Monsanto Pours Millions into GMO-Labeling Fight

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM (Photo credit: live w mcs)

By Dr. Mercola

We’re now only weeks away from the next big GMO-labeling vote in the United States; this time in Washington State, where citizens will cast their votes for the people's initiative 522, "The People's Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act," on November 5.

Initiative 522 will require seeds, raw agricultural commodities, and processed foods to be labeled if they’re produced using genetic engineering.1

As in last year’s California Proposition 37 GMO labeling campaign, the opposition from industry is fierce, with millions of dollars being poured into the anti-labeling campaign.

According to the Public Disclosure Commission,2 the “NO on 522” campaign has already raised more than $11 million—nearly four times the amount raised by the pro-labeling camp. Monsanto leads the charge, having donated close to $4.8 million to the anti-labeling campaign.

I want to remind you that the success of this ballot initiative is dependent on public donations, and we’re up against industry giants with very deep pockets, so please, help us win this key GMO labeling battle and continue to build momentum for GMO labeling in other states by making a donation to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today.

The Two Faces of Monsanto

According to Robb Fraley, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Monsanto, the company backs efforts to prevent GMO labeling in Washington State “for the same reasons we opposed the California initiative.” He recently told Politico:3

“The reason people are funding campaigns for mandatory labeling is because they basically want to get rid of biotech, and they want biotech to suffer the same view as salt or sugar on the label, and the science doesn’t support it.”

Curiously enough, Monsanto is more than willing to “support” GMO labeling once they run out of options. Here’s a Monsanto ad from the UK, letting British consumers know how much the company supports the mandatory labeling of their goods—even urging Britons to seek such labels out—ostensibly because Monsanto believes “you should be aware of all the facts before making a decision.”

What’s the difference between British shoppers and American shoppers? Why does Monsanto support one nation’s right to know but not another? It’s time to put an end to this hypocritical charade and label foods in the US, as has been done in 64 other countries4 across the globe already!

GMA Sued for “Money Laundering” in Anti-GMO Labeling Scheme

In addition to Monsanto’s $4.8 million donation to the No on 522 campaign, Dupont has kicked in $3.4 million,5 and The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) $2.2 million. UPDATE: The Grocery Manufacturers Association has just kicked in another $5 million! The Grocery Manufacturers Association has now contributed over $7 million against I-522! Curiously absent from any list of donors are the big spenders from last year’s No on Prop 37 campaign. The reason for this is not likely to be due to a change of heart on these companies’ behalf. Rather we may be looking at yet another level of shifty maneuvering.

Aren’t these companies willing to tell you the truth about anything?Food democracy Now! recently notified subscribers that the Washington State group Moms for Labeling has sued6 the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), claiming the trade association is “laundering money" from their members to “illegally” hide the donors identities.7

GMA members include popular food and beverage giants like Pepsi, Coke, Kraft, Kellogg's and General Mills. Last year, many of them faced boycotts and bad publicity once people realized the brands had spent large sums of money to keep them in the dark about genetically engineered ingredients. So this year, many of the same companies are simply trying to circumvent having to reveal their position on this issue.

Last year’s labeling campaign also made many Americans aware of the fact that some of their beloved and trusted natural/organic brands are actually owned by the very same junk food corporations that fought against GMO labeling in California. This too caused outrage, and for good reason. Essentially, you have brands that proclaim to be all natural and/or organic taking a stand against your right to know what’s in your food. It doesn’t get any more hypocritical than that. As reported by the featured article:8

“[S]tate election rules requires political committees to reveal their own donors so that voters can tell who's behind political contributions from generic-sounding groups, such as the GMA, that are helping fund initiatives.

The GMA is the lobbying group for the food industry, but that doesn't necessarily make them a "political committee." To be considered a political committee by the state, an organization has to specifically solicit money to influence an election or exist primarily to influence an election. But the GMA is already a membership group whose primary purpose isn't I-522.

However, in its complaint,9 the pro-522 activists contend, through whistleblower sources, that the GMA specifically appealed to members to contribute to the No campaign. The complaint states: "The Grocery Manufacturers Association has made a special appeal to its members in the form of a voluntary special assessment, to fund the No on 522 Campaign." According to state rules, if that's true, that would make the GMA a political committee.”

Recent polls show that 64-66 percent of likely voters in Washington State strongly support GMO labeling, which puts further pressure on companies who’d rather not disclose such ingredients. The following graphic reveals which brands support labeling, and which ones hide behind the trade lobby group, GMA, which is funding the NO on 522 campaign in its own name rather than the companies’ whose donations are being used. Essentially, that means any company maintaining membership with the GMA becomes suspect in this regard.

You CAN Make a Difference

More than 25,000 people petitioned Dr. Andrew Weil to withdraw his company, Weil Lifestyle, from the GMA for this reason. He listened, and withdrew his membership. The Organic Consumers Association is currently petitioning Aurora Organic to take a clear stand and withdraw its membership from the Grocery Manufacturers Association10 as well.

Will GMO Soil Microbes Herald Another Agricultural Disaster?

I’ve written extensively about the health hazards and environmental harm caused by glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup. The New York Times11 also recently addressed the issue:

“Because glyphosate moves into the soil from the plant, it seems to affect the rhizosphere, the ecology around the root zone, which in turn can affect plant health,” said Robert Kremer, a scientist at the United States Agriculture Department, who has studied the impact of glyphosate on soybeans for more than a decade and has warned of the herbicide’s impact on soil health.

Like the human microbiome, the plants’ roots systems rely on a complex system of bacteria, fungi and minerals in the soil. The combination, in the right balance, helps protect the crops from diseases and improves photosynthesis.

In some studies, scientists have found that a big selling point for the pesticide — that it binds tightly to minerals in the soil, like calcium, boron and manganese, thus preventing runoff — also means it competes with plants for those nutrients. Other research indicates that glyphosate can alter the mix of bacteria and fungi that interact with plant root systems, making them more susceptible to parasites and pathogens.”

Incredibly, the article actually hints at the possibility of engineering soil microbes to “make up” for the detrimental effects of Roundup! Earlier this year, Monsanto purchased “select assets” of Agradis,12 a “sustainable agricultural solutions” company founded by J. Craig Venter, a scientist who sequenced the human genome to develop various microbes and “agricultural biologicals.” Monsanto also acquired a collection of Venter’s microbes. According to Monsanto’s chief technology officer Robert Fraley, “the foray into microbes... is to improve yield and address some of the issues raised about glyphosate.” What the future might hold if they actually go so far as to tinker with genetically engineered soil microbes is anyone’s guess. But I’m betting it won’t be good...

Join Us in Your Right to Know by Getting GMOs Labeled!

While California Prop. 37 failed to pass last November by a very narrow margin, the fight for GMO labeling is far from over. In the past few weeks, Connecticut and Maine have passed GMO-labeling bills, and 20 other states have pending legislation to label genetically engineered foods. So, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal and get labeling across the country—something 64 other countries already have.

I hope you will join us in this effort.

The field-of-play has now moved to the state of Washington, where the people's initiative 522, "The People's Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act," will require food sold in retail outlets to be labeled if it contains genetically engineered ingredients. Please help us win this key GMO labeling battle and continue to build momentum for GMO labeling in other states by making a donation to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA).

Remember, as with CA Prop. 37, they need support of people like YOU to succeed. Prop. 37 failed with a very narrow margin simply because we didn't have the funds to counter the massive ad campaigns created by the No on 37 camp, led by Monsanto and other major food companies. Let's not allow Monsanto and its allies to confuse and mislead the people of Washington and Vermont as they did in California. So please, I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can.

• No matter where you live in the United States, please donate money to these labeling efforts through the Organic Consumers Fund.
• Sign up to learn more about how you can get involved by visiting Yeson522.com!
• For timely updates on issues relating to these and other labeling initiatives, please join the Organic Consumers Association on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.
• Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to actively support the Washington initiative.

 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/01/monsanto-gmo-fight.aspx  Check out the videos on this issue at Mercola.com.

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The Source of Fatigue and Disease?

Hippocrates: a conventionalized image in a Roman "portrait" bust (19th century engraving) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

This is my second interview with Dr. Daniel Kalish, who is an expert on hormone balance as a foundation for optimal health. In this interview, he shares some fascinating information about how you can balance the chemicals in your brain using functional medicine laboratory testing.

Dr. Kalish is successfully using this method, which he calls the “Kalish Method,” to treat five common health problems:

1. Overweight
2. Fatigue
3. Depression
4. Female hormone imbalance
5. Gastrointestinal problems

I first met Dr. Kalish in California in the mid-1990s while attending a Functional Medicine seminar. It was immediately clear to me that he was one of the brightest individuals at the meeting.

The area of hormone testing can be a bit confusing. The information presented here helps to clarify how hormone testing can be used to detect and correct imbalances in your brain’s chemistry that underlie many of the symptoms commonly experienced today. For a more comprehensive review of his work, you may want to check out his new book, entitled The Kalish Method: Healing the Body, Mapping the Mind.

Functional Medicine: The Kalish Method

Functional medicine is a relatively new approach to health that looks at the underlying causes of disease and attempts to correct them before disease sets in. It focuses on determining the root causes by looking at your entire body and environment. Dr. Kalish’s particular approach zeroes in on three systems of your body:

1. Brain/endocrine system, which govern your body’s processes through hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biochemical messengers (control center)
2. Digestive system and nutrition (intake)
3. Detoxification system (elimination)

He addresses each of these systems with specific laboratory tests, including saliva and urine. It’s a kind of “mind mapping” — essentially, taking a snapshot of the mind by measuring things such as the quantity of serotonin and dopamine going in and out of your neurons. This is just one of the many the tests that can be performed, and this particular urine test is cutting edge technology offered by only one lab in the United States.

The Kalish approach to health offers enormous advantages, one of which is a very rapid cessation of symptoms. Patients report improvement in how they feel usually within the first month — like a “switch has been flipped.” Even for those who have struggled with lifelong depression, dramatic results are usually seen within the first couple of months. This is largely because the precise cause of the problem has been nailed down through laboratory testing.

Another major advantage is that children can be helped very easily and quickly with functional medicine, which eliminates the need for medications about 95 percent of the time.

Picking Up Ball That Conventional Medicine Has Dropped

There are profound differences between functional medicine and conventional medicine. Conventional medicine aims at identifying life-threatening diseases, but ignores the realm of more subtle issues. For example, endocrinologists look for rare and unusual disorders like Addison’s disease — things that could kill you in a week or two if left untreated. If you don’t have one of the major diseases, their interest and expertise generally wanes.

By contrast, functional medicine looks at identifying and correcting imbalances and lifestyle issues that are eroding your health over time, reducing your quality of life, and predisposing you to the development of serious health problems down the road. In other words, functional medicine aims at preventing you from ever developing those major diseases in the first place.

According to Dr. Kalish:

“There is a predictable way that the body breaks down. It doesn’t happen in different ways in different people. We have hormone and brain problems, digestive problems, and toxicity problems. There’s a methodical way you can test and correct all these issues, if you get hooked up with the right group of doctors that know how to do all this. This technology is available. It’s not a question of whether it works or not. It’s just a matter of accessing it.”

Through various carefully selected laboratory tests, your body’s chemical and hormonal imbalances are identified. Problems with your gastrointestinal function may be detected, or with how your body cleanses and rids itself of toxins. With this information, then, specific strategies can be prescribed, such as diet and lifestyle modifications, supplements, or perhaps a different approach to managing your stress. Supplements are designed to be used short-term, therapeutically, in order to accomplish a specific goal.

Interventions Used in the Kalish Method

Based on what imbalances are identified by the laboratory analyses, Dr. Kalish may prescribe a variety of natural supplements, short-term. For example, low doses of the hormones cortisol, DHEA, and pregnenolone may be prescribed to replace what’s missing in your body — just enough to balance out your system. Sometimes, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and herbs may be used — everything from B vitamins to magnesium, to tryptophan or 5-HTP.

These agents are used to temporarily assist your body’s natural hormone producing capacity and can be discontinued when your normal endocrine function has returned. It’s typical for adrenal function to be restored within six months to a year — and sometimes in just a few months. Dr. Kalish cautions against self-prescribing these supplement because you can easily make imbalances worse, if you don’t have all of the necessary information.

A key part of Dr. Kalish’s approach is helping his patients return to a more biologically appropriate diet rich in organic, biodynamically grown foods, similar to how your ancestors ate. He also recommends occasionally exposing yourself to cold, because it produces an environmental “shock” to stress the body (in a good way), similar to exercise, which stresses your body to make it stronger.

Poor Adrenal Function May Be the Cause of Chronic Fatigue

Your adrenal glands are each no bigger than a walnut and weigh less than a grape, yet are responsible for one of the most important functions in your body: managing your stress. When your adrenal glands are overtaxed, a condition known as adrenal fatigue or adrenal exhaustion sets in, which in turn can set a cascade of disease processes into motion. One tell-tale sign of adrenal burnout is feeling chronically fatigued.

Conventionally, you’d see an endocrinologist who would evaluate your adrenal glands, or perhaps a doctor of internal medicine. Unfortunately, they tend to primarily test for specific diseases like Addison’s disease or Cushing’s disease, both of which are relatively rare.

The Kalish Method calls for testing your adrenal function by taking four saliva (or urine) samples over the course of a day. This maps out your circadian rhythm, showing how your cortisol levels rise and fall throughout your day. Saliva is collected at approximately four-hour intervals: first thing in the morning upon waking, then at noon, late afternoon, and again at night before going to bed. The Kalish Method is aimed at normalizing dysfunctional adrenals and restoring normal adrenal function. It’s a clinically validated method that’s been used for a long time, yet most physicians are still not aware of it.

“What we find is that if we just restore what’s missing in the person for a period of six months or maybe at the most 12 months, the adrenal glands and the internal production of these hormones comes back,” Dr. Kalish explains. “So, we’re actually restoring the normal production of these hormones in the body. The treatments, therefore, are relatively short-term; six months to a year. The only way we’ve found to do this real repair process is to use these really low dosages of DHEA and pregnenolone over a period of time.”

Another common hormonal cause of adrenal fatigue is hypothyroidism or underactive thyroid. Thyroid function is diagnosed by a blood test, but there’s some controversy over what is normal and what’s not. Many alternative doctors feel the conventional reference ranges are far too broad, and opt to treat people exhibiting sub-clinical thyroid symptoms.

“What’s interesting about the thyroid and the adrenals is that as the cortisol levels go up, one of the normal body mechanisms is to downregulate thyroid,” Dr. Kalish says. “So, most everybody with high cortisol is going to have lower than ideal thyroid hormone levels. At that point, it becomes a decision as to if you want to work on the adrenals, work on thyroid, or work on both together...

More than 90 percent of the time, the adrenal program is enough to restore thyroid function. The biggest reason [for doing] the adrenals first is that when you start taking thyroid hormones your internal production of thyroid hormones drop. With the adrenal glands, it’s the opposite. When you start to take these adrenal-support products, your internal production of adrenal hormones comes back. If you can restore adrenal function, you can save the person from having to be on thyroid medications potentially for the rest of their life.”

For more specifics on Dr. Kalish’s treatment protocol for adrenal fatigue, please see my previous interview with Dr. Kalish on this topic.

How Functional Medicine Can Help You Lose Weight

Besides fatigue, weight gain  and depression are the most common issues Dr. Kalish sees, and all three respond very well to his approach. For example, one of the interesting things in terms of diet and weight loss is that, as soon as he gets people’s adrenal hormones and brain chemicals back in check, he notices them gravitating toward more healthful diets.

Why is this?

Many food cravings stem from inappropriate blood sugar responses and imbalanced serotonin and dopamine levels — which control how your neurons fire. Once these are corrected, cravings go away — usually within the first month or two. Your cravings come from brain chemicals. When those chemicals are shifted, the cravings just disappear — like hitting the Reset button. Then people begin making better food choices, start to lose weight, and have more energy because insulin sensitivity and normalleptin signaling are being restored.

The key lies in reversing the distortion in your appetite center and reestablishing your normal fat burning metabolism. Of course, the mechanism for reestablishing normal fat burning is diet and exercise, but if your brain chemistry perpetually prompts you toward making bad decisions, it will be a frustrating uphill battle. Functional medicine doesn’t take the place of diet and exercise — it augments it, making it easier for you to implement the changes needed without as much emotional stress.

Are Toxins Making You Depressed?

There is very little scientific evidence for the widespread notion that depression is caused by an imbalance of your neurotransmitters. In fact, there is no correlation between serotonin level and depression. Many people with low serotonin are not depressed, and many depressed people have normal levels of serotonin. The same is true of dopamine.

However, there is good scientific evidence for a relationship between depression and environmental toxins. Toxins make their way to your brain, where they damage cells and change how your neurons fire. Being that toxins are commonplace in today’s world, part of functional medicine involves identifying environmental toxins that could be damaging your brain and contributing to mood problems, Parkinson’s, dementia, and a multitude of other diseases. We’re all exposed to these chemicals to some degree because they’re pervasive in our environment — in your air, food and water.

According to Dr. Kalish, some of the most significant environmental toxins are heavy metals, such as mercury, arsenic andaluminum. Also problematic are chemicals like benzene and toluene.

It is estimated that the average American now has between 300 and 400 different neurotoxins circulating in his or her body at any one time. Even newborn babies are now born with some level of neurotoxic chemicals on board. Your body isn’t equipped to break these down, so they tend to accumulate over time and dysregulate your biochemistry. Making matters worse, many if not most people have dysbiosis, or imbalanced gut flora, and some of these microorganisms are responsible for breaking down the toxins in your GI tract, so you can eliminate them. All of these problems contribute to today’s toxic overload.

Functional Medicine — A Valuable Tool to Help Restore Your Health

The Kalish Method is a proven method of treating problems such as overweight, fatigue, depression, hormonal imbalance and gastrointestinal dysfunction using the principles of functional medicine. A treatment is most effective when the root cause of your problem is directly addressed.

Dr. Kalish starts with specific laboratory tests that pin down the underlying cause. These tests help to determine whether your problem stems from your brain, adrenal glands or your gut, or if it’s a malfunction in your body’s detoxification process. Whatever the cause, the problem can be effectively addressed using targeted dietary changes, supplements, sleep hygiene, stress management tools and other natural interventions.

Functional medicine can be a valuable tool to help you restore your natural physiological balance. Dr. Kalish has worked with more than 8,000 patients, and every day, he sees “magical” health improvements by applying the same fundamental principles. For more information, you can visit his website, KalishInstitute.com, which details his innovative approach to functional medicine.

 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/11/kalish-method.aspx

Visit the above link for more from Dr Mercola and more on this story.

American Stupidity Regarding 4th of July - Failure of America Education

Are you wondering why we are losing our freedoms?  These people are clueless to American history.  It's what one does expect from the left coast of these United States, Mexico can have California back.  (Okay, just kidding).  How can one expect freedom when one does not even begin to have a clue?  No wonder so many people could care less.  This is a clear failure of our educational system and our public representatives should all be ashamed of themselves.

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TTC Media Surpasses The Million Viewers Mark

TTC Media, the parent of GVLN and a number of other sites across the Internet has surpassed the million viewers worldwide mark with fans growing from all over the globe following numerous sites and media.

  That's a major mark for any media concern on the Internet today with all the competition out there.  TTC Media is completely independent with no outside capital investments into the concern.  Compromised of a small but highly dedicated staff in various areas around the nation and it's main office having moved to California some months ago, TTC Media has major plans to continue it's growth.



  New deals are being looked at and new media outlets are being explored and devised.  Thanks to the Internet, media can be moved very fast from one area to another with almost no delays these days.  We are looking more and more at the live video feeds area of media and have had the capabilities for the past two years without a lot of use for it.  Now we are looking at new ways to take advantage of this growing area of media.  Expect a lot of new and exciting ideas coming soon.

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