Trump Officially Eliminates Obama’s Organic Animal Welfare Rules

The Trump administration officially withdrew an Obama-era rule for higher standards regarding the treatment of animals whose meat will be sold under the organic label.

The standards were first created in 2016 under the United States Department of Agriculture. The rules had not been put in place yet. The USDA officially overturned the rule Monday, after delaying its implementation three times.

The rule would have required poultry to be housed in spaces large enough to move freely and fully stretch their wings. Livestock would be required to have some access to outdoor space year round.

The existing robust organic livestock and poultry regulations are effective. The organic industry’s continued growth domestically and globally shows that consumers trust the current approach that balances consumer expectations and the needs of organic producers and handlers.” – Greg Ibach, USDA Marketing and Regulatory Program Undersecretary

At this time animals must be raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, and the animal feed needs to be organic well. Clarity around animal welfare and living conditions is lacking. Many organic hens and cows live in similar conditions as their factory-farmed counterparts, with no room to move and little to no significant outside access. The USDA estimates that half of all organic eggs are produced from hens living in total confinement.

Consumers trust that the Organic seal stands for a meaningful difference in production practices. It makes no sense that the Trump Administration would pursue actions that could damage a marketplace that is giving American farmers a profitable alternative, creating jobs, and improving the economies of our rural areas.” – Organic Trade Association

The proposed rule drew 47,000 comments, with only 28 supporting the withdrawal, according to data compiled by the Organic Trade Association.

This is representative of the influence lobbyists and election money has at the Trump administration’s USDA.” – Mark Kastel, co-director of Cornucopia Institute

Six out of 10 Americans feel that animals used to produce organic food should be raised on farms with higher animal welfare standards. More than half of Americans believe such animals should be allowed time outside and room to move freely.

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Lawsuit Filed Against Unethical Herpes Vaccine Startup – Vaccines Given Without Consent

Rational Vaccines, a startup founded by a microbiologist at Southern Illinois University, Dr. William Halford, is being sued by three subjects from experimental trials of a live herpes virus vaccine conducted in 2013 and 2016. The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for adverse side effects associated with the vaccine, which was administered both in a Holiday Inn room in 2013 and on the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis in 2016 without formal written consent. Neither of these trials had a physician present and were conducted without the approval of either an independent institutional review board or the Food and Drug Administration. Though Rational Vaccines has said it plans to seek FDA approval, this lawsuit alleges that the company violated U.S. and international laws protecting the rights of patients.

Questionable Research

The human subjects involved in this trial are likely to be left with many questions as to why the trial was conducted in such a shoddy fashion. There was no formal written consent. None of the usual regulating agencies were involved in the vaccine trial. After an auspicious start in a hotel room, the location of the trials was moved to an international location to better avoid these regulating industries, although subjects were given booster shots upon their return to the United States.

Related: We Consume Livestock Vaccines When We Ingest Meat

The findings from the 2013 and 2016 trials of the vaccine have not been published, yet Rational Vaccines considers the last one a success. Now they’re being sued. According to Alan Milstein, the New Jersey lawyer retained by the plaintiffs, “My clients are anxious to ensure such unethical experimentation on human subjects are not repeated…”

What Transparency?

What about the University? The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where Dr. Halford was employed for 10 years, is still investigating his research methods on the request of the Department of Health and Human Services. While they acknowledge that his conduct violated both University code and U.S. law, the dean of the medical school, Jerry Kruse, maintains that Dr. Halford’s research was kept hidden. This contradicts quotes from an article in The State Journal Registrar of Springfield that stated “I hope this works… The initial results are astounding…Halford is “an outstanding scientist — a genius, actually…” Denying knowledge of Dr. Halford’s shady practices also seems disingenuous considering the University owns the patent for Dr. Halford’s technology and admitting to any wrongdoing stands to lose the University 15 million dollars in federal research grants.

Related: Steps To Help Minimize Vaccine Side Effects

But It’s Profit

In cases like this, it helps to go straight to the source – Dr. Halford. Unfortunately (or conveniently, if you prefer a touch of conspiracy with your vaccine news), he died of cancer in June 2017. But the company is continuing on. In fact, they’re thriving, receiving 7 million dollars in funding from billionaire businessman, FDA critic, and Trump supporter, Peter Thiel.

Is this the tale of a rogue scientist, going off the rails, trying desperately to finish his life’s work before he’s cruelly struck down by cancer? Or do we believe the university’s narrative, willing to turn a blind eye to unorthodox and frankly dangerous research practices in the hopes of new achievements and increased fundraising? How about the story of a scrappy startup with a dream, willing to find a way past any and all obstacles to bring the world something it needs at any cost? Maybe it’s all three.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Shakeup…or Shakedown?

One of the trial subjects, Richard Mancuso, has gone on record stating that the vaccine cured his herpes. Rational Vaccines now has a powerful backer with a proven track record of disruption at a time when patients are no longer taking doctors and researchers at their word. Many of the medical community’s common practices are out of date and actively degrading the world we live in.

Related: How Plumbing (Not Vaccines) Eradicated Disease

But is injecting people with live vaccines in a hotel room and a startling lack of transparency really the precedent we want to set for new medical research going forward?

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Trump Tells EPA to Dismantle Clean Water Rules

President Trump issued an order on Tuesday directing his administration to begin the long process of rolling back sweeping clean water rules that were enacted by Obama.

The order directs the EPA to set begin dismantling the Waters of the United States rule, which expanded the authority of regulators over the nation’s waterways and wetlands. It’s one of President Obama’s signature environmental legacies.

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Farmers, ranchers, real estate developers and others, have complained about the rule, saying it invited heavy-handed bureaucrats to burden their businesses with too many restrictions and fines for minor violations.

It is such a horrible, horrible rule. It has such a nice name, but everything about it is bad.”

Obama’s EPA stated that such claims were exaggerated and misrepresented in the media. TheWaters of the United States rule, championed by environmental groups, gives the EPA broad authority over nearly two-thirds of the waterways in the country. Trump called it  “one of the worst examples of federal regulation” and “a massive power grab,” as he signed the directive Tuesday.

The climate and the clean water rules from Obama’s era were enacted after a tedious and lengthy process of public hearings, scientific analysis, and bureaucratic review. That entire process must be revisited before the rules can be weakened or dismantled. It is likely to take years.

These wetland protections help ensure that over 100 million Americans have access to clean and safe drinking water. Access to safe drinking water is a human right, and Trump’s order is a direct violation of this right.” – California billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said in a statement

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The executive orders come right after the administration’s release of a budget that includes a lot less money for the EPA. Trump vowed to continue to eliminate or undermine any Obama-era environmental protections he can wherever he sees the opportunity.

So many jobs we have delayed for so many years. It is unfair to everybody.” – Trump

There are industries that disagree. Tuesday’s order received swift rebuke from fishing and hunting groups, which claim that the clean water rule has benefited the economy by sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs in their industry.

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Trump Blocks Access to Puppy Mill Inspections

The Tampa Bay Times attempted to obtain information on the results of the USDA inspections for the facilities of 15 puppy mills that supply puppies to pet stores in the Tampa, Florida area last May. Any citizen trying to make sure they buy puppies from trusted breeders could have looked up this information in minutes on the USDA’s website during the Obama administration. It tooks nine months to get an answer with the current administration in power. When the USDA finally replied the answer was pages of totally blacked-out material.

It took nine months, but the reply arrived last week: 54 pages of total blackout.”

Every word of every inspection — from the date to the violations — were redacted from the documents provided.” – Tampa Bay Times

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The main reason for this redaction: the USDA beneath Trump currently says that providing “personnel and medical files” will “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

For those of you familiar with the types of abuses that can take place at puppy mills, even those regularly inspected by the Department of Agriculture, that statement goes against every reason for conducting inspections in the first place. Animal abuse, injuries to the animals, use of expired medicine, unsanitary conditions detrimental to the health of the puppies, all are conditions that the agency has found.

Lax laws have allowed these despicable outfits to remain in operation for years, and it’s only recently that many (but not all) states have begun cracking down on them. The conditions some of the dogs are kept in is horrendous, amounting to little more than torture camps, all in the name of cranking out as many purebred puppies as possible to sell for a profit.

Florida right now is that the Republican-controlled legislature is considering a Republican-sponsored bill to prevent local municipalities from banning the sale of dogs from any breeder that is licensed by the USDA.

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With no information on the track records of these licensed breeders, however, the bill ensures that pet businesses can’t be shut down by local officials for any reason, even animal abuse, as long as they keep their USDA license. And with no way of getting access to the USDA data on the puppy breeders, consumers will have no way of knowing if they are buying a lovingly raised healthy puppy or an unhealthy, disease-ridden, abused animal that will require costly veterinary treatment and display behavioral problems.

Even the lobbyist for the Florida pet stores pushing for the bill thinks that the lack of transparency in the Trump administration’s new policy is misguided at the very least.

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Trump Wants Death Penalty For Dangerous Drug Dealers – But who Are the Dangerous Ones?

President Trump suggested drug dealers in the United States should face harsher punishments, including the death penalty or life in prison, during a campaign rally last Saturday. Trump praised Singapore and China for their “zero tolerance policy” regarding drugs, and likes the idea for the U.S.

I think it’s a discussion we have to start thinking about. I don’t know if we’re ready. I don’t know if this country’s ready for it.”

The president seems to be inspired by the Filipino President whose violent war against drugs has led to thousands of deaths, including small-time drug users and innocent people for whom he says is simply “collateral damage.”

That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty.”

Last year we know Trump congratulated the Philippines President Duterte for his efforts in eradicating drugs from the country thanks to a leaked transcript of their phone call.

I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

At Saccone’s campaign rally last Saturday, Trump said that we should handle drug dealers like murderers..

You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you’re smuggling them in and you’re making a lot of money and people are dying and they don’t even put you in jail. That’s why we have a problem, folks. I don’t think we should play games.”

These remarks are consistent with the speech he made at the White House Opioids Summit last week when he suggested that drug dealers should have to face the death penalty.

Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do.” – Trump said during last week’s summit

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/972645384127500288

The Real Drug Dealers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected data that shows that more people die from legally prescribed drugs than from heroin and cocaine combined. The CDC says the situation as an “epidemic.”

And the rates are skyrocketing thanks to America’s opioid dependence.

America represents just five percent of the world’s population but we consume 75 percent of the world’s prescription drugs according to Drugfreeworld.org.There’s a misperception by many people that because pharmaceutical drugs are regulated that they are safer. But when misused or taken without a doctor’s prescription drugs can often kill as easily as street drugs.

Prescription drug deaths for 2016 were tallied at 63,600, up from 52,000 in 2015. 2017 and 2018 look to continue the trend. It’s so bad that we actually except our average lifespan to have declined in 2017, and the trend is looking no better for this year.

In other words, the pharmaceutical companies, the companies supposedly in the business of saving lives, are responsible for a drop in the life expectancy of the entire United States.

Let that sink in.

And these numbers, of course, do not represent all of the other deaths caused by pharmaceutical companies. Big Pharma is killing us.

If you think about it and consider the toxicity and ineffectualness of drugs to actually rid disease, the pharmaceutical companies are killing us at a rate that far exceeds anything else.

Pharmaceutical companies are the dangerous drug dealers we need to put a stop to. We at OLM do not condone the death penalty, we like to see people get well, not get killed. But wouldn’t it be nice if someone had the scruples and fortitude to go after the real bad guys?

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Iceland Law Would Outlaw Male Circumcision

An Icelandic bill recently introduced says the circumcision of young boys violates their rights. The lawmakers draw a parallel with female genital mutilation which is outlawed in most European countries. The bill says that circumcisions are performed without anesthesia, and states that the procedure is carried out “in homes that are not sterile, and not by doctors but by religious leaders. There is a high risk of infections under such conditions that may lead to death.”

This is fundamentally about not causing unnecessary harm to a child,” – Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir, lawmaker who introduced the bill

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The proposed law calls circumcision a violation of human rights

…since boys are not able to give an informed consent of an irreversible physical intervention.”

Circumcision is not common in Iceland, Iceland is a small Atlantic Ocean island nation of 340,000 people. They are predominantly Lutheran or atheist, with an estimated 100 to 200 Jews and about 1,100 practicing Muslims according to The Tribune.

Related: Religious Reasons Not To Circumcise

The bill has eight co-sponsors. It is considered unlikely to get be voted in. The bill will not reach the majority in the 63-seat Iceland parliament it needs. It does not have the formal backing of any government ministers. But the bill has levied considerable support from 422 Icelandic doctors who want to retire the practice.

Iceland is known for progressive legislation on gender equality. In a world’s first, last month, the government made it illegal for companies to pay women less than men.

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San Francisco’s D.A. Is Clearing Thousands of Marijuana Convictions. Others Around the Country Should Do the Same.

The United States into the largest incarcerator in the world, not just by the numbers, but per capita as well. The system imposes harsh, unfair, devastating, and long-lasting consequences for millions of people. African Americans are almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana use then caucasians, but the rates of usage are similar.

Prosecutors have the power to change this. George Gascón is doing it.

Last week San Francisco’s District Attorney, George Gascón announced that his office would undo undo thousands of marijuana convictions from people’s records and they will review thousands more convictions dating back to 1975 to consider downgrading them.

We want to address the wrongs that were caused by the failures of the war on drugs for many years in this country and begin to fix some of the harm that was done not only to the entire nation but specifically to communities of color.”

SIGN PETITION: STOP THE WAR ON DRUGS: REFORM NOW

Gascón’s decision is also consistent with the values of mainstream voters across the United States. Last year, the ACLU conducted a national poll that revealed strong bipartisan and geographically diverse support for prosecutors who are committed to reducing mass incarceration and racial bias in the criminal justice system. Among those surveyed, 91 percent said that they believe it is important for a prosecutor to prioritize reducing unequal treatment of individuals because of race.” – ACLU

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