A salmonella outbreak linked to onions has caused more than 500 people to get sick in the U.S and Canada, starting in early July. So far 59 people have been hospitalized in 34 different states, according to the CDC.

The outbreak was first linked to red onions, however, the recall currently included red, white, and yellow onions due to concerns of cross-contamination. The CDC has yet to disclose whether or not cases are more linked to restaurants or home cooking.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut 

Recall efforts will extend far beyond the removal of whole onions from supermarket shelves. Much of the potentially contaminated product was likely used in prepared foods, meaning restaurants and retailers will have to examine their sourcing and identify everything that might have contained onions from Thomson International.

–Onions recalled in all 50 states after Salmonella sickens 500

The current outbreak is the largest Salmonella outbreak in America in the last decade. The outbreak is linked to Thomson International, a grower, packer, shipper, and supplier based in California.

The onions have been sold to wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants in Canada, and the US, as well as stores including Kroger and Food Lion.

The FDA halted coronavirus testing started by Bill Gates and Seattle health officials pending further review. Gates’ program was sending testing kits to people’s homes in an attempt to achieve the level of testing the government says is necessary to safely begin reopening the country. Seattle health officials say the FDA asked them to halt testing to receive additional authorizations, but Seattle health officials say their testing procedures are safe.

Image: Bill Gates during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Related: How Plumbing (Not Vaccines) Eradicated Disease

The FDA has said they are concerned about the accuracy of at-home tests, whereas Bill Gates has said at-home testing “could help improve the understanding of the outbreak.” The Hill reported on this saying:

The pause is emblematic of the fractured national response to the coronavirus, with federal officials proposing guidelines but leaving much of the implementation and administration of tests to states and localities.

FDA halts Bill Gates coronavirus testing program -The Hill

Age and preexisting health conditions are the two of the biggest factors that determine how susceptible you are to COVID-19. Auto-immune diseases reduce immunity. Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure are all preexisting conditions that make you more susceptible to COVID-19.

Unfortunately, in today’s environment, more and more young people are susceptible to these diseases than ever before. This can be credited to a number of factors, one of which is a large increase in endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

A huge body of research into a family of chemicals that alter hormone action, called endocrine-disrupting chemicals, has increasingly established them as significant contributors to the risk of these very diseases: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, reduced immunity, and more.

Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 – Organic Consumers Association

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

A report was released in 2012 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environmental program showed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals are a global health threat. Studies have been published over the last 20 years linking these chemicals to the same health problems that exacerbate COVID-19. BPA’s, PFOA’s, and many different pesticides are among some of the chemicals that are pointed out in this research.

This will not be our last pandemic. Due to the environmental implications of our lifestyle, the Earth will continue to release viruses as a biological defense. So how do we take better care of ourselves for the next pandemic, and for the future? An article by Organic Consumers talks about the importance of the FDA and the EPA regulating chemicals and better establishing what is safe and what isn’t. Additionally, they point out the importance of producing materials that are safe in the next generation of materials produced for consumers.

First, regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency need to use modern science to establish what is safe and what is not.  

Second, we need the next generation of materials used in consumer products to be inherently safer than what we have today, because many of those products contain, and emit, endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 

Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 – Organic Consumers Association

Recommended: How to Eliminate IBS, IBD, Leaky Gut 

On an individual level, the best thing you can do to protect yourself is to have a healthy gut through a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Source:

• Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 -Organic Consumers

To help combat the lack of essential supplies, many industries have stopped normal production to produce things like masks, ventilators, and hand sanitizer.

Image credit: Holladay Distillery starts hand sanitizer production

Some industries, however, are having a more difficult time than others. Many distilleries have stopped normal production to produce hand sanitizer. However, due to FDA regulations and the lack of supplies, distilleries are not able to get hand sanitizer out to the general public as quickly as they should be able to.

Related: ABC Says Homemade Sanitizers Don’t Work For Coronavirus – We Disagree, So Here’s a Recipe

The complication facing many distillers is denaturing, or rendering the base alcohol unfit for human consumption.”

–Why aren’t distilleries making more hand sanitizer? Because FDA forces them to make their alcohol undrinkable first

FDA regulations require hand sanitizer to be denatured, to prevent people from drinking it. This is done through additives that make it extremely bitter or otherwise undrinkable. Due to high demand, however, distilleries are having a difficult time obtaining isopropyl alcohol, the most common denaturant.

Locally, we’ve scoured the stores and most of the online sources are back-ordered. We’d be able to get sanitizer out much more quickly if this wasn’t the case.

-Distiller Shawn Hogan

Related: Sold Out – How To Get Vitamin C (Recipe/DIY)

Additionally, distilled alcohol that is not denatured (generally intended for human consumption) is taxed at a high rate. This means, even if the FDA regulations were removed the potential cost of the hand sanitizer could be much greater than if it was denatured. The $2 trillion stimulus bill signed on March 27th waived the excise tax for alcohol used in sanitizer until January 2021. However, the bill states that manufacturers must follow FDA guidelines that require a denaturant despite the World Health Organization’s recipe that does not require a denaturant.

Sources:

• Why aren’t distilleries making more hand sanitizer? Because FDA forces them to make their alcohol undrinkable first

The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) reports that a Freedom of Information Act disclosure from the FDA revealed the MMR vaccine was “licensed based on clinical trials which in total had less than 1,000 participants and far more adverse reactions than previously acknowledged.”

It’s alarming that an appeal was required to get this information, but it’s more alarming that every time ICAN prevails in obtaining a FOIA disclosure from the FDA, CDC or HHS, we learn about another serious shortcoming in their duties to assure Americans’ health and health care.”

Del Bigtree, ICAN founder

Del Bigtree is the Emmy-Award winning producer, and director of the documentary “Vaxxed: From Coverup to Catastrophe.”

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

The press release lists the following “key facts” learned from the clinical trial reports obtained from the FDA:

• There were eight clinical trials that in total had less than 1,000 individuals, out of which only 342 children received the MMR vaccine
• The safety review period only tracked ‘adverse events’ for 42 days after injection
• More than half or a significant percent of all participants in each of the eight trials developed gastrointestinal symptoms and upper respiratory infections
• All adverse events were generically described as ‘other viruses’ and not considered in safety profile of licensure
• The control group received other vaccines for either rubella or measles and rubella, and none of the controls received a placebo (an inert substance such as a saline injection)

Thanks to the laws in this country that for now at least permit access to various government records, we now know the MMR vaccine was licensed using an irresponsibly small and limited group of children.

But what’s even more alarming is learning about the serious adverse events that were known and acknowledged, yet ignored in order to license the MMR vaccine. This was after only tracking adverse events for 42 days after injection – imagine what they might have found had they tracked safety for three years against an appropriate control, like they do for drugs.”

Del Bigtree

Recommended:

• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• Doctors Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Scientists Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• The MMR Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness

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

The manufacturers warn against against vaccinating pregnant mothers:

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

Package Insert for FluLaval Quadrivalent

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

Tdap Vaccine Information

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

The FDA’s response:

We have no records responsive to your requests.”

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

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

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Recommended:

How To Heal Your Gut

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

From Children’s Health Defense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most of the food safety inspections have been stopped during the federal government shutdown. FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb says he is trying to figure out what the most essential inspections are and continue those inspections. To achieve this the FDA is said to have to force furloughed workers to work without being paid.

There are important things we are not doing.” – FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb

FDA inspectors are not testing products for salmonella, E. coli, listeria, etc. If companies find contamination issues the FDA will still publically announce the recalls. The FDA is still checking foreign food, but there is virtually no inspections of domestic food production.

We’re doing everything we can to try to maintain our basic consumer protection role. That’s our focus.” – Gottlieb said in interview to NBC

https://twitter.com/SGottliebFDA/status/1083055700593516545

Some of FDA’s work, such as drug approvals, inspections of drug-producing facilities, and regulating tobacco products, are paid for by user fees. They’re not greatly affected by the shutdown. But much of the budget is specifically appropriated by Congress, and it’s on hold. About 7,000 of the agency’s 17,000 employees, or 41 percent of staff, are furloughed.” – NBC

Gottlieb plans to call in about 10% of the FDA’s inspection workforce to re-start the inspections of the “high-risk domestic facilities.” Gottlieb estimates that the FDA employs about 5,000 inspectors and normally does about 160 inspections a month.

It’s something we currently aren’t doing. I think it’s the right thing to do for public safety.”