Statesmen Against Mandatory Vaccines

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” –Nelson Mandela

Medical care has never been a tough sell as long as the public believes the benefits outweigh the risks. Vaccination has remained popular due to this belief. In reality, the benefits accrue to the pharmaceutical companies and the salespeople (medical staff) who administer them. There is no risk for the vaccine manufacturer, as they are immune to all liability. The risk is borne solely by the patients and their caretakers. All vaccines have a risk of severe side effects, including death. If there are, in fact, benefits to vaccines, they have not been proven. Vaccines generate antibodies, but this does not equate to meaningful protection, resistance or immunity.

Also check out Doctor's Against Vaccines and Scientists Against Vaccines.

Thousands of industry-funded, pseudo-scientific studies have been failing to convince all of the public that vaccines are safe and effective. When the placebo is another vaccine, only the uninformed fall for the hype. Unfortunately, some of the most poorly informed people are often medical professionals. With the advent of the Internet, information is just a click away. Stories of vaccine fatalities, pharmaceutical company corruption, and vaccine-injured children are all over the Internet. Doctors like to counter these criticisms of vaccines with a dismissive “you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet”, but then again you shouldn’t believe everything you hear on TV or any other source of media. To those willing to do the research and hear both sides of the argument, the truth is out there.

Other government plans to both track vaccine compliance, and impose new mandates on vaccines are currently underway.

Both in the past and the present there have been influential leaders willing to speak out against either the vaccine schedule or vaccine mandates. And there is one statesman who has always been opposed to vaccines of any kind, for any reason.

Mahatma Ghandi against vaccinesMahatma Ghandi

Mahatma Gandhi is well known for being a civil rights activist and leader of the independence movement in India. He espoused the use of non-violent protests and fasting as a means of civil disobedience. He studied law in London and at home in India. In particular, he is known for the Salt March, a public display of civil obedience against Britain’s Salt Laws, which prohibited Indians from gathering salt. This brought international recognition to his cause and resulted in him being named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1930. He was also outspoken against vaccines, writing about them in his book, A Guide to Health.

The original theory was that a single vaccination would suffice to keep a man immune from this disease for life; but, when it was found that even vaccinated persons were attacked by the disease, a new theory came into being that the vaccination should be renewed after a certain period, and to-day it has become the rule for all persons-whether already vaccinated or not-to get themselves vaccinated whenever small pox rages in any locality, so that it is no uncommon thing to come across people who have been vaccinated five or six times, or even more.

…Its supporters are not content with its adoption by those who have no objection to it, but seek to impose it with the aid of penal laws and rigorous punishments on all people alike.

…No one can say that small-pox will necessarily attack those who have not been vaccinated; for many cases have been observed of unvaccinated people being free from its attack. From the fact that some people who are not vaccinated do get the disease, we cannot, of course, conclude that they would have been immune if only they had got themselves vaccinated.

…As has been well said, cowards die a living death, and our craze for vaccination is solely due to the fear of death or disfigurement by small-pox.

…Vaccination, instead of doing good, works considerable mischief by giving rise to many new diseases. Even its advocates cannot deny that, after its introduction, many new diseases have come into being.

…The vaccine is a filthy substance, and it is foolish that one kind of filth can be removed by another.

… The fact of the matter is that it is only the self-interest of doctors that stands in the way of the abolition of this inhuman practice, for the fear of losing the large incomes that they at present derive from this source blinds them to the countless evils which it brings. There are, however, a few doctors who recognize these evils and who are determined opponents of vaccination.

…Those who are conscientious objectors to vaccination should, of course, have the courage to face all penalties or persecutions to which they may be subjected by law, and stand alone, if need be, against the whole world, in defense of their conviction.”

Ron Paul

https://youtu.be/E2Gi47Hd8xQ

Ron Paul is known for being a libertarian-leaning Republican politician. After graduating from Gettysburg College, he attended medical school at Duke University and specialized in obstetrics-gynecology. He served in the Air Force and National Guard as a physician before entering politics in the 1970s. He was a Representative for Texas for a total of twenty-four years and has run for President numerous times, most recently in 2012. He also published three books back in the 1980s. Representative Ron Paul has been outspoken on his beliefs for less governmental control, and he is critical of the war on drugs. He is adamantly against mandatory vaccines, believing it will lead to further governmental control in other areas.

If I were still a practicing ob-gyn and one of my patients said she was not going to vaccinate her child, I might try to persuade her to change her mind. But, if I were unsuccessful, I would respect her decision.

…Those who are willing to make an “exception” to the principle that parents should make health care decisions for their children should ask themselves when in history has a “limited” infringement on individual liberty stayed limited. By ceding the principle that individuals have the right to make their own health care decisions, supporters of mandatory vaccines are opening the door for future infringements on health freedom.

If government can mandate that children receive vaccines, then why shouldn’t the government mandate that adults receive certain types of vaccines? And if it is the law that individuals must be vaccinated, then why shouldn’t police officers be empowered to physically force resisters to receive a vaccine? If the fear of infections from the unvaccinated justifies mandatory vaccine laws, then why shouldn’t police offices fine or arrest people who don’t wash their hands or cover their noses or mouths when they cough or sneeze in public? Why not force people to eat right and take vitamins in order to lower their risk of contracting an infectious disease? These proposals may seem outlandish, but they are no different in principle from the proposal that government force children to be vaccinated.

Rand Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWcDDZ1w38

Rand Paul is known for being a political activist and U.S. Senator from Kentucky since 2010. He attended Baylor University before obtaining a medical degree from Duke University like his father, Ron Paul. He specializes in Ophthalmology and provides free eye services for those in need through a charity, Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic, that he founded. He also performs free eye surgeries through another international charity. Rand Paul joined the political arena in the 1990s in Kentucky through an activist organization, Kentucky Taxpayers United, which focused on taxation and spending issues within the state of Kentucky. After campaigning for his father in 2008, Rand Paul became a Senator in 2010. He is currently a Republican presidential candidate. He has been outspoken against the current vaccine schedule and vaccine mandates.

I guess being for freedom would be really unusual. I guess I don’t understand the point of why that would be controversial.

…I think vaccines are one of the greatest medical breakthroughs that we have. I’m a big fan and a great fan of the history of the development of the small pox vaccine for example. But you know, for most of our history, they have been voluntary. So I don’t think I’m arguing for anything out of the ordinary. We are arguing for what most of our history has had.

…I don’t think there is anything extraordinary about resorting to freedom. I’ll give you a good example. The hepatitis B vaccine is now given to newborns. We sometimes give five and six vaccines all at one time. I chose to have my [children’s vaccines] delayed. I don’t want the government telling me that I have to give my newborn hepatitis B vaccine—(the CNBC reporter tried to cut him off here)

…Which is transmitted by sexually transmitted disease and/or blood transfusions. Do I ultimately think it is a good idea? Yeah. And so I had my [children’s] staggered over several months. I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. I’m not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think they are a good thing, but I think the parent should have some input. The state doesn’t own your children. Parents own the children. And it is an issue of freedom and public health.”

Robert Kennedy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSwXNkcOWKc

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a successful environmental lawyer. He has published numerous books, including the New York Times’ best-sellers The Riverkeepers (1997) and Crimes Against Nature (2004). He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University before finishing law school at the University of Virginia and then receiving a Masters Degree from Pace University in Environmental Law. He currently teaches at Pace University’s Law School. In the past, he has served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York City and has worked on political campaigns for Al Gore, Edward Kennedy, and John Kerry. Though he supports vaccination and has had all six of his kids vaccinated, he is against the use of thimerosal in vaccines and is strongly against mandatory vaccines.

Vaccines are big business. Pharma is a trillion-dollar industry with vaccines accounting for $25 billion in annual sales. CDC’s decision to add a vaccine to the schedule can guarantee its manufacturer millions of customers and billions in revenue with minimal advertising or marketing costs and complete immunity from lawsuits. High stakes and the seamless marriage between Big Pharma and government agencies have spawned an opaque and crooked regulatory system.

…Big money has fueled the exponential expansion of CDC’s vaccine schedule since 1988, when Congress’ grant of immunity from lawsuits suddenly transformed vaccines into paydirt. CDC recommended five pediatric vaccines when I was a boy in 1954. Today’s children cannot [attend] school without at least 56 doses of 14 vaccines by the time they’re 18.

An insatiable pharmaceutical industry has 271 new vaccines under development in CDC’s bureaucratic pipeline in hopes of boosting vaccine revenues to $100 billion by 2025. The industry’s principle spokesperson, Dr. Paul Offit, says that he believes children can take as many as 10,000 vaccines.

Public health may not be the sole driver of CDC decisions to mandate new vaccines. Four scathing federal studies, including two by Congress, one by the US Senate, and one by the HHS Inspector General, paint CDC as a cesspool of corruption, mismanagement, and dysfunction with alarming conflicts of interest suborning its research, regulatory, and policymaking functions.

…The corruption has also poisoned CDC’s immunization safety office, the research arm that tests vaccines for safety and efficacy. In August 2014, seventeen-year CDC veteran, Dr. William Thompson, who is author of the principal study cited by CDC to exculpate mercury- preserved vaccines from the autism link, invoked whistleblower protection, and turned extensive agency files over to Congress. Thompson, who is still employed at CDC, says that for the past decade his superiors have pressured him and his fellow scientists to lie and manipulate data about the safety of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal to conceal its causative link to a suite of brain injuries, including autism.

Thimerosal is 50% ethylmercury, which is far more toxic and persistent in the brain than the highly regulated methylmercury in fish. Hundreds of peer reviewed studies by leading government and university scientists show that thimerosal is a devastating brain poison linked to neurological disorders now epidemic in American children. My book, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak, is a summary of these studies, which CDC and its credulous journalists swear don’t exist. Although Thompson’s CDC and vaccine industry colleagues have created nine patently fraudulent and thoroughly discredited epidemiological studies to defend thimerosal, no published study shows thimerosal to be safe.

Donald Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AffuKjGV6BA

Donald Trump, a real estate mogul and aspiring politician, graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a degree in Economics. He is known for his many successful and unsuccessful real estate ventures including the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City and Trump Tower. Donald Trump has filed for corporate bankruptcy four times in relation to hotel and casino properties in Atlantic City that were over-extended. He is also known for his reality show, Celebrity Apprentice and other media ventures. Trump is currently on his third marriage. He has openly admitted that he supports vaccinations, but on a more spread out schedule and has had his children vaccinated on an extended schedule. Currently a Republican presidential candidate, he attempted to run for President in the 2000 election, the 2012 election and he is currently the frontrunner in the Republican party for the 2016 presidential election.

Autism has become an epidemic. 25 years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines but I want smaller doses over longer periods of time. Because you take a baby in, and I’ve seen it, and I’ve had my children taken care of over a long period, over a two or three year period of time, same exact amount. But you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump, and it looks just like its meant for a horse and not for a child, and we’ve had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back, a week later got a tremendous fever, got very very sick, now is autistic. I’m in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount, just in little sections.”

A series of tweets further confirms his stance on vaccines.

No more massive injections. Tiny children are not horses-one vaccine at a time, over time.

I am being proven right about massive vaccinations-the doctors lied. Save our children and their future.

I’m not against vaccinations for your children, I’m against them in one massive dose. Spread them out over a period of time & autism will drop!

So many people who have children with autism thanked me-amazing response. They know far better than fudged up reports. 

I’ve gotten to be pretty familiar with the subject. You know, I have a theory, and it’s a theory that some people believe in, and that’s the vaccinations. We never had anything like this. This is now an epidemic. It’s way, way up over the past 10 years. It’s way up over the past two years. “

Donald Trump is well aware of the fact that his views are contrary to most physician recommendations.

But I couldn’t care less, I’ve seen people where they have a perfectly healthy child, and they go for the vaccinations and a month later the child is no longer healthy.”

Conclusion

When a financially significant portion of the public becomes too well informed to routinely vaccinate their children, the results are predictable: either pharmaceutical profits margins take a hit or freedom has to go.

Big Pharma has chosen corporate fascism over losing profits under the guise of the “greater good.” In California and Mississippi, you can no longer refuse vaccines for your children if they attend public school or attend day care. SB277 in California and a similar bill in Mississippi removes religious and philosophical exemptions and makes getting a medical exemption almost impossible. If you need your children to attend public school in CA or MS you have no choice but to inject your children with aborted fetal cells, aluminum, formaldehyde, and other toxins.

Unfortunately vaccine mandates have not ended with children. Section 101 of Senate Bill 1203, named the 21st Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act, mandates vaccines for all veterans. As a lasting insult to those brave men and women who have served the United States, they will no longer have the right to refuse any vaccines, even experimental ones, without risking the loss of their VA benefits. Despite the well founded allegations that Gulf War Syndrome was caused by the experimental anthrax vaccine, there is now no limit to what may be injected into our veterans. They defended freedom overseas, only to return home and be stripped of their personal freedom to decide their own medical treatment.

California legislators have already passed a state bill SB 792 to mandate vaccines for adults. This bill targets those who work at or volunteer at daycare centers, and it offers no exemptions. It also includes criminal penalties for noncompliance.

Introduced by Rep. Wilson, Congressional Bill HR 2232 seeks to remove all vaccine exemptions from all public schools, similar to California’s SB277. This bill seeks to mandate vaccines for all children in all public schools in order for the schools to receive any federal funding.

Other government plans to both track vaccine compliance, and impose new mandates on vaccines are currently underway.

Even those who are pro-vaccine should be opposed to medical tyranny. No medical procedure should be forced on anyone without their informed consent. These ethics were conceived of after WWII, once the horrifying atrocities of Nazi medical experiments came to be known.

If you believe vaccines should be mandated, then we implore you to reconsider your position and to learn more about vaccines. People are far more likely to feign informed knowledge of a topic than to admit profound ignorance. To date, we know of no one without a vested interest in vaccines or anyone else who is well informed on the dangers of vaccines or well read in history who could possibly support such a tyrannical notion. Slavery has always been ubiquitous in human history. It is freedom that has been the exception and not the rule (even in America). Freedom is precious. It is hard fought for and very easily lost. As a nation, we have sacrificed a great deal for the limited freedoms we currently enjoy. It is our freedom that is under siege, not just the right to refuse vaccines. The U.S. has fought for far too long against tyranny, to once again let it thrive within our borders, under the guise of healthcare.

Further Reading:
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H.R. 1599, the “DARK” Act, Sets Out to Put the Final Nail in the Organic Industry’s Coffin

(The Free Though Project.com) Washington, D.C. – Congress is considering a bill that would make it illegal for states to require GMO labeling. It would negate the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to create a national GMO labeling standard and specifically allow for the labeling of products as “natural,” even when containing GMOs.

But perhaps the most disturbing part of the bill is the fact that it would make it illegal for counties and states to place any restrictions on the planting of GMO crops.

The ominous bill, H.R. 1599, ironically called the Safe Food and Accurate Food Labeling Act (commonly referred to as the DARK Act – the Deny Americans the Right to Know Act), was recently passed by subcommittee and now moves on to a full vote on the House floor.

The ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), has expressed confidence that the bill will pass in the House. Supporters, such as Peterson, emphatically tout the safety of GMO products, claiming that no scientific experts have proven any legitimate safety concerns; a widely disputed position.

“Consumers increasingly want to know more about where their food comes from and how it is produced. I think H.R. 1599 satisfies that demand while also recognizing what we know about the safety of the foods that our farmers produce. The bill is a workable solution that will alleviate the potential mess of 50 states with 50 different labeling schemes,” Peterson said.

A huge portion of America’s food contain GMOs, with estimates that as much as 80 percent of packaged foods in grocery stores contains GMO ingredients, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which opposes GMO labeling.

A number of politicians and groups, such as the Center for Food Safety and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), have strongly come out against the bill.

“Americans have the right to know what’s in food and how it was grown — the same as citizens of 64 other nations that require GMO labeling,” said Scott Faber, EWG’s vice president of government affairs. “It’s time for lawmakers to recognize that right and stand for GMO labeling.”

There is currently no companion legislation in the Senate, but if the bill passes the House similar legislation is expected to be introduced.

Currently, the states of California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington have restrictions in place on the placement of planting of GMO crops. Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut have passed laws requiring GMO labeling.

The planting restrictions are in place to control for the risk of organic farms being contaminated by GMOs, as drift and pollen carried via bee can spread to the organic farms.

Regardless of what you think about the health and safety of GMOs, it is not disputed that Monsanto uses them to predatorily attack farmers. Monsanto has a team of “inspectors” who roam the country looking for their seeds in unauthorized locations.

Farmers don’t even know that this Monsanto GMO is growing in their fields, as it has blown in from a nearby farm, or from a passing truck. However, Monsanto will then sue them for infringing on their patented seed because it is growing in their fields.

This contamination is so widely spread that it is estimated that most organic corn in the U.S. typically contains anywhere from half a percent to 2 percent GMOs, according to companies that sell such corn to organic dairies or poultry farmers.

For organic farmers, the prospect of losing their organic certification has dark implications. Not only would it inevitably drive them out of business due to not being able to sell their products as organic, but this could systematically drive organic farming as whole to the brink of extinction.

Each local jurisdiction has specific sets of issues which need to be addressed when contemplating GMOs. Crafting blanket laws to protect big business interests is contrary to the idea of allowing people to decide what they feel is in their own best interest.

Whether in favor of labeling or not, politicians have shown a blatant disregard for the people whom they claim to represent by attempting to usurp their ability to make these important choices on a state and local level.

The DARK Act is a dangerous piece of legislation, which serves as a blatant example of how the collusion of power and money, in the form of a major lobby and their political cronies, can serve to take away liberty from the American people.

How can anyone claim that not allowing people the ability to know what is in their food, if they choose to know, is somehow a good thing? Outlawing the people of states and counties from deciding what is right for them reeks of oppressive tyranny.

Recommended Reading:

Jay Syrmopoulos is an investigative journalist, free thinker, researcher, and ardent opponent of authoritarianism. He is currently a graduate student at University of Denver pursuing a masters in Global Affairs. Jay’s work has been published on BenSwann’s Truth in Media, Chris Hedges’ truth-out, AlterNet and many other sites. You can follow him on Twitter @sirmetropolis, on Facebook at Sir Metropolis and now on tsu.



States That Allow Religious and Philosophical Exemptions for School Vaccinations (Map)

California is the third state to remove all personal exemptions for vaccinations in schools with the passing and signing of SB 277. At the time of this writing, California and the other two states that you see below in black also have no personal exemption choices for public schools. States in the gray color have religious vaccine exemption legislation at the time of this article’s last update. Lavender colored states allow for both personal and religious exemptions.

Be sure to check out How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children, and also learn more about the MMR Vaccine and the Flu Shot. 

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Further Reading:

 



The DARK Act – Deny Americans the Right to Know – GMO Labeling

An apathy has descended upon the American people, a combination of, “I don’t care,” and, “What difference would it make, anyway?” We have stood back and allowed so many of our rights to be taken away in the last 15 years. We cannot – we must not – lose the right to know what is in the food we eat.

H.R.4432, also known as The DARK Act (Deny Americans the Right to Know) is a bill that will stop efforts to label GMO foods. It will deny individual states the right to pass laws requiring GMO labeling and will make any previously passed state laws null and void. And the ultimate joke is the full title of the bill: H.R. 4432 – Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014.

Of course, the bill is written in such a way that its application is unclear. Yes, it would make sense to have a federal regulation regarding the labeling of GMO foods. Yes, it would be a burden on the manufacturers if each state required a different label. But the truth is, this bill’s ultimate purpose has nothing to do with food safety; it has everything to do with the companies who have spent an estimated 100 million to get it passed – those who benefit from keeping the word GMO off their labels.

So which companies are lobbying for this bill? Well, you’re right if you guessed Monsanto is near the top of the list. They are number three. The first is PepsiCo, followed by the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

There are two things we can do. One is to tell our represented leaders that we demand the right to choose what we eat. We want GMOs labeled. Every time.

The second thing we can do is start boycotting the businesses that are spending millions of dollars to take away our right to know what we are eating. The following is a short list of those lobbying for the bill to pass.

  • PepsiCo Inc
  • Grocery Manufacturers Assn
  • Monsanto Co
  • Land O’Lakes
  • Kellogg Co
  • International Dairy Foods Assn
  • Abbott Laboratories
  • Kraft Foods Group
  • American Farm Bureau
  • American Seed Trade Assn
  • Bayer AG
  • Biotechnology Industry Organization
  • Coca-Cola Co
  • Ohio Farm Bureau
  • Nestle SA
  • ConAgra Foods
  • American Sugarbeet Growers Assn
  • General Mills
  • Dean Foods
  • DuPont Co
  • Hillshire Brands Co
  • Intl Assn of Refrigerated Warehouses
  • Corn Refiners Assn
  • Syngenta AG

The following organizations are lobbying for labeling of GMO’s and are against passing H.R. 4432.

  • Center for Food Safety
  • Consumers Union of the U.S.
  • Environmental Working Group
  • EWG Action Fund
  • National Farmers Union
  • Natural Products Assn

To find your representatives in Congress and learn how to contact them click on this link. Please ask them to vote against this bill!

To find your senators and learn how to contact them click on this link. Let them know you want them to support the labeling of GMO foods.

Remember the greatest power we have is how we choose to spend our money. If we refuse to buy products from companies that use GMOs, promote GMOs, or oppose labeling of GMOs, and we buy only organic foods, they will lose.

Note from the Editor:

When this story was first published, lobbyists that opposed the bill were listed with those that supported it. We apologize for this error.



Congress Passes Bill to Block Feds From Targeting Medical Marijuana and Industiral Hemp Cultivation

The Justice Department will no longer have the funds to raid medical marijuana establishments.

Not long ago, it seemed the movement to legalize marijuana was never going to gain traction. The federal government was eager to override any state law that legalized its use, for any reason. It seemed the only push behind legalization was the positive press for marijuana’s role in treatment of glaucoma and its use to treat nausea caused by chemotherapy. And that was not enough to keep the feds from pushing back as they closed down medical marijuana operations across California.

As the years have gone by, stories continue to emerge about the healing properties of cannabis oil. It is said to heal many conditions (migraines, seizures, persistent pain, nausea, lack of appetite, etc.), but its primary claim to fame is its ability to heal cancer – skin cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer. Just take a quick look at the Internet and read the stories.

  • Mike Cutler, 63, cured of liver cancer. (Pain disappeared after 3 day’s use).
  • Michelle Aldrich, stage 3 lung cancer. Shrunk tumor by 50% in 4 months and had the rest surgically removed. No sign of cancer.
  • Andy Ashcraft, dying from pleural mesothelioma, now recovered.
  • Baby with an inoperable brain tumor, terminal. Completely cured.

The bipartisan Rohrabacher-Farr medical marijuana amendment was included in the omnibus spending bill. The purpose of the amendment is to stop the Justice Department from overriding state medical marijuana laws. It states:

“None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used…to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

It also… drumroll please…will protect industrial hemp cultivation through the Agricultural Act of 2014.

Medical marijuana laws now exist in 20 states and the fight continues in the states that have not yet passed sane legislation. Relieving the pressure from the federal government should help.

Is it possible we have voted for some rational, logical, reasonable legislators?

Further Reading:
Sources:


Small Family Farmer Fights Back Against Over-reaching Government Forcing her off her Land

(NaturalNews – Julie Wilson) Martha Boneta, operator of a small family farm in Paris, Virginia, achieved success not only for her business but also for small farmers and property owners across the state when the “Boneta Bill” finally became law on July 2.

Despite efforts from local and state government officials, including Fauquier Zoning Administrator Kimberley Johnson, who accused Boneta of violating zoning ordinances, HB-268 passed, which protects traditional farming and agricultural practices against over-regulation on the county level.

Liberty Farm is a small, working 64-acre farm located about an hour outside of Washington D.C. that offers fresh seasonal organic vegetables, fresh and dried herbs, honey and honeybee products, eggs, chicken, duck, turkey, emu, hand-made soaps and sheep wool crafts.

The controversy began in 2012 after a neighbor reported Boneta’s farm and its on-farm store as a “nuisance” following a birthday party that she held for eight 10-year old girls, which led to Fauquier County putting her out of business.

Johnson, the county zoning board administrator, accused Boneta of selling fresh fruit, vegetables, beverages and homemade handicrafts out of her on-site farm store, an action he says violated “modified zoning rules.”

The Star Exponent reports that, under the state’s Right to Farm law, agricultural operations are supposed to be protected against “nuisance law suits, and prevent local governments from using zoning laws to restrict standard farming practices, even if these practices bother adjacent property owners.”

According to Boneta, her zoning administrator went on her Facebook page and saw a birthday party picture of little girls on her farm, and an advertisement that she posted for pumpkin carving in her pumpkin patch. Boneta says she was found in violation of engaging in traditional activities that farmers have engaged in “since forever.”

The consequences for Liberty Farm’s alleged violation carried a penalty of $15,000 per day in fines “based on amendments made to the county’s zoning ordinance,” reported The American Spectator.

Despite maintaining that her retail farm business license was “grandfathered” into any changes made by the county, Boneta was also forced to stop selling vegetables that she had harvested. To prevent the food from being wasted, she donated it to local charities.

Boneta’s story gained national media attention, prompting farmers to stage peaceful “pitchfork protests” outside of the Board of Zoning Appeals building in support of her farm and state property rights.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF), of which Boneta is a member, offered her legal aid during her struggle.

In the 2013 session of the General Assembly, Rep. Scott Lingamfelter helped bring justice to Boneta and protect other farmers from similar abuse by spearheading legislation that would strengthen Virginia’s Right to Farm Act.

The “Boneta Bill” passed the House by an “overwhelming margin,” but was killed in a Senate committee. However, grassroots organizations and Boneta’s supporters didn’t give up, but instead returned to the General Assembly in 2014 and “won wide bipartisan approval for legislation protecting the rights of family farmers.”

Backed by the Virginia Farm Bureau and signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, customary activities at agricultural operations are now protected from local governments unless substantial impacts on public welfare can be proven.

The bill also prohibits localities from requiring special-use permits for farmers wanting to host farm-related activities.

“I am grateful to all the Virginians and legislators from across the Commonwealth who rallied for non-partisan legislation that provides economic opportunity for small family farmers, access to consumers and allows the great traditions of farming in Virginia to flourish,” said Boneta.

“It is gratifying to see the hard work of Virginians, working together across party lines, rewarded by a law that enables family farms to prosper as our Founding Fathers intended.”

Additional sources:
http://theroanokestar.com
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org
http://spectator.org
http://www.dailyprogress.com
http://lis.virginia.gov
http://lis.virginia.gov
http://science.naturalnews.com



How to Avoid GMOs

As more people are seeking to preserve or restore their health through natural means, they are trying to avoid genetically modified organisms. Not everyone can find everything they need with the organic label, and some laboratory testing has shown that even foods that carry the organic label have been contaminated with genetically modified organisms.

I believe that in the not too distant future we will have consumer protection from GMOs with labeling laws, but with Monsanto’s control over our government, this is not right around the corner.

The best way to avoid genetically modified foods is to understand which foods are genetically modified and which foods are not. Understanding the difference between heirlooms, hybrids, and GMOs is imperative to understanding this issue, and there is much confusion here as well.

With heirlooms, you save the seeds of a fruit or vegetable with favorable characteristics. Other than selecting which plant seeds to save, the seeds are not manipulated. The plants are allowed to pollinate and ripen as they would naturally.

People often lump hybrids and GMOs together when arguing in favor of GMOS. And while there is modification to the plant at a genetic level, it’s not the same as when we talk about “GMOs.” Hybridization is the act of cross-pollinating two plants; each with a dominant favorable trait resulting in fruit that will bear both of those traits.

Seedless watermelons are a good example of a hybrid. I’ve heard many people tell me they avoid seedless watermelon in an effort to avoid GMOS, but these watermelons are not a GMO food. The best reasons to avoid seedless watermelons is they don’t taste nearly as good, and likely contain less nutrition than their natural seeded cousins.

Another point of confusion is potatoes. Many consumers have begun to notice that their potatoes don’t sprout anymore. It used to be that if you didn’t eat potatoes fast enough, as it sat in your kitchen, the eyes would begin to turn into vines. The conventional potatoes bought in the grocery store don’t do this anymore, not through some form of genetic modification, but due to very heavy doses of chemicals. This renders potatoes lifeless. They look good to the ignorant consumer and last longer on the shelves of the grocery store, as food generally does when it’s not alive.

Foods that are Genetically Modified

Beets, corn, cotton, Hawaiian papaya, soy, rice, canola, alfalfa, yeast (for making wine) and milk (RGBH) are genetically modified foods that have been deemed “fit for human consumption,” and are being produced and sold to us.

More than half of the cotton grown in the world is genetically modified. Not only used to make clothes, but cottonseed oil is used frequently in food production.

Genetically modified rice has been approved but is not yet in large-scale use.

GMOs were recently banned in Hawaii, but they excluded papaya from the ban.

Genetically modified wheat has been developed but not approved for consumption. Unfortunately, commercial wheat fields have been contaminated with the genetically modified seed. It is not unlikely that we have been consuming GMO wheat.

Other genetically modified foods that have been deemed fit for human consumption, but are not being sold (or are very hard to find ) at this time (due to consumer and/or farmer demand) include summer squash and zucchini, tomatoes, and potatoes.

GMO foods  under consideration for human consumption include rice, salmon, bananas, apples that don’t brown, and a purple tomato. They may be coming to your local neighborhood supermarket in the near future.

GMO Foods

Genetically Modified Foods in our Grocery Stores

First and foremost, the easiest way to avoid genetically modified organisms is to eat whole, unprocessed foods that are labeled organic. When organic is not available, know the most likely offenders; these include soy, sweet corn, alfalfa, and Hawaiian papaya.

When buying packaged foods, such as snack foods, know your GMO ingredients. Without a GMO free guarantee, to avoid GMOs, one should avoid corn, dairy, soy, canola oil, sugar (sugar beets), and any conventional meat. Conventional, factory farmed livestock are fed genetically modified grains, including GMO foods that aren’t even trusted for human consumption.

As far as corn is concerned, it should be noted that popcorn comes from corn that is not genetically modified, and sweet corn is, typically, not genetically modified (though as with other genetically modified organisms, they will become more and more common very quickly).

Also, note that even when you buy organic, it is imperative, in order to completely avoid GMO foods, to know and trust the company when it comes to soy, alfalfa, wheat, sugar (from sugar beets) and corn. A reputable producer of food that cares about their customers’ health and freedom of choice will test their products regularly (like Eden Foods and Bob’s Red Mill). GMO contamination is a very serious problem, and it’s getting harder and harder to grow food without genetically modified seeds sneaking into the crops and taking over.

Recommended Supplements (These supplements help detoxify GMOs):

Further Reading:

Sources Include: