Monsanto Now Paying Farmers To Use Controversial Chemical
Monsanto Co says it will give cash back to U.S. farmers who purchase a controversial weed killer, XtendiMax with VaporGrip, a dicamba-based herbicide. The herbicide has been linked to widespread crop damage. Monsanto is offering the cash incentive even as regulators in several U.S. states are deciding on restrictions for its use. Federal and state regulators are requiring training for farmers and limiting when and how the product can be used. Some farmers are saying the restrictions make the chemical too costly and inconvenient to apply, but Monsanto believes the incentive will help push past the products many issues and concerns. Monsanto could refund farmers more than half of the sticker price of the product.
Of course, Monsanto says XtendiMax is perfectly safe when applied properly. BASF SE and DowDuPont also sell dicamba-based herbicides.
We believe cash-back incentives for using XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology better enable growers to use a management system that represents the next level of weed control.” – Ryan Rubischko, Monsanto product manager.
Monsanto is facing increasing government oversight lately:
On Monday, Missouri said it would ban sprayings of XtendiMax and DowDuPont’s product, called FeXapan, in 10 counties after June 1, 2018, and statewide after July 15, 2018. Last month, the state imposed the same restrictions on BASF’s dicamba herbicide, Engenia. North Dakota said it planned to prohibit the use of dicamba herbicides after June 30, 2018, and when temperatures top 85 degrees Fahrenheit in a bid to prevent the chemical from drifting away from where it is sprayed. Arkansas is close to prohibiting dicamba sprayings after April 15, 2018, the tightest limits yet, while Minnesota is also considering restrictions. The states are taking action after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated special training for dicamba users for 2018 and required farmers to keep records proving they were complying with label instructions.” – Reuters
Flu season is shaping up to be brutal this year, with many areas reporting influenza cases a month ahead of schedule. Australia, who experiences flu season before the United States and Europe, suffered from a particularly rough season with almost twice as many deaths and more than twice the number of infections in comparison to the previous season. In response the flu vaccine gospel is already being pushed harder than usual, but that’s not going to help much.
Back in September, Dr. Vicky Sheppeard, director of communicable diseases at New South Wales Health in Australia indicated that “the four flu strains in the vaccine are well-matched to circulating viruses…” It turns out that a good match doesn’t really guarantee anything, as the New England Journal of Medicine reports that early vaccine effectiveness estimates found that the vaccine was only ten percent effective in Australia. This is a far cry from the initial overall estimates of 42% effectiveness or the 34% predicted for H3N2, the dominant flu strain in Australia that’s notoriously difficult to match. Flu shots for the United States are essentially the same as the one used in Australia.
How to Win at the Flu Season
None of the debate about the flu shot changes the fact that the flu season is here (early), and if Australia is any indicator, it’s going to suck. It doesn’t have to. You’ve got a heads-up, so use this time to prep. Here are the most effective strategies for avoiding or mitigating the flu this season.
Winter is not the best season for vitamin D, but it is critical for flu prevention. A review of 25 studies that included more than 10,000 participants found that vitamin d reduces the likelihood of respiratory infections like the cold and flu. It can be difficult to get all of your vitamin d from diet alone, especially in winter. If you suspect vitamin d deficiency, supplementation has proven to be effective.
Vitamin C is also a critical part of preparing for flu season. One of the most powerful antioxidants available to us, it also boosts immune function. Vitamin C transporter molecules in the membranes of the immune cells actively pump the vitamin into the cells – especially in a stressful situation when the body is more likely to need vitamin C. While there are plenty of vitamin c supplements available, many of them are derived from corn and don’t absorb well in the body. To get the full benefit of vitamin c, whole food sources like berries, colored peppers, broccoli, and dark leafy greens.
It’s not fun, but gargling apple cider vinegar, fire cider, or even salt water can inhibit harmful microbes trying to take up residency in the throat or sinuses. Some viruses are able to hang on, but that infection will likely be less severe. A fire cider has the added antioxidant benefits of hot peppers.
Get hot and sweaty! A fever happens when your body is fighting an infection, and treatments like hot baths, showers, and saunas can trick the body into behaving in that manner. Moving back and forth between hot and cold also provides flu relief, loosening congestion, improving circulation, and boosting the immune system. Always start with hot, and then switch to cold. Switching between very hot and very cold in the shower is the easiest method, but hydrotherapy can also be accomplished with a hot bath and a rubdown with a cold cloth. Also referred to as cold mitten friction, dip a washcloth in 50 to 60 degree water, and rub vigorously.
In addition to the vitamins, there are plenty of natural remedies for flu prevention. One of the best known and verified of these is echinacea. Echinacea is most effective when it’s taken right before or at the very beginning of a developing case of the flu. Anti-inflammatory and antifungal, a good-quality echinacea tincture gives your mouth a fuzzy feeling, and the herb loses its effectiveness after ten days or so.
Dehydration makes the body more susceptible to harmful invaders, and many early flu symptoms like a runny nose and sweating can increase that. Water is the safe play here, but if you’re looking to improve your all-around health at the same time, reach for the cranberry lemonade. The vitamin c is a proven flu buster, and cranberry keeps the kidney processing things smoothly. Another comforting option is a loose leaf, herbal tea. The tea provides a variation on the hot treatment, though it is important to choose an organic tea from a company you trust.
If you do everything on this list, you’ll likely be able to take on the flu quickly and effectively, but to keep your immune system in tip-top condition, diet comes first. Emerging research has continued to confirm that our microbiome determines how healthy we are. Beneficial bacteria like beneficial food, and feeding them the vegetables and fruit creates a positive cycle the reverberates throughout the entire body. The opposite is true of potentially harmful microbes and viruses like the flu. Refined sugars, refined grains, and processed foods fuel harmful bacteria and can lead to a stressed and overworked immune system, perfect for flu viruses to take advantage of. Check out this salad recipe to get some ideas for loading up on the veggies.
The boy scout motto seems to be quoted often, but no one is applying it to our health. Then again, that’s what the vaccine is supposed to do. According to experts, this year’s flu vaccine is about as effective as going camping with a sheet instead and hoping it doesn’t rain or get cold. Don’t you want to be the person who actually prepared? It starts with diet.
Radical Diet Can Reverse Type 2 Diabetes – Groundbreaking New Study
The number of people with type 2 diabetes has been on the rise for some time now, and it’s believed that this rise is directly related to the obesity epidemic. Fat accumulated in the abdomen impeeds pancreatic function, which makes sense when you consider how glands work, and what happens when a gland does not have enough space to function properly. If you squeeze a glad it will secret hormones, so consider how excessive fat accumulation plays a role when putting pressure on glands.
These findings are very exciting. They could revolutionise the way type 2 diabetes is treated. This builds on the work into the underlying cause of the condition, so that we can target management effectively. Substantial weight loss results in reduced fat inside the liver and pancreas, allowing these organs to return to normal function. What we’re seeing … is that losing weight isn’t just linked to better management of type 2 diabetes: significant weight loss could actually result in lasting remission.” – Prof Roy Taylor, Newcastle University, lead researcher
This is huge! We now have the scientific community recognizing that diabetes can be reversed by diet. Nine out of 10 people in the trial who lost 15kg (33 lbs) or more put their type 2 diabetes into remission – no more insulin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EFeVsFsYCE
Restricted vs. Healthy
One thing to consider though is that reducing calories is not enough. It may be enough to reverse the worst aspects of a disease, but for those wanting to enjoy a body in complete homeostasis, toxins need to be eliminated and nutrition needs to be assimilated. We would bet anything that the one person out of the ten people who did not go into remission would have healed with the right diet. You are what you eat, and science is starting to see this, to an extent. New studies are regularly coming out about gut microbes, how diet effect them, and how toxins affect us. Scientists are not yet connecting the dots with how food can heal very well, so there is a lot more about what’s wrong with our diet than how to fix it. Scientists still may be a long way from realizing how powerful food can be for healing. If you want to reverse diabetes (or almost any chronic illness), check out Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones. It’s a journey, and it’s not easy to heal holistically. It’s a lifestyle change, a journey, a process involving more than just diet. But many have done it, and more and more people are waking up to the reality that we are in fact in control of our health.
Up to 400 Midwest grocery stores started selling pre-sliced packages of the “Arctic Apple”. The company marketing the apples won’t say which stores are selling them and they won’t label the apples “GMO” because according to Intrexon’s CEO:
We didn’t want to put ‘GMO’ and a skull and crossbones on the package.”
Arctic apples have been genetically engineered not to brown. They are devoid of the enzyme that causes apples to oxidize when the flesh comes in contact with air. Retailers, restaurants, and other foodservice sectors have expressed interest in using the GMO apples. Expect to see them in hospitals, restaurants, schools, vending machines, and anywhere you may see presliced apples.
Right now three new genetically engineered, non-browning apples have been approved: Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and recently the addition of the Fuji. Gala apples are next. Only Goldens and Granny trees have been in the ground long enough to produce fruit in commercial quantities by next fall.
At this time we’ve been told that the product is sold as a 10-ounce bag of sliced Golden Delicious apples, sold by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. You may be able to spot the apples upon seeing their trademarked name the package labels. The Arctic Apple® or Arctic Golden Apple is a registered trademark of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon.
How to Avoid The GMO Apples
One could scan the bag’s QR code with a smartphone. Avoid anything sold by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Intrexon, and anything called an “Arctic Apple. Avoid any apples that have already been sliced open. Pre-sliced apples weren’t a good idea even before the GMOs hit the shelves. Pretty soon, buying organic may be the only way to avoid GMO apples, as they eventually may contaminate other crops, and even that may become problematic.
We recommend buying produce and bulk foods predominantly, get to know your farmer’s markets and local farmers, grow your own food, and put the kind of scrutiny and care into what goes inside your body as we all should.
Nestlé Acquiring Garden of Life, Pure Encapsulations, Douglas Laboratories for 2.3b
Atrium Innovations owns Douglas Laboratories, Pure Encapsulations, Wobenzym, Klean Athlete, and a few more brands. You may know them best for Garden of Life supplements. Nestlé announced last Saturday that they are buying Atrium Innovations for 2.3 billion.
“We value Atrium’s history as a highly successful company and welcome its 1,400 employees to the Nestlé family. Their brands are a natural complement to our Consumer Care portfolio, which offers nutritional solutions in the areas of Healthy Aging, Healthy Growing, Gut Health and Obesity Care. Atrium’s portfolio will extend our product range with value-added solutions such as probiotics, plant-based protein nutrition, meal replacements and an extensive multivitamin line, enabling consumers to address their health and wellness goals.” – Nestlé
Peter Luther, soon to be x-CEO, had this to say:
Since Atrium was established in 1999, we have been dedicated to providing premium-quality, science-based, professionally recognized products to consumers and healthcare practitioners. We are very pleased to be joining Nestlé Health Science as we share a common purpose of helping people lead healthier lives by providing good-for-you products made with the highest standards for quality and efficacy. Nestlé will provide Atrium with the resources to accelerate the growth of our brands and reach more people globally.”
Nestlé is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company that sells baby food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, frozen food, pet foods, and snacks – none of which are particularly healthy. The company is no stranger to negative news, as it is reportedly int he spotlight for various human rights abuses. Remember when Nestlé’s Chairman said that water is not a basic human right? (He later adjusted that claim.) For other reasons to be concerned, check out Why Nestlé is one of the most hated companies in the world or watch this video:
Trump and the Fast Food Diet of the “Healthiest” President In History
Two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a chocolate milkshake is a typical order for a meal for the president, according to a new book. Corey R. Lewandowski was fired as Trump’s campaign manager and David Bossie, was the Deputy Campaign Manager for Trump but resigned after three months. They’ve written a book together, Let Trump Be Trump, whichhas shed light on some of Donald Trump’s behaviors including his eating habits. The news of Donald Trump’s diet has gone viral.
On Trump Force One there were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke,” – Washington Post
Like us, many in the natural-health community were optimistic that Trump may at least expose some of the corruption within the pharmaceutical industry, regarding vaccines in particular, but those hopes were dashed a day after Kennedy spoke with Trump.
As most will likely remember, Donald Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, who has seen Trump since 1980, stated that,
If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
There have been numerous concerns regarding Donald’s health, including his weight, his mental health, and his recent slurring of words made headlines and fed speculation all over the world.
Is Donald Trump Healthy?
That’s the real question. Trump is not “healthy” by our standards, but that’s relative. Is he healthier than most people his age? Probably. Most people in their 70s are not healthy at all, and he does have lots of money and power, which can help to slow down the body’s deterioration, especially if one is blessed with good genetics, as Trump has claimed he is. A key difference between him and Hillary Clinton’s health is that Donald’s health, for better or worse, never became an issue in his campaign. Hillary collapsed while getting on her bus. If nothing else, it seems the Don knows better what his limitations are than Clinton does or did. This can create an allure of greater health than the truth. For instance, picture a 70-year-old man who decides to take the stairs instead of the elevator to burn off a few calories. It’s 12 flights. He is in pretty good shape compared to Trump but he has a heart attack. Trump is not likely to take the stairs (just an educated guess). Trump doesn’t do much of anything active besides golf (with a golf cart) and his speeches.
‘Other than golf, he considers exercise misguided, arguing that a person, like a battery, is born with a finite amount of energy,’ writes Evan Osnos in a piece entitled ‘How Trump Could Get Fired‘ that appears in the May 8, edition of the New Yorker.” – CNN
I am up there using a lot of motion. These rooms are hot like saunas. I guess that’s a form of exercise.” – Time
He doesn’t sleep much (he claims about three hours a night). He is obese. He loses his temper easily. He does not exercise. He doesn’t like vegetables or fruits or raw foods or home-cooking. He is a well-known germaphobe, who needs a continuous supply of unopened oreo cookies because he won’t eat from an opened package. His understanding of how the body and germs work leaves much to be desired. Is he any more or less likely to die of a heart attack than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders if one of them were in the same position? That’s hard to say. There are too many variables. We’re sure Bernie is the healthiest of the three, but we as a nation would likely still be totally invested in who his running mate is for obvious reasons like we were with John McCain. But it is clear to anyone who understands how the body works that the man’s brain is not running like a well-maintained machine.
And what about that slurring? Was that just a parched mouth as the White House has insisted? Like Trevour Noah at the Daily Show, we’d put our money on dentures.
REUTERS June 2015
His teeth aren’t real. Click on this picture above, then right-click on it, and open the image in a new tab and click on his mouth to zoom in. Does this look like the teeth of a man at 71 years old who prefers McDonald’s? No. Are they dentures? Either that or veneers or implants of some sort. Here’s another picture.
So is the president healthy? Oral health is a good indicator of gut health, and when we take into account his age, we have to give him some credit. At 71 years old, he certainly could be a lot worse off, but “healthy”, he is not, though he’s obviously been able to afford top-notch conventional medical care all of his life.
Is the Presidency Taking Its Toll?
Of course, but we may not be able to see it. Newsweek recently did an article called, Here’s What Donald Trump May Look Like After His Stressful Presidency.
The image shows a side-by-side comparison with a digitally edited photo of President Donald Trump using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Of course, this image is problematic because the left picture is an airbrushed image of Trump with what appears to be a better makeup job than usual, which is not indicative of his true self at all, or what he looked like as he took the presidency. But we do know how much a presidency can age a person, as it is surely one of the most difficult and stressful jobs in the world.
Let’s take a look and see how the Don is doing now that his first year in office coming to an end. It’s hard to find the right images for the job, again, with all the makeup, but take a look:
What Donald Trump Looked Like near the end 2015
October 22, 2015 time.com/4082627/trump-mosques-minimum-wage/
What Donald Trump Looks Like After Nearly One Year In Office
Nov. 27th 2017
I looked at dozens of images, maybe hundreds, and I tried to pick the ones that most fairly represented him. I think there’s a small difference, but it’s hard to tell with the makeup, and it’s no more aging than what anyone would expect for a man ni his 70s. It’s possible his diet has actually improved since taking office, who knows? It will be interesting to see how the office effects his health if he continues his presidency a few more years, provided we still have the internet.
I surmise that as we discover how important gut health is to our brain, our hormonal system, and our disposition, society will be more and more disgusted with the fuel this man chooses to put in his body.
A Million Consumers Call to Block Monsanto Bayer Merger
Farming, environmental, and consumer groups have delivered a petition with over a million signatures to the Department of Justice asking them to block the merger between German pharmaceutical company Bayer and agricultural giant Monsanto. The petition was delivered days ahead of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on technology in agriculture and data-driven farming. The petition is in addition to two recent reports showing the damaging impact of the merger on both farmers and consumers.
The first report from is Consumer Federation of America, “Mega-Mergers in the U.S. Seed and Agrochemical Sector the Political Economy of Tight Oligopolies on Steroids and the Squeeze on Farmers and Consumers,” and examines the Bayer Monsanto merger as an oliogopoly and discusses how having only select companies in charge will effect our food system. The second report is from Friends of the Earth, SumOfUs and the Open Markets Institute and entitled “Bayer-Monsanto Merger: Big Data, Big Agriculture, Big Problems.” It looks at the implications of the Bayer Monsanto merger on competition and farmer choice, especially in the area of data-driven farming.
Bayer and Monsanto’s toxic mega-merger is a danger to our planet and everyone living on it. Over 1 million Americans have called on the Department of Justice to protect our farmers and families from the consolidation of corporate power. Bayer and Monsanto’s merger is a direct threat to the future of people and our environment. The Justice Department must put on the breaks and stop this merger.” – Erich Pica, President Friends of the Earth
Consumers are concerned and worry that this could become a damaging monopoly.
If the Bayer-Monsanto merger is approved, the new company would be the world’s largest vegetable seed company, world’s largest cottonseed company, world’s largest manufacturer and seller of herbicides, the world’s largest owner of intellectual property/patents for herbicide tolerant traits. Should the merger move forward, 77 percent of the corn seed in America would be controlled by two companies, Bayer-Monsanto and Dow-DuPont. – OCM
