Infinite Unknown

- Fraud Alert: FDA Allowed Drugs with Fraudulent Testing to Remain on the Market (Liberty Blitzkrieg, April 17, 2013):

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Essentially the entire U.S. economy is one gigantic fraud.  No one has honor anymore in this society, it is a totally forgotten and discarded virtue.  The ethos of the land is to take whatever you can however you can.  It doesn’t matter who you hurt or what sorts of immoral acts you need to do to get it.  One of the key dynamics that allows for such blatant theft is that the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect us are in fact gatekeepers from the criminals in their respective industries.  In the financial area, this manifests with the SEC and CFTC revolving door to Wall Street.  In healthcare, it manifests with the FDA.  I’ve highlighted the FDA’s shadiness previously, most notably in my piece:  The FDA is Caught Spying on its Employees and Creating an “Enemies List.”  Now in this latest story, we find how little the FDA concerns itself with public health.

From Pro Publica:

On the morning of May 3, 2010, three agents of the Food and Drug Administration descended upon the Houston office of Cetero Research, a firm that conducted research for drug companies worldwide.

Continue reading »

Tags: Big Pharma, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Crime, FDA, Fraud, Global News, Health, Medicine, Mike Krieger, Pharmaceutical Industry, Science

From the article:

FDA spokesman Noah Bartolucci told BBC News that the “FDA plans to review the new research on lead levels in imported rice released today”.

“As part of an ongoing and proactive effort to monitor and address contaminants in food traded internationally, FDA chairs an international working group to review current international standards for lead in selected commodities, including rice, and to revise, if necessary, maximum lead levels under the… Codex Alimentarius,” he said.

Codex Alimentarius!

As a side note:

If you give rats a LD1 (Lethal dose killing 1% of the rats) of mercury … 1% of the rats die.

If you give rats a LD1 (Lethal dose killing 1% of the rats) of lead … 1% of the rats die.

How many rats will die if you give them a LD1 of mercury AND a LD1 of lead?

Take a guess!

…

…

…

Answer: ALL OF THEM!!!

The researchers found the highest levels of lead in rice from China and Taiwan

- US rice imports ‘contain harmful levels of lead’ (BBC News, April 10, 2013):

Analysis of commercially available rice imported into the US has revealed it contains levels of lead far higher than regulations suggest are safe.

Some samples exceeded the “provisional total tolerable intake” (PTTI) set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a factor of 120.

The report at the American Chemical Society Meeting adds to the already well-known issue of arsenic in rice.

The FDA told the BBC it would review the research.

Lead is known to be harmful to many organs and the central nervous system.

Continue reading »

Tags: Arsenic, Brain, Children, China, CODEX Alimentarius, Contamination, Environment, FDA, Food, Global News, Government, Health, Lead, Politics, rice, Taiwan, U.S.

- The 10 worst toxins hidden in vitamins, supplements and health foods (Natural News, March 26, 2013):

I’m absolutely shocked at how many people don’t investigate what’s really in the products they swallow. When something is sold as an herb, vitamin, superfood or supplement, they think it’s automatically safe. And while the natural products industry has a truly remarkable safety record — especially in contrast to the massive number of deaths caused by pharmaceuticals — it still suffers from a lot of hidden toxins that are routinely used throughout the industry.

I know this because I’ve been an investigative journalist and activist in the natural health industry for over a decade. Natural News is arguably the most-read natural health news website in the world, reaching millions of readers a month. I’ve walked the floors of countless trade shows, conducted hundreds of interviews and spent tens of thousands of dollars on laboratory tests to determine what’s in these products. On top of that, I’m deep into organic product formulations and certified organic food production, serving as the supervisor of a USDA-certified organic food production and packing facility.

Continue reading »

Tags: Acrylamides, Aluminum, Black tea, Carrageenan, Excitotoxins, FDA, Fluor, Fluoridation, Fluoride, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, GMO, Green tea, Maltodextrin, MSG, soybeans, Supplements, toxic, toxicity, Toxins, vitamin C, Vitamins, Yeast Extract

Related info:

- The Ten Worst Ways Your Children Are Being Poisoned Right Now

- New Pepsi Sweetener Is Mixture Of Dangerous Carcinogenic Chemicals

- Methanol, Biproduct Of Aspartame Linked To Autism, Preterm Delivery

- Interview With Neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock On MSG And Brain-Damaging Excitotoxins (Video)

- The Top 10 Worst Sources of Aspartame – Interview With Dr. Russell Blaylock On MSG And Brain-Damaging Excitotoxins (Video – Mar 2012)

- Neotame Is 13,000 Times Sweeter Than Sugar And Even More Toxic Than Aspartame

- Aspartame in Milk Without a Label? Big Dairy Petitions FDA For Approval (Activist Post, Feb 23, 2013):

Two powerful dairy organizations, The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to allow aspartame and other artificial sweeteners to be added to milk and other dairy products without a label.

The FDA currently allows the dairy industry to use “nutritive sweeteners” including sugar and high fructose corn syrup in many of their products. Nutritive sweeteners are defined as sweeteners with calories.

This petition officially seeks to amend the standard of identification for milk, cream, and 17 other dairy products like yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, and others to provide for the use of any “safe and suitable sweetener” on the market.

They claim that aspartame and other artificial sweeteners would promote healthy eating and is good for school children. Continue reading »

Tags: Aspartame, FDA, Global News, Government, Health, Politics

- GMO fail: Monsanto foiled by feds, Supreme Court, and science (Grist, Feb 15, 2013):

It’s been a good week if you enjoy a little GMO schadenfreude. The FDA has reportedly bowed to public pressure to extend the comment period on its approval of genetically engineered salmon, and Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa are the latest states to buck GMOs by introducing labeling bills into state legislature.

Even the Supreme Court has an opportunity to take Monsanto down a peg. On Feb. 19, the court will hear arguments in a patent infringement case between an Indiana farmer and Monsanto (I covered it in detail here). If Monsanto prevails, it’ll move a few more paces towards agricultural monopoly; if it loses, the company will take a couple steps back. It’s encouraging that the Supreme Court chose to hear the case over the solicitor general’s urging to dismiss it, but Monsanto could have an inside man: As in other Monsanto-related cases, former Monsanto-lawyer-turned-Supreme-Court-Justice Clarence Thomas has no plans to recuse himself.

But GMOs took the biggest punch this week from academia: Tom Philpott highlights a USDA-funded study [PDF] by University of Wisconsin scientists who found that several types of GMO seeds (including Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready varieties) actually produce a lower yield than conventional seeds. Only one seed — a corn that produces its own pesticide to combat the corn borer — offers any significant yield benefit. In other words, planting most genetically modified seeds results in less harvest per acre than planting non-genetically modified seeds.

The researchers looked at 20 years of data from test plots in Wisconsin from 1990-2010, both on research plots and on plots in participating farmers’ fields. Philpott flags a key point from the study: Continue reading »

Tags: Agriculture, FDA, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Monsanto, Politics, Salmon, Science, Supreme Court, U.S., USDA

What could possibly go wrong?

- FDA approves first GMO flu vaccine containing reprogrammed insect virus (Natural News, Feb 8, 2013):

A new vaccine for influenza has hit the market, and it is the first ever to contain genetically-modified (GM) proteins derived from insect cells. According to reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the vaccine, known as Flublok, which contains recombinant DNA technology and an insect virus known as baculovirus that is purported to help facilitate the more rapid production of vaccines.

According to Flublok’s package insert, the vaccine is trivalent, which means it contains GM proteins from three different flu strains. The vaccine’s manufacturer, Protein Sciences Corporation (PSC), explains that Flublok is produced by extracting cells from the fall armyworm, a type of caterpillar, and genetically altering them to produce large amounts of hemagglutinin, a flu virus protein that enables the flu virus itself to enter the body quickly.

Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, FDA, Global News, Government, Guillain-barre syndrome, Health, Obama administration, Politics, Science, Society, U.S., Vaccination, Vaccine, Virus

YouTube Added: 14.06.2012

Tags: FDA, Food, Global News, Government, Health, Meat, Politics, U.S.

- Today’s Seafood Special: Pig Manure, Antibiotics, and Diarrhea Bugs (Mother Jones):

Next time you tuck into a Red Lobster “Endless Shrimp” special or score some $7-per-pound salmon at a supermarket, consider this: You’re very likely eating imported seafood raised on a factory-style farm in Asia—and it almost certainly was never inspected by the Food and Drug Administration on its way into the country and onto your plate.

Is that…safe? Big retailers like Walmart and restaurant chains like Darden (owner of Red Lobster) say yes, in part because some of the seafood they buy bears the Best Aquaculture Practices label. Who issues that label? The Global Aquaculture Alliance, an industry endeavor—its board consists of representatives from (you guessed it) Darden, as well as Cargill, the Chilean salmon industry, and a large farmed-shrimp importer called Eastern Fish Company. Not surprisingly, BAP standards for farmed fish placed near the bottom (16 of 20) in a 2012 ranking of aquaculture labels by the University of Victoria’s Seafood Ecology Research Group. (Darden says it independently tests its shrimp for contaminants but declined to share its results; Walmart did not answer our questions about inspections.)

Continue reading »

Tags: Antibiotics, Diarrhoea, FDA, Fish, Food, Global News, Government, Health, Politics, Seafood, U.S.

- FDA approves new seasonal influenza vaccine made using novel technology (FDA, Jan 16, 2013):

FDA NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Jan. 16, 2013
Media Inquiries: Rita Chappelle, 301-796-4672, rita.chappelle@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA, OCOD@fda.hhs.gov

FDA approves new seasonal influenza vaccine made using novel technology

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it has approved Flublok, the first trivalent influenza vaccine made using an insect virus (baculovirus) expression system and recombinant DNA technology. Flublok is approved for the prevention of seasonal influenza in people 18 through 49 years of age.

Unlike current flu vaccines, Flublok does not use the influenza virus or eggs in its production. Flublok’s novel manufacturing technology allows for production of large quantities of the influenza virus protein, hemagglutinin (HA) – the active ingredient in all inactivated influenza vaccines that is essential for entry of the virus into cells in the body. The majority of antibodies that prevent influenza virus infection are directed against HA. While the technology is new to flu vaccine production, it is used to make vaccines that have been approved by the FDA to prevent other infectious diseases.

Continue reading »

Tags: Drugs, FDA, Flublok, Global News, Government, Health, Politics, U.S., Vaccination, Vaccine

- Stealth Codex Alimentarius Regulations Postponed in US … For Now (Activist Post, Jan 13, 2013):

The recently shelved New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) draft guidelines proposed by the FDA has been the subject of much concern by natural health supplement manufacturers and consumers ever since the announcement was made by the agency in early 2011.

The guidelines, which were published in the Federal Register, would have clarified some definitions of terms, changed requirements for “new” supplement introduction and manufacture, and a host of other more minor, but important, tweaks in previous FDA policy.

Continue reading »

Tags: CODEX Alimentarius, EPA, FDA, Fluor, Fluoridation, Global News, Government, Health, Politics, U.N., U.S., WHO