Study demonstrates the toxicity of three GM corn varieties from Monsanto

“We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn”

A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. de Vendômois JS, Roullier F, Cellier D, Séralini GE. Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5:706-726.

Available from http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm | PDF
©Ivyspring International Publisher

Joël Spiroux de Vendômois¹, François Roullier¹, Dominique Cellier^1,2, Gilles-Eric Séralini^{1,3 ✉}

1. CRIIGEN, 40 rue Monceau, 75008 Paris, France
2. University of Rouen LITIS EA 4108, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan, France
3. University of Caen, Institute of Biology, Risk Pole CNRS, EA 2608, 14032 Caen, France

Abstract

We present for the first time a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data from trials with rats fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863), which are present in food and feed in the world. NK 603 has been modified to be tolerant to the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup and thus contains residues of this formulation. MON 810 and MON 863 are engineered to synthesize two different Bt toxins used as insecticides. Approximately 60 different biochemical parameters were classified per organ and measured in serum and urine after 5 and 14 weeks of feeding. GM maize-fed rats were compared first to their respective isogenic or parental non-GM equivalent control groups. This was followed by comparison to six reference groups, which had consumed various other non-GM maize varieties. We applied nonparametric methods, including multiple pairwise comparisons with a False Discovery Rate approach. Principal Component Analysis allowed the investigation of scattering of different factors (sex, weeks of feeding, diet, dose and group). Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.

Orwell Rolls In His Grave

This is pretty interesting, though somewhat biased toward the left…

1:43:40

Director Robert Kane Pappas’ ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE is the consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, Pappas explores what the media doesn’t like to talk about: itself. Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and leading intellectual voices on the media.

Among the cast of characters in ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE are Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity, Vincent Bugliosi, former L.A. prosecutor and legal scholar, film director and author Michael Moore, Rep. Bernie Sanders, Danny Schecter, author and former producer for ABC and CNN, and Tony Benn, former member of the British Parliament.

ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE provides a vital forum for ideas that will never be heard in mainstream media. From Globalvision’s Danny Schecter: “We falsely think of our country as a democracy when it has evolved into a mediacracy – where a media that is supposed to check political abuse is part of the political abuse.” New York University media professor Mark Crispin Miller says, “These commercial entities now vie with the government for control over our lives. They are not a healthy counterweight to government. Goebbels said that what you want in a media system – he meant the Nazi media system – is to present the ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity.”

From the very size of the media monopolies and how they got that way to who decides what gets on the air and what doesn’t, ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE moves through a troubling list of questions and news stories that go unanswered and unreported in the mainstream media.

Are Americans being given the information a democracy needs to survive or have they been electronically lobotomized? Has the frenzy for media consolidation led to a dangerous irony where in an era of more news sources the majority of the population has actually become less informed?

ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE reminds us that 1984 is no longer a date in the future.

Kucinich calls on Congress to take control of the Fed, end fractional reserve banking system

Dennis Kucinich speaks to the participants of the 2009 American Monetary Institute’s 5th Annual Monetary Reform Conference:

Shock study: 12% of kids sexually abused in govt. custody

By Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
Thursday, January 7th, 2010 — 8:02 pm

Some 12 percent of minors held in government custody are sexually abused, and in some facilities the rate reaches a stunning one in three children, says a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The first-ever National Survey of Youth in Custody found that no less than 10 percent of the 26,550 juveniles being held in detention facilities in the US are abused by staff at the facility, while another 2.6 percent report abuse at the hands of other inmates. Among the facilities studied were six identified to have rates of sexual abuse as high as three in 10. According to the Associated Press, those six facilities are Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Maryland; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, North Carolina.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Virginia. “The widespread sexual abuse of children in juvenile facilities shows that public officials either aren’t paying attention or can’t be bothered to do the right thing,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch. “The high rates of victimization are powerful testimony to the failure of governments to safeguard the boys and girls in their care.” The study was mandated by a 2003 law, the National Prison Rape Elimination Act, which also created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. Human Rights Watch notes that six months ago the commission set out “comprehensive, effective standards for the prevention, detection, and punishment of prison rape,” but the Justice Department has yet to act on those recommendations.

“Every day Attorney General Eric Holder fails to promulgate national prison rape elimination standards is another day in which kids and adults are being abused behind bars,” Fellner said. “The attorney general already has on his desk proposed standards that reflect the best thinking and effective practices to end this widespread scourge. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or to delay moving forward.”

The survey found that gay youth were at higher risk than heterosexual youth, with one in five reporting abuse at the hands of a staffer or fellow inmate. Males were more likely to report being abused than females (10.8 percent to 4.7 percent). And 95 percent of those abused by staff reported that the abuser was female. But that number may be influenced by the fact that 91 percent of youth in custody are male.

The AP reports:

Although advocates said the level of abuse wasn’t surprising, the prevalence of sexual abuse by staff, particularly female workers, was shocking, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, which fights to end sexual abuse of those who are detained.

“Many of these are already the most vulnerable and traumatized youth from all of our communities and they’re placed for custody because they’re considered to be a danger,” she said. “If sexually abused in those very institutions that are supposed to help them prepare for life in the community, then it’s just an incredible travesty.”

The Associated Press also notes that sex abuse by staffers was higher in state-run facilities than in privately-run or municipal detention centers, and smaller facilities appear to have lower abuse rates than larger ones.

The study investigated a 12-month period, and was carried out from June, 2008, to April, 2009.

Two university studies show radiation from mobile phones causes memory loss

Wait what was I posting about? Oh … These 2 studies about something.

Mobile Phones Affect Memory In Laboratory Animals, Swedish Study Finds

Rats Exposed To Cell Phone Microwaves Suffer Long-Term Memory Loss, According To New Study By University Of Washington Researcher

ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 1999) — Microwaves similar to those emitted by cell phones may affect long-term memory, according to a new study by a University of Washington researcher….

Media psyop equates being home-schooled with being uneducated

This is a scripted, psychological warfare operation against self-determination and the rights of families and children.

If the school board has to approve home-school curriculum, what’s the point of home schooling?  Statistically, home-schooled kids perform better in life than public-schooled kids.  US public educated children score abysmally on standardized tests compared to most other developed nations.

You are free to do as we tell you.

BPA Study Points To Intestine Damage

Newsinferno

Bisphenol a—BPA—is making news again today. This time, for yet another adverse health effect linked to the estrogenic plastic hardener. Now, according to MLIve.com, emerging research has linked the chemical to intestinal problems.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences Journal and revealed the hormone mimicker does, in fact, cause harm to intestines, said MLive.com. MLive.com noted that intestines are the first organ in contact with the chemical following ingestion of BPA.

In laboratory testing, when rats were exposed to the chemical at doses 10 times smaller that what is currently believed to be safe for humans, the rats experienced intestinal lining damage. A team at the National Institute of Agronomic Research in Toulouse, France, conducted research said MLive.com, citing the Agence France-Presse (AFP). The damage, said MLive.com, is called “poor intestinal permeability” or “leaky gut syndrome,” a disorder that causes difficulty in the body with the absorption of water and nutrients and enables bacteria and other dangerous matter to enter the body. Of note, baby rats exposed to BPA in utero and when feeding showed higher risks of developing inflammation of the intestines when older. The disorders can also wreak havoc with the immune system, according to EMaxHealth.

Recently, another study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine, found that “nonhuman primates” exposed to BPA levels deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) experienced “interference with brain cell connections,” that appeared to be BPA-associated, said Daily Finance.

BPA was developed in the 1930s as an estrogenic mimicker and appears to cause significant disruption on the body’s endocrine system. In urine tests, BPA is found in the overwhelming majority of Americans, more than 93 percent and, significantly, the chemical is found in 90 percent of all newborns. Given that BPA has been connected to increased risks of brain, reproductive, cardiac, and immune system diseases and disorders; problems with liver function testing; interruptions in chemotherapy treatment; and links with serious health problems, this is a serious issue.

Studies have overwhelmingly found BPA to have negative effects at doses lower than current FDA standards; retention in the body longer than was previously believed; leeching into liquids being held in containers regardless of the containers’ temperature; and longer lasting damage, which some feel can be passed to future generations. Recent reports link high levels of exposure to BPA to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in males.

Laws are in place or coming into effect in a variety of states and counties in the United States in which the sale of certain products containing the polycarbonate has been banned, for instance, baby bottles, food containers, and sippy cups. Canada was the first country to announce plans to ban BPA, calling it a toxin; some retailers and manufacturers have announced plans to stop making products containing the chemical.

Most recently, a BPA ban in sippy cups and baby bottles came into effect in the state of Minnesota. Four other states are looking at a ban, said Daily Finance previously; two bills are seeking a national ban. According to Daily Finance, Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a House bill and two democratic senators—Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York proposed a Senate bill. Also, in addition to Canada, the European Union has implemented a complete ban on BPA.

Irish government furious after Slovakian agents plant explosives on passenger

Man arrested after ‘bizarre’ discovery in Dublin apartment

By Gary Fennellyz
Telegraph
Tuesday, 5 January 2010

The Irish government has demanded that Slovakia explain how an unsuspecting airline passenger was allowed to carry high-grade explosives on a flight to Dublin in an apparently botched security exercise.

Slovakian agents randomly planted powerful RDX explosives in the 49-year-old electrician’s bag but took three days to warn Irish authorities they were undetected.

Irish police traced the man to an apartment in Dorset St in Dublin city centre. He was arrested but has since been released from custody.

Security sources said the explosive was one of eight items of planted by the Slovakian authorities in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers at Bratislava airport at the weekend as part of a test exercise. Seven items were reportedly detetected, but the eighth, RDX explosive, went through in the bag of the innocent electrician.

The Slovakian government has apologised for the incident and a full investigation is underway.

A statement from the Republic’s Department of Justice said that Slovakian authorities had tipped off airport police to the presence of the explosives.

“Following contact earlier today from the Slovakian authorities with the Airport Police at Dublin Airport, members of the Garda Síochána have recovered a small quantity of explosive material from the luggage of a passenger who had flown into Dublin from that country on Saturday last,” the statement said.

“It has since been established that this material was concealed without his knowledge or consent in the passenger’s luggage as part of an airport security exercise by the authorities in Slovakia.

“The Slovakian Minister for the Interior has conveyed to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern his Government’s profound regret for this incident.”

The Republic’s main opposition party, Fine Gael, has demanded an investigation into how the explosives had not been detected

Fine Gael Senator, Paschal Donohoe, described the discovery as “bizarre and extremely worrying”. Senator Donohoe called for explanations from the government on the incident.

“This is the latest in a string of explosives discoveries in central Dublin which is extremely worrying in itself. The explosives find today is a particularly bizarre case with the explosive substance apparently brought into this country as part of a foreign test exercise.

“The government must now explain how it got into this country, what it was doing here and why the proper authorities were not alerted in advance, if this was an official test exercise. We also need to know what steps are being taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

“I would like to acknowledge and commend the work of the Gardaí in ensuring the safety of the residents and workers in the area.”