Tour (along with their ingredients):

Oscar Mayer Cotto Salami ingredients

Mechanically separated chicken
Beef hearts
Pork
Water
Corn syrup
Beef
Contains less than 2% of:
Salt
Sodium lactate
Flavor
Sodium phosphates
Sodium diacetate
Sodium erythorbate (made from sugar)
Dextrose
Sodium nitrite
Soy lecithin
Potassium phosphate
Potassium chloride
Sugar

Click here to view macro photos of Oscar Mayer salami.

Jimmy Dean Original Fresh Pork Sausage Links ingredients

Pork
Water
Contains 2% or less of:
Corn syrup
Sodium lactate
Salt
Sugar
Monosodium glutamate
Flavorings
BHA
BHT
Citric acid
Beef collagen casings

Click here to view macro photos of Jimmy Dean sausages.

Oscar Mayer Smokies Coarse Ground Wieners ingredients(Front label claims “Quality Meat, No Fillers”)
Pork
Water
Beef
Contains less than 2% of:
Corn syrup
Salt
Sodium lactate
Flavor
Sodium phosphates
Monosodium glutamate
Sodium diacetate
Sodium erythorbate (made from sugar)
Sodium nitrite
Soy lecithin

Click here to view macro photos of the Oscar Mayer Smokies

If you would like to be kept informed of future Photo Tours as they are released, be sure to subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter which brings you these announcements as they are posted.

FREE your Mind