Occupy’s New Offshoot Set to Cancel Millions in Medical Debts

On the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street's eviction from Zuccotti Park, celebrity and local performers donated their time for a "post-modern variety show" last night at Manhattan's Le Poisson Rouge nightclub. They were there to raise money for what may be the most far-reaching project to grow out of the Occupy movement so far: a "bailout for the 99 percent" called Rolling Jubilee. Launched by Strike Debt, an offshoot of OWS, the Jubilee has begun erasing people's medical debt by infiltrating the debt-collection industry.

The tactic is to buy private debt the same way collection companies do—on the debt market, at tiny fractions of its original worth—and then cancel it in hopes of freeing debtors from their piled-up medical bills. It is hoped that the action will bring debt servitude to the forefront of our national conversation.

As donations surged past the $250,000 mark—five times Strike Debt’s stated goal for the evening—the soirée took on the bubbly energy of a victory rally.

Last night's live-streamed spectacle, billed as the People's Bailout Telethon, featured comedienne Janeane Garofalo, musicians Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, and a three-hour-long vaudevillian line-up of mariachi and magic, gospel and hip-hop, striptease and performance art. Comedy writer Lizz Winstead and cartoonist David Rees emceed the event, badgering a fluctuating online audience to donate money. With local Strike Debt chapters holding viewing parties across the country, there may have been close to 2,000 online viewers.

The event had been planned as a launch party for Rolling Jubilee, which opened its bank account on Friday, November 9. But as donations surged past the $250,000 mark—five times Strike Debt’s stated goal for the evening—the soirée took on the bubbly energy of a victory rally. Organizers say these donations could buy 20 times their amount in debt, since distressed medical debts (that is, debts seen as unlikely to be paid) can sell for as little as five cents to the dollar. In other words, a collection company might pay a hospital $10 for the right to chase down a patient's $200 debt. Or, in the case of Rolling Jubilee, a $10 donation could cancel a $200 debt. According to Yates McKee, a Strike Debt organizer, the group has "friends in the industry" with debt-purchasing experience who are bidding discreetly on the group's behalf.

According to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, about 30 million Americans have debts in collection.

Of the money raised this week, Strike Debt has already spent $5,000 on purchasing medical debt. Sometime soon, the first households will receive letters informing them that their debt has been cancelled, along with copies of a "Debt Resistor's Operation Manual.”

According to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, about 30 million Americans have debts in collection—with tabs averaging $1,500. So, if the roughly $293,000 raised this week can indeed purchase $5.9 million of debt, this phase of the bail-out could help about 3900 families.

McKee emphasizes that the campaign is not about charity, but "solidarity and mutual aid." Nor is the campaign calling for debt "forgiveness," which reinforces the notion that debtors are guilty of moral failures. Instead, it encourages debt resistance. After all, "We're calling for this to be a political act of economic non-compliance,” he told me. “We are intentionally withdrawing our consent from this system."

Strike Debt says medical debt directly causes 62 percent of all bankruptcies.

It may sound like a stretch to call this form of activism "resistance." A few online commenters have suggested that it validates the debt collection system by using its channels. But Strike Debt views the Rolling Jubilee as just one tactic in a long-term strategy to empower debtors. Others include the creation of a Debt Resistors Organizing Kit, and debt-resisting acts of civil disobedience. "We realized that debt was really the tie that binds the 99 percent," said Pamela Brown, an organizer with the Occupy Student Debt campaign. "It's the intersection of Wall Street and our lives."

While the campaign is focused on the problem of the personal debts many of us rack up in pursuit of education, health care, and housing, Strike Debt activists have only been able to purchase medical debt at this point. It’s a worthy focus—Strike Debt says medical debt directly causes 62 percent of all bankruptcies. Student debt, which in the U.S. amounts to a staggering $1 trillion, has proven a difficult target because federally backed student loans cannot be bought (though McKee says the campaign may find ways to buy up private college loans or for-profit school loans). Strike Debt cannot seek out and buy defaulted debt from specific people, since anonymous accounts are sold in bundles. "With 15 percent of Americans currently being pursued by a debt collector, looking for one person’s debt would be like looking for a needle in a haystack," their website says.

Strike Debt is hoping that lessons from last fall's occupations will help promote common cause among the 99 percent. McKee wants to see an existing "invisible army of defaulters" recognize each other as co-combatants and engage the debt system together. Perhaps that will happen when Jubilee’s good-news envelopes start landing in mailboxes.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/offshoot-occupy-set-to-cancel-millions-in-medical-debts?utm_source=november12&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CancelMillionsMedicalDebts

GM corn variety 'cannot be regarded as safe': Author of study linking it to cancer hits back at critics

The team of researchers who caused uproar when they claimed a variety of genetically modified corn causes cancer has insisted the crop 'cannot be regarded as safe'.

Leading scientists lined up to condemn the study after it was published two months ago, saying it lacked scientific rigour and had made a series of basic errors.

Russia banned the import of the corn and a group of six French scientific institutions carried out an investigation which accused the study authors of playing on public fears to hype their own reputations.

But French scientist Dr Gilles-Eric Séralini and his colleagues have now hit back maintaining the safety of the NK603 variety of GM corn remains unproven.

They accused many of their critics of lacking credibility because of links to the GM industry and said much of the criticism was led by 'plant biologists, some developing patents on GMOs, and from Monsanto Company owning these products'.

 Refusing to give in to demands to withdraw their study, they said their findings represented 'the most detailed test' of genetically modified crops that are ' independent from the biotech and pesticide companies' which develop them.

They said in their rebuttal, published as a letter to the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, that unlike many other scientists involved in researching GM foods they were free from industry influence because they had no intention of 'commercialising a new product'.

It was also pointed out by the team that the research represented a 'first step' rather than a final conclusion about the potential impacts of NK603 corn and that further experiments may be able to establish its safety.

For their original study they carried out experiments on rats and concluded that the GM corn, developed by US biotech company Monsanto, increased the risks of breast cancer and liver and kidney damage.

Experiments carried out by the team also suggested that tiny quantities of the widely available weedkiller Roundup, also developed by Monsanto, was also associated with an increased risk of cancer.

The experiments were carried out over two years whereas, they pointed out, biotech companies have usually based claims that their GM products are safe after feeding new varieties to rats for 90 days.

After publication of the study, in the peer reviewed Food and Chemical Toxicology, a dozen senior scientists signed a letter to the journalsaying it should never have been published.

GM FOOD REGULATION

GM food and feed is strictly regulated within the EU.

Labels must indicate to consumers when GM ingredients are included in food

All products that are GM or include GM ingredients must meet traceability rules so that all retailers are able to identify their suppliers.

Risk assessments for all new GM products are carried out by the European Food Safety Authority before they can be sold in Europe

'This study does not provide sound evidence to support its claims. Indeed, the flaws in the study are so obvious that the paper should never have passed review,' they wrote.

'This appears to be a case of blatant misrepresentation and misinterpretation of data to advance an anti-GMO agenda by an investigator with a clear vested interest.'

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) ordered a French University to carry out a review of the research while in Russia the Institute of Nutrition was asked to conduct a similar exercise.

Monsanto said in a statement in September: 'Based on our initial review, we do not believe the study presents information that would justify any change in EFSA’s views on the safety of genetically modified corn products or alter their approval status for genetically modified imports.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2236219/GM-corn-variety-regarded-safe-Dr-Gilles-Eric-S-ralini-hits-critics.html

Phthalates wreak havoc on your health

Phthalates, chemicals used to soften plastics, are found in many personal care products such as hair sprays, perfumes, nail polish, sunscreens and lotions. They are also used in medical devices, on timed release pills (where they are often part of the coating), in children's toys and plastic food containers as well as in such products as floor and wall coverings. The new car smell, which makes owners proud, is due in part to phthalates which can escape from the plastic dashboard after sun exposure and leave a nasty coating on the inside of the windshield. A 2000 study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found widespread phthalate exposure throughout U.S. society, with the highest levels in women of childbearing age; a troubling finding since these chemicals are known endocrine disruptors. Subsequent studies have linked phthalate exposure and a variety of health conditions making their widespread use a serious public health concern.

Women's health

A 2012 study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital examined urine samples from 2,350 women from around the United States looking for concentrations of phthalates. Their results showed striking correlations between phthalate levels and diabetes. Those with the highest levels of two common phthalates were also almost twice as likely to develop diabetes as were those with the lowest levels.

Yet another phthalate study was conducted in 2012, by scientists at Washington University's School of Medicine. This research involved evaluating phthalate levels in the blood and urine of 5,700 women. Findings showed that on average, women with the highest levels of phthalatesexperienced menopause 2.3 years earlier than those with lower levels, exposing them that much earlier to serious menopause related health risks such as heart disease and osteoporosis.

Phthalates and sexual development in children

Studies of young girls in Puerto Rico have found high rates of premature thelarche, which is breast development before the age of eight, and often as young as two. In a study published in 2000, researchers compared 41 girls suffering from premature thelarche with 31 who were not. They found seven times the level of phthalates in the former group compared to the controls, a significant difference.

More recently, studies of male fetal development evaluated phthalate exposure in mothers in relation to play behavior. The urine from women near their 28th month of pregnancy was analyzed for phthalates. Mothers then answered a questionnaire about their child's play behavior and results were adjusted for differences in parental attitudes about sex specific play. Scores for masculine play behavior were lower in boys whose mothers had high levels of phthalates in their urine. Researchers suggest that phthalates may lower testosterone production during a critical time of male brain development.

Phthalates may contribute to attention deficit

Phthalates may also contribute to well documented increases in attention deficit disorder. Researchers in Korea compared phthalate levels in the urine of 261 school aged children between eight and 11 years old with symptoms of ADHD. Results confirmed a strong positive correlation between the two.

While none of these studies proves cause and effect, they suggest the need for further research on this critical topic, along with careful avoidance of phthalates whenever possible.

http://www.naturalnews.com/038010_phthalates_health_children.html

1930s medicine pushes Europe back into double-dip recession

The Dutch economy shrank by 1.1pc in the third quarter amid a deep housing slump, and even Austria has begun to succumb. Finland’s economy has shrunk by 1pc over the last year.

“Recession comes as no surprise and it is going to get worse next year,” said Desmond Supple from Nomura. “Europe has imposed dusted-off policies from the 1930s and they are driving peripheral countries towards depression,” he said.

“We are seeing a mix of pro-cyclical fiscal austerity, overly-tight monetary policy, and regulatory overkill under the Basel III bank rules that are forcing lenders to tighten credit. Europe is stuck in a bad equilibrium and it is not going to end until there is a change of course.”

Prof Paul de Grauwe from the London School of Economics (LSE) said austerity measures imposed on the Club Med with no offsetting stimulus by the creditors was creating a contractionary bias to the whole system and and leading to a “very dangerous situation”.

France managed to stave off recession by the skin of its teeth, but that is unlikely to last after a blizzard of grim data in recent weeks and an austerity shock of 2pc of GDP coming next year.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Lagarde: 'Not over in Greece until fat lady sings' 

   16 Nov 2012

• Beijing and Berlin must pay 

   15 Nov 2012

• Eurozone in double-dip recession: as it happened 

   15 Nov 2012

• Lagarde: 'Not over in Greece until fat lady sings' 

   16 Nov 2012

• EU tries to grab £6bn from Britain's EU rebate 

   15 Nov 2012

• Debt crisis: live 

   16 Nov 2012

Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight said the entire core would soon be engulfed. “Germany looks to be in severe danger of contracting in the fourth quarter, as does France,” he said.

Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank’s president, warned Europe’s leaders not to sit on their hands thinking that the ECB has solved the crisis for them with its €1 trillion (£805bn) lending blitz to banks and its pledge to backstop Spain and Italy – once these countries request a rescue and give up fiscal sovereignty.

“We have been able to steady the course. We have gained precious time, but this is not infinite,” he said. The comments were seen as warning to Spain to stop dragging its feet over a bail-out. Belgium’s ECB governor, Luc Coene, was explicit, saying Spain must trigger the mechanism “urgently”.

Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy has said he will hold back unless borrowing costs surge to unbearable levels. The mere threat of ECB action has calmed markets enough so far to let Spain cover its funding needs into 2013, but this may be a fragile truce.

On Thursday, Mr Rajoy suspended the eviction of families with children and other vulnerable groups that default on mortgages as an “emergency response” following a suicide that stunned the country, disregarding EU demands for action to clear a backlog of arrears.

The Spanish daily El Confidencial said Mr Rajoy is exploring plans for a rescue from the International Monetary Fund, circumventing the EU altogether – a claim denied by Madrid.

The newspaper said Mr Rajoy and his advisers fear that the German, Dutch, and Finnish parliaments may block a rescue or impose intolerable terms. They also believe that France will be sucked into the maelstrom before long as its own dire problems come the surface, changing the political dynamic in Europe.

Prof Luis Garicano from the LSE said it would be an “outstanding idea” for Spain to break free of EU austerity diktats and seek a neutral umpire. “The IMF has been on the side of reason, whereas the EU has been behaving like a creditor trying to get its money back.”

Prof Garicano said Spain was “betrayed” over the EU bail-out for its banks in July. Mr Rajoy was told the eurozone rescue fund (ESM) would able to clean up Spanish lenders directly once a pan-EMU supervisor was in place, lifting the burden from the Spanish state. Madrid accepted stringent terms on this understanding, only to be told later that “legacy” costs would not in fact be covered.

“There is now a lack of trust. They don’t really believe the EU will deliver on promises. But it is a dangerous game to postpone a full rescue until Spain has already failed,” he said.

Mr Rajoy may have been emboldened after US President Barack Obama said “Spain cannot be allowed to fail”. But diplomats say the IMF would balk at a direct request, seen as a ploy to be playing off Washington against Berlin.

The US, Canada, China, Japan, Brazil and others on the IMF board say Europe has the wealth to sort out its own crisis, which is entirely self-created by the internal mechanisms of EMU.

The Centre for Economic Policy Research said the eurozone has been in continuous recession since the autumn of 2011 using a wide array of output and jobs data tracked by its Business Cycle Dating Committee. Unemployment has climbed to a euro-era high of 11.6pc for the whole currency bloc, reaching 25.8pc in Spain and 25pc in Greece.

There is no relief in sight. The broad M3 money supply for the eurozone contracted over the last two months and is signalling further trouble next year. The ECB’s latest loan survey showed a collapse in credit demand of almost 50pc in Italy and France.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9681868/1930s-medicine-pushes-Europe-back-into-double-dip-recession.html

Washington’s Brand of Crony Capitalist Medicine

Does AARP really speak for the elderly? Or the AMA for doctors?

In Washington, AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons) is said to represent the interests of retirees in arguments about medicine. Their endorsement of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was mentioned reverently during the October 3rd presidential debate. Similarly, the AMA (American Medical Association) is said to represent the interests of doctors.

But do these groups actually represent anyone other than their members? Is their support basically for sale?

Consider AARP. It gets only about 20% of its revenue from its members. Over 50% comes from its medical insurance business where it has the largest share of “Medigap” policies, the policies that fill in the holes in traditional Medicare. When the administration sought AARP’s support for the Affordable Care Act, it promised to exempt Medigap policies from the requirement that insurers could not turn away people with preexisting conditions. Not only that, it also promised to exempt Medigap policies from rate review. (Ordinarily, health insurance companies must tell consumers when they want to increase insurance rates for individual or small group policies by an average of 10% or more.) In the end, Medigap was exempted from most of the law.

If that weren’t enough, the Affordable Care Act targets Medicare Advantage plans run by other private insurers. If these do not survive, and we expect they won’t, seniors currently in these plans will fall back into traditional Medicare and need—you guessed it—Medigap coverage, the field that AARP dominates.

Given these deals, South Carolina senator Jim DeMint may not be exaggerating when he calls the relationship between AARP and the White House “a protection racket ^[1].” He also alleges that AARP has engaged in a secret lobbying campaign to prevent Medigap reforms which would have saved 80% of of seniors enrolled an average of $415 a year.

What about the AMA, then? Is it doing what it says it is doing in Washington—protecting the best interests of doctors? Perhaps not, if the dwindling number of doctors who are currently members is any indication.

The word in Washington is that the administration assured AMA support for its legislation by 1) promising not to implement doctor reimbursement cuts in Medicare that had previously been written into law, and 2) threatening to pull the medical coding contracts with the US Department of Health and Human Services that constitute the largest share of the AMA’s income, estimated by one source to be $50–80 million.

Have you noticed your doctor filling out a yellow code sheet indicating what services he or she has provided? That is a coding system run by the AMA and paid for by the government—and it is a monopoly. Have others tried to offer a competitive coding system? Yes, and a much better coding system at that. It is called the ABC system ^[2], which we reported on two years ago, but Health and Human Services has essentially blocked it from becoming competition for the AMA. No wonder Dr. Richard A. Armstrong says ^[3], “The AMA is a corporation in the business of selling and protecting its [coding system] income stream, not its doctor members.” (Read more about the ABC coding system in this article. ^[4])

There are a lot of things wrong with American medicine today, especially its disregard for real prevention in the form of diet, supplements, and exercise in favor of toxic drugs and surgery. But much of the problem, in the final analysis, goes back to a crony capitalist system dominated by special interests and their allies in government.

With the election over, it’s a good time to remember that crony capitalism permeates both parties, and we have a lot of work to do to keep medicine a “helping” profession with high ethics, not a place for special interests to get rich.

http://www.anh-usa.org/washingtons-brand-of-crony-capitalist-medicine/

Low cholesterol associated with enhanced risk of death in heart failure patients

  Lest you think this is just partisan propaganda, these are real, recorded votes in the House of Representatives [3].

The Republicans seem to have it in for women and not just against health insurance covering reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood’s other services, or privacy for the medical records of victims of rape and incest. The Republicans en-mass voted to repeal protections to stop health insurance companies from discriminating on the basis of gender.

On other consumer protections – forget it. The Republicans are indentured to the worst of their corporate paymasters. The Republicans either do nothing to help or actually push for rollbacks. No minimum wage to give 30 million Americans the same pay workers got back in 1968, adjusted for inflation. The Chamber of Commerce says no. So Boehner and Cantor curtsy.

In a frenzy, House Republicans have voted to repeal the “Affordable Care Act” 33 times. Be assured their hatred for Obamacare is not because they want full Medicare for all. It is because they want to voucherize Medicare and hand patients over to the avaricious Aetnas and the Pfizers who return the favor with campaign cash.

House Republicans rage against any attempts to stop the shipping or outsourcing of American jobs to communist and fascist regimes abroad that know how to keep their workers in powerless penury. Why? Because that is what the non-patriotic U.S. global corporations want them to do. Anything Big Oil wants, it gets– retain big subsidies, tax breaks, weaken pollution restrictions, lease everywhere, and even give relief to oil companies when they damaged the Gulf Coast.

House Republicans have a conflict of interest between their families’ lungs and their corporatized minds. Resolution? Vote to weaken the Clean Air Act, drinking water safety standards, cut funding for these cancer preventing, health protecting programs while pushing for more military weapons and bloated Pentagon budgets. The Republicans went so far as to vote for polluters over children, pregnant women and people who live in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. These Republicans voted to block the EPA mercury and air toxics standards that the agency estimated would save 12,000 lives every year and prevent more than one million asthma attacks.

With unseemly fervor, House Republicans want to generally weaken the National Labor Relations Board and labor laws. But when it comes to protecting the lowest tax rates and loopholes for the very wealthy, they are Horatio at the Bridge. When the top two percent engage in financial fraud (credit cards, mortgages and student loans, abuse of seniors) or urge privatizing social security, the Boehners and the Cantors are block-tackling anyone in the House who begs to push law and order for the Rich and Corporate or keep “the security” in social security.

For the poor, let them eat less. Hunger in America is real. But not real enough for the Republicans to stop wanting to cut these food programs. While Republicans campaign against Obama for not doing anything to lower gasoline prices, they are voting against measures to regulate oil and gas speculators who drive up gas prices, a fact recognized by the CEO of Exxon a few years ago in a Senate hearing.

The above are just a sample of what the House Republicans passed or blocked in the House. Even worse are what many of them wanted to summarily abolish, such as the EPA, OSHA, and the IRS. The meat-axe Republicans have trouble telling the public how the important functions performed by these agencies would be handled. The Republicans dismiss the work of health and safety agencies as junk science (e.g. regarding climate change). Fortunately, the Senate has rejected most of their madness.

How do such people get elected? Is it just money and smooth slogans? Is it a lack of competition in rigged districts? Is it a winner-take-all, two-party duopoly where more than half the voters sit out the election? Is it shocking disengagement by the cynical or hopeless public, shorn of any rigorous expectation levels?

For the time being, go to the Democratic House Caucus website [3]. Ponder the fate of our Republic. Ask why we have almost unconditionally given up our enormous sovereign power of “We the People” to those out-of-control, raging members of Congress.

http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/low-cholesterol-associated-with-enhanced-risk-of-death-in-heart-failure-patients/

Serious birth complications rising in the U.S

Severe complications from childbirth are rare in the U.S., but they are becoming more common, a new government study finds.

Between 1998 and 2009, the rate of serious complications like heart attack, stroke, severe bleeding and kidney failure during or after childbirth roughly doubled among U.S. women, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 2008-2009, there were 129 cases of severe complications for every 10,000 women who delivered in a hospital. That was up 75 percent from a decade earlier.

At the same time, complications during women's post-delivery hospital stay also rose: There were 29 cases for every 10,000 women - up 114 percent from 10 years before.

Serious complications and deaths from childbirth are still uncommon in the U.S. Over four million women give birth each year, and this study found about 590,000 cases of severe complications over 11 years.

"We don't want to send the message that pregnant women should be afraid," said Dr. William M. Callaghan of the CDC, who led the study.

With this type of study, which used discharge records from U.S. hospitals, it's not possible to tell why childbirth complications rose, Callaghan said.

But it's "well-documented" from other research that more women are giving birth at older ages, are obese, or have certain health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, he added.

There are also more young women with serious conditions, like congenital heart defects, who are surviving and having children.

"The characteristics of the pregnant population are changing," Callaghan said, so it's not unexpected that rates of certain complications might rise.

Another recent CDC study found that minority women are at particular risk. Between 1993 and 2006, minority women accounted for 41 percent of all births nationwide, but 62 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths.

Black women were at greatest risk. For every 100,000 babies born to African Americans, 32 to 35 mothers died. That was roughly four times the rate among white mothers.

Heart problems were the most common cause of death. And in this latest study, Callaghan's team found that one childbirth complication - the need for cardiac surgery during or after delivery - showed a "dramatic" rise over time.

It was still rare: In 2008-2009, just under 5 per 10,000 women needed a heart procedure during delivery, for example. But that was up 75 percent from a decade before.

Callaghan said the bottom line for women is to be as healthy as possible before pregnancy. Losing weight if you are obese, and getting high blood pressure and diabetes under control, are some ways to do that.

If you have existing medical conditions, like heart disease, it's even more important to see your doctor before pregnancy, Callaghan said.

"Not all complications can be avoided, of course," he said. "But the best outcomes happen when a woman is as healthy as possible going into pregnancy."

He added that some women with pre-existing medical conditions may need to see an obstetrician who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.

"Most women do fine," however, Callaghan said. "And even most women with significant disease before pregnancy do fine."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/23/us-birth-complications-idUSBRE89M1AL20121023

GM Wheat May Damage Human Genetics Permanently

The Australian government, in the form of its science research arm, is joining Agribusiness profiteering by designing a GM wheat that could kill people who eat it & be inherited by their children.

by Heidi Stevenson

We have not yet seen the worst damage that genetic engineering may do. Australia's governmental agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is developing a wheat species that is engineered to turn off genes permanently.

Professor Jack Heinemann at the University of Canterbury's Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety  has studied the wheat's potential. Digital Journal reports that he says¹:

What we found is that the molecules created in this wheat, intended to silence wheat genes, can match human genes, and through ingestion, these molecules can enter human beings and potentially silence our genes. The findings are absolutely assured. There is no doubt that these matches exist.

The implications are clarified by Professor Judy Carman of Flinders University:

If this silences the same gene in us that it silences in the wheat—well, children who are born with this enzyme not working tend to die by the age of about five.

Silencing the equivalent gene in humans that is silenced in this genetically modified wheat holds the potential of killing people. But it gets worse. Silenced genes are permanently silenced and can be passed down the generations.

Silenced Genes

The wheat genes involved are called SEI. The specific sequences of those genes are being termed classified confidential information. CSIRO, which is part of the Australian government, is developing a commercial application, but refuses to divulge the information that's most significant to the people of Australia! The government is apparently more interested in profits than in the people's safety.

Dr. Heinemann was asked to provide his opinion of CSIRO's genetic engineering on wheat plants and produced the report "Evaluation of risks from creation of novel RNA molecules in genetically engineered wheat plants and recommendations for risk assessment"². He discusses the nature of the genetic entities that are being played with and explains how they can affect human health.

RNA is similar to DNA, which is the molecule that carries genetic inheritance. There are several types of RNA, but a particular group called double stranded RNA (dsRNA) is of concern. Heinemann writes:

dsRNAs are remarkably stable in the environment. Insects and worms that feed on plants that make dsRNA can take in the dsRNA through their digestive system, where it remains intact.

He delineates research documenting that once dsRNA is taken through an animal's skin or digestive tract, it can wreak havoc. It circulates throughout the body and has been known to be amplified or cause a secondary reaction that:

... leads to more and different dsRNAs ("secondary" dsRNAs) with unpredictable targets.

Heinemann points out that a silencing effect on a gene, once initiated, can be inherited. Though it's known to happen, little is yet known about the process.

dsRNA is known to be a tough molecule. It survives readily, even through digestion. Worse, though, it's known to pass into the body through digestion. Then, as Dr. Heinemann writes:

Once taken up, the dsRNA can circulate throughout the body and alter gene expression in  the animal.

That is, gene expression can be altered as the result of eating a food with dsRNA altered by genetic engineering. Judy Carman, of Flinders University, who also provided an expert opinion, wrote in "Expert Scientific Opinion on CSIRO GM Wheat Varieties"³:

In fact, employees from the world's largest GM company, Monsanto, have written at least one paper about how to commercially exploit the fact that dsRNA survives digestion in insects, in their attempts to try to control insect pests of plants. That is, the plant is genetically engineered to produce a dsRNA, which insects ingest when they eat the plant; the dsRNA survives digestion in the insect and then silences genes in the insect to stunt its growth and kill it.

There can be no question that dsRNA can be transferred to humans by eating.

The Risks

Heinemann makes these three points:

1. Plant-derived microRNA [a type of dsRNA] precursors have been detected in human blood, thus demonstrating that they can survive the human digestive tract and be passed into the body through it. He emphasizes: "There is strong evidence that siRNAs [a type of dsRNA and the one of particular concern here] produced in the wheat will transfer to humans through food."
2. dsRNA that have been shown to transmit to humans through food have also been shown to survive cooking! He points out: "There is strong evidence that siRNAs produced in the wheat will remain in a form that can transmit to humans even when the wheat has been cooked or processed for use in food."
3. Plant-derived dsRNA was able to silence a human gene in cultured cells. He wrote: "There is strong evidence that once transmitted, siRNA produced in wheat would have the biological capacity to cause an effect."

Judy Carman states succintly:

As a result, there is a chain of evidence to show that there is a risk that the dsRNA from this GM wheat may survive digestion, enter the tissues of people that eat it and silence a gene or genes in those people. There is also evidence that any genetic changes so produced may be stable and become established in many cells of an organ. Furthermore, there a possibility that these changes may be passed-on to future generations.

The wheat genes involved are called SEI. They have extensive similarities with the human GBE gene, which controls glycogen storage. If the GBE gene is defective, it leads to certain death from liver cirrhosis at a very young age. Another defect in the gene results in adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) in adults over age 40, causing cognitive impairment, pyramidal quadriplegia, peripheral neuropathy, and neurogenic bladder.

Dr. Heinemann investigated and found that sections of the two genes, SEI and GBE, are a perfect match. Because CSIRO is saying that the specific SEI sequence that's modified is classified confidential information, we cannot know for certain what harm might be done to humans. However, it's obvious that shutting down a section of the GBE gene holds the potential of death—yet, Heinemann showed that it's not only possible, it's likely!

Lack of Adequate Risk Assessment

Judy Carman focused more on the lack of appropriate or adequate risk assessment for the modified wheat. She is very concerned that no consideration was given to checking for:

• Whether there are adverse effects on animals or humans who eat it.
• Whether there is any uptake of dsRNA in animals or humans who eat it.
• Silencing of genes in animals or people.
• Silencing of the branching enzyme.
• Toxic effects, such as damage to the liver, kidneys, or any other organ.
• Increase in reproductive problems.
• Whether dsRNA changes are inherited.
• Increased risk of cancer.
• Increased risk of wheat allergies

She is very concerned that the oversight agency, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR), and CSIRO "appear not to be looking for any adverse effects in people, but intend to go directly to look for any benefits." She concludes:

It appears that neither organisation has appreciated or properly safety assessed this wheat in the light of the fact that the dsRNA produced in these GM wheat varieties may survive digestion, enter the tissues of the body and silence a gene or genes in the recipient. It also appears that neither organisation has "joined the dots" to appreciate that, of all the genes that could be silenced, the most likely one is a similar branching enzyme in animals and people and that silencing it could seriously impair or even kill those that eat it.

The Australian government appears to have become nothing more than another Agribusiness corporate entity. They're using the people's money to fund a massive profit-making venture in genetic engineering without any consideration for the potential harm that may be done to either the environment or the welfare of the people. Not only are they willing to risk mass deaths from products they're hoping to put on the market, they also seem to have no concern for whether they might be doing permanent damage to generations that follow.

---

Resources

1. Scientists: New GMO wheat may 'silence' vital human genes
2. Evaluation of risks from creation of novel RNA molecules in genetically engineered wheat plants and recommendations for risk assessment
3. Expert Scientific Opinion on CSIRO GM Wheat Varieties
4. CSIRO SEI/SEII SHRNA GM WHEAT FOR PRODUCING GRAINS WITH A LOWER 
   CONTENT OF BRANCHED STARCH MOLECULES, Appraisal of statements by Prof Jack Heinemann and Assoc Prof Judy Carman
5. The GMOs, nature and effect of the genetic modification
6. GBE Antibodies

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/gm-wheat-may-damage-human-genetics-permanently

Plant-Based Diets Can Remedy Chronic Diseases

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 63 percent of the deaths that occurred in 2008 were attributed to non-communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, Type 2 diabetes and obesity -- for which poor diets are contributing factors. Yet people that live in societies that eat healthy, plant-based diets rarely fall victim to these ailments. Research studies have long indicated that a high consumption of plant foods is associated with lower incidents of chronic disease. In the October issue of Food Technology magazine, Senior Writer/Editor Toni Tarver discusses recent discoveries in nutritional genomics that explain how plant-based diets are effective at warding off disease.

The article indicates that bioactive compounds in plant foods play a role in controlling genetic and other biological factors that lead to chronic disease. For example, antioxidants in plant foods counter free radicals that can cause chronic inflammation and damage cells. And other plant compounds help control a gene linked to cardiovascular disease and plaque buildup in arteries and the genes and other cellular components responsible for forming and sustaining tumors.

William W. Li, M.D., President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation in Cambridge, Mass., says that all consumers should look at their diets as if food is the medicine necessary to maintain healthy, disease-free lives. "Prevention is always better than a cure," said Li. Foods that may help prevent cancer and other chronic diseases include artichokes, black pepper, cinnamon, garlic, lentils, olives, pumpkin, rosemary, thyme, watercress, and more. For a more comprehensive list of medicinal foods, read "The Chronic Disease Food Remedy" in the October 2012 issue of Food Technology.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121017131546.htm

Hard evidence grows for including meditation in government-sponsored health programs

More people still die from cardiovascular disease than any other illness. Dubbed the number one killer and the silent killer, modern medicine has been researching and incorporating complementary and alternative approaches to help treat and in some cases reverse and hopefully prevent this health problem at an earlier stage of the disease. One of those modalities is meditation.

A new research review paper on the effects of the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique on the prevention and treatment of heart disease among youth and adults provides the hard evidence needed to include such evidence-based alternative approaches into private- and government-sponsored wellness programs aimed at preventing and treating cardiovascular disease.

The paper, "Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease in Adolescents and Adults through the Transcendental Meditation® Program: A Research Review Update" is published in Current Hypertension Reviews, 2012, Vol. 8, No. 3.

• In teens, the TM technique has been found to reduce blood pressure, improve heart structure and improve school behavior. According to the paper, the technique has been shown to be a safe alternative. The NIH-sponsored clinical trials conducted with TM mentioned in this review did not observe any adverse effects from TM practice.
• In adults the technique reduced stress hormones and other physiological measures of stress and produced more rapid recovery from stress, decreased blood pressure and use of blood pressure medication, decreased heart pain in angina patients, cleared the arteries, reducing the risk of stroke, improved distance walked in patients with congestive heart failure, and decreased alcohol and tobacco use, anxiety, depression, and medical care usage and expenditures. The technique also decreased risk of death from heart disease, cancer, and all causes.

"These findings have important implications for inclusion of the Transcendental Meditation program in medical efforts to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease," says Dr. Vernon Barnes, lead author and research scientist at Georgia Health Sciences University, in Augusta, Georgia.

"This review is potentially more important than individual research papers because it shows that TM has an integrated, holistic effect on all levels of cardiovascular disease," says co-author, Dr. David Orme-Johnson.

Orme-Johnson says that no other meditation technique has been shown to produce this constellation of changes, especially when it comes to hard measures of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Barnes said it was important to start preventing heart disease with adolescents before the disease sets. "Adding Transcendental Meditation at a young age could prevent future cardiovascular disease and save many lives, not to mention reduce the national medical bill by billions of dollars."

Uniqueness of the Transcendental Meditation technique

The uniqueness of the outcomes of the TM technique may have something to do with the mechanics of the practice of the technique itself says Dr. Barnes. "Meditation practices are different from each other and therefore produce different results. And this is a very important consideration when evaluating the application of meditation as an alternative and complementary medical approach."

A paper in Consciousness and Cognition discusses three categories to organize and better understand meditation. See Are all meditation techniques the same?

The two common categories are focused attention, concentrating on an object or an emotion, like compassion; and open monitoring, being mindful of one's breath or thoughts, either contemplating the meaning of them, or just observing them.

Transcendental Meditation uses a different approach and comes under the third category of automatic self-transcending, meditations that transcend their own activity.

The TM technique does not employ any active form of concentration or contemplation, but allows the mind to effortlessly experience the thought process at more refined levels until thinking comes to a quiet settled state without any mental activity. The mind is awake inside and the body is resting deeply, a level of rest much deeper than deep sleep. It is this state of restful alertness that allows the body to make the necessary repairs to rebalance its normal functioning. This cumulative process resets the physiology and shows up as reduced symptoms of cardiovascular disease and improved health.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/muom-heg101712.php