I know of nothing that makes me angrier than having the Goverment step in to regulate against information. 

It really makes me wonder where this is all going to end - even the most inconsequential  problems are being codified.  As an example, they are introducing legislation in California to make it illegal to drive with your dog in your lap - can they really believe it possible to legislate against all manifestations of lack of intelligence?? - do they have data on pooch-in-lap-caused accidents? 

What set me off this time is far more serious, however - Monsanto (incredibly rich makers of recombinant bovine growth hormone) feels that it is UNFAIR to label milk that is not hormone laced, hormone free - why?  Because it may suggest that the hormone free milk is in some way BETTER.  We certainly feel that it is better, but that is not the point:  we have the right to know! 

Citizens for Health has more information about this attempt to flummox us, together with a little reward (for those of us who eat Ben and Jerry's icecream) for doing the right thing.

Find out more about it here.

The FDA is after the bio-identical hormones again.  For an interesting review of what has been going on, and links to contact Congress, go to the American Health Freedom site:

Act Today to Preserve Your Access to Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy!

I brought my children up on raw milk, and still pick it up (for my Irish wolfhounds :0) once a week.  I do not believe that the government has the right to tell me that I have to buy pasteurized milk, any more than it can stop me from eating raw lettuce or Steak Tartare - these days a far more hazardous proposition.

Yet despite  all this, the FDA continues to exceed its authority even harrassing suppliers of raw milk for PETS!

Read a raw milk Dairy's description of its pristine record on contaminants.

Where can you find raw milk?

The FDA and Raw Milk (scroll down when you reach this link!)

I am merely an interested observer in the political process, since I am not a citizen - nor likely to be, until I can afford to pay a lawyer to overcome my lack of a birth certificate!

I have watched with wonder the Obama phenomenon.  A remark by a local lady, usually reserved and well-bred - that she wants to have his babies, pretty much sums it up.  He has charisma, but does he have anything else? 

He certainly has the usual political ability to twist the truth to suit his message, which I thought those of you who are hesitating might like to know.

A “more complicated truth” on lobbyist campaign contributions

If a label that says "Naturally raised meat" brings to mind happy cows out in green pastures, lovingly reared and humanely dispatched - think again!

USDA may have started with the best of intentions, but surprise! Lobbying by the meat industry caused changes that would cover a mechanical cow raised in the dark.

Read about it hear, and let your voice be heard.

Stop Deceptive Labeling of "Natural" Meat 

Action Alert from Citizens for Health

The FDA's approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. Why does the FDA ban speech that can heal and save lives? Many dietary ingredients have therapeutic effects, yet telling the truth about those effects in the market can land you in jail. The Food and Drug Administration makes it next to impossible to assert any claim that a supplement or nutrient has the potential to positively affect a person's health.

The Federal Trade Commission prosecutes parties who make advertising claims about the effects of foods and nutrients on the body. It does not limit those prosecutions to parties that actually deceive consumers.  It also does not limit those prosecutions to products that fail to perform as advertised. In short, in this standardless environment, the FTC can exercise a great deal of discretion to determine what claims are deceptive and which ones are valid. No one in this country should be held by the government to be a deceptive advertiser unless the government proves that consumers have in fact been deceived.

Click here to tell your Representative you want to make your own health choices!

Most commentaries on this event state "New Jersey became the first state to require compulsory vaccinations for children" as though this were something to congratulate them for, and as though they are breaking wonderful new ground here.

I find this terrifying!  Please follow the links, and send support to those listed in the second link, who are opposing this disturbing trend.

Only New Jersey Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk (R-Bergen), a sponsor of a bill (A165) that would allow parents to opt out of the vaccine mandates by filing a "conscientious exemption" form with the local health department, voted against these vaccine requirements. "I'm gravely concerned about what's happening here today," said Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk (R-Bergen), a sponsor of a bill (A165) that would allow parents to opt out of the vaccine mandates by filing a "conscientious exemption" form with the local health department. "With New Jersey reporting the highest incidence of autism and a cause yet to be identified, we don't know what will happen," she said. "What happened to our freedom?"

New Jersey vaccinations

Forced vaccinations in New Jersey

Organic Consumers Association sends me a lot of interesting information - you might care to subscribe to their newsletter yourself, here:

OCA newsletter

This remark brought home to me the fact that Government just doesn't get it, and despises those who do!

Collin Peterson, chairman of the House of Representatives agricultural committee, says the farm sector that raises organic produce and grass-fed beef for local consumers needs little federal help. "It is growing, and it has nothing to do with the government, and that is good," he told the FT. "For whatever reason, people are willing to pay two or three times as much for something that says 'organic' or 'local'. Far be it from me to understand what that's about, but that's reality. And if people are dumb enough to pay that much then hallelujah."

To send a message to Collin Peterson (Democrat, MN) congratulating him for getting the Organic Consumers Association award for the dumbest quote of the week: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_8104.cfm

When you follow the link, you may have to scroll down to find the form to write your letter.  Following is what I wrote:

Dear Mr. Peterson,

disrespecting the opinions of those who elect them seems to be endemic among politicians these days.

If instead you take the time to find out WHY we will pay these higher prices, you will find that we compelling reasons to do with health, local economies, agribusiness and government. 

These reasons may not convince YOU to change your mind, but they define US as rational and intelligent, rather than subscribers to the herd mentality you may be more comfortable with.

Lynn Hinderliter CN, LDN

You may recall I posted about this spurious Teen Screen test, which leads all too frequently to FORCED drugging of teenagers  in Aug 2005.

Read the details of the test here, at http://psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html

The lengths they go to are positively Machiavellian:

One tactic TeenScreen officials use is to sell the child on the suicide survey first and after they have the child's agreement, they later contact parents.

TeenScreen Project Coordinator, Kathleen Cigich, was quoted as saying: "We found early on, though, that sending out letters directly to parents is prohibitively time consuming and gets a low response rate. We thought, why not go to students themselves and offer a $5 video store coupon to anyone who brings back a parental consent form within a two-day turnaround period. It works. Our response rate is extremely high."

TeenScreen also utilizes a "passive consent form"  which requires no written parental approval.  The passive consent form is sent home to parents and if they DON'T return it TeenScreen considers that the parents approve. TeenScreen officials favor passive consent because they say it boost their chances of screening kids to 95% as opposed to the written parental consent technique. What if the child forgets to bring the consent form home? What happens if the parent is too busy to refuse in writing? They've consented in the eyes of TeenScreen personnel.

Recently, Natural Solutions Foundation (quoted above) took up the banner, online a letter you can send to your representatives to support a bill that will ban compulsory medication of childrene as a prerequisite for attending school.

SUPPORT S. 891, THE CHILD MEDICATION SAFETY ACT

Catching them when they're young takes on new meaning in light of a revealing survey, which found that relationships between department heads at major medical schools, and the pharmaceutical industry, are beyond cozy.

The same author determined in 2006 that hospiatl review boards charged with overseeing experimental treatment for patients have the very same affiliations.

So much for the naif belief that only effective and relevant treatment will be prescribed by our new physicians.

Institutional Academic–Industry Relationships 

Read below and to follow the instructions to contact our Senators, and Representatives to stop Congress from making benign non-steroidal DHEA a controlled substance.

DHEA is not an anabolic steroid. It is a naturally occurring hormone that has a wide range of benefits, including maintaining muscle strength and strong bones, boosting immunity, and improving mood and sleep patterns. Further studies suggest that DHEA may be helpful for such conditions as obesity, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. DHEA dietary supplements, which have been on the market for over 20 years, are derived from a plant in the wild yam family

Stop Congress from Restricting Access to DHEA

The Vitamin lady writes about DHEA

DHEA formulas

It has taken a long while for the truth about the ill-health effects of Fluoridation to come to the fore.  Now, however, something may finally be done to end this deceptive practica, and you can help.

Here is where you can find out WHY it is so important to stop this wholesale pollution of the Nation's water supply.

Adverse health effects of Fluoride

Here is where you can sign the petition to have Congress step in and rectify the situation.

Years ago, when I first came to this country, I still had my long-handled Spanish shopping baskets with me.  I remember well the suspicious looks the local bagger at our Midwestern supermarket cast on me, as I deftly intercepted his efforts to put my purchases into his plastic bags.

I can't really claim to have understood in totality the consequences of our reliance on plastic at that time, it just didn't feel right.  And people are finally beginning to come to the same conclusion - San Francisco, for example, has completely banned the use of plastic shopping bags.

It may be just in time, as this Captain discovered when he sailed into a filthy, trashy area of the ocean about the size of Texas, contaminated throughout by plastic.

But it will be too late for some birds.

And we may already be eating plastic fish.

With untold consequences for our future - may there be enough of us left to turn this thing around!!

Give up plastic - buy yourself a beautiful handwoven basket from Africa, made by striving artisans   - and do good while helping the environment.

I posted on this last week, but somehow or another, the post has disappeared.  My comment was Thank Goodness we have people out there not only watching the FDA, but able to interpret their legalese and alert us to the real threat underlying the obscure phrases. THIS IS A VERY REAL THREAT!  READ ON.

Who would have thought that "Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration" meant:

Thanks to Mike Adams at Newstarget.com for the list.

The regulation is open to comment until April 30th, and boy, do we need to comment!

GO HERE TO DO SO, and please pass this on to your friends who have the same concerns

I love word play, as you may have gathered!  But I think I will have to explain that "lolly", in British slang, means money.

You may remember the post about Monsanto patenting the Pig: sounds incredible, but the consequence would be, if such patents were granted, that Monsanto could legally prevent breeders and farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics were described in the patent claims. And after all, how many unique characteristics could a pig have??

Now this kind of Universal Control is becoming even more Orwelllian, and there's plenty of lolly at stake:

Quote:

The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office will use a patent on broccoli (EP 1069819) for a fundamental ruling, on whether or not conventional plants are patentable. The broccoli in question was merely diagnosed using marker assisted breeding methods to identify its natural occurring genes. The genes were not modified. All other broccoli plants with similar genes are considered as "technical inventions“ by the patent. Thus even their use for breeding and the plants themselves are monopolized. Through this the provision which prohibits the patenting of "essentially biological processes" is to be undermined. The EPO has already granted similar patents: e.g.: only recently the company Enza Zaden Beheer received a patents on pathogen resistant lettuce ( EP1179089B1)

Should the Enlarged Board of Appeal uphold the patent, then this decision (case T0083/05) will be binding for all other pending patent applications and even for animals and their offspring.

In a joint letter to the Enlarged Board of Appeal the organizers of No Patents on Seeds and numerous farmers' organizations from around the globe restate their opposition to patents on conventional seeds and animals.

Text of Global Appeal