Vaccine Awareness Week With Dr. Mercola and Barbara Loe Fisher

via: DrMercola
November 9, 2014

Bitter Pill – The Dangerous Side Effects of Fluoridated Antibiotics

via: Mercola.com
by: Dr. Mercola
November 1, 2014

Fluoroquinolones are among the most dangerous drugs on the market and should be avoided unless your life depends on it. Despite their dangers, they’re the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the United States… In 2010, Bayer’s top two fluoroquinolones (Cipro and Avalox) brought in $1 billion in sales.

That same year, Johnson & Johnson sold $1.3 billion-worth of its drug, Levaquin. All antibiotics carry a risk of side effects, but fluoroquinolones are in a class by themselves when it comes to potential health risks.

No other antibiotic carries as high a potential to cause serious, permanent injuries and even death, as the fluoroquinolones do. Despite their higher than normal risks, doctors frequently prescribe them as a first line of treatment even for mild infections. Always ask your doctor if there is a safer alternative.

And, adding insult to injury, most victims claim they were never warned that there are dire adverse effects associated with these antibiotics. I strongly advise you to educate yourself about the risks of fluoroquinolones, and refuse any prescription for these drugs unless absolutely necessary.

What Makes Fluoroquinolones So Dangerous?

Fluoroquinolones have fluoride as a central part of the drug.  Fluoride is a known neurotoxin, and drugs with an attached fluoride molecule are able to penetrate into very sensitive tissues, including your brain.

The ability to cross the blood-brain barrier is what makes fluoride such a potent neurotoxin. Fluoride also disrupts collagen synthesis, and can damage your immune system by depleting energy reserves and inhibiting antibody formation in your blood.

According to Todd R. Plumb, M.D.¹–a physician and fluoroquinolone victim—fluoroquinolone toxicity appears to be functional, not structural, as structural abnormalities are not typically seen on the radiological studies of patients with fluoroquinolone toxicity. Based on the available research, he cites the following four possible mechanisms of harm by fluoroquinolones:

• Inhibition or disruption of the central nervous system GABA receptors
• Depletion of magnesium and disruption of cellular enzyme function
• Disruption of mitochondrial function and energy production
• Oxidative injury and cellular death

Bitter Pill features three victims whose lives have been shattered by the long-term health effects of fluoroquinolones. Placing the blame squarely on the drug maker, one of them says: “[These side effects are] not something they’re just finding out now. These people are criminals. They belong in prison for the rest of their lives.”

Dr. Terence Young, MD, also featured in this video, lost his 15-year old daughter to a lethal drug effect in 2000.

Channeling his grief into finding out how that could happen, he says he discovered “corrupt practices that prevented doctors and patients learning what the true risks of prescription drugs were. And the reason that’s happened is because of this incredible marketing power of the pharmaceutical industry.”

Continue Reading At: Mercola.com

Weekend Reading Suggestions – RedPills For The Inquiring Mind

TheRedPillGuide
October 25, 2014

“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed by the masses.”
– Plato

Below follows an aggregation of some of the best articles penned by authors from a wide range of websites during the last week or so.

To start off, perhaps those concerned by the Ebola Issue might wish to take note to the link below in respect to information regarding the reliability of the polymerase chain reaction [PCR] test, which is the most frequently used test to diagnose Ebola. Dr. Sircus does an apt job of showing the evidence for the [un]reliability of the test.

Are Ebola Test Reliable?

In conjunction with that, some noteworthy points that dovetail with Ebola are brought about in the following missive penned by Jon Rappoport, that does a trenchant job of exposing many of the fallacies being expounded by the mainstream media:

The Ebola Hoax – Questions, Answers & The False Belief In The One It

Speaking of the mainstream media, when was the last time anyone heard a detailed report warning of the bevy of dangers that vaccines contained? Nor for quite some time eh?  Never mind the fact that mainstream media is heavily funded by Big Pharma.

Well thankfully, Christina Sarich wrote a piece that names some of the many pernicious effects that people need to learn about regarding vaccines:

Most Vaccines Contain Cancer Causing Chemicals, But What More…?

Another subject that rarely ever gets coverage by media is the ongoing issue with mental health screening tests.  Covering this topic broadly, Dr. Mercola not only dabs into the issue of gut health in relation to mental health, but also covers Depression, Vitamin D levels, and more:

Important Factors Typically Ignored By Mental Health Screening Tests

Gravitating towards another health issue, we find Madeleine M Castellanos, MD, showing what can be done in order to decrease breast cancer risk via a proactive approach:

Beyond ‘Pink’ – How To Decrease Breast Cancer Naturally

For the preppers out there, if you wish to find out how to cook less fuel, take a gander at the following work by Mr. Jorgustin:

How To Cook Rice With 80% Less Fuel

In the ever improving depressing economic arena, we find out from the editor at MyBudget360.com
how one third of the country is supporting two thirds of population:

One-Third Of Working Americans Support Two-Thirds Of The Population – The Hidden Figures Of Those Not In The Labor Force & Transfer Payments

Notwithstanding the Federal Reserve’s marvelous job in finance, we find more evidence why this private institution is more detrimental to [y]our savings then a flame thrower is to a snowman. Shared via ZeroHedge follows a piece by Chris Masterson via Peak Prosperity:

How The Federal Reserve Is Currently Attacking Savers

In the spirit of saving the best for last, this link below is my favorite. Reason for this is because it details evidence of how our health truly functions, which is the antithesis of the belief that you and your health are a chained to your genetics.

Mrs. Sarich from NaturalSociety.com tackles rather well the fascinating [don’t cringe!] subject of epigenetics. Fascinating, because it opens up a whole new world of possibilities that are rarely covered by mainstream science.

Beyond Deterministic Genes – The Morphogenetic Field

If you are a product of your environment, then every choice your make has an effect on your health. What choices will you make this upcoming weekend and thereon?

Dr. Mercola Discusses Heart Rate Monitors

via: Mercola
July 31, 2012

Surprising Links: How Big Banks Manipulate and Influence Your Health

TheRedPillGuide
July 15, 2012

If there is one link you read today from this blog, please let this one be it.  The incisive Ellen Brown, who is an attorney, catalogs in her book Web Of Debt the link between the Banking Cartels and the Medical Mafia.

For those who wonder how the Big Banks are linked implicitly to our health, the medical establishment and to cancer, the interview below is a must watch when time permits.

There is a large amount of information out there which goes more in depth as to how the Banking Cartels control nigh every facet of our society.  For those interested, the links below give additional information in respect to this abstruse topic.

The History Of The Federal Reserve System – The Secret From Jekyll Island
CNBC Admits We’re All Slaves To Central Banker’s Global Government
The Federal Reserve Cartel [Part 1 of 5] – The Eight Families
The Federal Reserve Cartel [Part 2 of 5] – The 8 Families – The Freemason BUS & The House of Rothschild
The Federal Reserve Cartel [Part 3 of 5] – The Roundtable & The Illuminati
The Federal Reserve Cartel [Part 4 of 5] – A Financial Parasite
The Federal Reserve Cartel [Part 5 of 5] – The Solution
The History Of The Federal Reserve System
Where Does Money Come From? The Giant Federal Reserve Scam That Most Americans Do Not Understand
Ten Things That Every American Should Know About The Federal Reserve

————————————————————————————————————————————–
via: Mercola
by: Dr. Mercola
July 15, 2012

Ellen Brown is a civil litigation attorney who has written 11 books on health and the politics of health, including the Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System (which focuses on the money and banking system itself), and Forbidden Medicine, which traces the suppression of natural health treatment back to the corrupting influences of our financial system.

In the course of writing her books, Brown was asked to join the legal team of Jimmy Keller, an alternative cancer therapist in Tijuana, who was jailed for, as she puts it, “the alleged crime of representing that he had a high rate of cure for cancer.”

“He always showed the movie World Without Cancer to his patients, which is by Ed Griffin,” she says, “so I read the book World Without Cancer, and it linked the cancer industry—the cancer cartel, basically—with the banking cartel. It showed they had the same roots.

It went back to the Rockefeller-Morgan cartel at the turn of the 20th century. Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie supported drugs, funded the medical schools, and basically got the homeopathic schools shut down. (In the 19th century, the homeopathic schools were the leading health treatment.)

… I realized in the course of that that if you wanted to get to crux of the problem, you had to deal with banking, because that was actually where they got their power. They got their power from the power to create money.”

The Shocking Truth about Our Money System, and the Power it Wields Over Your Health

As Brown explains, the shocking truth about our money system is that virtually all of our money is created by banks when they make loans. It’s not created by the government, as most people believe. The way it works is that, while the banks create the principal, they don’t create the interest, so they’re always getting more back than they’re putting out.

“The thing that most people don’t realize is that banks don’t just take in people’s money, and then lend it out again,” Brown explains. “What they do is, literally, every time they make a loan, they create that money on their books. They need the deposits in order to clear the checks, but they’re basically double-counting the money.

… When you’ve put your money in the bank and then you go to withdraw it, they never say, “Sorry, we just lent your money out to your neighbor for 30 years. You’ll have to come back later.” No, they always give you your money. That’s because your deposit’s still there at the same time that they’ve lent it out. So, if you need the money, then they’ll borrow it from somewhere else. But where do they borrow it from? Basically, from the very bank that the check just went into from the loan that they just made.

It’s like a big check-kiting scheme, where you create the money; it goes into another bank; and then you borrow it back. The banks can borrow it back at 0.25 percent at the moment, which is the Fed funds rate. And of course, they lend it out at five percent, or on credit cards 18 percent… or outrageous industry rates. They get a huge spread on money that didn’t actually exist until they created the loan.

… Their control over money is how they manage to corner politics, buy up the media, and basically monopolize the field.”

The Links Between Big Banks and the Drug Industry

Two good primers if you want to learn more about the banking system and the link between the pharmaceutical industry and banking, are The Creature from Jekyll Island, and World Without Cancer.

To me, this link between banking and Big Pharma intuitively makes sense. It was just earlier this year that I came to appreciate what Brown is talking about here. While the focus of this web site is on the damage done by the drug companies, it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that the banking system is the behemoth backing the Goliath-like drug industry.

As explained by Brown, the drug connection goes back to the 19th century. John D. Rockefeller’s father was actually, literally, a snake-oil salesman.

“He was a patent remedy seller. The drugs, of course, are oil-based, and John D. Rockefeller was an oil magnate. He also had a bank. So did J.P. Morgan. The drug industry—the patent remedy industry—was in competition with the natural herbal remedies, and the homeopathic remedies. And the way they prevailed in the whole system was that, first of all, they funded the American Medical Association—the AMA Journal, which got their funding from advertising. And if your drug was advertised in the AMA Journal, then you’ve got the AMA’s seal of endorsement… It was a cartel.”

Where the Federal Reserve Fits in

In this interview, Brown discusses far more than I have included here, so to learn more, I urge you to listen to this fascinating interview in its entirety. Of course, it’s virtually impossible to discuss the financial system without touching on the Federal Reserve. According to Brown, there’s an important distinction that needs to be understood regarding the role of the Federal Reserve, because while both banks and the Fed are creating money out of thin air, there are some differences:

“The Federal Reserve is the lender of last resort, so it is allowed to [create money] without actually backing the money from anywhere… There are basically two banking systems.

This is also very complicated, but there is what’s called ‘base money,’ and that’s created by the Federal Reserve. Those are the banks’ reserves. At one time the reserves were gold. You actually, literally, had to keep a certain amount of gold for your depositors, who could cash in their dollars for gold. But in 1933, everybody stopped trusting the banks, because they knew they didn’t have enough gold, so there were runs on the banks. At that time the dollar was 40 percent backed by gold. So, every time somebody would bring two dollars and cash it in for gold, the bank had to call in three dollars’ worth of loans. The whole money supply was just closing in on itself and collapsing.

That’s why Roosevelt finally took the dollar off the gold standard.

Then, to back the dollar, the Fed created “base money” for the banks to use as reserves.  But it’s a separate system. We don’t actually get to borrow the Fed’s reserves. That’s the bankers’ money. The bankers’ bank is the Federal Reserve.” 

The Economics of Our Medical System and the Drug Cartel

While at UCLA law school, Brown wrote an article about the economics of California’s regulations on doctors and other medical professions, and how these regulations effectively eliminate all competition to the conventional medical paradigm.  It may not be immediately apparent, but the medical profession is very cleverly manipulated and influenced in such a way as to bolster profits for the pharmaceutical industry. It’s a tightly controlled profession, and any competition—such as alternative or integrative treatments related to natural health—is more or less illegal. You cannot claim to treat disease without a medical license.

 “I think what’s even worse than that is they control information,” Brown says. “People don’t even know that there are alternative remedies. Or if they do hear about them, they think it’s quackery, and that it’s been disproven, because that’s what the conventional media says [which is largely owned by the same banking cartel as the pharmaceutical industry is]. You really have to dig to find out what’s out there, and how well natural remedies work. Also, you have to dig to find out how drugs don’t work, and how they’ve been over-hyped…”

Dr. Mercola Interviews Ellen Brown [Author of the Web Of Debt]

via: Mercola
July 5, 2012

Why this Single Organ Powerfully Dictates Whether You’re Healthy or Sick

Dr. Mercola
March 18 2012

Story at-a-glance

• Your gut serves as your second brain, and even produces more serotonin—known to have a beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does. It is also home to countless bacteria, both good and bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least 10 to one, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental and emotional.
• Most disease originates in your digestive system. This includes both physical and mental disease. Once you heal and seal your gut lining, and make your digestive system work properly again, disease symptoms will typically resolve
• The GAPS protocol is designed to restore the integrity of your gut lining by providing your body with the necessary building blocks needed for healthy enterocyte reproduction, and restoring balance to your gut flora. Basic dietary details are included

By Dr. Mercola

The interview above features Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a Russian-trained neurologist with a full-time medical practice in the UK.

She treats children and adults with autism, learning disabilities, neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, immune disorders, and digestive problems, using her Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Nutritional Program.

Below, I also interview Caroline Barringer, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), who is an expert in the preparation of the foods prescribed in Dr. McBride’s GAPS program.

We first met at the November 2011 Weston Price Wise Traditions event, where we had the opportunity to enjoy some amazing fermented vegetables that her company prepared for our dinner.

I started incorporating them into my own diet and after a little over a month of daily use, was surprised to find that this minor change has dramatically decreased plaque formation on my teeth, which has been a chronic problem for me.

Caroline has been involved with nutrition for about 20 years, and is now one of Dr. McBride’s chief training partners, helping people understand the food preparation process.

The importance of your gut flora, and its influence on your health cannot be overstated. It’s truly profound.

Your gut literally serves as your second brain, and even produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin—known to have a beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does.

Your gut is also home to countless bacteria, both good and bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least 10 to one, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental and emotional.

The challenge is to identify strategies to optimize that bacterial population, so that you can live in a beneficial, symbiotic relationship where they nourish you, help you fight disease, and optimize your health. This is where the GAPS Nutritional Program comes in.

“Heal and Seal” Your Gut to Reverse DiseaseI have been a strong advocate of nutritional therapies for many decades. That certainly gets you to a level of health, but the introduction of fermented foods, and the “heal and seal” process that Dr. McBride has developed can help take your health to the next level. So I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll be conducting a series of interviews and videos expounding on these principles.

I’m firmly convinced that if we can share this information with enough people and reeducate them about some of the most important basic processes that have been abandoned over the years, large amounts of people will start to recapture their health!

Here, we begin by discussing the basic principles for how to implement the GAPS program. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It also stands for Gut and Physiology Syndrome.

“In terms of Gut and Psychology Syndrome, we are talking about the functioning of the brain of the person,” Dr. McBride explains. “Any dysfunction of the brain is usually connected to what’s going on in the digestive system. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, we’re talking about the functioning of the rest of the body. Hippocrates… made a statement that all diseases begin in the gut. The more we learn now with all our modern scientific tools, the more we realize just how correct he was.”

In terms of Gut and Physiology Syndrome, we’re talking about all forms of autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases and conditions, such as:

Multiple sclerosis	Type 1 diabetes	Rheumatoid arthritis	Osteoarthritis
Lupus	Crohn’s disease	Ulcerative colitis	Chronic skin conditions
Kidney problems	Urinary conditions	Allergic and atopic conditions	Degenerative conditions
Chronic fatigue syndrome	Fibromyalgia	Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)	Inflammatory bowel diseases

If you’re suffering from any of these conditions, or virtually any other health challenge, you’d be wise to implement the GAPS program. While Dr. McBride’s book is called Gut and Psychology Syndrome, the nutritional protocol for addressing physiological and psychological conditions is identical. She is working on a second book, which will be called Gut and Physiology Syndrome, but in the meantime; please refer to her original book, as the practical dietary information will be the same.

“Once you heal and seal your gut lining, and once you make your digestive system healthy and working properly again, you’ll be surprised how many various symptoms in your body originated from your digestive system. Most [symptoms] start disappearing, because the health and the disease are usually born inside your digestive system. That’s where they originate from,” she explains.

Read Entire Article At: Dr. Mercola 

300mg of This May Reduce Pain and Stiffness in 7 Days

Dr. Mercola
March 02 2012

By Dr. Mercola

More than 1.5 million Americans suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

To put it simply, IBD is an autoimmune condition that involves inflammation in your digestive tract that can cause cramps, bloody diarrhea, weight loss and other potentially serious complications in your intestines, along with increasing your risk of colon cancer.

Because IBD can be extremely painful, debilitating and even life threatening, many IBD patients wind up having extensive sections of their colon removed to address the problem when conventional therapies fail — and this can result in devastating and life-threatening complications.

The goal of most IBD treatment, whether conventional or holistic, is to suppress the inflammation that is leading to the damaging symptoms — and new research suggests krill oil may be effective at doing just that.

Krill Oil Shows Promise for Treating IBD

New animal research published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology found dietary supplementation with krill oil offered several protective effects against inflammatory bowel disease, including a reduction in inflammation and oxidative stress, and preservation of colon length.¹

The study suggests that krill oil has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may benefit patients with IBD — findings that have been reported before. The omega-3 fats in krill oil, EPA and DHA, play an important role in inflammation; they produce compounds called resolvins and protectins, which help quell inflammation before it can do too much damage to your tissues.

For instance, resolvins may control inflammation by stopping the passage of inflammatory cells to inflammation sites, and turning on other inflammatory cells.² Several studies have been published on the remarkable effectiveness of krill oil in combating inflammation-related disorders like IBD, arthritis and others.

Three notable ones are:

1. A 2007 study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition investigated krill oil’s ability to reduce inflammation. Researchers found that 300 mg krill oil per day significantly reduced inflammation, pain, stiffness and functional impairment after just 7 days, and even more profoundly after 14 days.³
2. A study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2005 showed similar findings with respect to reducing inflammation and arthritis symptoms, for both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis sufferers.⁴
3. In 2010, a Swiss animal study provided even more confirmation about krill oil’s anti-inflammatory properties. Mice consuming krill oil showed less joint inflammation from rheumatoid arthritis than did the control group.⁵

Other research showed a 14 percent reduction in the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) — a compound that promotes inflammation — among medical students taking an omega-3 supplement.⁶ And yet another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that women with the highest intake of omega-3 fats had a 44 percent reduced risk of dying from inflammatory disease compared with women with the lowest intake.⁷ Omega-3 fats have also been shown to reduce T-cell-mediated inflammation⁸, in part, by suppressing T-cell (a key immune system white blood cell) activation and proliferation.

Krill Oil Contains Astaxanthin — The Anti-Inflammatory Nutrient

Aside from the omega-3 fats, krill oil also contains astaxanthin, a carotenoid produced only by the microalgae Haematoccous pluvialis when its water supply dries up, forcing it to protect itself from ultraviolet radiation. It’s the algae’s survival mechanism — astaxanthin serves as a “force field” to protect the algae from lack of nutrition and/or intense sunlight.

There are only two main sources of astaxanthin—the microalgae that produce it, and the sea creatures that consume the algae (such as salmon, shellfish, and krill). Not only does natural astaxanthin carry potent antioxidant abilities, but as it turns out, it is also a powerful anti-inflammatory.

Astaxanthin suppresses a wide variety of inflammatory mediators—including tumor necrosis factor alpha, a major prostaglandin and a major interleukin, nitric oxide, COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. Although it may take longer to produce  noticeable effects than anti-inflammatory drugs like NSAIDs, it doesn’t result in the same dangerous side effects.⁹ On the contrary, it has a wide range of “side benefits.” Research indicates it may be of therapeutic value in as many as 100 health conditions, as well as having close to 50 different beneficial pharmacological actions.¹⁰ Could the natural presence of astaxanthin in krill oil be one of the factors, in addition to the phospholipids, as to why it is absorbed more effectively, is easier on the stomach and has superior health properties than fish oil?

Read More At: Mercola.com

Organic Food May Become a Thing of the Past

Mercola
By: Dr. Mercola
November 11 2010

Over the past 15 years or so, a collection of five giant biotech corporations — Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow and DuPont — have bought up more than 200 other companies, allowing them to dominate access to seeds.

The takeover has been so dramatic that it is becoming difficult for farmers to find alternatives. As a result, in the U.S., 90 percent of soybeans are genetically-modified, and many conventional farmers have trouble obtaining non-genetically modified seeds.

According to The Ecologist:

“… [O]ne solution to restricting their control would be through banning the practice of granting patents on seeds, plants and genes. A patent gives a company exclusive rights to sell and develop a new invention. In the case of patents on plants and genes it grants them temporary monopolies and bans farmers from saving seeds”.
Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

At this point, a mere FIVE companies – biotechnology companies at that — own the vast majority of all worldwide seeds. The enormous ramifications of this should be fairly obvious.

Genetically modified (GM) seeds, particularly corn and soy, have already taken over in many areas of the world, effectively eliminating the use of conventional and “heirloom” seeds, and along with them, the ancient, sustainable farming practices that produces healthful food.

For example, in the US, as of 2009 genetically modified (GM) soybeans accounted for 91 percent of the soybean market. Eighty-five percent of all corn grown was GM, as well as 88 percent of all cotton.

Many pro-GM crop fanatics argue that genetically engineered (GM) crops are superior in a number of ways, but evidence to the contrary is all around us…

Five Biotech Giants Now Control the Global Seed Market

The illustration below, provided by The Ecologist, shows how five biotech giants have gobbled up seed companies, large and small alike, across the world, with Monsanto clearly leading the pack.

Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won at least 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company.

This is not surprising, considering they invest over $2 million a day on research and development!

But Monsanto is not only patenting their own GMO seeds. They have also succeeded in slapping patents on a large number of common crop seeds, in essence patenting life forms for the first time — without a single vote of the people or Congress.

By doing this, Monsanto has become the sole owner of many of the very seeds necessary to support the world’s food supply … an incredibly powerful position that no for-profit company should ever hold.

The other heavyweights are Syngenta, Bayer, Dow, and DuPont.

Combined, they have acquired more than 200 seed companies in the past 15 years. And together, they not only threaten the continuation of sustainable, renewable farming practices, their monopoly over the food supply threatens the health of every single person on the planet.

The Impact of GM Seed Monopoly

Farmers are now increasingly forced to use GM seeds simply because there are so few alternative sources of seeds remaining. The effect of this is that we’re losing renewable agriculture – the age-old practice of saving and replanting seeds from one harvest to the next.

As mentioned in The Ecologist, one solution to this growing problem would be to make patenting seeds, plants, and genes illegal. As it stands now, each GM seed is patented and sold under exclusive rights.  Therefore, farmers must purchase the GM seeds anew each year, because saving seeds is considered to be patent infringement. Anyone who does save GM seeds must pay a license fee to actually re-sow them.

This, of course, results in higher prices and reduced product options.

Add in the increased need for pesticides and herbicides that GM crops require and the ever rising cost of these products, and what you end up with is a far more expensive crop that has the potential to not only fail more frequently than conventional crops, but that can also be extremely harmful to the animals and humans who eat them.

(For more information about the health hazards involved, please see What You Must Know About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods.)

Talk about a lose-lose-lose situation.

GM Crops = Higher Costs, Lower Yields, and Far More Dangerous Foods

Two years ago, 400 scientists from around the world created a report that shows how seed and plant patents are increasing, as opposed to reducing, costs as promised. For example, between 1996, when GE seeds were introduced to the market, and 2007, the price for soy and corn seeds doubled.

But the price farmers pay for using GM seeds do not end there.

Heartbreaking proof of the devastating effect of this agricultural change can be seen in the skyrocketing suicide rate in India, where rising debt combined with frequent GM crop failures bring farmers to the brink of despair on a daily basis.

Africa has also been negatively impacted by GM crops.

SeattleGlobalJustice.org recently reported that “in 2009, Monsanto’s genetically modified maize failed to produce kernels and hundreds of farmers were devastated. According to Mariam Mayet, environmental attorney and director of the Africa Centre for Biosafety in Johannesburg, some farmers suffered up to an 80 percent crop failure.”

GM crops were brought to market with the promise of higher yields, lower costs, and reduced pesticide use. None of them have turned out to be true…

On the contrary, GM soya has decreased yields by up to 20 percent compared with non-GM soya, for example, and up to 100 percent failures of Bt cotton have been recorded in India.

In the US, studies by scientists from the USDA and the University of Georgia has shown that growing GM cotton can result in a drop in income by up to 40 percent.

As for pesticide use, USDA data shows that GM crops has increased pesticide use by 50 million pounds from 1996 to 2003 in the U.S., and the use of glyphosate went up more than 15-fold between 1994 and 2005, along with increases in other herbicides to cope with rising glyphosate resistant superweeds.

These Roundup tolerant superweeds and Bt resistant pests render the two major GM crop traits completely useless…

Not only that, we now have confirmed transgene contamination in the wild.

Although Monsanto and others denied this possibility, this was long ago predicted and precisely what one would  expect.

Scientists have recently confirmed that the genome (whether plant, animal or human) is NOT constant and static, which is the scientific base for genetic engineering of plants and animals. Instead, geneticists have discovered that the genome is remarkably dynamic and changeable, constantly ‘conversing’ and adapting to the environment.

In reality, GM crops are a scientific experiment based on flawed assumptions, and anything is possible – and I can strongly guarantee you, it isn’t good, and it won’t get any better.

The report, ‘Future of seeds and food‘, published last year by the international coalition of No Patents on Seeds, calls out for an end to patenting seeds, plants, and animals, and the need to stop the food monopoly created by Big Biotech. And I agree, little could be more important at this point in time.

There are already clear indications that unless the GM seed monopoly is put to an end, our whole ENTIRE food supply will become contaminated, putting everyone’s health at risk.

How?

Many conventional and organic livestock farmers alike are now being forced to use GM feed, simply because there are no other options available!

Situation is Actually Worse than We Knew

Not only do we have the problems that have been previously discussed over the years with GM crops but there are some new elements to the equation. For now even those that are convinced of the dangers of GMO crops and want to avoid using them simply are unable to in some cases.

I recently received a personal letter from one such farmer, who runs a small ecological farm in Ohio. Even though she is dedicated to organic farming, she is now finding herself in the unthinkable predicament of being forced to buy Monsanto GM corn feed for her pigs and chickens.

Here is her story:

Be Part of the Solution

In spite of what you have likely heard, a large shift to organic agriculture — which by definition is non-GM — could protect and improve both the environment and animal- and human health.

It could even be the solution to world hunger. According to a Danish study presented to the U.N. in 2007, recent models of an organically grown, global food supply shows that a more environmentally friendly approach to agriculture is in fact capable of producing enough food for the world’s current population.

What prevents many farmers from making the move to organic is that crop yields could initially drop as much as 50 percent in the very beginning, before evening out over time. However, that problem may be mitigated somewhat, because farmers wouldn’t need to dole out precious money for toxic pesticides, the price of which have risen as much as 75 percent already.

Unfortunately, while we’re waiting for the leaders of the world to catch up and realize the dire straits we’re in as a species, we’re running out of time. As evidenced by Cappello’s story above, our ability to produce organic foods is under constant attack.

So, please, do not wait for some unspecified time in the future.

Instead, do what you can NOW to promote local organic food producers no matter where you live by taking advantage of local sourcesof organic foods as often as you can.

In addition, please take every measure you can to avoid as many GM foods as you possibly can. Here’s a list of tips to help you do just that:

• Reduce or eliminate processed foods. Some 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients.
• Read produce and food labels. When looking at a product label, if any ingredients such as corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu (to name a few) are listed, there’s a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it’s listed as organic.
• Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified.
• Download and use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, and share it with your friends and family

Avoid purchasing Monsanto-made pesticides and herbicides for your home

Source: Mercola.com