By Dr. Mercola
Iodine is Key for Thyroid Health
Why are Iodine Levels Dropping?
Crying Wolff
The Toxic Halides -- Iodine's Fiercest Competitors
Bromides
Great Resource for Learning More
Getting Your Iodine Levels Up
Tips for Optimizing Thyroid Function
The Future of Natural Thyroid Drugs
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/20/signs-symptoms-and-solutions-for-poor-thyroid-function.aspx
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Major Pharmaceuticals has put out a press release saying that they've been forced to shut down production of all natural desiccated thyroid drugs, a treatment for hypothyroidism that has been in use for over a century. Major received notice from the FDA that their complete line of desiccated thyroid drugs can no longer be manufactured, and that the FDA is pulling the designation that allowed them to sell these drugs. Major is also saying that the FDA is requiring that all manufacturers that wish to continue manufacturing submit an NDA or ANDA (New Drug Application or Abbreviated New Drug Application) for approval. Desiccated thyroid drugs were in use in the early 1900’s, and already on the market when the government regulatory groups to oversee medications were formed, so they never went through the new drug application process. Biotech, Time Cap Labs, and Major are no longer manufacturing natural desiccated thyroid drugs. RLC and Forest are now the last makers of natural desiccated thyroid drugs in the U.S., and their products are unavailable or in short supply in throughout the nation. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/19/is-the-fda-poised-to-ban-a-century-old-natural-remedy.aspx A new study is causing fresh doubts about the safety of genetically modified crops. The research found Bt toxin, which is present in many GM crops, in human blood. Bt toxin makes crops toxic to pests, but it has been claimed that the toxin poses no danger to the environment and human health; the argument was that the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of the toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen. India Today reports: “Scientists ... have detected the insecticidal protein ... circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women. They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation.” from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/31/study-found-toxin-from-gm-crops-is-showing-up-in-human-blood.aspx This article was previously published November 22, 2020, and has been updated with new information. In this interview, Dr. William Seeds, an orthopedic surgeon, reviews how to optimize your metabolic function, improve cellular efficiency and make you more resilient against respiratory viruses using ketones — a topic previously discussed in my interview with Travis Christofferson, who wrote the book "Ketones: The Fourth Fuel."
How Ketone Esters Control InflammationKetones are water-soluble fats that have powerfully beneficial metabolic benefits and also aid in tissue healing. Ketone esters are a convenient way to increase ketones and are helpful in cases of viral infections such as COVID-19, as they reestablish cellular homeostasis, provide rapid energy, recharge your antioxidants and control oxidation within the cell.
How Ketones Improve Antioxidant LevelsKetones also increase nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH), a powerful metabolic co-factor that improves your body's ability to recharge antioxidants like superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and hexokinase-1 to their functional state by donating an important reducing electron. NADPH, in my view, is probably one of the most important biomolecules in your body, right up there with NAD+ and ATP. It is the primary way your body recycles its antioxidants. It essentially transfers electrons to them to help reduce excessive oxidative stress. This is important because once those antioxidants are used, whether produced endogenously or taken exogenously in a supplement, they no longer work. They need to be recharged, which is what NADPH does. This explains why many studies that have attempted to show benefit from taking high dose antioxidants fail. When antioxidants are taken as supplements they have the potential to indiscriminately suppress beneficial free radicals, but when you recharge antioxidants with NADPH, your body is able to selectively and wisely discriminate between the specific free radicals you want eliminated. There are beneficial free radicals, such as nitric oxide, that you don't want to eliminate. Seeds agrees, adding:
Ketones Suppress Proinflammatory PathwaysIn addition to increasing NADPH, ketones also suppress inflammatory pathways present as a result of an infection. Infection initiates an inflammatory cascade of proinflammatory cytokines. One of the benefits of ketone augmentation, either endogenous or exogenous, is that it suppresses potent proinflammatory pathways like NRLP3. As explained by Seeds, the NRLP3 process is all about activation of the inflammasome. NF kappa B is a transcription factor in the nucleus of the cell responsible for initiating the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6 and TNF alpha. The overproduction of these cytokines by your immune system is what results in a proinflammatory state. In addition to boosting NADPH, ketones can also elevate NAD+, which in turn upregulates SIRT genes, SIRT3 in particular, that directly control inflammation. SIRT3 deacetylates inflammasome and decreases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
In addition to SIRT3, SIRT1 and SIRT2 are also important, and they tend to be activated by beneficial nutrients that we take in our diets, such as resveratrol. However, SIRT1 is useless unless NAD+ is high enough. And, as explained by Seeds, when you upregulate SIRT1, you also upregulate AMPK, which in turn improves mitochondrial biogenesis. SIRT2, meanwhile, is activated by a polyphenol flavonoid called quercetin. I believe quercetin may be a superior alternative to hydroxychloroquine because not only does it act like a zinc ionophore to increase zinc levels inside the cell but it also activates SIRT2 and has beneficial effects on inflammasome. The two graphics below are from the paper Seeds wrote, describing the effects of metabolic therapy on COVID-19.1 Exogenous Ketone Esters for Respiratory InfectionsThere are strategies to boost your endogenous ketone levels — such as following a cyclical ketogenic diet and taking C8 (caprylic acid) MCT oil — which is what I prefer. This typically takes more time and commitment but is far less expensive, as ketone esters are typically about $1 per gram and a therapeutic dose can range from 5 to 25 grams. Seeds typically uses exogenous ketones such as 1,3-butanediol beta-hydroxybutyrate, which is available in products like KetonAid. This strategy has high compliance and helps you achieve more rapid change in ketone levels and ketosis, and allows for greater precision but is costlier.
Through his peptide society, the SSRP Society,2 he's been able to work with hundreds of U.S. doctors, describing these protocols and how exogenous ketones can be used in early treatment of COVID-19, and as a prophylactic. In many cases, a patient's respiratory status can be improved within minutes. The use of ketones is one of three interventions that I'm convinced can have nearly immediate benefit. The other two are molecular hydrogen and nebulized hydrogen peroxide. Each one of these can provide near-miraculous benefits in a very short amount of time. Key Notes on MCT Oil and Carb IntakeWe also discussed the use of C8 caprylic acid in greater depth in the interview, which is the most effective form of MCT oil, so for more details, please listen to the interview. We also discuss the use of ketone esters in professional athletics. One fascinating fact brought up by Seeds is that they now have evidence showing that taking C8 MCT oil about 20 minutes before radiation exposure, such as an X-ray or flying in a commercial aircraft, can inhibit 100% of the radiation damage. Another important aside is that when you take MCT oil or ketone esters, their efficacy will be significantly increased if you cut down on carbohydrates. There's a big difference in the blood ketone levels you can achieve taking either of them with a high-carb diet, a low-carb diet or when fasting. Fasting will raise your ketone blood levels the most. Lowering Inflammation With Baking Soda and Alka-Seltzer GoldSeeds also segues into a discussion about how good old-fashioned baking soda and Alka-Seltzer Gold can be used to squelch excessive inflammation at the molecular level, as bicarbonate immediately neutralizes peroxynitrites, which are among the most damaging free radicals there are. Seeds summarizes a typical regimen:
While simple baking soda (sodium bicarb), as Seeds recommends, will work, I personally use and recommend using potassium bicarb. You can purchase it inexpensively in pound quantities at nuts.com. The key to using it effectively is to pick up some litmus pH paper and regularly monitor your urine. Ideally, your pH should be about 7. Without the bicarb it will likely be 6 or even lower. I use about one-half teaspoon three to four times a day based on my urine pH. This is a powerful strategy I would encourage nearly everyone to adopt as by keeping your urine pH around 7 with the bicarb you will avoid having to neutralize the acidity with either amino acids from your muscles or calcium and other minerals from your bones. This is a simple inexpensive habit that can go a long way to improving your health Bicarbonate Improves Cellular Power OutputBicarb also works well together with ketone esters, as the bicarbonate improves the power output of the cell. This can be particularly useful for athletes. Seeds explains:
More InformationTo learn more about Seed's practice and how he's revolutionizing medicine with peptide therapy, see Seeds.md. He's also written a book on peptide protocols — which is a discussion we did not cover in this interview — and how they can improve metabolic function and cellular efficiency. "Peptide Protocols: Volume One" was released in August 2020, and can be found on Amazon.com. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/28/do-ketones-reduce-inflammation.aspx In this interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist and attorney turned ultimate freedom fighter, discusses his latest book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” which is a must-read if you want to know more about the behind-the-scenes of this giant fraud. We could talk for hours and not cover but a fraction of what's in this book, which Kennedy calls a “devastating indictment of Tony Fauci.” In a nutshell, Kennedy describes how Fauci turned the National Institutes of Health into an incubator for pharmaceutical products, and essentially sold the entire country to the drug industry. The book is an incredibly well-referenced record of his history of decimating human health, and exposes him as a self-serving charlatan. I particularly enjoyed how Kennedy placed Fauci in the context of Rockefeller’s legacy with respect to Bill Gates, who developed an alliance with Fauci over 20 years ago. Rockefeller set us on a course of toxic, profit-driven medicines synthesized from the byproducts of the oil refinery process a century ago, and Gates picked up where he left off and then collaborated heavily with Fauci. The Decade of VaccinesFauci, in turn, has had a hand in creating the vaccine gold rush. In 2000, he met with Bill Gates, who asked to partner with the NIH in an agreement to vaccinate the entire population of the world with a battery of new vaccines. In 2009, this agreement was rebranded as “The Decade of Vaccines,” the objective of which was to implement mandatory vaccinations for every adult and child on the planet by the year 2020.
Fauci’s Lethal Handling of the AIDS EpidemicGates didn’t lure Fauci to the dark side, however. Fauci had already spent decades playing with people’s lives and sacrificing public health for profit. One of the darkest stains on Fauci’s career, aside from his role in the COVID pandemic, was his handling of the HIV epidemic. The first cases of AIDS surfaced in 1981. Initially, the AIDS program was run by the National Cancer Institute, a separate institute inside the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). The general belief was that AIDS had a chemical etiology caused by drug use. This all changed when the HIV virus was discovered. Fauci started working for the NIH in 1968 as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He became director of the NIAID in 1984, the year after the discovery of the HIV virus, and was appointed director of the Office of AIDS Research in 1988, when that office was established. As explained by Kennedy, Fauci essentially built the NIAID around an AIDS drug called AZT.
Although a bonanza of money was made with AZT, it pales in comparison to Pfizer making out like a bandit with its COVID shot. The U.S. taxpayers paid $20 billion to fund the research, and another $10 billion to market the COVID jab. Pfizer created the best-selling drug in the world and will make $35 billion from it this year.1 Even better, unlike AZT, this is absolutely risk-free and they can never be sued for injuries. Everything in Fauci’s Career Is Groundhog DayAn estimated 330,000 people have died from AZT alone. Overall, the similarities between the AZT scandal and what's happening today with the COVID jab and remdesivir are striking. Again, Fauci has discouraged the use of any prevention for COVID-19, and any treatment using inexpensive and relatively nontoxic drugs such as hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. U.S. taxpayers funded the research while drug companies have made an estimated $100 billion in profits from the shots in a single year, all while having zero liability for injuries and deaths even as people are being coerced into taking them.
Gain-of-Function Research Under Fauci’s WatchFauci is responsible for an annual budget of about $6.1 billion. He gets another $1.6 billion from the military to do bioweapons research, which is where 68% of his $437,000 a year salary comes from. (Fauci is the highest-paid federal employee in the U.S. Second-highest is the president, at $400,000 a year.)
Now, the bulk of the NIAID’s funding was intended to be used to study American health and to improve it; to eliminate infectious allergic diseases and autoimmune diseases. Instead, under Fauci’s watch, the chronic disease epidemic has exploded. This, despite the fact that between Fauci, Gates and the U.K. Wellcome Trust, they control 63% of the biomedical research on earth through their funding. Over his career, Fauci alone has distributed more than $930 billion in research grants through the NIAID. You could say they control all of it, really, because they also have the capacity to dry up funding to projects they don’t want done. Ruthless FauciCase in point: Something happened in 1989, triggering a series of epidemics — autism, food allergies, Tourette's Syndrome, narcolepsy, ADD/ADHD, speech delay, language delay, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases like juvenile diabetes. All of them sprang up right around 1989. Why? What’s causing them? It’s Fauci’s job to find out, but he refuses to, and he blocks anyone else from digging too deep.
Top suspects include vaccines, which dramatically increased in '89, and virtually all of the chronic diseases that have skyrocketed are listed as potential side effects on the manufacturers’ inserts. The herbicide glyphosate also became ubiquitous around that time, and really exploded in 1993 when RoundUp Ready corn was invented. GMOs, other pesticides, ultrasound and PFOAs are other potential culprits.
Fauci Works on Behalf of Big PharmaKennedy goes on to explain how Fauci works on behalf of Big Pharma, and why he’s become so important for the drug industry.
Fauci’s Past and Rotten Character Are Catching Up on HimAs more and more of Fauci’s lies and his funding of sadistic experiments on animals and aborted fetuses are coming to light, Kennedy predicts Fauci will be forced to resign, especially as the book comes out and people really start to understand what he’s been up to all these years.
In support of Kennedy’s assertion that Fauci will be forced to resign, you can view his recent grilling November 4, 2021, by Sen. Rand Paul in front of Congress. What is most impressive are the comments, which are virtually unanimously disparaging Fauci. Fauci’s Lethal, Illegal Experiments on ChildrenIn his book, Kennedy includes a chapter on some of the animal trials Fauci funded. He also tells a far grimmer story, where the guinea pigs were Black and Hispanic children. At least 85 of these children died, but the number could be as high as 1,000 or so. Fauci got these children by arranging for foster care programs in New York and six other states to assign children who had lost their parents to AIDS to participate in drug studies. These children had no guardian, so they were illegal studies. To do a clinical trial on children, you need to have a guardian appointed who puts their interests first, ahead of the drug companies. Fauci didn't want that, so he allowed these studies to go forward without a legal guardian for any of these kids. No one was watching out for them. The trials weren’t even done by licensed medical professionals.
COVID-19 — The Culmination of Fauci’s Criminal EnterpriseAs for the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy equates it to the culmination of Fauci’s career. In the book, he recounts how Fauci has been a key figure in pandemic planning — not necessarily how to prevent one, but how to create it, as infectious disease mortality had dropped so dramatically that infectious diseases were becoming an increasingly low priority. So far, every single pandemic that has been dramatized has turned out to be a complete fraud, and the same can be said for COVID. All the while, billions of dollars were spent on vaccines.
To learn more, be sure to pick up a copy of “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.” You don’t want to miss this fascinating and carefully researched book. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/28/the-real-anthony-fauci.aspx Francis Boyle is a repeat guest; I’ve interviewed him twice in 2020 about the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 having been engineered in a lab. Boyle’s background includes an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, a juris doctor (lawyer) degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in political science. He’s a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and wrote the book, “Biowarfare and Terrorism.”1 In 2020 when we initially dialoged, any mention of SARS-CoV-2 being a manmade bioweapon was highly censored and had we uploaded that video to YouTube, we would have been banned early last year rather than a few months ago. Today, the lab leak theory has been acknowledged as likely even by bought-and-paid-for mainstream media. We also have loads of documentation showing Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), funded unlawful gain-of-function research on coronaviruses when there was a federal moratorium on that kind of research. The National Institutes of Health and EcoHealth Alliance also appear to have colluded to avoid triggering a secondary review of these gain-of-function experiments.2,3,4,5 Unlawful Acts Have OccurredIn this interview, we explore some of the strategies Boyle has come up with as to how we can prosecute these individuals for what they've been doing, because they're in direct violation of legislation and treaties he wrote more than 30 years ago. For decades, Boyle has advocated against the development and use of bioweapons, which he suspects COVID-19 is. He called for biowarfare legislation as early as 1985, for the Biological Weapons Convention, and drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act6 that ended up being passed unanimously by both houses of Congress and signed into law by George Bush Sr. in 1989. According to the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989:7
Accountability When Federal Authorities Have Been CapturedThe problem we face today is we’ve come to realize that even our federal government has been captured by forces that seek to destroy the U.S. from within. As such, there’s no way our federal authorities — including federal judges — will ever seek to enforce the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act. How do we navigate this serious dilemma? Boyle believes there’s a way, and it involves focusing on locally elected prosecutors. Depending on the state, they may go by titles such as district attorney, state attorney, prosecuting attorney or county attorney.8 Boyle explains the plan:
Holding Criminals Accountable for the COVID PandemicStarting with the COVID pandemic, Boyle recommends getting organized on the local level, and going around to all your local prosecutors, demanding they convene a grand jury to seek the indictment of those responsible for COVID-19 for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. But how do we begin to identify the culprits? Boyle says:
Most Biological Warfare Research Has Taken Place Under FauciAccording to Boyle, it was the Reagan administration’s abuse of genetic engineering for biological warfare weapons purposes that initially compelled the Council for Responsible Genetics and Boyle to draft the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989. Around that same time, Reagan, under the influence of neoconservatives who believe in biological warfare and ethnic-specific biological warfare, put Fauci in charge of the U.S. bioweapons program. “About 95% of all this Nazi type biological warfare research has been done under the auspices of Tony Fauci,” Boyle says. Legal Definitions of ‘Murder’ and ‘Conspiracy to Murder’Boyle has taught both criminal law and international human rights law. He also still practices criminal law, both prosecution and defense. According to Boyle, Anglo-American Common Law has a definition for “murder” that is applicable in all states of the U.S. with the exception of Louisiana, and that is “the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.”
So, in summary, Boyle suggests starting the indictment list with the 15 co-authors of the 2015 paper, “SARS-Like Cluster of Circulating Bat Coronavirus Pose Threat for Human Emergence,”10 and those who funded it, which include Collins, Fauci and Daszak (president of EcoHealth Alliance). And, again, the reason we need to turn to locally elected prosecutors is because state attorneys general file lawsuits with the federal courts, which we know have been captured and won’t prosecute crimes against humanity. Local prosecutors, on the other hand, can convene grand juries in their local jurisdiction, even in their own county. So, this strategy bypasses the captured federal judiciary.
How to Prosecute the COVID ShotsNext, we need to figure out how to prosecute those responsible for the gene-based COVID shots. The same legal definitions apply to them. They too are committing “unlawful killing of human beings with malice aforethought.”
ResourcesTo aid you in these efforts, Boyle has created a paper that summarizes the strategy. He also recommends reading Australian journalist Sharri Markson’s book, “What Really Happened in Wuhan?” “I think she's got it all there,” Boyle says. “She didn't deal with the frankenshots, but she has, I think, a valid summary of all the evidence that has been compiled so far, involving all these individuals.” Another excellent book is Robert Kennedy Jr.’s book, “The Real Anthony Fauci.” It’s beyond outstanding and a real indictment of Fauci. It’s hard to imagine he’ll survive that exposure. “He should be indicted for murder and conspiracy to commit murder,” Boyle says. There’s also a September 2020 House Minority Intelligence Committee report that reviews the evidence available at the time on the origins of COVID-19 (“The Origins of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, Including the Roles of the Chinese Communist Party and the World Health Organization”11). All of these references can be taken to your local prosecutor to seek indictments for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Boyle may also make himself available as a consultant or expert witness in cases where a grand jury is successfully convened. Summary of Action StepsTo reiterate the central thesis, Boyle suggests organizing locally to find people willing, as a group, to call on your local, elected district attorney to convene a grand jury and indict the individuals suspected of being involved in the creation of SARS-CoV-2, and those responsible for the COVID shots. To identify your local district attorney, you can do an online search or simply look up the name up on your most recent ballot.
Remember, you need to connect with the prosecutors personally. An email campaign won’t get you anywhere in this scenario. Hopefully you can also identify individuals in your local community who are eloquent, articulate and knowledgeable about the facts. 27 States Suing the Biden Administration as of November 12, 2021As I mention in the interview, this method is likely to be far more effective if you live in a jurisdiction in which the state attorney general has already filed lawsuits in the federal court system. So, look at the list below. If you happen to live in one of these areas, the odds of your efforts being successful are very high, as they have already filed suit in federal court. All you need to do is convince them to convene a grand jury locally, and indict these criminals for murder. These are the names and addresses of the 27 state attorneys general who are suing the Biden administration over the COVID-19 vaccine mandates as of November 12, 2021. Each state is hyperlinked, as some have additional information about COVID and their lawsuits on their sites. For example, Arizona’s attorney general has written an extensive legal opinion on why the federal government does not have jurisdiction for a vaccine mandate in Arizona. The lawsuits have been filed in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Urgent Action RequiredIn closing, Boyle says:
Following this interview, Boyle gave several others, in which he pointed out that the “Frankenshot” mandates are a Nuremberg crime against humanity. He told me: “Now, with the booster campaign, I can only conclude that we are seeing Frankenshot genocide against the American people.” The Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin is known for having coined the term “genocide,” which refers not only to the physical killing of a people but also includes the slow, intentional destruction of a nation or ethnic group. As explained by Lemkin:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/28/covid-prosecution-strategy.aspx This article was previously published December 06, 2020, and has been updated with new information. Sharyl Attkisson is an award-winning investigative journalist with uncompromising integrity. Her book, “Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism,” was released in November 2020. In this, her third book, she addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: media bias and the deterioration of objective journalism — a topic on which she has first-hand experience. A former anchor at CNN and CBS News, Attkisson now produces her own Sunday television news program, "Full Measure," as well as two podcasts: "Full Measure After Hours" and "The Sharyl Attkisson Podcast," in which she covers the kinds of stories that mainstream news no longer touches. Slanted MediaPropaganda through media certainly isn't a new thing. Starting in the late 1940s,1 the CIA ran a well-documented but at the time covert campaign called "Operation Mockingbird," in which they recruited journalists as assets to spread propaganda — news slanted in one way or another. While the program is always referred to in the past tense, as it is said to have been ended in the 1970s,2 evidence suggests it never really stopped.
Big Industry Also Influences the NewsMultinational industries, the drug industry in particular, also has a similar level of influence over content relating to their particular interests. In 1996, direct-to-consumer drug advertising was legalized, and as drug advertising became a major income stream for media companies, their reporting on health and medicine became increasingly biased. The reason is simple. They cannot afford to "bite the hand that feeds them." If an advertiser doesn't want the public to know about a particular finding, all they have to do to influence the reporting is to threaten to withdraw its advertising, which will hurt the media company's bottom line. Drug companies have also become major sponsors of medical education; thus, doctors are taught to prescribe drugs for all ills, but they're not taught about the side effects and drawbacks of those drugs. Today, the drug industry also controls fact-checking organizations such as NewsGuard, as it is funded by Publicis, which is supported by drug companies. When feeding from the Big Pharma trough, how could they possibly be objective in their fact-checking? Reality shows us they can't because they aren't.. Big Tech — Master Manipulators of MindsBig Tech companies, of course, are also masters of censoring anything that might hurt themselves or their technocratic allies. As just one of countless examples, you can no longer post a link to Mercola.com on Twitter. First, they added a false warning that made it look like my site contained dangerous malware when readers would click on a posted link. After a while, they simply blocked the ability to post links to our site altogether.
Presidential Treatment Takes on a New MeaningIn her book, Attkisson also spends an entire chapter dissecting the highly-biased treatment of President Trump, and how the media have, through their own admission, suspended traditional journalistic ethics simply because they consider him "uniquely dangerous."
The Invention of LyingPrior to President Trump, virtually no one in the media would accuse someone of lying. The standard was to question an individual's statement or point out a discrepancy to another source, but not call it an outright lie, because it's easy to get confused on specifics. A lie is a very specific allegation that implies an intent to deceive. Just because you misremember a fact doesn't mean you lied.
Massaging COVID-19 MessagesIn terms of health, COVID-19 reporting has taken censorship and media manipulation to brand new heights, eclipsing just about all previous efforts. They don't even hide the bias anymore. All social media platforms are openly censoring dissenting views about the virus, particularly its origin and treatment. Even well-respected doctors and scientists have been axed for speaking against the desired narrative dictated by the World Health Organization. August 26, 2020, the CDC had released data3 showing 94% of people who had died during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. died "with" the virus, not "from" it. Only 6% had COVID-19 listed as the sole cause of death on the death certificate. Hence, at that time the real death toll, those who unarguably died as a direct result of the infection, was only around 10,000. "For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death," the CDC stated. This is an important distinction. Yet mainstream media continued to report that nearly 200,000 had died "from" COVID-19 in the U.S, and have continued to add to the numbers, thereby increasing and ensuring national fear so they can continue to implement their lockdowns, face mask and vaccine mandates and other strategies to limit our personal freedoms and liberty.
When a 'Case' Is Not a CaseThe media are also grossly misusing the term "case," in reference to the COVID-19 case load. A case is a medical term for a patient with a symptomatic type of infection. It's not someone who tests positive for antibodies or pieces of viral DNA. By referring to all positive tests as "cases," they're able to fan the flames of panic, making the situation sound far worse than it actually is. Many still do not understand that most of those who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic. They think these are sick people in the hospital and that rising "case" numbers are a reflection of a rise in deaths. Statistics reveal this simply isn't true, and that there's not a linear correlation between positive tests and deaths caused by COVID alone.
Search for Truth and Unbiased FactsThe clear take-home message I got from reading, "Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism," is that there's a profoundly serious problem with most mainstream conventional media. The obvious question is: Where can you go to get the truth? We would like to be informed, but we also want the truth. We don't have time to waste to be brainwashed by propaganda. At the end of her book, Attkisson lists a variety of sources she's come to trust. It may be worth getting the book for those recommendations alone.
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/27/sharyl-attkisson-media-bias.aspx Fiona Lashells, an 8-year-old in second grade in Florida, was subjected to an outrageous 38 school suspensions for standing up for her right to not do something that isn’t supported by data and science in a school system — wearing a mask. July 30, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order ruling that school districts could not require students to wear masks, ensuring parents’ freedom to choose whether or not their children wear masks in school.1 After the executive order was issued, Fiona’s mother told her she wouldn’t have to wear a mask for the upcoming school year, a relief to the girl, who had complained about fatigue from wearing a mask during the previous school year.2 The Palm Beach County school district, however, had other plans, which culminated in the student missing nearly two months of school. Student Forced to Miss Months of School Over Mask MandateAt first, when Fiona arrived at school without a mask, she had to eat lunch alone in a hallway outside the office of an administrator. However, soon in-school suspensions began, followed by out-of-school suspensions.3 Despite the state’s executive order banning school mask mandates, the school district had reinstated the requirement. “We promised her she wouldn’t have to wear a mask,” her mother told The Daily Wire. “I think that’s what upset her so much. We had made that promise to her at the beginning of the year.” Fiona, meanwhile, said, “I’m not wearing a mask because you touch it, and you have germs on your hand. And then you put it on your face and breathe in all the germs.”4 After 38 suspensions, the Palm Beach County school district repealed its mask mandate November 8, 2021, telling parents November 6:5
Now that masks are optional, Fiona was able to return to school, and 10% of the students in the district have opted out of wearing masks.6 At schools across the U.S., however, students are still being forced to wear masks for hours at a time every day, despite lack of evidence showing they work — and concerning data suggesting they can cause harm. How Effective Are Masks? No One KnowsMandating schoolchildren to wear masks daily is an unprecedented public health move — one that hasn’t been validated. “[W]earing masks by children and students on the effects of slowing down the spread of the virus in schools has never been studied in a randomized controlled trial,” Carla Peeters, founder and managing director of COBALA Good Care Feels Better, who has a Ph.D. in immunology from the Medical Faculty of Utrecht, wrote for the Brownstone Institute.7 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lied about masks’ effectiveness November 5, 2021, when CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tweeted, “Masks can help reduce your chance of #COVID19 infection by more than 80%.”8 Walensky didn’t give a reference for her claim that masks reduce COVID-19 infection by 80%, but a large study from researchers at Yale, Stanford and the University of California Berkeley found much less impressive results from masks. The trial involved 342,183 people from 600 villages in rural Bangladesh from November 2020 to April 2021.9 In villages that received masks, the number of symptomatic COVID-19 infections were 9.3%10 lower compared to villages without masks, or 11% lower in villages that received surgical masks instead of cloth masks. Moreover, a Cochrane study published in November 2020 found masks do little to nothing to slow down the spread of respiratory viruses:11
A February 2021 report from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control also admitted, “Evidence for the effectiveness of non-medical face masks, face shields/visors and respirators in the community is scarce and of very low certainty.”12 Did Sweden Get It Right?Sweden handled the pandemic differently than most of the globe and has been chided for its looser restrictions and lack of severe lockdowns. It also did not institute a mask mandate, only recommending them at times, such as when using crowded public transportation.13 The country’s state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, has stated that there’s little evidence for wearing face masks14 and that shutting down schools was also unnecessary during the pandemic. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur in France indeed found that there was no significant transmission of COVID-19 in primary schools, either among the students or from students to teachers.15 “The study also confirmed that younger children infected by the novel coronavirus generally do not develop symptoms or present with minor symptoms that may result in a failure to diagnose the virus,” study author Bruno Hoen added.16 Opening a Window Worked Better Than Masks in SchoolsMagical thinking regarding masks persists, even as solid evidence shows improved ventilation, such as opening a window, may work better at battling COVID-19 in schools than universal masking. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study compared the incidence of COVID-19 in Georgia kindergarten through grade 5 schools17 that were open for in-person learning in fall 2020 with various recommended prevention strategies, such as mandatory masks and improvements to ventilation. The first important statistic is the COVID-19 incidence, which was extremely low. At the 169 schools that participated in the survey, there were only 3.08 COVID-19 cases among students and staff members per 500 enrolled students, from November 16, 2020 to December 11, 2020. After adjusting for county-level incidence, the study revealed that COVID-19 incidence was 37% lower in schools that required teachers and staff members to use masks and 39% lower in schools that improved ventilation, compared to schools that did not use these strategies. Let’s use a school with 500 students as an example, which would have an incidence of just over three cases. Even with a 37% reduction in incidence from staff members wearing masks, that only reduced incidence by about one case in the entire school. Further, ventilation led to better outcomes, reducing incidence by 39%. Dilution methods, which work by diluting the number of airborne particles, include opening windows and doors or using fans. This led to a 35% lower incidence of COVID-19, while methods to filter airborne particles, such as using HEPA filtration systems with or without ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, led to a 48% lower incidence. These were the findings when masks were used by teachers and staff. When students were masked, virtually no difference was found. According to the study:18
Effects on Health and Environment OverlookedMandatory masking isn’t an innocuous case of “it can’t hurt to try,” as negative effects are apparent. A cluster of symptoms known as mask-induced exhaustion syndrome (MIES) have been described, with researchers warning that children, pregnant women and those who are sick or suffering from certain chronic conditions may be particularly at risk from extended masking. While short-term effects include microbiological contamination, headaches, exhaustion, carbon dioxide retention and skin irritation, the long-term effects may lead to chronic issues:19
Significant adverse effects and pathophysiological changes, including the following, often occur in combination due to masks:20
Again, researchers noted, that children may be particularly at risk. “It can be assumed,” they wrote, “that the potential adverse mask effects described for adults are all the more valid for children: … physiological internal, neurological, psychological, psychiatric, dermatological, ENT, dental, sociological, occupational and social medical, microbiological and epidemiological impairments …) … The masks currently used for children are exclusively adult masks manufactured in smaller geometric dimensions and had neither been specially tested nor approved for this purpose.”21 Meanwhile, the effects of disposable masks on the environment are atrocious, with an estimated 3.4 million masks and face shields discarded daily worldwide.22 The plastics, micro- and nanoscale fibers and particles and heavy metals, including lead, antimony and copper, they contain raise significant environmental and public health concerns.23 Peeters wrote:24
No More Masks for Healthy PeoplePeeters believes all mask mandates should be repealed immediately, due to their lack of effectiveness at curbing the spread of disease and potential for adverse effects, from MIES and a “waning innate immune system” to self-contamination and environmental harm. Fiona’s story is proof that every individual has the power to make a difference. If you don’t agree with student mask mandates either, contact your local school district and let them know. As Peeters noted:25
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/27/school-mask-mandates.aspx In the video above, Mattias Desmet, professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, reviews the societal conditions under which a population ends up willingly sacrificing their freedom. Desmet, who also has a master’s degree in statistics, discovered peculiar anomalies in statistical analyses done during the COVID pandemic, which made him realize our global society is starting to enter a “mass formation” state, a type of “collective hypnosis” required for the rise of a totalitarian regime. In this Aubrey Marcus podcast interview, Desmet reviews the step-by-step formula that results in this collective hypnosis, and how this formula has been deployed on the global population over the past two years. Needless to say, he warns us about continuing down this path, and provides solutions that we can take, both on an individual and collective basis, to prevent the loss of freedom that will surely follow if we do nothing. Nonsensical ModelingAround the end of February 2020, Desmet started looking at case fatality rates and other statistics, quickly realizing that there was something seriously wrong with the models presented to the public and used as justification for shutting down “nonessential” businesses and telling everyone to stay at home. The models were greatly exaggerating the threat of SARS-CoV-2, and by the end of May 2020, this was “proven beyond doubt.” For example, the Imperial College in London predicted that if Sweden did not lock down, 80,000 people would be dead by the end of May 2020. Well, Sweden opted not to lock down, and by the end of May only 6,000 people had died with a diagnosis of COVID-19. Strangest of all, Desmet says, was that everyone kept saying the coronavirus countermeasures were based on mathematical models and science, yet “when it was proven beyond doubt that the initial models were completely wrong, the measures continued, as if nothing was wrong and the models were right.” Clearly, then, modeling and science were not foundational or even part of the equation at all. This, Desmet says, “was a strong sign that there was something going on at the psychological level that was really powerful.” Another tipoff that something was really wrong was the fact that none of our political leaders were taking into account the collateral damage of their countermeasures. There was no cost-benefit/risk-reward analysis for any of the countermeasures. The World Health Organization did warn that the measures might result in excess deaths from starvation. Yet at no time did we ever see a mathematical model that took into account both sides of the coin — the death toll from the virus, and the collateral damage of the countermeasures. And without such an analysis, we could not assess whether the countermeasures might be more harmful than the virus. Anytime you consider a public health measure, a cost-benefit analysis is essential. You cannot make a sensible decision without it. Yet here, such basics were ignored as if the collateral damage was inconsequential. The Four Base Conditions for ‘Mass Formation’What psychological dynamics and processes might be responsible for this apparent blindness? After a couple of months, Desmet finally realized what was going on. Society was (and still is) under the spell of a mass hypnosis, a psychological process known as “mass formation” that arises in society when specific conditions are met. The central condition is a lack of societal bonding. In other words, social isolation on a mass scale, which is precisely what the lockdowns were all about. We were all told that any contact with others, including members of our own family, could be a death sentence. I’ve heard of people who for over a year have not met with a single person, remaining locked in their homes the entire time, for fear of contagion. But social isolation was a widespread problem even before the pandemic. Marcus cites a survey, which found 25% of respondents didn’t have a single close friend. What’s more, the loneliest age group were young adults, not seniors, as typically suspected. So, even before the pandemic, Western societies were suffering from a lack of community, which is a key condition for “mass formation” syndrome to emerge in the first place. The second condition is that a majority of people must experience life as meaningless and purposeless. Desmet cites research showing that half of all adults feel their jobs are completely meaningless, providing no value to either themselves or others. In another poll, done in 2012, 63% of respondents said they were “sleepwalking” through their workdays, putting no passion into their work whatsoever. So, condition No. 2 for mass formation hypnosis was also fulfilled, even before the pandemic hit. The third condition is widespread free-floating anxiety and free-floating discontent. Free-floating anxiety refers to anxiety that has no apparent or distinct cause. If you’re in the jungle and find yourself chased by a lion, your fear and anxiety have a natural, easily-identified cause — the lion. However, when you are socially disconnected and feel your life has no meaning, then a free-floating anxiety can emerge that is not connected to a mental or physical representation of a specific threat. Judging by the popularity of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, condition No. 3 was also fulfilled long before the pandemic. The fourth condition is free-floating frustration and aggression, which tends to naturally follow the previous three. Here, again, the frustration and aggression have no discernible cause. When Conditions Are Met, Mass Formation EmergesWhen these four conditions are fulfilled by a large enough portion of society, they are ripe for mass formation hypnosis. All that’s needed now is a story in which the source or cause of the anxiety is identified and spelled out, while simultaneously providing a strategy for addressing and neutralizing that cause. By accepting and participating in whatever that strategy is, people with free-floating anxiety feel equipped, finally, with the means to control their anxiety and avoid panic. They feel like they’re in charge again. Interestingly, when this happens, people also suddenly feel reconnected with others, because they’ve all identified the same nemesis. So, they’re joined together in a heroic struggle against the mental representation of their anxiety. This new-found solidarity also gives their lives new meaning and purpose. Together, this connection, while based on a false premise, acts to strengthen the psychological disconnect from reality. It explains why so many have bought into a clearly illogical narrative, and why they are willing to participate in the prescribed strategy — “even if it’s utterly absurd,” Desmet says. “The reason they buy into the narrative is because it leads to this new social bond,” he explains. Science, logic and correctness have nothing to do with it.
These losses can include their mental and physical health, their homes, livelihoods and material well-being. None of it matters when you’re under the hypnotic spell of mass formation. And this, Desmet says, is one of the most problematic aspects of this psychological phenomenon. Masses of people become self-destructive through their myopic focus. 19th Century Mass FormationGustave Le Bon, a French social psychologist renowned for his study of crowds once said:
Le Bon’s book, “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind,”1 takes a deep-dive into the characteristics of human crowds and how, when gathered in groups, people tend to relinquish conscious deliberation in favor of unconscious crowd action. He warned that if society didn’t take heed and ward of social isolation and the anti-religious idea that life has no purpose, we would end up in a state where mass formation would become the norm. These psychologically damaged people would take over, which is precisely what happened. A key example is the Nazi regime. Desmet points out that while we typically think of dictatorships arising from the use of brute force and fear, the Nazi regime — and the leadership we’re faced with right now — came into power on the back of this deep psychological phenomenon known as mass formation. People WILLINGLY participated in the Nazi atrocities because of the psychological state society was in, the mass formation phenomenon, not because they feared their leader. Key Difference Between Dictatorship and TotalitarianismSo, it’s important to realize that classical dictatorships and totalitarianism arise from different causes. As a general rule, in a classic dictatorship, the dictator becomes milder and less aggressive once dissident voices, his opposition, are silenced. Once he has seized complete power, he doesn’t need to be aggressive anymore and can resort to other means to maintain control. In a totalitarian state, the exact opposite occurs. This is crucial for us to understand, because in a totalitarian society, once the opposition is silenced, that’s when the state commits its greatest and cruelest atrocities. An example of this is Stalin’s purification scheme in the 1930s, which led to the death of about 80 million people in a single decade. The mid-30s is also when the Nazi regime began its insane cleansing, which resulted in the Holocaust. Both occurred after the vocal opposition had been quenched. We’re now at another watershed moment in history, where the opposition to the pandemic madness is being silenced. If we want humanity to survive and not succumb to global totalitarianism, we must keep speaking against it, because when we stop, THAT’S when the real atrocities will begin. In other words, we ain’t seen nothing yet. The worst is still to come — if we fall silent. Here’s another important point. Totalitarians don’t stop committing atrocities once the opposition is vanquished. It merely expands to new groups. Desmet recounts how Stalin switched from one scapegoat to the next, as he kept running out of groups to blame and had them killed off. Eventually, he ended up murdering half of his Communist Party members, even though most had done nothing wrong and were loyal to him. That’s something to ponder in our present situation. Right now, “anti-vaxxers” are the opposition the totalitarian regime seeks to destroy. Once there are no more “anti-vaxxers,” say, theoretically, that everyone in the world got the shot, the opposition to be done away with would become some other group. So, if you’re “vaccinated” and up on all your boosters right now and are cheering on the crusade against those who don’t want the shot, know that it’s only a matter of time before it’s your turn to be victimized over something. The Tragic End That Awaits All Mass Formation SocietiesThe fate of those who succumb to mass formation and embrace totalitarianism is particularly tragic, in a sense, because of another curious thing that occurs. People under its spell often end up agreeing that they deserve to die and willingly go to their death. This, Desmet says, is what happened with many of Stalin’s party members who were given death sentences for no apparent reason. As noted by Marcus, this is basically menticide, the killing of the mind. The psychological process of menticide so degrades the mental faculties that rational thinking is no longer possible, making you profoundly gullible. In this state, you’ll buy into any narrative without critical thinking. Mass formation also always ends up creating more of the conditions that allowed it to emerge in the first place. So, in the end, people who are under mass formation hypnosis will feel greater social isolation than ever before, less meaning and purpose in life, and more free-floating anxiety and free-floating aggression than before. Mass formation also erases individuality. The group becomes all-important and the individual inconsequential. Hence being told you, your parents or children deserve or need to die for the betterment of society is acceptable and agreeable.
Applied to today, this is shockingly relevant. It helps explain how and why parents are willing to line up their children for an experimental injection that can disable or kill them. “Totalitarianism is a monster that ALWAYS devours its own children,” Desmet says. Mass Formation in ActionAnother important point is that, typically, only 30% of people in a totalitarian society are actually under the hypnotic spell of mass formation. It seems greater, but they’re actually in a minority. However, there’s typically another 40% that simply go along with the program, even though they’re unconvinced. They don’t want to stick out by going against the prevailing current. The remaining 30% are not hypnotized and want to wake the others up. The so-called Ash experiments clearly demonstrated that very few people, only 25%, are willing to go against the crowd, no matter how absurd and obviously wrong the crowd’s opinion is. Two-thirds of people are willing to go along with “idiocracy.” Time and again, mass formation events and experiments show us there are three groups of people: those who become spellbound and actually believe that the wrong answer is the right one; those who know the answer is wrong, but dare not tell the truth so they agree with what they know to be false; and those who know the answer is wrong and say so. How to Break Mass FormationAll of this points to what the answer is. According to Desmet, what dissidents need to do is join together to form one large group. This gives the largest, 40% group — the fence-sitters who only go along with the program because they’re afraid of being ostracized — an alternative social bonding platform. Most of them are likely to join the dissident anti-totalitarian group rather than follow the totalitarian mindset that they don’t fully agree with. At that point, the mass formation is done. The totalitarian state is finished because the neutral fence-sitters, which allowed for mass formation to take root and grow, are now no longer participating in that process. And without mass formation, a totalitarian takeover cannot succeed. Secondly, we must continue to speak out — LOUDLY. Speaking out can help minimize the number of people who get hypnotized. It can also wake some up who already are under the mass formation spell. According to Desmet, speaking out has also been shown to limit the atrocities committed.
It’s not easy. As discussed by Marcus and Desmet, the totalitarian regime has the benefit of being able to control the narrative through a centralized media. Not surprisingly, mass media is a key tool for the successful creation of mass formation. A third action item is creating parallel structures. The power of this strategy was demonstrated by Vaclav Havel, a political dissident who eventually became the president of Czechoslovakia. A parallel structure is any kind of business, organization, technology, movement or creative pursuit that fits within a totalitarian society while being morally outside of it. Once enough parallel structures are created, a parallel culture is born that functions as a sanctuary of sanity within the totalitarian world. Havel explains this strategy in his book, “The Power of the Powerless.” As noted by Desmet, totalitarianism will always self-destruct in the end. The psychological underpinnings are so self-destructive that the system falls apart. That’s the good news. The bad news is a totalitarian system can survive for long periods of time before petering out, and there tend to be few survivors at the end. That said, Desmet believes this new global totalitarianism is more unstable than regional dictator-led totalitarian systems, so it may self-destruct faster. So, the key is to survive outside the totalitarian system while we wait for it to self-destruct. However, we must still dissent in word and deed, in order to limit the atrocities and mitigate the damage. Ultimately, as in medicine, preventing totalitarianism is far easier than trying to break free later. To do that, we need to prevent the four root causes of mass formation in society: social isolation, purposelessness, free-floating discontent/anxiety and free-floating frustration/aggression. This will be the task of those who remain once this global totalitarianism experiment fails and falls. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/27/mass-formation-totalitarianism.aspx This article was previously published November 21, 2020, and has been updated with new information. A growing interest in health and heath food has helped drive consumer demand for fish to an all-time high. A diet rich in fish has grown so popular that global fish consumption jumped 122% from 1990 to 2018, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).1 Fish is often viewed as a healthier alternative to meat2 due to the so-called "benefits" on human health and the environment. But is it really healthier for you and the planet? That all depends on what kind of fish you're eating and where it's sourced from. An increasing amount of fish on the market — in restaurants and grocery stores — is sourced from large-scale industrial fish farms. These farms rely on a toxic cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides and even genetically engineered crops such as soy.3 Industrial ocean fish farms or factory fish farms4 where fish are raised numbering in the hundreds of thousands or millions, often in net pens in the open ocean, pollute the environment with massive amounts of fish waste and threaten already vulnerable wild fish with disease. Fish raised in crowded and unsanitary conditions are, unfortunately, on the rise. The number of fish produced on fish farms skyrocketed 527% from 1990 to 2018, according to FAO. There are a couple of reasons for this spike, one being the world's appetite for fish is growing. Another reason is that, by 2016, 90% of the world's wild fish stocks had already been depleted due to overfishing.5 The result is more people are eating farm-raised fish produced on land in massive tanks or in open ocean net pens. In fact, the world now produces more farmed fish than it does beef.6 And, 50% of the fish eaten worldwide is now farm-raised.7 Health Benefits of Farmed Salmon Versus Wild-Caught SalmonSalmon is one of the most widely sold types of factory farm fish, and salmon farms are now the fastest-growing type of food production system in the world.8 A fan favorite among fish eaters, salmon is often a go-to for health-conscious consumers. Loaded with vitamins, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, salmon has all the characteristics associated with healthy food. But salmon is only healthy if it is wild-caught, meaning it was fished from its natural habitat, where it fed on natural organisms. Salmon is not healthy for you if it is farm-raised. Farmed salmon actually has more in common with junk food than health food. Farmed fish are raised on a diet of processed, high-fat, high-protein feed that can include everything from genetically engineered soybeans and pesticides, to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, to antibiotics.9 The dry pellet feed given to farmed salmon is what makes it so toxic to you when you eat it. The toxins in farmed salmon feed accumulate in salmon fat. One study,10 which tested 700 salmon samples collected from around the world, found PCB concentrations in farmed salmon are, on average, eight times higher than in wild salmon.11 Farmed salmon in general contain higher levels of contaminants than wild salmon, in part because of their elevated fat content. So even when raised in similarly contaminated conditions, farmed salmon will absorb more toxins than wild fish. Farmed salmon also does not have the nutritional profile of wild salmon, containing far higher amounts of omega-6, which can have deleterious health ramifications, seeing how most people are deficient in omega-3 while getting far more omega-6 than they need. Majority of Salmon Eaten in the US Comes From Fish FarmsWith all the farmed salmon floating around, you might be surprised to learn that the U.S. captures nearly one-third of the world's wild salmon. But more than half of it is sent overseas, where it's deboned and processed using cheap labor. There was a time when our wild-caught salmon would be shipped back to us after processing but, today, the majority of it stays in Asia as a result of Japan's shrinking fish supply and China's improved economic status, which allows its citizens the luxury to purchase it. The result is more farm-raised salmon for Americans. Two-thirds of the salmon we eat here in the U.S. is imported, mostly from industrial fish farms in Chile, Canada, Norway and processing factories in China.12 Similar to industrial animal agriculture, farming salmon (and fish in general) on a large scale results in a massive amount of animal waste or, in this case, fish waste. According to The Guardian:13
Ocean Water Fish Farms Are Invisible Factory FarmsFrom an outward perspective, the environmental impact of large fish farms can easily be obscured. Similar to factory farms on land, which house large numbers of cows, pigs and chickens yet are often kept out of public view, ocean fish farms are hidden from the public eye. The fish pens are placed up to 164 feet beneath the surface of the water. These seemingly invisible underwater pens can hold up to 200,000 fish each. In Norway — which has a huge farmed salmon industry — some fish farms have eight to 10 pens. That means factory fish farms can house up to 2 million fish, which is more fish than the wild Atlantic salmon population of the entire world, The Guardian reports.14 Fish farms of this scale require a lot of capital, which is why most salmon farms are owned by large multinational companies. Escaped Farmed Salmon Threaten Vulnerable Wild SalmonAnother major problem with open ocean fish farms is fish that escape. Whenever Atlantic salmon are farmed near wild Atlantic salmon, mixing occurs. When males escape, they usually die off because they aren't tough enough to compete with wild males during the spawning process. But when females escape, they lay eggs that are fertilized by wild males. This is problematic because the genes of farmed fish are not equipped to survive in the wild. Farmed fish also lack the basic survival skills that wild fish have. According to The Guardian:15
Farmed salmon that escape from ocean net pens are so common that more than one-third of "wild-caught" salmon from the Faroe Islands, tucked between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean (and politically part of Denmark), are actually escaped farmed fish.16 Fear of farmed fish escaping into the wild and threatening wild fish is why fish farming is now banned — and will be phased out by 2025 — in Washington state.17 In 2017, a fish-farm spill occurred off Cypress Island when a net pen holding 263,000 salmon gave way. The farm's owner, Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, tried to downplay the seriousness of the spill and initially said only around 160,000 Atlantic salmon had escaped. But it was later confirmed that the number was as high as 263,000. Fish Farms Spread Parasitic Sea Lice to Wild SalmonCooke blamed the damaged pens on a solar eclipse that brought "exceptionally high tides and currents."18 But an investigation by the state of Washington found that Cooke was negligent because the company failed to properly clean the nets on the pens. This led to an excessive buildup of mussels and other sea life on the nets, The Seattle Times reported.19 The spill threatened native wild salmon including the endangered Chinook. The concern was the farmed Atlantic salmon would crossbreed with the wild Pacific salmon and expose the wild fish to disease and pests such as sea lice. Sea lice are a major problem for farmed salmon, and thanks to industrial ocean fish farms, it's now a problem for wild salmon, too. Sea lice that run rampant in fish farms can attack wild salmon swimming nearby. Fisherman on the west coast have reported seeing wild salmon swimming near fish farms infected with sea lice. The Guardian reports:20
'All Natural' Atlantic Salmon Come From Fish FarmsAnother problem with fish farming is that the companies that raise farmed fish aren't exactly truthful about their practices. Mowi USA, the world's largest producer of Atlantic salmon products, was accused of misleading consumers with false marketing claims. Organic Consumers Association (OCA) filed a lawsuit in August 2020 against Mowi and Mowi Ducktrap for deceptive marketing and advertising of smoked Atlantic salmon products sold under the Ducktrap River of Maine brand.21 Many popular smoked Atlantic salmon brands lure in consumers with misleading claims such as "all natural," "healthy and nutritious" or "sustainably sourced." But the truth is that all smoked Atlantic salmon products are made from salmon raised on massive industrial fish farms that, in some cases, are nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean. As Katherine Paul of OCA writes:22
To take action on this issue, please sign the petition telling Ducktrap of Maine to stop falsely claiming its smoked Atlantic salmon is "all natural." Enjoy Safe and Delicious FishFrom the toxic drugs and chemicals used in fish farming, to its environmental impact on wild fish and the false and misleading marketing claims used by multinational fish farm companies, there are plenty of reasons to avoid farmed fish. Instead, I only recommend eating safer seafood choices such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring. All of these are at low risk of contamination yet are high in healthy omega-3 fats, without the problems posed by fish farming. You'll want to opt for sustainably harvested wild-caught fish as well. One of the best options toward this end is to look for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo, which features the letters MSC and a blue check mark in the shape of a fish. The MSC logo ensures the seafood came from a responsible fishery that uses sustainable fishing practices to minimize environmental impacts.23 from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/26/cost-of-farm-raised-salmon.aspx |
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