How Industry Money Keeps Unsafe Products in Wide Use — and the Public in the Dark

By Dr. Mercola

The recent federal lawsuit filed against former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg again highlights industry influence at the highest government levels.

Hamburg, her husband, Peter Brown, and Johnson & Johnson are charged with conspiracy, racketeering and colluding to conceal the dangers of the antibiotic Levaquin, made by Johnson & Johnson.¹

The suit was filed by Larry Klayman, a former federal prosecutor, who claims the parties concealed the drug’s dangers for financial gain. Peter Brown is an executive in the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, which held hundreds of millions of dollars of Johnson & Johnson stock. The suit charges that:²

“While Defendant Hamburg was FDA Commissioner, her husband, Defendant Brown’s annual income, not coincidentally, increased from a reported $10 million in 2008 to an estimated $125 million in 2011 and an estimated $90 million in 2012, due in whole or in part to Defendants’ racketeering conspiracy to withhold information about the devastating, life threatening, and deadly effects of Levaquin.”

Did Hamburg Conceal Drug Dangers for Financial Gain? 

Many safety questions arose after Levaquin’s 1996 approval, including the drug’s role in tendon ruptures (like its fluoroquinoline cousin Cipro), possible cell damage, links to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s, and permanent peripheral nerve damage.³

Only after Hamburg left the FDA did the agency put clearer warnings on Levaquin’s label says the complaint.

This is not the first time there have been questions about the relationship between the FDA’s drug decisions and Hamburg’s financial interests. In 2013, Hamburg verbally supported approval of the extreme opioid Zohydro despite its rejection by an FDA advisory board.

It is very rare that the FDA does not accept and follow an advisory board’s decision. Subsequently, 28 state attorneys general, reeling under their states’ opioid epidemics, urged the FDA to reverse the Zohydro decision.

Hamburg defended the Zohydro approval by saying that “100 million Americans” suffer from severe chronic pain, a fact that most public health experts not linked to drug companies dispute.

Yet Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund, also held significant stock in Alkermes, the maker of Zohydro, at the time, giving the appearance of a financial conflict of interest.⁴

Hamburg Has a Long History of Conflicts of Interest

Questions about financial conflicts of interest clouded Hamburg’s entire tenure. To be appointed, she had to agree to sell her stock and stock options in Henry Schein Inc., the largest seller of dental amalgam (mercury fillings) and a flu vaccine seller, and to recuse herself from regulatory matters affecting Schein.

While Hamburg sold her stock, she retained her stock options, which in a few weeks gained from being “under water” (no value) to having market value.

Under Hamburg’s leadership, the FDA refused to acknowledge the health dangers of mercury fillings in direct opposition to positions taken by the Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and a worldwide treaty addressing mercury dangers.

Under Hamburg’s leadership, the FDA rolled out pathetic, “voluntary” measures to control the use of antibiotics on farms, despite their clear link to antibiotic resistant bacteria and thousands of deaths a year.

In a Frontline News documentary, Hamburg contended that a voluntary approach is the most effective way to stop the excess use of antibiotics.

She was wrong. Voluntary measures have resulted in more antibiotics used by livestock operators who routinely use the drugs because they make livestock gain weight with less feed.

According to the FDA’s 2014 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals⁵ domestic sales and distribution of cephalosporins for food-producing animals increased by 57 percent between 2009 through 2014.

Lincosamide antibiotics like clindamycin increased by 150 percent and aminoglycoside antibiotics like gentamicin by 36 percent. (Aminoglycosides can have such serious side effects in humans, they are considered a last resort drug. It is shocking they are even considered for use in livestock.⁶)

Other Questions About Hamburg’s Tenure

Hamburg also moved to loosen the traditional conflict of interest rules that govern participants on advisory panels who are supposed to be independent.⁷ While waivers are sometimes issued, if an expert receives $50,000 or more from industry he or she is generally barred from the agency’s 50 or so expert panels.

But in 2011, Hamburg said the FDA was having trouble finding experts not taking money from industry, even though lists of conflict-free medical professionals were and are readily available from health watchdog groups.⁸

Finally, before leaving the FDA, Hamburg named Duke University’s Dr. Robert Califf as FDA Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco,^9,10 despite his thicket of financial links to the drug industry. He later succeeded Dr. Hamburg and became the new FDA Commissioner.

According to author disclosures listed in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,¹¹ between 2010 and 2013, Califf received grants that partially supported his salary from no less than 13 drug companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Roche.

He also did consulting work for an even longer list of drug companies and drug research organizations. The naming of Califf as FDA Commissioner despite at least 40 industry financial links including board positions¹² is the end of any pretense of a firewall between industry and the FDA.

Yet, when Hamburg was asked if she was surprised by Democratic opposition to Califf’s nomination she said, “I was a little surprised by that because he’s in fact never actually worked in industry, but his programs have been supported by industry dollars.

The world is changing and most academic research centers get money from companies to do clinical trials.”

Hamburg is right that clinical trials, contract research organizations, and institutional review boards are increasingly for-profit and run by industry. That’s precisely why we need a conflict-free FDA to regulate the lucrative but often dangerous drugs that arise from such arrangements.

Califf, for example, is known for defending the safety¹³ of Vioxx and leading trials for the blood thinner Xarelto, linked to 379 subsequent deaths.¹⁴

Duke University, where Califf directed clinical research until he moved to the FDA, is still recovering from a major research fraud scandal that resulted in terminated grants, retracted papers, and a 60 Minutes special.¹⁵

Former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding had a similar history of industry collusion. The CDC is charged with overseeing vaccines and drug companies and after her tenure there, she took a job as president of Merck’s vaccine unit.

Industry Conflicts Are Also Invading Media

Most people trust mainstream news outlets more than the FDA to tell them the truth about the safety of drugs and foods — but should they?

In a recent article for the magazine Undark, Paul Raeburn, former science editor at BusinessWeek and the Associated Press notes the increasingly popular “partnerships” between industry and news outlets. A recent conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. for example:¹⁶

“[T]itled ‘Lost in Translation: Is Science Explained Fairly in the Media?’ was the product of a partnership between Scientific American magazine and two commercial sponsors: Johnson & Johnson, and GMO Answers, a public information agency funded by members of The Council for Biotechnology Information, which includes the industry powerhouses BASF, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Syngenta, and Monsanto.

‘The conference was an example of what is now a widespread and growing practice in the publishing industry: the use of ‘branded partnerships’ to extended publishers’ reach and boost their income. While these arrangements might generate revenue, they also raise important questions about journalistic credibility.

After all, how can news outlets like Scientific American, a respected — even revered — source of science news, maintain the appearance of impartiality while accepting checks from companies they cover? And should respected journalists lend their names and reputations to such conferences by participating on the panels?'”

Scientific American has also helped “Celgene showcase its leadership in cancer innovation,” writes Raeburn, and has reviewed Caterpillar’s communications, including assisting “them in revamping their overall strategy.” The magazine has also partnered with the Biotechnology Industry Association on various projects says Raeburn.

While some participants at the conference told Raeburn the presence of respected journalists they knew would not be swayed by industry dollars reassured them the industry would not “taint” the conference, others expressed reservations. For example, GMO Answers is a slick organization created by the PR firm Ketchum for the Council for Biotechnology Information to “sell” the nation on the safety of GMOs. Is Scientific American now a Monsanto bedfellow?

Industry Money Squeezes Out Valuable Products From Smaller Companies

Clearly, the FDA’s big bucks, pay-to-play approval system buoys the agency’s budget with the drug industry’s seven-figure fees. Most people realize “pay-to-play” is how drugs like Zohydro and Xarelto get approved. But the corrupt system also prevents new and innovative products from getting to the market. Companies without deep pockets and crony links seldom if ever negotiate the FDA’s approval system.

New and exciting research is also suppressed through an academic and publications system that favors the status quo, says William A. Wilson in the magazine First Things.¹⁷

“In many fields, it’s common for an established and respected researcher to serve as ‘senior author’ on a bright young star’s first few publications, lending his prestige and credibility to the result, and signaling to reviewers that he stands behind it.

In the natural sciences and medicine, senior scientists are frequently the controllers of laboratory resources — which these days include not just scientific instruments, but dedicated staffs of grant proposal writers and regulatory compliance experts — without which a young scientist has no hope of accomplishing significant research.

Older scientists control access to scientific prestige by serving on the editorial boards of major journals and on university tenure-review committees. Finally, the government bodies that award the vast majority of scientific funding are either staffed or advised by distinguished practitioners in the field.”

Fraudulent Research Threatens Entire Field of Science

The same system can also encourage misleading or even fraudulent research when so many paychecks and egos are affected, notes Wilson, and it may explain why so much published research proves non-reproducible.¹⁸

“The ‘bad’ papers that failed to replicate were, on average, cited far more often than the papers that did! As the authors [a group of cancer researchers] put it, ‘some non-reproducible preclinical papers had spawned an entire field, with hundreds of secondary publications that expanded on elements of the original observation, but did not actually seek to conform or falsify its fundamental basis.’

What they [the researchers] do not mention is that once an entire field has been created — with careers, funding, appointments, and prestige all premised upon an experimental result which was utterly false due either to fraud or to plain bad luck — pointing this fact out is not likely to be very popular. Peer review switches from merely useless to actively harmful.”

From Vioxx to Paxil, to hormone replacement therapy and flame retardants, many dangerous products have rested on faulty research.¹⁹ Worse, much research discovered to be fraudulent, including instances where researchers actually went to prison, has never been retracted and still stands to mislead future generations.²⁰

For example, Dr. Richard Borison, former Psychiatry chief at the Augusta Veterans Affairs medical center and Medical College of Georgia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a $10 million clinical trial fraud conducted on unsuspecting veterans but his “U.S. Seroquel® Study Group” research is unretracted and cited over 300 times²¹ in subsequent research, including in medical textbooks.²²

It is not surprising that both the FDA and mainstream media have become industry captives failing to perform their sworn duties of protecting and informing the public because of their lucrative partnerships with industry. Unless there is a major system of reinvigoration, the spiral of compromised ethics will only continue.

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Toxic Chemicals Deemed Safe Due to ‘Chemical Safety’ Loopholes

By Dr. Mercola

The term “chemical safety” is an oxymoron of epic proportions, especially when it comes to the use in consumer products. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a classic example.

Exposure to this chemical — used widely in plastic products, canned goods and more — in utero has been linked to altered brain function and organ development. In adults, exposure may lead to cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and sperm damage.

Only after many years, and a plethora of published research showing its toxic effects, did some manufacturers begin to remove BPA from their products. Some governments also took action, such as that of France, which banned its use in food packaging, and the European Union, which banned it from baby bottles.

You can now find many plastic products available in BPA-free form, which seems like a victory for safety. That is, until you understand that this is nothing more than a bait-and-switch. Most BPA-free plastics contain another chemical, bisphenol S (BPS), in BPA’s place.

As its name implies, it’s very similar to BPA and, by some measures, may be even more toxic. There’s not enough research on BPS to know the extent of its risks, and companies are banking on it taking years before people get wind of BPS’ toxicity.

In the meantime, they’re laughing all the way to the bank with their profits from premium-priced BPA-free goods.

Why Chemical Bans Are Ineffective

Jonathan Latham, Ph.D., co-founder and executive director of the Bioscience Resource Project, revealed many of the chemical-safety failures plaguing the U.S.¹ Among them are the often-misunderstood realities surrounding chemical bans.

From 1945 to 2007, U.S. chemical production increased 15-fold. Over the years, once “standard” chemicals have been pulled from the market after health concerns were revealed. Some of the chemicals were even banned from the market.

Why does this ultimately do no good? Because the banned chemicals were, of course, quickly replaced with other chemicals that were supposedly safer, but which too often turn out to be toxic. Latham reported:

“The substitution of one synthetic chemical for another, wherein the substitute later turns out to be hazardous, is not a new story.

Indeed, a great many of the chemicals that environmental campaigners nowadays oppose (such as Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup) are still considered by many in their industries to be ‘newer’ and ‘safer’ substitutes for chemicals (such as 2,4,5-T) that are no longer widely used.

Thus, when the EU banned the herbicide atrazine, Syngenta replaced it with terbuthylazine. Terbuthylazine is chemically very similar and … appears to have similar ecological and health effects.

The chemical diacetyl was forced off the market for causing ‘popcorn lung.’ However, it has been largely replaced by dimers and trimers of the same chemical. Unfortunately, the safety of these multimers is highly dubious since it is believed that, in use, they break down into diacetyl.”

Rarely Discussed Limits to Chemical-Safety Testing

Very few chemicals on the market are tested for safety, but even those that are, are not necessarily safe. Standard toxicology tests involve administering chemicals for up to 90 days (typically to rats or mice fed a standardized diet).

The results are then used to form “estimates of harm” for other doses, age groups, species and environments. The problem is that many times there are gross errors in estimating what really happens when the chemicals are applied in the real world.

For starters, commercial chemicals are often impure and may be contaminated with heavy metals and other toxins. Further, real-world exposures are complex and vary depending on too many factors to control.

Then there is the issue of chemical cocktails — the simultaneous exposure to numerous environmental chemicals to which most people and animals are currently exposed.

Many commercial products, such as pesticides, also contain ingredients intended to amplify the products’ potency, or other so-called “inert” ingredients that cause their own toxic effects. Studies, however, only evaluate one active ingredient in isolation.

As a result, most research simply cannot predict the outcome of these real-world scenarios (or, should we say, ongoing experiments?). Latham explained:

“Returning to the specific case of BPA, no one appreciated until 2013 that the main route of exposure to BPA in mammals is absorption through the mouth and not the gut.

The mouth is an exposure route whose veinous blood supply bypasses the liver, and this allows BPA to circulate unmetabolised in the bloodstream …

Before this was known, many toxicologists explicitly denied the plausibility of measurements showing high BPA concentrations in human blood. They had assumed that BPA was absorbed via the gut and rapidly degraded in the liver.”

Sometimes Smaller Doses Are More Toxic

Another issue is that many studies assume a linear dose-response relationship for the chemical and any given effect. That is, they assume that if a chemical causes organ damage at 200 parts per million (ppm), it will cause greater damage at higher exposures and less damage at lower levels.

This is a dangerous assumption, because for many toxins, including some endocrine-disrupting chemicals, harm is exerted even at very small doses. Patricia Hunt, Ph.D., a geneticist at Washington State University, explained that endocrine disrupters like BPA, which act like hormones, “don’t play by the rules.”

Even low-level exposure — levels to which people are currently being exposed — may be enough to damage developing eggs and sperm, for instance.

In one of Hunt’s studies, researchers found disruptions to egg development after rhesus monkeys, which have human-like reproductive systems, were exposed to either single, daily doses of BPA or low-level continuous doses.²

Chemical Companies Are Running the Safety Show

To say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not an effective regulator is putting it mildly.

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which took effect in 1976, allows high-production volume chemicals to be launched without their chemical identity or toxicity information being disclosed.

It also makes it very difficult for the EPA to take regulatory action against dangerous chemicals. Also incredulous, the EPA allows chemical companies to conduct their own experiments and provide the data for chemical risk assessments.

Even after companies were found to be deliberately misleading the FDA about their study results, the EPA chose to turn a blind eye to the systemic corruption. Latham reported:

“In the 1980s, Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT) was the largest independent commercial testing laboratory in the United States.

FDA scientist Dr. Adrian Gross discovered that IBT (and other testing companies) were deliberately, consistently, and illegally misleading both EPA and the FDA about their results.

Aided by practices such as the hiring of a chemist from Monsanto, who manufactured them, to test PCBs, IBT created an illusion of chemical safety for numerous pesticides and other chemicals. Many are still in use. They include Roundup, atrazine and 2,4-D …

… More remarkable even than the scandal was EPA’s response. Instead of bringing testing in-house, which would seem the logical response to a system-wide failure of independent commercial testing, EPA instead created a Byzantine system of external reporting and corporate summarizing.

The resulting bureaucratic maze ensures that no EPA employee ever sets eyes on the original experiments or the primary data, and only a handful can access even the summarized results.”

Are the Problems Unfixable?

It’s clear that chemical-risk assessments do little to protect public health from dangerous chemicals, but can the problems be fixed? Latham believes the issues are “not just broken but unfixable.” Consider the complexities of testing multiple chemical cocktails.

Experts agree that in order to gauge the true risk of a chemical, it should be tested in combination with others to more closely replicate real-world exposures. Yet, U.S. National Toxicology Program data suggests testing the interactions between 25 chemicals for 13 weeks would require 33 million experiments and cost $3 trillion.³

Even if it were possible to accurately test chemicals by competent, unbiased institutions using experiments that mimic real-world exposures (which it isn’t), Latham raises a good point — would any chemical be deemed “safe”? He noted, “What is so unbelievable, after all, about proposing that all man-made chemicals cause dysfunction at low doses in a significant subset of all the biological organisms on earth?”

Congress Caves in to Chemical Companies in Toxic Substances Control Act Overhaul

An overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act is desperately needed, but an agreement recently reached doesn’t go far enough to protect Americans. On the bright side, the new agreement would give the EPA authority to require companies to provide safety data for untested chemicals and also prevent chemicals from coming to market if they haven’t been tested for safety.

As the Act currently stands, the EPA can only demand safety data if they can prove the chemical poses a risk. In the last 40 years, the EPA has required testing for just 200 (out of thousands) chemicals and taken steps to regulate just five.

One glaring problem is that the testing will still come from the industry itself. Another issue is that Congress caved in to industry and allowed a single regulatory system to oversee the industry, and also allowed companies the right to seek a federal waiver from the rules for certain chemicals.

Under the new agreement, states may lose their power to regulate chemicals they deem toxic. In return, language was inserted to allow states to restrict a chemical’s use only if the federal risk review takes more than 3.5 years. As The Washington Post reported:⁴

“The Environmental Working Group’s Scott Faber, the organization’s vice president for government affairs, said the EWG walked away from the bill because it represents ‘only a slight improvement’ on ‘the worst environmental law in the books.’”

Your Body Is Not a Toxin Dumping Ground

It’s virtually impossible to avoid all of the toxic chemicals in your environment, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit silently by while corporations use your home, your water, your air and your body as a convenient toxin dumping ground. Until change occurs on a global scale, you can significantly limit your exposure by keeping a number of key principles in mind.

• Eat a diet focused on locally grown, fresh, and ideally organic whole foods. Processed and packaged foods are a common source of chemicals, both in the food itself and the packaging. Wash fresh produce well, especially if it’s not organically grown.
• Choose pastured, sustainably raised meats and dairy to reduce your exposure to hormones, pesticides and fertilizers. Avoid milk and other dairy products that contain the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST).
• Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality krill oil, or eat fish that is wild-caught and at little risk of contamination, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, anchovies and sardines.
• Buy products that come in glass bottles rather than plastic or cans, as chemicals can leach out of plastics (and plastic can linings), into the contents; be aware that even “BPA-free” plastics typically leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are just as bad for you as BPA.
• Store your food and beverages in glass, rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap.
• Use glass baby bottles.
• Replace your non-stick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.
• Filter your tap water for both drinking and bathing. If you can only afford to do one, filtering your bathing water may be more important, as your skin readily absorbs contaminants. Most tap water toxins, including fluoride, can be filtered out using a reverse osmosis filter.
• Look for products made by companies that are Earth-friendly, animal-friendly, sustainable, certified organic, and GMO-free. This applies to everything from food and personal care products to building materials, carpeting, paint, baby items, furniture, mattresses, and others.
• Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove contaminated house dust. This is one of the major routes of exposure to flame-retardant chemicals.
• When buying new products such as furniture, mattresses or carpet padding, consider buying chemical-free varieties containing naturally less flammable materials, such as leather, wool, cotton, silk and Kevlar.
• Avoid stain- and water-resistant clothing, furniture, and carpets to avoid perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
• Make sure your baby’s toys are BPA-free, such as pacifiers, teething rings and anything your child may be prone to suck or chew on — even books, which are often plasticized. It’s advisable to avoid all plastic, especially flexible varieties.
• Use natural cleaning products or make your own. Avoid those containing 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME) — two toxic glycol ethers that can compromise your fertility and cause fetal harm.
• Switch over to organic toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants, and cosmetics. EWG’s Skin Deep database can help you find personal care products that are free of phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals.⁵
• Replace your vinyl shower curtain with a fabric one or use glass doors.
• Replace feminine hygiene products (tampons and sanitary pads) with safer alternatives.
• Look for fragrance-free products. One artificial fragrance can contain hundreds — even thousands — of potentially toxic chemicals. Avoid fabric softeners and dryer sheets, which contain a mishmash of synthetic chemicals and fragrances.

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The No. 1 Source of Pollution Might Surprise You

By Dr. Mercola

Air pollution is a significant health risk linked to the deaths of 3 million people annually.¹ According to the World Health Organization (WHO), of the cities that monitor air pollution, 80 percent have air quality that surpasses the minimum standards set by WHO.

Over the past two years, the database of cities that monitor pollution has nearly doubled. The increasing air pollution is linked to heart disease, lung cancer and acute and chronic respiratory conditions, such as asthma.

Particulate matter floating in the air at sizes smaller than the human eye can see gets inhaled deep into your lung tissue, triggering an inflammatory response and leading to health problems. It is both the particle and the composition of the particle that leads to health conditions and early death.

Single Biggest Cause of Air Pollution

The No. 1 cause of air pollution in much of the U.S., China, Russia and Europe today is linked to farming and fertilizer — specifically to the nitrogen component of fertilizer used to supposedly enrich the soil and grow bigger crops.²

A new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, demonstrated that emissions from farming far outweighs other sources of particulate matter air pollution.³ As nitrogen fertilizers break down into their component parts, ammonia is released into the air.

Ammonia is one of the byproducts of fertilizer and of animal waste. When the ammonia in the atmosphere reaches industrial areas, it combines with pollution from diesel and petroleum combustion, creating micro-particles.

Members of Parliament in the U.K. have called for taking diesel cars off the road and not allowing vehicles producing large amounts of emissions to travel in larger cities.

While these recommendations address one part of the equation, the pollution from combustion engines, Parliament has not addressed the much greater problems of pollution from agricultural concerns.

This may be in part because the issue is so difficult to tackle without making major changes to industrial agriculture.

Pollution from the combination of ammonia and combustion is diffuse, traveling long distances across county and country borders. Reducing the amount of industrial pollution is the preliminary means both the U.K. and the U.S are using to address this issue.

Soil Depletion

Over the past decades, the soil in many areas of the country has been depleted of rich carbon sources necessary to grow healthy plants.⁴ The result has been the use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers, contributing to air pollution and the loss of carbon from the soil.

At a very steady and alarming rate, industrial agricultural methods have been depleting the soil of rich nutrients and resources, faster than they can be replenished. At the current rate, some scientists are concerned that soil erosion will present a huge risk in the next 10 years.^5,6

The paper’s lead author and University of California Berkeley professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Ronald Amundson, Ph.D., says:

“Ever since humans developed agriculture, we’ve been transforming the planet and throwing the soil’s nutrient cycle out of balance.

Because the changes happen slowly, often taking two to three generations to be noticed, people are not cognizant of the geological transformation taking place.”⁷

The paper noted that soil erosion has accelerated since the Industrial Revolution and noted the supply of fertilizer as one of the key threats to the security of the soil to provide enough food.

The discovery of synthetic nitrogen production in the 1900s increased crop yields, but is very energy-intensive and dependent on fossil fuel.

Carbon loss in the soil is driven by land use. Tilling the soil, overplanting, drainage of peatlands and wetlands, deforestation, non-sustainable farming techniques, plowing and chemical fertilizers all contribute to the loss of carbon from the soil.^8,9

How Much Carbon Is Stored in the Soil?

The soil is a mass reservoir for carbon. Estimates are that 2,300 gigatons of carbon are stored in the top 3 meters of the Earth’s surface. One gigaton is equal to 1 billion tons.

Physical disruption of the soil, such as turning the soil or tilling, is one way that carbon from the soil is released into the air.¹⁰

With more recent research and a better understanding of how carbon sequestration in the soil affects the environment, more work is being done to study how land restoration programs may put carbon back into the soil and reduce the environmental effects.¹¹

Adequate levels of carbon in the soil are critical to the storage of nutrients in the soil, water retention, soil structure and microbial activity.¹² In other words, with declining soil carbon, the soil becomes merely dirt, unable to support plant growth.¹³

The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is found in the air, water and soil. It is important to plant growth. However, reactive nitrogen, a primary component in nitrogen-based fertilizers, is processed using large amounts of energy from coal and petroleum-burning engines, contributing to industrial pollution.

In the following step, when nitrogen is added to the soil in fertilizer form, it reduces the amount of sequestered carbon in the soil and affects the future ability of the soil to support plant growth.^14,15 A reduction in plant growth leads to soil erosion, making a vicious cycle.

Alan Townsend, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, says:

“The nitrogen cycle has changed on a global scale to a remarkable extent, but the rate at which that plays out locally is hugely variable. There are major hot spots at all of the industrialized nations of the world.

We’re seeing incredible increases [in reactive nitrogen use/production and resulting pollution] in the United States, much of Europe, and much of Asia and China now.

There are areas there, for example, that are seeing deposition from the atmosphere that is ten times or more what it was prior to human activity.

If you put a molecule of NOx in the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion or a molecule of ammonium on an agricultural field as a fertilizer, you have a whole series, or cascade, of effects that goes from acid rain to particle formation in the atmosphere …

… [D]ecreasing visibility and causing impacts on human health, acid rain, soil and stream acidification, coastal eutrophication, decreasing biodiversity, human health issues in groundwater, and nitrous oxide [N2O] emissions to the atmosphere, which impact the greenhouse effect and stratospheric ozone.”¹⁶

The Politics of Farming

Although oil and coal companies often don’t have a seat at the table when environmental policy is written, the same is not true for companies who manufacture and produce fertilizer when agricultural policy is considered.

The fortunes of fertilizer companies are wrapped closely in agribusiness and mining nitrogen gas from the earth.¹⁷ After world leaders convened at a conference in Paris, only one intergovernmental initiative to deal with agriculture was formed. Interestingly, this initiative was controlled by the world’s largest fertilizer company.

At the 2014 U.N. Summit on Climate Change, 29 of the founding members included three fertilizer industry lobby groups, a handful of organizations working with fertilizer companies and two of the largest fertilizer companies in the world, Yara of Norway and Mosaic of the U.S.¹⁸

Reducing or eliminating the use of chemical fertilizers may reduce greenhouse emissions by up to 10 percent. There are no technical barriers to eliminating the use of chemicals on the land, except the fertilizer habit. Regenerative farming techniques are not out of reach, just different from conventional agricultural methods.

While the fertilizer companies would like you to believe they have your best interests at heart, they are big business and primarily in the business of making money. In 2007, during the food price crisis, the fertilizer companies hiked their prices, citing an increase in the cost of raw materials. However, the profits for both Yara and Mosaic rose by a stunning 100 percent that year.¹⁹

Carbon-Based Farming

Regenerative agricultural processes are the key to reviving the quality of the soil on the Earth, increasing the food yield per acre and reducing the negative impact on the soil and the environment. The ability of the farmer to feed future generations is compromised a little more every year chemical fertilizers are used.

Soil science professor and founder of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at Ohio State University, Rattan Lal, Ph.D., believes carbon farming is the new agriculture, able to revive the soil and build organic soil carbon over time.²⁰

The process of carbon farming takes carbon dioxide from the air through land management practices, such as no-tilling and no nitrogen-based, chemical fertilizers, and transfers it to a pool of organic carbon in the soil. Other land-management practices include adding animal manure and compost to the soil, reducing water loss and conserving nutrients.

Farmer Gabe Brown, from Bismarck, North Dakota, uses these practices on his family farm. Since taking over in 1991, he’s improved the carbon reserve in the soil on his farm and the yield of crops per acre. Another strategy Brown uses is to plant oats and clover in the same field. Once the oats are harvested he releases livestock into the field to eat the clover and deposit manure.²¹

Lal emphasizes that carbon farming is not limited to large agricultural concerns, but can also be practiced at parks by state and local governments, large golf courses, erosion-prone areas, and even in your own backyard.

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EXCLUSIVE: Health Ranger launches new independent science journal for the expansion of human knowledge: The Natural Science Journal is now LIVE

(NaturalNews) As promised, I have three milestone announcements to make in the realm of science. The first of those announcements is a breakthrough achievement for independent science. In a world where nearly all so-called "science" is actually little more than corporate fraud and...

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STUDY: Ultra-low doses of Monsanto's Roundup cause massive gene alterations in lab rats, leading to other health problems

(NaturalNews) New research shows that ultra-low dose exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, causes massive gene alterations in lab rats, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Health.The report is the first in a series of studies...

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While insisting marijuana has no medicinal value whatsoever, government approves new drug derived from cannabis to treat multiple health conditions

(NaturalNews) Hypocrisy on the part of the FDA regarding the effectiveness of marijuana as medicine has once again been clearly documented as the agency - after insisting publicly for years that 'cannabis has no medicinal value' - is now ready to grant a license to GW Pharmaceuticals...

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Aspartame is a hidden schedule II narcotic

(NaturalNews) You're probably thinking, "Did I read the headline right?" or maybe, "Is the headline right?"The answer to both questions is "yes." Artificial sweetener aspartame is indeed a Schedule II narcotic, because the methanol in aspartame affects dopamine levels in the brain...

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Carbon footprint lunacy: Leonardo DiCaprio flies 8,000 miles on private jet to accept environmental award

(NaturalNews) Leonardo DiCaprio is one of Hollywood's most celebrated actors, staring in myriad blockbuster films including Titanic, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby, The Revenant and many others. Aside from his movies and endless...

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University students demand all grades below 'C' be nullified, and all midterms be eliminated

(NaturalNews) At many American universities, academic achievement is being sacrificed in favor of political correctness and activism; getting a solid education is no longer the main focus, as students are now demanding relaxed grading standards so that they have more time to engage...

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Are you chucking used batteries in the trash? Are you aware that they take two million years to decompose?

(NaturalNews) The average person generates around 4.3 pounds of trash per day – and you might be surprised at just how long it takes for it all to decompose.A recent litter cleanup campaign in Britain revealed that many types of trash take a lot longer to break down than...

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Socialized medical care in the UK is so inefficient that about 300K patients were given the wrong prescription drugs

(NaturalNews) The healthcare system in the United States isn't completely socialist – that is, fully government run – yet, but Obamacare pushed our system much closer to it than it previously was, and the trend is still heading that way. But, despite promises of "free...

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Not that far-fetched: China's reputation for toxic food forces them to publically address rumors about selling human flesh to Africa

(NaturalNews) No matter how outrageous a report about a food product made in China for domestic consumption or export may sound, based on the country's well-documented history of lousy quality control, you should never dismiss such reports out of hand.Like this one.As reported...

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Baby bison euthanized after clueless tourists separated calf from herd and put him into their vehicle because they thought it was 'too cold' outside

(NaturalNews) The recent "rescue" of a baby bison by tourists in Yellowstone National Park – an incident that led to the unfortunate calf being euthanized – has caused an internet furor, while also illustrating just how clueless many people are regarding wild animals and...

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Report: Government foster systems force deadly psychiatric drugs on thousands of helpless children

(NaturalNews) Thanks to efforts initiated by Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del.), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has conducted an official investigation into the use of psychiatric drugs among children living in the foster care system. The report, released in 2011, reveals...

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Crowdfunding Fills Construction Lending Gap Left by Banks

Crowdfunding websites are becoming an important piece of the real estate financing puzzle, especially for apartment developers who need a little extra debt or equity to complete their plans.

“Certainly from where they started, the growth of these crowdfunding portals seems exponential,” says Lee Weaver, senior vice president for Northmarq Capital, a commercial real estate debt and equity provider.

View entire article in National Real Estate Investor

To find out more about commercial mortgage financing options contact Liberty Realty Capital.

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Quaker Oats issues recall over Listeria concerns, just months after dealing with glyphosate poisoning allegations

(NaturalNews) Popular brand Quaker Oats announced earlier this month that there would be a voluntary U.S. recall of a small quantity of its Quaker Quinoa Granola Bars, due to the possible risk of Listeria contamination. The Quaker Oats Company, which is a unit of PepsiCo, said that...

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FDA-approved 'permanent' birth control causing lifelong recurring pain

(NaturalNews) When it comes to effectively preventing unwanted pregnancies, women simply don't have a lot of good options. Now, women who have turned to the permanent birth control procedure known as Essure in an effort to avoid the harmful effects of birth control pills, are finding...

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FDA expands access to dangerous miscarriage-inducing drug that kills unborn babies in later stages of development

(NaturalNews) Decisions like this one really ought to make it clear that, if you're an American, your government is populated by sycophantic lunatics who quite frankly don't have your best interests at heart.The Food and Drug Administration recently issued new guidelines that...

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Synergistic effects of walnuts shown to lower LDL 'bad' cholesterol, curb hunger and boost gut health without promoting weight gain

(NaturalNews) Walnuts are championed as an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids but disdained as a high-calorie food. Fortunately for walnut lovers, these nuts are a snack that won't necessarily make you fat. The preliminary results of a two-year study suggest that walnuts can...

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Cannabis innovators set out to map the marijuana genome: new information could prevent the sale of falsely advertised bud

(NaturalNews) "Jackpot!" exclaimed Mowgli Holmes, a 43-year-old geneticist with a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from Columbia University. He had just come across an old treasure from the 1930s, something that he could use to restore scientific knowledge regarding the medicinal...

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Stunned scientists finally admit Japan's high life expectancy linked to diet, not genes

(NaturalNews) To live a long, disease-free life is a dream we all have. While life expectancy has been slowly on the rise in developed countries, being free of diseases and disability, unfortunately, doesn't follow the same trend.However, a new study, published in the British...

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How the 'rampantly overused' ADHD label overlooks other REAL diseases

(NaturalNews) More than 6 million children aged 4 to 17 in the U.S. have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a condition characterized by impulsivity, as well as difficulty paying attention...

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The real reasons why so many people are suffering from chronic illness

(NaturalNews) Rates of chronic, non-infectious illness have exploded over the past 100 years, particularly in more affluent countries. The rapid pace of this change essentially guarantees that changes in lifestyle factors must be to blame.You already know the importance of exercise...

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Planned Parenthood brags about defeating law banning webcam abortions

(NaturalNews) Nearly 60 million babies have been aborted in the United States since the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade. The large majority of those lives were taken inside Planned Parenthood clinics around the nation – a taxpayer organization allowed to operate with impunity...

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Federal government lowers recommended fluoride levels in U.S. public water after fluorosis harm becomes undeniable

(NaturalNews) For years, anyone who questioned the efficacy of fluoridated water was cast to the lunatic fringe. Fortunately, concerns over fluoridated water, and its impact on childhood health, are beginning to be heard on a national level. Early last year, the federal government...

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Caramel Coconut Cream Pineapple Popsicles

Vacation and seeing friends is just the best, but I’m a homebody at heart. I love being home to my own home cooked meals, I love sitting in the backyard with my doggy, and I love my gyms workouts. I […]

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The 50-Year Cover-Up Killing Millions

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How the Zika Industry Was Born

By Dr. Mercola

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide $622 million to fight the Zika virus. Yet, by White House estimates, this is “woefully inadequate.” They’ve recommended directing $1.9 billion to fight this latest declared public health emergency.¹

I use the term emergency loosely here, as we’ve seen these types of overzealous responses before. First, a new threat is revealed. Remember SARS, bird flu, swine flu and Ebola? Or even the measles “outbreak” in 2015?

There was widespread fear, outrage and panic that the disease would sweep across the U.S., affecting populations from border to border. Calls for experimental drugs and vaccines were made and millions, if not billions, of dollars were spent. And for what?

In most cases, the diseases fizzled out on their own, exacting a far less sensational health toll than the media and, often, the government had you believe. In the case of swine flu, for example, the U.S. government ordered 20 million doses of the drug Tamiflu — costing $2 billion — to fight the pandemic that never was.

That drug has a shelf life of three years. Money well spent? Now they’re proposing another $1.9 billion to fight Zika — is this a case of history repeating itself?

Zika Virus: From Obscure Mild Illness to Booming Industry Virtually Overnight

Last year at this time, you probably had never heard of Zika virus. And if you had, you probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Most people infected with Zika virus won’t even know they have the disease because they won’t have symptoms.”²

Then the headlines started. Cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with unusually small heads, in Brazil were said to have surged from an average of about 150 suspected cases of microcephaly annually to more than 4,780 suspected cases from October 2015 to February 2016.

Although there does not appear to be any evidence prior to 2016 suggesting Zika virus might cause birth defects, the rise in microcephaly was blamed on Zika-carrying mosquitoes.

The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, presumably, have been in Brazil all along — so why is the sudden increase in suspected cases of microcephaly being blamed on that mosquito?

This is but one questionable factor in the Zika virus scare. At this point, Zika virus might be associated with birth defects, but causation has not been definitively proven.

In the U.S., for instance, there are about 25,000 infants born with microcephaly every year. The U.S. is not considered to be a region where Zika virus is endemic and, according to the journal Neurology:³

“Microcephaly may result from any insult that disturbs early brain growth and can be seen in association with hundreds of genetic syndromes.”

It may be too soon to rule out Zika virus as a contributing cause, but it’s also too soon to declare it a public health emergency and pull out all the stops to wage a very expensive war against it.

The Zika Industry Is Born

Whenever a new health emergency is announced, look to see who stands to profit from its creation. In this case, many players have come out of the woodwork, hoping to get a piece of the (potentially $1.9 billion!) Zika cash cow.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to gather another $56 million to combat Zika.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also announced two Zika grants totaling more than $2 million, which are going to the American Red Cross to support mosquito-control efforts and education in Brazil and to Chembio Diagnostics Systems, Inc., which is planning to develop rapid tests to diagnose Zika.⁴ As reported by The Vaccine Reaction:⁵

“It seems everybody wants in on the action. It is exciting to be one of the early pioneers in a brand new industry with lots of growth potential, particularly when it has such strong government support and when the prospects for mandated use of the vaccines are so promising … for the industry, that is.

There is already talk about Zika being with us forever and becoming one of those things against which we will routinely vaccinate.”

Race to Develop Zika Vaccine Prompts Guillain–Barré Syndrome Concerns

At least 18 companies are racing to develop a vaccine against Zika, but one expert on vaccines combating mosquito-borne diseases, Dr. Thomas Monath, has expressed major concerns.

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune disease that can cause paralysis. Cases of GBS have been rising in areas reporting Zika outbreaks, and there is some evidence that Zika might be triggering GBS.

The concern is, then, that exposure to Zika virus in a vaccine could trigger GBS as well, even if it’s a killed or inactivated form of virus. GBS is already a known vaccine reaction. It’s in the process of being added to the official Vaccine Injury Table.

(In order to win uncontested federal compensation for a vaccine injury, a person must prove he or she developed certain clinical symptoms and medical conditions on the table within a certain time frame of receiving a certain vaccine and that there is no more biologically plausible explanation for the vaccine-related injury or death.)

Research published in The Lancet journal suggested exposure to Zika virus may exacerbate the threat of GBS by 20-fold.^6,7

The CDC Is No Longer Credible

” … Practically everyone in the world knows about Zika and believes that the primary cause of babies being born with shrunken heads (microcephaly) and brain damage in Brazil is that their mothers were bitten by the Zika-carrying mosquito while they were pregnant,” The Vaccine Reaction reported. “Why does everyone believe that?” they continued.⁸

“Because public health officials at the U.S. Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) say so.

Forget that these federal health agencies have provided no solid scientific evidence of a causal relationship. That’s beside the point. It’s the CDC and NIH.”

Yet, time and time again we see evidence that what the CDC says isn’t always accurate. In fact, sometimes it’s blatantly wrong.

According to documents obtained by USA Today, one CDC-run laboratory had its permit suspended due to serious safety violations while working with viruses, bacteria and toxins (such as anthrax, plague and Ebola) that could be used as biological weapons.

CDC labs have been referred for “secret federal enforcement actions” six times because of serious or repeated violations. USA Today had to win access to the records via a Freedom of Information Act appeal. Prior to that, the CDC refused to answer questions about enforcement histories relating to its own labs.⁹

This isn’t the first time the CDC has been involved in safety violations. In 2014, as many as 84 scientists and staff members at a CDC biolab were exposed to live anthrax.

The live pathogen had been sent from a higher-security facility. Biosafety protocols were apparently not followed at either of the facilities. This and subsequent errors, involving H5N1 influenza virus and Ebola mix-ups at CDC labs, led to the creation of an external lab safety advisory group.

A follow-up report released by the advisory group in March 2015 called the CDC’s commitment to safety “inconsistent and insufficient” and also pointed out that “laboratory safety training is inadequate.”¹⁰ The point is, this is who many Americans are trusting to provide accurate information about circulating viruses and other diseases.

Are There Other Potential Explanations for an Increase in Microcephaly?

It’s possible Zika-carrying mosquitoes could be involved, but there are other factors that should be considered as well. For starters, the outbreak occurred in a largely poverty-stricken agricultural area of Brazil that uses large amounts of banned pesticides.

Between these factors and the lack of sanitation and widespread vitamin A and zinc deficiency, you already have the basic framework for an increase in poor health outcomes among newborn infants in that area. Environmental pollution and toxic pesticide exposure have been positively linked to a wide array of adverse health effects, including birth defects. For instance:

• Vitamin A deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of microcephaly¹¹
• The CDC lists malnutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals as known risk factors¹²
• The CDC also notes certain infections during pregnancy, including rubella, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, and others, are risk factors

Why Isn’t the Government Targeting Opioid Addiction, Antibiotic-Resistant Disease and Other Proven Epidemics?

Microcephaly is a devastating birth defect and it’s important to uncover its underlying cause. However, the U.S. government’s plan to pour money into Zika virus research and vaccine development, i.e., to pour money into Big Pharma, for what is now a theoretical connection and certainly not an epidemic by any means, boggles the mind.

Meanwhile, there is no comparable uproar over existing (and pharmaceutical-caused) epidemics, like opioid addiction. The U.S. government seeks “treatment” for the opioid epidemic without addressing irresponsible prescribing and drug industry marketing or high-level financial conflicts of interest.

The government has also long allowed rampant overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics, including in agriculture, which has led to rampant cases of antibiotic-resistant disease.

The government didn’t “save us” from any of the other public health emergencies in recent years (swine flu, bird flu and Ebola among them), and it’s not likely to change its spots anytime soon. What you can bet on, however, is that the government will continue to support the hand that feeds it. Only time will tell if that support will stop at the House bill’s $622 million or keep going up to $1.9 billion.

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Here’s Why ‘Inert’ Ingredients May Be the Most Harmful of All

By Dr. Mercola

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, has been the focus of increasing scrutiny after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined it to be a probable human carcinogen.

Yet, glyphosate is not the only ingredient in Roundup and other glyphosate-based products, nor is it the only potentially toxic ingredient.

The formulation includes a number of so-called inert ingredients as well, and these have largely evaded scrutiny because they were concealed as proprietary “trade secrets.”

Monsanto is now facing multiple lawsuits from people who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup. The suits allege that glyphosate, along with the product’s inert ingredients are to blame, and in fact that the mixture of chemicals together is far more dangerous than glyphosate alone.

According to the Intercept, one of the lawsuits states, “Monsanto ‘knew or should have known that Roundup is more toxic than glyphosate alone and that safety studies of Roundup, Roundup’s adjuvants and ‘inert’ ingredients’ were necessary.”¹

Inert Ingredients in Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Are Toxic to Living Cells

Most studies looking into glyphosate toxicity have only studied glyphosate and its toxic breakdown product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), even though the presence of “inactive” compounds are likely amplifying glyphosate’s toxic effects.

A 2012 study revealed that ingredients such as solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other added substances are anything but “inactive.” They can, and oftentimes do, contribute to a product’s toxicity in a synergistic manner — even if they’re non-toxic in isolation.

Certain adjuvants in glyphosate-based herbicides were also found to be “active principles of human cell toxicity,” adding to the hazards inherent with glyphosate.

It’s well worth noting that, according to the researchers, this cell damage and/or cell death can occur at the residual levels found on Roundup-treated crops, as well as lawns and gardens where Roundup is applied for weed control.² As written in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:³

“Pesticide formulations contain declared active ingredients and co-formulants presented as inert and confidential compounds. We tested the endocrine disruption of co-formulants in six glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) …

All co-formulants and formulations were comparably cytotoxic [toxic to living cells] well below the agricultural dilution of 1 percent (18 to 2000 times for co-formulants, eight to 141 times for formulations).

… It was demonstrated for the first time that endocrine disruption by GBH could not only be due to the declared active ingredient but also to co-formulants.

These results could explain numerous in vivo results with GBHs not seen with G [glyphosate] alone; moreover, they challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) value for GBHs exposures, currently calculated from toxicity tests of the declared active ingredient alone.”

‘Inert’ Ingredient Polyethoxylated Tallowamine (POEA) 2,000 Times More Toxic Than Glyphosate

POEA (polyethoxylated tallow amine), a major adjuvant surfactant in Roundup, has been shown to be cytotoxic (toxic to cells) at doses far lower than glyphosate itself. Unfortunately, most regulatory bodies regard POEA as inert, requiring no risk assessment, even as research suggests otherwise.

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health study found POEA was between 1,200 and 2,000 times more toxic than glyphosate alone, which highlights the problems with letting so-called inert ingredients escape regulatory scrutiny.⁴ In 2014, the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) reported:⁵

“The major adjuvant POEA in glyphosate Roundup formulations is by far the most cytotoxic for human cells, ahead of glyphosate and its metabolite. It also amplifies the toxic effects of glyphosate …

It is very likely that the primary target of Roundup, especially its POEA surfactant, is the mitochondria, which play a key role in the development of sperm cells and sperm motility. In addition, male infertility could arise from ROS damages to mitochondrial DNA.”

Accumulating Research Shows Roundup More Dangerous Than Glyphosate Alone

Germany removed POEA-containing herbicides from the market in 2014 because a forestry worker developed inflammation of the lungs after exposure.

Earlier this year, ANSES, the national health and safety agency in France, also took steps to ban the product. The European Commission has also proposed banning POEA.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to monitor food for glyphosate residue but not for POEA, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) won’t focus on POEA either, simply because it’s not an official active ingredient.

Monsanto must be well aware of the problems, as they’re reportedly preparing to transition to other types of surfactants.⁶ The fact is, research is mounting that, when it comes to Roundup, the sum of its parts may be even more toxic than glyphosate alone. For instance:⁷

• In 2002 and 2004, studies showed glyphosate-containing herbicides were more likely to cause changes linked to cancer (specifically, cell-cycle dysregulation) than glyphosate alone^8,9

• In 2005, research showed Roundup to be more toxic to rats’ livers than glyphosate alone¹⁰

• In 2009, various Roundup formulations were found to be more toxic to human umbilical, embryonic and placental cells than glyphosate alone.¹¹ The researcher explained:

“This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert … Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels [found on Roundup-treated crops].”¹²

NAS Releases New Study on Genetically Engineered (GE) Crops

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) released their assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).¹³

The 400-page report, which was sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cites an ongoing lack of transparency that is fueling distrust in consumers.¹⁴

For instance, in 2002 the U.S. General Accounting Office recommended that the FDA verify raw test data from a GMO developer on a random basis, but it doesn’t appear the FDA followed through with this recommendation. As The Huffington Post reported:¹⁵

“The committee said that much of the information submitted to regulatory agencies seeking approval of new GMO products is kept secret, treated as ‘confidential business information.’

This lack of public access to health and safety data submitted by developers creates distrust, the committee said.

‘Given a developer’s self-interest in getting a product approved and its control over the material considered by the agency, the lack of access creates skepticism about the quality of the data,’ the committee said.”

No Evidence GE Crops Changed the Rate of Increase in Yields

Also noteworthy, the NAS report found no evidence that GE crops led to overall increases in yields of soybeans, cotton or corn, a benefit long parroted by the industry for why GMO crops are necessary to “feed the world.”

The spread of resistant weeds and insects as a result of GE crops is also discussed. As for glyphosate, the report only noted there is “significant disagreement among expert committees on the potential harm that could be caused” by its use. It also downplayed the severity of many issues while failing to recommend needed policy changes.

Charles Benbrook, Ph.D. an agricultural economist at Washington State University, recommended three strategies that could significantly reduce human exposure to glyphosate at very little cost (unfortunately, such common-sense strategies were missing from the NAS report):¹⁶

“Hopefully, the U.S. and EU will soon agree to three steps  —  banning all pre-harvest uses of glyphosate on small grains, edible beans, and other human food crops (all non-GE) …

…  [S]econd, reducing the ridiculously high tolerances on GE crops that Monsanto and other companies were able to get onto the books over the last decade in the U.S., and internationally via Codex; and three, banning use of high-risk surfactants and other so-called ‘inert’ ingredients in formulated, ready-to-use herbicide products.”

Roundup Residues Found in Foods You Might Not Expect

If you want to avoid consuming residues of Roundup, you’ll want to limit or eliminate processed foods in your diet. Most of them are made with GE crops that are heavily sprayed with Roundup. Even foods you might not expect can also contain Roundup residues.

An Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) analysis found the highest levels of glyphosate in non-GE crops including bagels, bread and wheat cereal. This, they noted, is likely the result of the common practice of using glyphosate as a desiccant shortly before harvest.

Ten out of 24 breakfast foods tested in ANH’s analysis had detectable levels of glyphosate. This included oatmeal, bagels, coffee creamer, organic bread and even organic, cage-free, and antibiotic-free eggs. In addition, advocacy group Moms Across America sent 10 wine samples to be tested for glyphosate. All of the samples tested positive for glyphosate — even organic wines, although their levels were significantly lower.¹⁷

Roundup isn’t even sprayed directly onto grapes in vineyards, but it is often used to spray the ground on either side of the grape vines. A study of glyphosate residues by the Munich Environmental Institute also found glyphosate in 14 best-selling German beers.¹⁸

All of the beers tested had glyphosate levels above the 0.1 microgram limit allowed in drinking water. Although these studies didn’t test for the “inert” Roundup ingredients, if glyphosate was detected there’s a good chance their companion additives would be too.

Eat Organic Foods to Avoid Roundup Residues

Your best bet for minimizing health risks from herbicide and pesticide exposure — including both the active and “inactive” ingredients — is to avoid them in the first place by eating organic as much as possible and investing in a good water filtration system for your home or apartment. If you know you have been exposed to herbicides and pesticides, the lactic acid bacteria formed during the fermentation of kimchi may help your body break them down.

So including fermented foods like kimchi in your diet may also be a wise strategy to help detox the pesticides that do enter your body. One of the benefits of eating organic is that the foods will be free GE ingredients, and this is key to avoiding exposure to toxic Roundup ingredients.

Eating locally produced organic food will not only support your family’s health, it will also protect the environment from harmful chemical pollutants and the inadvertent spread of GE seeds and chemical-resistant weeds and pests.

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The same child 'saved' by killing Harambe the gorilla will be systematically poisoned by clueless humans wielding toxic vaccines and cancer causing junk foods

(NaturalNews) It's important to point out the outrageous hypocrisy of the shameless murder of Harambe the gorilla, a conscious, aware, intelligent being who showed no intention of trying to harm the child that fell into his exhibit at the Cincinnati zoo. #JusticeForHarambeThe...

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The end of chemical medicine: Superbug discovered in America that resists ALL known antibiotics... blind faith in failed pharma will soon cost you your life

(NaturalNews) It's always interesting to study how civilizations collapse and eras of seemingly great human ingenuity come crashing to an end. Since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Flemming in 1928, the chemical medicine industry has promised humanity that all our ills will...

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Urine of very single member of the European Parliament tested found to be heavily contaminated with glyphosate weed killer

(NaturalNews) In a bid to show the public that there is no reason to be concerned about exposure to popular herbicide glyphosate – produced by Big Agri Giant Monsanto – Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) volunteered to take a urine test to see if glyphosate was...

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California state police and prison guard allies lobby against legalized marijuana... because arrests are so profitable

(NaturalNews) As California prepares to vote on marijuana legalization in November, police and prison guard groups are uniting in an attempt to defeat the initiative so that they won't lose the enormous amount of income generated from cannabis prohibition.These groups account...

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16 signs that your headache is actually a migraine

(NaturalNews) Everyone gets a headache every now and then. Not only are they painful and sometimes debilitating, but they can cause you to miss work, as well as other important events. Though bothersome, headaches are relatively normal, depending on the severity and frequency, of...

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Flashback: FTC judge vindicates POM Wonderful's right to inform consumers about health benefits of pomegranates

(NaturalNews) A U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Administrative Law Judge has officially affirmed the right of POM Wonderful, a popular purveyor of pomegranate juice products, to continue making scientifically-backed health claims about its pomegranate products. Rejecting efforts...

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Global cost of diabetes hits shocking $827 billion per year globally, yet food companies that cause the disease pay nothing toward healthcare costs

(NaturalNews) Diabetes and the medical costs attached thereto have skyrocketed across the world, according to the largest study ever conducted to measure global diabetes levels. The type 2 diabetes epidemic in the United States is largely fueled by the introduction of processed foods...

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GMOs, forced vaccination and global warming - three population reduction schemes being pushed on the masses for 'health' reasons

(NaturalNews) The slogans for depopulation agendas are always the complete opposite of their true intentions. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are how we will "save the world" from starvation, drought, blight and pests. Vaccines are "safe" and "effective" and are most useful...

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Air pollution from fracking increases the risk of lung and heart disease in children

(NaturalNews) The controversial practice of fracking has now been proven to increase the risk of lung and heart disease in children, as reported by Truth Out. Researchers already believe that it leaves American rivers tainted with a toxic cocktail of radium and lead, but this latest...

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ISIS, inspired by Planned Parenthood, issues Fatwa to justify organ harvesting from live subjects

(NaturalNews) It looks as though the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is taking a page out of the Planned Parenthood playbook when it comes to violating the sanctity of life.As reported by Israel National News, documents seized from ISIS in eastern Syria by U.S. forces last year...

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Death threats, libel, and lies - part 2: Documented liar?

(NaturalNews) In the second part of this series, Jonathan Matthews examines Kevin Folta's claims to have done "nothing wrong, said nothing false" (Story republished from GMwatch.org.)After a recent New York Times article took Kevin Folta's cozy relationship with the biotech industry...

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