Take Gardacil Off the Market!

A friend sent me this sad, sad video of a young woman whose life has been destroyed by taking Gardacil. Gardacil is a newish vaccine given primarily to young women and teen girls, marketed to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV ). According to the Center for Disease Control, HPV, or genital warts, is the most common sexually-transmitted disease (STD) there is. Statistically, sexually active people have a 50-50% chance of contracting the disease. There is a link from HPV to certain types of cancer. This risk factor is often used by physicians and Merck, who produces and markets the drug, to get women to accept the Gardacil vaccine.

A young woman speaks out after her life was destroyed by the Gardacil vaccine

The Center for Disease Control states that most cases of genital warts (HPV) resolve on their own in a couple of years with no residual health concerns. It is only certain strains of HPV which linger in the body for years that can lead to cancer in the reproductive organs or mouth and throat. Unfortunately, this fact is not always shared by doctors. Fearful girls ask for Gardacil as a preventative measure without researching the possible side effects of the vaccine.

 There have been at least 99 deaths due directly to Gardacil. These girls could have simply been checked for cervical cancer in routine annual exams by their gynecologists.

My governor, Rick Perry, mandated Gardacil by executive order for all Texas middle school girls in 2007. When I enrolled my children in the public school system in 2009, the mandate was still in place. I requested a vaccination "opt-out" waiver from the State of Texas for my daughter, who was enrolling into the seventh grade that year. The school had no problem whatsoever with either our decision or the documents. It was easy, and only cost $10 for the state paperwork.

 

It was one of the best decisions I ever made, even though I was ridiculed by some of my family members. That year, in 2009, all kinds of concerns were raised about the vaccine's safety. I could have either killed or maimed my daughter for life if I had not listened to my gut intuition.

My daughters, 2011

Every state has a vaccination opt-out program. Please visit Vaccination Liberation.org to get one for your state, if you choose. Make sure you do your research before you make a decision like this. 

Water, Water Everywhere, but Nary a Drop to Drink... From Your Tap, That Is!

Don't be so quick to drink that glass of water from your tap- image by ex_magician

Hey y'all!

You would think that by now people would have a great understanding about how important pure water is, but evidently, there is still a lot of work to be done. Are we not 70% water? Wouldn't we want the best water for what will become 70% of us? Today I will begin a short series abut the importance of pure water in our diets and lifestyles.

I found the coolest search tool to discover how my city's municipal drinking water fares against the national average. Follow this link to the Environmental Working Group's website. On the right hand side, you'll find a search tool where you can enter in your zip code, the name of your water company (I wrote "city"), and click on the search button. This brings up a list of water providers in your area. I selected my city, since I'm on city water.  This brought me to a new page, which compared my city's water supply with the national average.

I found out that my city's water supply has 11 toxic chemicals in it which exceeds the health and safety guidelines set by federal and state agencies, while the national average is 4. Two chemicals exceeded the maximum compliance levels set by the EPA. Twenty-four toxic chemical pollutants were found in a random sampling of water, while the national average is 8. These statistics remain, despite over 4000 tests being taken over a three year period, when the average number of tests taken is 420.

One of the two chemicals which were over the EPA maximum levels was dichloroacetic acid (DCA). This is a chemical byproduct from the process of chlorinating water. A quick search showed that DCA induces apoptosis- cell death through DNA damage. This can be good news for cancer sufferers, but not so good news for a healthy population. Pure DCA is highly corrosive, destroying upper respiratory tissues and mucous membranes.

Monochloroacetic acid was also found to be above legal limits. Chloroacetic acid is a precursor to the herbicide glyphosate. If you have been following my blog recently, you most likely recognize the word "glyphosate." It's Roundup. Roundup is in my city's tap water.

What's in your drinking water?

Roundup Ready GMO Plants and Seeds Are Destroying the Health of Animals and Humans Alike

It's hard to find a single acre of American farmland that has not been planted with GM seeds- image by akosma

In my last post, I wrote how Roundup and Roundup ready genetically modified grains were completely destroying the nutrition value in plants and causing reproductive issues in the animals that ate them. Dr. Don Humer, a retired plant scientist and professor at Purdue stated in an interview in May 2010 that it was just a matter of time before we start seeing very serious ramifications from Roundup and Roundup ready GM seeds. Just 18 months later, we are.

Roundup works by destroying the plant's defense system against disease. All the minerals that plants use to boost its immune system are stripped away, leaving the plants vulnerable to disease, fungi, plagues, and opportunistic weeds. In fact, according to the Institute of Science in Society, there has been an explosion of  Roundup resistant "super weeds" that are wiping out farm profits and crop yields.

Genetically modified grains and other plants have no nutrition value and become part poison- image by Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology Bioinformatics Group

With "Roundup ready" genetically modified grain seeds, Roundup becomes a part of the plant's DNA. Weed killer is a part of what the plant "is." So now, the plant is not only stripped of its micro-nutrients in a process known as chelation (note: chelation is beneficial when applied properly), the seed becomes part poison. When the plant grows from the seed, the plant is almost completely empty of any nutrition and is part poison.

Animals and humans are eating this.

What have we begun to see?

• Botulism in feedlot cattle, because the Roundup in the grain is killing the healthy gut bacteria
• A new fungus in alfalfa is causing Sudden Death Syndrome, miscarriages and other fertility issues in cattle
• An entirely new microorganism is also causing an alarming abortion rate in several kinds of livestock. It's causing sterility in bulls. If this continues, it will have a real impact on the amount of commercially available meat in grocery stores
• An alarming increase in miscarriages and fertility issues in the US over the past ten years
• Soil ecology, plant ecology, microbial ecology, and intestinal ecology in animals and humans are all being compromised by the deadly pathogens now being created from glyphosate
• Salmonella outbreaks in egg farms have increased
• GMO foods are being linked to autism

This is serious stuff. 

Insist on GMO free, organic, locally grown produce and grass-fed, pastured meats- image by friendsoffamilyfarmers

We have to switch to organic, locally-grown produce that is GMO free. We have to insist on meat, eggs, and dairy products that come from grass-fed and range-free animals, if we eat meat. We may have to grow our own food in order to supply our soil with enough amendments to make our garden produce rich in nutrients. We have to talk to our grocery store managers and ask them to provide these food items, or start patronizing vendors who will carry them.

We just have to.

Roundup and Roundup Ready Foods Are Causing Reproductive Issues in Humans

The commercial weed killer, Roundup, and "Roundup ready" foods, both developed and sold by the food giant Monsanto, has been linked to an alarming number of miscarriages, sterility in males, and female reproductive issues... in humans.

Roundup has been used as a weed killer commercially for years- image by geograph 

The problem commercial farmers had with Roundup was that it killed everything, not just weeds. Monsanto designed a "Roundup ready" grain as a solution. Farmers could plant this genetically modified (GM) corn, wheat, or soybean, then spray their crop fields with Roundup with no problems.

Or so they thought.

Monsanto designed the GM Roundup ready seeds by actually adding Roundup to the plant's DNA. Roundup weed killer then became a part of the plant's genetic code. This was great for commercial farmers, who could see a lot higher crop yield and increase in profits. 

However, concerned scientists began to study the field mice who were eating the grain and drinking the water in these commercial farms. As early as 2002, the journal Environmental Health Perspectives observed that female mice who were drinking water contaminated with commercial herbicides were miscarrying and giving birth to smaller litters. 

GM feedlot grain is causing miscarriages and other reproductive issues in livestock- image by greaterfalls

This led to concerns about the possibility of similar problems with livestock who were fed GM grains in commercial feed lots. As Dr. Christopher Preston notes, few peer-reviewed studies on this topic have been published since that time. While I agree with Dr. Preston's conclusion that the studies that have been published state that no significant changes have been reported in the scientific literature, I completely disagree with his tacit opinion that GM foods are safe.

However, plant scientists such as Robert Kramer at the University of Missouri, and Don Humer, retired from Purdue, have published important research showing that Roundup and glyphosate-modified grain is compromising the health of agriculture, animals, and humans. Dr. Humer says that glyphosate (Roundup) works by tying up the plant nutrients so the plant's defense system is destroyed. Soil pathogens such as fungus and other plant diseases take over and kill the plants. Glyphosate strips plants of micro-nutrients such as maganese, copper, iron, calcium, and magnesium to the point where the plants have no nutritional value at all. In December 2010, Dr. Huber stated, "...It's hard to find an acre in the US that hasn't had glyphosate applied on it in the past three years." He also says that the reason that not much research has been published about the negative effects of Roundup and Roundup ready GM seeds is because scientists are being denied access to the isogenic plant lines. In other words, Monsanto won't let independent scientists do research on its products.

I'm not done.