Andrew Yang is the Democratic presidential candidate best known for his Universal Basic Income (UBI) platform. Andrew is a successful entrepreneur who says that the country elected Donald Trump in large part because so many workers are being left behind due to automation, and he says it’s only going to get worse.

Andrew Yang wants to tax automation and give each and every citizen $1,000 a month, no strings attached. He says that “We need to move to a new form of capitalism – Human Capitalism – that’s geared towards maximizing human well-being and fulfillment.” His policies also include Medicare for all, reducing harm to children caused by smartphones, free marriage counseling for all, the modernization of military spending, an increase in teachers salaries, net neutrality, and he is pro-choice. He leans progressive on every issue we’ve looked into. In fact, he seems to have the most progressive platform of any candidate running. Check out his platform on his website here.

Related: Circumcision Linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

He has a child who is on the autism spectrum and he says he wants to have more research done on the causes of autism and how best to deal with the epidemic.

Yang has also recently let the public know he is an intactivist. If you’re not familiar with the term, an intactivist opposes circumcision.

I’m highly aligned with the intactivists. History will prove them even more correct.”

Daily Beast

Related: Circumcision, the Primal Cut – A Human Rights Violation

Yang said he initially planned to circumcise his sons for fear they’d be “self-conscious” if they retained their foreskins, but his wife convinced him not to.

From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky.”

Rolling Stone

Yang says he does not intend to ban circumcision, but he wants to “inform parents that it is entirely up to them whether their infant gets circumcised, and that there are costs and benefits either way.”

It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations.”

Given everything he has said about circumcision and the fact that his son is on the spectrum, we’re very curious about his stance on vaccines, but if he has any anti-vaccine sentiments it’s probably best for him to keep them to himself for now.

The more choice we give parents, and the more we diminish the possible preconceptions or misinformation various parents are receiving, then the better off we’ll be as a society.”

The CEO of agriculture company Calyxt has confirmed that their gene-edited soybean oil is currently at use at locations in the Midwest. Although he was unable to name the locations using the product for competitive reasons, this marks the first appearance of a gene-edited food in restaurants. Unlike GMOs, gene-edited plants do not contain genetic material. The editing is applied only to the plant’s own DNA, altering or adding already present traits. The soybean oil now being used in restaurants has been edited to have a longer shelf life and contain no trans fats.

No Label, No Warning, No Problem…?

As a consumer, the arrival of gene-edited foods leaves something to be desired. For one thing, the company isn’t releasing where these oils are being used. For those who are concious of what they’re eating, that’s an issue.

Related: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

Gene-edited foods are also exempt from labeling. Since the changes to the plant could potentially happen through traditional breeding methods, the U.S. regulatory agencies does not consider the product to be genetically engineered. Compnaies are not required to report anything to the Food and Drug Administration, although they can request an evaluation. has Calyxt?

This attitude contrasts with the European Union’s take on gene-edited foods. Last year, the Court of Justice in the European Union ruled that gene-edited crops will be subjected to the same regulations as GMOs. There is language allowing for exemptions, but those have conditions, according to the court. Only plants that have “conventionally been used in a number of applications and have a long safety record are exempt from those obligations.” This is a much more decisive stance than that of the U.S. government, which is exercising little to no oversight.

Market Players

Depending on the poll, the percentage of American people in favor of GMO labeling is anywhere from 89 to 96. The number of countries banning or heavily regulating those products is growing. What we think of when we think genetically modified food is becoming more expensive to bring to market and there is much less demand for it. Major companies are looking for another advantage, and genetically engineered plants allow them to use many of the same resources at their disposal with fewer regulatory hassles and less consumer knowledge.

Related: Best Cooking Oils – Health benefits, Smoke Point, Which to Use and Avoid

Calyxt is the first company to get gene-edited crops into restaurants, but it will not be the last. Syngenta, an agribusiness giant and producer of GM seeds, has plans to have genetically engineered products on the market in the next decade. The ChemChina owned corporation is also planning to expand into tomatoes, rice, and sunflowers. Arcadia Biosciences, another biotech firm based in Davis, CA, is also developing genetically engineered foods. Bayer (formerly Monsanto) is also getting into action, partnering with Pairwise, a gene-editing company based in North Carolina.

Business Friendly

The U.S. government has not tried to check the speed at which companies have been able to develop and implement genetically engineered foods. Once again, they are choosing big business over truly examining a new food technology with the potential to seriously damage our health and the environment.

Sources:

• Gene-edited Food Quietly Arrives in Restaurant Cooking Oil – AP News
• Restaurant in the midwest is first in the US to use gene-edited food – Earth.com
• Gene-Edited Foods Are Coming to Your Plate But Aren’t Being Regulated – Bloomberg
• CRISPR plants now subject to tough GM laws in European Union – Nature.com

Last weekBuzzfeed News reports that Amazon “appears to have removed” anti-vaccination documentaries like Vaxxed from Amazon Prime.

On the first of this month, California Rep. Adam Schiff published an open letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking that Amazon remove anti-vax content to from its website.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut 

As the largest online marketplace in the world, Amazon is in a unique position to shape consumption. The algorithms which power social media platforms and Amazon’s recommendations are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information and, as a result, harmful anti-vaccine messages have been able to thrive and spread. The consequences are particularly troubling for public health issues.”

Schiff Sends Letter to Amazon CEO Regarding Anti-Vaccine Misinformation

Schiff also wrote letters to Google and Facebook. Soon after YouTube banned advertising on some of the anti-vax videos and added additional pro-vaccine information. Google also said in a blog post that it will down-rank conspiracy theory videos.

Facebook says it’s “currently working on additional changes.”

Related: Facebook Planning To Censor Anti-Vaccination Posts

We have paid more than $4.03 billion dollars for vaccine damage lawsuits with our tax dollars.

Genetically modified fish will soon be sold in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration lifted the import restriction on AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon eggs on Friday, March 8th.

In late 2015 the FDA approved AquaBounty’s genetically modified salmon, but shortly thereafter Congress had the FDA block the GM salmon from entering the U.S. until labeling standards were issued. Last December the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The GM salmon will be labeled as “Bioengineered.”

AquaAdvantage GM Salmon eggs will be imported to the company’s land-based facility in Indiana where the eggs will be raised into salmon and sold as food. The AquaAdvantage Salmon grows year-round and grows faster than farm-raised Atlantic salmon. The salmon will take more than a year reach the market if everything goes according to plan. Aquabounty chief Sylvia Wulf told the AP certification for an Indiana growing facility is expected in a few weeks. The facility will then receive the genetically modified salmon eggs and it will then take approximately 18 months for the salmon to reach their target weight.

Related:

• GMO Potatoes Are Here – How To Avoid Them
• How To Avoid GMO Apples
• How to Avoid GMOs in 2018 – And Everything Else You Should Know About Genetic Engineering

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A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases examined freshly- laundered hospital linens, and found that more than 10 percent of sheets received by a fifth of hospitals studied tested positive for Mucorales, a fungus responsible for potentially serious infections. Cases of healthcare-associated mucormycosis, the infection associated with Mucorales, have been on the rise for the past decade. Previously, scientists have suggested that contaminated medical devices could be a reason for this, but researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have identified hospital linens as another cause of the infection. The study shows that forty-seven percent of frshly delivered healthcare linenes in the hospitals studied contained Mucorales upon arrival.

Cleaning Hospital Linens

Healthcare is a business, and cutting costs is one of the ways a business makes money. In the modern age, that has translated to outsourcing hospital laundry, as the hospital is no longer obligated to pay for the equipment, energy, and manpower needed to wash their linen. Much of the process is now automated.

This automation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if there’s a way to push for more environmentally friendly laundry practices. Still, this study shows there is cause for concern regarding the outsourcing of washing linens.

Recommended: Everything You Need To Know About Fungal Infections

Why Hospitals Breed Pathogens

While the washing of the linens no longer happens in hospitals, it can’t be denied that healthcare facilities are excellent breeding grounds for bacteria and fungus that cause potentially dangerous infections. Hospitals are where people who are dealing with these infections go. It makes sense that those pathogens will be present.

Modern medicine, in particular antibiotics, compounds the issue though. Antibiotics are designed to destroy all of the bacteria in the gut. While this can eliminate the present infection, it also kills the beneficial bacteria that balance the microbiome. There are also pathogens that antibiotics don’t eliminate. Those pathogens grow stronger in the microbiome vacuum created by the antibiotics. In a hospital setting, you don’t even need to take antibiotic yourself to experience these effects. A study from 2016 found that patients were more likely to develop a C.diff (a notoriously hospital-friendly pathogen) infection if the previous occupant of their hospital room or bed was given antibiotics.

Risky Business

People in hospitals are constantly exposed to infection. A frequent source of exposure is improperly cleaned medical devices, but this study adds another culprit into the mix, the linens. We can all agree that we need to limit our exposure to certain microbes, but indiscriminately killing them all leaves us with no natural defenses. Are the number of fungal infections up because there is more dangerous fungus out there? Or is it because we are increasingly ill-equipped to deal with them?

Sources:

• How Clean Are Your Linens? – NEJM Journal Watch
• How Clean Is the Linen at My Hospital? The Mucorales on Unclean Linen Discovery Study of Large United States Transplant and Cancer Centers – Oxford Academic
• Healthcare‐associated outbreaks due to Mucorales and other uncommon fungi – European Journal of Clinical Investigation
• Laundry: The ‘Fastest Growing Outsourced Service’ – Becker Hospital Review
• Antibiotic Side Effects Are Contagious – C. Diff Infections Are On the Rise – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

You have probably heard that Acetaminophen may damage the liver. But a recent study showed that Acetaminophen may also damage the heart, the gastrointestinal bleeding, and the kidneys. The study also shows increased mortality for those who take Acetaminophen as well. As Acetaminophen use increases the risks increase as well.

There are also risks to using Acetaminophen while pregnant:

• In a Norwiegan cohort, mothers were surveyed for acetaminophen exposure in weeks 17-30 of gestation, and 6 months postpartum. Children evaluated at 3 years were found to have dose-related effects from up to 28 days of cumulative acetaminophen exposure. These effects included motor, communication, and behavioral parameters.
• Acetaminophen depletes the body’s primary antioxidant, glutathione, and interferes with the imperative function of fever to resolve infection and inflammation.
• This study did not control for vaccination status, but there is empirical evidence that combining vaccines and acetaminophen may set vulnerable children up for a diagnosis of autism.

Another study linked prenatal acetaminophen use with an increased likelihood of ADHD.

Kelly Brogan, MD also reported in another article that after swallowing 1000 mg of Tylenol people showed less empathy.

Be sure to visit Kelly Brogan’s website and check out her YouTube channel as well.

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The CDC and other government agencies are recommending the FLULAVAL and Tdap vaccines for pregnant women. The manufacturers of FLULAVAL and Tdap vaccines have not had any clinical safety trials with pregnant mothers and the vaccines are not licensed for use with pregnant mothers, according to the Children’s Health Defense.

The manufacturers warn against against vaccinating pregnant mothers:

There are insufficient data on FLULAVAL QUADRIVALENT in pregnant women to inform.”

Package Insert for FluLaval Quadrivalent

There are no controlled data in human pregnancy. Diphtheria/pertussis, acellular/tetanus is only recommended for use during pregnancy when benefit outweighs risk.”

Tdap Vaccine Information

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit was filed by Children’s Health Defense attorney, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on behalf of Informed Consent Action Network to obtain clinical trial data used by FDA to approve influenza vaccines for pregnant women.

The FDA’s response:

We have no records responsive to your requests.”

The FDA is admitting that these vaccines being recommended for pregnant women have not been licensed for such use by the FDA or tested for safety for pregnant mothers in clinical trials.

As a nation, we can no longer pretend our trusted agencies are protecting our children. It is time to hold federal agencies accountable.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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From Children’s Health Defense:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 11, 2019—In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the FDA has admitted, for the first time, that government agencies, including the CDC, are recommending vaccines for pregnant women that have neither been licensed for pregnant mothers by FDA nor tested for safety in clinical trials. The lawsuit, filed by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) attorney, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on behalf of Informed Consent Action Network(ICAN), a vaccine safety advocacy group, sought all clinical trial data used by FDA to approve influenza vaccines for pregnant women. The FDA’s terse reply: “We have no records responsive to your requests.”

The manufacturers of flu and Tdap vaccines warn against their use for pregnant mothers since their safety has never been established. Package inserts state that it is “not known” whether the vaccines “will harm an unborn baby” and there are “insufficient data” on use in pregnant women to inform vaccine-associated risks. FDA regulations strictly prohibit pharmaceutical companies from marketing products for “off-license” uses. Noncompliant companies are routinely prosecuted criminally and civilly, paying billions in lawsuits and settlements.

The CDC nevertheless has actively recommended influenza vaccination during any trimester of pregnancy since 2004 and has told pregnant women to get Tdap shots (for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) since 2011. The FDA is responsible for vaccine safety and licensing, but, in the just-released court documents, it admits that it has no safety data to back up the CDC’s “off-license” pregnancy recommendations. FDA’s website states that it has never formally approved any vaccines “specifically for use during pregnancy to protect the infant.”

Blanket recommendations for vaccination during pregnancy are a dangerous proposition due to vaccination’s ability to activate a maternal immune response that can damage the developing fetal brain—just as infections during pregnancy sometimes do. In 2008, neuroscientist Paul Patterson warned, “Even if it happens less than 1% of the time, vaccinating an entire population of pregnant women could affect thousands of children.”

Long-term safety studies have not been designed to detect vaccine-related fetal injuries, but a 2017 Kaiser study of over 45,000 women (published in JAMA Pediatrics) showed an elevated risk of birth defects and a 20% higher risk of autism in children whose mothers received a first-trimester flu shot. After the authors applied a statistical correction that lessened the significant association, renowned UCLA statistician Sander Greenland criticized the methodologically “inappropriate” decision, noting that pharmaceutical researchers use the technique when they don’t like a result and “want to see if they can get rid of it.”

Click here to read the rest of the article on Children’s Health Defense’s website.

Thanks to Health Impact News for bringing this story to our attention.