AIDS in America – 2015 update

Due to an HIV outbreak among needle users, Indiana governor, Mike Pence, declared a public health emergency for Scott County, a rural area 30 miles north of Louisville. On April 10th, there were 95 confirmed cases of HIV and 11 preliminary positive cases. On May 5th, the count has risen to 140.

The state has waived its ban on needle exchange programs and is currently encouraging resident drug users to step forward and exchange their needles. Needless to say, few are taking the government up on the offer and critics say the program is not being run according to best practices.Lack of information and misinformation on HIV continues, and infection continues to spread.

Beginning of HIV/AIDS in America

Although it is believed HIV/AIDS started in Africa, AIDS was first identified in the United States. In 1981, a number of young, white men were contracting rare diseases, a rare type of pneumonia (Pneumocystis Pneumonia Carinii) and a rare type of cancer (Kaposi’s Sarcoma). Common denominators included a devastated immune system, opportunistic and rare infections, and a common sexual orientation – the young men were gay. In 1982, cases among heterosexuals were identified, with half of them being confirmed IV drug users. The next identified group were persons with hemophilia who had received blood products.

In 1984, the virus, HIV, was identified as the cause of AIDS. Our government did not launch an AIDS education campaign until 1988. Discrimination is blamed for much of the spread of the disease due to an early attitude of self-righteous belief that the disease would remain limited to gay men and IV drug users, thus eliminating “undesirables” from our society.

By 1986, when a heat treatment was developed to kill HIV in blood products, it is estimated that half of the Americans with hemophilia had already contracted HIV from our blood supply.

HIV Prevalence

Prevalence of a disease is the number of persons living with the disease at any given time. The 2011 estimate of HIV infection in the United States was 1, 201,100 of which 160,300 (14%) were yet to be diagnosed.

Current HIV Infection Stats

Today the CDC reports an estimated 50,000 new cases of HIV infection are diagnosed each year. The latest data was obtained in 2010 with 47,500 new cases that year. Two-thirds of these cases were reported within the gay community. Black/African Americans comprise the second most infected population with 8 times the infection rate of Caucasian Americans.

Gay and bisexual youth, aged 13 to 24, show a 22% increase in estimated new infections from 2008 to 2010, according to the CDC. This age group accounts for 26% of annual new cases. Unfortunately, 50% of these infected youth do not know they are infected. Rates of infection for young black/African Americans and Hispanic/Latino young men are the highest.

Conclusion

Safe sexual practices could eradicate this disease, but this will never happen as long as so many remain uneducated about HIV and how it spreads.

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Bourbon Virus – New Quick Killing Virus Spread by Ticks

In the spring of 2014, a Bourbon County, Kansas farmer sought hospital treatment. Eleven days later, he died. His symptoms included fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, and a rash. Blood work showed thrombocytopenia (reduced platelet count, which inhibits clotting making the patient more susceptible to bleeding) and leukopenia (reduced white blood cell count, inhibiting immune response to the pathogen). The patient said he had been bitten by ticks.

The CDC determined the man suffered from a never before encountered RNA virus of the genus Thogotovirus, viruses that are found around the world. There is no cure for Bourbon virus. There has not yet been another identified case of this virus. Scientists do not know if this virus affects other animals.

Naturally, there is concern about whether there is a new virus spreading from tick to tick and across the animal kingdom that we have little to no treatment for, but we can remain vigilant and take care of ourselves and our pets to lessen the likelihood of exposure.

How to Avoid Tick Bites

The first step to avoid tick bites is vibrant health. Parasitic creatures are more drawn to unhealthy humans (and pets) than truly healthy ones. Part of the attraction is our smell, which is affected by our health, the products we put on our skin, and the foods we eat. Onions and garlic repel pests – both mosquitoes and ticks. And both are very good for you.

Tick Repellent Spray

There are a number of essential oils that repel ticks and mosquitoes as well. Nan Martin of Experience Essential Oils recommends this recipe for dogs and humans:

Tick Spritz Recipe

  • 1 cup of Distilled water
  • 2 Drops Geranium Essential Oil
  • 2 Drops Palo Santo Essential Oil
  • 1 Drop Myrrh Essential Oil
  • 4 Drops Grapefruit Essential Oil
  • 1 Drop Peppermint Essential Oil
  • 1 Drop of Thieves Hand Soap or Castile Soap (emollient)

Place in a spray bottle and shake. Spritz when needed

(No cats! Don’t use essential oils on cats!)

Wear long sleeves and long pants in the woods to avoid tick bites. Always check for ticks when you have been in the woods or in bushy areas. If you find an embedded tick, cover it with an undiluted essential oil. This will probably cause the tick to back out.

Anti-Virus Protocol

If you have been bitten by a tick, this is the time to follow the healthiest and cleanest diet. Remember that sugar feeds viruses and bacteria. There are several natural means to boost your immune system. Check out How Viruses Work and How to Prevent Them Naturally and Make Your Immune System Bulletproof With These Natural Remedies.

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Four Things Gym Goers Usually Do Wrong

For a newbie, going to the gym can be a daunting experience. All those machines, muscular, toned regulars cranking the weights, the fitness and nutrition advice and exercise routines you’ve seen in magazines whirling around in your head. However, even the most seasoned gym veterans get it wrong. In fact, sometimes those who have been hammering the gym the longest are the ones with the worst habits. Take a look at our hit list below to see how you can tune up your workout and eliminate the bad habits that may be holding you back from getting the best results.

Not Asking for Help

If you’re unsure of something – ask! So many people feel intimidated at the gym. They never ask for assistance or find out how to use the equipment for optimum results. At best, people simply use the same machines over and over again or they use them wrong. At worst, they can be put off so much that they never return. If you don’t feel able to ask someone in the gym or a member of staff, then turn to the Internet. There are so many sites and resources online brimming with information. So think about your goal and get Googling.

Not Eating Properly

Nutrition is actually more important than what you do at the gym. If you don’t get that right, your workout could be null and void. People still skip meals or eat convenience or junk food believing that it won’t affect their workout. Sadly, this isn’t true. Make sure you’re getting a good mix of healthy carbs, protein, and fresh vegetables throughout the day. Snack when you are hungry and never starve yourself. Hydration is also key. Feed your body properly and it will thank you, but most importantly, the benefits will come back to you tenfold.

Not Compensating for Dietary Gaps

Eating right and ensuring your body is getting the essential nutrients it needs is easier said than done. It is important to be aware of the gaps in your diet so that you can take measures to resolve them. While food should be your primary source of nutrients, vitamins and other dietary supplements can compensate for the minor gaps in your diet. It is important to understand that they do not by any means replace all of the nutrients and benefits of whole foods. They are purely a supplement to your diet that can help prevent deficiencies. Supplements have been scientifically formulated according to goal, gender, and age so you can choose a supplement that matches these attributes.

Not Changing It Up

Lots of people get stuck in the same routine – a routine they feel comfortable in, one that they like – the same time, the same machines, the same classes. However your body soon gets used to one type of exercise, so you have to keep it guessing in order to stay fit and toned. Sure, you might know what works for you, and that’s fine, but make sure you’re switching it up now and again and adding new things that will shock your body and produce some surprising new results. Identifying the mistakes you are making is the first step to self-improvement. Nobody is perfect, we are all guilty of a few bad habits. But, if they are hindering your personal goals and objectives, isn’t it time to make a change?

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Juicing and Meditation – A Great Combination for Spring

The focus on warmer weather and fresh starts makes healthy eating a popular choice for spring. Healthy eating is wonderful, but do you know you can enhance the effects of a good diet through meditation?

You may not think meditation is for you, but it has something for everyone, even the most cynical ones. It has the ability to relieve pain, bring clarity to all areas of life, to improve the skin, and generate a feeling of all round serenity, which helps with any area of stress within life.

It is no use working hard on your career, family, social activities if you cannot relax properly to enjoy them. As you work hard to make improvements to your life, make it your mission, a duty to yourself, to cultivate calmness and clarity, which will aid in these improvements.

Meditation is a means to tap into your inner self. No noise, no over analysing, just you. Maybe even a part of yourself you have not encountered before. It is a gift to yourself and here are three reasons why meditation is a must for those looking for self-improvement.

Meditation Heals

Meditation takes you to a very private place. It brings a sense of profound rest leading to a deep feeling but doesn’t leave you drained. Instead it gets you re-energised.

Practicing meditation regularly is a discipline. If you are a regular dieter or stick to a healthy food plan, you’ll know discipline is based upon motivation and upkeep. Like a juice plan, you must remain dedicated. In the case of meditation, you should practice regularly, every day or twice a week.

Meditation can heal you at your core. You can reconnect with yourself and your intuition will be improved as well, providing a deep relaxation, which leads to clarity.

It helps with physical problems, too. Those who practice regularly find they sleep deeply. Recurring ailments like stress headaches can also be eased from meditation as well as inevitable processes such as menopause.

Those with addictions of varying levels of severity can use meditation, too. Even if it is just cutting down on something such as caffeine, the clarity which comes from meditation will be good for you. We like to feel our best even more so in the summer months, so it’s a good time to start being proactive.

Meditation Reveals the Real You

Since meditation is an act of self-love, one thing that nobody else can do or give to you, over time your own self-compassion will improve. You will benefit, as will those around you.

Life is stressful, and meditation can make it easier to become less reactive to issues around you, to feel less anger and frustration. Everyone can benefit from being more patient, and meditation naturally affirms this within you. The key is that you become more comfortable being yourself, even if you thought you were comfortable prior to meditation.

Look and Feel Healthier (and younger!)

According to The Journal of Neuroscience, meditating for five years or more keeps you physiologically five years younger than your actual chronological age. The healthy habits from meditation can be cultivated to cut down on food which is bad for us. This is according to the

The healthy habits from meditation can be cultivated to cut down on food that is bad for us. According to the Journal Emotion and The Journal of Behavioural Medicine, those who meditate have significantly higher levels of DHEA, a natural steroid hormone that reduces stress, improves memory and regulates weight.

Everyone likes to feel youthful during the summer months. A new lease on life will improve progress and motivation in all areas of work. The ability to enjoy life with improved clarity will create better experiences for you and for those you care about the most.

Check out R-Awesome Juice Detox to learn more about how meditation accompanies a juice diet plan.

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Improve Indoor Air Quality to Promote Health

We all know pollutants, dust, and allergens have a severely negative impact on people’s health. Yet, while most of us are worried about the rising pollution levels outdoors, we tend to forget that most of our time is spent indoors. As a result, we end up breathing in a lot of unwanted substances every time we draw a breath!

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Improving the quality of air inside your home or office is much easier than you might think. There are basically four simple steps that can help you improve Indoor Air Quality:

Control Pollutant Sources

Remove or relocate sources of pollutants or taking steps to reduce emissions can significantly improve air quality in any indoor space.

Improve Ventilation

Concentrations of indoor air pollutants can be reduced by increasing the flow of outdoor air, which allows fresh air to replace the stale air that has accumulated indoors.

Remove or Clean Pollutants

Air filters and mechanical cleaners can be used to filter pollutants and mold from indoor air while improving circulation, too.

Control Humidity

This doesn’t always mean reducing humidity. When the weather is dry or if you use air conditioners indoors all the time, you may need to increase humidity. Overly dry air can irritate sinuses, cause congestion, and increase the risk of colds, flu, and other infections.

Basic Solutions and DIYs

There are a number of methods that can be employed to improve the indoor air quality in homes and office buildings. Some of the best methods are extremely easy to employ and inexpensive, if not free.

Here are some basic changes you could make to improve indoor air quality without the investment of extensive effort or time:

Use Non-Toxic Cleaning Products

Many commercially-available conventional cleaning products contain powerful chemicals that can be as harsh on your health as they are on stains.

Get Rid of Polluting Household Chemicals and Products

Household products like paints, solvents, and pesticides contain poisonous chemicals and pollutants like Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).

Avoid Conventional Dry-Cleaning

Perchloroethylene (PERC) and Mineral Turpentine Oil (MTO) are commonly used in the dry cleaning industry. Both are known to cause serious health issues, and PERC is a known carcinogen.

Use Natural Ventilation

You can increase ventilation in cooler months by opening the top and bottom of double-hung windows or opening windows on opposite sides to permit cross-ventilation. Aside from reducing pollutant concentrations, you could save a lot on energy and the cost of forced-air cooling devices.

Use an Exhaust Fan or Hob-Chimney

Cooking on a gas range produces carbon dioxide and even more harmful gases like carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. Install hood fans above gas ranges to push exhausts outdoors.

Keep the Indoors Dry

Mold loves damp places, so fix any leaks or drips and clean up spills as soon as possible. Standing water and puddles are a haven for disease-causing microbes and mosquitos. Check for them regularly and deal with them immediately.

Replace Air Filters on Time

Filters on furnaces and air-conditioners can become clogged and ineffective. Additionally, they can be a breeding ground for microbes if they haven’t been used in a while. Clean them regularly and replace them as per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Don’t Smoke or Let Others Smoke Indoors

While this seems obvious, most people tend to neglect it. Cigarette smoke isn’t just a health hazard for smokers. Second hand smoke is just as dangerous for others.

Design for Better Air Quality

While the tips listed above can be followed as a regular practice, some design cues can also help improve the indoor air quality in your home or office.

Plan your Remodel

Remodeling means building materials, and that means dust. Toxins and pollutants get suspended in the air easily. Plan to renovate and remodel in cooler months, when you can maximize ventilation from outdoors.

Use “Greener” Materials

Air quality can be improved throughout the year if you use products and materials that have lower emissions of pollutants, like zero-VOC paint or formaldehyde-free insulation. Look for materials certified by Greenguard, Greenfield, and similar organizations.

Reduce and Maintain Carpeting

Carpets absorb moisture and trap contaminants. Never use them in areas where they are likely to be exposed to water or dirt. They should be vacuumed regularly, preferably using a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtering system.

Increase Ventilation Through Forced-Air Conditioning

Add external ducts to heating and cooling systems that use heat-exchanging or forced-air heating or cooling. This allows a portion of fresh air from outside to be mixed in.

Keep Your Garage Air Separate

Vehicles’ exhausts are basically just pollutants and nothing more. Design the garage so the amount of air exchanged between it and the conditioned space is minimized, if not eliminated. If you’re keen on monitoring the levels, consider a carbon-monoxide detector or automatic garage door opener.

Mechanical Air-Cleaning and Conditioning

In addition to the other options, there is a wide range of products and equipment that is specifically designed to improve indoor air quality. These products are particularly useful for people who live in high-pollution cities and those who have respiratory issues as well as for commercial establishments like schools, offices, hospitals, and the like.

Common devices used to improve indoor air quality

Energy Recovery Ventilators

These systems connect to existing heating/cooling systems to exchange stale indoor air with fresh air from the outside.

Heat Pump Water Heaters

Apart from being up to 50% cheaper to run, the amount of ventilation provided by these systems is matched to the level of human occupancy and water consumption, which provides excellent moisture control.

Radiant Hydronic Heating Systems

As opposed to forced-air heating systems, these use hot-water flow for indoor heating. The advantage is a reduction of dust and allergens stirred up by blowing hot air. Also, since floors are warmed directly, condensation and water pooling are reduced.

UV Biocide Chambers

One of the most effective ways of dealing with microbes is with ultra-violet light. Biocide chambers use a UV lamp below and above the cooling coils to kill germs, pathogens, and allergens at an enhanced rate.

Polarized Filters

These are electric air cleaners that use a polarized charge to capture and remove airborne particles. They have zero ozone emissions remove upwards of 95% of particles that aggravate allergies.

HEPA Air Filters

HEPA filters are considered by many as the ultimate in air filtration systems available today. They can filter out 99.97% of microscopic particles as small as 0.3 microns, as well as 90% of bioaerosols and microorganisms as small as 0.01 micron.

Air Humidifiers

Dry air can cause just as many problems as moisture, and studies have linked it to increased nasal congestion, especially when it’s cold. Another worrying study found that flu viruses survive much longer in dry air, so humidifiers are essential for places that have very low humidity.

Conclusion

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted and can even contain carcinogens like Radon. Now there’s a fact that could literally take your breath away!

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Chipotle goes 100% non-GMO; flatly rejecting the biotech industry and its toxic food ingredients

(NaturalNews) The free market victories against the sleazy biotech industry are coming at a rapid pace now, and the latest announcement is a real game changer: Chipotle Mexican Grill has outright rejected all GMOs and, as of today, is now serving all non-GMO ingredients in its foods.

“When it comes to our food, genetically modified ingredients don’t make the cut,” says an official announcement on the Chipotle website. “…[T]he food we serve should be made with ingredients raised with care for animals, farmers, and the environment. We’re doubtful that the GMO ingredients that used to be in our food meet these criteria.”

The fighting words from Steve Ells very closely mirror the clean food mantra that Natural News has been advocating for years. He says, quoted in the New York Times:

This is another step toward the visions we have of changing the way people think about and eat fast food… Just because food is served fast doesn’t mean it has to be made with cheap raw ingredients, highly processed with preservatives and fillers and stabilizers and artificial colors and flavors.

Well said, Steve. You get it. Your customers get it. Your shareholders might even get it, too: people want clean food, transparent supply lines, ethical treatment of animals and no GMOs!

“While some studies have shown GMOs to be safe, most of this research was funded by companies that sell GMO seeds and did not evaluate long-term effects,” says the Chipotle website. “Evidence suggests that GMOs engineered to produce pesticides or withstand powerful chemical herbicides damage beneficial insect populations and create herbicide resistant super-weeds.”

For the first time, Natural News publicly endorses the leadership of a fast food restaurant chain

With this announcement, Chipotle makes history. It is the first fast food chain in the world to outright reject GMOs in a very public manner, making its stance a feature of its food offerings.

For this reason, Natural News is now publicly endorsing the leadership and clean food vision of the Chipotle restaurant chain, honoring the courage and pioneering spirit of this chain in staking out new territory in the clean food movement.

I don’t normally eat at fast food chains, but I’m now going to make it a point to visit a Chipotle soon and check out what they have to offer. If you happen to see me chowing down at a Chipotle restaurant in Austin, Texas, don’t be surprised… (and yeah, it’s totally cool to say hi!)

Why switching to 100% non-GMO is a remarkable achievement

In order to help you appreciate the difficulty of going 100% non-GMO, allow me to share some of what’s involved in this. I’m qualified to share this because I’m intimately involved in the product sourcing, certification and laboratory testing of raw materials for products sold via the Natural News Store. We are certified organic and GMP-compliant (FDA rules). I’m also the lab science director of the Natural News Forensic Food Lab, which is in the process of achieving ISO 17025 accreditation.

Sourcing non-GMO ingredients requires a tremendous supply line effort involving non-GMO certification and documentation, complex raw materials acquisition logistics, and laboratory testing of raw materials to ensure they are indeed free of genetically engineered ingredients. None of this is easy to accomplish, and it all requires a concerted effort (and additional cost).

“Ridding the supply chain of genetically altered components is difficult,” reports the New York Times. “They lurk in baking powder, cornstarch and a variety of ingredients used as preservatives, coloring agents and added vitamins, as well as in commodities like canola and soy oils, corn meal and sugar.”

It’s surprising to even see this printed in the New York Times, but it’s also very welcomed. Indeed, the NYT is correct on this point: GMOs are “lurking” even in many popular vitamins, protein powders and some superfoods! Almost anything made from corn — maltodextrin, corn starch, corn syrup and even ascorbic acid — is largely derived from genetically engineered corn.

That’s why sourcing foods made without GMOs is no walk in the park. It adds complexity and cost to the sourcing of those foods, and at times it can cause supply line shortages. On the flip side, however, it also creates enormous profit opportunities for farmers who wish to grow non-GMO foods. The demand for non-GMO crops is now at an all-time high in America, and more and more farmers and learning that they can earn far more revenue by ditching biotech seeds and growing organic or non-GMO crops instead.

As Chipotle rises, McDonald’s falls

The timing of this announcement by Chipotle is notable, as it coincides with McDonald’s declaring another miserable quarter of falling revenues and plummeting market share. McDonald’s is in desperation mode, scrambling to try to figure out why fewer and fewer people want to eat its factory-processed, genetically modified, artificially-flavored “fake foods.” (Is that a Chicken McNugget, or a tiny scrubbing sponge for my toilet?)

The idea that consumers might be informed enough to make holistic choices about food ingredients, food supply lines, the ethical treatment of animals and even the ecological costs of certain ingredients (such as palm oil) seems to absolutely baffle McDonald’s executives. They appear to be stuck in the 1950’s, believing that food marketing is all about social engineering — children’s playgrounds and emotional marketing slogans — rather than the food itself.

What McDonald’s has yet to realize is that food awareness is skyrocketing everywhere, in large thanks to the very same independent media outlets that McDonald’s can’t control (like Natural News). With independent organizations like Natural News now owning and operating its own high-level food forensics laboratories, the scrutiny of food can no longer be controlled by corporations doing things like pressuring universities or the FDA to remain silent about food toxins and contaminants.

In other words, the age of independent laboratory scrutiny of foods is now upon us… and food transparency will be forced into the open, even as fast food corporations like McDonald’s would likely prefer to keep their food composition a secret. Imagine what will happen when independent labs across the alternative media universe upgrade their laboratories to test for pesticides, hormones or even glyphosate contamination! At that point, factory food companies like McDonald’s will have their full chemical composition publicly revealed for the entire world to see. And it won’t take long for consumers to see why restaurants like Chipotle are a far healthier choice.

Watch the sleazebags of biotech now attack Chipotle

Now that Chipotle has taken a courageous and game-changing stance against GMOs, we’re all going to get to enjoy the entertainment of watching the “biotech sleazebag brigade” roll out its contrived attacks on Chipotle and anyone who endorses them.

These attacks will of course be staged by the so-called “Monsanto Discredit Bureau” which has now been utterly exposed and revealed to be a group of quackpot criminals and fraudsters, such as the felony criminal doctor running the American Council on Science and Health, an astroturfing corporate front group that was behind the recent attempt to smear Doctor Oz.

Biotech smear operatives work for publications like Vox.com, Slate and the Washington Post, where defamation and character assassination attacks are routinely waged against humanity and all those who defend humanity against the mass poisoning by pesticide corporations (and GMO companies). Increasingly, no one believes the biotech smear campaigns anymore. That’s why the science editors of the Washington Post and other mainstream media outlets are increasingly seen as being propaganda mouthpieces for Monsanto and Big Pharma rather than real journalists. “Journalism,” as they say, is printing what the corporations and governments don’t want printed. Everything else is just public relations.

What almost everyone is coming to realize is that nearly every single person defending the biotech industry is a paid corporate shill. Take a look at former Forbes.com writer Jon Entine, for example, who Natural News exhaustively exposed as being a violent wife abuser, according to these court documents. He was a key author for the ACSH, writing a booklet that ridiculously tried to claim atrazine was environmentally safe.

People who try to defend glyphosate, GMOs, atrazine, pesticides and mercury in vaccines only discredit themselves. The public is waking up, and they aren’t stupid. They know that GMOs are toxic, glyphosate is destructive to the environment, mercury in vaccines causes harm to children and, above all, corporations and the mainstream media are lying to them.

ACTION ITEM: Visit Chipotle this week and tell them why!

To celebrate this mass awakening, I’m now suggesting that everybody rush out to Chipotle this week and enjoy a non-GMO meal there. While you’re there, ask to speak to the manager of the restaurant and tell them you are a customer because of their rejection of GMOs.

Let ’em know as long as they take a leadership position in clean food, you will continue to reward them with your business. Vote with your dollars. Punish the poison-pushing corporations like McDonald’s, Kellogg’s and General Mills by simply denying them your business. Reward honorable, ethical companies like Chipotle, Nature’s Path and One Degree Organic Foods by purchasing their products.

You hold the power in your hands to change the food industry one purchase at a time. In fact, your power is enormous and lasting. Exercise it NOW… and you WIN!

Editor’s note:

If you’re going to eat at Chipotle, pop a few anti-Candida supplements like SF722 or a good probiotic (see Kill Candida). With almost every single restaurant, even their healthiest choices still feed Candida even in a healthy person. Also check out Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods.

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Nursing Student Expelled for Questioning Directives To Lie About Vaccines

Nichole Rolfe (formerly Bruff) was expelled from the nursing program at Baker College in 2013 for “harassment of staff.” Rolfe readily admits that she had respectfully questioned two of her teachers during classroom discussions when each of them instructed the students to use diversion, misinformation, threats, and blatant lies to coerce their patients (not theoretical patients- current hospital patients) to comply with vaccination demands. Within two weeks of these incidences, Rolfe was expelled from the program with no warning, no recourse, and no right to appeal.

On April 5, 2015, Rolfe and her lawyer filed charges against the college.

First Instructor: Lie About Reason for Vaccinations – Give Misinformation – Deflect Fears and Concerns

The first instructor named in the complaint, Connie Smith, Assistant Director of Nursing, instructed the students to tell expectant mothers and their partners that they were not allowed access to the labor and delivery floor until they received a Tdap vaccine. The reason given for this demand was the safety and protection the vaccine would give to the newborns. The instructor was clear in her directives that the nursing students were to misrepresent facts and disregard patients’ concerns, including fears of vaccine injuries.

Rolfe questioned the deception- the reality that vaccinations would not provide protection for 4-6 weeks, therefore they would not in any way protect the hospital newborns from disease. She asked why she would be required to participate in behavior contrary to ethical and legal standards regarding informed consent. The instructor ended the discussion, stating they would pick it up at a later time.

Code of Ethics for Nurses, American Nurses Association

Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights, in particular, the right to self-determination. Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what will be done with and to their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed decision; and to be assisted with weighing the benefits, burdens, and available options in their treatment, including the choice of no treatment. They also have the right to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, duress, coercion, or prejudice, and to be given necessary support throughout the decision- making and treatment process. Such support includes the opportunity to make decisions with family and significant others and to obtain advice from expert, knowledgeable nurses and other health professionals.” – Excerpt – 1.4 The Right to Self-Determination

Instructor Two: Give Sick Children Vaccines and Threaten Medicaid Recipients

Two days after this incident, the second instructor named in the complaint, Alysia Osoff, gave instructions for the students to use any means necessary to bring pediatric patients up-to-date on their vaccines before their discharge from the hospital. She told the students to lie to the parents receiving Medicaid and to threaten them by telling them that non-compliance could result in Medicaid refusing to pay their hospital bill, making them liable for the charges.

Again, Rolfe questioned the instruction. First she questioned why sick children would be targeted for vaccination when the drug inserts (instructions) clearly warn against vaccinating sick children. Then Rolfe questioned the ethics and legality of lying to parents and threatening them to gain vaccination compliance.

Rolfe maintains that she remained calm and professional throughout this exchange while Osoff “… became completely unhinged…”

The directions given by these two instructors were in complete contradiction to the training these nursing students had received including written information in their textbooks. More importantly, the instructions violated the law, ethics, and morality. This lack of integrity mirrors the doctrine of the pro-vaccine camp with its endemic lies, manipulations, and threats.

In addition to Rolfe’s honesty and integrity, she was an “A” student, 20 weeks from graduation. Her expulsion not only ended her training at Baker College, it left her blackballed for other schools. We can only hope Nichole Rolfe is successful in her lawsuit and her goal to become a nurse practitioner/midwife and that she finds excellent employment with like-minded professionals.

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