Sharing the type of news you are unlikely to come across in the mainstream media.
Showing posts with label mercury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mercury. Show all posts
Friday, 1 May 2020
Sunday, 21 April 2019
Deadly Deception, Exposing the Dangers of Vaccines, a film by Gary Null
There is an epidemic, the likes that we have never seen in the history of this country. One in 6 children in America is learning disabled, one in 9 has asthma, one in 48 are becoming autistic, and millions more are suffering with brain and immune dysfunction, which can not be explained. Children are now exposed to more vaccinations than earlier generations. The number of vaccines is expected to increase dramatically with over 250 new vaccines in the pipeline. While there is an untold number of children and adults that have been injured from vaccines, most Americans remain skeptical of the fact that vaccines can and do cause injury, disability and death.
What will happen when vaccine-injured children, with brain and immune system dysfunction, reach adulthood and are unable to function in society? It is a tremendous cost burden to care for someone with a disability over their lifetime and the American healthcare system is incapable of handling the larger cataclysm that awaits as vaccines become mandated.
Conventional medicine claims that vaccines prevent infectious diseases and are proven to be effective and safe. We are that these diseases can be eradicated if the population is fully vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity.” However, does the science support these claims?
Edited by Valerie Van Cleve
Executive Producer, Gary Null Ph.D.
Directed by Gary Null, Ph.D.
Produced by Valerie Van Cleve
Associate Producer, Richard Gale
Saturday, 6 April 2019
AMERICA'S PEDIATRICIAN REVEALS SHOCKING AUTISM DISCOVERY
America's pediatrician, Dr. Paul Thomas reveals a shocking autism discovery!
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Sarah's Gardasil Vaccine Injury
Lifting the Veil with Sara Sotomayor
Sarah's blog:
https://sarashealingjourney.wordpress.com/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2010;73(24):1665-77. doi: 10.1080/15287394.2010.519317
Source
PhD Program in Population Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, Stony Brook University Medical Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA. cmgallagher@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Abstract
Universal hepatitis B vaccination was recommended for U.S. newborns in 1991; however, safety findings are mixed. The association between hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and parental report of autism diagnosis was determined. This cross-sectional study used weighted probability samples obtained from National Health Interview Survey 1997-2002 data sets. Vaccination status was determined from the vaccination record. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds for autism diagnosis associated with neonatal hepatitis B vaccination among boys age 3-17 years, born before 1999, adjusted for race, maternal education, and two-parent household. Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. Non-Hispanic white boys were 64% less likely to have autism diagnosis relative to nonwhite boys. Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period. Nonwhite boys bore a greater risk.
PMID: 21058170 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Download full text:
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Shoot 'Em Up: The Danger of Vaccines
If you have care about Kids and your Pets, you must see this documentary. Discover what the experts say as they reveal the damage we unknowingly do to our children. Learn about mercury, formaldehyde and aluminium that some vaccines contain and the autism, asthma and neurological damage they can contribute to.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
High-fructose corn syrup linked to autism
By WC Douglass MD
The feds want you to believe the dramatic 78 percent rise in autism cases over the past decade is nothing more than a bookkeeping trick. There aren't more autistic kids -- just more docs who've learned to recognize the condition.
Baloney!
I'm sure more diagnoses -- and even OVER-diagnoses -- is part of that increase, but I'm just as sure that more kids are autistic than ever before. And a big part of the reason is the dramatic rise in exposure to toxic heavy metals.
Now, one new study shows how the junkiest of all junk ingredients -- the high-fructose corn syrup used in… well… just about everything these days -- can cause your mercury levels to shoot so high you might reach the planet that shares its name.
Former FDA toxicologist -- and noted agency whistleblower -- Renee Dufault says HFCS depletes the body of zinc… and zinc is needed to chase out mercury.
Ms. Dufault is the same researcher who found low levels of mercury in HFCS several years ago -- so if you put two and two together here, you get more toxic heavy metals and less ability to rid the body of them, all in one convenient package.
On paper anyway, it sounds like a recipe for autism. Out in the real world, it's just a small piece of the puzzle -- because HFCS is hardly the biggest source of mercury.
This dangerous metal is in dental fillings, vaccines (especially flu shots), seafood, CFL light bulbs, and more. It's even turning up in the water supply, so you could be poisoning your family every time you open the tap (one more reason to make sure you have a reverse osmosis water filter protecting your home).
And mercury itself is only a piece of the autism puzzle -- because other toxins, lousy eating habits, and hormonal problems can all play a role.
I can't give you a one-size-fits-all answer on this. But if you suspect a little one in the family might be the next autism statistic, get the kid to a naturopathic physician ASAP.
Early diagnosis and proper drug-free treatment can make all the difference in the world.
Monday, 7 May 2012
An In-depth Report on the Effects of Mercury Poisoning Toxicity
By Dr Thomas Nissen
MERCURY: What kinds of symptoms does mercury cause?
Symptoms of mercury toxicity are many and varied, since mercury can both reach and affect nearly every cell in the body! Systemic (overall) effects can occur for this reason. The particular symptoms you experience first depend on your own genetic weakest links and on other toxic suppressors. The answers to the following questions below address the type of symptoms that can occur.
How does mercury toxicity affect the reproductive system?
Reproductive effects can occur, such as infertility, miscarriage and prematurity. Mercury lowers zinc levels, which then lowers progesterone levels. Progesterone is needed to bring a pregnancy to term. Birth defects, especially involving the brain and learning ability, can be caused by mercury, as the metal can pass through both the placental barrier and the blood-brain barrier contrary to prior belief. Low libido (sex drive) and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are examples of a downward spiral of problems whose root cause is mercury toxicity.
Lowered progesterone levels can lead to infertility. PMS and infertility are common among many young female dental workers due at least in part to their mercury exposure. Male dental workers also suffer from infertility. Mercury lowers zinc levels, which in turn leads to lower testosterone (male hormone) levels.
Can babies absorb mercury from their mothers?
Mercury can cross the placental barrier, which screens out many harmful substances. This has been shown in both human and animal studies. Mercury is in fact, stored in the fetus before the mother. Mercury will also be transmitted to the infant via breast milk. Mercury from amalgam is stored in the breast milk and in the fetus at levels up to eight times that in the mother’s tissues.
How is the immune system affected?
It has been shown that mercury rapidly depletes the immune system. Mercury has been shown to induce auto-immune diseases. Mercury can cause an increase in the number and severity of allergies.
What other types of symptoms are caused by mercury?
Candida (yeast) overgrowth that is difficult to get rid of is also associated with mercury in the mouth. Mercury acts as an antibiotic, and, like medicinal antibiotics, it kills the friendly bacteria which help control yeast overgrowth.
Any of these symptoms can affect almost anyone with amalgam fillings. Some people, however, are especially sensitive, or allergic.
Replacement reactions, also called fight for site, occur when mercury (usually with a +2 charge) grabs the biological spaces which should be filled by necessary minerals. Symptoms that can be caused by a deficiency of minerals displaced by mercury include:
- Magnesium: irregular heartbeat, receding gums
- Iron: anemia
- Copper: anemia, thyroid dysfunction, impaired digestion
- Zinc: anorexia nervosa, loss of taste and smell, loss of appetite, low libido, PMS
- Iodine: thyroid dysfunction
Some digestive problems can be caused by parasite or bacterial infection such as helicobacter secondary to immune system suppression by mercury. Mercury, in effect, opens the door like the Trojan horse so that undesirables can come in.
Mercury combines with bile and can cause bile from the gallbladder to become more alkaline, providing a favorable environment for parasites. These parasites can plug up the hepatic or bile duct so that needed digestive and other enzymes from the gallbladder, liver, and pancreas are not released. Gallbladder function then suffers.
Mercury acts as an antibiotic, and was used in some medicines until safer alternatives came along for this purpose. In the body mercury also acts as an antibiotic, and like medicinal antibiotics it kills off the beneficial bacteria which repel parasites and aid in digestion.
Yeast overgrowth with its attendant symptoms of fatigue, sweets cravings and vaginal infections is often traced to the antibiotic effect of dental mercury. Suspect this as a root cause when yeast is a continuing problem in spite of repeated treatment. The symptom (yeast overgrowth) will not likely go away until the root cause (mercury) is dealt with. The effect of dental mercury on normal gut flora is well documented.
Thyroid problems or mercury toxicity?
Endocrine problems such as low body temperature often improve rapidly when amalgam is removed, a sure sign that the amalgam was causing the problem in the first place. Normal body temperature is about 98.6 F orally.
People reacting to amalgam components often have a temperature range of 96.2 to 97.6 degrees, which can rise to 98.2 in as little as one day after amalgam removal and to 98.6 soon afterward. A low body temperature is a sign of low thyroid function, and many people have mistakenly been given thyroid hormone to remedy a symptom caused by amalgam fillings.
Synthetic thyroid hormone (thyroxin) can shut down the natural feedback cycle of the pituitary gland and its production of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). This shutdown then adversely affects the rest of the endocrine system. It would be far better to correct the cause of the apparent thyroid malfunction by removing the fillings that are responsible for the low body temperature, rather than prescribing supplemental thyroid hormone.
What are the mental symptoms of mercury toxicity?
Since mercury is so soluble, it can be easily absorbed through the roof of the mouth, which is less than an inch from the posterior pituitary gland. Mental symptoms of toxicity affecting the posterior pituitary include:
Depression, Timidity, Rage, Phobias, Anxiety, Lowered libido, Indecisiveness, Lack of self confidence, Compulsions, Mood swings
Mercury tends to accumulate in all tisues, but especially in the brain. Within the brain, mercury is stored prefentially in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus.
Accumulation in the brain leads to mental and nervous system effects such as brain fog, depression, vision difficulties, and others as listed above. Mental effects are among the most common due to mercury's special affinity for the brain. Mercury inhibits the effects of certain neurotransmitters:
- Dopamine: controls pain, well-being
- Serotonin: relaxation, sleep, well-being
- Adrenaline: energy and stamina
- Noradrenaline, melatonin: sleep cycles
Inhibition of these neurotransmitters by mercury can account in part for the feelings of depression and loss of motivation.
Other mental/neurological symptoms include:
- General neurological symptoms
- Mental illness
- Demyelinization, which can lead to such diseases as multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Developmental problems
- Cerebral palsy
- ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease)
- Alzheimer's disease
- Psychological problems, including loss of function and memory, anger and emotionality, and timidity
How does mercury cause fatigue and lack of energy?
Mercury binds to nitrogen and sulfur in proteins, oxygen from the lungs, sulfur from the liver's detoxification systems, and selenium from the colon. Lower levels of body tissue oxygen due to mercury's binding it may lead to:
- Fatigue caused by low blood sugar secondary to low blood oxygen
- Parasite infestation by setting up an anaerobic (less oxygen) environment, and by lowering the level of the good bacteria which fight off parasites
- An anaerobic environment also favors the development of yeast infections and cancer, since yeast is a fermenting spore and cancer is a fermenting cell rather than a normal respiratory (oxygen using) cell
Mercury binds with hemoglobin, which is responsible for oxygen transport to the tissues. This results in less oxygen reaching the tissues. The body attempts to compensate for this by increasing the amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
A normal or increased hemoglobin (oxygen carrying) level combined with symptoms usually associated with low hemoglobin such as anemia are often indicative of mercury toxicity. Copper is also required to prevent anemia, and mercury can compete for copper's binding sites. A lowered hematocrit (red blood cell count) can be indicative of lowered blood copper levels.
The terms hematocrit and hemoglobin, found routinely on blood test printouts, can be confusing. If blood is compared to a train carrying oxygen to where it is needed, hematocrit is a measure of the number of boxcars on the train (red blood cells), while hemoglobin is a measure of the carrying capacity of each boxcar, or red blood cell.
Other mineral levels can be lowered by mercury's tendency to fight for site. A deficiency of any of these minerals can lead to fatigue and other symptoms:
Cobalt, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium are all required for energy.
- Zinc is needed for the manufacture of adrenaline
- A deficiency of zinc, copper, or potassium can lower adrenal activity
- Cobalt, usually obtained from vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) prevents pernicious anemia, a cause of fatigue
- Mercury blocks magnesium and manganese transport required for memory, resulting in lowered ability to concentrate
These mineral deficiencies may be primarily due to dietary deficiencies. However, deficiencies may also be secondary. The mineral may be in the body but cannot get to where it is needed because mercury has blocked the way. This is like putting a too-large battery in a toy - it won't fit in the slot made for a smaller battery, both denying power to the toy and blocking the slot from receiving the correct size battery.
Fatigue associated with mercury toxicity can be due to several of mercury's effects, including reducing adrenaline and neurotransmitter effects, reducing oxygen to tissues, and interfering with coenzyme A, which converts sugar to energy.
How can mercury increase the toxicity of other poisons?
Mercuric ion (Hg+2) binds to sulfhydryl groups (-SH) in proteins and disulfide groups (-SS) in amino acids. These sulfur containing groups have an important detoxification function in the body. Increased toxicity from chemicals and metals other than mercury can result from mercury binding these sulfur groups and preventing them from detoxifying the chemicals.
Mercury binding the bile lowers the ability of the body to absorb fat, leading to increased absorption of toxic oil-soluble chemicals such as solvents and pesticides like a dry sponge.
Selenium is an antioxidant which binds in place of oxygen and which protects against free radical damage from chemicals which can lead to cancer. Mercury can bind to selenium, making it useless for this protective purpose.
What else can mercury do?
Mercurous ion (Hg+1) pushes out Na+1 (sodium), K+1 (potassium), and Li+1 (lithium). Sodium and potassium are part of the cellular sodium/potassium pump which causes muscle movement. Interference with sodium and potassium can lead to muscle weakness for this reason. Leg and muscle cramps may be due to potassium deficiency.
Lithium is sometimes given as lithium carbonate to patients suffering from bipolar depression (manic depressive illness) since lack of lithium is one of the causes of the disease. Lack of lithium may itself be caused by mercury preventing lithium from working as it should in the brain.
Mercury is like the 200 pound bully attacking a 7 pound baby; the small baby doesn't have much of a chance. 200 and 7 are the molecular weights of mercury (the bully) and lithium (the baby) respectively. If you have been diagnosed with bipolar depression, maybe what you need is less mercury, not more lithium pills.
Mercury fights for binding sites in the kidney, another organ for which it has a special affinity. A mineral and electrolyte balance is needed in order for the kidney to perform its functions, and a poorly functioning kidney can lead to edema (fluid buildup in the body). These minerals are prevented from entering into their reactions when mercury is there to interfere.
Suppression of potassium by mercury also affects the kidneys which takes you from making adrenaline to maintaining electrolyte balance, and the lowered adrenaline level can lead to lower energy.
Detoxification systems such as metallothionein, cytochrome P-450, and bile are adversely affected by mercury. Metallothionein binds toxic metals in the body to prepare them for excretion. Mercury ties up this material so it cannot clear out other metals such as lead, cadmium, and aluminum.
Mercury from amalgam binds to -SH (sulfhydryl) groups, which are used in almost every enzymatic process in the body. Mercury therefore has the potential to disturb all metabolic processes.
Some people appear to be allergic to whatever food they eat. No matter what they eat, at least one thing in common is ingested - mercury (or nickel). Mercury released from amalgam during chewing may be the cause of most of the symptoms which seem to be caused by the food.
If a mercury vapor test, described later in this chapter, is done, it may show a low to moderate level of mercury initially, but a sharply increased level after chewing gum. This is also what happens when food is chewed. Such a test result combined with apparent allergy to most food points to mercury as a probable culprit. Nickel, which may also be contributing to the problem, is in stainless steel posts and braces.
Friday, 18 November 2011
Smoke, Mirrors, and the “Disappearance” Of Polio
By Suzanne Humphries, MD
“The tendency of a mass vaccination program is to herd people. People are not cattle or sheep. They should not be herded. A mass vaccination program carries a built-in temptation to oversimplify the problem; to exaggerate the benefits; to minimize or completely ignore the hazards; to discourage or silence scholarly, thoughtful and cautious opposition; to create an urgency where none exists; to whip up an enthusiasm among citizens that can carry with it the seeds of impatience, if not intolerance; to extend the concept of the police power of the state in quarantine far beyond its proper limitation; to assume simplicity when there is actually great complexity; to continue to support a vaccine long after it has been discredited;… to ridicule honest and informed consent.[1]”
There is plenty of confusion on the topic of vaccination, especially amongst brainwashed doctors who trusted their medical schools. Then the unsuspecting, trusting public trusts them…because the medical establishment must know best, right? And doctors are nice people, trying to do a good thing. True. I was once one of those brainwashed doctors who believed in the benevolence of the medical system and believed that all I learned was the best that modern times had to offer. It is blazingly clear to me now though, that much of what is taught in medical school is enormously limited. I now see that most doctors are little more than blind slave-technicians who follow the dogma they were taught and were rewarded for repeating, even as the truth unfolds in front of them dictating otherwise.
Unbeknownst to most doctors, the polio-vaccine history involves a massive public health service makeover during an era when a live, deadly strain of poliovirus infected the Salk polio vaccines, and paralyzed hundreds of children and their contacts. These were the vaccines that were supposedly responsible for the decline in polio from 1955 to 1961! But there is a more sinister reason for the “decline” in polio during those years; in 1955, a very creative re-definition of poliovirus infections was invented, to “cover” the fact that many cases of ”polio” paralysis had no poliovirus in their systems at all. While this protected the reputation of the Salk vaccine, it muddied the waters of history in a big way.
Even during the peak epidemics, unifactorial poliovirus infection, resulting in long-term paralysis, was a low-incidence disease[2] that was falsely represented as a rampant and violent crippler by Basil O’Connor’s “March Of Dimes” advertising campaigns. At the same time as Basil O’Connor was pulling in 45 million dollars a year to fund the Salk vaccine development, scientists started to realize that other viruses like Coxsackie, echo and enteroviruses, could also cause polio. They also discussed the fact that lead, arsenic, DDT, and other commonly-used neurotoxins, could identically mimic the lesions of polio. During the great epidemics in the United States, the pathology called polio was reversed by alternative medical doctors who attested to great success, using detoxification procedures available at the time – yet they were categorically ignored[3].
Now it is admitted in the medical literature that other viruses can cause polio, yet few people on the street have any idea.
Prior to 1954, the following undoubtedly hid behind the name “poliomyelitis”: Transverse Myelitis, viral or “aseptic” meningitis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)- (what Franklin Delano Roosevelt had)[4], Chinese Paralytic syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, epidemic cholera, cholera morbus, spinal meningitis, spinal apoplexy, inhibitory palsy, intermittent fever, famine fever, worm fever, bilious remittent fever, ergotism, post-polio syndrome, acute flaccid paralysis(AFP).
Included under the umbrella term “Acute Flaccid Paralysis” are Poliomyelitis, Transverse Myelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, enteroviral encephalopathy, traumatic neuritis, Reye’s syndrome etc.
Before you believe that polio has been eradicated, have a look at this graph of AFP and Polio.
When people ask me where all the children on iron lungs are, I would answer that they should ask Dr. Douglas Kerr from Johns Hopkins, who stated on pg. xv in the Forward to Donna Jackson Nakazawa’s book “The Autoimmune Epidemic”…
“Infants as young as five months old can get Transverse Myelitis, and some are left permanently paralyzed and dependent upon a ventilator to breathe… my colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and I hear about or treat hundreds of new cases every year.”
Does the public have any idea that there are hundreds of cases of something that would once have been called polio, and some of those children will be dependent on a modern version of the iron lung? No. Parents today think that the Salk vaccine eliminated any need for ventilators, because the pictures of all these children on iron lungs are no longer paraded in front of people in order to create fear. Besides which, today’s “iron lungs” don’t look like a prototype submarine. They are barely recognizable as today’s “ventilators.”
The polio vaccine had the fastest licensing in FDA history. It was approved for commercial production after only a two-hour deliberation amongst the Licensing Committee, in a pressured environment. These scientists witnessed a vaccine that was escorted to market, before academic and community doctors had a chance to read any published reports on the safety studies, and before the results of the big polio vaccine trial made it into any medical journal. If these scientists had had more say, it is likely that the “Cutter” disaster and the “Wyeth problem,” both events that led to crippling or death of vaccine recipients just weeks following the hurried vaccine licensing – could have been averted.
“Previously it [the vaccine] had been distributed as an experimental product, not a licensed product…the committee was asked to come to a decision very quickly…there was discussion of the report that Dr Francis had given, but we were not in a position to discuss it very intensively because we had not seen the report prior to this morning and the report was distributed to us after the presentation…we were pressured in the sense that we were told that speed was essential, and when we came up toward the 5:00 time, some of us felt we would like to discuss this matter more. We were told that to discuss the matter further it would have to go into the following week, and we would have to go to Washington or Bethesda and most of the members were unwilling to do so. We were in effect pressured into an earlier decision than we ordinarily would have made. …It was part of the pressure of events, put it that way.[5]”
And that is only the beginning of the polio story, the likes of which currently serve as the foundation of modern belief in vaccination, even by those who may have doubts regarding current vaccine policy.
No vaccines are safe. Having “efficacy” means an antibody response is generated, not that they keep you from getting sick. There are many other ways to keep children healthy other than injecting them with disease matter, chemicals, animal DNA, animal proteins, detergents and surfactants that inflame and weaken the blood brain barrier, potentially causing inflammation and other problems.
Do you know how much doctors learn about vaccines in medical school? When we participate in pediatrics training, we learn that vaccines need to be given on schedule. We learn that smallpox and polio were eliminated by vaccines. We learn that there’s no need to know how to treat diphtheria, because we won’t see it again anyway. We are indoctrinated with the mantra that “vaccines are safe and effective” – neither of which is true.
Doctors today are given extensive training on how to talk to “hesitant” parents – how to frighten them by vastly inflating the risks during natural infection. They are trained on the necessity of twisting parents’ arms to conform, or fire them from their practices. Doctors are trained that NOTHING bad should be said about any vaccine, period.
Historically it has been commonplace, since the times of the deadly smallpox vaccines – to discourage or silence scholarly, thoughtful and cautious opposition to mass vaccination policies. This is politics, plain and simple, in the environment of cronyism and corporatism that has invaded the supposed health-care industry.
The opinions of learned anti-vaccinationist doctors are not permitted on CNN, Fox News, or in mainstream literature. Probably because if they were broadcast on such media outlets, the unsuspecting public would do an about-face. Instead, the publicity that mainstream media concedes, often involves a parent who is opposed to vaccination, after a child becomes vaccine-injured, matched up with a celebrity talking-head doctor. Dr. Stork had an all-out tantrum after JB Handley got some sense interjected (from the audience!) during Jenny McCarthy’s invite (video).
For now, let’s just ignore Dr. Sears’ utter delusion over the history of vaccination and the decline in infectious disease. Having JB Handley on the program with the audience clapping for him, without editing him, was an unusual event. The standard approach on commercial television is to pretend that there is no anti-vaccinationist doctor to match the celebrity doctor, or those of the Paul Offit genre. Therefore, they can only invite and publicly defeat those whom they underestimate. Cheers to JB for getting an edge in. This is simply how the game of vaccination has always been played; keep the opinions of thoughtful and informed doctors and scientists out of the way of the cameras and peer-reviewed journals, and only allow the anti-vaccine perspective limited representation.
If you have doubts on the safety and effectiveness of vaccination, please keep your curiosity up, since the lives of your children may depend on it. You will probably have much deprogramming to do, just like most of us had.
International Medical Council on Vaccination | www.vaccinationcouncil.org
[1] Statement from Clinton R. Miller, Intensive Immunization Programs, May 15th and 16th, 1962. Hearings before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce House of Representatives, 87th congress, second session on H.R. 10541.
[2] Meier, P. 1978. “The biggest public health experiment ever: The 1954 trial of the Salk poliomyelitis
vaccine.” Statistics: A Guide to the Unknown, Ed. J. M. Tanur, el al., pp. 3-15. San Francisco: Holden Day.
[3] Scobey, R. 1952. “The poison cause of poliomyelitis and obstructions to its investigation.” Arch. Pediatr. April;69(4):172-93.
[4] Goldman.2003.”What was the cause of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s paralytic illness?” J Med Biog, 11:233-240.
[5] Opening brief of Defendant and Appellant Cutter Laboratories Gottsdanker v. Cutter Laboratories (1960) 182 Cal. App.2d 602 pp. 31-33.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Flu vaccine statistics don’t add up
A study recently published in The Lancet (thelancet.com/journals) reveals that flu shots only prevent influenza in 1.5 out of every 100 adults. Tao those who are familiar with vaccine literature, this comes as no surprise. What is interesting, however, is that the Centres for Disease Control and the corporate media are interpreting the study as proof that flu vaccines are 60 per cent effective. So let’s examine the study to see how this spin transpired.
This was a meta analysis, meaning that the researchers used data from 28 previously published random controlled trials between 1967 and 2011. The control group, n=13,095, consisted of non-vaccinated adults who were monitored to see if they got confirmed influenza. Over 97 per cent of them did not. Only 357 got flu which means that 2.73 per cent of these adults got the flu in the first place.
The treatment group comprised adults who were vaccinated with a trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine. According to the study, 1.18 per cent got the flu.
The difference between these two groups (2.73 – 1.18) is 1.5 people out of 100. In other words, the flu vaccine did nothing for 98.5 per cent of adults in the studies.
So where did the media get 60 per cent effective? It’s called lying with statistics. First you take the 2.73 per cent in the control group who got flu and you divide that figure into the 1.18 per cent of the treatment group who got the flu. This gives you 0.43.
You then say that 0.43 is 43 per cent of 2.73 and claim that the vaccine results in a 57 per cent decrease in flu infections. This becomes the 60 per cent effectiveness claim.
Now even if you don’t understand statistics, common sense will tell you comparing 2.73 per cent non-vaccinated who got the flu with 1.8 per cent vaccinated who got the flu, shows very little difference.
Medical practitioners tout that they practice “evidence-based” medicine or nursing. So all those who are so willing to inject mercury containing vaccines into people under the delusion that they are forwarding public health, and those nursing instructors at Selkirk College who mandate that nursing students get a flu shot, should be required to submit the scientific evidence for their decisions.
J.L. Craig, BSN, Ph.D
Nelson
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Health Liberty
Health Liberty is a nonprofit coalition formed by Mercola.com, National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), Organic Consumers Association (OCA), and Consumers for Dental Choice, to help protect every American's freedom to make voluntary health choices. Each partner-organization has a rich history of advocacy and active campaigning for change and better access to truly empowering health information.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
The many ways amalgam (mercury) fillings are destroying your health
By Dr Mercola
Dr. Dave Simone works with Consumers for Dental Choice to fight amalgam because he fully appreciates how deviating amalgam fillings can be to your health. Dental amalgam emits mercury vapor even after it is placed in your mouth. This mercury is bioaccumulative and endangers your health in many ways, which we'll review below.
I urge you to watch the interview I did with Dr. Simone in its entirety, or at least read through the transcript, as he covers far more than what this summary contains. For example, he explains how mercury actually inhibits its own elimination mechanism:
"[Y]ou make glutathione in the mitochondria of your cells. It's one of your 20 amino acids. Glutathione is your heavy metal detox amino acid. It grabs on to mercury, finds its way to your large intestine… you excrete mercury that way… [But] mercury inhibits the manufacturing of glutathione, so mercury stops its own elimination mechanism. [Hence] it bioaccumulates in your body. It also affects the Krebs cycle. So you're not producing ATP, your energy source."
For the rest of Dr Mercola's comment, please click on the link below:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/07/health-hazards-of-dental-mercury.aspx?e_cid=20110907_DNL_art_1
Friday, 15 July 2011
The battle to eliminate dental mercury (amalgam fillings) worldwide
Charlie Brown, president and founder of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and national counsel of Consumers for Dental Choice, works tirelessly to educate the public about the health and environmental dangers of mercury fillings and to ensure more effective government oversight on amalgam.
In the video interview above, Brown reports on the worldwide efforts to eliminate mercury fillings, and explains how you can help make a difference.
To read the whole article and to see what you can do, please follow the link below.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Pollution: Africa's real resource curse?
By Khadija Sharife
Africa has long been synonymous as the poster child of the resource curse. Illicit financial flows, often siphoned through corruption and mis-pricing, are estimated to cost the continent $200-billion annually. Flowing back are the weapons propping up autocratic regimes, with the ‘externalised’ or hidden cost of conflict pegged at more than $300-billion during the past two decades. Despite resource revenues fueling GDP, growth does not necessarily translate into development thanks to exploitative policies implemented by the ‘human’ resources at the helm of the continent’s extractive industries.
But the nature of the ‘curse’ extends beyond ‘blood minerals’ to that of another more widespread externalised cost taking place in countries like Tanzania and Zambia: pollution. Take Tanzania: Africa’s third largest gold producer holds more than 45 million ounces of gold, economically valued at $39-billion excluding extraction costs. Since 1998, production has increased from 1-2 tonnes annually to 50 tonnes, valued at US$876 per ounce (2008). And for every ounce of gold extracted, more than 78 tonnes of mining waste is created.
Like copper and silver, gold is found in rock containing sulphide minerals that when crushed and exposed to air and water forms sulphuric acid. The acidic water dissolves other toxic metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium found in surrounding ore. If not safely contained, acid mine drainage (AMD) - a process that continues as long as sulphides from mine waste, open pits, and tailings interact with air and water - leaches toxins into the ecosystem, stripping life from everything in its wake.
The issue rose to the fore in 2009 when a tailing pond owned by Barrick Gold Corporation’s North Mara mine leaked AMD into the Tigithe River, a tributary of Mara River discharging into the world’s largest tropical basin, Lake Victoria. The process continued for three months, from May to August, when the breached lining was replaced. Ninety per cent of Tanzania’s production takes place around Lake Victoria’s ‘gold belt’.
Though the government banned the use of Tigithe’s water for consumption (samples revealed toxic concentrations of nickel and lead 260 and 168 times higher than similar tests from 2002), no substantial further action was taken. This is unsurprising given the context: during the past decade Tanzania’s rent-seeking regime has lost $400-million in gold revenue due to tax evasion and low royalty rates. Tanzania’s gold mining contracts detailing the financial and environmental requirements even remained a secret from parliament as late as 2009, evidencing secrecy as one weapon of mass destruction.
Another weapon specific to gold mining is cyanide, used to extract gold from ore, releasing lethal metals such as mercury in the process, while breaking down into toxic compounds.
Montana’s Zortman-Landusky open pit mine was one of the first to pour cyanide over heaped ore as a means of dissolving gold. ‘Water treatment will have to go on for hundreds of years, possibly forever,’ said Montana state regulator, Wayne Jepson. Though using cyanide is common practice in the industry, the risks have encouraged Montana to ban it from new open pit mines while EU Members of the European Parliament approved a resolution concerning an EU-wide ban on cyanide by end 2011 - prompted by incidents such as Romania’s cyanide spill that leaked 130,000 cubic meters of tainted water through 150 miles of the Tisza-Danube River system (2000).
But 70 per cent of gold is mined in developing nations such as South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania. Can nations dependent on foreign investment individually, or collectively, motivate to set the standard?
‘Perhaps the issue should be high recovery of the cyanide used, better concentrations of the cyanide that is not recovered, stringent specifications for mining ponds and higher standards for water effluent treatment using existing and proven technology,’ said Muna Lakhani, coordinator of the Institute for Zero Waste in Africa (IZWA).
Currently, corporations subscribe to the standards of the voluntary International Cyanide Managament Code. Yet one aspect that the code fails to rigorously address is that of closure.
It is a lesson that Zambia’s Kabwe - a mining town inhabited by 300,000 people - has learnt the hard way. Kabwe, Zambia’s second largest city, had the dubious honour of being ranked as Africa’s most polluted city and the world’s fourth most polluted site thanks to the unregulated lead (800,000t) and zinc (1,800,000t) mining and smelter activities that took place from 1906 until 1994.
Kabwe’s Katondo township, for instance, evidenced levels of lead - a neurotoxin - as high as 10,000 parts per million, dispersed through run-offs and as wind-blown dust. The Zambian government, through the Zambian Consolidated Copper Mine Investment (ZCCM), claimed responsibility for decommissioning and rehabilitating the mine’s legacy - classified as toxic by the Kabwe Scoping and Design Study (KSDS). Kabwe’s rehabilitation is part of the broader Copperbelt Environment Project (CEP), largely funded by the World Bank.
Describing the Environmental Council of Zambia as ‘very weak’, the CEP revealed that: ‘Existing regulations are seldom enforced. The regulatory dispositions for the mining sector are currently so weak that they do not deter polluters…Identification and monitoring of environmental risks resulting from mining activities is often inadequate.’
Mining corporations operating in Zambia post-1994 were allowed to adhere to the Environmental Management Plan (EMP), taking precedence over national legislation, with little penalties save for on the spot fines of £17 and letters of warning. Like Tanzania, Zambia’s mining contracts remained secretive.
But while the legacy of ‘dirty gold’ and ‘killer copper’ is not intractable, externalised costs conceal the true impact from the public discourse, forcing the environment, communities and natural treasures such as the Serengeti Park located 10 kilometres northwest from Mara Mine to ‘subsidise’ the extractive industries.
But there is no more lethal example of AMD than South Africa, where the impact of pollution threatens not only the country’s water resources, but through the coal-focused energy complex, catalyses a domino effect. This occurs both directly, within the country, and indirectly, in neighbouring regions such as Lesotho ‘exporting’ water for South Africa’s electricity requirements. South Africa, in turn, also acts as exporters of dirty energy, supplying 45 per cent of regional energy needs, via Eskom, to client countries.
The root causes of AMD, described as the single most dangerous threat to South Africa’s environment, began with the exploitation and occupation of South Africa as a ‘resource colony’ for the British empire. The Witwatersrand region, mined for more than 100 years, is the world’s largest gold and uranium mining basin.
According to NGO Earthlife Africa, ‘A total of 43,500 tons of gold has been removed from the Witwatersrand area’, while between the 1950s and the first democratic election, ‘a total of 73,000 tons of uranium was mined.’ The result? A gaping mine tailings dams, comprised of waste material measuring 400 square kilometres in addition to six billion tonnes of pyrite (iron sulphide), ‘one of the substances, which, when exposed to air and water, produces acid mine water’. The ‘cradle of mankind’ has already been impacted by 40 million litres of AMD. While South Africa’s agricultural sector uses ten times the water utilised by mining houses (the former is estimated to use 7,920 million m3 per annum), the costs of mitigating the AMD, externalised by mining corporations, is projected at R360-billion in specialised water treatment plants over the next 15 years.
‘Addressing acid mine drainage will be expensive, but as long as most of the mining houses are still raking in billions of rands in profits every year, how can anybody argue that “we” cannot afford to fix the problem? The argument that the mining houses of today should not be held responsible for the problems created by their predecessors over a long period of time holds water with me only up to a point,’ said Stephanie de Villiers, author of the report titled ‘H20-C02 Energy Equations for SA’, produced by the Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON) to The Africa Report magazine.
Ironically, the cost of mitigation, which has yet to be forthcoming, mirrors that of Eskom’s new coal plan, set to create 40 new mines while drawing water from three strained catchment systems: the Vaal, Orange and Limpopo systems.
South Africa represents four per cent of Africa’s mass. Over 98 per cent of the country is classified as arid or semi-arid. The country, receiving an annual run-off of 40 mm (from a world average of 266mm), is described by scientists as one of the globe’s most water scarce nations. Over 80 per cent of rainfall precipitation is lost by way of evaporation in Africa itself, the driest of the world’s seven continents, with an annual run-off of 114mm. For South Africa, the estimate is more than 90 per cent. Meanwhile, less than 10 per cent is converted to river run-offs.
AEON’s report, written by de Villiers, shoots down government’s conservative estimates that future shortages will be in the range of two to 13 per cent. According to de Villiers, water demand will exceed availability by 33 per cent in 2025. Government, said de Villiers, did not take into account the reduced availability of water from pollution, in addition to global warming.
Water resources contaminated by AMD impacts the environment, the economy, chiefly agriculture, and has devastating consequences for the country’s second largest user-base - domestic consumers. Though the agricultural industry are allegedly seriously attempting to curb inefficiencies, mining houses appear concerned solely with making a profit.
De Villiers said the body appointed to look at the problem favours neutralisation as the best solution to the problem of AMD. ‘Certainly, it will be an economically viable solution, if logistics such as the reservoirs needed for the neutralization to be carried out in (continuously over a very long period of time) can be sorted out, which seems unlikely at the moment.
‘The proposals by corporations to step in with their proposed solutions have apparently been shot down, because they wanted to sell the cleaned water back to Rand Water, making a profit in the process.
‘I’m not sure why mining houses are allowed to pollute while making a profit, and corporations who want to clean up are apparently expected to do so without the benefit of making a profit,’ she said.
De Villiers was perplexed that government had not taken advantage of these circumstances to establish a state-owned enterprise that would have the potential to generate revenue that could be ploughed back into the state, claiming that government was bogged down by politics.
As predicted by hydrologist Garfield Krige in 1998, the Western Basin began decanting in 2002. leaching 15 mega litres per day. Meanwhile, the Central Basin may begin decanting at 60 mega litres per day within two and a half years, and the Eastern Basin, 82 mega litres per day in three years, once pumping ceases. Moreover, exploitation of gold resources (95 per cent exhausted) will no longer be viable if externalities or hidden costs are taken into account.
But it seems that mining corporations seeking closure certificates (exonerating companies from ecological liabilities) may have found a solution: through a reverse listing on the AIM board of the London Stock Exchange (under the umbrella of Watermark Global PLC), the Western Utilities Corporation will provide mining houses - the primary ‘owners’ of the initiative - to obtain both closure certificates as well as sell ‘treated’ water to 11 million consumers in Johannesburg via Rand Water.
‘The WUC deal will give all of the mine owners their closure certificates, and because of the way that government has fumbled the ball, it will also give them a guaranteed 16 per cent return on investment (much larger than many operating mines enjoy),” said Dr Anthony Turton, a water management and hydropolitics specialist suspended from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) over a presentation on the looming water crisis.
In an interview with The Africa Report, Turton said that not only will mines evade the legal minimum requirement of the ‘polluter pays principle’ but also profit from it. ‘What’s more, that profit is all but guaranteed, because it will be underwritten by the state in the form of a mooted Public Private Partnership (PPP),’ he said. The deal allows for mining houses to access a R3.5-billion deal with no tendering process, as well as select ‘treatment’ that was described by Turton as the ‘least cost option’ via a process shrouded in secrecy, enabling the WUC to act as both consultant and reviewer.
Meanwhile, the government directive on the issue of AMD was significantly influenced by mining companies like Rand Uranium, who claimed that while the company would ‘comply with directives…there were aspects that were unachievable, and you can’t be expected to do something that is unachievable. And hence we have been working very closely with the department to get the directive and regulation around the water treatment plant to be achievable.’ (Rand Uranium CEO John Munro as told to Carte Blanche).
According to the hydrologist Garfield Krige, as told to Carte Blanche, the leniency of the directive was similar to that of raising the speed limit to 200km/h to accommodate speeders.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is being published in English and in French.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Energy saving light bulbs contain cancer causing chemicals
By Victoria Ward
Fears have been reignited about the safety of energy saving light bulbs after a group of scientists warned that they contain cancer causing chemicals.
Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on.
Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment.”
The bulbs are already widely used in the UK following EU direction to phase out traditional incandescent lighting by the end of this year.
But the German scientists claimed that several carcinogenic chemicals and toxins were released when the environmentally-friendly compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were switched on, including phenol, naphthalene and styrene.
Andreas Kirchner, of the Federation of German Engineers, said: “Electrical smog develops around these lamps.
“I, therefore, use them only very economically. They should not be used in unventilated areas and definitely not in the proximity of the head.”
British experts insisted that more research was needed and urged consumers not to panic.
Dr Michelle Bloor, senior lecturer in Environmental Science at Portsmouth University, told the Daily Express: “Further independent studies would need to be undertaken to back up the presented German research.”
The Department for the Environment insists the bulbs are safe, despite the fact that they contain small amounts of mercury which would leak out if the glass was broken.
Advice on its website states: “Energy efficient light bulbs are not a danger to the public.
“Although they contain mercury, limited at 5mg per lamp, it cannot escape from a lamp that is intact.
“In any case, the very small amount contained in an energy efficient bulb is unlikely to cause harm even if the lamp should be broken.”
The latest report follows claims by Abraham Haim, a professor of biology at Haifa University in Israel, that the bulbs could result in higher breast cancer rates if used late at night.
He said that the bluer light that CFLs emitted closely mimicked daylight, disrupting the body's production of the hormone melatonin more than older-style filament bulbs, which cast a yellower light.
The Migraine Action Association has warned that they could trigger migraines and skin care specialists have claimed that their intense light could exacerbate a range of existing skin problems.
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