Yes, things can be just peachy today, so hook into that energy and get some of those loose ends tied up. You can be surprised by what they are attached to. As every ending has a beginning, so things follow after things, and right now, that logic has begun to fall apart, you can get some surprising non-sequitur effects that can bring amazingly great benefits, not so much today but as time goes on. This is a day also for serendipity and synchronicity. It is in a large part dependent upon your attitude. In the morning, take some time to ground and center, to love yourself, and to open to the best of all you desire. Then set that as your intention and be open to the surprises that the Universe has for you. This is a day for joy and laughter, even in things that might on the surface not seem so positive. You will get it as the day unfolds.
Today is a day of endings and beginnings. It is important that you know the difference. It is important also that you have some concept of where it is that you are wanting to go as this year enters its last quarter. This was a year of changes and decisions. Now it is time to move forward with new intentions and a strongly set direction. Take time today to go within and to acknowledge all that you have accomplished to this point. Take time to see the pieces of the pattern and to know that you hold within yourself all the other pieces to make that pattern become what it is you are wishing to create. This is a large task and one not taken on lightly for there have been many trials, upsets, tears and laughter this year, and now you have the opportunity to bring forth the form of the essence of WHO you are.
Is Your Food Expired? Don’t Be So Quick to Toss It
September 30, 2013 |
Story at-a-glance
‘Use by’ and ‘best by’ dates on food are only an indicator of peak freshness, not a measure of food safety
In many cases, foods are still safe to eat even after these dates have expired
Forty percent of the US food supply is thrown away uneaten every year because of expired food dates, even though the food is often still safe
‘Sell by’ dates aren’t meant for consumer use at all; they’re intended to help retailers ensure proper product turnover
The greatest factor impacting whether your perishable food has spoiled isn’t total storage time but rather how much time it spends in the temperature ‘danger zone’ (between 40-120 degrees F)
By Dr. Mercola
Forty percent of the US food supply is thrown away uneaten every year because of expired food dates, but a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Harvard suggests that most of that food is still safe to eat.1
Labels like ‘use by’ and ‘sell by’ on foods aren’t actually an indicator of food safety, as many believe them to be, and, the report found, more than 90 percent of Americans are throwing out food prematurely because of misunderstandings of what food dates actually mean. In short, many foods are still safe to eat even after they’re expired.
There is Only ONE National Regulation on Food Dating
While both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have the authority to regulate food dating, neither does, with the exception of infant formula (the only food product with a federally regulated date label, as the nutrients in the formula decline over time).
The rest of the food market has no such federal dating regulations, and the end result is a veritable free for all, with some states requiring food dates and establishing selling restrictions based on them and others not.
For instance, 20 states restrict stores from selling products after the use by dates while 30 do not. As the report highlights, are the people in the 20 more restrictive states better off? Most likely not …
Adding to the confusion, even when products are regulated, the rules vary by state and even then definitions are vague and provide little usefulness, if any. According to the report:
In Florida, all milk and milk products “shall be legibly labeled with their shelf-life date,” but shelf life date is never defined.
In California, milk is required to have a date that the processor decides is the date “to ensure quality, such product is normally removed from the shelf” but sale after that date is not restricted.
In Montana, milk must have a “sell by” date within 12 days of pasteurization, while Pennsylvania requires it within 17 days.
In New Hampshire, a “sell by date” is required for cream but not milk.
New York, Texas, and Wisconsin, among many other states, have no requirements for date labels on milk or dairy.
There is No Way for You to Know How a ‘Use By’ Date is Calculated
It’s not only what happens to products after a ‘use by’ or ‘best by’ date has been applied that’s confusing. Even the creation of the date itself is subject to incredible variance and, ultimately, is up to individual product manufacturers to determine.
Again, while most assume such dates are used as a means for food safety, most manufacturers view them as a tool to protect their product’s reputation. They want you to consume their product at its peak freshness and flavor, which means many set food dates conservatively.
Yet, the food is many times still safe to eat after the date expires, often with minimal, if any, changes in taste or texture. Even the methods used by manufacturers to set food dates vary. The report explained:
“Some use lab tests, others use literature values, and yet others use product turnover rates or consumer taste testing … In consumer testing, some manufacturers will allow for a level of change in quality over time before setting a date limit, whereas others set them more conservatively
… Thus, while open dating appears on the surface to be an objective exercise, consumer preferences and brand protection impact the way most of these dates are determined. In most cases, consumers have no way of knowing how a “sell by” or “use by” date has been defined or calculated, and the method of calculation may vary widely by product type, manufacturer and geography.”
So a package of cheese or a box of crackers may have different ‘use by’ dates simply depending on which brand you choose, or where they’re purchased.
Food Dates Do Little to Protect You
The researchers concluded that food dates generally lead to good food getting thrown away, and may at the same time prompt you to eat a food that’s actually spoiled because of ‘undue faith in date labels.’
to read more, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/30/food-expiration.aspx?e_cid=20130930Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20130930Z1
This is a day of opposites when what looks large is actually much smaller than what might appear to be lesser. This means that you must use your discretion in things that are happening today. This is not time for decision making because there is not enough information for you to make an informed decision. There are those out there who are aware of this vibration and who can be attempting to pull you into agreeing with something that you do not really understand. Step away from anyone or anything that is attempting to pressure you. Their agenda is not necessarily in your best interest. It is time to be strong, to stand in your own power. You can do it. You have incredibly deep reserves of power and a great strength of intuition. It may be time to let you logical mind step back and allow your intuitive to set the course.
There is a lot of pressure today to fall into a kind of lethargy, reverie, to think that all is well, things are find, life is good. And actually, that would be great, but there is a lot happening under the surface today. It has to do with what it is you are truly wanting to do at this point in time. You have been finding out that a lot of the things that you thought were so great, so wonderful are in fact just illusory. That can be a shocker, but following upon that, it is quite possible that you have been having a shifting in your relationships, in your friendships. You might be feeling a bit out of sorts today, and that is okay. You are right now beginning to establish a new pattern and a new way. It is always hard to leave the past behind, but there can be some really interesting and intriguing things happening today that can change your focus and you expectation and allow you to look to the future with anticipation.
You can find that a lot of things will be missing today. You can put something down, and when you turn to get it, it has disappeared. You can run to the bus stop, only to find it has just left. You can have an appointment and one or more of the people involved will have made a scheduling mistake. You can plan to make brownies, and find that you are out of the most necessary ingredient. So, there are lessons in all of this right now. The energies are sending everyone into a time in which you will have to be able to come up with a quick and effective Plan B. Today is kind of a practice for all of that. There can be some mistakes, there can be some laughter, but all in all, it will be a most valuable learning experience
Last updated on September 26, 2013 at 12:00 am EDT by in5d Alternative News
I found this on Facebook and thought I would share it with everyone
Most people are watching their dollars and working off a budget to make ends meet. Many are also now looking for natural alternatives to live a more wholesome and chemical free life. Following are a few ways in which you can have both of the above. These uses are becoming more prevalent and are easy to do it yourself. So, here are simple, easy uses for common household items to make your life more chemical free and your wallet a little fatter.
1) Toothpaste: Buff a CD/DVD
Apply toothpaste to a cotton ball and wipe the disc. Wash with water afterwards and you’ve got a brand new disc!
2) Cornstarch: Untangle Knots
Sprinkling cornstarch into tough knots, such as shoe laces helps loosen them.
3) Walnut: Buff Dings out of Wood Furniture
Get rid of unsightly scratches and dings on wood furniture by rubbing a walnut on the areas. The blemishes will vanish quickly and your furniture and pocket book will be saved.
4) Club Soda: Make Your Breads Fluffier
When baking, where recipes call for water, add club soda instead to make pancakes, waffles and any other breads fluffier.
5) Salt: Keep Windows Frost Free
Pour a cup of salt into a liter of water. Sponge the liquid onto the inside of window to prevent frost from forming during the winter months.
6) Rubbing Alcohol: Remove Permanent Marker
Dab the surface that has the permanent marker on it with a cloth or cotton ball covered in rubbing alcohol to make it disappear quickly.
7) Chap stick: Stops Bleeding When Nicked Shaving
Cut yourself shaving? Just swipe some chap stick over the cut to stop that constant bleeding. No more tissue squares!
Apple Juice: Removes Dandruff
Don’t ask how it works, but it does! Instead of buying a special shampoo, just wash your hair in apple juice to rid your scalp of pesky dandruff.
9) Aspirin: Get Rid of Armpit Stains on T-Shirts
Grind up an aspirin tablet or two, then make a paste out of it using water, lemon or vinegar. Spread the paste on the stained area and let sit for an hour before washing.
10) Olive Oil: Make Pets’ Coat Shinier
Add a bit of olive oil to your pet’s food to give them a healthier, shinier coat of fur.
11) Newspapers: Clean Windows and Mirrors
Instead of using a spray and a streaky cloth, use only newspaper to clean off your mirrors and windows for a streak-free finish.
12) Baking Soda: Remove Bugs from Windshield
Mix baking soda with warm water to make a paste. Spread the paste over your windshield for fifteen minutes. Then wipe or spray off with a hose.
13) Bleach: Extend Life of Flowers in Vase
Add a few drops of bleach to vase water to prevent the build-up of the slime caused by bacteria. It works just like chlorine in a swimming pool.
14) Kitchen Dish Soap: Flea-Killing Dog Shampoo
Kitchen dish soap (not dish detergent) can double as dog shampoo for its flea killing abilities.
15) Coke: Remove Blood Stains from Clothing
Soak the stain in coke until the stain is dissolved, then wash the clothing as usual. Wash before the coke dries, though.
16) Honey: Remove Blemish Overnight
Have a blemish you need to get rid of by tomorrow? Put a dab of honey on the blemish and cover it up (it’s best to use a Band-Aid) and the honey’s natural antibacterial properties will clean out the bacteria by the morning.
17) Wax Paper: Clean Can Opener Gears
Run a few small strips of wax paper through the can opener to clean out of the bits and pieces that have built up in the gears throughout the year. The wax will also rub off on the gears to protect for future use as well.
18) WD-40: Remove Crayons from Walls
Use the lubricant and a cloth to remove stubborn crayon marks from the walls just by spraying the wall and wiping with a cloth.
19) Chalk: Keep Ants and Slugs Out of the House
Ants and Slugs Won’t Touch Chalk. So, simply draw a line in front of your doorway where you are having problems with these pesky critters and they won’t cross it, meaning they won’t be able to get into your house.
20) Vinegar: Kills Weeds and Helps Flowers Grow
Vinegar is a magic wonder when it comes to gardening. It not only kills weeds but they help flowers grow as well. Douse vinegar all around your garden to prevent weeds from popping up and to help your flowers to grow healthy and strong.
21) Mayonnaise: Remove Bumper Sticker
Spread mayonnaise on the bumper sticker and let sit for at least thirty minutes. Then, rub the sticker off with a towel, leaving a clean bumper!
22) Tin Foil Ball: Replace Dryer Sheets Permanently
Instead of using a dryer sheet ball up one or a few sheets of tin foil and toss it in the dryer. It removes the static electricity from your clothes and one can last up to a year.
23) Banana Peel: Polish Leather Shoes
Use the inside of a banana peel to give shoes a professional and natural shine that will last for quite some time.
24) Mouthwash: Cure Athlete’s Foot
Pour mouthwash on cotton balls and then swab your feet. The alcohol will disinfect the bacteria completely if you continue this for a week or so.
25) Baking Soda: Clean BBQ Grill
Mix a cup of baking soda with half a cup water to make a paste. Dip your brush into the paste and scrub the grill. The caked on pieces and black residue will come off much quicker and using baking soda is much safer and cheaper than using cleaning chemicals.
26) Coffee Grounds: Fertilizer
Coffee is full of nutrients and vitamins that are very beneficial to soil. That’s why some people include it in compost piles. If you want to get the most out of your coffee, pour the grounds on areas where you want more grass or flowers.
27) Olive Oil: Shaving Cream
The smoothness of the oil can replace the need for shaving cream, and it also provides great moisture.
28) Dryer Sheets: Gets Rid of Static Electricity
Use dryer sheets to remove static electricity from things such as clothing, TV screens or your own hair. Tame fly away strands by running a dryer sheet over them.
29) Freezer: Freeze Candles to Make Them Last Longer
Put candles in the freezer for at least 2 hours before using. Once you burn them, the wax will melt at a much slower pace, making them last much longer!
30) Two glasses of water: Cure Headache
Water is the cure to most common headaches. To make the headache go away quickly, drink two cups of water very quickly.
31) Lemons: Deodorize Garbage Disposal
Toss whole slices of lemon into the garbage disposal then run it. The acidity of the lemon will rid your sink of all odors and leave a fresh scent that usually lasts for a few months.
32) Alka Seltzer: Remove Burnt-On Grease and Food Stains
When letting your pots and pans soak, throw in one or two Alka Seltzer tablets and the caked on residue from cooking will come off easily when you scrub/wash.
33) Apple Cider Vinegar: Relieve Diarrhea
Mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into eight ounces of water to soothe your stomach. The taste may not be the greatest, but the antibacterial properties of the vinegar will end the unpleasantness of the bowel problems.
34) Toothpaste: Remove Scratches from Glass
Apply toothpaste to scratch, then rub with a cloth until the scratch is gone. Make sure the glass is clean beforehand.
35) Cheerios: Relieve Pain from Poison Ivy, Chickenpox and Sunburns
Pound one to four cups of Cheerios into a powder and add to your bath to soothe your skin while you soak. You may not feel relief while in the tub, but you will soon after.
36) Buttons: Sort Earrings
Organize your earrings and prevent them from becoming entangled by using spare buttons as holders for each pair.
37) Corn Oil: Prevent Hairballs for Pets
Add a few drops of corn oil to your pets’ food to prevent hairballs from forming. The thick oil helps the fur pass through the animal’s system much quicker and easily.
38) Whipped Cream: Remove Gum from Hair
There are many remedies for removing gum from hair, but this is a lesser known one. Give it a try rather than peanut butter the next time you’re in need.
39) Coke: Remove Oil Stains from the Driveway
Oil stains are very difficult to remove pavement, but one method guaranteed to work is Coke. The highly acidic drink will eat away at the oil until clean.
40) Brown Sugar: Facial Scrub
A scrub is good to do about once a month to remove dead skin and bacteria built up in pores and remove excess oil from the skin. Brown sugar does just as well as expensive products and will definitely result in a clearer and smoother complexion.
41) Dryer Sheet: Lint Brush
You already know that dryer sheets remove lint in the dryer. Well, it can do the same thing out of the dryer, too. When you’re in a fix, use a dryer sheet. It works just as well as a lint brush, and if you like the scent, it’s an added bonus.
42) Newspaper: Deodorize food containers and Food Drawers in the Refrigerator
For that stinky Tupperware or smelly refrigerator drawer that is too much to deal with, toss in a sheet of newspaper overnight before you deal with it. The paper will absorb the smell greatly reducing it or eliminating it completely.
43) Olive Oil: Unstick a Zipper
The oil will help the zipper slide more easily, fixing the problem!
44) Salt: Cool Something Quickly
You know that feeling when you’re having a BBQ and someone asks for a drink and you realize that no one has put them in the cooler? There’s nothing worse than a warm drink on a hot day. Chill a drink quickly, by adding salt and water to your ice. The drinks will be cold in a matter of minutes; saving your party and making you look smart all at once.
45) Scotch Tape: Prevent Wall from Chipping When Nailing
The wall can leave unsightly chips when hammering in a nail. Prevent this by simply placing a piece of scotch tape over the area you’re going to nail. The wall will be held tighter, preventing chips from occurring.
46) Alka Seltzer: Soothe Insect Bites
Dissolve two tablets into a glass of water. Then use a cloth or cotton ball to apply it to the affected area. The red will go down and most importantly, the itchiness will vanish usually in fifteen minutes.
47) Lemon: Whitens Whites
Add about half a cup of lemon juice to your load of whites to makes them extra white. You can use lemon juice with bleach or detergent, so don’t worry about mixing chemicals with the acidic lemon.
48) Banana Peel: Whiten Teeth
This may sound a little odd, but rub the inside of a banana peel on your teeth twice a day for two weeks and you will receive the same effect from a teeth-whitening kit. Plus, you’ll save yourself money and the hassle of using chemicals.
49) Hair Dryer: Free Photos Stuck on Pages
If you have a photo stuck on a page that you can’t get free, try using a blow dryer on the back of the page. It will loosen the photo from the page and the adhesive holding it there.
50) Banana Peel: Heal Most Skin Problems
Bananas are the magical fruit, because they heal many common problems on the skin. By rubbing the peel on your skin, you can heal bruises and cuts and eliminate rashes, itching and warts. Basically if you have a common skin problem, it can be cured by this fruit.
Why is Obamacare so unaffordable? Because it was conceived as a political weapon of mass economic destruction
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Right now, all across America, employees are receiving notices that their insurance coverage is being dropped because it isn’t “compliant” with Obamacare. Simultaneously, employers everywhere are slashing jobs, cutting hours and downsizing their operations just to stay afloat by avoiding the most punishing requirements of Obamacare. Across the economy, Obamacare is devastating American workers and casting tens of millions of people into a state of despair.
Why is Obamacare — the “Affordable Care Act” — so unaffordable? Why is it causing jobs, hours and insurance policies to be gutted all across America? Because it was designed as a political weapon to destroy private sector jobs so that more people would become dependent on government entitlements, food stamps and welfare programs.
Mass victimization is a political strategy, and Obamacare is the weapon
It’s time you learned the truth about Obamacare and how victimization is a political “weapon of mass destruction.” The Democratic party thrives primarily on victimization. The more destitute workers become, the more they demand handouts from politicians, and no party is more willing to widely distribute handouts than the Democratic party. Ensnaring people in a cycle of poverty and dependence is the democrats’ long-term re-election strategy. The more people who live in poverty, in other words, the more powerful the Democrats become.
(In fairness, the Republicans’ long-term re-election strategy is to ensnare nations in endless wars, conflict and engineered terrorism. But that’s another article altogether. For the record, I endorse the platform of the Canary Party.)
Because of this dynamic, the Democratic party is terrified by individuals who can take care of themselves. Self-empowered people quickly learn they don’t need as much government in their lives, and they tend to vote for smaller government. But people who are in a state of constant crisis from losing their job, getting their hours cut or losing their health insurance automatically turn to big government for help. They demand more government and more assistance programs, and this reliably translates into more democrats getting voted into office on election day.
From the very start, the Obamacare plan was to thrust American workers into a state of despair and panic by making health insurance all but unaffordable to employers. To top off the scheme, the entire charade was named the “Affordable Care Act” to fool the masses into initially supporting it. (Beware of the name of any 1,000-page act passed by Congress. They are almost universally named the opposite of what they actually accomplish…)
The ploy succeeded, and now millions of American workers are just beginning to wake up and realize, “Hey! We’ve been lied to!”
The real disaster begins October 1
Just how bad is Obamacare, really? It’s so bad that Congress recently conspired with the White House to make sure all members of Congress are exempted from its core mandates. This means Congress won’t be using the same health care system they have forced upon everyone else. How’s that for integrity?
In just a few days, the nation is going to find out just what a mess Obamacare really is. October 1 is the day the so-called “Obamacare exchanges” are supposed to be open for business. It’s also the day when the train wreck really begins, so expect all sorts of glitches, failures, privacy breaches and other electronic problems to appear.
In the exchanges that do work, you’re going to find sky-high prices for coverage that, in many cases, double or triple what you’ve been paying. How’s that for “affordable care?”
In an effort to cover up the reality of all this, the Obama administration has been cherry picking numbers from selected examples and publicizing those to try to deceive the country into thinking those are the rates everyone else will be paying, too. In reality, health insurance rates are going to shock the nation in a week or so, and at that point the false cover-up can no longer be maintained. Expect the mainstream media to pull another Orwellian sleight-of-mind trick and try to convince people that their doubled or triples health insurance rates are somehow “lower.” (This trick might actually work, since most voters are utterly unable to do math anyway. Concepts of “higher” or “lower” may no longer be comprehended by the average American worker / voter.)
As I write this, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is engaged in an all-night action in the U.S. Senate that looks a lot like a filibuster. He’s demanding that Obamacare be de-funded as a condition for passing a higher debt ceiling for federal spending. The House has already voted to de-fund Obamacare, and it looks like Republicans and Democrats are once again playing chicken to see who will take the blame if the government really does get shut down.
The correct answer is that Republicans will be blamed because the mainstream media is still in Obama’s back pocket even as he has pushed America’s national debt way past $16 trillion. But because mainstream reporters can’t do math and have no idea what a “trillion” really is, these mathematical realities don’t compute with them, and the brush off the whole concept of national debt as if the laws of economics could be selectively ignored at will.
Obamacare is only the first wave of economic destruction headed our way
The bottom line in all this comes down to the following:
1) Obamacare is unleashing an economic nightmare across America. Workers are being punished across the board, losing their jobs, their work hours and their insurance policies. This is happening precisely because Obamacare makes it unaffordable for many employers to cover all the required health care costs. Welcome to the “part-time society!”
2) For most people — but not everyone — Obamacare insurance rates will be much higher than what they’ve been paying. Why is this the case? Because the Obamacare system preserves and protects the Big Pharma monopoly, shoveling billions of dollars into drug companies each year under the guise of “medical treatment.” Instead of reducing health care costs, the Obamacare system is actually focused on helping Big Pharma profit from a sick-care system of ongoing chronic disease.
3) Ultimately, the financial end of America grows ever closer with each passing day. This system of unlimited debt, unlimited entitlements and unlimited spending will, of course, come to a catastrophic end. How do I know this? Because it is a simple fact of reality that all things which are unsustainable must, at some point, end. And when it comes to debt, the longer the denial, the more devastating the wake-up call.
Today, the federal government’s out-of-control debt spending is, by all accounts, unsustainable. The only real question is how long they can keep the faith-based Ponzi scheme running before the world’s central banks decide to start dumping U.S. treasury debt on the open market, at which point the house of cards implodes almost overnight.
4) Because of point #3, above, the final fact on all this is that Obamacare won’t really matter in the long run anyway because the entire federal government is headed for a debt implosion which will very likely end in some sort of wholesale downsizing of government. The insanity you are witnessing right now is indicative of the final chapter of a failed government on the verge of collapsing into ruin. When that day arrives, expect short-term social chaos followed by long-term abundance as principles of economic liberty are finally restored.
Have a backup plan
Please understand there is no turning back for America now. Power-hungry politicians and a brain-dead mainstream media have held us all hostage to an agenda of planned economic destruction. At this point, there is no reform that can halt the inevitable implosion. The dominoes are falling and cannot be stopped. As much as I admire the backbone of real constitutional leaders in Washington like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, they are nonetheless too little, too late.
As I’ve said for the past year or so, the real focus for the rest of us should be how to survive the day that the federal food stamp program is turned off. The day the food stamp benefit cards stop working is the day a countdown is initiated that will end in riots rolling out across every major U.S. city. That countdown might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 – 9 days, give or take. It all depends on how hungry people get and whether the weather is hot or cold. (Hot weather leads to far more riots. Cold weather tends to keep people inside. The most dangerous scenario is economic collapse during the summer months.)
I urge you to realize that America is quite literally one database away from collapsing into social chaos. (The SNAP food stamp database.) When the funds are turned off from that database, and tens of millions of SNAP debit cards stop working across America, that’s the day you’ll understand just how much damage Obama and others like him have done to our nation.
Prepare now and be safe, folks. The insanity has only just begun. It’s gonna get a whole lot crazier before things turn around.
(NaturalNews) Golden rice is being touted by GMO advocates as a miracle cure for blindness and death. It is claimed that golden rice is genetically engineered to produce higher levels of beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A, preventing blindness and death. These claims, however, have no basis in fact and are utterly unsupported by any scientific evidence whatsoever. In fact, those pushing golden rice are doing so as a matter of intense faith rather than science. This is especially noteworthy because those pushing it are staunch enemies of “faith” and claim to be operating solely based on science.
That’s why I’ve assembled a list of ten glaring contradictions in the arguments of golden rice advocates, nearly all of whom have financial ties to the GMO biotech industry.
Here are ten important things golden rice advocates won’t tell you about the unscientific faith in an untested, unproven Frankenfoods experiment:
#1) There is no scientific basis to claim that the beta carotene artificially produced in golden rice survives storage and cooking to actually be absorbed by those who eat it
No clinical trials have ever been conducted showing that the beta carotene engineered into golden rice actually makes its way from harvest, to storage, to cooking and into the human body intact. There is no evidence to support any claim that golden rice, when grown and harvested in the traditional manner of southeast Asian cultures, will actually raise levels of beta carotene in the bodies of those who eat it.
We cannot simply assume that an artificially-induced phytonutrient will survive harvesting, storage and cooking to deliver the claimed impact on human health unless it is extensively studied. The studies that have been done on golden rice and beta carotene consumption were conducted under laboratory conditions, not real-world conditions.
#2) Golden rice advocates utterly ignore the environmental risks of genetic pollution
There are no scientific studies whatsoever to show that the open-field cultivation of genetically engineered golden rice is safe for the environment. The risk of genetic pollution that might contaminate and alter neighboring rice populations has been callously and irresponsibly ignored by golden rice advocates. (This is part of the “faith” requirement to join the Church of Biotechnology.)
There is also risk that this alteration of golden rice may have unintended consequences such as creating new vulnerabilities to pests or microbial infections. These risks are routinely dismissed by golden rice advocates as if they did not exist. Murphy’s Law tells us that good intentions often have unintended negative consequences. To pretend they do not exist is the height of scientific irresponsibility.
#3) There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the claim that golden rice can “prevent blindness” or “prevent death” as is being widely claimed
Where are the clinical studies for such a claim? They do not exist. With claims that it can prevent blindness or death, golden rice is now being positioned as a drug (see below) with specific medical benefits. Where are the clinical trials that prove such benefits exist at all?
Where is the science that assesses the possible side effects of human consumption of golden rice? Such studies do not exist. If golden rice is supposed to represent the best of modern science, then modern science is a tragic failure because the story of golden rice is one based almost entirely on wishful thinking — or as some skeptics call it, “Magic!”
Yes, golden rice is a “magical GMO crop” that cures disease and saves people from death. How do we know this? Because the GMO pushers essentially tell us we should all believe in magic. Golden rice magic!
(Notice how their pet projects never need any actual science to back them up? But when they criticize medicinal herbs, even a massive collection of scientific evidence is always declared to be “unconvincing.”)
#4) Claiming that golden rice can prevent blindness or death automatically turns golden rice into an unapproved drug according to current FDA regulations. All golden rice claims are actually “drug claims”
The very same people who promote golden rice also tend to be so-called skeptics of nutritional therapies, medicinal herbs, superfoods and phytonutrients. They insist that there is no such thing as any nutrient, vitamin, mineral or food that has any therapeutic effect on the human body whatsoever. (This is the official position of the FDA and nearly all mainstream science skeptics.)
Yet, magically, their golden rice is exempt from any skepticism. All claims about golden rice are automatically believed to be truth as a matter of faith, not fact, and those claims include outlandish therapeutic drug claims which are illegal under current FDA regulations.
If I grew golden rice and sold it at the Natural News Store with claims that it could prevent blindness and halt death, I would be almost immediately sent a stern warning letter by the FDA and possibly also the FTC. If I continued to sell the “magic” golden rice with such claims, the FDA would very likely raid my facility, sieze all product inventory, and have me arrested at gunpoint and charged with “drug crimes” for “selling unapproved drugs.”
According to the FDA, unless golden rice is tested and approved as a drug for preventing blindness and death, it cannot be sold or marketed with such claims. And the real catch-22 is that if this magical golden rice is actually approved as a therapeutic drug, then it would only be available by prescription, not as a common food. Because, again, the FDA says that no foods have any ability to prevent, treat or cure any disease or medical condition. Including blindness.
Is it the intention of the golden rice proponents to seek and acquire FDA approval for the food as a therapeutic drug that can treat specific medical conditions? If not, then proponents of this magical golden rice are engaged in medical fraud by making unsupported drug claims.
#5) Golden rice advocates selectively believe that unproven drug claims can be made only for golden rice, but that vitamins and minerals in all other foods have no medical benefit whatsoever
All the health claims being made for golden rice are far better applied to carrots and canteloupe — both are foods that naturally and holistically contain beta carotene. But if I pen an article on the internet that claims “carrots can prevent blindness in children,” I will be viciously attacked by the very same people who are now claiming their magical golden rice achieves the same outcome.
The contradictory logic in the golden rice pushers collapses at the merest challenge. Apparently only their own magical, selected foods have nutritional benefits, but everybody else’s non-genetically-engineered foods are devoid of all benefits, if you believe their twisted logic.
#6) Golden rice is being used as a political wedge to try to dismantle safety regulations regarding genetically engineered foods so that the biotech industry can dominate global agriculture with patented GMO crops
Another glaring contradiction in the argument of golden rice advocates is that the biotech industries really aren’t interested in helping humanity in the first place. They are interested solely in corporate profits, and golden rice is a strategy to achieve the goal of global food domination and monopolization of seeds.
In effect, golden rice is an anti-regulatory battering ram designed to destroy regulations that currently limit the testing and deployment of GMOs. This is the goal: lower the regulations so that biotech can ramp up its global agricultural imperialism and invade every last nation on the planet with an army of intellectual property lawyers and a cabal of modified seed salespeople.
#7) Since when did GMO pushers ever believe in nutrition, anyway? If vitamin A deficiency is the cause of so much suffering, the answer is to teach populations how to grow a more diverse diet using sustainable agriculture practices
Biotech “scientists” frequently resort to the logical fallacy of false choice. In the context of golden rice, the false choice is that you either accept golden rice or thousands of people will die from malnourishment. This is a false choice because there are a multitude of other options which don’t run the risk of genetic pollution or unforeseen negative effects.
Sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, squash and spinah all contain high levels of the vitamin A precursor known as beta carotene. Solving the vitamin deficiency problem with populations in Asia is no more complicated than teaching them how to grow these sustainable crops using open-pollinated, non-patented seeds that can be shared generation after generation.
Golden rice is not needed at all.
#8) GMO agriculture is, almost by definition, highly toxic to the environment. The risks of genetic pollution and the widespread use of cancer-causing glyphosate in conjunction with genetically engineered crops present a far greater health risk to the world than any lack of vitamin A in rice
If the aim is to protect life and save human lives, GMO agriculture is precisely the wrong answer. It is based in large part on crops that have been engineered to grow deadly insecticides inside each kernel (GM corn).
In so-called “Roundup-ready” crops such as soybeans and cotton, highly toxic glyphosate poisons are sprayed indiscriminately on entire fields. This not only poisons the land, the streams and the rivers, it also results in the inevitable formation of incredibly threatening superweeds which then require even more toxic chemicals to eradicate.
GMO agriculture breeds superweeds in the same way antibiotics breed superbugs. According to the CDC, superbugs are right now killing 23,000 Americans each year. And this number is expected to rapidly multiply as last-ditch antibiotics become useless in the next few years.
#9) If the goal is to help humanity, why doesn’t the biotech industry give up all its patents on seeds?
As part of the strategy to use golden rice as a weapon to bring down GMO regulations, the industry has given up its intellectual property claims on golden rice. But it maintains its intellectual property claims on all other genetically engineered seeds. In fact, companies like Monsanto have been suing hundreds of farmers whose fields were contaminated with such seeds due to no fault of the farmer!
If the biotech industry really believes its products can “feed the world,” and if it really believes in doing good things for humanity, then why won’t it donate all its seed patents to humankind?
The answer is because the “humanitarian” cover story is a lie. The real aim of the biotech industry is to dominate the world seed supply and thereby dominate the food supply as well. This is an industry with a long history of violating human rights in its quest to destroy farming freedom and force its seeds upon nearly every nation of the world. To even think for a second that this industry has anything positive to offer humanity is a terrible mistake. Do not be seduced by golden rice into misunderstanding the true motives of the biotech industry.
#10) “Nutritional holocaust?” Or GMO death knell?
The golden rice website claims that not feeding children golden rice is equivalent to a “nutritional holocaust.”
Such a label is wildly contradictory, given the industry’s wholesale denial of the risk of unleashing a true genetic holocaust by tinkering with the genes of plants in unnatural ways.
The history of science is filled with horrible mistakes, unforeseen circumstances and costly lessons for those who have abandoned the precautionary principle. Good intentions alone do not ensure positive outcomes. This is evident with the history of Agent Orange (also manufactured by Monsanto), DDT, Bisphenol-A, flame retardants, thalidomide and countless other deadly oversights that have exacted a horrifying toll on humankind (see my video, below).
The genetic engineering of food crops in open fields is a foolish, unscientific practice that’s practically begging for a devastating response from Mother Nature.
Today, golden rice believers and faith-followers march forward with the same delusional confidence that once emanated from believers in antibiotics or DDT. When it comes to science, false confidence is exceedingly dangerous to humankind.
COMET ISON ON TRACK TO BECOME ‘IMPRESSIVE’: Amateur astronomers around the world are photographing Comet ISON as it approaches Mars in the predawn sky. The comet is not as bright as some forecasters expected. What does that mean for ISON’s future prospects? The answer may be found below this color photo of the comet obtained by UK astronomer Damian Peach on Sept. 24th:
Photo details: 17″ CDK with FLI-PL6303e camera. LRGB. L: 5x3mins. RGB: 1x2mins. Sun -18 to -14deg.
At the moment, Comet ISON is about as bright as a 14th magnitude star, which puts it one or two magnitudes dimmer than forecasts. Nevertheless, according to several experts speaking in a NASA video, Comet ISON is still on track to become an impressive sungrazer. John Bortle predicts ISON will rival Venus during the hours leading up to its closest approach to the Sun in November, while Matthew Knight notes that Comet ISON is brighter than Comet Lovejoy was at the same distance from the sun in 2011. As many readers remember, Comet Lovejoy went on to become a spectacular naked-eye object. Comet ISON might do the same.
