Getting enough vitamin D may require more than just sunlight exposure

(NaturalNews) Regularly exposing your skin to natural sunlight is arguably the best way to maintain optimal levels of vitamin D. But according to researchers from the Arizona Cancer Center (ACC), not everyone gets enough vitamin D from the sun, which means they may need to supplement in order to maintain optimal levels. “Seventy-five percent of Tucsonians are actually below the target levels that we want them to be at and part of that is because of the ethnic make up of Tucson,” explained Dr. Beth Jacobs from ACC. People with darker skin tones tend not to benefit as much from sunlight exposure as people with lighter do. Though lighter-skinned people tend to get sunburned more easily, their skin is more respondent to the ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun that trigger vitamin D production in the body. Additionally, most people spend very little time outside anyway, which means that their vitamin D levels are likely far below what they should be. Spending roughly 15 minutes a day in the sun during the summer can trigger high production of vitamin D — and people are more likely to do this during the warmer months — but throughout the rest of the year, cold weather and poor sun angles make it difficult to gain much, if any, benefit from sunlight exposure. So researchers at ACC have been evaluating the effects of many popular vitamin D supplements to see how well they fare, and results so far have been positive. “We’re purchasing the supplements off the shelf just like any population would do,” said Jacobs in a report. “Particularly for colon cancer, there’s a lot of data that suggests vitamin D is very helpful.” Recent studies illustrate that current recommendations for vitamin D intake are far too low. Sunlight exposure can produce up to 20,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D in the body every day, but current guidelines recommend a mere 400 IU a day for adults. Experts hope that these guidelines will be updated to encourage higher intake. Sources for this story include: http://www.kvoa.com/news/researchers-vitamin-d-reduces-cancer-risk/

Walgreens announces flu shot gift card; give the "gift" of a vaccine (opinion)

(NaturalNews) Summer isn’t even over yet and the big push for the mass vaccination of the entire population is already under way. The CDC started the push by recently urging vaccine shots for everyone — including infants, pregnant women and immune-compromised people. Adding to the vaccination hoopla, Walgreens has announced something quite bizarre: A flu shot gift card. Available for $29.99 at your nearest Walgreens retailer, this gift card is, as Walgreens explains on their website, “a way to help more Americans stay well throughout the upcoming flu season by giving the gift of a flu shot.” See a full-size picture of this flu shot gift card right here: http://www.naturalnews.com/images/Walgreens-Giftcard-290×445.jpg Of course, if you gave your friends the gift of vitamin D supplements , they wouldn’t need a flu shot or a jab in the arm with a sharp needle. Vitamin D has been proven again and again to work better than vaccines at preventing influenza (http://www.naturalnews.com/027385_Vitamin_D_swine_flu_vaccine.html), yet it remains all but ignored by the conventional medical establishment which just happens to be dominated by the financial interests of vaccine manufacturers (pharma companies). Swine flu again? As Walgreens admits on its own website (http://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5324), this year’s seasonal flu shot only protects against last year’s viruses. In particular, this year’s flu shot contains DNA fragments from H1N1 swine flu — yep, the very same virus that fizzled out last year after the WHO hilariously declared a stage six global pandemic. This whole charade turned out to be engineered by WHO advisors who had financial ties to the vaccine companies (http://www.naturalnews.com/029441_vaccine_manufacturers_advisors.html). Now they’re trying to jab you again with the same viral fragments. But this year they’re playing mind games with the public by packaging these flu shots as “gifts.” Walgreens must think this is clever, but it’s actually a bit of a farce. Usually a gift is something you actually want; something that’s uplifting or health enhancing in some way. Vaccines, on the other hand, have been widely linked to convulsions and neurological disorders. Just recently, Australia actually banned its seasonal flu vaccine for children after dozens of children went into convulsions from receiving the flu shot. Why do flu shots cause convulsions? Because flu shots contain neurological inflammation agents designed to elicit an immune response for building antibodies. The problem is that these chemicals can also cause neurological damage leading to symptoms you just can’t ignore… such as convulsions. Some teens have even been paralyzed by flu shots. Western doctors routinely ignore this evidence and simply declare vaccines to be “safe for everyone!” even when they clearly aren’t. So anyone who buys a flu shot gift card and hands it to a child or teenager might actually be giving the gift of convulsions . Happy Birthday, Bobby! Here, have some convulsions and go get yourself jabbed in the arm with a sharp needle… Sending the wrong message In my opinion, buying a Walgreens flu shot gift card sends a powerful, two-part message. First, it announces that you’re a complete idiot when it comes to health, and you’re a total sucker for the corporate-controlled interventionist health care system that excels at convincing you to buy dangerous drugs you don’t even need. Secondly, it says that you probably hate the person you’re giving it to. What kind of person buys a vaccine shot as a gift anyway? Does it include a Hallmark card that says “Every time I think of you, I wince in pain and can’t stop convulsing. Enjoy this vaccine so that you can have the same experience.” Or another card, “I couldn’t decide what to get you for Christmas, so I thought I’d get you vaccinated instead. Merry Christmas!” Can you imagine some little kid receiving this gift from his parents? He was hoping for an X-Box or a dirt bike, but instead he gets an envelope with a red card in it. “What’s this?” he asks his parents. “Oh, Bobby, it’s a VACCINE gift card! To protect your health!” Bobby replies, “How does it work?” And his parents answer, “Well, using this vaccine gift card, you can get jabbed in the arm with chemicals and live viruses, and it won’t even cost you a penny!” “I feel really loved,” answers Bobby. “No one has ever given me the gift of a vaccine shot! When can we go to Walgreens and cash in?” What’s next? Chemo Cards! I got to thinking about this: If flu shot gift cards are so popular, why not just expand this into all the toxic chemicals of modern medicine? Perhaps hospitals should roll out Chemotherapy Gift Cards so you can “give the gift of chemo!” Is your loved one just a little too healthy? Does their brain work too well? Is their liver annoyingly operating at one hundred percent? Give the gift of chemotherapy and you’ll destroy their kidney, liver and brain function (after which they’ll gladly accept your flu shot vaccine gift cards next year). The chemo card can act like a coffee punch card, too: After ten rounds of chemotherapy, the eleventh is on the house! (If you’re still alive, anyway…) While this idea may seem outlandish today, it’s actually not that far-fetched. Flu shot gift cards are already packaging western chemical medicines as “gifts.” And we just reported a story about how pharma drug pushers want fast food restaurants to hand out statin drugs for free to customers (http://www.naturalnews.com/029467_statin_drugs_fast_food.html). It seems that the idea of repackaging interventionist chemical medicines as gifts is pervasive. It’s too bad we can’t figure out a way to give the gift of common sense to people. If they had any common sense about health and nutrition, they wouldn’t need flu shot gift cards in the first place.

Flu vaccine push already underway; first batch causes seizures in children

(NaturalNews) As ridiculous as it seems, retailers across the U.S. are already stocking their stores with Christmas goods. It’s all about the big commercial push, of course, since retailers make about 50 percent of their profits during the Christmas season. Similarly, flu vaccine manufacturers generate huge profits during the Christmas season, too, and they’ve already begun shipping this year’s winter season flu vaccines to U.S. pharmacies and hospitals. Never mind the fact that the actual flu strain in the vaccine is little more than a hodgepodge collection of last year’s flu strains. Each year’s flu vaccines are technically only applicable to last year’s flu season, making them perfect for time travelers but useless for everybody else. Along with the big vaccine push comes the inevitable vaccine propaganda . It’s all so predictable: First there’s the announcement that “everybody should get vaccinated.” This is followed by some later announcement in the pre-Christmas season of “how bad” this year’s flu season is getting. This is followed yet again by another urgent bulletin by health authorities urging everyone to get vaccinated. The big vaccine push only quiets down when vaccine supplies dwindle. But as long as vaccines remain in inventory, the big vaccine push will stay aggressive, and during this annual charade, there won’t be a word mentioned about vitamin D and how it is far more effective than any vaccine at protecting people from seasonal flu. Reading between the vaccine lines This year’s vaccine push has begun with some curious admissions by the vaccine industry, reflected in a Reuters story (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3019609820100730). After the usual explanatory text about how flu vaccine manufacturers have started shipping their largest quantity of vaccines ever produced for flu season, the story prints this curious text: “And U.S. officials said they were changing the labeling on a vaccine made by Australia’s CSL Ltd (CSL.AX) because it appears to have caused a higher than usual rate of seizures in children.” Now hold on a second. If you read between the lines here, this statement implies that: 1) Vaccines cause seizures in children. And then 2) This particular vaccines causes a higher rate of seizures in children than the usual rate of seizures in children. Why is this curious? First off, because vaccine pushers have always sworn their vaccines caused no seizures whatsoever. No neurological problems. No spontaneous abortions in pregnant women. No increased rates of autism. Vaccines are all perfectly safe, they say, and no children are ever harmed by them. That’s the mythology, at least, behind vaccines. But the reality is far different: Vaccines do cause seizures in children , and this year’s vaccines look like they’re going to cause a significantly higher rate of seizures than usual. Note, by the way, that this was not the headline of the story. This admission was tucked away in the text of a Reuters story, without any real emphasis. If Reuters was really interested in reporting the truth about vaccines, the story headline would have been, “Flu vaccines cause seizures in children.” Line up, sheeple! The story goes on to say, “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone be vaccinated against seasonal flu this year.” Yep, everyone. That means one-month old infants. Pregnant women. Children with seizure disorders. Immune suppressed seniors. Everyone! You see, in years past, vaccines were never recommended for everyone due to well-founded safety concerns. In some people, you see, the nearly-dead viral strains used in vaccines can actually cause the very flu they claim to prevent. So the CDC has, for as long as anyone can remember, always warned certain groups to be excluded from vaccines for their own safety. Well not anymore. Any safety concerns have been thrown out the window in the quest to push more vaccines onto more people. Billions of dollars in pharmaceutical profits are at stake here, and health officials can’t afford to let a little safety get in the way. This Reuters story continues: “Most years, seasonal influenza infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population and kills 36,000 people. It puts about 200,000 into the hospital.” Well, not really. The 36,000 figure often quoted from the CDC is wildly inaccurate (http://www.naturalnews.com/026169_medical_myths_swine_flu.html). It’s a statistical guess based on such outdated data that to quote it as fact is laughable. Besides, it’s technically wrong to say that influenza kills anyone. The real killer here is vitamin D deficiency which causes a stalled out immune system. If people had sufficient levels of vitamin D circulating in their blood, the flu virus would be powerless to harm them. And since there are viruses everywhere in the world around us every single day, isn’t it more accurate to say that the “flu season” is actually the “vitamin D deficiency season?” Think about it: Why does the flu circulate in the winter months in North America, but the summer months (June – August) in Australia? It’s because those are the times of weaker sunlight exposure resulting in widespread vitamin D deficiencies. The flu is always around, living amongst us, just waiting for weakened immune systems so it can strike. To say that “the flu” kills people in the winter is factually wrong. It’s the vitamin D deficiency that kills people by giving the flu an opportunity to attack a weakened immune system. This is a simple factual point that the entire system of western medicine, with all its high-IQ doctors, has so far failed to realize. Sometimes it feels like we’re still living in the Dark Ages of medicine, I swear… Where are the clinical trials? Anyway, this Reuters story continues with one more whopper of a statement: “The labeling for one vaccine, CSL Limited’s Afluria, has undergone changes this season to inform health care providers about an increased incidence of fever and febrile seizure… The FDA said it was asking CSL to conduct a study of its vaccine in children.” Read between the lines on this one: This Afluria vaccine causes an increased risk of seizures, it’s being imported into the USA to be injected in children this flu season, and the FDA is just now asking for a study? That means, of course, that no study has been conducted on this vaccine yet . In other words, this vaccine which causes seizures in children has never actually been properly tested in children according to FDA guidelines, so the FDA wants a test to be done but the vaccine will be injected into children in the USA anyway , even before the testing is likely to be completed. And that means, of course, that U.S. children are being used as guinea pigs to see what happens to them following this vaccine injection. If enough children have seizures or end up paralyzed or dead, the FDA will probably pull the vaccine off the market. But that only happens after the fact and after the damage has already been done. Don’t you get it? Your children are the experiment! The American People are the guinea pigs for every vaccine these companies come up with, and it doesn’t matter if the vaccine causes seizures, brain damage or even death… American children are going to be injected by the millions in order to find out what happens. No need for influenza vaccines in anyone This whole annual charade is utterly useless to begin with. There is simply no medically justifiable need to inject anyone with a flu vaccine — ever! What people need is vitamin D to activate their immune response so that natural exposures to seasonal flu are easily handled by their existing immune system functionality. Let’s face it: The human immune system is far more intelligent and technologically advanced than any flu vaccine. It already has a pattern recognition system that can identify and destroy foreign invaders in the blood. But as research has shown, when vitamin D levels are deficient in the body, the immune system is effectively paralyzed and can’t respond. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029312_immune_system_vitamin_D.html) When vitamin D levels are high, the immune system responds rapidly to any influenza threat. That’s why I never get a flu shot and even so, I haven’t been sick for years . I do, however, get sunshine on a regular basis, and when I can’t get sunshine, I take a quality vitamin D3 supplement. And guess what? I don’t need a flu vaccine at all. I can walk into a room full of sick people infected with influenza and be completely and utterly immune to their coughing, sneezing, nose wiping and finger-licking handshaking. Having vitamin D in your body is like wearing a bulletproof vest for influenza. The medical industry won’t tell you this because there’s huge profit to be made in scaring people into paying for flu shots they don’t need. If people were told the truth about the dangers and the ineffectiveness of flu shots, very few would buy them. Because the truth is that, even in best-case scenarios, flu shots are maybe effective at preventing infections in one percent of those who take them. And that means ninety-nine percent of those receiving flu shots are wasting their time and their money. Plus, they’re exposing themselves to chemicals that are obviously dangerous to the human body or else they wouldn’t cause seizures in children, get it? And yet every flu season, people line up by the millions to get injected with something that might harm them, and they actually pay for being potentially harmed! Why do people do this? Because they foolishly trust in health authorities who almost universally have financial ties to the vaccine manufacturing companies and so are pushing a particular agenda in order to profit from vaccine sales. But scientifically speaking, the flu season could be stopped in its tracks by handing out vitamin D3 supplements instead of vaccine injections. No needles. No seizures. And no drug company profits. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather swallow a vitamin than get jabbed with a sharp needle. But that’s just me. Most other people, it seems, would rather spend their winters wiping their noses raw with Kleenex, drowning themselves in over-the-counter flu medicines and missing a week or two of work while they try to fight off a flu infection they could have prevented with a few vitamin D supplements in the first place. Believe me, it’s a lot more fun to laugh off the flu season and spend your winters healthy, well rested and completely immune to seasonal flu. Wanna join me in a healthy winter this year? Just boost your vitamin D levels and you too can laugh off seasonal flu and all the sheeple lining up to get injected like cattle in a branding line.

Sweating in the summer heat promotes good health

(NaturalNews) Summertime heat is an annoyance to some people, but according to Xu Qian, director of the infectious diseases department at the China-Japan Frienship Hospital in Beijing, sweating from the hot, summer heat is a natural part of keeping your body healthy, and avoiding this heat can actually cause health problems. People typically run their air conditioners throughout the summertime in order to beat the heat, but doing so can actually compromise the immune system. “People should go with the rules of nature. Summer is the time to sweat. It’s a natural process for the body to respond to the outside environment, and adjust itself through the constricting of blood vessels and nerves. In this sense, air conditioning is a reactive restrain of the body against nature,” Qian explained in a China Daily article. Excessive sweating without replenishing the body with water, electrolytes and healthy salt, can be a bad thing, but not sweating at all can be even worse. And moving from hot areas to cold areas, and vice versa, on a regular basis throughout the summer can put excessive strain on a person’s health “Air conditioning might induce infection of the upper respiratory tract, cause colds, throat pain, pharyngitis, and even pneumonia,” said Qian. Sweating is also an important method by which the skin helps to eliminate toxins from the body. “One of [the skin's] functions is to eliminate a portion of the body’s toxic waste products through sweating,” explains Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, in her book Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Food Supplements . Sources for this story include: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2010-07/21/content_11029566.htm http://www.naturalpedia.com/S/Sweating-skin.html

Sunbathing boosts men’s testosterone (thanks to vitamin D)

(NaturalNews) By increasing circulating levels of vitamin D, sunbathing may help increase men’s testosterone levels and thereby their sex drive, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of Graz, Austria, and published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology . “Men who ensure that their body is at least sufficiently supplied with vitamin D are doing good for their testosterone levels and their libido among other things,” said Ad Brand of the Netherlands-based Sunlight Research Forum. Researchers tested vitamin D and testosterone levels of 2,299 men over the course of several months. They found that like vitamin D levels, testosterone levels peaked in the summer and dropped during the winter. They also found that men who had at least 30 nanograms of vitamin D in every milliliter of blood had the highest levels of circulating testosterone. Vitamin D is produced by the body upon exposure to sunlight. Scientists recommend that light-skinned people get at least 15 minutes of direct sun per day on their face and hands, while darker skinned people may need up to three times as much. The body can synthesize all the vitamin D it needs in a fraction of the time it takes to sunburn. “Enjoying the sun safely while taking care not to burn should help people strike a balance between making enough vitamin D and avoiding a higher risk of skin cancer,” said Jessica Harris of Cancer Research UK. Sunscreen blocks the ultraviolet radiation necessary for the body to synthesize vitamin D. As people spend less time in the sun, vitamin D deficiency has become an issue of growing concern, especially in regions far from the Equator where the sun is weaker. Vitamin D is now known to not only help the body develop and maintain a healthy skeleton, but also to help regulate the immune system and prevent against chronic health conditions such as heart disease, dementia and cancer. Sources for this story include: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8493042.stm.

Spicy peppers may cause your body to burn more calories

(NaturalNews) Losing weight is just a few spicy peppers away, according to a recent report out of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Researchers there say that the capsaicin compounds found in peppers that give them their spicy taste, actually help to burn calories as well. Scientists believe that the reason why capsaicin burns calories is because the compound uses energy to raise a person’s body temperature, which provides a similar effect as the one obtained by engaging in traditional exercise routines. Because capsaicin is usually pretty spicy, it might be a turn-off to many people who simply would not be able to tolerate the sensation. Fortunately, some chili peppers produce a form of capsaicin called dihydrocapsiate, or DCT, that is milder and more palatable. For the study, the research team evaluated 34 different people trying to lose weight. They gave some of the volunteers DCT pills with their meals and others placebo pills. Upon observation, those that took the DCT pills exerted a lot more energy than those who took the dummy pills, indicating that more calories are being burned due to the compound’s effects. In fact, those who took the DCT burned almost twice as much energy as those who took the placebo. The research team is suggesting that people who are trying to lose weight stick to just eating peppers at this point rather than going out and trying to buy isolated DCT. Simply integrating more peppers into your meals will help to shed some extra pounds and keep that weight off. Another interesting fact about chili peppers is that they warm the body in the winter and cool it off during the summer. It may seem strange for something that produces heat to cool during the summer, but the peppers actually help to increase perspiration which ultimately decreases body temperature. Another benefit of capsaicin, and chili peppers in general, is its efficacy as an anticoagulant in helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Chili peppers are naturally anti-inflammatory and they help to keep blood pressure at normal levels as well. They are also rich in bioflavanoids, which help to maintain strong blood vessel walls. So no matter what, you cannot go wrong with eating chili peppers. They provide numerous health benefits that make them a worthwhile food to integrate into your regular meals. Just be sure you can handle the heat. Sources for this story include: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/04/capsaicin-hot-peppers-weight-loss.html

Tips To Avoid Heat Exhaustion

With summer in full swing, beating the increasingly hot heat is becoming a more difficult task. The type of heat that you get in the UK is very different to that abroad. Abroad the heat is more intense, however, back in the UK, it gets far more humid.Obviously almost everyone will want to get out [...]

Top soy-free protein bars

(NaturalNews) When it comes to finding the right protein bar to supplement a healthy lifestyle, it can be difficult to find one that is soy-free. Many health-conscious individuals have decided to skip the soy because, in its unfermented state, it mimics estrogen in the body. Excessive amounts of it, especially in men, can be detrimental to hormones and ultimately to health. Aside from organic, most conventional soy is also genetically-modified (GMO), which causes health problems of its own. However finding premium quality, soy-free protein bars can be a challenge since many of the ones available on the market tend to contain protein that is at least partially composed of soy, if not entirely. So where can one find a soy-free protein bar that is both nutritious and delicious? Organic Food Bar Organic Food Bar is one of the best food bar companies in the industry. It sources the highest quality ingredients for its various food bars, one of which contains a whopping 22 grams of protein per bar. The protein in the Organic Food Bar Protein variety comes primarily from almond butter and brown rice protein, both of which are organic. In fact, everything in the bar is organic, including the dates, sesame seeds, agave nectar, Bio Sprouts and Biodynamic raisins. The company emphasizes the fact that its ingredients are the cream of the crop and are purchased fresh every month , only the best ingredients are used to produce its delicious bars. Organic Food Bar’s entire lineup is impressive, as is the fact that this company was one of the first to create organic food bars. The bars are delicious, lightly-sweetened and nutritionally superior to many of the other bars out there. For more information, please visit www.organicfoodbar.com. Perfect Foods Bars Another excellent food bar is the Perfect Foods Bar, a line of food bars created by Dr. Bud Keith, a nutritionist, and his wife Barbara. They originally developed their bars as a healthy snack for both themselves and their 13 children. Perfect Foods Bars are handmade with organic peanut butter, organic raw untreated honey, a soy-free protein blend, an array of whole food powders, and a handful of healthy oils rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs). The bars are gluten- and soy-free, contain no refined sugar, and are alkaline-forming. They also contain an excellent 2:1 ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s. The bars do contain milk and egg proteins in addition to rice protein, so they are not suitable for vegans. However they have a high ratio of protein to carbohydrates and are great for non-vegans. The bars tends to be somewhat sweeter than some other brands, but the sugar content is comparable with the others in its category. The company plans to release an almond butter-based bar this summer. For more information, please visit www.perfectfoodsbar.com. Sequel Naturals Vega Whole Food Bars The Sequel Naturals Vega line of whole food bars is a nutritional powerhouse that packs a decent protein punch. While not as rich in protein as the other brands, the bars have a decent amount of protein and exceptionally high nutritional content. Vega’s Whole Food Vibrancy Bars have nine grams of protein per bar while its Whole Food Energy Bars have ten grams of protein per bar. Both bars are loaded with plant-based nutrients, enzymes, antioxidants, EFAs, probiotics and fiber. These are one of the most potent superfood bars on the market. For more information, please visit www.sequelnaturals.com/vega.

Dirty, contaminated beef fed to children through school lunch programs

(NaturalNews) The USDA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a shocking report (http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/24601-08-KC.pdf) about the condition of the nation’s industrial meat supply. It turns out that a lot of the U.S. meat supply is tainted with veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals. According to the report, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS, continues to fail at properly monitoring the safety of the nation’s meat supply. So tainted meat is regularly being approved for sale, much of which ends up in school lunch rooms where it is fed to — guess who? — our children! What’s truly disturbing about this is that the USDA knows why meat it getting tainted but it’s doing nothing about it. In fact, the agency regularly allows toxic meat to make its way to store shelves without even trying to stop it. We’re not talking about microbial pathogens here; we’re talking about chemical contaminants that cattle are eating and then passing on to consumers . These contaminants are not cooked off like pathogens are, and they can actually intensify when cooked and become more harmful. Pathogens vs. Chemical Contaminants It is important to make this distinction between pathogens like E. coli versus chemical residues like pharmaceutical drugs and heavy metals. The public usually thinks about food contamination in terms of pathogens but often doesn’t consider the chemical contamination . The types of contaminants that are ending up in meat are things like veterinary drugs and antibiotics that industrial agriculture uses to keep animals from dying before slaughter. You see, industrial farming is so filthy and unnatural that animals raised there wouldn’t stand a chance without a steady stream of drugs to keep them alive. The irony about the excess use of drugs and antibiotics is that these things actually end up causing the diseases they are meant to treat and prevent. But the conditions in which these animals live are typically so horrendous that they probably wouldn’t make it to the slaughter without these toxic chemical interventions. Why aren’t the regulatory agencies doing their job? This is the same question being asked by OIG in its audit report. The FSIS is tasked with heading up the national residue program with the help of the FDA and EPA, but none of these agencies are actually doing their jobs . These agencies are supposed to work together to establish tolerance levels for various pesticides, drugs and toxins in an effort to minimize their presence in the food. But according to the report, the agencies have not even established thresholds for many of the dangerous substances being found in meat , let alone test for them. The agencies did jointly establish a Surveillance Advisory Team (SAT) and an Interagency Residue Control Group (IRCG) to help them accomplish program goals, but since none of them have actually committed to realistically achieving these goals, the whole program has basically gone nowhere. If it’s broken, blame someone else So which agency is actually at fault for the meat safety failures? Well, it depends on which agency you ask. They all blame each other. Every year, the SAT is supposed to bring together the FDA, EPA and FSIS to establish which residues they will test for that year. But each year, no matter what has been agreed upon, the FSIS continues to test for only one type of pesticide . According to the EPA, the FSIS is refusing its requests to test for more pesticides. The FSIS, however, claims that the EPA has not established tolerances for many of those pesticides, so it can’t test for them (while also insisting that it just doesn’t have enough resources to do the testing). For items that do get tested, the FSIS relies on the FDA to approve proper testing methods. However the FDA only wants to use testing methods that are old and outdated. When newer, better methods are recommended, the FDA is often unwilling or unable to use them. The methods of these various agencies often conflict with one another, which is why the SAT was established in the first place. It was meant to be the coordinator of the three agencies to help them communicate and get the job done. But instead of coordinating, it seems to exist more as a formality while the three blame each other for not getting anything done. The agencies are generally run so poorly and corruptly that it is surprising they get anything done at all. The only things they seem to have time to do is harass supplement makers and shut down raw milk producers , all while turning a blind eye to the industry players that are really causing most of the problems. Dirty secrets of the meat industry According to the report, meat plant violations are not a big deal to the FSIS. The agency routinely allows plants that are in violation to continue operating. In 2008, one meat plant had over 200 violations , but the FSIS still classified the violations as “not reasonably likely to occur” and allowed the plant to continue operating as usual — business as usual in the meat industry, eh? The meat industry gets away with a lot, and the things it gets away with are no small matter. Take, for instance, the practice of cow “recycling”. When a cow gets too old or sick to produce milk, she is handed over to a slaughter facility to be turned into meat. (The industry term for these animals is “spent” dairy cows). Why is this a problem? According to the report, the plants that process spent dairy cows represent over 90 percent of the residue violations discovered in a 2008 investigation . These same plants also process “bob” veal, or male calves that are born to dairy cows. Dairy cows are given large amounts of antibiotics after they birth calves in order to treat birth-related infections. Since dairy producers are required to wait a certain amount of time after administering the drugs before using their milk for human consumption, they just go ahead and feed the tainted milk to the bob veal calves in order not to “waste” it . Since the drugs never got a chance to clear out of the system, it eventually ends up in the veal meat at the store. So when you eat veal meat, you’re essentially eating bovine antibiotics . And if the calves’ mothers don’t recovery quickly enough with the antibiotics, the producer may sell them off to be slaughtered before they die. That way they will at least make some money off those cows. Unfortunately, this results in even more antibiotics going into the beef food chain. Ethanol waste being used as food Hold on to your (cowboy) hats… it doesn’t stop there. Farmers are now actually feeding livestock the industrial waste that is left over after corn is turned into ethanol fuel . It’s not enough that industrial producers are recycling old, sick animals for human consumption, but now they are feeding them toxic bio-sludge as well. Of course they’ve given the sludge a politically-correct name, “distillers’ grains”, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is a waste byproduct that is harmful to animals forced to eat it. The USDA has known since 2008 that animals who eat distillers’ grains are more likely to harbor dangerous pathogens like E. coli , but has stated that it would not regulate the use of distillers’ grains as cattle feed . Since the ethanol fermentation process requires a lot of antibiotics to control it, antibiotic residues are plentiful in distillers’ grains . And not only that, distillers’ grains are loaded with mycotoxins linked to an oxidative imbalance in pigs called Mulberry Heart Disease (MHD) that can cause them to die suddenly. No wonder pigs are sicker than ever; they’re being fed toxic waste as food! But large hog producers don’t really care because it saves them money, and the USDA doesn’t care because, well, they basically represent the interests of the animal slaughter industry (the pork, beef and chicken industries). As long as the ethanol producers are happy, the hog producers are happy, and enough organizations continue to sing the praises of distillers’ grains, then there’s no need to protect the public from the dangers of the tainted end result, it seems. Nobody will notice, right? These are just a few of the many violations that the FSIS, FDA and EPA seem unconcerned about. And this isn’t merely my personal opinion: These things are stated in the report itself as fact . Nothing to see here, folks, just move along The casual way in which the USDA report highlights the failures and gives lip service to fixing them would be humorous if it didn’t have such disastrous consequences. For example, much of this meat ends up in the public schools . The tainted meat usually comes from low-grade providers, so schools are quick to snatch it up and feed it to children because it’s dirt cheap. And fortunately, it’s labeled, “Suitable for human consumption.” Millions of American children, who are still in their developmental stages, are eating cheeseburgers filled with antibiotics, pharmaceutical drugs and toxic chemicals — all thanks to the greed of powerful industries and the inexcusable depth of corruption within agricultural regulatory agencies. This tainted meat also makes its way to grocery stores, big-box warehouses and even restaurants. Anywhere you’re buying hamburger meat (or just hamburgers), you’re likely to be chowing down on meat laced with toxic chemicals, antibiotics and other pharmaceutical drugs. Yet, amazingly, these issues are never addressed publicly. The general public has no idea that industrial meat contains a cocktail of dangerous toxins . They have no clue that the regulatory agencies that are supposed to be protecting them can’t even properly communicate with each other, let alone protect the public. Most people have no idea just how bad things really are . Whenever there is a recall, nobody talks about why the meat got tainted or how it managed to pass by regulators without being stopped. There is never a discussion about the underlying flaws in the meat system itself that encourage contamination. Instead, regulators unleash a chorus of whining over how underfunded they are and how everything would be fixed if the entire food supply was simply irradiated before hitting store shelves. Except irradiation doesn’t destroy heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. It only makes the meat appear to be safe in the short term because it doesn’t make anybody sick the very next day. Food “safety” laws will only make things worse The response to food contamination has been to devise food “safety” bills that experts claim will solve the problems of the food system. But a closer look reveals that the bills actually do more to eliminate the good guys than to punish the bad guys. Just last summer, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2749, the “Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009″ and a Senate version of the bill is likely to be voted on this summer. But these food safety bills don’t actually make food any safer. Basically these bills will give more power to agencies like the FDA (who are already failing at their current tasks) while greatly increasing the regulatory burdens on small growers and ranchers who produce high-quality, safe food. Such bills completely avoid addressing the root causes of food contamination and instead create larger bureaucracies with more unchecked power that will only be unleashed against small operators rather than agro-industry giants. The idea is utterly insane, but as long as it claims to deal with “food safety”, most people will blindly accept it as something good. After all, the politicians and the corporations that sponsor them wouldn’t lie to us, would they? (Chuckle…) So how can food really be made safer? The entire food system itself will have to be radically reformed in order to truly make food safe . Mass-produced food that’s factory-made by corporate conglomerates will never be the kind of thing we truly wish to feed our children. Government subsidies for cash crops must end. Policies that favor Big Agribusiness while destroying smaller growers and ranchers must be reversed. It’s important for us all to oppose any and all food “safety” bills that threaten to eliminate the very operations that produce safe food. Protections for local and family farms must be present in any legislation, otherwise they will be forced out of business. The Cornucopia Institute is doing a lot of great work in this area, so be sure to check their website for regular updates: www.Cornucopia.org Conscious consumers must also start seeking alternative sources of food that are not produced out of the current corrupt system. Local farms, food cooperatives and community supported agriculture (CSA) are great sources of safe food, and they offer the opportunity to develop a relationship with the people who raise the food. You can also choose to grow your own food at home. Whether urban or rural, there are workable solutions to raising your own food at home, regardless of your situation. Even those who don’t have any yard space can grow sprouts on a kitchen counter. (That’s food, too!) Knowing the source of your food and how it has been raised is crucial to ensuring food safety for yourself and your family. And remember: You vote with your dollars. It’s up to you to choose food products from small, local growers rather than the corporate agro-giants that would much prefer to just shove their dirty, contaminated beef down your throat at every meal. Cheeseburger, anyone?

Health Ranger thanks NaturalNews readers for their support

(NaturalNews) I’ve just completed three weeks of touring in California where I got the chance to meet literally hundreds of NaturalNews supporters face to face at four different events. Although the schedule was quite demanding, being able to meet and talk with NaturalNews readers in person was incredibly rewarding. That’s why I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support, for your enthusiasm and your kind words. It means a lot to me to know how NaturalNews is touching the lives of so many real people who are reversing disease, getting off junk foods and vaccines, and taking charge of their health in a whole new way. That’s what this is all about, of course: Reaching out to real people with a message of hope and inspiration about natural health, interweaved with a message of critical skepticism about pharmaceuticals and vaccines. This message, it turns out, has been both timely and powerful, and it continues to reach out to literally millions of readers all around the world. Yet sharing this message would never be possible without your support. That’s why thanking you for all the different ways you support NaturalNews is something I feel is really important. Your support takes many different forms, too, from reading our articles to sharing them with friends or family members. When you link to NaturalNews from your existing website or blog, that helps support us, too. And of course, when you purchase products from the NaturalNews Store (http://store.naturalnews.com), that’s another form of support. Thanks to all this, we’ve been able to keep NaturalNews free of charge — and we will continue to do so! Our aim is to keep bringing you entertaining and educational articles, songs and music videos, cartoons and special reports for many years to come. We will continue to expand our content as our reader support expands . The more you help NaturalNews grow, the more we’re able to create and share. This year, we’re working on expanding our investigative journalism while releasing three new highly-entertaining educational songs with music videos. Through projects like these, we hope to reach literally millions of new people all over the world. In fact, when we recently put out a call for animators to help create new music videos, I was amazed at the outpouring of talent from NaturalNews readers. We were contacted by over two dozen professional animators and animation studios that read NaturalNews, including people who have worked for Disney, Pixar and all the top animation production houses. You’ll see their talent in the upcoming music videos. So thank you once again for your continued support. NaturalNews simply would not be possible without you, and we remain passionately dedicated to our mission of educating and entertaining people all over the world on the subject of natural healing remedies and the dangers of conventional medicine. Watch for all sorts of fun and fascinating new content on NaturalNews this summer!

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