You may know that as you spend time outside on a sunny day, it improves your mood and allows your body to produce vitamin D. Some people enjoy warm weather and others appreciate the winter snow. But regardless of your preference, when the sun is out you may feel better without realizing it. Many people feel they can identify when the weather is changing. Barometric pressure is one measurement meteorologists use to describe current weather and predict future conditions.1 Barometric pressure is a measurement of atmospheric pressure, or the weight of the atmosphere above the planet. A barometer is used to measure the pressure, which is stated in units of mercury. At sea level, barometric pressure is measured as 760 mm of mercury. A barometer measures pressure of the atmosphere against the earth, so the measurement changes at different elevations. A meteorologist then uses a formula to compare barometric pressure against the reading at sea level. High pressure causes the atmosphere to drop toward the earth, reducing cloud cover and creating clear, dry conditions. Low pressure happens when the ground is warm, heating the surface air and causing it to rise. As the air expands it also cools. Since warmer air holds more water vapor than cooler air, as the air temperature drops the air condenses, leading to rain or storms. When a meteorologist predicts falling barometric pressure it suggests rain is moving into the area. Falling Barometric Pressure Creates Pressure DifferenceAs the pressure in the atmosphere rises or falls, the same thing happens to the pressure against your body. When a low barometric pressure front arrives, it may cause areas of your body to swell.2 People who suffer with chronic stress may be more attuned to weather changes. Seniors may also be more sensitive to barometric changes, as the ability to combat this challenge declines with age. So, when your elderly aunt says she can feel a storm coming in her bones, she probably can. The changes in pressure accompanying shifts in weather may have a measurable effect on joint pain and headaches. In answer to a question about headache pain, Dr. Matthew Fink, neurologist in chief at New York Presbyterian Hospital, commented to The New York Times:3
With less pressure against the body, the pressure differences may trigger headaches. As reported in a study published in the journal Internal Medicine,4 researchers enrolled 28 patients who suffered migraine headaches. They were asked to keep a diary for the course of a year, recording their headache pain. Their recordings were compared to barometric pressure data from the local meteorological observatory. The researchers found a correlation between the frequency of headaches and small reductions in atmospheric pressure, which were measured two days before and two days after headache onset. Participant diary data showed the frequency increased when the barometric pressure dropped from the day the headache occurred to the day after, and the frequency reduced as the barometric pressure rose. They concluded that pressure changes may be an exacerbating factor in migraine headaches. The authors of a second study5 found similar results, when 20 migraine headache sufferers were asked to keep an hourly pain log for 14 days. Whether there is an effect on your blood pressure measurement from the weather is still a subject of study, however. The Mayo Clinic6 writes that blood pressure typically increases in the winter months and may go up or down in reaction to abrupt changes in atmospheric pressure in the same way. In a study of the effect of temperature and barometric pressure in 333 men and women with Stage 1 high blood pressure, researchers discovered no variability associated with barometric pressure changes. They did find variability associated with temperature and concluded that cold weather could increase blood pressure variability, complicating diagnosis and management.7 Pressure and Temperature May Affect Your Joint PainIt is also common to hear people predict the weather based on changes in joint pain. Falling barometric pressure may increase the risk of joint swelling, but to date no clear association has been found to explain an increase. In one study8 of 200 participants who had knee osteoarthritis, researchers recorded daily values for temperature, barometric pressure, dew point, precipitation and relative humidity. The participants were located across the U.S. and the data were recorded for three months. The researchers found a consistent association between barometric pressure changes, ambient temperature and pain severity. This remained after the data were adjusted for age, gender, body mass index and pain medication use, including opioids. They concluded "barometric pressure and ambient temperature are independently associated with osteoarthritis knee pain severity." In a second systematic review of observational studies,9 researchers looked at the association between weather and joint pain in those suffering with rheumatoid arthritis. An overall analysis of all studies showed nearly no association between temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure and pain. However, data from two studies showed a minority of patients were influenced by one or more of the criteria. They concluded the information to date had not shown any consistent effect, yet evidence did suggest pain in some individuals was likely affected by the weather. Citizen Scientists Measure Weather and Pain RelationshipA research team from the University of Manchester10 undertook a unique data gathering study when they published a smartphone app to recruit participants. During the 12-month recruiting period, it was downloaded by 13,207 people in the U.K. Participants were asked to record daily pain intensity and GPS locations on their phone, which linked their location to local weather data. At the end of the study, the researchers had 2,658 participants included in the analysis. The data revealed that an increase in relative humidity and wind speed was associated with a higher potential for pain. The potential for pain reduced with an increase in atmospheric pressure. Temperature did not have a significant association with pain in this study. Based on the data, the effect on pain could not be explained by mood or physical activity. The team wrote the study validated that an individual's perception of their pain was associated with the weather. Opioids Are Not the Answer to Chronic PainBarometric weather changes may influence your joint pain. Turning to opioids for pain management is not the answer. Before the mid-1980s, these pain killers were not frequently prescribed, as physicians feared their patients would become dependent on highly addictive drugs. By 2017, there were 1.7 million who suffered from a substance abuse problem related to a prescription opioid painkiller. During the same year, 47,600 deaths were recorded from an opioid overdose and at least 130 died every day in 2016 and 2017 from an opioid-related overdose. Before you accept a prescription for an opioid painkiller, consider if you would use heroin to treat the type of pain you're experiencing. Opioid painkillers are essentially prescription strength, legal heroin drugs with the same addictive properties and potential to destroy your life. It is important to remember that pain is your body's way of communicating something is wrong. I recommend working with your health care provider to identify the source of it. Often if you're able to relieve the source, it can relieve the pain. Consider the following non-pharmacological options to reduce inflammation and pain long-term. Nondrug Options Lessen Pain Without Risky Side Effects• Magnesium deficiency -- Migraine headaches are one health condition associated with barometric weather changes. While the exact mechanism behind migraine headaches has not been identified, researchers have found those who suffer likely have a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium deficiency is also associated with depression, platelet aggression, serotonin receptor function and influence in the production and use of neurotransmitters. • Posture and Exercise -- Sitting for long hours contributes to tightening muscles, placing undue pressure on your lower back, hip and knee joints. Using simple strategies to strengthen your core muscles and sitting properly, you help reduce underlying mechanical reasons for joint pain. • Acupuncture and Emotional Freedom Techniques -- One of the most common uses of acupuncture is to treat pain conditions. Those undergoing acupuncture report a 50% reduction in pain, compared to 28% receiving standard treatment without acupuncture. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) work on the same principles but can be done at home or in public as needed. EFT may be used for a number of conditions, including pain, headaches, anxiety and depression. • Reduce Inflammation -- Inflammation increases the pain response. By taking steps to reduce inflammation you affect pain and your overall health. Reduce or eliminate sugar and carbohydrates, as these trigger inflammation. Gluten may speed the development of inflammation, damaging the lining of your small intestines and lead to negative effects on your joints, liver and nervous system. Your gut is vital to your immune system and the inflammatory response. You can protect your gut health by eating fermented foods and practicing intermittent fasting. Boost your production of melatonin using good sleep hygiene. This helps support your mitochondria and reduces inflammation. Consider using essential oils or turmeric to help reduce inflammation and treat pain. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/30/can-barometric-pressure-changes-increase-pain.aspx
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Boyan Slat, a young Dutch entrepreneur, and his group Ocean Cleanup have invented an ingenious collection barge to clean plastic debris from our oceans. When their barge, called System 001/B, was tested in June 2019 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — the first plastic-ridden area Slat planned to tackle — it worked successfully.1 The patch, a trash vortex between the West Coast of North America and Japan,2 is twice the size of Texas.3 During its test run in the Garbage Patch, System 001/B captured visible pieces of plastic debris — sometimes called macroplastics — large ghost nets used with commercial fishing and even microplastics in its haul.4 On the basis of challenges discovered in its test run, The Ocean Cleanup team will begin to design an improved barge to be known as System 002. And, there is more good news about The Ocean Cleanup's efforts, detailed in the video, "Boyan Slat Unveils the Ocean Cleanup Interceptor." In October, they rolled out an innovative and workable plan to turbocharge plastic cleanup efforts, pun intended.5 The group ascertained that about 80% of ocean plastic pollution comes from the world's rivers and they have developed a plan to target the 1,000 most plastic-polluting rivers with a new invention.6 The device, called the Interceptor, can collect 50,000 kilos (110,231 pounds) of plastic trash every day — equivalent to 1 million soda bottles, according to the featured video — and may collect up to 100,000 kg a day under perfect conditions.7 Two Interceptors have already been deployed — one in Jakarta, Indonesia, and one in Klang, Malaysia.8 Others are in the works. Which Rivers Need To Be Targeted?"When it rains, plastic washes from street to creek to river to ocean," Slat points out9 — a fact which seems pretty evident. But how can it be determined which specific rivers are the worst culprits and need to be targeted? After all, there are about 100,000 rivers in the world! The Ocean Cleanup created a monitoring system that can be attached to a bridge, scanning for plastic that floats by. With the use of artificial intelligence, the system allowed The Ocean Cleanup team to automatically measure how much plastic was flowing out of a river. Based on that information, they were able to create an interactive global map model, the first of its kind, that ranks rivers on the basis of the amount of plastic pollution in them. It was soon discovered that a small fraction — only 1 percent — was causing most of the pollution, says Slat in his Interceptor presentation. If 100,000 rivers were contributing to plastic pollution, the cleanup task might be overwhelming. But since a relatively small number of rivers are responsible for most of the pollution, those 1,000 plastic-polluting rivers can be targeted with the new device.10 The Interceptor Is Accepted by Other CountriesObviously, an ambitious plan to attack plastic river waste on an international scale needs the buy-in from world leaders as well as funding, and The Ocean Cleanup is securing both. Working with government leaders and private corporations, the team plans to install Interceptors in the 1,000 most-polluted rivers within the next five years.11 Those of us who are concerned about plastic pollution know that time is of the essence. In addition to the Interceptors already installed in Malaysia and Indonesia, others are planned for the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.12 Thailand has also agreed to situate an Interceptor near Bangkok. The Ocean Cleanup has not neglected the U.S., which is clearly one of the world's major producers and disposers of plastic. It is currently in talks with officials in Los Angeles county, according to the video report. Though an Interceptor costs approximately $777,000 right now, The Ocean Cleanup predicts that costs will come down as production increases.13 The Challenge of Closing the Plastic TapRiver cleanup is crucial to solving the ocean plastic problem because removing existing plastic in the ocean is not enough, says Slat in the video.14
The Ocean Cleanup doesn't want to be "the garbage collector of the oceans," says Slat, though it would be a "pretty sustainable business model." Rather, The Ocean Cleanup's goal "is to put ourselves out of business."15 Still, judging by current pollution data, it will be quite a while before The Ocean Cleanup runs out of plastic garbage to collect. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a mere 9.1% of the plastic material generated in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream was recycled in 2015, and only about 30% of plastic bottles and jars were recycled.16,17 That is why The Ocean Cleanup's campaign is so important and urgent. How Does the Interceptor Work?According to the "Boyan Slat Unveils The Ocean Cleanup Interceptor" video, the Intercept system is anchored to the riverbed and makes use of the natural flow of the river to collect plastic debris as it floats by. Its barrier guides the plastic into the mouth of the Interceptor and a conveyer belt scoops the plastic out of the water. (Slat uses scores of little yellow rubber duckies in the video to demonstrate the system's effectiveness.) To prevent clogging, the belt has been made to be permeable and behind it is a flow channel that creates a suction effect.18 After the plastic has been funneled into the Intercept, the conveyer places the plastic in the "shuttle," a basket on wheels, which distributes the plastic across six dumpsters, sensing which ones are full or empty. Each dumpster can hold 50 cubic meters (1,765 cubic feet) of trash. When the dumpsters are full, the Interceptor signals through its internet-linked, onboard computer to local operators to bring a boat for towing the full barge so the plastic can be emptied and recycled.19 While the barge is removed from the river for emptying, the shuttle can still collect plastic, says Slat. The Interceptor's Environmentally Sensitive FeaturesWhen you look at the Interceptor's features, it is clear The Ocean Cleanup team has thought through all the potential problems that could come from such a system including its environmental toll. For example, even though the Interceptor's floating barrier directs garbage into the system, it will usually only span part of the river so it will not interfere with the movement of wildlife and the safe passage of vessels. The Interceptor is able to do this because The Ocean Cleanup discovered through sensors that at certain points in many rivers, "all the plastic is flowing through this very narrow band," says Slat. This removes the need for the Interceptor to span the whole width of the river.20 Next, the Interceptor is powered by solar panels and onboard lithium-ion batteries that enable it to operate day and night with no human operator, and without noise or exhaust fumes.21 Finally, the nose of the Interceptor has been engineered to deflect large objects like trees that could enter the unit and harm the machinery. And, because the Interceptor is designed like a catamaran sailboat, it has a low center of gravity and is very unlikely to tip over. "It will stay upright no matter what," Slat says. Is the Interceptor Cost Effective?The key metric to determine if a plastic cleanup method is practical is the cost per kilogram of plastic collected, says Slat. Because of the Interceptor's effectiveness and the fact that it is a "series produced product," it offers the lowest cost for such removal. But there is another metric through which the Interceptor's costs should be analyzed, says Slat, and that is the cost to tourism and fisheries in coastal countries of doing nothing about plastic waste. Countries are "losing money every day" that they do not invest in plastic removal, he says. Dramatic before and after pictures of plastic-polluted and cleaned rivers during his presentation underscore the urgency of tackling plastic waste and the feasibility of deploying the Interceptor. Plastic pollution take a huge toll on marine life, which often mistake the plastic bits for food. Chemicals used to make plastics disrupt hormones, embryonic development and gene expression, and are linked, in humans, to obesity, heart disease and cancer. It is estimated that humans are now eating, swallowing or breathing in about 2,000 pieces of microplastic a week, equal to the weight of one credit card.22 What Can You Do About Plastic Pollution?While technology like the Interceptor is an encouraging step forward, each and every one of us has a responsibility and share the burden for putting an end to plastic pollution. Below is a sampling of strategies that can help:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/30/the-interceptor.aspx Focusing on gratitude has become a growing trend in recent years,1 and for good reason. There’s a lot of stress, illness and unhappiness in the world, and gratitude is an effective remedy for all of these — and it’s free. For example, research shows that gratitude:2,3,4,5
Gratitude DefinedAs explained by Harvard Medical School:24
According to one study,25 gratitude is “uniquely important to psychological well-being.” In teenagers, gratitude has been found to correlate with “positive affect, global and domain specific life satisfaction, optimism, social support and prosocial behavior.”26 It’s even been suggested that gratitude practice and cultivation can be used as a psychotherapeutic intervention with positive effect.27 Finding What WorksAs psychologist Laurie Santos, who teaches the science of happiness at Yale, told NPR,28 "It's one of the practices that really wins out from the field of positive psychology, because it takes very little time, and the benefits are so powerful." As noted by Harvard,29 there are many ways to feel and express gratitude, and all are equally valid. You can think back to positive memories, for example, applying gratitude for past blessings. Feeling and expressing gratitude in the present helps remind you to not take good fortune for granted. Applied to the future, it becomes an expression of hope and optimism that everything will work out for the best, even if you cannot see the road ahead. For best results, the key is to find a method that feels meaningful to you. For some, writing a gratitude list first thing in the morning might do the trick. For others, quietly contemplating what you’re grateful for — past, present or future — at the end of each day works better. One particularly potent strategy is to write a letter of gratitude to someone whom you’ve not properly thanked for their kindness, and to hand deliver the letter to them. In one study,30,31 doing this resulted in an immediate and significant increase in happiness score that lasted for an entire month. When Gratitude Is a StruggleDepending on circumstances, gratitude can sometimes be a struggle. Researchers say the best way to overcome this hurdle (which can trigger even more pessimism or guilt) is to find one tiny little thing to be grateful for, and to focus on that one thing. Maybe you’ve lost your job and your car was repossessed but — thankfully — there’s a bus stop within easy walking distance. Over time, you’ll find it becomes easier to identify additional things to be thankful for.32 Another way to flex your gratitude muscle when life events leave you uninspired is to identify and express gratitude for seemingly “useless” or insignificant things. It could be a certain smell in the air, the color of a flower, your child’s freckles or the curvature of a stone. Over time, you’ll find that doing this will help home your ability to identify “good” things in your life. Materialism and Entitlement — Two Common Blocks to GratitudeAccording to Robert Emmons, one of the leading scientific experts on gratitude,33 materialism and entitlement are two common stumbling blocks to gratitude, so if you cannot find anything to be thankful for, consider whether you might have fallen into one of these traps. As explained in a newsletter by Greater Good Science Center:34
If entitlement is the hallmark of narcissism, then humility is the antidote and the answer when you struggle with gratitude. As noted by Emmons, “The humble person says that life is a gift to be grateful for, not a right to be claimed. Humility ushers in a grateful response to life.”35 So, gratitude isn’t a response to receiving “your due,” but rather the recognition that life owes you nothing, yet provided you with everything you have anyway — a place to live, family, friends, work, your eyesight, your breath, indeed your very life. When you start seeing everything as a gift, opposed to things you’ve deserved (for better or worse), your sense of gratitude will begin to swell. How to Build and Strengthen GratitudeWhile keeping a daily gratitude journal is highly recommended, there are many other ways to practice gratitude. I’ve compiled suggestions from various experts below. The key is to stay consistent. Find a way to incorporate your chosen method into each week, and stick with it.
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/28/effects-of-gratitude-on-health.aspx
Agave plants (the best known of which are blue agave, used to produce tequila), along with nitrogen-fixing, companion trees such as mesquite, huizache, desert ironwood, wattle and varieties of acacia that readily grow alongside agave, are among the most common and prolific, yet routinely denigrated or ignored plants in the world. As India climate scientist Promode Kant points out:
Agave plants and nitrogen-fixing trees densely intercropped and cultivated together have the capacity to draw down massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and produce more above ground and below ground biomass (and animal fodder) on a continuous year-to-year basis than any other desert and semi-desert species. Ideal for arid and hot climates, agaves and their companion trees, once established, require little or no irrigation to survive and thrive, and are basically impervious to rising global temperatures and drought. Agaves alone can draw down and store above ground the dry weight equivalent of 30 to 60 tons of CO2 per hectare (12 to 24 tons per acre) per year. One hectare equals 10,000 square meters or 2.47 acres. Now, a new, agave-based agroforestry and livestock feeding model developed in Guanajuato, Mexico, promises to revitalize campesino/small farmer livestock production while storing massive amounts of atmospheric carbon above and below ground. Scaled up on millions of currently degraded and overgrazed rangelands, these agave/agroforestry systems have the potential to not only improve soil and pasture health, but to help mitigate and potentially reverse global warming, aka climate change. Climate EmergencyAs international scientists, activists and our own everyday experience tell us, we are facing a Climate Emergency. A “profit at any cost,” fossil fuel-supercharged economy, coupled with industrial agriculture and factory farms, destructive land use and mindless consumption have pumped a dangerous load of CO2 and greenhouse gas pollution into the sky, bringing on global warming and violent climate change. Degenerative food, farming, livestock and land use practices have decarbonized and killed off much of the biological life and natural carbon-sequestering capacity of our soils, forests and ecosystems. This degradation and desertification of global landscapes has oxidized and released billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and eliminated much of the above ground carbon biomass once stored in our forests and landscapes. This global degeneration has depleted so much of the carbon and biological life in our soils, trees and plants that these natural systems can no longer draw down and sequester (through natural photosynthesis) enough of the excess CO2 and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to maintain the necessary balance between CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the carbon stored in our soils, trees and plants. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) estimates that arid and semi-arid lands make up 41.3% of the earth's land surface, including 15% of Latin America (most of Mexico), 66% of Africa, 40% of Asia and 24% of Europe. Farmers and herders in these areas face tremendous challenges because of increasing droughts, erratic rainfall, degraded soils, overgrazed pastures and water scarcity. Many areas are in danger of degenerating even further into desert, unable to sustain any crops or livestock whatsoever. Most of the world’s drylands are located in the economically underdeveloped regions of the Global South, although there are millions of acres of drylands in the U.S., Australia and Southern Europe as well. Farming, ranching and ecosystem conservation are becoming increasingly problematic in these drylands, especially given the fact that the majority of the farms and ranches in these areas do not have irrigation wells or year-round access to surface water. Crop and livestock production levels are deteriorating, trees and perennials have typically been removed or seasonally burned, and pastures and rangelands have been overgrazed. Poverty, unemployment and malnutrition in these degraded landscapes are rampant, giving rise to violence, organized crime and forced migration The good news, however, coming out of Mexico, applicable to many other regions, is that if farmers and ranchers can stop overgrazing pastures and rangelands and eliminate slash and burn practices, and instead reforest, revegetate, rehydrate and recarbonize depleted soils, integrating traditional and indigenous water catchment, agroforestry, livestock and land management practices with agave-based agroforestry, we may well be able to green the drylands and store and sequester massive amounts of carbon. Via Organica, the ‘Organic Way’After decades as a food, farm, anti-GMO and climate campaigner for the Organic Consumers Association in the U.S., I now spend a good part of my time managing an organic and regenerative farm and training center, Via Organica, in the high-desert drylands of North Central Mexico. Our semi-arid, temporal (seasonal rainfall) ecosystem and climate in the state of Guanajuato is similar to what you find in many parts of Mexico, and in fact in 40% of the world. In our valley, we typically get 20 inches or 500 millimeters of precipitation in the “rainy season” (July to October), greening the landscape, followed by eight months with little or no rain whatsoever. At Rancho Via Organica, we’ve been trying to regenerate our high-desert (6,300 feet elevation) environment, developing farming, livestock and landscape management practices that produce healthy organic food and seeds, sequester carbon in the soil, preserve our monte or natural densely-vegetated areas, slow down and infiltrate rainwater (including runoff coming down the mountains and hillsides) to recharge our water table, and reforest and revegetate our still somewhat degraded corn fields and pasturelands. Looking across our mountain valley, the most prominent flora are cactus and agave plants (some of which are quite large) along with hundreds of thorny, typically undersized, mesquite, huizache and acacia shrubs/trees. In order to grow our vegetables and cover crops, maintain our olive, mulberry, citrus and pomegranate trees, and provide water and forage for our animals, we — like most small farmers and ranchers in Mexico — irrigate with only the rainfall that we can collect and store in cisterns, ponds and soils. Eighty-six percent of Mexican farmers and herders have no source of water other than seasonal rainfall, and therefore have to struggle to maintain their milpas (corn, beans and squash) and raise their animals under increasingly adverse climate conditions. Greening the Drylands: A New Agroforestry ModelRecently Juan Frias, a retired college professor and scientist, came up to me after attending a workshop at our farm. As we discussed regenerative agriculture practices and climate change, Juan told me about a new system of drylands agroforestry and livestock management (sheep and goats), based upon agave plants and mesquite trees in the nearby community of San Luis de la Paz. They call their agroforestry system Modelo Zamarripa.3 By densely planting, pruning and intercropping high-biomass, high-forage producing, fast-growing species of agaves (1,600 to 2,000 per hectare) amongst preexisting deep-rooted, nitrogen-fixing tree species such as mesquite, or among planted tree seedlings, these farmers are transforming their landscape and their livelihoods. When the agaves are 3 years old, and for the following five to seven years, farmers can begin pruning the leaves or pencas, chopping them up finely with a machine, and then fermenting the agave in closed containers for 30 days, ideally combining the agave leaves with 20% or more of mesquite pods by volume to give them a higher protein level. In our region mesquite trees start to produce pods that can be harvested in five years. By Year Seven the mesquite and agaves have grown into a fairly dense forest. In years eight to 10, the root stem or pina (weighing 100 to 200 pounds) of the agave is ready for harvesting to produce a distilled liquor called mescal. Meanwhile the hijuelos or pups put out by the mother agave plants are being continuously transplanted back into the agroforestry system, guaranteeing continuous biomass growth (and carbon storage). In their agroforestry system, the Zamarripa farmers integrate rotational grazing of sheep and goats across their ranch, supplementing the pasture forage their animals consume with the fermented agave silage. Modelo Zamarippa has proven in practice to be ideal for sheep and goats, and we are now experimenting at Via Organica with feeding agave silage to our pastured pigs and poultry. The revolutionary innovation of these Guanajuato farmers has been to turn a heretofore indigestible, but massive and accessible source of biomass — the agave leaves — into a valuable animal feed, using the natural process of fermentation to transform the plants’ indigestible saponin and lectin compounds into digestible carbohydrates and fiber. To do this they have developed a relatively simple machine, hooked up to a tractor, that can finely chop up the tough leaves of the agave. After chopping the agave, the next step is to anaerobically ferment the biomass in a closed container (we use 5-gallon buckets with lids). The fermented end-product, after 30 days, provides a nutritious but very inexpensive silage or animal fodder (in comparison to alfalfa, hay or cornstalks) that costs less than 1 Mexican peso (or approximately 5 cents USD) per kilo (2.2 pounds) to produce. According to Frias, lambs readily convert 10 kilos of this silage into 1 kilo of body weight. At less than 5 cents per kilo (2 cents per pound) agave silage could potentially make the difference between survival and bankruptcy for millions of the world’s small farmers and herders. Agaves and Carbon Storage and SequestrationThe Zamarripa system of drylands afforestation and silvopasture draws down and stores in the plants large quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. Agronomists have observed that certain varieties of agave can produce up to 43 tons per hectare of dry weight biomass per year, on a continuous basis.4 These high biomass varieties of agave will likely thrive in many of the world’s arid ecosystems, wherever any type of agave and nitrogen-fixing trees are already growing. Nitrogen-fixing trees such as mesquite can be found in most arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Mesquite grows readily not only in Texas and the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, Central America, Argentina, Chile and other Latin American nations, but also “thrives in arid and semi-arid regions of North America, Africa, the Middle East, Tunisia, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Russia, Hawaii, West Indies, Puerto Rico and Australia.”5 At Via Organica, outside San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato,6 we are utilizing moveable, solar-fenced paddocks for our grazing sheep and goats in order to protect our mesquite tree seedlings, to prevent overgrazing or undergrazing, to eliminate dead grasses and invasive species, and to concentrate animal feces and urine across the landscape in a controlled manner. At the same time that we are rotating and moving our livestock on a daily basis, we are transplanting, pruning, finely chopping and fermenting the heavy biomass leaves or pencas of agave salmiana plants. Some individual agave pencas or leaves can weigh (wet) as much as 20 kilos or 44 pounds. The bountiful harvest of this regenerative, high-biomass, high carbon-sequestering system will eventually include not only extremely low-cost, nutritious animal silage, but also high-quality organic lamb, mutton, cheese, milk, aquamiel (agave sap), pulque (a mildly alcoholic beverage) and distilled agave liquor (mescal), all produced organically and biodynamically with no synthetic chemicals or pesticides whatsoever, at affordable prices, with excess agave biomass and fiber available for textiles, compost, biochar and construction materials. Massive Potential Carbon DrawdownFrom a climate crisis perspective, the Modelo Zamarripa is a potential game-changer. Forty-three tons of above-ground dry weight biomass production on a continuing basis per hectare per year ranks among the highest rates of drawing down and storing atmospheric carbon in plants in the world, apart from healthy forests. Imagine the carbon sequestration potential if rural farmers and pastoralists can establish agave-based agroforestry systems over the next decade on just 10% of the worlds 5 billion degraded acres (500 million acres), areas unsuited for crop production, but areas where agave plants and suitable native nitrogen-fixing companion tress (such as acacia varieties in Africa) are already growing. Conservatively estimating an above-ground biomass carbon storage rate of 10 tons of carbon per acre per year on these 500 million acres, (counting both agave and companion trees, aboveground and below ground biomass) we would then be able to cumulatively sequester 5 billion tons of carbon (18 billion gigatons of CO2e) from the atmosphere every year. Five billion tons of additional carbon sequestered in the Earth’s soils and biota equals nearly 50% of all human greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. More Background on AgavesTo better understand the potential of this agroforestry/holistic grazing system, a little more background information on agave plants, and nitrogen-fixing or trees such as mesquite, huizache or other fodder and food producing trees such as inga or moringa may be useful. Various varieties of agave plants (along with their cactus relatives and companion nitrogen-fixing trees) are found growing on approximately 20% of the earth’s lands, essentially on the half of the world’s drylands where there is a minimum annual rainfall of approximately 10 inches or 250 mm, where the temperature never drops below 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Kant has described the tremendous biomass production and carbon-storage potential of agaves in dry areas:
Agaves, of which there are 200 or more varieties growing across the world, can thrive even in dry, degraded lands unsuitable for crop production because of their Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway (cacti and other related desert plants also have a CAM pathway) that essentially enables these plants to draw down moisture from the air and store it in their thick tough leaves during the nighttime, while the opening in their leaves (the stomata) close up during daylight hours, drastically reducing evaporation. Meanwhile, its relatively shallow mycorrhizal fungi-powered roots below the soil surface spread out horizontally, taking in available moisture and nutrients from the topsoil, especially during the rainy season. In addition, its propagation of baby plants or pups, (up to 50 among some varieties) that grow out of its horizontal roots makes the plant a self-reproducing perennial, able to sustain high biomass growth, and carbon-storage and sequestration on a long-term basis. Even as a maturing agave plant is pruned beginning in Year Three (to produce fermented silage) and the entire mature agave plant (the pina) is harvested at the end of its life span, in order to make mescal, in our case after eight to 10 years, it leaves behind a family of pups that are carrying out photosynthesis and producing biomass (leaves and stem) at an equal or greater rate than the parent plant. In other words, a very high level of above-ground carbon storage and below-ground sequestration can be maintained year after year — all with no irrigation and no synthetic fertilizers or chemicals required, if intercropped in conjunction with nitrogen-fixing tree such as mesquite, huizache, inga, moringa or other dryland species such as the acacias that grow in arid or semi-arid areas. Agaves and a number of their tree companions have been used as sources of food, beverage and fiber by indigenous societies for hundreds, in fact thousands of years. However, until recently farmers had not been able to figure out how to utilize the massive biomass of the agave plant leaves which, unless they are fermented, are basically indigestible and even harmful to livestock. In fact, this is why, besides the thorns and thick skins of the leaves, animals typically will not, unless starving, eat them. But once their massive leaves (which contain significant amounts of sugar) are chopped up and fermented in closed containers, livestock, after a short period of adjustment, will gobble up this sweet, nutritious forage like candy. Developing a native species/agroforestry/livestock system on 5 million to 10 million acres of land unsuitable for food crops in a large country like Mexico (which has 357 million acres of cropland and pastureland, much of which is degraded) could literally sequester 37% to 74% of the country’s net current fossil fuel emissions (current net emissions are 492m tons of CO2e). And, of course, wherever these agave/agroforestry/holistic grazing systems are deployed, farmers and ranchers will also be restoring the fertility and moisture holding capacity of millions of acres of pasturelands and rangelands, thereby promoting rural food self-sufficiency and prosperity. Scaling up best regenerative practices on the world’s billions of acres of croplands, pasturelands and forest lands — especially those degraded lands no longer suitable for crops or grazing — can play a major role, along with moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, in stopping and reversing climate change. For more information on the global Regeneration Movement go to Regeneration International. Please sign up for our free newsletter and, if you can afford it, make a tax-deductible donation to help us spread the message of Regenerative Agriculture and Agave Power across the world. “Our house is on fire,” as teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg reminds us, but there is still time to turn things around. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/27/agave-based-agroforestry-can-help-stop-global-warming.aspx The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 published their first Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report in 2013. The intention was to sound the alarm to the dangers of antibiotic resistance that experts had been warning about for decades. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are also called superbugs. The resistance occurs as bacteria adapt to chemicals and drugs in the environment. This may make standards of treatment for bacterial infections less effective, and in the case of superbugs, ineffective. The term “superbug” was initially coined by the media, but Dr. Stephen Calderwood, who serves as president for the Infectious Diseases Society of America says,2 “It resonates because it's scary. But In fairness, there is no real definition.” The medical term is multidrug-resistant bacteria, referring to bacteria unaffected by two or more types of antibiotics. Brian Coombes, Ph.D., head of the department of biochemistry and biomedical science at McMaster University in Ontario speaks to the widespread impact antibiotic resistance has on public health, saying:3
More Dying From Superbugs Than Earlier EstimatesIn their first report, the CDC estimated there were 2 million antibiotic-resistant infections reported in 2013, accounting for 23,000 deaths.4 The recently released report includes data not available in 2013, including electronic health records. Writers of the 2019 report calculate the 2013 data missed nearly half of the cases and deaths.5 According to the new estimates 3 million each year are infected and 35,000 die. Put another way, on average, every 11 seconds someone in the U.S. is infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, and someone dies every 15 minutes. Other researchers believe even this estimate is too low and the true number of infections is likely much higher.6 Dr. Jason Burnham is an infectious disease specialist at Washington University. He and two colleagues surveyed data from 2010, expanding the definition of antibiotic resistant deaths. The lower limit of their estimate of people who died in 2010 as the result of an antibiotic resistant bacterial infection is 153,113. The team believes their estimate indicates a need for better surveillance and reporting to address this crucial issue and establish a more accurate estimate of the burden of the infection, which may open more avenues for research funding. As indicated in the CDC report, hospitals have improved tracking methods and slowed the spread of resistant germs by nearly 30% since 2013.7 Additionally, they identified a secondary infection linked to antibiotic use, Clostridioides difficile (C. diff). This infection triggers deadly diarrhea after antibiotics upset the natural balance of bacteria in the digestive system. If deaths from C. diff are added to the CDC 2019 totals, more than 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths may be attributed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These numbers are likely still a conservative estimate of the damage that could be attributed to multidrug-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic Resistance Is an Evolving ChallengeAccording to The Washington Post, the CDC identified five germs representing the most urgent threat. The first three are well-known. They include carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), C. diff and drug-resistant gonorrhea. Each of these are resistant to nearly all antibiotics physicians have used to treat them, and statistics show they kill up to 50% of those who become septic. Further, these bacteria have the ability to transfer their resistance to related bacteria. This may potentially increase the number and species of bacteria that are antibiotic-resistant. Two new pathogens were added to the list. The first is a yeast called Candida auris, which the CDC8 refers to as an “emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat.” The second is carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter bacteria, which the CDC reports is resistant to nearly all antibiotics. The new report added a classification of pathogens to watch, in which they placed 18 germs with the potential to spread further resistance. The comparison in the 2013 and 2019 data drives home what experts have warned for decades — bacteria continue to evolve and mutate, developing the ability to fight off different types of antibiotics. As more antibiotics are used in agriculture and health care, they become less effective. Developing Superbugs Spurred by Antibiotic OveruseThe CDC report links misuse of antibiotics to the impressive rise in resistant infections. In another study9 by the CDC, researchers stated at least 30% of antibiotics prescribed in the U.S. are unnecessary. Antibiotics used in physician offices and emergency rooms were analyzed, and the data revealed most of the unnecessary antibiotics were used for respiratory conditions triggered by viruses. Put another way, 30% of the antibiotics prescribed in the U.S. equals 47 million prescriptions each year, placing patients at risk for allergic reaction or C. diff infections. In some cases, antibiotics are prescribed proactively, as in the case of erythromycin eye ointment in newborns to prevent ophthalmia neonatorum from gonorrhea and chlamydia.10 The antibiotic is not used universally throughout the U.S. or Europe to prophylactically treat infant pink eye since mothers who receive prenatal care are screened for gonorrhea and chlamydia and treated before the birth of their child. The issue with treatment of all babies is that 25% of all gonorrhea is now resistant to erythromycin. Despite the fact the American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends the universal use of eye ointment, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force extended the 2011 recommendations citing a lack of prenatal care for many in the U.S. Dr. David Hyun from the Antibiotic Resistance Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts commented on the rising number of antibiotic resistant bacteria:11
Although overly prescribed antibiotics play a significant role in the development of superbugs, there are other large agrochemical contributors as well. A major source of human consumption of antibiotics comes from agricultural use. One CDC report12 showed livestock antibiotics have played a role in the development of resistant bacteria. In 2013, estimates of antibiotic use on livestock accounted for 80% of all antibiotic use in the U.S.13 In a report in 2018,14 the FDA noted a 28% reduction in the sales and distribution of antibiotics earmarked for livestock since the FDA first compiled evidence in 2009. Pesticide use also contributes to the development of multidrug-resistant bacteria, as I discussed in “Pesticides Compound Antibiotic Resistance.” The bottom line is, bacteria are affected by any chemical they contact and develop resistance up to 100,000 times faster after exposure to certain herbicides, like glyphosate or dicamba. Hospital-Acquired Infections May Decline With Copper BedsHospital beds are another source of infection. Whether you have a planned or unplanned hospital admission, it should never be taken lightly. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that if the person who occupied the bed before you was prescribed antibiotics, you had a greater potential for contracting C. diff. More than 100,000 pairs of hospitalized individuals were compared from 2010 to 2015. When the previous occupants of a bed received antibiotics, the patient who used the bed after them had a 22% greater risk of developing C. diff. However, the authors of one study show that switching to copper bed frames may reduce that number significantly.15 In the new study, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, it’s reported that copper beds in an intensive care unit had 95% fewer bacteria than traditional hospital beds. According to one of the scientists from the Medical University of South Carolina:16
Hospital beds are a source of nosocomial infection, or infections originating from a hospital source. Candida auris, one of the two new pathogens identified in the CDC report, are an intractable threat faced by hospitals, and have been found on hospital beds. The findings from the study with copper beds indicate they may help infection control efforts and reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections. After the death of one man at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York from Candida auris, the hospital had to use special equipment to clean the room. The hospital president commented:
Know This Treatment if Infection Leads to SepsisThe CDC recommends using basic precautions to halt the spread of pathogens, including washing your hands when needed and using a good handwashing technique. Dr. Helen Boucher, chief of infectious diseases at Tufts Medical Center, commented on the need to prepare for multidrug-resistant bacteria:17
One medical treatment you must be aware of is a combination therapy of vitamin C, thiamine and steroids to improve your potential for survival from sepsis — a last-ditch effort by your immune system to fight an infection. Every year 1 million people suffer from sepsis and nearly half will die. Dr. Paul Marik, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in East Virginia, made the discovery while treating a patient with sepsis. Despite the treatment being harmless (it doesn’t make the patient any worse than they are) and a demonstrated reduction in mortality rates in his hospital from 40% to 8.5%, many practitioners continue to wait on further studies. It is important to recognize the signs and symptoms of sepsis early, as early treatment also increases the potential for survival. To learn more about sepsis and the treatment that could save the life of someone you know, see my past article, “Vitamin C Lowers Mortality in Severe Sepsis.” from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/27/deadly-superbugs.aspx Google, by far one of the greatest monopolies that ever existed, and poses a unique threat to anyone concerned about health, supplements, food and your ability to obtain truthful information about these and other issues. This year, we’ve seen an unprecedented push to implement censorship across all online platforms, making obtaining and sharing crucial information about holistic health increasingly difficult. As detailed in “Stark Evidence Showing How Google Censors Health News,” Google’s June 2019 update, which took effect June 3, effectively removed Mercola.com and hundreds of other natural health sites from Google search results. Google is also building a specific search tool for medical and health-related searches.1 And, while not the sole threat to privacy, Google is definitely one of the greatest. Over time, Google has positioned itself in such a way that it’s become deeply embedded in your day-to-day life, including your health. In recent years, the internet and medicine have become increasingly intertwined, giving rise to “virtual medicine” and self-diagnosing — a trend that largely favors drugs and costly, invasive treatments — and Google has its proverbial fingers in multiple slices of this pie. Health Data Mining Poses Unique Privacy RisksFor example, in 2016, Google partnered with WebMD, launching an app allowing users to ask medical questions.2 The following year, Google partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, launching a depression self-assessment quiz which turned out to be little more than stealth marketing for antidepressants.3,4 Google and various tech startups have also been investigating the possibility of assessing mental health problems using a combination of electronic medical records and tracking your internet and social media use. In 2018, Google researchers announced they’d created an artificial intelligence-equipped retinal scanner that can appraise your risk for a heart attack.5 According to a recent Financial Times report,6 Google, Amazon and Microsoft collect data entered into health and diagnostic sites, which is then shared with hundreds of third parties — and this data is not anonymized, meaning it’s tied to specifically to you, without your knowledge or consent. What this means is DoubleClick, Google’s ad service, will know which prescriptions you’ve searched for on Drugs.com, thus providing you with personalized drug ads. Meanwhile, Facebook receives information about what you’ve searched for in WebMD’s symptom checker. “There is a whole system that will seek to take advantage of you because you’re in a compromised state,” Tim Lebert, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University told Financial Times.7 “I find that morally repugnant.” While some find these kinds of technological advancements enticing, others see a future lined with red warning flags. As noted by Wolfie Christl, a technologist and researcher interviewed by Financial Times:8
The following graphic, created by Financial Times, illustrates the flow of data from BabyCenter.com, a site that focuses on pregnancy, children’s health and parenting, to third parties, and the types of advertising these third parties then generate. Tech Companies Are Accessing Your Medical RecordsAs described in the featured Wall Street Journal video,9 a number of tech companies, including Amazon, Apple and the startup Xealth, are diving into people’s personal electronic medical records to expand their businesses. Xealth has developed an application that is embedded in your electronic health records. Doctors who use the Xealth application — which aims to serve most health care sectors and is being rapidly adopted as a preferred “digital formulary”10 — give the company vast access to market products to their patients. The app includes lists of products and services a doctor believes might be beneficial for certain categories of patients. When seeing a patient, the doctor will select the products and services he or she wants the patient to get, generating an electronic shopping list that is then sent to the patient. The shopping links direct the patient to purchase these items from Xealth’s third-party shopping sites, such as Amazon. As noted in the video, “Some privacy experts worry that certain Xealth vendors can see when a patient purchased a product through Xealth, and therefore through their electronic health record.” In the video, Jennifer Miller, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine says:
Amazon Is Mining Health RecordsAmazon, in turn, has developed software, called Amazon Comprehend Medical, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to mine people’s electronic health records. This software has been sold to hospitals, pharmacies, researchers and various other health care providers. The software reveals medical and health trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. As one example, given in the video, a researcher can use this software to mine tens of thousands of health records to identify candidates for a specific research study. While this can certainly be helpful, it can also be quite risky, due to potential inaccuracies. Doctors may enter inaccurate data for a patient, for example, data that, were it accurate, would render that patient a poor test subject. Apple is also getting in on the action through its health app. It facilitates access to electronic medical records by importing all your records directly from your health care provider. The app is meant to be “helpful” by allowing you to pull up your medical records on your iPhone and present them to any doctor, anywhere in the world. What Does This Mean for Your PrivacyWhile tech companies like Amazon and Apple claim your data are encrypted (to protect it from hacking) and that they cannot view your records directly, data breaches have become so common that such “guarantees” are next to worthless. As noted in the video by Dudley Adams, a data use expert at the University of California, San Francisco, “No encryption is perfect. All it takes is time for that encryption to be broken.” One very real concern about having your medical records hacked into is that your information may be sold to insurance companies and your employer, which they can then use against you, either by raising your rates or denying employment. After all, sick people cost insurance companies and employers more money, so both have a vested interest in avoiding chronically ill individuals. So, were your medical records to get out, you could potentially become uninsurable or unemployable. Google Collects Health Data on Millions of AmericansGetting back to Google, a whistleblower recently revealed the company amassed health data from millions of Americans in 21 states through its Project Nightingale,11,12 and patients have not been informed of this data mining. As reported by The Guardian:13
The anonymous whistleblower told The Guardian:
On a side note, the video the whistleblower uploaded to Daily Motion has since been taken down, with a note saying the “video has been removed due to a breach of the Terms of Use.” According to Google and Ascension, the data being shared will be used to build a search tool with machine-learning algorithms that will spit out diagnostic recommendations and suggestions for medications that health professionals can then use to guide them in their treatment. Google claims only a limited number of individuals will have access to the data, but just how trustworthy is Google these days? Something tells me that since the data includes full personal details, they’ll have no problem figuring out a way to eventually make full use of it. Google Acquires FitbitIn November 2019, the company also acquired Fitbit for $2.1 billion, giving Google access to the health data of Fitbit’s 25.4 million active users14 as well. While Google says it won’t sell or use Fitbit data for Google ads, some users have already ditched their devices for fear of privacy breaches.15 As reported by The Atlantic on November 14, 2019:16
How HIPAA Laws Actually Allow This Data MiningThe HIPAA Security Rule is supposed to protect your medical records, preventing access by third parties — including spouses — unless you specifically give your permission for records to be shared. So, just how is it that Google and other tech companies can mine them at will? As it turns out, the Google-Ascension partnership that gives Google access to medical data is covered by a “business associate agreement” or BAA. HIPAA allows hospitals and medical providers to share your information with third parties that support clinical activities, and according to Google’s interpretation of the privacy laws and HIPAA regulations, the company is not in breach of these laws because it’s a “business associate.” The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the legality of this arrangement.17 As reported by The Atlantic:18
Patients Bear the Risk While Third Parties BenefitBAA agreements only allow for the disclosure of protected health information to entities that help the medical institution to perform its health care functions. The third party is not permitted to use the data for its own purposes or in any independent way. I personally find it hard to believe that Google would not find a way to profit from this personal health data, considering its web-like business structure that ties into countless other for-profit parties. Even if they don’t, there does not appear to be any distinct advantages to patients whose records are being shared. As reported by STAT News:19
As reported by Health IT Security20 in March 2019, Democratic senator of Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto, has also introduced a data privacy bill “that would require companies not covered by HIPAA to obtain explicit consent from patients before sharing health and genetic data.”
Google Partnership Spurs Class-Action LawsuitThe fact that patients don’t want Google to access their medical records is evidenced by a class-action lawsuit filed in the summer of 2019 against the University of Chicago Medical Center which, like Ascension, allowed Google access to identifiable patient data through a partnership with the University of Chicago. As reported by WTTW News June 28, 2019:22
Like Ascension, the University of Chicago claims no confidentiality breaches have been made, since Google is a business associate. However, the lawsuit claims HIPAA was still violated because medical records were shared that “included sufficient information for Google to re-identify patients.” The lawsuit also points out that Google does indeed have a commercial interest in all of this information, and can use it by combining it with its AI and advanced machine learning. According to the plaintiffs, Google’s acquisition of DeepMind “has allowed for Google to find connections between electronic health records and Google users’ data.” The news report also points out that:23
Health-Tracking Shoes and Other Privacy AbominationsGoogle is also investing in other wearable technologies aimed at tracking users’ health data, including:24
Google also has big plans for expanding the use of AI in health care. According to CB Insights,29 “The company is applying AI to disease detection, new data infrastructure, and potentially insurance.” As mentioned earlier, insurance companies can jack up premiums based on your health. So, what could possibly go wrong by having Google’s AI wired into the insurance market? Google has also partnered with drugmaker Sanofi, which “will leverage Google’s cloud and AI technologies and integrate them into its biological innovations and scientific data which in turn will accelerate the medicine discovery process,” according to a Yahoo! Finance report.30 According to Yahoo! Finance, “the collaboration will aid in the identification of various type of treatments suitable for patients. Additionally, Google’s AI tools are likely to be utilized by Sanofi in improving marketing and supply efforts and in forecasting sales.” In plain English, this partnership will help Sanofi sell more drugs, which can hardly be said to be for the patients’ best interest, but rather that of Sanofi and Google. As mentioned earlier, Verily, Google’s health care division, is also collaborating with Sanofi, Novartis, Otsuka and Pfizer to help them identify suitable patients for clinical drug trials.31 To boost drug sales even further, Verily is working with Walgreens to deploy a “medication adherence” project, in which patients are equipped with devices to ensure they’re taking their medication as prescribed.32 Amazon also plays a part in the drug adherence scheme with its recent buyout of Pillpack, an online pharmacy that offers prepackaged pill boxes with all the different medications you’re taking. According to Yahoo! Finance, Amazon is also planning to develop at-home medical testing devices, and is rolling out the option to make medical-related purchases from Amazon using your health savings account. All of these things generate health-related data points that can then be used for other purposes, be it personalized marketing or insurance premium decisions. Have You Had Enough of Google’s Privacy Intrusions Yet?Add to all of this data mining the fact that Google is actively manipulating search results and making decisions about what you’re allowed to see and what you’re not based on its own and third party interests — a topic detailed in a November 15, 2019 Wall Street Journal investigation.33 The dangers ahead should be self-evident. Now more than ever we must work together to share health information with others by word-of-mouth, by text and email. We have built in simple sharing tools at the top of each article so you can easily email or text interesting articles to your friends and family. My information is here because all of you support and share it, and we can do this without Big Tech’s support. It’s time to boycott and share! Here are a few other suggestions:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/27/google-and-data-mining.aspx The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all newborns receive a shot of vitamin K at birth, which is intended to help prevent a rare condition known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding.1 Babies have very little vitamin K when they're born, which is necessary to help form clots and stop bleeding. Giving a dose of vitamin K can help babies, most of whom are born with insufficient vitamin K levels, to avoid potentially life-threatening internal bleeding, including in the brain or intestines, but the vitamin K shot is not the only solution. Oral vitamin K can also be used, as can naturally increasing the infant's levels via breastfeeding (which requires that the mother's vitamin K levels be optimized). Some parents, therefore, choose to refuse the vitamin K shot for their newborn, a medical decision that's well within a parent's rights in most U.S. states. Despite the fact that parents have the right to choose whether or not to allow a vitamin K shot for their child, with many hospitals requiring consent forms for such, some hospitals are persecuting parents for exercising this right. The issue reached a breaking point in September 2019, when a class-action lawsuit was filed against Illinois hospitals, including Silver Cross, University of Chicago Medical Center and Christ Hospital; the AAP; the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS); and pediatricians by Illinois families who had their babies taken from them for refusing the vitamin K injection.2 Recordings of a meeting of members of the Illinois Department of Health's Perinatal Advisory Committee (PAC) have since been released, revealing that doctors were plotting to take custody of newborns and administer vitamin K injections in violation of the parents' rights.3 Lawsuit Filed After Newborns Illegally SeizedThe lawsuit was filed on behalf of families who refused one or more non-mandatory medical procedures, including the vitamin K injection, antibiotic eye ointment or vaccines, for their newborns. In response, hospital or state officials responded with investigations or threats and in some cases even seized the infants. According to the lawsuit:4
In one case described in the Chicago Tribune, Danielle Anderson refused the vitamin K shot for her newborn daughter, as doctors warned that the hospital "would take the baby away" if she didn't relent.5 Hospital security came in to remove the baby, forcing her to call the police, who told doctors to stop pressuring Anderson. Although she was able to leave the hospital with her baby later that day, she was later investigated by DCFS, who came to her home twice to check on the children. In another case, a nurse left the room with Angela Bougher's newborn — medically kidnapping her — after Bougher refused the vitamin K injection — and they remained separated for about 12 hours. "I honestly could not understand what was going on," Bougher told the Tribune. "I was in total shock. I've never not had my baby right away."6 The class-action suit that has since been filed alleges that parents had their constitutional rights violated. "Hours that should have been filled with happiness and family photos were instead filled with uncertainty, they said, as children were temporarily taken into protective custody, DCFS caseworkers were called and the parents were made to feel like criminals," according to the Tribune.7 One of the pediatricians named in the suit is Dr. Jill Glick, who is accused of "[conspiring] with DCFS officials ... to implement a DCFS policy that all of them knew was illegal, and [making] sure that Illinois pediatricians and hospitals carried out this policy using coercive threats... designed to enforce compliance with their desires that no parent be allowed to refuse the prophylactic medical procedures at issue in this case."8 A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed an email from Glick written in August 2017, which suggested parents should be forced to accept such procedures in order to send a clear message to parents who "do not see the medical community as the expert."9 Advisory Committee Discusses Taking NewbornsIn an April 2018 meeting of members of the PAC, vitamin K injections were discussed, including cases in which parents signed written refusals. Audio from the meeting has been released, which reveals plans to work with DCFS to take newborns into "protective custody" and administer vitamin K shots illegally against parents' wishes. The plan includes getting DCFS to agree that the hospital staff needed to take the infants into protective custody, which the officials believed could protect them from getting sued after they administered the vitamin K injection that the parents had refused. A part of the excerpt, published by PJ Media, reads:10
State officials and hospital employees are overstepping their bounds in accusing parents of medical neglect for refusing optional medical procedures for their infants. As PJ Media noted:11
States Abducting Children in the Name of 'Abuse'In 1991, the bipartisan National Commission on Children figured out that children were being taken from their families prematurely or unnecessarily because federal formulas give states a strong financial incentive to do so rather than provide services to keep families together.12 Children in foster care bring in revenue for counties, such that The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) — the federal law on which almost all state and local legislation and funding for child protective services are based — mandates states to implement child abuse laws on their own, so they can align themselves for the massive funding and grants that go along with the law. In theory as the years went by, if the goal for this law — to reduce child abuse in the U.S. — had been successful, then today we should need less funding for these programs, not more. Success also should have resulted in fewer children in foster care and even fewer being put up for adoption. But in reality, the opposite happened. Instead of less children in foster care, the numbers went up for nine years after CAPTA was passed. And, layers and layers of state and federal government programs and agencies whose funding depends solely on child abuse occurring were created. Child abuse is a terrible thing, but thousands of child abuse cases may in fact not be child abuse at all, such as in some cases of rickets, caused by either vitamin D deficiency or aluminum adjuvants in vaccines. Infant rickets perfectly mimics child abuse, and the baby will have virtually no symptoms — until their bones fracture. According to Dr. David Ayoub, a radiologist in Springfield, Illinois, a great number of child abuse cases may in fact be instances of misdiagnosed metabolic dysfunction.13 You may have also heard about the case of Justina Pelletier, who was removed from her parents' custody by Massachusetts child protection officials after Boston Children's Hospital filed a "medical child abuse" complaint against them, following a dispute over Justina's medical diagnosis. The state kept the teen hospitalized for close to a year and wanted to place her in private foster care. Eventually, a judge ruled the girl should be returned to her parents, but all the while she was unable to receive treatment for the rare mitochondrial disease she actually suffered from.14 Vitamin K Denial Associated With Vaccine RefusalA study published in Pediatrics revealed that children who did not receive the vitamin K shot at birth were 14.6 times more likely to be unvaccinated at 15 months. The researchers concluded:15
The link adds another layer to the injustice being done to parents exercising their right to informed consent, as it labels anyone who refuses the vitamin K injection as a "high-risk" parent. The fact remains that protecting such medical decisions form the basis for informed consent, a basic human right in which a person has the ability to voluntarily accept or reject a treatment or medical procedure after being fully informed of its possible risks and benefits. In the case of the vitamin K injection, while the CDC states it's safe,16 in 2010, I interviewed Cees Vermeer, Ph.D., an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, a specialist in vitamin K. He raised several concerns with the vitamin K injection:
A Safe Alternative: Oral Vitamin KWhile most newborns do require vitamin K, a vitamin K injection is not the only option to attain it. Oral vitamin K drops are a safe alternative that can be given without pain, but because they require multiple doses, hospitals may assume that parents will not follow through with the full dosing. There are a variety of suggested dosages for newborns:
It's also possible to provide vitamin K to newborns via breastmilk, but most women are low in vitamin K, according to Vermeer, which means their milk will be too. In order to use this approach safely, you need to make sure your vitamin K level is truly optimized, and for most women, the vitamin K absorbed from foods won't be enough, so supplementation might be needed. The choice of whether or not to allow the vitamin K injection for your baby is yours — not the hospital's or doctor's. It's a good idea to make the decision well before your baby's delivery, so you can inform your obstetrician, hospital and nursing staff of your decision, and request that they have oral vitamin K drops — along with instructions for proper continual dosing — available at your child's birth. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/26/newborns-illegally-seized-for-refusing-vitamin-k-shot.aspx The global vaccine market was valued at $35.8 billion in 2018, and it’s predicted to nearly double by 2024.1,2 One major reason for this exponential growth has to do with the fact that more vaccines are being mandated as a condition for school attendance, while vaccine exemptions are being eliminated.3 After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2011, vaccine manufacturers are also the only corporations selling products in the U.S. that cannot be sued, even when there is evidence the company could have made a product safer.4,5 After Congress amended the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act at the end of 1987, doctors and medical workers who administer federally recommended vaccines that injure or kill children can’t be sued either.6 In 2016, Congress expanded vaccine manufacturer liability protection to include federally recommended vaccines that injure or kill pregnant women or their unborn infants in the womb.7 This blanket protection from liability is part and parcel of what makes vaccines so profitable — and potentially hazardous. Making matters worse, state legislatures in California8 and New York9 have passed laws that remove the legal right for doctors to exercise professional judgment and conscience when granting children a medical exemption to vaccination.10,11,12 A recent case highlighted by The Highwire demonstrates just how difficult it has become to obtain a vaccine exemption — even when a child’s life is clearly at high risk for suffering harm from vaccination — and the disastrous ramifications it can have for families whose children are denied school access simply because they’re not willing to roll the dice when it comes to protecting their child from harm. Vaccination Laws Sacrifice the VulnerableIn the video above, Del Bigtree, CEO of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a nonprofit he founded in 2017, interviews Ali and Orooba Hamideh, who live in New York. Their disabled 9-year-old son, Ameer, lost his vaccine exemption after the passage of New York’s Senate bill S2994A13 in June 2019, which removed all non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements.14 Weeks later, the New York health department issued a new rule that denied New York physicians the legal right to grant a child a medical exemption to vaccination unless the reasons given strictly conform to vaccine contraindications approved by public health officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).15,16 Ameer was born prematurely and suffered a stroke at birth. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 3, thought to be the result of the brain damage he suffered from his stroke. Ameer also has a rare seizure disorder called Lennox Gastaut syndrome (LGS17). His seizures began after his first round of vaccines at 5 months of age. His parents, who attributed the seizures to the complications at his birth, dutifully followed the recommended vaccine schedule. It wasn’t until he got a flu shot at the age of 2 that they started asking questions. As with previous vaccines, his seizures and other symptoms worsened directly after the shot. After researching the matter, and finding others whose stories mirrored their own, they decided to not give Ameer any more vaccines. They opted to file a religious vaccine exemption for Ameer, simply because it was easier, but the new law meant Ameer could no longer attend school, and he ended up missing months of education and therapy over the summer while his parents turned to Ameer’s neurologist, who has treated him for nine years. She issued a medical exemption, stating:
Seizure Disorder Not a Valid Contraindication to VaccinationWith the medical exemption in place, Ameer was allowed back to school. But then, September 12, 2019, the Hamidehs received a copy of a letter from the New York Department of Health sent to Ameer’s school, recommending his medical exemption should be denied. Dr. Elizabeth Rausch-Phung, director of the New York Bureau of Immunization, wrote:
Ameer was again kicked out, for while the health department didn’t forbid the school to accept the exemption, the school refused to go against the health department’s recommendation, saying it would be “foolish” of them to do so. “You feel awful,” Ali says. “You have no choice over your child. No choice at all.” Seizure disorders are serious medical conditions, and Ameer’s parents fear that any additional vaccines could cause uncontrolled seizure activity leading to his death. Since the family started him on a ketogenic diet and CBD oil, Ameer has gone from 20 to 30 seizures a day to none. He’s making progress that simply isn’t worth risking. Yet, as noted by Bigtree, New York state essentially delivered a potential death sentence to this child — all because he’s missing his fifth Tdap booster. Justice for Ameer — For NowIn desperation, Ali vented his frustration on Facebook, asking for help. The story went viral, being shared more than 100,000 times, eventually making headlines on local news. As noted by Bigtree, one of the official justifications for removing non-medical vaccine exemptions and mandating certain vaccines is to protect immunocompromised children who cannot be vaccinated. Yet here we have a child whose history clearly shows he is at grave risk for vaccine damage, whose neurologist agrees vaccination could compromise his health and worsen his already serious condition, and he’s somehow not worthy of that same protection. Ameer, by the way, is not an isolated case — 26,000 children in New York lost their rights to public education with the passing of S2994A.18 In The Highwire video above, the Hamidehs mention they would take legal action if the school did not allow Ameer back in. Since the airing of that episode, Ameer’s case has been brought to court, resulting in a temporary legal victory. November 12, 2019, the Erie County Supreme Court judge presiding over the case issued a temporary restraining order to allow Ameer to attend his classes at the CHC Learning Center for the duration of the court proceedings.19 But first, Ali had to present to the court a signed affidavit from the neurologist, confirming the signature on the medical exemption wasn’t a fraudulent one. This request was so out of the ordinary and the neurologist was so surprised and confused by the request that she initially refused. Fortunately, by the time Ali and his attorney reached the court house, she’d emailed them the signed affidavit. No school representative from the school or state education department attended the hearing. The case goes back to court in December. As reported in an ICAN press release:20
‘Nothing Is Working the Way It’s Supposed To’At the end of the November 12, 2019, video update above, Bigtree says:
As for how it will all end, only time will tell, but for now, Ameer is allowed to receive the therapy and education he needs and deserves. But what about the tens of thousands of other children in New York and around the nation who have been ruthlessly stripped of their right to a public education? Some families are making plans to move out of the state because their children are already vaccine injured or have brain and immune system disorders that do not qualify for medical exemptions under narrow federal vaccine use guidelines. Others say they will quit their jobs and move in order to avoid having to vaccinate their unvaccinated children. One such couple, featured in an August 29, 2019, article21 on Syracuse.com, stopped vaccinating their children after their eldest son developed autoimmune encephalitis after getting the HPV vaccine and was hospitalized for 31 days. Like the Hamidehs and so many others, this family does not consider themselves “anti-vaxxers” but “ex-vaxxers.” They’ve “been there, done that,” and realized the risks were real and very serious, and weren’t worth taking. Approved Vaccine Contraindications Are Almost NonexistentThe fact that a serious seizure disorder isn’t a valid contraindication for vaccination should set off warning bells, especially since febrile seizures is a possible side effect of most vaccines. Ameer’s case clearly demonstrates just how dangerously narrow the vaccine contraindications really are, and how it’s nearly impossible to get a medical exemption under the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) rules. Vaccine contraindications are the health conditions ACIP agrees are valid reasons for not getting vaccinated. The problem is, under ACIP guidelines, there’s virtually no health condition or vaccine reaction history that is an absolute contraindication to vaccination, and this is what your doctor has been taught to believe as well.22 For example, ACIP tells doctors that pregnancy or severe immunodeficiency are contraindications to getting live virus vaccines like MMR and varicella zoster — but inactivated vaccines are not an absolute contraindication for either of these groups.23 This is a very important point, because we’re often told that ACIP-recommended vaccines must be mandated for children in order to protect pregnant women and the severely immune compromised24,25 who cannot be vaccinated. Yet clearly, this is not true. According to the CDC’s ACIP, there are only two types of vaccine reactions that are absolute contraindications to getting revaccinated and thus warrant a medical exemption:26
Vaccine Precautions, Another Short ListThe CDC also publishes a very short list of health conditions that warrant “precaution,” as they “might increase the risk of a serious adverse reaction, cause diagnostic confusion, or might compromise the ability of the vaccine to produce immunity.”27 Only one CDC-approved universal precaution applies to all vaccines: Having a “moderate or severe acute illness with or without fever.” But this is not a total contraindication, which means a doctor could still decide to vaccinate an acutely and severely ill patient, as it’s up to his or her discretion what “moderate or severe acute illness” is. The CDC also recommends that hospitalized patients should be vaccinated as long as they’re “not acutely, moderately or severely ill” — as if hospitals are filled with people who are only mildly ill from chronic conditions. The core message the CDC sends to doctors is that 99% of the U.S. population are candidates for vaccination 100% of the time.28 It’s not surprising then that most doctors, pharmacists and other vaccine providers — who cannot be sued if a vaccine injures or kills — simply ignore any listed precautions. What Role Have Conflicts of Interest Played?At the end of the day, what all of this means is that most vaccine damaged children have no chance of getting approved for a medical exemption, and are forced to play Russian Roulette with their lives if they want a public education. It really shouldn’t be this way. It’s wrong. And it’s so clearly wrong that it’s not hard to understand why people like the Hamidehs conclude that it’s really all about making a profit at any cost, even if the cost is the life of a child. Indeed, evidence of financial conflicts of interest are all around. A U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigation published in 2000 found serious conflicts of interest between the pharmaceutical industry and voting members of two of the most important federal vaccine advisory committees in the U.S:29,30
Yet, to this day, government-appointed members of both ACIP and FDA vaccine advisory committees can receive conflict of interest waivers by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which allows them to vote on the licensing of vaccines and make national vaccine policy that is turned into public health law.31,32,33,34 We Are Not All the SameEmerging science reveals we are not all the same and do not respond the same way to infectious diseases or vaccines. Responses to infectious diseases and the risk for complications can vary depending upon genes, environment, age and health at the time of infection.35,36 That is why malnourished, vitamin-deficient children living in poverty, for example, are at higher risk for complications from measles and other infections.37,38,39 Your risk of having a vaccine reaction can also range from zero to 100%. It again depends on genetic influences, your epigenetic history, microbiome, environmental factors, your age and current state of health, the type and number of vaccines you get, and how much time has elapsed between them if you’re getting more than one.40,41,42,43 Research has also confirmed that vaccinated individuals can still get infected with and transmit infections like measles, pertussis and influenza to other people, sometimes without showing any symptoms at all.44,45,46 With that evidence, the vaccine acquired herd immunity argument really falls apart, yet like so many other medical myths, it keeps being repeated long after its been disproven. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/26/valid-contraindications-to-vaccine.aspx In November 2019, Dean Foods, one of the biggest dairy companies in the U.S., announced it had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy,1 sending a wave of uncertainty through an already shaky milk industry. Dean Foods was one of the primary milk processors and distributers in the U.S., purchasing milk directly from dairy farms. If farmers don’t sell their milk directly to a processor like Dean Foods, they can also sell it to dairy cooperatives, which negotiate sales of the milk to processors and retailers on behalf of its members. Dairy co-ops have been rapidly consolidating, however, leaving farmers with few options for sales — Dean Foods among them. Alongside the bankruptcy, the dairy giant also announced that it was in talks with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), the largest dairy co-op in the U.S., about a possible acquisition. The merger would pose a serious conflict of interest for dairy farmers, as DFA is supposed to advocate for farmers but would end up being a processor. As such, they’d have an interest in keeping milk prices low, at the detriment of the more than 13,000 dairy farmers they represent.2 Dean Foods Bankruptcy Could Worsen Milk MonopolySpeaking with New Food Economy, Peter C. Carstensen, a former attorney for the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, explained that DFA acquiring Dean Foods raises serious questions about anticompetitive activity. “The problem with DFA is the conflict of interest that will result from [trying] to lower prices to farmers in order to increase their revenue as a milk processor,” he said.3 DFA already controls 30% of the U.S. milk production, which means acquiring Dean Foods could easily lead to a monopoly over the market. “What you’re going to see is increased risk of tacit collusion on the consumer side, raising the price of milk for consumers,” Carstensen continued.4 It’s not the first time DFA and Dean Foods have raised such suspicions. In 2013, DFA paid a nearly $159 million fine to settle a 2007 lawsuit alleging DFA conspired with a number of companies to suppress milk prices by closing bottling plants and stifling competition. In 2010, Dean Foods also paid dairy farms in the northeast a $30 million settlement as part of an antitrust lawsuit.5 Milk prices are already low, causing many dairy farmers to close their businesses. In Wisconsin, for instance, farmers in 2019 are getting nearly 40% less for their milk than they were in 2014. Nearly 700 dairy farms closed in the state in 2018, most of them small operations.6 Meanwhile, in 2018 the Organic Consumers Association reported:7
Ultraprocessed Homogenized CAFOs Killed MilkMany are asking what “killed” Dean Foods, blaming its downfall on everything from plant-based milk alternatives and millennials’ apparent distaste for milk to increased availability of other beverages.8 Even the relatively newfound popularity of drinking water has been pinpointed as a scapegoat. Dean Foods president and CEO Eric Beringause said in a statement, “Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient, we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption.”9 The fact is, milk consumption is on the decline. In 1975, Americans consumed 247 pounds of fluid milk (about 29.6 gallons) per person, compared to 146 pounds (or about 17.5 gallons) in 2018.10 What’s truly responsible for this decline, however, is the shift of milk from a fresh, wholesome raw food to one that’s ultraprocessed, homogenized and the product of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). On CAFOs, milk can be produced in filthy conditions, then heated until all the pathogens are gone. Never mind that, along with killing “germs,” pasteurization kills off beneficial organisms in the milk and prevents natural souring (while naturally soured milk can still be consumed, pasteurized milk past its prime will quickly go bad).11 Rather than forcing dirty and dangerous CAFOs to clean up their acts, the FDA has waged a war against raw milk producers — those who are typically producing milk using far healthier, more humane and more sustainable methods than the industrial dairy industry ever could. As CAFOs became the norm for dairy farms (even in idyllic-seeming dairy states like Vermont), farmers were forced to grow their herds and increase milk production using artificial (drug and hormone-based) methods, among others (like feeding cows an unnatural amount of grain-based food, 24-hour confinement and increased number of milkings per day). Meanwhile, some people who experience gastrointestinal upset or other health problems when drinking regular CAFO dairy do fine when drinking raw, organic grass fed milk, which is far easier on your digestive system. Raw, grass fed A2-only milk may be even more ideal. Raw Milk Advocates Win LawsuitIn the U.S., raw milk is the only food banned from interstate commerce, which means small farmers cannot transport it across state lines, and even in states where farmers are allowed to sell raw milk directly to consumers from their farms, advertising bans may be put in place, allowing farmers to be punished with fines or jail time if they advertise their raw milk for sale. In many cases, this effectively makes it impossible for farmers to successfully market and sell their raw milk, so farmers have been fighting back against this type of prohibitive legislation. In Kansas, for instance, a statute enacted in 1967 banned any advertising of raw milk, except for signage on the farm. However, two goat farmers sued agriculture secretary Mike Beam, asking for the state to stop enforcing the statute. “Then an unusual thing happened,” Food Safety News reported. “The state agreed with the goat farmers”:12
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt further stated:13
Fear and Control Aim to Keep Raw Milk an Illegal FoodThere was a period of time, from 1860 to the 1920s, when raw milk went through what Mark McAfee, founder and chairman of the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI), describes as a “dark age.” The cow diets, combined with unsanitary conditions, raw sewage mixed with water and lack of refrigeration led to the spread of diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid. A lot of people died from raw milk that came from these unsanitary distillery dairies raising malnourished cows. Around this time, the “swill milk” scandal also occurred, in which dairy cows being fed grain distillation remnants and raised in poor conditions produced diseased milk, which was then mixed with chalk and sold as fresh. A reported 8,000 children died as a result, which increased consumer support and industry acceptance of pasteurization.14 In the modern day, fear is still used as a tool to promote restrictions to your right to choose what to eat. A bill introduced in Tennessee by Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, Senate Bill 15 (SB15), even suggests amending a Tennessee code relating to milk products to make it illegal for a partial owner of a hoofed animal to drink the milk from that animal.15 While graciously allowing a person who is the sole owner of a hoofed mammal to drink the milk personally, the bill is aimed at snuffing out herdshare programs. Private agreements called herdshares are often formed between farmers and individuals, which entitle you to the benefits of owning a "share" of a cow, such as a certain amount of milk each week. However, SB15 not only would make it illegal for herdshare owners to obtain raw milk but also would make it against the law for the farmer running a herdshare to drink milk from their own cow (or other hoofed mammal), as they would not be considered a “sole owner.” SB15 is poised as a bill to protect the public welfare from the “risks” of drinking raw milk, but raw milk is a nutritious and safe food when it comes from cows raised on pasture. Briggs reportedly introduced SB15 to close the herdsharing “loophole” after 10 children in the state were sickened by E. coli that was blamed on drinking raw milk from a Knoxville shareholder dairy. But according to Weston A. Price, “no E. coli was found in any of the dairy’s milk that public health officials tested.”16 Raw Milk Cheese Is Also TargetedIn her book, “Ending the War on Artisan Cheese,” food scientist Catherine Donnelly states that fears of raw milk are threatening the artisan cheese industry, which uses raw milk in many of its cheeses. She explains that traditional cheesemakers carefully source raw milk from high-quality sources to ensure a safe and delicious end product. In an interview with Eater, Donnelly states, “There are careful standards that cheesemakers pay attention to because if they don’t start out with the best quality raw materials, they’re not going to end up with a good cheese. Paying attention to the microbiological quality of the raw milk is really, really critical. The raw milk, the starting material, has to be of good quality or you’re not going to have a sellable product.”17 What’s more, Donnelly notes that more illness outbreaks are associated with processed products that have been pasteurized, while the FDA favors Big Dairy at the expense of the smaller, artisan producers:18
While in the U.S. cheese must either be made from pasteurized milk or held for 60 days prior to sale, Europe considers raw milk essential to such delicacies as traditional French cheese. Pennsylvania cheesemaker Sue Miller explained to Mother Nature Network:19
Support Real Dairy and Your Right to Food FreedomUltimately, whether you drink milk or not, and whether it’s raw or pasteurized, is a personal choice — and it should remain that way. You have the right to choose what to eat, regardless of the government’s opinion on what’s healthy or what’s not. Further, by choosing raw milk that comes from small, grass fed farmers, you can support the small operators that deliver farm-fresh foods to local residents. As long as farmers are prevented from selling to consumers directly, processors can and do price fix the market, ultimately leading to corporate monopolies, consolidation of CAFO dairy farms, a degradation of food safety and quality, and the intentional destruction of small, family dairy farms.20 from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/26/dean-foods-bankruptcy.aspx Have you discovered seaweed salad? Since it has become a popular restaurant item as an appetizer or garnish in Japanese restaurants and sushi bars, some consider it the new coleslaw. Also called hiyashi wakame and goma wakame, seaweed salad is usually seasoned with sesame oil and seeds with red pepper flakes, vinegar, salt, mushrooms and seaweed-based agar agar added.1 While many people enjoy the taste of marine-derived greens, which include kelp, nori, kombu and wakame, seaweed is also one of the world's best sources of iodine.2 It has also been credited with significant health benefits such as neuroprotective,3 anti-inflammatory4 and anti-viral properties.5 Seaweed is also being studied as useful for high blood pressure6 — yes, your seaweed salad may lower your blood pressure. In an observational study in children,7 seaweed consumption was shown to lower diastolic blood pressure in boys and systolic blood pressure in girls. As for adults, research published in the American Journal of Hypertension found that a preparation made from seaweed decreased mean blood pressure in 62 middle-aged patients with mild high blood pressure.8 An article in Marine Drugs also cited several studies linking seaweed consumption to decreased blood pressure.9 The associations are encouraging. Seaweed Actions That May Lower Blood PressureHigh blood pressure is defined as a condition in which the long-term force of blood against artery walls is too high and may eventually cause health problems.10 Although there are many prescription drugs available to treat high blood pressure, their side effects are numerous. That is why natural treatments such as seaweed are so important. This is how researchers writing in Marine Drugs explain the likely potential actions of seaweed compounds on high blood pressure:11
In short, seaweed polyphenols exert effects similar to ACE inhibitor drugs, which in conventional medicine are often prescribed as a first-line treatment for high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure Is a Modern ConditionHigh blood pressure is a condition fueled by lifestyle behaviors. It began to emerge in adults in higher income countries from changes in how people live, eat and work.12 Contributors to high blood pressure include:
High Blood Pressure Is a Dangerous ConditionOne in 3 Americans suffers from high blood pressure, which amounts to 75 million people.22 People may not be aware that they have high blood pressure, but the condition is far from harmless. Worldwide, high blood pressure causes 9.4 million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization.23 Here are some of the major complications of high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic:24
Other Serious High Blood Pressure ComplicationsThere are other serious complications increasingly linked to high blood pressure, such as dementia and cognitive decline.25 Those with high blood pressure are at risk of memory and understanding problems as well as vascular dementia, likely because of narrowed or blocked arteries that can limit blood flow to the brain. Here is what scientists sharing their research in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology wrote in 2016:26
Researchers are also now exploring the links between high blood pressure and the development of breast cancer. Evidence of links exist, wrote researchers in Scientific Reports in 2017:27
Other Studies Cite Seaweed Benefits for High Blood PressureThere is more evidence of seaweed's value in controlling high blood pressure. This is what researchers wrote in a 2009 issue of Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition about seaweed's effect on metabolic syndrome, a condition in which high blood pressure is central:28
Further, even as only one part of an improved diet, seaweed has been found useful in treating high blood pressure, according to research in Current Hypertension Reviews.29 The study found that following a diet that includes traditional Japanese foods, including seaweed, green/yellow vegetables and mushrooms, supports the prevention and improvement of high blood pressure for people with readings in the high-normal range. More Seaweed BenefitsAs I noted earlier, seaweed is a good source of iodine, which is an important nutrient. In fact, kelp is credited as the largest known dietary source of iodine — capable of providing close to 2,000% of the recommended daily intake.30 Iodine helps regulate the thyroid gland to produce strong, healthy hair, skin and nails and forms the important thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine. Iodine is also crucial for regulating the body's energy and brain metabolism, which are under the effect of the pituitary gland, and for formation of your skeletal framework itself. Iodine is an especially important nutrient for developing babies. Balanced iodine during pregnancy and breastfeeding is central to the myelination process, correct formation of the baby's central nervous system and the development of a baby’s brain cells.31 Edible seaweed contains other valuable substances such as potassium, calcium, iron and alginic acid. Alginic acid naturally protects marine plants from bacteria and binds to heavy metals in humans, a process sometimes called chelation. This makes seaweed an important detoxifying food. It is not a surprise that alginic acid is used, medically, as a chelator to remove heavy metals from blood. It is also used to make dental and prosthetic molds and in wound and burn dressing.32 Compounds containing alginic acid are also used in the treatment of patients with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) because it displaces the postprandial gastric acid pocket in people in whom GERD medications don't work.33 In fact, seaweed outperformed antacids for this purpose in some studies.34 Alginic acid is also used in weight loss.35 Clearly any new treatments for high blood pressure, especially natural ones, are good news for those affected. So, don't forget to enjoy your seaweed salad — and be sure any seaweed you consume is harvested from nonpolluted waters. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/11/25/seaweed-salad-benefits.aspx |
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