GMO Salmon Coming to a Table Near You

9/23 - Genetically altered salmon? It doesn't stop there

UPDATE: 19 September -
http://www.usatoday.com/video/index.htm?bctid=613913464001#/News/Fish+or+frankenfish%3F+FDA+weighs+altered+salmon/42804638001/40264770001/613913464001

New Scientist: Transgenic fish swimming towards a plate near you

FDA advisors to vote (20 Sept)on genetically engineered salmon
It grows faster, eats less and has sparked intense debate about modifying animals for our food supply.
By Andrew Zajac, Tribune Washington Bureau - September 18, 2010

In a step that may move genetically engineered meat and fish closer to the American dinner table, an FDA advisory committee will vote Monday on whether to approve preliminary findings that a modified salmon is as safe as an ordinary salmon.

The vote is not binding on the FDA, but approval would lend powerful support for a final decision by the agency charged with protecting the nation's food and drug supplies. The fish, a North Atlantic salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. would be the country's first genetically engineered food animal.

It grows to market size in half the time of other salmon and consumes 25 percent less feed in the process, according to the company, which is based in Waltham, Mass.

Complete article

Another look at fish

Discerning the Difference: Organic vs. Natural

UPDATE: 1 September
September is Salmon Month
Smart Seafood Guide
Gulf Seafood Concerns

Lummi Nation

Fishing the Lummi Way

26 June, 2010: As a new type of farmed salmon is contemplated, this article raises a series of consumer concerns that may not be adequately addressed by the FDA and other agencies.

One overlooked issue in this article is the exclusion of known facts about health effects of farmed salmon, especially the elevation of cholesterol and risk of heavy metal and PCP exposure.

Farmed Salmon Information

The Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal rate.
Read complete article

Why Files

EWG information on carcinogenic PCBs in salmon

LibertyLink GMP Rice Harms Farmers

Just Say NO to GMO 10-10-10

US - 1 in 7 in Poverty, Food Stamp allowance raised.

GMO WILL NOT FEED THE WORLD

Fallout continues for Arkansas rice farmers

Farmers feel economic effects of Liberty Link genes found five years ago

Published: Friday, September 10, 2010

Curt Hodges

JONESBORO — Three Northeast Arkansas rice farmers say that despite nearly five years that have gone by since the Liberty Link genes were found in commercially-grown long-grain rice in several states in August 2006, they are still feeling the effects.

“It has affected us economically,” said Clover Bend farmer Stan Jones. “We lost our markets and our reputation in the world of producing desirable, high quality long grain rice.”

Their reputations as producers were damaged by something that they had no control over, Jones, along with Greg Gill and Ray Stone, also Lawrence County rice growers, said Wednesday.

They also said several of their friends and fellow rice growers literally lost everything when rice markets collapsed and crops could not be sold in the aftermath of the discovery of genetically modified traits in commercial rice in the south.

“Here we are four years later and still having to have our rice certified as being free of genetically modified traits,” Stone said. “This is something that happened to us, and we had no control over it whatsoever. We’re still feeling the effects of it.”

The big effect, the farmers said, was not just their reputations and those of other rice growers in the south, but there was a stiff price to pay economically in lost markets and lower prices for all rice that resulted from the fallout of the tainted rice situation involving the Liberty Link experiments by Bayer CropScience that apparently went awry.

The European Union said no longer accepts U.S. rice. The market in Japan for American rice has also been hurt by discovery of the genetically modified traits in commercial rice.

Rice saved for seed has to be certified as free of genetically modified traits, and that certification has to be done at the cost of the farmer.

“It is the farmer that has to pay to have that done,” Stone pointed out, adding that it was not the farmer’s fault that the traits became spread through other varieties and ended up in commercial rice.

The announcement of the discovery of the stray traits was made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August 2006 that Bayer’s LibertyLink traits had been found in commercially-grown long-grain rice in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri. Five days later the European Union rejected rice grown by U.S. rice farmers and announced that a ban on U.S. imports would be instituted.

The farmers say that the EU ban is still in place, despite the fact that extensive testing has shown U.S. long-grain rice to be free of genetically modified traits.

They had no knowledge of nor intent to grow the genetically modified varieties that were in question, the farmers said Wednesday. But they have had to suffer the brunt of the entire situation from the low prices, rejection and damage to their reputations as growers of what was once considered the world’s premium variety, U.S. long-grain rice.

They are further aggravated by the fact that while Bayer does not dispute that rice seed supplies were contaminated with LibertyLink, the company maintains that growers were not economically harmed by the fact and have yet to explain how the contamination occurred nor to provide assurances that contamination will not happen again.

In 2006 the farmers said they had rice that they planned to sell in the markets that supplied the European Union and other parts of the world with American rice. Those markets, premium markets they say, were virtually closed to them and remain so today. Their rice then had to be sold at lower values, causing them economic damage that they still have not recovered from and they continue to pay the price for it.

Jones said the major variety he grew back then was Cheniere, which just happened to be the variety in which the contamination was found. Although he was certain that his rice had no such contamination, he had a difficult time selling his rice and the fallout from that is still being felt.

To date, said Clayton J. Smaistrla, attorney with Goldman Pennebaker and Phipps of San Antonio and McAllen, Texas, who represent the three Lawrence County farmers and others in the situation, six juries have awarded a total of $54.2 million against Bayer in six trials on the issue. The next Arkansas trial is set for Sept. 20 in Pine Bluff. Additional trials are pending in Arkansas.

Speaking of Cancer

Not too many days have apssed sine the big TV special - StandUP 2 Cancer.

What you did not learn on this program or in mainstream media, or mainstream medicine, is the truth about how vitamin C is effective as a treament and often a cure for many cancers -

Please read on:

Cancer and Vitamin C: Evidence-Based Censorship

(OMNS September 15, 2010) The very first paper in the Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal's special issue on cancer condemns vitamin C therapy for cancer. (1) Furthermore, that Journal has refused publication of a letter correcting the article's numerous errors. We have therefore decided to provide OMNS readers with that rebuttal letter, below:
It is entirely false to assert that we do not know how much vitamin C is effective against cancer. Indeed, the opposite is true: we do know, and we are failing our duty to patients when we fail to recommend vitamin C as adjunctive cancer therapy.
There are many controlled studies that demonstrate that vitamin C is indeed effective against cancer, improving length of life and quality of life. Positive studies have typically used between 10,000 and 100,000 mg/day intravenously. As Dr. Fernando Cabanillas correctly noted, success with 10,000 mg/day by IV was initially reported back in the 1970s by Cameron and Pauling. But Dr. Cabanillas has then omitted some key information. It is important to note that the negative, much-touted Moertel-Mayo studies were not true replications of Cameron and Pauling's work, as A) they used oral doses only, and B) vitamin C was discontinued at the first sign of disease progression. Would we administer injectable chemotherapy orally, and then discontinue chemotherapy if the patient worsened? No, we would administer it properly, and stay with it.
Dr. Cabanillas also neglects to mention that Pauling and Cameron's work was promptly confirmed, first at Japan's Saga University by Murata et al. Dr. Murata employed over 30,000 mg per day and had even better results with terminally ill cancer patients. (2) In the words of Dr. Louis Lasagna of the University of Rochester Medical School, "It seems indefensible not to at least try substantial doses of vitamin C in these patients." (3)
And again contrary to Dr. Cabanillas' statements, many clinical reports from orthomolecular (nutritional) physicians including Dr. Hugh Riordan and colleagues do in fact indicate that IV vitamin C is effective. Says Dr. James A. Jackson, "Dr. Riordan's IV protocol (4) starts out at 15,000 mg intravenous ascorbate and slowly goes up. It is given twice a week. The IVs are continued until the post-IV vitamin C levels reach what our research established as the killing level of 350 to 400 mg/dL. This has been verified. (5) Once this level is reached, the frequency of the IV may be reduced to once a week, or to one or two times a month."
There is no absolutely reliable cure for cancer. Conventional chemotherapy contributes only 2.1% to five year cancer survival in the USA. (6) But with vitamin C, we are on the right track. It has been reported since McCormick in the 1950s (7,8,9) that cancer patients invariably have abnormally low levels of the vitamin. Vitamin C is vital to a cancer patient. What is dangerous is vitamin deficiency. What is even more dangerous is warning people off the very therapy that may help them, and frequently has been shown to make a significant difference.
Precisely how significant remains to be seen. But there are intriguing indications. Linus Pauling took 18,000 mg/day of vitamin C. Pauling died from cancer in 1994. Dr. Charles Moertel of the Mayo Clinic, critic of vitamin C, died of cancer the same year. Moertel was 66. Pauling was 93. Did vitamin C fail to cure Pauling's cancer? If so, then not taking vitamin C failed to cure Moertel's. Pauling lived 27 years longer with ascorbate than Moertel lived without it.
Andrew W. Saul
Editor, OMNS
Vitamin C does not interfere with conventional cancer treatment
Victor Marcial, M.D., an oncologist in Puerto Rico, says:
"We studied patients with advanced cancer (stage 4). 40 patients received 40,000-75,000 mg intravenously several times a week. These are patients that have not responded to other treatments. The initial tumor response rate was achieved in 75% of patients, defined as a 50% reduction or more in tumor size. . . As a radiation oncologist, I also give radiation therapy. Vitamin C has two effects. It increases the beneficial effects of radiation and chemotherapy and decreases the adverse effects. But this is not a subtle effect, is not 15-20%. It's a dramatic effect. Once you start using IV vitamin C, the effect is so dramatic that it is difficult to go back to not using it."
Ralph Campbell, M.D., a Montana pediatrician, writes:
"More and more oncologists are admitting that a course of chemo disrupts the immune system to the point of allowing more cancer down the pike. It would seem reasonable for post-chemo patients to enter a regimen of high antioxidants intake as soon as they can."
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., explains why vitamin C does not interfere with chemotherapy at http://www.doctoryourself.com/chemo.html
Taking action
More and more medical doctors support adjunctive vitamin C therapy for cancer. The PRHSJ needs to publish both sides of the story. If you would like encourage them to do so, you may write directly to:
Luis M. Vil , M.D. prhsj.rcm@upr.edu
Editor-in-Chief, Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal
Zoila Figueroa zoila.figueroa@upr.edu
Secretary
PO Box 365067, San Juan PR 00936-5067
For more information about vitamin C cancer therapy:
You can watch an excerpt from the movie FOODMATTERS discussing vitamin C therapy for cancer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxveVAMir4o&feature=related
Free download of the Riordan protocol at http://www.doctoryourself.com/RiordanIVC.pdf
La medicina ortomolecular en español:
1)Presentan primera guía ortomolecular para el manejo del cáncer: http://www.wapa.tv/noticias.php?nid=20100428195518
2) Video de los comentarios del Dr. Victor Marcial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOXgG998fI

References:
(1) PRHSJ, Vol 29, No 3, Sept, 2010. Read the paper, or the entire issue, at http://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/issue/current/showToc The direct download link for the paper in question is http://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/article/view/518/354
(2) Murata, A., Morishige, F. and Yamaguchi, H. (1982) Prolongation of survival times of terminal cancer patients by administration of large doses of ascorbate. International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research Suppl., 23, 1982, p. 103-113. Also in Hanck, A., ed. (1982) Vitamin C: New Clinical Applications. Bern: Huber, 103-113.
(3) http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=3330
(4) http://www.doctoryourself.com/RiordanIVC.pdf
(5) Padayatty SJ, Sun H, Wang Y, Riordan HD, Hewitt SM, Katz A, Wesley RA, Levine M. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics: implications for oral and intravenous use. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Apr 6;140(7):533-7. Free full-text article at http://www.annals.org/content/140/7/533.long or as a pdf download at http://www.annals.org/content/140/7/533.full.pdf
See also: Padayatty SJ, Riordan HD, Hewitt SM, Katz A, Hoffer LJ, and Levine M. Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases. CMAJ. 2006 March 28; 174(7): 937-942. Free full-text article at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1405876/?tool=pubmed
(6) Morgan G, Ward R, Barton M. The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2004 Dec;16(8):549-60.
(7) McCormick WJ. Cancer: the preconditioning factor in pathogenesis; a new etiologic approach. Arch Pediatr. 1954 Oct;71(10):313-22. Also: McCormick WJ. [Cancer: predisposition as pathogenesis; new data on its etiology.] Union Med Can. 1955 Mar;84(3):272-7. French.
(8) McCormick WJ. Cancer: a collagen disease, secondary to a nutritional deficiency. Arch Pediatr. 1959 Apr;76(4):166-71. Also: McCormick WJ. [Is cancer a collagen disease attributable to vitamin C deficiency.] Union Med Can. 1959 Jun;88(6):700-4. French.
(9) McCormick WJ. Have we forgotten the lesson of scurvy? J Applied Nutrition, 1962, 15(1,2) p 4-12.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org

Obama Pens US Alignment with CODEX

from Dr. Rebecca Carley,

Executive Order 13544 of June 10, 2010

Establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and
Public Health Council

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-14613.pdf

Courtesy: Rense News Network

In regard to herbs and CODEX

NB: While I do not accept the move to standardization of herbs, because it moves them more into the category of drugs as they become fractionated and may offer more in the form of side effects and reduced efficacy, this is the doctrine of CODEX -

The German Commission E Monographs contain scientific data regarding the effectiveness of herbs.

Between 1983 and 1993 this collective data was compiled and the German Commission E based its results entirely on strict scientific investigation, then released Monographs that have been promulgated to be recognized for scientific standards. To ensure the completely unbiased investigation of the Commission E, the work was financed by the German government.

The German Commission E Monographs are now used for their authoritative description of herbs, their uses and side-effects by herbalists, pharmacies (Apotheken), and medical doctors (mostly in the EU, few in US).

The complete Monographs can be found in the "Bundesanzeiger"(the federal registry of Germany).

The same is done to supplements. For example, vitamin C is limited to 60 mg, the amount known to prevent scurvy; vitamin E is to be at 7 IU to 14 IU, but therapeutic levels will not be permitted. Single B vitamins such as B6 will be excluded as it is already under attack by Big PhRMA to be used only as a patented drug in P5P (bioactive) form.

Cancer, Alzheimer's

Flaraxin is effective in 90% of oncologic diseases

Alzheimer's = Flaraxin + B3
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/alzheimers-what-you-wont-see-on-hbo.html

Nutritional Status and Orthopedic Disturbances

Vitamin D Synthesis http://www.globalrph.com/vitamin_d.htm

Yes, Vitamin D is a very important nutrient. And we know that the years of non-fat/low-fat diets and staying out of the sun takes a toll on this vital nutrient, and perhaps has become the basis of an epidemic and increased dis-ease states.

While it always seems that the lineal model is favored by so many in healthcare, it can certainly lead to other problems.

I say this because I have not seen the following information in any other the vitamin D data I have reviewed over the past several years.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets. However, when taking high doses of vitamin D people do need to be cautioned that this too may lead to a deficiency state.

The pro-calcium action of vitamin D can increase absorption and retention of calcium as compared to magnesium.

If you have a magnesium deficiency, as most people these days truly seem to have, high doses of vitamin D can contribute to soft tissue calcium deposits and reduced

Cortical bone activity
Muscular contraction
Recurring vertebral or other joint subluxation

More to consider -

Vitamin D health warning for the children who shun the sun

Paranoia about sun exposure and indoor lifestyles are causing life-threatening health problems for children due to vitamin D deficiency, a new study claims.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 5:32PM BST 10 Sep 2010

Casualty departments are dealing with dozens of emergency cases where infants are having seizures as a direct result of not getting enough vitamin D, which is essential for healthy teeth and bones.

In one case, a baby suffered brain damage after a fit.

The study said the extreme cases are part of an escalating problem of a deficiency of the vitamin, which the body makes when exposed to sunlight.
The report in the London Journal of Primary Care blames indoor lifestyles and the use of high sun protection factor creams for a health issue unheard of a decade ago.
The findings have prompted experts to call for vitamin D pills to be made more widely available on the NHS, especially for pregnant women.
The study reveals the introduction of schemes offering mothers supplements has been slow. Some areas of London have no vitamin packs available and people are ignorant about the benefits of vitamin D, which is also found in oily fish, liver and eggs.
Colin Michie, a co-author of the study, said vitamin D deficiency was no longer a “poor” problem and the middle classes are just as vulnerable.
The consultant paediatrician, who works at Ealing Hospital and BMI Clementine Churchill, said GPs should be more alert to symptoms such as muscle aches and pains.
He told the Evening Standard: “This is a totally avoidable condition which is now a public health issue. It's affecting middle-class children because they're overprotecting with sunscreen and not going out as much.
SPF is also increasingly in cosmetics used by young women.
“The more dramatic cases tend to be in people who wear traditional clothing and so are covered up.”
However, he added, GPs also see a growing number of low-level cases in other groups.
Warnings over the links between sunburn and skin cancer have prompted some people to shun the sun
The actress Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed recently that she was diagnosed with very poor vitamin D levels after years of keeping her skin covered.
A special investigation is being launched into the extent of emergency admissions for patients with vitamin D deficiency.
The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit will gather data from hospitals from next year.
Mr Michie analysed the cases of 17 babies and infants treated at Ealing Hospital for a severe lack of vitamin D between 2006 and 2008. He found many experienced a delay in walking, a problem last common in Victorian times.
Cancer Research UK is considering changing it guidelines concerning sun exposure because of the problem.
Instead of advising people to stay out the midday sun completely, it may suggest that a few minutes exposure could be healthy.

Death and Sleeping Medication

At the same time mainstream news reports that the use of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) sleep medicines is at an all time high I see no effort to encourage the use of more natural remedies to help improve sleep.

I do not believe Rx and chemical OTC products really improve sleep. I do believe that the pharmaceutical products do cause other health problems. One important one from my perspective is rebound insomnia, and it deserves effective research.

Drug hangover comes from such meds as Trazadone, Amitriptyline, or other drugs often prescribed fore sleep. Anti-histamines, often found in OTC products, can also create drug hangover too.

In all the many decades I have worked in Main Stream Med while using my deep knowledge of herbs and other means to help sleep, I know it offers better options and better results.

Consider drinking enough water; exercise; something as simple as taking a high quality multi-vit/mineral twice a day with meals; cell salts; not sleeping with your cell phone; too much EMF exposure; food allergy; eating too late at night ( best not to -3 hours before bedtime); relaxation techniques; magnesium; pure tryptophan; homeopathy; flower essences; pure essential oils; anti-inflammatories; oxygen therapy; or many other safer options.

http://www.leaflady.org/AT_in_MH.htm

Sleeping pills may increase risk of death

Pills for insomnia and anxiety 'are not candy' researchers have warned after finding the drugs are linked to an increased risk of dying.

Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor

09 Sep 2010

Research has found that people taking the drugs are at least a third more likely to die during the 13-year study than those not on them.

One suggested reason for the effect is that sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs affect people's response times, alertness, and co-ordination.

This may make them more prone to falls and other accidents.

Another theory is that they interfere with the breathing system and affect any breathing problems as the person sleeps.

The medicines also work on the central nervous system, possibly increasing the risk of suicide.

Genevieve Belleville, from Laval University's School of Psychology in Canada, who led the study, said: "These medications aren't candy, and taking them is far from harmless.

"Given that cognitive behavioural therapies have shown good results in treating insomnia and anxiety, doctors should systematically discuss such therapies with their patients as an option.

"Combining a pharmacological approach in the short-term with psychological treatment is a promising strategy for reducing anxiety and promoting sleep."

The research, published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, was based on data from more than 14,000 people between 1994 and 2007.

It was found those who took the drugs at least once in the month before the survey had a higher chance of dying from any cause.

The data includes information on people aged 18 to 102, surveyed every two years between 1994 and 2007.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7992233/Sleeping-pills-are-not-candy-and-may-increase-risk-of-death-researchers.html