Study Finds MRSA Strain That Eludes Traditional Tests Found in Cow’s Milk

Flashback:

US: Almost Half Of Meat In Stores Contaminated With Strains Of Drug-Resistant Bacteria

60 Percent of Pigs in Slaughterhouses Contaminated With MRSA

NEW DEADLY FARM MRSA BUG FOUND IN HOSPITALS

Bee Propolis: Nature’s Healing Balm With Immune Boosting Properties

Wildflower Extracts Easily Kill MRSA Superbug


MRSA Strain That Eludes Traditional Tests Found in Cow’s Milk, Study Finds (Bloomberg, Jun 3, 2011):

British scientists have discovered a new strain of the drug-resistant germ known as MRSA in cow’s milk and some evidence that the animals could be a source of the infection in humans.

University of Cambridge researchers were led to the discovery while studying an infection of the animals’ udders, according to an article published today in the U.K journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Tests showed that people in Scotland, England and Denmark carried the new variant of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and that the bacteria can elude the usual means of detection.

Read moreStudy Finds MRSA Strain That Eludes Traditional Tests Found in Cow’s Milk

Milk Cows Moved Out Of Fukushima Evacuation Zone (NHK)

Milk cows moved outside Fukushima evacuation zone (NHK, May 30, 2011):

Dairy farmers have begun moving cows out of a village in the evacuation zone for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

The move came after radiation levels in raw milk from Iitate Village and part of Kawamata Town cleared the government’s safety standards. A ban on the shipment of raw milk was lifted last Wednesday on the condition that these cows are kept outside the evacuation zone.

Read moreMilk Cows Moved Out Of Fukushima Evacuation Zone (NHK)

Hawaii Dairy Farmers Fight Radiation With Boron (When Milk Tests Positive For Radiation, It Indicates The Entire Food Chain Is Contaminated)

Boron is sprayed in a massive dose with Chemtrails. (See info at the end of the following article.)

Hmmh.

Dr. Laibow also recommends boron:

Dr. Rima Laibow Recommends What to Do About Radiation:

Rima Laibow, MD: Vitamin D is depleted by Strontium 90 so extra Vitamin D3 is a very good idea. Lots of Vitamin D3 — at least 5,000 IU per day is generally a good idea for immune system health. Iodine, Zinc, Calcium and Sulfur are important supplements as well to prevent their radioactive counterparts from becoming part of your biology. I strongly recommend a high potency mineral supplement and MSM (the sulfur compound, not the ClDO2 liquid) on a daily basis except when you are having a chelation treatment that day. Other minerals which are both protective and important on their own for healthy functioning includes selenium, vanadium and boron.

Flashback (Uranium And Plutonium Detected In Hawaii):

Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima (MOX) Reactor No. 3 Blast Was A Nuclear Explosion – Can’t Seal A Fissioning Reactor – Crisis Will Not Be Over Within 9 Months – Uranium And Plutonium Detected In Hawaii

Fukushima Radiation Taints US Milk Supplies At Levels 300% Higher Than EPA Maximums, Indicates Radioactive Contamination Of The Entire Food Supply


Big Island Dairy Farmers fight radiation with Boron

An open letter from dairy farmers on the Big Island of Hawaii shares some solutions for working with radiation problems in milk.

Dear Milk Share Members,
Our goal to offer high quality safe food to our community has recently been challenged in the reality of the radioactivity being released into our environment. In the past weeks radioactive levels have increased in Hawaii, with high spikes and a more current leveling off of radiation levels. Milk from the large dairies in Hamakua and Hawi has shown elevated levels of radiation, from 400 to 2400 times the recognized safe levels.

Why is milk contamination significant in the world of agriculture? Because milk represents the overall condition of the entire food chain, since cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as crops. So, when milk tests positive for radiation, it indicates the entire food chain is contaminated since cows eat grass. When grass is contaminated everything grown in the same soil is contaminated. This has proposed a serious concern to us farmers, with us asking what can we do? After much consideration, research, and conversations with much appreciated experts in the field of biological farming and human & animal health, we have found some things which we are able to do to protect our soil, animals, and bodies.

Read moreHawaii Dairy Farmers Fight Radiation With Boron (When Milk Tests Positive For Radiation, It Indicates The Entire Food Chain Is Contaminated)

Nuclear Expert Horrified That Feds Abandon Extra Radiation Monitoring of Milk And Water

“I really am horrified,” said Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear policy lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “It’s quite staggering and it seems to be part of the pattern of the EPA trying to make sure that there are no measurements that could cause people to be concerned.”


Routine measurements will resume; nuclear expert calls decision “staggering”

May 5 — The U.S. government has abandoned efforts to monitor elevated levels of radiation that infiltrated the nation’s water and milk in the wake of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has faced stiff criticism for its slow and spotty monitoring of radioactive iodine, cesium and other materials that were ejected into the atmosphere after the Fukushima nuclear power plant was struck by a tsunami in early March. The material fell on the United States in rainwater and was ingested by cows, which passed it through into their milk.

Read moreNuclear Expert Horrified That Feds Abandon Extra Radiation Monitoring of Milk And Water

Europe: Radiation Risks From Fukushima ‘No Longer Negligible’

Background

After the radioactive cloud emanating from Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant reached Europe in late March, CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity, an NGO, said it had detected radioactive iodine-131 in rainwater in south-eastern France.

In parallel testing, the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the national public institution monitoring nuclear and radiological risks, found iodine 131 in milk.

In normal times, no trace of iodine-131 should be detectable in rainwater or milk.

The Euratom Directive of 13 May 1996 establishes the general principles and safety standards on radiation protection in Europe.

The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer “negligible,” according to CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity. The NGO is advising pregnant women and infants against “risky behaviour,” such as consuming fresh milk or vegetables with large leaves.

In response to thousands of inquiries from citizens concerned about fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Europe, CRIIRAD has compiled an information package on the risks of radioactive iodine-131 contamination in Europe.

The document, published on 7 April, advises against consuming rainwater and says vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant or breastfeeding women should avoid consuming vegetables with large leaves, fresh milk and creamy cheese.

The risks related to prolonged contamination among vulnerable groups of the population can no longer be considered “negligible” and it is now necessary to avoid “risky behaviour,” CRIIRAD claimed.

However, the institute underlines that there is absolutely no need to lock oneself indoors or take iodine tablets.

CRIIRAD says its information note is not limited to the situation in France and is applicable to other European countries, as the level of air contamination is currently the same in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, for instance.

Read moreEurope: Radiation Risks From Fukushima ‘No Longer Negligible’

Fukushima Radiation Taints US Milk Supplies At Levels 300% Higher Than EPA Maximums, Indicates Radioactive Contamination Of The Entire Food Supply

Comments from article author Jeff McMahon:

-EPA: New Radiation Highs in Little Rock Milk, Philadelphia Drinking Water (Forbes):

Yes, David, I know. Very complicated to explain. EPA lumps these gamma and beta emitters together under one collective MCL, so if you’re seeing cesium-137 in your milk or water, the MCL is 3.0 picocuries per liter; if you’re seeing iodine-131, the MCL is 3.0; if you’re seeing cesium-137 and iodine-131, the MCL is still 3.0.

Here’s a somewhat historic EPA document that speaks directly to that issue:

Although not having a 4 mrem per year equivalent level specified in the current drinking water regulations as do tritium and strontium-90, the compliance monitoring scheme indicates that an iodine-131 level of 3 pCi/L is the MCL compliance level (presumably derived from the NBS Handbook); the ANPRM indicates that 700 pCi/L is the 4 mrem/year equivalent.

via Drinking Water Criteria Document for Beta and Gamma Emitting Radionuclides

Be advised that document won’t open in older browsers.

And here’s a current EPA faq that repeats the same 3 pCi/L MCL for iodine-131:

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/japan-faqs.html#rainwater

If we lump together the three radionuclides in that Hilo, Hawaii reading, we get 61 pCi/L. Alarming? How about that recent Boise rainfall sample: 468 pCi/L.

The reason we shouldn’t be alarmed, EPA says, is that these are short-term, temporary exposures and the MCL assumes long-term exposure.

The EPA has another MCL that it takes more seriously, and that is, that people should not be exposed to more than 4 millirem per year. To make sense of that number we need to be able to express picocuries as millirems, but that’s what that legacy document does that I quoted above:“the compliance monitoring scheme indicates that an iodine-131 level of 3 pCi/L is the MCL compliance level; the ANPRM indicates that 700 pCi/L is the 4 mrem/year equivalent.”

What this all means to me is that if you’re a water company, EPA will insist you keep the gamma/beta emitters in your water below 3 pCi/L in pursuit of another aim, which is to keep your customers’ annual radiation exposure below 700, or, put another way, below 4mrem, over the course of a year.

If we should not be exposed to more than 700 pCi/L per year, then anyone who drinks two liters of Boise rainwater or 13 liters of Hilo milk is in trouble. Both those scenarios may be unlikely, but they’re beginning to get closer to likely than the reassurances we’ve been receiving would seem to indicate.


Fukushima radiation taints US milk supplies at levels 300% higher than EPA maximums


(NaturalNews) The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to release new data showing that various milk and water supply samples from across the US are testing increasingly high for radioactive elements such as Iodine-131, Cesium-134, and Cesium-137, all of which are being emitted from the ongoing Fukushima Daiichia nuclear fallout. As of April 10, 2011, 23 US water supplies have tested positive for radioactive Iodine-131 (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/4ig7-…), and worst of all, milk samples from at least three US locations have tested positive for Iodine-131 at levels exceeding EPA maximum containment levels (MCL) (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/pkfj-…).

As far as the water supplies are concerned, it is important to note that the EPA is only testing for radioactive Iodine-131. There are no readings or data available for cesium, uranium, or plutonium — all of which are being continuously emitted from Fukushima, as far as we know — even though these elements are all much more deadly than Iodine-131. Even so, the following water supplies have thus far tested positive for Iodine-131, with the dates they were collected in parenthesis to the right:

Los Angeles, Calif. – 0.39 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Baxter), Penn. – 0.46 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Belmont), Penn. – 1.3 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Queen), Penn. – 2.2 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Muscle Shoals, Al. – 0.16 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Niagara Falls, NY – 0.14 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Denver, Colo. – 0.17 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Detroit, Mich. – 0.28 pCi/l (3/31/11)
East Liverpool, Oh. – 0.42 pCi/l (3/30/11)
Trenton, NJ – 0.38 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Painesville, Oh. – 0.43 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Columbia, Penn. – 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (4442), Tenn. – 0.28 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (772), Tenn. – 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (360), Tenn. – 0.18 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Helena, Mont. – 0.18 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Waretown, NJ – 0.38 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Cincinnati, Oh. – 0.13 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Pittsburgh, Penn. – 0.36 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Oak Ridge (371), Tenn. – 0.63 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Chattanooga, Tenn. – 1.6 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Boise, Id. – 0.2 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Richland, Wash. – 0.23 pCi/l (3/28/11)

Again, these figures do not include the other radioactive elements being spread by Fukushima, so there is no telling what the actual cumulative radiation levels really were in these samples. The figures were also taken two weeks ago, and were only just recently reported. If current samples were taken at even more cities, and if the tests conducted included the many other radioactive elements besides Iodine-131, actual contamination levels would likely be frighteningly higher.

But in typical government fashion, the EPA still insists that everything is just fine, even though an increasing amount of US water supplies are turning up positive for even just the radioactive elements for which the agency is testing — and these levels seem to be increasing as a direct result of the situation at the Fukushima plant, which continues to worsen with no end in sight (http://www.naturalnews.com/032035_F…).

Water may be the least of our problems, however. New EPA data just released on Sunday shows that at least three different milk samples — all from different parts of the US — have tested positive for radioactive Iodine-131 at levels that exceed the EPA maximum thresholds for safety, which is currently set at 3.0 pico Curies per Liter (pCi/l).

In Phoenix, Ariz., a milk sample taken on March 28, 2011, tested at 3.2 pCi/l. In Little Rock, Ark., a milk sample taken on March 30, 2011, tested at 8.9 pCi/l, which is almost three times the EPA limit. And in Hilo, Hawaii, a milk sample collected on April 4, 2011, tested at 18 pCi/l, a level six times the EPA maximum safety threshold. The same Hawaii sample also tested at 19 pCi/l for Cesium-137, which has a half life of 30 years (http://www.naturalnews.com/031992_r…), and a shocking 24 pCi/l for Cesium-134, which has a half life of just over two years (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/pkfj-…).

Why is this milk contamination significant? Milk, of course, typically represents the overall condition of the food chain because cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as food crops and water supplies. In other words, when cows’ milk starts testing positive for high levels of radioactive elements, this is indicative of radioactive contamination of the entire food supply.

Read moreFukushima Radiation Taints US Milk Supplies At Levels 300% Higher Than EPA Maximums, Indicates Radioactive Contamination Of The Entire Food Supply

EPA Data: Arkansas Milk Sample 300 Percent Above Maximum Contaminant Level For Iodine-131 (Milk Sample Was Collected On March 30!)

Milk from Little Rock and drinking water from Philadelphia contained the highest levels of Iodine-131 from Japan yet detected by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to data released by EPA Saturday.

The Philadelphia sample is below the EPA’s maximum contaminant level (MCL) for iodine-131, but the Little Rock sample is almost three times higher.

Nonetheless, the EPA does not consider the milk dangerous because the MCL is set for long-term exposure, and the iodine-131 from Japan’s Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident is expected to be temporary and deteriorate rapidly.

The EPA’s MCL for iodine-131 is 3 picoCuries per liter.

The Little Rock milk sample contained 8.9 picoCuries per liter. It was collected on March 30.

Read moreEPA Data: Arkansas Milk Sample 300 Percent Above Maximum Contaminant Level For Iodine-131 (Milk Sample Was Collected On March 30!)

China’s Latest Food Scandal: Nitrite Contaminated Milk Kills 3 Children, Poisons More Than 30 People

Three children die and more than 30 people have been poisoned by nitrite after drinking milk from two dairy farms in Gansu


China’s dairy industry has been beset by poisonings and toxin scandals that have shaken consumer confidence. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

Three children have died and 35 people have become ill from drinking nitrite-tainted milk in China’s north-western Gansu province, Xinhua news agency has reported in the latest food safety scandal to hit the dairy industry.

Most of the 35 were children under 14 now being treated at two hospitals in Pingliang city, Xinhua said, citing the local government and health bureau.

“An initial investigation shows all the patients were poisoned by nitrite after drinking bulk milk provided by two local dairy farms,” Xinhua said.

Nitrite is used for curing meat.  (It is rather used for poisoning meat. It gives meat the fresh red look and it is known to be a cancer-causing substance, when ingested.)

Read moreChina’s Latest Food Scandal: Nitrite Contaminated Milk Kills 3 Children, Poisons More Than 30 People

US: EPA Finds Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk, Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More Cities

Don’t miss:

Are There Safe Levels of Radiation? How Much Radiation Is Safe?


Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.

Milk samples from Phoenix and Los Angeles contained iodine-131 at levels roughly equal to the maximum contaminant level permitted by EPA, the data shows. The Phoenix sample contained 3.2 picoCuries per liter of iodine-131. The Los Angeles sample contained 2.9. The EPA maximum contaminant level is 3.0, but this is a conservative standard designed to minimize exposure over a lifetime, so EPA does not consider these levels to pose a health threat.

The cesium-137 found in milk in Vermont is the first cesium detected in milk since the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident occurred last month. The sample contained 1.9 picoCuries per liter of cesium-137, which falls under the same 3.0 standard.

Radioactive isotopes accumulate in milk after they spread through the atmosphere, fall to earth in rain or dust, and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues, where it increases risk of cancer, according to EPA.

Read moreUS: EPA Finds Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk, Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More Cities

Executive Director Of Nuclear Information And Resource Service ‘Furious At The Government For Misleading Information’

And again:

Updating Japan’s Nuclear Disaster

Jeff Patterson, former Physicians for Social Responsibility president said, “There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period.” In 1953, Nobel laureate George Wald agreed saying “no amount of radiation is safe. Every dose is an overdose.”

What They’re Covering Up at Fukushima: ‘You Get 3,500,000 The Normal Dose. You Call That Safe? And What Media Have Reported This? None!’:

Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion.  Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.


Threat posed by radioactive milk tough to measure (California Watch):

….

Not surprisingly, there was instant speculation about whether that milk posed a threat to human health. Government officials were quick to say the levels were low and posed no risk.

“Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a miniscule amount compared to what people experience every day,” wrote Patricia Hansen, a Food and Drug Administration scientist, in response to the milk findings.

…..

A coalition of scientists and environmentalists insisted ingesting radiation is not the same as background exposures from airplane flights.

“The FDA spokesperson should have informed the public that radioiodine provides a unique form of exposure in that it concentrates rapidly in dairy products and in the human thyroid,” wrote Robert Alvarez, a former senior policy adviser to President Clinton’s U.S. Secretary of Energy.

“The dose received, based on official measurements, may be quite small, and pose an equally small risk,” Alvarez said in a statement. “However, making a conclusion on the basis of one measurement is fragmentary at best and unscientific at worst. As the accident in Fukushima continues to unfold, the public should be provided with all measurements made of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima reactors to allow for independent analyses.”

Indeed, just how radioactive particles – particularly iodine 131 and the more dangerous cesium 137 – move through the food chain remains unclear.

……

What about mothers who are breast-feeding? Presumably, if cows, sheep and goats can pass radiation along in their milk, so can humans.

It was this concern that enraged Michael Mariotte, the executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, when the federal government released its statement downplaying the milk situation.

“No mother should ever have to wonder if the milk she feeds her child might be harmful,” he wrote in a statement. “Having worked on nuclear issues for 25 years, I know the difference between internal exposures and background radiation. But lots of people don’t. As the father of an 11-month old daughter, I’m personally furious at the government for this misleading information.”

Read moreExecutive Director Of Nuclear Information And Resource Service ‘Furious At The Government For Misleading Information’

Genetically Modified Cows Produce ‘Human’ Milk

Scientists have created genetically modified cattle that produce “human” milk in a bid to make cows’ milk more nutritious.


Researchers say they are able to create cows that produce milk containing a human protein called lysozyme

The scientists have successfully introduced human genes into 300 dairy cows to produce milk with the same properties as human breast milk.

Human milk contains high quantities of key nutrients that can help to boost the immune system of babies and reduce the risk of infections.

The scientists behind the research believe milk from herds of genetically modified cows could provide an alternative to human breast milk and formula milk for babies, which is often criticised as being an inferior substitute.

They hope genetically modified dairy products from herds of similar cows could be sold in supermarkets. The research has the backing of a major biotechnology company.

The work is likely to inflame opposition to GM foods. Critics of the technology and animal welfare groups reacted angrily to the research, questioning the safety of milk from genetically modified animals and its effect on the cattle’s health.

But Professor Ning Li, the scientist who led the research and director of the State Key Laboratories for AgroBiotechnology at the China Agricultural University insisted that the GM milk would be as safe to drink as milk from ordinary dairy cows.

He said: “The milk tastes stronger than normal milk.

“We aim to commercialize some research in this area in coming three years. For the “human-like milk”, 10 years or maybe more time will be required to finally pour this enhanced milk into the consumer’s cup.”

China is now leading the way in research on genetically modified food and the rules on the technology are more relaxed than those in place in Europe.

The researchers used cloning technology to introduce human genes into the DNA of Holstein dairy cows before the genetically modified embryos were implanted into surrogate cows.

Read moreGenetically Modified Cows Produce ‘Human’ Milk

Canada Refuses To Test Milk For Radiation

Refuse to pay your taxes and see what happens. 🙂

Iodine ‘traces’ pose absolutely ‘no risk’ in Canada and the US:

California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

When ingested or inhaled a radioactive particle becomes a trillion times more dangerous to your health, no matter what BS your government tells you.


Iodine traces found in Spokane product ‘pose absolutely no risk’


A dairy farmer empties milk onto his pasture in Nihonmatsu, Japan, last week after radioactive materials beyond legal limits were detected in raw milk in the area near a stricken nuclear power plant.
Photograph by: AFP, Getty Images, Vancouver Sun

Canadian health agencies have no immediate plans to measure the amount of radiation in milk following Japan’s nuclear crisis despite the demands of B.C. dairy farmers who want officials to follow the U.S. and test dairy products.

“There will be no testing of milk,” Alice Danjou, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday.

The news came as a disappointment to Robin Smith, executive director of the BC Milk Producers Association, which earlier this week called on the agency to test the milk in an effort to prove to the public the levels are low enough to consume.

Read moreCanada Refuses To Test Milk For Radiation

California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain

Federal officials have still not published any official data on nuclear fallout from Japan disaster

Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain (Bay Citizen, April 2, 2011):

Radiation from Japan rained on Berkeley during recent storms at levels that exceeded drinking water standards by 181 times and has been detected in multiple milk samples, but the U.S. government has still not published any official data on nuclear fallout here from the Fukushima disaster.

Dangers from radiation that is wafting over the United States from the Fukushima power plant disaster and falling with rain have been downplayed by government officials and others, who say its impacts are so fleeting and minor as to be negligible.

But critics say an absence of federal data on the issue is hampering efforts to develop strategies for preventing radioactive isotopes from accumulating in the nation’s food and water supplies.

Read moreCalifornia: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water Standards, Has Also Been Detected In Multiple Milk Samples, While US Gov Has Still Not Published Any Official Data On Japan Disaster

EU: Let them Eat Cloned Food! (No Labelling Required!)

The majority of the people don’t want cloned food, but who cares?


Meat from offspring of cloned animals to go on sale in UK (Telegraph):

Meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals could be on sale in British supermarkets by the end of the summer, after attempts to impose controls through European regulation failed.

Families buying meat for barbecues are unlikely to be aware of their food’s controversial links because the labels on packaging will be no different from normal meat.

EU move on cloned food shunned (UPI):

Europe says no to cloned food labels”Meat from the offspring of cloned animals could find its way onto the EU market, with no one being any the wiser, after member state representatives refused the Parliament’s demand to label clone-derived products,” the European Parliament said in a statement.

UK accused over food labelling (Press Association):

The Government has been accused of ignoring consumer wishes by blocking moves to label meat and milk products which have genetic links to cloned animals.

The prospect of EU-wide rules introducing compulsory labelling ended early on Tuesday when last-ditch talks between Euro-MPs, the European Commission and officials representing Europe’s governments ended without agreement.

The commission and member states feared a trade war with Washington if tougher controls came in to highlight produce from the offspring of cloned animals.

Read moreEU: Let them Eat Cloned Food! (No Labelling Required!)

Japan Cows Barred From Grazing as Damaged Plant Leaks Radiation


A woman feeds her cattle at a farm in Kawamata, Fukushima prefecture. Photographer: Ken Shimizu/AFP/Getty Images

(Bloomberg )– Japan has asked farmers to keep cows and cattle in barns as radioactive contamination of milk spread from Fukushima prefecture, where high radiation levels and fires have hampered repairs of a crippled nuclear plant.

“To prevent milk contamination, we are advising farmers that cows should be barred from grazing, kept inside barns and fed with grass harvested before the nuclear plant accident,” said Mitsuhiro Honda at the milk and dairy products division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. “We are not concerned about the safety of beef as the meat now on the market came from animals born more than two years ago.”

Japan has restricted raw-milk shipments from Fukushima and neighboring Ibaraki prefecture after tainted products were discovered through random testing. Repair work at the site of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 has been plagued by explosions, fires and leaks of toxic material. Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to drain radioactive water from the turbine building of the No. 3 unit at the damaged nuclear plant, where two workers suffered radiation burns yesterday.

Shoppers in Tokyo rushed to buy mineral water and soy milk, ignoring government assurances that food and tap water are safe. Countries from Australia to the U.S. restricted food imports from Japan on fears of radiation.

Read moreJapan Cows Barred From Grazing as Damaged Plant Leaks Radiation

‘Baby Gaga’ Human Breast Milk Ice Cream Goes On Sale

Covent Garden ice cream parlour sells out of delicacy despite charging £15 for every 10 ounces


Baby Gaga breast milk ice cream has gone on sale at a London ice cream parlour. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

At £15 for every 10 ounces, you could certainly say they’re milking it for all it’s worth.

A central London ice-cream parlour has started selling ice-cream made with human breast milk. The Icecreamists in Covent Garden, London, have named their unusual delicacy Baby Gaga.

The treat is made by mixing breast milk with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest. The milk has been donated by women who were paid £15 for every 10 ounces of their bodily fluid.

The dessert is offered up in a martini glass to those daring enough to try it for £14. Liquid nitrogen is also poured into the glass using a syringe.

Read more‘Baby Gaga’ Human Breast Milk Ice Cream Goes On Sale

UK: Milk From Cloned Cows Given Green Light By Defra

Milk and meat from the offspring of cloned animals should be allowed to go on sale, according to a government minister.


Animal welfare campaigners said they were dismayed at the statement from Jim Paice Photo: REUTERS

The comments are the clearest sign that the Government will give the official green light to farmers and food companies who want to supply butchers and supermarkets with the controversial products.

However, animal welfare campaigners said they were “utterly dismayed” by the ministerial statement, saying it opened the door to widespread cloning, with consumers unable to tell whether they were eating meat originating a cloned animal or not.

The statement was made by Jim Paice, the food and farming minister, in response to a written question from Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP.

Read moreUK: Milk From Cloned Cows Given Green Light By Defra

Top Ten Lies About Unconstitutional Senate Bill 510

(NaturalNews) The Food Safety Modernization Act looks like it’s headed to become law. It’s being hailed as a “breakthrough” achievement in food safety, and it would hand vast new powers and funding to the FDA so that it can clean up the food supply and protect all Americans from food-borne pathogens.

There’s just one problem with all this: It’s all a big lie.

Here are the ten biggest lies that have been promoted about S.510 by the U.S. Congress, the food industry giants and the mainstream media:

Lie #1 – Most deaths from food poisoning are caused by fresh produce

Here’s a whopper the mainstream media won’t dare report: Out of the 1,809 people who die in America every year from food-borne pathogens (CDC estimate), only a fraction die from the manufacturer’s contamination of fresh produce. By far the majority of food poisoning is caused by the consumption of spoiled processed foods, dead foods and animal-human transmission of pathogens.

For example, one of the largest food-borne killers according to the CDC is Toxoplasma gondii, a disease that people acquire from cat feces coming into contact with their food, which can happen right in their own homes (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/Vol5n…). Salmonella poisoning accounts for 553 deaths a year. As a reference for relative risk, over 42,000 people die each year from road accidents in the USA, meaning driving a car has a roughly 7600% higher chance of killing you than eating fresh produce. (http://www.driveandstayalive.com/in…)

In terms of food-borne illness, many of the deaths come from things like spoiled tomato sauce, spoiled canned foods and spoiled pasteurized milk. S 510, of course, does absolutely nothing to address these food contamination deaths, since those foods are considered “sterilized” at the time of sale.

Lie #2 – Under S.510, the FDA would only recall products it knows to be contaminated

Not true. S.510 merely requires the FDA to have “reason to believe” a food is contaminated. So right there, that means all raw milk will be targeted by the FDA because even without conducting any scientific tests at all, the FDA can say it has “reason to believe” the milk is contaminated merely because it is raw.

In other words, the FDA no longer needs science to outlaw a food product. It merely needs an opinion.

Is this “reason to believe” section really true? Yep, and here’s how it was amended:

SEC. 208. ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION OF FOOD.
23 (a) IN GENERAL. – Section 304(h)(1)(A) (21 U.S.C.24 334(h)(1)(A)) is amended by
(1) striking ”credible evidence or information indicating” and inserting ”reason to believe”;
(http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi…)

In other words, in negotiating this bill, the U.S. Senate removed the requirement that the FDA needed “credible evidence” in order to recall a product and, instead, replaced that with the FDA only needing “reason to believe.”

It is utterly amazing that the U.S. Congress would give the FDA to conduct large-scale product recalls and even imprison people based entirely on what the agency “has reason to believe.”

Last time I checked, the FDA held some pretty bizarre (if not downright moronic) beliefs, including this jaw-dropping whopper: The FDA literally believes that there is no food, no herb, no vitamin or supplement that has any ability to prevent disease of any kind. They don’t even believe limes can prevent scurvy, and you’d have to nutritionally illiterate to believe that.

Read moreTop Ten Lies About Unconstitutional Senate Bill 510

Cornucopia Institute files lawsuit to stop organic milk fraud

Legal complaint filed with USDA to stop organic milk fraud

(NaturalNews) Although it is illegal under current USDA rules, the agency is still tolerating organic milk producers who bring conventional dairy cattle onto their farms — pumped full of hormones and antibiotics — and then call them “organic” cows when they start giving milk. The Cornucopia Institute wants to put a stop to this obviously fraudulent practice, so it’s filing a lawsuit.

Much of the big name-brand “organic” milk produced in America actually comes from questionable factory farm operations that cut corners, exploit loopholes and essentially cheat consumers. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has been fighting this for years with public education campaigns, boycotts and legal strategies (http://www.organicconsumers.org/art…).

The Cornucopia Institute has also been at the forefront of this important issue with efforts to protect the honest organic dairy farms that are trying to compete with the big-name “organic” producers that are cheating by cutting corners. They discovered that even though the practice of bringing conventional heifers (young dairy cows) onto organic dairy farms is illegal, it is still being done anyway, and the USDA appears to be turning a blind eye to this practice.

You can read the Cornucopia Institute’s legal complaint at:
http://www.cornucopia.org/USDA/Natu…

Here’s the official announcement from Cornucopia:
(http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/c…)

Illegal Practice Damaging Family Farmers and Defrauding Consumers

Read moreCornucopia Institute files lawsuit to stop organic milk fraud

EU to Back Sale of Meat And Milk From Cloned Animals

Related articles:

Europe: Meat From Cloned Animals to Enter The Food Chain ‘Through An Open Door’


A new report suggests that the offspring of cloned animals could be consumed

The sale of meat and milk from the offspring of cloned farm animals is set to be backed by EU Commissioners despite mass consumer opposition.

A huge majority of the public is against clone animal farming, according to studies in Britain and across Europe.

Concerns surround the ethics of the process, the welfare of the animals and a lack of research on food safety. However, a leaked report to be discussed by the EU’s College of Commissioners today comes out in favour of food from the offspring of clones.

Alarmingly, it appears this food would not have to be labelled, leaving families completely in the dark about what they are putting in their mouths.

Specifically, the report proposes a temporary five-year ban on the sale of meat and milk from clones, but there would be no ban on food from their offspring.

If this policy is adopted, European farms could be populated by cloned supersize animals used as breeding stock for cows, pigs and sheep that are reared for food.

Clones themselves can suffer a range of painful conditions, including malformed organs and gigantism. Many die in the womb or soon after birth.


What’s in your shopping bag? The Daily Mail revealed how meat from two clone-offspring bulls and one veal calf had been sold in butcher shops in Scotland, North-East England, London and Belgium

But the Commission and the Government take the view that meat and milk from the offspring of a clone is effectively normal and therefore no ban or labelling is required.

The Daily Mail revealed in the summer that more than 100 cattle – pedigree Holstein milking cows – which are the offspring of clones are being raised on British farms.

We also revealed how meat from two clone-offspring bulls and one veal calf had been sold in butcher shops in Scotland, North-East England, London and Belgium.

The Food Standards Agency has made clear it believes it is illegal to sell meat and milk from these sources without first getting its approval.

Read moreEU to Back Sale of Meat And Milk From Cloned Animals

Multiple Ways Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach

Highly recommended reading!


monsantoland

People say if farmers don’t want problems from Monsanto, just don’t buy their GMO seeds.
Not so simple.  Where are farmers supposed to get normal seed these days?  How are they supposed to avoid contamination of their fields from GM-crops?  How are they supposed to stop Monsanto detectives from trespassing or Monsanto from using helicopters to fly over spying on them?

Monsanto contaminates the fields, trespasses onto the land taking samples and if they find any GMO plants growing there (or say they have), they then sue, saying they own the crop.  It’s a way to make money since farmers can’t fight back and court and they settle because they have no choice. .And they have done and are doing a bucket load of things to keep farmers and everyone else from having any access at all to buying, collecting, and saving of NORMAL seeds.

1.  They’ve bought up the seed companies across the midwest.

2.  They’ve written Monsanto seed laws and gotten legislators to put them through, that make cleaning, collecting and storing of seeds so onerous in terms of fees and paperwork and testing and tracking every variety and being subject to fines, that having normal seed becomes almost impossible (an NAIS approach to wiping out normal seeds).  Does your state have such a seed law?  Before they existed, farmers just collected the seeds and put them in sacks in the shed and used them the next year, sharing whatever they wished with friends and neighbors, selling some if they wanted.  That’s been killed.

In Illinois which has such a seed law, Madigan, the Speaker of the House, his staff is Monsanto lobbyists.

3.  Monsanto is pushing anti-democracy laws (Vilsack’s brainchild, actually) that remove community’ control over their own counties so farmers and citizens can’t block the planting of GMO crops even if they can contaminate other crops.  So if you don’t want a GM-crop that grows industrial chemicals or drugs or a rice growing with human DNA in it, in your area and mixing with your crops, tough luck.

Check the map of just where the Monsanto/Vilsack laws are and see if your state is still a democracy or is Monsanto’s.  A farmer in Illinois told me he heard that Bush had pushed through some regulation that made this true in every state.  People need to check on that.

4.  For sure there are Monsanto regulations buried in the FDA right now that make a farmer’s seed cleaning equipment illegal (another way to leave nothing but GM-seeds) because it’s now considered a “source of seed contamination.”  Farmer can still seed clean but the equipment now has to be certified and a farmer said it would require a million to a million and half dollar building and equipment … for EACH line of seed.  Seed storage facilities are also listed (another million?) and harvesting and transport equipment.  And manure.  Something that can contaminate seed.  Notice that chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not mentioned.

You could eat manure and be okay (a little grossed out but okay).  Try that with pesticides and fertilizers.  Indian farmers have.  Their top choice for how to commit suicide to escape the debt they have been left in is to drink Monsanto pesticides.

5.  Monsanto is picking off seed cleaners across the Midwest.  In Pilot Grove, Missouri , in Indiana (Maurice Parr ), and now in southern Illinois (Steve Hixon).  And they are using US marshals and state troopers and county police to show up in three cars to serve the poor farmers who had used Hixon as their seed cleaner, telling them that he or their neighbors turned them in, so across that 6 county areas, no one talking to neighbors and people are living in fear and those farming communities are falling apart from the suspicion Monsanto sowed.  Hixon’s office got broken into and he thinks someone put a GPS tracking device on his equipment and that’s how Monsanto found between 200-400 customers in very scattered and remote areas, and threatened them all and destroyed his business within 2 days.

Read moreMultiple Ways Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach

Branded as criminals: Family farmers selling raw milk

Commentary (Infinite Unknown):

If you heat up (pasteurize) milk you destroy the enzymes in it. That is one reason why milk is very difficult to digest for many people.

But the least function of enzymes is to help digesting food. Nature is so intelligent, it not only gives you just ‘food’, it also sends with it substances that help to digest it, promote the function of your brain, regenerate health in general and built up the immune system in your body.

A lot worse than just pasteurized milk is pasteurized and homogenized milk. Homogenized milk is extremely difficult to digest.

The fat of homogenized milk cannot be transported in the lymphatic system anymore, but has to be transported in the blood vessels, which creates high cholesterol levels and arteriosclerosis.

Those that are allergic to milk do not have any adverse reactions to it anymore if their milk is organic and produced by their own cow (and is of course not pasteurized nor homogenized).

It makes a lot sense not to degenerate the food given to us by nature. Nature is so much more intelligent and efficient than stupid governments and scientists.

But of course no one wants to drink milk from Monsanto cows treated with rBGH, rich in pus and poison only.

The US government is bought and paid for by corporations and elite criminals.

These criminals want to run your food supply, attacking family farmers all of the time and producing food that is absolutely lethal for your health:

Scientist: Monsanto’s herbicide could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses

Monsanto lobbyists to be placed in charge of food safety by Obama

‘Frankenfoods’ Giant Monsanto Plays Bully Over Consumer Labeling

US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods

Monsanto sues Germany over GM corn ban

Germany bans Monsanto’s GM maize

Greenpeace: No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

BIODIVERSITY: Privatisation Making Seeds Themselves Infertile

At stake is no less than control of the world’s food supply.

Exposed: the great GM crops myth:
“Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”

Highly recommended videos:

Life running out of control – Genetically Modified Organisms

The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see.


Missouri government plots undercover sting operations against families selling raw milk

cows-raw-milk

(NaturalNews) Imagine being watched by two undercover cops as you engage in an illicit deal in a deserted parking lot. The buyer hesitantly hands you some cash. You flash a look over your shoulder, just to make sure the coast is clear, then you hand over the contraband. Neither of you says a word. You just nod, acknowledging the deal is done, then you head back to your car and buckle up for the drive home.

But before you can even put the car into drive, a screeching formation of police cars, surrounds you, sirens wailing. Armed officers leap from their vehicles, guns drawn and sunglasses glaring. “Come out with your hands up!” they shout.

You slowly open the driver’s door of your car and inch out of your seat with both hands raised in surrender, cowering behind the open door. “What did I do, officer? What’s my crime?”

Their answer comes back loud and intimidating: “SELLING RAW MILK!”

Springfield Missouri: Where farmers are branded criminals

The above description is a dramatization of real events that happened recently in Springfield, Missouri, where the state has decided to spend considerable taxpayer resources running a sting operating against a family that was caught dealing — gulp! — raw milk in a parking lot.

Yes, both the Missouri Dept. of Health and the state Attorney General (Chris Koster) have decided that prosecuting a farm family for illegally “trafficking” raw milk should be at the top of their list of priorities. The family being targeted by state officials is the Bechard family, of Armand and Teddi Bechard, and their children Joseph, Hananiah, Kazia and Katie.

The name of the cow offering the milk is reportedly “Misty.”

Read moreBranded as criminals: Family farmers selling raw milk

Two sentenced to death over China milk scandal


A Chinese infant drinks powdered milk in Chengdu

BEIJING (AFP) – A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced two men to death and gave stiff jail terms to 19 others over a milk scandal that led to widespread poisoning of babies in China and dairy recalls around the world.

The former head of the dairy firm at the heart of the scandal, Tian Wenhua, a 66-year-old woman accused of initially covering it up, was among three people jailed for life.

One other person was given a suspended death penalty, a sentence that routinely gets commuted to life in jail, while the rest were imprisoned for terms ranging from two to 15 years, state-run CCTV news reported.

The 21 people went on trial in recent weeks for their involvement in making or selling the contaminated milk that last year killed at least six babies and left 296,000 others ill with kidney and urinary tract problems.

Read moreTwo sentenced to death over China milk scandal

China toxic milk sickens 53,000 as scare spreads

BEIJING (AFP) – China’s tainted milk scandal spiralled into uncharted territory Monday with the government announcing that up to 53,000 children had been sickened and its top product-quality inspector sacked.

In a dramatic update of previous figures, the health ministry said a total of 52,857 children were taken to hospital after drinking milk thought to have been contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine.

Most had “basically recovered” after developing kidney stones, the main symptom of drinking the tainted milk, but 12,892 of them remained in hospital, a health ministry official told AFP.

Read moreChina toxic milk sickens 53,000 as scare spreads