European Parliament official denounces ACTA for secrecy, dishonesty

(NaturalNews)The more some people associated with passage of the global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) learn about its onerous privacy-stealing provisions, the less they want anything to do with it. The latest example comes from a European Parliament official charged…

S&P downgrades nine Eurozone nations and their bailout fund as crony capitalism crumbles

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for debt-ridden Europe, they have. Last week, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit ratings of nine European nations. Then this week, as if to add insult to injury, S&P downgraded Europe’s bailout fund…

EU halts imports of US-based corn gluten feed due to GMO contamination

The European Union (EU) has rejected roughly one million tons of US-based corn gluten feed, a leftover byproduct of corn processing that is commonly fed to conventional livestock, over concerns that it might be tainted with illegal genetically-modified organisms (GMO…

Mediterranean diet and reduced calorie intake promote brain health and longevity

Researchers have long theorized that a Mediterranean diet full of vegetables, fruit, fish, nuts, seeds and olive oil can help promote good health. Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden reporting in the European journal AGE provide the unanimous results: four…

Strawberries can counter the negative effects of alcohol

A team of European researchers has proven that eating strawberries will protect the stomach lining from damage caused by ethyl alcohol. “A diet rich in strawberries might exert a beneficial effect in the prevention of gastric diseases related to generation of reactive…

NaturalNews suggestion for your Netflix queue: The Vanishing of the Bees

(NaturalNews) “Vanishing of the Bees” provides a fascinating perspective on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The film looks at the mysterious affliction which has destroyed honeybee populations at many bee farms in the US, leaving hives deserted, yet with few bee bodies remaining to help unravel the riddle. Bee Informed This 2009 documentary is an excellent introduction to this environmental problem which also provides some information that may be new even to those who have read about the issue. If you are not sure why you should care about that a few buzzing insects are disappearing, the film does an excellent job of explaining the importance of this issue. As one of the beekeepers interviewed in the film points out “bees are an indicator of environmental quality. When the bees are dying, something’s wrong that’s going to affect all of us.” The film, narrated by actress Ellen Page, provides a wealth of information on web of influences, including consequences of monoculture farming, EPA policies and commercial beekeeping practices. This documentary incorporates brief animated segments, interviews with a broad spectrum of people including author Michael Pollan (Food Fight); scientists; both commercial and holistic beekeepers; and environmental activists; film clips of European beekeepers staging protests while wearing full bee-tending costume and archival footage of WWI chemical warfare. Global and Historical Bees Anyone with an interest in environmental issues, organic foods and the politics which affect our food system will find this film interesting. The movie offers a few intriguing historical and cultural facts about bees and beekeeping — such as how the ancient Egyptians managed beekeeping, wild honey collection in Malaysian rainforests and how bees are connected both to the concept of goddess worship and to Napoleon. The film also provides important information rarely mentioned in US media articles about CCD — the fact that a similar disease occurred in France, where it was dubbed Mad Bee Disease. The film discusses how the French choose a different means of handling the problem than has been taken in the US. Early evidence indicates the French approach has been at least partially successful and the bees are bouncing back there. Filmmakers George Langworthy and Maryam Henein manage to cover a great deal of ground in this short (89 minutes) and enjoyable documentary. They not only provide a more global perspective on the problem than many issue-oriented films, but also go beyond defining the issue to offer at least some notions for how to solve this concern. While the film may not cover the science of the issue well enough to satisfy experts, it does an excellent job at the balancing act all documentaries must perform — educating viewers on a topic without becoming boring. Further Information The documentary is currently available on Netflix for instant viewing. If you do not have a Netflix membership, you can visit the film’s website (http://www.vanishingbees.com/) to watch it on a pay-per-view basis. The website also provides information on hosting a screening of the film for a group, as well as classroom educational resources and suggestions for actions you can take. As the film points out, one of the silver linings of the publicity about the vanishing bees has been a growth of interest in small beekeeping, including changing laws in many major cities which make urban beekeeping legal. The “Vanishing of the Bees” website also includes links for people who want to help bring bees back by starting a backyard hive or two.

Five things you can do right now to help stop the economic plundering of our world

(NaturalNews) The economic plundering of our world is well under way, with the Goldman Sachs “white shoe boyz” taking over entire national economies as they confiscate the wealth of the working class. They aren’t the only evildoers wreaking havoc across the world, of course: A cabal of powerful and criminally-insane corporations are destroying the future of food, plotting to keep citizens suffering from disease, and even perpetuating war so they can earn obscene profits from selling more bullets, bombs and missiles. You can help resist this economic imperialism by taking simple actions that protect your wealth and pull it out of the hands of the globalists who are actively destroying our world. Here are five of the most powerful action steps to take that can turn the tables and restore economic sovereignty at every level — household, community, state, nation and the entire globe. #1) Shop at local farmers’ markets, food co-ops and local grocers Stop buying Tyson chicken. Stop buying Monsanto-engineered GMO foods at the grocery store. Stop giving your money to food industry globalists such as ADM, Cargill and PepsiCo. Every time you buy a can of brand-name soda, a carton of genetically modified soy milk, or a bag of popular snack chips, you are financially supporting a system of global agricultural poverty and food domination that destroys life and liberty. If you shop based solely on price and not ethics, you are take part in the economic destruction of our world. Shop local, buy organic and avoid all the corporate food giants and their deceptive, dishonest packaged foods. Remember: If the food you eat comes in a box, your family and friends will eventually find YOU in a box, too. #2) Pull your money out of the big banks and put it in local credit unions When you deposit $1,000 in a globalist bank, they can turn around and, through a series of fractional reserve banking transactions, turn that into $9,000 in loans that earn them interest. Inversely, by pulling $1,000 out of a globalist bank (JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, etc.), you deny them the ability to make $9,000 in loans, thus shrinking their profits by a significant factor. One of the most powerful and honest strategies you can use to protect your own savings and stop financially supporting the global financial crooks who are running the largest banks is to move your money to a local credit union . Most credit unions, by law, cannot bet on derivatives. So they don’t have the $68+ TRILLION in financial exposure that Bank of America has right now, for example. (http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval) Of course, your local credit unions are normally not insured by the FDIC, but that’s actually a bonus because the FDIC will itself be insolvent in the first 24 hours of a true banking debt collapse (its own funds are a pittance compared to the scale of the global derivatives debt possessed by the banks it claims to insure). (http://seekingalpha.com/article/215209-bank-failures-driving-fdic-to-insolvency) You’re far smarter holding your money in a local credit union covered by an independent insurance agency that has nothing to do with the large global banks and their coming derivatives disasters. #3) Stop working for The Man as a wage slave If you punch a clock working for The Man, then you’re part of the problem. Every hour of your effort goes to keep propping up the very system that’s bringing you down. It’s difficult, of course, to find work these days, and it’s absolutely true that The Man pays double or even triple the wages of anyone else. Heck, even TSA jobs come with great pay, government health benefits, and the “administrative right” to sexually molest innocent people, which is a real bonus to some of the disturbed psychopaths who take those jobs in the first place. (http://www.naturalnews.com/034323_National_Organization_for_Women_TSA_illegal_searches.html) If you want to stop working for The Man, you are going to have to downsize your material wealth and instead be content to possess spiritual wealth (and ethical currency, so to speak). Yes, you might live in a smaller house and drive a smaller car, but you won’t have to sell out your soul to an evil system of tyranny and oppression. So if you’re currently punching a clock for some evil corporation, some tyrannical government entity, or some poison-pushing pharmaceutical company, find a new line of work and stop supporting the very system that’s destroying us all. #4) Trade soon-to-be-useless paper currency for real goods Are you still sitting on a bunch of paper currency and hoping it will somehow be worth the same amount in five years? Stop kidding yourself… the value of all the top global currencies is eroding by the hour. At times, it seems like it’s not happening because they’re all eroding together, so the relative valuation between currencies appears to be deceptively stable. But underneath it all, global currency devaluation has viciously accelerated — and both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve are committed to printing even more counterfeit currency to further speed the process. By the time all the European banks are bailed out, and the U.S. banks are bailed out, and the Canadian and Australian banks are bailed out, if you’re still left holding hyper-inflated currencies like the U.S. dollar, you’re going to be lucky to still own ten cents on the dollar in terms of today’s purchasing power. That’s why smart people are exchanging their soon-to-be-worthless currencies for real things that hold real value: Dirt (farmland), gold, silver, quality firearms, stored food, hand tools, tractors and much more. We recently ran an article promoting Himalayan Salt Lamps which are an easy way to store 3-4 pounds of valuable full-spectrum salt while also using it as a lamp in the short term. All 1,000 of the lamps we had sold out within 6 hours , which just goes to show you that NaturalNews readers are getting it (http://www.naturalnews.com/NNStore-HolidaySpecials.html). They understand the value of having things of real worth rather than sitting on mere dollars (or the electronic equivalent thereof). #5) Stop voting for politicians funded by Wall Street bankers This is perhaps the most important — and yet most difficult — principle of all: Stop voting for politicians and bureaucrats who are propped up by banker money. It’s almost impossible to do, of course, since nearly all the politicians — across the political spectrum — take big money from the big banking cartels. Obama himself is deeply in bed with Wall Street interests, but so was Bush and others. Herman McCain, who thankfully dropped out of the Republican race just a couple of days ago, was a Federal Reserve insider. You couldn’t pick a more compromised candidate to try to fix the economy when he’s part of the very system of theft that’s destroying it! The only real candidate who would challenge the economic plunder of our world is, of course, Ron Paul (www.RonPaul2012.com). He’s the guy who has stood firm on the principle of auditing the Fed and even ending the Fed so that the money supply of America can be put back into the hands of the Congress (i.e. the People) and not a private bankster cartel run by globalist crooks. Do these five things now if you want to help save your nation from total economic destruction Right now, whether you are Republican, Democrat or Libertarian, one of the most patriotic things you can do to save your nation is follow these five steps and start redirecting your financial resources away from the globalists and toward your local community. Support small, local businesses. Support local financial institutions. Don’t buy the stock of evil corporations, even if they pay financial dividends. Vote for candidates who operate with consistent ethics, not the ones who give the slickest speeches and promise the most handouts. Put your time, money and effort into restoring your nation or you will lose your nation. Every dollar that you spend, save or invest in a profit-driven bank or evil corporate giant is a dollar that will one day be used to wage economic warfare against you and your own children . Think about what you’re doing. Save yourself, my friends, because all the other big players out there would far prefer to enslave you than set you free.

In stunning show of bureaucratic idiocy, EU directive bans health claim that water prevents dehydration

(NaturalNews) The collection of medically-indoctrinated idiots known as the European Food Standards Authority has officially disallowed a product health claim that says water prevents dehydration . This means the EU does not even recognize the therapeutic ability of water to reverse chronic dehydration. It makes you wonder: If water cannot treat dehydration, then what would they use instead? Vaccines? The claim that was denied by the EFSA stated that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration.” This claim was submitted to the EFSA by consultants who advise food and beverage companies (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html). They wanted to see if such a commonsense claim would be recognized by the EFSA. It’s kind of an “IQ test” for the EFSA, you see. Not surprisingly, the EFSA failed that IQ test. Maybe that’s because it is staffed by morons who probably can’t tell their own arse from their eye sockets, and it’s a wonder they can even remember to pull down their own pants before using the toilet. So now, the denial of this commonsense health claim about water has been made into an EU directive which applies across the entire European Union. Oh, goody! Now total idiocy is the law of the land… Frontal lobe? What frontal lobe? Let it be known that if you ever had any doubts about the cognitively evacuated morons who run the EU, those doubts have now been laid to rest with this EU directive which officially declares that water cannot prevent dehydration . They might as well just declare that breathing cannot provide oxygen to your body, or that eating food cannot provide calories and nutrition. The EU has reached a level of mouth-gaping, slobbering stupidity that no nation in human history has quite matched . Sure, the U.S. is trying to beat the EU at its own game with idiotic debt spending ($15 trillion in debt now under Obama, who added $4 trillion all by himself), followed by the loony idea that the way out of too much debt is to increase debt spending even more. And yes, Greece is probably leading the way in total fiscal stupidity by bailing out rich bankers while saddling its own citizens with a lifetime of virtually un-payable debt. But no one has yet achieved the high honor of “slap me in the face with a ham sandwich” stupidity that we’re now witnessing with this EFSA declaration. Makes the bendy banana law look downright intelligent! Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall said the ruling made the “bendy banana law” look “positively sane”, reports the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html)/ He said: “I had to read this four or five times before I believed it. It is a perfect example of what Brussels does best. Spend three years, with 20 separate pieces of correspondence before summoning 21 professors to Parma where they decide with great solemnity that drinking water cannot be sold as a way to combat dehydration. Then they make this judgment law and make it clear that if anybody dares sell water claiming that it is effective against dehydration they could get into serious legal bother.” But then, proudly standing up for the morons of planet Earth, Prof Brian Ratcliffe, a spokesman for the Nutrition Society , “…said dehydration was usually caused by a clinical condition and that one could remain adequately hydrated without drinking water,” according to the Telegraph. “The EU is saying that this does not reduce the risk of dehydration and that is correct,” Ratcliffe said. Babbledegookledygok. Morons-R-Us! Are we surprised such a quote is coming from the Nutrition Society? What could be more fundamental to nutrition than the water solubility of nutrients which obviously require WATER to be carried throughout the body? Or the fact that roughly around 75% of the human body is made of water at any given moment? What do these geniuses think makes your blood a liquid in the first place? Oh, let me guess. Here’s the new entrance exam to the Nutrition Society: Question: Which substance is liquid at room temperature and hydrates the human body? A) Mercury B) Water C) Gasoline D) None of the above According to the Nutrition Society and the EFSA, the correct answer is D!! Wow. Words escape me. I cannot quite come up with the proper collection of insults to express the pathetic expansion of zombie-brained stupidity that has infected the EU leadership these days… but as an American, I am duty-bound to try… Meanwhile, I can’t wait for the same brainless buffoons to officially declare that two plus two does not equal four… or that war is peace, slavery is freedom, and soylent green is the only nutrition you ever really need. We have reached a point of such runaway stupidity and brainless idiocy that I’m not even sure modern society can continue to function at all. Even a one-eyed monkey could run the EU better than present-day EU politicians and bureaucrats. Why, you ask? Because at least the one-eyed monkey is only half-blind . You should be drinking BRAWNDO, the Thirst Mutilator! In the movie Idiocracy (which remains one of my favorite films of all time), water was banned in water fountains and agricultural irrigation, replaced by a sports drink called Brawndo – the Thirst Mutilator , a drink that’s “got electrolytes!” When the crops started dying after being doused in Brawndo, nobody could figure out why. After all, Brawndo’s “got electrolytes,” right? So why wouldn’t plants love it? (In the film, the Brawndo corporation actually purchased the FDA.) Here’s a hilarious YouTube video about Brawndo, which satirizes the total idiocy of modern sports drink advertising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbxq0IDqD04 And yet, as idiotic as that Brawndo ad really is, it’s nothing compared to the EU directive which now states that water cannot prevent dehydration. Apparently, water doesn’t “got electrolytes.” What the EU needs is “European Brawndo!” Bird-brained bureaucrats? That’s giving them too much credit… To call EFSA bureaucrats “bird-brained” might actually be a stretch (in their favor), because even my own free-range chickens are smart enough to know that water treats dehydration. Yep, my birds are downright geniuses by EFSA standards, apparently, because every time they feel thirsty, they waddle right over to a water dish and lap up some water with their tiny bird tongues (yes, chickens have tiny bird tongues). Meanwhile, the finest institutional minds of the EU, after spending many months pondering the issue, could not even reach the simple realization my pea-brained chickens are born with: That the body has a fundamental need for water because water prevents dehydration. Every animal innately knows this. Even mosquitoes have the brains to seek out water. So technically, EU bureaucrats are not even “mosquito-brained.” It’s almost as if you could put them all under anesthesia, surgically remove 99% of their brain matter, wake them back up, send them back to work for the EU government, and they would do just as good of a job! It is at times like this that I am thankful my ancestors fought for America’s independence. It’s also a strong reminder that we must resist Codex Alimentarius (and other globalist control nonsense) or else we, too, may end up being told that water is medically useless. Heck, the FDA already arrests people for selling raw milk . They actually run infiltration operations and spy rings (http://www.naturalnews.com/033428_FDA_secret_war.html) to catch people selling fresh milk. I guess if the FDA follows this EU directive, they might soon start arresting water smugglers! Hey, buddy, wanna buy some water? Shhh! Keep it down. We’re being watched… This is the stuff that treats dehydration! Yeah, I know, we can’t say that too loudly… might get arrested. Shhh! EU consumer alert: Stop drinking water! The upshot of all this is that if you’re an obedient, slave-minded citizen of the EU and you suffer from dehydration (i.e. you feel thirsty), DON’T DRINK WATER! You might run the risk of violating some EU directive that could get you interrogated by mosquito-brained bureaucrats. Instead, you should call your local emergency services and ask for a pharmaceutical — or a surgical procedure of some sort — to “medically” treat dehydration. I wonder if this decision will cause all the nursing homes and retirement centers to stop serving water to the elderly now that the EFSA has officially pronounced water to have no health benefit whatsoever? I guess old people should only be hydrated with intravenous drips, huh? Sure would be good business for the brain-dead medical industry across the EU, which is looking for something important to do before they release the next pandemic and call for a national vaccine mandate. I wonder if they will pull water fountains out of the public schools now? Will there now be public service announcements across Europe that urge moms to stop allowing their children to drink water? Maybe they should all be drinking Brawndo instead. The Thirst Mutilator! Approved by the EFSA to treat dehydration! “Ow my balls!” (That’s a line from the movie.) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy) Can we just get back to some common sense here? Common sense says that water prevents dehydration . It’s built right into the word dehydration . “Hydration” means to have water. “De” means to lack it. So “de-hydration” means lacking water, by definition! To declare that water does not treat dehydration is an admission that you are illiterate and cannot even achieve the most basic thought processes required for functioning in society. Nowhere on this planet are more good people ruled by more complete idiots than in the European Union, where two plus two now equals five, and water is no longer recognized as a way to hydrate the human body. Interestingly, the total idiocy of EU bureaucrats is about to collide with the laws of mathematics as the region’s finances implode. Governments can lie about water, and they can lie about debt for a little while, but sooner or later, the laws of the universe catch up with you and the deniers are all exposed as fools or criminals (or both). I for one think we should take all these EFSA boneheads and EU droolocrats and air-drop them butt-naked into the Death Valley Desert of North America, where they can rethink their opinion on whether water prevents dehydration. I’ll bet you a million dollars that in just 72 hours, they would be begging for water. Wouldn’t it be sadistic (but a little but fun) to stand there with a gallon of fresh spring water and refuse to give it to them, saying, “But you said water doesn’t treat dehydration!” Maybe they can all just eat sand.

Occupy GMOs: Protesters block access to manufacturing plant filled with animal ‘Frankenfeed’

(NaturalNews) Tired of the quiet import and use of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in the animal food supply throughout Europe, a group of protesters in France has decided to make a statement by blockading the entrances of the Glon Sanders animal feed plant in Saint-Gerard, Morbihan, France. The company’s more than 200 employees have been unable to come to work for some time now, which means that production has stopped at the plant, and its offices remain empty. Most of Europe is staunchly opposed to GMOs in general, which is why they are hardly ever sold there, and why they must be properly labeled if they are. But GMOs have been furtively making their way into the European food supply via animal feed, which is often laced with GM soy, corn, and other contaminated ingredients thanks to labeling loopholes that permit “non-GMO” livestock to consume GM feed. So to push authorities in France to take a stand against this deceitful practice, a group of concerned individuals decided to storm the Glon Sanders factory, which they reportedly felt was the perfect place to make their voices heard. “Sanders, a subsidiary of Sofiproteol chaired by Xavier Beulin (also president of the FNSEA), is a strategic location to make an act of denial of the use of GMOs in agriculture, particularly in animal feed,” said the group in a translated quote from Maville.com, a French paper. Both the cultivation and consumption of GM soy are linked to a host of environmental and human health problems. The cultivation of GM soy involves dousing plants in millions of tons of toxic Roundup, also known a glyphosate, which causes various diseases in plants, as well as serious health problems in humans (http://www.naturalnews.com/Roundup.html). And consumption of GM soy itself is linked to causing gastrointestinal problems, heart disease, chronic fatigue, thyroid disorders, and reproductive problems (http://www.naturalnews.com/GM_soy.html). A documentary produced in Germany explains how GM soy is covertly making its way into Europe via animal feed, and why this loophole is a significant threat to the European food supply. It also explains how the cultivation of GM soy around the world is destroying both the environment and human health. You can watch a clip from that documentary here: http://www.naturalnews.com/031382_GM_soy_GMOs.html Sources for this article include: http://www.toxicsoy.org/toxicsoy/news/Artikelen/2011/11/17_Animal_feed_factory_in_Britany_France_blocked.html

First Germany, now Belgium: Nuclear energy to be phased out by 2015

(NaturalNews) In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, some countries have decided to rethink their energy policies and initiate moves towards safer energy alternatives. Following in the footsteps of Germany, the European nation of Belgium has reportedly decided to phase out its nuclear energy sector, beginning with the shutdown of three of its oldest reactors by 2015. Back in March, Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world, vowed to end its nuclear program by as early as 2020, and later revised that date to 2022 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592208). Belgium now intends to do the same thing with its two nuclear power stations that together house seven nuclear reactors, by 2025. BBC News reports that Belgian officials reached an agreement to shut down two older reactors at the nation’s nuclear facility in Doel, as well as another older reactor at its Tihange plant, by 2015. From there, it will gradually phase out the remaining four reactors by 2025 which, together with the first three, currently generate 5,860 megawatts of power. “There is a confirmation that the plants will close, and nuclear will become a transition energy in Belgium,” an unnamed government official told The Wall Street Journal recently. “The government will set out a plan for the move to alternative power sources in the six months following its installation.” Reports say the phase-out dates are somewhat flexible, and that the process of switching from nuclear to safe alternatives will take time. In the meantime, the Belgian government, which is currently being reformed after its collapse in 2010, plans to implement a nuclear tax that will generate revenue for investing in alternative energy technologies. Electrabel, the company that runs Belgium’s nuclear facilities, claims that the Belgian government has changed course from its previous intentions. The Belgian government had actually recommended extending the lives of the old reactors based on studies it released prior to Fukushima — but now its plans have changed. GDF-Suez, which is part of Electrabel, has made a conditional agreement with the Belgian government to only follow through with the phase out if energy shortages and price jumps will not come about as a result. It remains to be seen if Belgian officials will come up with effective energy alternatives. Sources for this article include: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15521865

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