Monday, April 28, 2014

Numerous studies show garlic’s amazing health potential in nearly every area of your body, from clogged arteries to gangrene to preventing insect bites and ear infections.

File:Black garlic.jpg 

Black garlic is a type of fermented garlic used as a food ingredient in Asian cuisine. It is made by fermenting whole bulbs of garlic at high temperature, a process that results in black cloves. The taste is sweet and syrupy with hints of balsamic.
Author  :  Foodista
.....

Black Garlic and Sprouted Garlic Have Enhanced Health Benefits

April 21, 2014 | 159,564 views
By Dr. Mercola
Of all the foods Mother Nature provides, few foods offer more of a “botanical bonanza” for your health than garlic. Garlic is a bulbous root closely related to the onion, mentioned in historical documents dating back 5,000 years—before its fame wafted into the rest of the known world.
Speaking of wafting, garlic’s nickname “stinking rose” is well-deserved due to its undeniably pungent aroma that some find objectionable, but others find intoxicating.
Numerous studies show garlic’s amazing health potential in nearly every area of your body, from clogged arteries to gangrene to preventing insect bites and ear infections. There is even evidence that garlic is able to help slow your aging process. When it comes to this magical bulb, what’s not to love?

File:Purple Garlic.jpg
Purple Garlic  Author  :  Itzuvit 

Garlic Epitomizes a ‘Heart Healthy Food’

Like so many other complex plant foods, garlic contains a wide range of phytocompounds that act together to produce a wide variety of responses in your body. Garlic is rich in manganese, calcium, phosphorus, selenium, and vitamins B6 and C, so it’s beneficial for your bones as well as your thyroid.
Garlic also helps your body cleanse itself of heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic.1 Green Med Info has also assembled a list of studies demonstrating garlic's positive effects for more than 150 different diseases.2 In general, its benefits fall into four main categories:
  1. Reducing inflammation (reduces risk of osteoarthritis as mentioned in the video above)
  2. Boosting immune function (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic properties)
  3. Improving cardiovascular health and circulation (protects against clotting, retards plaque, improves lipids, and reduces blood pressure)
  4. Toxic to 14 kinds of cancer cells (including brain, lung, breast, and pancreatic)
The fact that garlic is so effective in fighting multiple types of cancer is probably related to its potent antioxidant effects. Garlic contains the precursors to allicin—a compound I’ll be discussing in detail shortly. Allicin is one of the most potent antioxidants from the plant kingdom.
In fact, researchers have determined that sulfenic acid, produced during the rapid decomposition of allicin, reacts with and neutralizes free radicals faster than any other known compound—it’s almost instantaneous when the two molecules meet. And as an anti-infective, garlic has been demonstrated to kill everything from candida to herpes, MRSA, drug-resistant tuberculosis, and even HIV.

File:Garlic Bulbs 2.jpg
Garlic Bulbs  Author  :  JJ Harrison       (jjharrison89@facebook.com)

Garlic’s Secret Weapon: Allicin

Researchers have found that allicin is an effective natural "antibiotic" that can eradicate even antibiotic-resistant bugs. An added benefit is that the bacteria appear incapable of developing a resistance to the compound. However, the garlic must be fresh because the active agent is destroyed in less than an hour after smashing the garlic clove.
Garlic technically does not contain allicin, but rather, it contains two agents in separate compartments of the clove that react to form the sulfur-rich compound allicin when the plant needs it: alliin and an enzyme called allinase. So, what makes them react?
Garlic has a robust defense system to protect itself from insects and fungi. It enzymatically produces allicin within seconds when it is injured. The crushing of its tissues causes a chemical reaction between the alliin and the allinase, and allicin is produced—nature’s “insecticide.” This is what makes garlic such a potent anti-infective, as well as what produces that pungent aroma when you cut into it.
But allicin is short-lived, lasting less than an hour. Therefore, cooking, aging, crushing, and otherwise processing garlic causes allicin to immediately break down into other compounds, so it’s difficult to get allicin up to biologically active levels in your body.3

Plus, an Army of Sulfur-Rich Phytochemicals

More than 100 different compounds have been identified in garlic, some of which come from the rapid breakdown of allicin itself. The absorption, metabolism, and biological effects of all these compounds are only partially understood. So, although garlic is known to possess a wealth of health benefits, we still do not know exactly which benefits come from which compounds, what compounds get into which tissues, etc.
As powerful as allicin is as an anti-infective, it only makes sense that garlic’s other health effects come from the synergism of those many OTHER compounds. This is a complicated topic, and if you want to explore it further, the Oregon State’s Linus Pauling Institute has a comprehensive article in their online Micronutrient Information Center.4



Read More and Watch Videos Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

Last year, 53 million prescriptions were issued for antidepressants in England alone, nearly double the number prescribed a decade ago, and a six per cent increase in the past year. Some experts are now warning they do more harm than good

Lives 'left in ruin’ by rising tide of depression drugs

More people are being put on the pills but some experts are now warning they do more harm than good. Julia Llewellyn Smith reports

Jo Thompson
Jo Thompson ended up in hospital on anti-anxiety pills, and wanted to die when she stopped them  Photo: Geoff Pugh/Telegraph
Twenty years ago, Henry was living a fulfilled life. A happily married father from the Home Counties, his sales career was going well, he had a wide social circle and played football and golf regularly. “I was a conservative, head-down, career-minded person who enjoyed my life,” he says.
But in 1995, a bout of flu left Henry, then 31, exhausted and lethargic. He visited his GP, who told him he was depressed, and prescribed the world’s most popular antidepressant, Prozac. “Everything appeared completely benign — he said depression was a common complaint, the drugs would fix it and then I’d stop taking them.”
More than a decade later, Henry was far from cured and still taking antidepressants. “None of the drugs I was prescribed made me feel better, and most made me considerably worse. But every time I stopped them, the symptoms of what I thought was depression — but now know were of withdrawal — returned even more strongly, so I went back to the pills.”
By 2009, he was so unwell that he had to give up work. Finally, suspecting the drugs were the cause of his problems, he quit them, only to enter a new hell.
“It was torture. I thought I was going to die, and I didn’t care. For two years, I was in severe physical pain and so weak I lay all day on the sofa. My cognition was severely affected, I was dizzy, with blurred vision, I couldn’t read a bedtime story to my son and couldn’t remember things that had happened just a few seconds previously.”
Henry — who does not want to reveal his last name because of pending legal action against the drugs manufacturers — is just one of an estimated four million people in Britain taking antidepressants, a number that is rising sharply.
Last year, 53 million prescriptions were issued for antidepressants in England alone, nearly double the number prescribed a decade ago, and a six per cent increase in the past year. According to recent research, one in three British women and one in 10 men now take the medication, including popular brands such as Prozac, Cipramil and Seroxat, at some point in their lives.
But a growing number of experts now believe depression is vastly overdiagnosed and the drugs can cause far more harm than good.
This week, a new organisation, the Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry (CEP), whose members include psychiatrists, academics and withdrawal charities, is launching, to educate the public about the risks of antidepressants. A keynote speech will be given by Prof Peter Gøtzsche, co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international, non-profit organisation that examines vast amounts of medical data to help doctors and patients reach informed conclusions about health.

Read More Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

Right now Over 250 million Americans are addicted to 'food drugs' and not even aware that our food supply has in excess of 70,000 different chemicals allowed by the FDA.


Over 250 million Americans are addicted to 'food drugs' and suffering the consequences

Monday, April 21, 2014 by: S. D. Wells

food
(NaturalNews) What? -- Food drugs? What on Earth are you talking about? Do you mean "they," as in "Big Food," are putting prescription drugs inside food and drinks? Do you mean that scientists are working in labs right now figuring out how to make humans addicted to certain food additives and agents? Is that what you mean by food drugs? Health enthusiasts everywhere want to know.
The Health Ranger is studying this phenomenon in the Natural News Forensic Food Lab -- using microscopy and other high-tech scientific equipment for measuring chemical levels in foods, including toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and aluminum. Do you ever wonder how many chemicals are in foods? Try about 70,000 different ones that are allowed by the FDA! How can you even start to filter them out of your daily intake? That's easy. You just have to prioritize. Start with identifying and eliminating toxic heavy metals and pesticides, the two largest contributors to disease and disorder in the U.S. of A. (http://www.organicconsumers.org)

Junk Science Addicts Galore

What is junk science? Who invests in it? Who is responsible for this insidious development?
(http://www.naturalnews.com)
Why does the Biotech Industry and the late great healthcare scam of Obamacare want you addicted to junk food? What is the big picture and what is the grand connection here? Do they bioengineer aspartame (central nervous system disruptor) and MSG (another CNS disruptor) to make you hungrier and make you gain weight? Yes. They do. And do they bioengineer bug killer and weed killer to ruin your good gut bacteria, your flora? Yes.
How can you become addicted to McDonald's and Taco Bell for life? How are GMO potato chips and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) subsidized by the Government, and why would they subsidize sickness? These questions and more are all answered, and all you have to do to learn is keep your mind open about your own health.
Over 250 million Americans are addicted right now to FOOD DRUGS and suffering health consequences -- heading directly toward cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and arthritis. Let's face it, Big Food invests mainly in one area, and that is Big Pharma. Conventional food (90% of all food) is processed and cooked DEAD and then labeled as "fortified" to fool the public that it contains any nutritional value at all, when it doesn't.
Plus, since about 1990, the holiness of natural food has been devastated by genetic modification -- to contain weed killer and bug killer, so on top of being dead food, for two decades it has been contaminated with poison on the inside. The seeds and plants now contain chemicals that kill pests, and guess what the human beings are who consume them? -- Dying "pests!" Ca-ching! -- Big money for the pink-ribbon-washing cancer-industrial complex. Don't be a fool. Stop getting fooled. It's okay to admit when you are wrong. Go on, open the doors of your pantry and look. Open that refrigerator and freezer. Open your medicine cabinet. It's time to throw away everything that Big Food and Big Pharma have "sold you" through false advertising and marketing schemes.

Read More Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

5 toxins to be especially concerned about. and how they are destroying our bodies


The 5 most prevalent toxins destroying the body

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 by: Derek Henry
5
(NaturalNews) With thousands of toxins circulating in the world it can be very easy to become overwhelmed. Formerly nutritious foods have been denatured to the point that they have very little benefit, and air and water have become dangerously polluted. These are 5 toxins to be especially concerned about.

Heavy metals

Heavy metals are not something that people should normally concern themselves about with regards to food, air, water, and personal care products. Unfortunately, that is not the current situation.
Common exposure points to heavy metals include seafood, dental amalgams, vaccinations, personal care products, pots and pans, baking powder, smoke, paint, water, work sites, and chem trails.
These deadly toxins can immediately wreak havoc, causing chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, gastrointestinal problems, allergies, headaches, depression, skin problems, insomnia, paralysis, and more.

GMOs

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are foods that have been created by gene-splicing vegetable seedlings with poisonous pesticides, herbicides, and bacteria so plants are inherently protected from pests that may try to damage them.
With 85 percent of all corn, soy, and canola oil being GMO and the fact that they are some of the most heavily consumed food products on the planet, people find themselves with a major problem. Add in sugar beets, cotton, and other popular grains which may be contaminated or are on the agenda to become GMO (wheat, rice), and there is a nutritional apocalypse in the making.
As a result of this engineered process, consumers are essentially consuming toxic seeds laced with chemicals that are known to mutate cells of the body, resulting in tumors and other forms of cancer.

Radiation

There are a few forms of radiation, but the most deadly that are currently polluting the planet are cesium-137 and electromagnetic radiation.

Read More Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Treating Asthma With Plants vs. Supplements?






Published on Apr 21, 2014
Subscribe for free to Dr. Greger's videos at:
http://bit.ly/nutritionfactsupdates
DESCRIPTION: Whole fruits and vegetables were compared to both antioxidant pills as well as supplements containing fruits and vegetable extracts for their ability to treat seasonal allergies, improve lung function, and control asthma.
If you missed my last video about the fruit and vegetable treatment study, you can watch it here: Treating Asthma With Fruits and Vegetables (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/treat...). Prior to that I dealt with preventing asthma in the first place: Preventing Asthma With Fruits and Vegetables (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/preve...). I'll close out this video series with video about the efficacy of vegetarian and vegan diets for the treatment of allergic diseases in Treating Asthma and Eczema With Plant-Based Diets (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/treat...).
The video I referenced about the cedar allergies in Japan was Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors and Allergies (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/alkyl...).
The theme of whole foods being more efficacious than supplements seems to come up over and over again. See for example:
• Produce, Not Pills to Increase Physical Attractiveness (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/produ...)
• Dietary Treatments for Computer Eye Strain (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/dieta...)
• Some Dietary Supplements May Be More Than a Waste of Money (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/some-...)
• Prunes vs. Metamucil vs. Vegan Diet (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/prune...)
• Optimal Phytosterol Source (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/optim...)
More on "vitamin P" in How to Slow Brain Aging by Two Years (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-t...).
The anti-inflammatory effects of nuts may explain the Harvard Nurse's Health Study finding: Fighting Inflammation in a Nut Shell (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/fight...).
Have a question for Dr. Greger about this video? Leave it in the comment section at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/treat... and he'll try to answer it!
http://www.NutritionFacts.org
Enhanced by Zemanta

Friday, April 25, 2014

A tasty solution to keep all you grilled meat lovers out there safe from the carcinogens created in the process......Beer!


Soaking meats in beer makes them safer to eat from the grill

Monday, April 21, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
beer
(NaturalNews) While word continues to spread about the carcinogenic effects of eating grilled meat, a new study published in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry may have come up with a simple solution. Researchers from southern Europe found that simply marinating meat in beer prior to grilling it helps block the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which have been linked to causing cancer.
Isabel Ferreira from the University of Porto in Portugal and her colleagues arrived at this conclusion after testing grilled meat samples marinated in one of three types of beer -- Pilsner beer (PB), nonalcoholic Pilsner beer (P0B) and black beer (BB). The anti-free-radical activity of these three marinades was evaluated using charcoal-grilled pork and compared to the typical free radical activity of an unmarinated charcoal-grilled pork control.
In the end, all the meat samples were found to contain some level of eight different PAHs, collectively dubbed PAH8, which the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has previously classified as indicators of carcinogenic potency. But those meats that were marinated in beer prior to being cooked exhibited the lowest levels of these eight carcinogens, presumably due to certain compounds in beer that guard against damaging oxidation.
"BB exhibited the strongest scavenging activity (68.0%), followed by P0B (36.5%) and PB (29.5%)," wrote the authors about the initial assay of the three beer marinades. "BB showed the highest inhibitory effect in the formation of PAH8 (53%), followed by P0B (25%) and PB (13%)."
The full text of the study can be accessed at the following link:
http://pubs.acs.org.

Read More Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

FDA Approved pet treats that may be poisoning your dogs and cats with toxic heavy metals.

Pet treats found contaminated with heavy metals - Health Ranger releases shocking data on lead, mercury and cadmium in dog and cat treats


treats
Monday, April 21, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) My food science research in the Natural News Forensic Food Labs has turned up yet another alarming discovery... and this time, it's about pet treats that may be poisoning your dogs and cats with toxic heavy metals.
Over the last several months, I've been testing popular brands of pet treats sold by retailers like Amazon.com, and what I found is downright alarming:
• An astonishing 1.8 ppm of lead in Mundy Rawhide Gourmet Dog Treats made by a company called Cadet. The treats are made in China and labeled "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION."
• A startling 6 ppm of cadmium found in "Red Shrimp" reptile treats made by Zoo Med.
• A shocking level of mercury -- over 0.5 ppm found in "Ocean Whitefish" cat treats made by PureBites and labeled "100% natural" and "made in the USA."
• Over 1.5 ppm lead found in "Natural Rawhide Rings" dog treats from a company called PetSafe. The product package says "Protect. Teach. Love." and is made in Taiwan.
See the full results right now for over 16 products at the Natural News Forensic Food Labs results page.
All results were achieved via ICP-MS laboratory testing that I conducted myself, using EPA-approved methodology variations. The Natural News Forensic Food Lab is in the process of achieving ISO 17025 accreditation.

Watch out! You may be poisoning your pet

What these results show is that high levels of toxic heavy metals are commonly found in pet treats. Even worse, these heavy metals are invisible to the human eye, and because they aren't labeled on products, there's no way to know how much lead, mercury, cadmium or arsenic you may be unintentionally feeding to your pet.
The picture on the right shows chew sticks that contain alarmingly high levels of lead, but you don't see the lead in the photo, do you?
Shockingly, manufacturers never disclose heavy metals content on product labels, and retailers almost never test for heavy metals. To my knowledge, Natural News Store is the only retailer in the world that tests everything we sell for heavy metals. Amazon.com never tests what it sells, and don't expect other retailers to, either.
See the PetSafe natural rawhide rings on the left? They're made in Taiwan from rawhide, sorbitol and potassium sorbate. But they also contain over 1.5 ppm of lead.
Just to give you an idea of what that really means, just one rawhide ring weighing 8 grams would expose your dog to over 24 times the daily lead limit set by California Proposition 65. That's almost a month's worth of lead in a single pet treat.
See the full results right now at the Natural News Forensic Food Labs results page, where more than 16 pet treats are detailed.

Contaminated pet treats can kill your favorite dog or cat

Contaminated pet treats can kill your dogs or cats. The FDA openly warns about this on its website(1), saying:
Since 2007, FDA has become aware of an increasing number of illnesses in pets associated with the consumption of jerky pet treats. As of September 24, 2013, FDA has received approximately 3000 reports of pet illnesses which may be related to consumption of the jerky treats. Most of the reports involve jerky products sourced from China. The majority of the complaints involve dogs, but cats also have been affected. The reports involve more than 3600 dogs, 10 cats and include more than 580 deaths.
Over the years, thousands of family pets have been killed by contaminated pet treats, and more deaths will occur until this industry is required to meet stringent quality standards.
Sadly, the FDA still has no limits on heavy metals in pet treats or pet food, so a company can legally manufacture pet treats containing almost any level of heavy metal toxins while legally selling that product at Amazon.com or your favorite pet store.
The USDA, similarly, has no limits on heavy metals in certified organic pet food. So even "organic" pet foods and treats can contain extremely toxic levels of heavy metals while being certified organic by the U.S. government.
And while heavily-contaminated pet treats can kill your pet in a matter of hours or days, pet treats with sub-acute levels of heavy metals can still cause long-term chronic poisoning over time, where the heavy metals build up with each cumulative exposure.

Are there any pet treats with low heavy metals?

Yes! In fact, my laboratory research was able to verify that the "Real Meat Healthy Gourmet Dog & Puppy Treats" product made by the Real Meat Company(2) was remarkably low in heavy metals, registering zero cadmium, mercury and arsenic while showing only a tiny trace of lead.

Read More Here
Enhanced by Zemanta

Denmark's Aarhus University Scientific investigations show that genetically modified soy feed, which is doused with glyphosate, has negative effects on mammalian health.

Roundup herbicide's health risks recognized by Danish scientists

Tuesday, April 22, 2014 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer

glyphosate
(NaturalNews) Monsanto's Roundup is coming under fire in Denmark as scientists awake to its effect on enzymes activities and the gastrointestinal health of mammals. Danish scientists are calling out for further investigation of the weed killer and other glyphosate-containing pesticides. Citing glyphosate's potential for abuse on the health of livestock, the scientists report that the chemical is most dangerous during a mammal's sensitive life stages.
Likewise, the weed killer has been proven to inhibit specific enzyme pathways in the guts of mammals -- enzymes that play an important role in allowing the body to detoxify naturally.

Danish scientists recognize that glyphosate affects livestock at sensitive life stages

Current health assessments of livestock in Denmark show that genetically modified soy feed, which is doused with glyphosate, has negative effects on mammalian health. Scientists from Denmark's Aarhus University investigated various farmer reports at the request of the Danish farm minister.
One of the scientists, Martin Tang Sorensen, hit the ground running, reviewing study after study identifying the risks that glyphosate poses to livestock health. Evidence pointed out that glyphosate impacts livestock the most during sensitive phases of the animal's life.
Two hypotheses were studied and were of great concern to the researchers. The first investigated glyphosate's damaging effect on the microorganisms in an animal's gastrointestinal system. The second studied an animal's mineral status as a secondary effect of glyphosate exposure.

Glyphosate disrupts good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, leaving livestock more prone to infections

For cattle and poultry, glyphosate disrupts the natural "good" bacteria balance in the gut. This is evidenced by the recent uptick of Clostridium botulinum infections in cattle. In the past ten years in Germany, botulism infections have increased dramatically, showing how a diminished gastrointestinal tract favors the growth of infectious disease. For example, salmonella and clostridium were found to be highly resistant to glyphosate. At the same time, beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus, Bacillus and Lactobacillus were found to be most susceptible, destroyed in the presence of glyphosate. Without enough good bacteria, the gut of the livestock becomes a nest for disease to replicate.

Read More Here

.....

Farm Wars

GM Soy Linked to Illnesses in Farm Pigs
Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji
Institute of Science in Society
Danish Farmer Reverses Illnesses in pigs by reverting to a GM-free diet for his animals, which is yet further evidence for the toxicity of glyphosate tolerant GM crops Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji
A Danish farmer has gained huge public recognition for publishing his simple method for ridding his pigs of illness- removing genetically modified (GM) ingredients from their diet.
Published in the farming magazine Effektivt Landbrug on 13 April 2012 [1], the farmer Ib Borup Perderson describes how his pigs suffered from symptoms including chronic diarrhoea, birth defects, reproductive problems, reduced appetite, bloating, stomach ulcers, weaker and smaller piglets, and reduced litter sizes. This was not just a problem for the animals themselves but also the profitability of the farm, with fewer healthy animals, mounting costs of medicines and added labour costs.
After researching the health hazards of GM foods and associated herbicides, Pederson decided to stop feeding his 450 sows with GM soybean, replacing them with fishmeal and non-GM soybean instead. He began to notice health benefits after two days of a GM-free diet. The farmer’s account has since been published in an English dossier compiled by scientist Brian John of GM-free Cymru (Wales), with collaboration from Pederson, published online by GM Watch [2].
This finding adds to the continual flow of new evidence appearing in peer-reviewed scientific studies, farmers’ reports and witness accounts of the devastating health impacts of glyphosate-based herbicides and the associated GM crops modified to tolerate it. Birth defects from glyphosate exposure were detected in the 1980s in lab animals performed by Monsanto (see [3] EU Regulators and Monsanto Exposed for Hiding Glyphosate Toxicity, SiS 51, [4] Lab Study Establishes Glyphosate Link to Birth Defects, SiS 48, 5 Glyphosate Kills Rat Testes Cells, SiS 54).  Residents of heavy agrochemical-use zones in Argentina have seen startling increases in birth defects, adult and human cancer rates as well as other illnesses (see [6] Argentina’s Roundup Human Tragedy, SiS 48, [7] Pesticide Illnesses and GM Soybeans, SiS 53). Argentinian tobacco farmers have recently filed a lawsuit against Monsanto for birth defects suffered by their children following claims by the corporation that the chemical was safe to use [8]. Animal feeding studies have shown GM soya feed to cause sterility, stunting and death in rats (see [9] GM Soya Fed Rats: Stunted, Dead, or Sterile, SiS 33). This is also not the first time that livestock illness including reproductive problems has been linked to glyphosate-tolerant crop derived feed. Professor Emeritus Don Huber of Perdue University, a senior scientist of USDA (US Department of Agriculture) has been studying crop health for over 20 years, and warned how reduced mineral content of glyphosate-tolerant crops lead to nutritional deficiencies in livestock that in turn cause reproductive problems (see [10] USDA Scientist Reveals All, SiS 53). Reduced mineral content in crops results from glyphosate’s metal chelating properties, rendering essential minerals unavailable. Nutrient deficiency effects are independent of direct glyphosate toxicity that causes endocrine disruption, birth defects and cancers among other illnesses.  The identification of a novel pathogen in glyphosate-treated crops, reproductive organs of livestock as well as aborted foetal tissue may also be a contributing factor (see [11]Emergency! Pathogen New to Science Found in Roundup Ready GM Crops?,SiS50).
Improvements in health with GMO-free diet
The dossier [2] presents following effects since removing GM produce from the pigs’ diets, as described by Pederson:
1. Within 2 days, diarrhoea virtually disappeared in the farrowing house, whereas before, 50-100 ml Borgal / day [an antibacterial drug] had to be used.
2. Since switching, there had been no death from bloat in sows or death by ulcers, as opposed to minimum 1 per month previously (36 sows died due to stomach related sickness over the last two years before switching).
3. No sows have died through loss of appetite, whereas 2 sows died from this cause last year.
4. Even without washing between farrowings, diarrhoea does not reappear; previously failing to wash between sows would result in more diarrhoea.
5. Previously the farmer had struggled with diarrhoea in first layer sows, no more problems there.
6. Two years ago when the diarrhoea was as its worst, there were months with nearly 30% dead in the farrowing house. At that time it was impossible to find sows that could nurse piglets.
7. Before it was unusual to have a sow with 13 piglets weaned. The average was about 10.5 per sow plus spare mothers. Now the farmer is getting over 12 piglets on average weaned and 14 piglets weaned per sow is common. There are fewer nursing sows, simply because the sows are milking better and eating more.

Read More Here

.....
Deformities, Sickness and Livestock Death

The Real Cost of GM Animal Feed?

by ANDREW WASLEY
At first glance the frozen bundles could be mistaken for conventional joints of meat. But as Ib Pedersen, a Danish pig farmer, lifts them carefully out of the freezer it becomes apparent they are in fact whole piglets – some horribly deformed, with growths or other abnormalities, others stunted.
This is the result, Pedersen claims, of feeding the animals a diet containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Or more specifically, he believes, feed made from GM soya and sprayed with the controversial herbicide glyphosate.
Pedersen, who produces 13,000 pigs a year and supplies Europe’s largest pork company Danish Crown, says he became so alarmed at the apparent levels of deformity, sickness, deaths, and poor productivity he was witnessing in his animals that he decided to experiment by changing their diet from GM to non-GM feed.
piglet
Danish pig farmer Ib Pedersen is convinced that GM animal feed, and the glyphosate herbicide in particular, is responsible for deformities and other defects in pigs
The results, he says, were remarkable: ”When using GM feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhoea, pigs born with the deformities … but when I switched [to non GM feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days.”
The farmer says that not only has the switch in diet improved the visible health of the pigs, it has made the farm more profitable, with less medicine use and higher productivity. “Less abortions, more piglets born in each litter, and breeding animals living longer.” He also maintains that man hours have been reduced, with less cleaning needed and fewer complications with the animals.
Inside the farmhouse, piles of paperwork are laid out across a vast table; print outs, reports, statistics, scientific research, correspondence. Pedersen shows me photos he says are of animals adversely affected by the GM feed – there’s more piglets with spinal deformities, their back legs dragging on the ground; others have visible problems with their faces, limbs or tails. There’s even a siamese twin – two animals joined at the head.
Pedersen believes these abnormalities, and the other problems, were caused – at least in part – by the presence of the herbicide glyphosate in his GM pig feed. Glyphosate is routinely sprayed on many soya and cereal crops to kill weeds and maximise yields.
Although it is used on conventional crops, its usage on GM soya and maize is particularly prevalent as the crops are engineered to be resistant to the chemical, killing the weeds but leaving the crop plants unaffected.
The introduction of GM crops resistant to glyphosate allowed crops to be sprayed with the herbicide to control weeds – often many times over a growing season – without killing the crop. But this also led to much higher levels of glyphosate in the plants and seeds.
After glyphosate-resistant strains of soy were introduced in 1996, EU regulators raised the allowed maximum residue limit (MRL) for glyphosate in imported soy 200-fold, from 0.1 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg.
Glyphosate use has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with a growing body of research, say campaigners, suggesting that exposure, even at low levels, can be harmful to animals and humans.
Studies have also suggested, claim critics, that the herbicide may disrupt the human endocrine system, which regulates the body’s biological processes, meaning that any level of exposure could pose a significant risk to health.
Such claims are vigorously refuted by the agro-chemical industry, who state the herbicide is safe and who accuse campaigners of touting flawed research, or manipulating the findings to suit their own agenda.
Pedersen claims that independent testing revealed all of his deformed pigs had glyphosate in their organs. He shows me a chart he suggests shows a clear correlation between the volume of glyphosate found in pig feed and higher numbers of cranial and spinal deformities. “The more glyphosate, the more deformities,” he says, bluntly.
Outside, along a muddy track through a number of arable fields – in addition to pigs, Pedersen produces strawberries, peas and potatoes – we come to the main pig house. It’s vast and crowded, efficient and noisy, with the unmistakable stink of pig waste. A factory farm.
Pedersen shows me the farrowing crates, the large bodies of the nursing sows squeezed under metal bars, surrounded by up to a dozen weaning piglets. He points out his best animals – the most productive, the veterans – and stops to check on those he has concerns about, examining a swollen joint here or an inflamed nipple there. Antibiotics are administered to one.
In the main hall the pigs move more freely, as they do in a series of smaller rooms where younger animals are kept as they grow. The farmer manually throws down handfuls of sandy-looking feed to supplement that available in the conical feed troughs. The feed mix, he explains, contains soya, fishmeal and other ingredients – but nothing of GM origin.
Pederson admits his work isn’t scientific but says the results should alarm people. He’s worried that many farmers have no idea of the potential impact of GM feed, and that the same is true for consumers: when using GM feed, he says, “Everything was down in the quagmire … We had eleven pigs die in one day.”
Deformities and deaths “the new normal”
The farmer’s research, and outspoken stance, provoked a storm of controversy in Danish agricultural circles after the respected farming publication Effektivt Landbrug featured the story, interviewing Pedersen in detail and referring to the pig farmers’ suggestion that DDT and thalidomide – linked to deformities in up to 10,000 babies – could be regarded as trivial compared to the potential risks from GM and glyphosate.
Critics accused him of scaremongering and slammed the findings as unscientific and “without merit” – pointing out that if the claims were true, thousands of other farmers using GM feed would be recording similar problems.
Despite this, Pedersen’s work has prompted the Danish Pig Research Centre (VSP) to announce an in-depth study to test the effects of GM and non-GM soya on animal health. The findings of the research have yet to be published.
And Pedersen’s findings are beginning to spread well beyond Denmark; earlier this month the German television channel ARD broadcast a documentary featuring the farmer’s claims, and Pedersen himself recently travelled to the UK to address a packed symposium at the House of Commons, organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group On Agroecology.
Anti-GM campaigners say the findings are particularly compelling as the observations were made in a real farm setting, not a laboratory. Claire Robinson of GM Watch told The Ecologist.


Read More Here

.....
Enhanced by Zemanta