Passenger Dies Enroute from Nigeria to JFK-NY

16 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in Disease

Wow. Just WOW! As I have said before, quarantine now means fly all over the country or the world, and now, the Port Authority is in charge of removing possible ebola victims from flights. America, killed by incompetent inept authorities and people continuing to have”trust” in them.

News flash: Americans are on their own.

Alarm after vomiting passenger dies on flight from Nigeria to JFK

 

Alarm after vomiting passenger dies on flight from Nigeria to JFK
Demonstrators demand a travel ban outside the White House on Oct. 16 to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.

 

A plane from Nigeria landed at JFK Airport Thursday with a male passenger aboard who had died during the flight after a fit of vomiting — and CDC officials conducted a “cursory” exam before announcing there was no Ebola and turning the corpse over to Port Authority cops to remove, Rep. Peter King said on Thursday.

The congressman was so alarmed by the incident — and by what he and employees see as troubling Ebola vulnerabilities at JFK — that he fired off a letter to the federal Department of Homeland Security demanding more training and tougher protocols for handling possible cases there.

The unnamed, 63-year-old passenger had boarded an Arik Air plane out of Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday night, a federal law enforcement source said.

During the flight, the man had been vomiting in his seat, the source said. Some time before the plane landed, he passed away. Flight crew contacted the CDC, federal customs officials and Port Authority police, who all boarded the plane at around 6 a.m. as about 145 worried passengers remained on board, the source said.

“The door [to the terminal] was left open, which a lot of the first responders found alarming,” said the source.

“My understanding was that the passenger was vomiting in the seat,” King (R-LI) said.

“The CDC went on the plane, examined the dead body and said the person did not have Ebola,” King said.

“It was what I was told a cursory examination. The Port Authority cops and personnel from Customs and Border Protection were there, and they were told there was no danger because the person did not have Ebola,” King said.

“But their concern was, how could you tell so quickly? And what adds to the concern is how wrong the CDC has been over the past few weeks.”

Rep. Peter T. King letter to Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Between 70 and 100 passengers a day arrive at JFK from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three West African countries that are the epicenter of the outbreak, King said.

“These individuals transit the airport with the rest of the traveling population, including using the restrooms,” King wrote to Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a letter Thursday.

“Only after they arrive at the Customs and Border Patrol primary screening location that they are separated and sent to secondary inspection for a medical check and to complete the questionnaire,” he wrote Johnson.

King’s letter demands that Homeland Security immediately beef up protocols for what happens to potentially infected passengers in flight and at the terminal itself, prior to their reaching the screening location.

The letter also demands that training and safety equipment improve for the Port Authority police and Customs and Border Patrol officials who can come into contact with high-risk passengers.

“I believe there should be a suspension of direct flights and connecting flights from these three countries,” King said. “And maybe anyone with a visa from those countries, and who has been living in those countries, should be barred” from entering the US, he added.

No other information was immediately available about the deceased Nigerian passenger.

Nigeria is 1,000 miles east of the three West African countries suffering from an Ebola outbreak, but has had 19 confirmed cases of the deadly virus. The country has had no new cases over the past month; the World Health Organization has said that if there are still no new cases of Ebola by Monday, they will officially declare the country “Ebola-free.”

 

Yellow Fever Mosquito in California

15 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in Disease Tags: , ,

Anyone else feel like when they are reading the news headlines every day that we are in the Book of Revelation? I mean, plagues, beheadings, other plagues, financial meltdowns, war, earthquakes, volcano activity, and all the ridiculously foolish statements by our “authorities”. Like “If we stopped flights from ebola infected countries we would spread it faster”, “Our borders are secure”, “Ebola cannot be airborne” and on and on.

At any rate, here’s the article on Yellow Fever mosquitos:

Virus-transmitting ‘yellow fever’ mosquitoes discovered in L.A. County

 

A new aggressive daytime-biting mosquito capable of transmitting debilitating and possibly deadly viruses has been found in the Los Angeles region, officials announced Wednesday.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The yellow fever mosquito, shown in a file photo, has been found in Commerce and Pico Rivera. It is capable of transmitting viruses including dengue and yellow fever, but officials say those viruses aren’t currently present in L.A. County.

 

Known as yellow fever mosquitoes, the insects were found Oct. 7 and 8 in Commerce and Pico Rivera, respectively, according to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.

The Aedes aegypti species, which has black and white stripes and grows to about a quarter-inch in size, can transmit dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever — viruses that can cause painful symptoms including headaches and high fever, officials said.

“While these debilitating viruses, so far, aren’t locally transmitted in L.A. County, the mosquitoes that can transmit them are now here,” Susanne Kluh, the district’s director of scientific-technical services, said in a statement. “Infected travelers can bring these viruses to Los Angeles County.”

The mosquito is the third species of the Aedes genus found in Los Angeles County in the past three years, said district spokesman Levy Sun.

In September 2011, officials found Asian tiger mosquitoes, which come from Southeast Asia, in South El Monte and El Monte. The mosquito population has since grown and spread into 10 neighboring communities, officials said.

Then this summer, authorities found Australian backyard mosquitoes in Montebello and Monterey Park.

The yellow fever mosquito — which was first found in California, including in the Central Valley, in 2013 — is an aggressive daytime biter that thrives in urban environments, preferring small, man-made containers to lay eggs.

“We’re aggressively attacking the populations wherever we find them,” said Jason Farned, spokesman for the San Gabriel Valley Vector Control District.

Determining how the Aedes species were introduced to California has been difficult, but officials say imported tires and plants are typically to blame. They can also travel via planes, ships and other vehicles.

Officials urged residents to report any daytime-biting mosquitoes with black and white stripes.

The San Gabriel Valley district can be reached at (626) 814-9466, the Los Angeles district at (562) 944-9656

 

Vermont and GMO Labeling

15 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in food, food safety, GMO's

Vermont Plans Rules, Meetings for GMO LabelingLaw

 

They claim it’s going to be too troublesome to follow the labeling law passed in Vermont. I say they should have thought about that before they started ok’ing pesticides and herbicides for human consumption. What a load. They can label for dairy, nuts, etc., but those who are so proud of GMO don’t want to put on the label that it “MAY CONTAIN GMO Ingredients!” It looks like the Grocery Manufacturers Association thinks it is better to conduct experiments on mankind with no oversight and without people’s knowledge or consent. 

Yeah…it makes me kind of angry.

Story below:

MONTPELIER, Vermont—A legal challenge hasn’t deterred Vermont authorities from moving forward to implement the nation’s first law requiring labeling of genetically modified organisms in food.

The Office of Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has scheduled three public meetings for next week to introduce draft rules to implement Act 120, the GMO labeling law that is the subject of litigation in federal court. The meetings will be held Oct. 21 in Burlington, Oct. 22 in Montpelier and Oct. 24 in Brattleboro.

Sorrell anticipates making the draft rules public in advance of the meetings, according to an Oct. 10 press release.

Last month, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other organizations that filed a lawsuit to invalidate Act 120 moved to enjoin Vermont authorities from implementing the law until the litigation has run its course. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Snack Food Association, International Dairy Foods Association and National Association of Manufacturers.

Among other arguments, the food groups contend the law fails to serve a legitimate government purpose, violates federal labeling requirements and is preempted by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Act 120 doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2016, but the food groups argue the industry will suffer irreparable harm without a preliminary injunction due in part to costs they must incur to comply with the law.

“Manufacturers have no way to reliably distinguish ingredients derived from genetically engineered plant varieties from those that are not,” plaintiffs stated in their request for a preliminary injunction filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont. “The changes manufacturers would need to demand from their suppliers and initiate in their own facilities to segregate ingredients require money and time—much more time than the Act’s July 1, 2016 effective date allows.”

A federal judge, Christina Reiss, may hear oral arguments in December on the motion for the injunction and a separate request by the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit. Plaintiffs also have moved to amend their complaint.

In a motion filed in August to dismiss the lawsuit, Sorrell’s legal team argued the labeling law advances a number of legitimate state interests, including preventing confusion about whether consumers are purchasing genetically modified foods. Food manufacturers are free to express their view about genetically modified foods, and nothing in Act 120 prohibits manufacturers from noting FDA’s viewpoint that such foods are not materially different from natural ones, the state lawyers said.

Last week, Reiss denied a request by two organizations—the Center for Food Safety and Vermont Public Interest Research Group—to intervene in the case.

The lawsuit in Vermont is being closely watched across the United States because it could have ramifications for labeling initiatives in other states. Lawyers for the State of Vermont said roughly 80 percent of processed food sold in the United States is produced with genetic engineering

 

Missouri Grassroots Radio- Pete Kennedy from FTCLDF

10 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in Uncategorized

Missouri Grassroots Radio This Weekend
Friday night 7 pm to 9 pm Dave Cort and Mike Slack host with an update on John Diehl with Laura Hausladen followed by Dean “Draig” Hodge Libertarian candidate for the​ Missouri House of Representatives, 103rd District.
Saturday night at 7pm, the first hour guest will be Pete Kennedy, of the  Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a group that defends the rights of farmers against overreach by the state and federal government.
Saturday night’s second hour will feature Doug Enyart, Constitution Party candidate for the 8th Congressional District of Missouri.
Please call into this number to listen in, or to speak to the hosts and guests and join our conversation.
(347) 677-1835
Link to listen to show online
www.blogtalkradio.com/missourigrassrootsradio

 

A Law to Stop Liars? Farm Market Fraud

10 Oct 2014 1 Comment

by truthfarmer in Enforcement

Here’s an article from Modern Farmer talking about an effort to prevent Farmer’s Market Fraud in California. I really don’t think that this is the answer. I do think that people need to be more educated so they can make the most intelligent choices possible, but if there are certifications, then there are regulatory oversights, and we all know that inspectors are the most trustworthy people of all, right? Sarcasm is inherent in that statement. I just think that people need to be informed and educated about their food and then when they ask questions of the seller of the product, they can tell if they are answering truthfully or not.

I know, I am too altruistic. Just look at how the “organic” program has been co-opted. Look at how people have perceived the “USDA Prime” and “Grade A” stamps. They thought they meant these were good things that someone who actually cared took a look at. I don’t believe agencies can fix the problems. People, and integrity combined with education, CAN. Sigh.

Here is the article: (click on the title for the source)

Stamping Out Farmers Market Fraud

 

A new task force in California will be dedicated to stamping out farmers market fraud. Is this a problem nationwide? We called up the director of New York City’s biggest greenmarkets to find out.

Last week, Jerry Brown, the governor of California, signed a bill authorizing a million dollars to, as NPR puts it, “deploy a small army of inspectors to farmers markets around the state.” This is following a few well-publicized incidents of farmers market fraud, or FMF (as nobody calls it).

It should be no surprise that farmers markets are occasionally home to fraudulent or misleading behavior; small producers are notoriously strapped for cash, and farmers market profits can be the difference between making money and losing it. Farmers might be tempted to fudge the truth a bit, by bringing in produce they didn’t grow — or in the worst cases, produce they purchased from the same retail or wholesale channels that their customers could frequent themselves, with a significant price bump.

Los Angeles in particular has had a rough go of FMF in the past few years; this LA Times investigation from last year showed some pretty unsavory practices, including bringing in imported fruit from Mexico. The new bill will send forth inspectors to check for telltale signs of produce grown by somebody else. But how is that even done?

We called up Michael Hurwitz, director of the greenmarket program at GrowNYC, the non-profit organization that runs and monitors the majority of New York City’s markets, including its largest ones in Union Square and Grand Army Plaza, to ask about farmers market fraud. “There’s no other food location in New York City that has such a strict oversight,” he says about GrowNYC’s policies and policing. “No other retailer is as strict as we are.”

GrowNYC is a producer-only market, which means that the booths at the farmers market are only allowed to sell what they’ve produced themselves. No reselling is allowed whatsoever, whether you sell goat meat or fairytale eggplants or shoofly pie. In order to maintain that position, GrowNYC has a very robust inspection system, with a few different types of inspectors: All market managers can inspect the individual booths, and they also employ dedicated inspectors to head out to the farms and make sure everything’s legit. Every single year, all producers must submit a crop plan, which includes estimates of yield, specific products they intend to bring to market, and the dates at which they’ll bring them.

Then there are random checks at the market themselves, which vary mostly based on quantity: Heavy producers get inspected more. The inspectors are looking for anything that doesn’t jibe with the crop plan, or anything suspicious, like waxed fruit or boxes from retailers. “Some folks we’ll inventory weekly for a month at a time, so we can get a full picture of their entire product line, if they’re someone with a substantial amount of product,” says Hurwitz. “Otherwise, once every few months.” The farmers don’t know when the inspection is happening; it’s a delicate balance for the inspectors, because the inventory can be burdensome and time-consuming. Not to mention, GrowNYC’s main objective is to help farmers, not annoy them. But Hurwitz was very firm that the inspections are very, very serious, and that GrowNYC won’t hesitate to kick farmers out of the program or fine them if there are violations.

Farm inspections are less frequent; there are about 60 to 75 inspections on the farms per year, out of 240 current vendors. “Roughly a quarter of our farmers are being inspected on farm every year,” says Hurwitz, but some of the big farmers may be inspected three or five times a year. It’s worth noting that GrowNYC is not in the business of certifying organic, but for the farmers that do make that claim, they’ll take a look around to make sure nothing distinctly un-organic is going on at the farm.

It’s very rare that GrowNYC has a problem with its farmers; Hurwitz estimates there are 6-10 violations per year. Usually, he says, those are simple things, like a farmer without enough to sell bringing a neighbor’s products to the market. That kind of thing would usually just result in a fine. But what’s the worst offense a New York farmer can make? “An extreme case is when somebody brings in product from outside the region,” says Hurwitz. “That’s like, a class A felony. That will get you an immediate suspension. That’s the one we have absolutely no tolerance for.”

New York City’s markets are a bit unusual and certainly different from Los Angeles’s in that New York’s are wholly producer-driven. There are markets, says Hurwitz, like some in Los Angeles, that allow reselling. “As long as they’re transparent about that, I think that’s totally fine and legitimate,” he says, but that transparency is why Governor Brown needed to dedicate a million dollars for a farmers market fraud task force.

Hurwitz approves of the new bill; cost is primarily the problem for policing markets. GrowNYC gets around this by requiring that farmers pay a fee to sell in their markets. Fraud doesn’t just reflect poorly on the individual offender; it kind of ruins the whole enterprise, which is largely about trust — trust that by buying your groceries at the market, you’re supporting local agriculture, that your money is going where you want it to go.

 

 

 

Help Against Ebola

03 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in Disease, Food Destruction Agency Tags: , , , , , ,

The following is a VERY lengthy post. It contains some specific protocols regarding protecting yourself against Ebola.

I know there are several people who I generally have high respect for that are saying the entire Ebola issue is a false flag. Frankly, I wish I believed that about this one. If it is, I will be really happy! However, the bottom line is that there has been a definite interest in reducing the population for years. What better way to do it and save those bullets for when you really need them? The governments can just claim incompetence and negligence as their cover story. After all, that is largely truthful.

Again, this is lengthy, but maybe really important info. And of course, the FDA doesn’t recognize any of this as helpful or potentially effective. You’ll have to wait for Bill Gate’s vaccine if you want their stamp of approval on anything.

Be well!

=====

Essential Oils:

 FOR EBOLA, a direct quote:
Single Oils of:  Rosemary with Geranium and Lemon

Recipe:
10 drops rosemary
10 drops geranium
10 drops lemon
1/2 raw lemon
1 Tablespoon honey

Mix in 8 ounces of warm water. DRINK EVERY 2 hours.  Every hour take 2 JuvaTone.  Do a rectal implant of 2 tablespoons of Protec.  Drink a mixture of 1/2 cup sauerkraut juice, 1/2 cup tomato juice, a Tbsp. olive oil.

===

 

Thanks to Dr. Richard Alan Miller for sending this report.

~~ EBOLA Whitepaper

08-15-14 – Ebola Africa has cure
In the recent WA Post a clue to the cure was mentioned
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/08/13/they-survived-ebola-now-they-are-shunned/

“Re-hydration and nutrition can only help keep patients alive long
enough for their body to develop antibodies to fight the virus back.”
(Ya think?)

Confirming what we have been working on, but of course that was
not the focus of the article, instead it was the SHUNNING.

To me the REAL SHUNNING is the TRUTH ABOUT DISEASE – That
people who live even reasonably healthy lives and avoid most well
known transmission risky behaviors are DOING FINE

Now with the new HEALTH TREATMENT LIST  we know that it may
be very close to curing even the afflicted and not just preventative.
I contacted a group in Sierra Leone today and also toured the Hospital
its like two differnt worlds !   One helps people and keeps them well,
the other operates in the most scary secretive fashion beyond Sci FI

And has been suspected now of …. Well from the situation one’s mind
races to conclusions but lets just say it scary beyond belief.  The nice
folks I contacted are hopefully going to tell me their programs and we
can share info etc.   Stay tuned !

I also hope to post a list of news links as a briefing and how this
developed and continues to spread due to all sorts of  factors, which
COULD BE FIXED.  There is simply no need for this to continue now
that we know the score.  but you can bet its not over yet by a long
shot the good guys are not running things ya know

http://drsircus.com/medicine/ebola-saving-lives-natural-allopathic-medicine

EBOLA TREATMENT
http://www.quantumbotany.info/ebola.htm

There is a radical treatment rather recently attempted to save the
life of a rabies virus patient (it worked).  Previously, before this last
ditch attempt called the “Milwaukee Protocol” was employed, rabies was
100% deadly with or without treatment once it crossed the blood brain
barrier – no known survivors.

They basically put the patient in an induced coma and pumped her full
of antivirals, namely, Ketamine (yes it seems to also have anti-viral
properties which is interesting) and Amantadine derived from the Queen
of the Mushrooms – (Amanita muscaria).

Treatment schedule for Ebola
1.  an extensive list spanning from standard support (O2, hydration,
nutrition, anti-pain, antibiotics to fight off bacterial supra-infections, etc)
2.  exotic enema concoctions
3. the utilization of more standard treatments such as anti-virals and
monoclonal antibodies
4.  last ditch options such as blood transfusions (which like the previously
mentioned ergotamine in your link, might worsen the condition of the
patient).
5.  also insist that the doctors and nurses treating would also be
quarantined and would concomitantly be on a prophylactic regimens of
at least clomiphine and amiodarone – both of which have side effects.

Specifically disconcerting about this virus – definitely in the category of
civilization destroyer.
1.  It seems undeniable that it has recently mutated into a more
transmissible/virulent form.
2.  It takes up to 3 weeks for symptoms to show up.
3.  The worst strain (zaire) has a high (90%) death rate that mere
herbs alone can do little for.
4.  It is transmissible through sperm by male patients (convalescent)
that have had it and have successfully fought it off.
5.  This virus seems to have a cruel mechanism of action/pathological
progression wherein the patients might start looking and feeling better
a few days right before they die.

The American doctors currently being treated, although feeling better,
are still not out of the woods yet.

08-20-14 – Ebola Treatment: How Big Tobacco and the Military Came
Together – NBC News
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-treatment-how-big-tobacco-military-came-together-n173311

——————————————————————————————————————–
EBOLA release

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2759&l=-http–orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

OMNS archive link
http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2760&l=-http–orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, August 20, 2014*

Can Vitamin C Cure Ebola?Commentary
by Steve Hickey PhD, Hilary Roberts PhD, and Damien Downing
MBBS, MSB.

(OMNS Aug 20, 2014) If there were a drug that worked on Ebola you
should use it. There isn’t. There is only vitamin C. But you must be
extremely careful what you believe, because, as it ever was, the
Internet is full of dangerous loonies. For coming up to a decade now
the OMNS has reported on nutritional therapies; we leave the medical
politics to one side and work from the facts. Here are the facts about
vitamin C and Ebola.

1. Taking a gram or so of day of vitamin C won’t protect you against
anything except acute scurvy; it doesn’t matter whether the vitamin
is liposomal, nano-particles, or even gold-plated. Beware of websites,
companies, and Youtube clips making wild and unsubstantiated claims
about the efficacy of vitamin C.

2. Clinical reports suggest that taking vitamin C almost to bowel
tolerance every day (in divided doses) will help to protect you against
all viruses. Reports by independent physicians have been consistent for
decades. However, the doctors also stipulated most emphatically that
the dose and the way you take it must be right – or it will not work.
There is no direct placebo controlled “evidence” that massive doses of
vitamin C will work on Ebola, and nobody would volunteer to take part
in that study.

But massive doses are reported to have helped against every virus it
has been pitched against. This includes Polio, Dengue and AIDS, and it
even makes vaccination work better. In the 1980s when no other
treatment was available it was reported that full blown AIDS could be
reversed and the patient brought back to reasonable health.[i,ii]

At risk or worried about Ebola?
This is what you should do.  Vitamin C

Vitamin C is the primary antioxidant in the diet. Most people do not
take enough to be healthy. While this is true of many nutrients, vitamin
C is a special case. Ignore governments telling you that you only need
about 100 mg a day and can get this amount from food. The required
amount of vitamin C varies your state of health. A normal adult in
perfect health may need only a small intake, say 500 mg per day, but
more is needed when someone is even slightly under the weather.
Similarly, to prevent illness, the intake needs to be increased.

The intake for an otherwise healthy person to have a reasonable
chance of avoiding a common cold is in the region of 8-10 grams
(8,000-10,000 mg) a day. This is about ten times what corporate
medicine has tested in their trials on vitamin C and the common cold.
Ten grams (10,000 mg) is the minimum pharmacological intake; it may
help if you have a slight sore throat but more (much more) may be
needed.

To get rid of a common cold, you may need anything from 20 to 60
grams (60,000 mg) a day. With influenza the need might be for 100
grams (100,000 mg) a day. Since it varies from person to person, and
from illness to illness, the only way to find out is to experiment for
yourself.

Dynamic flow
The problem with oral intakes is that healthy people do not absorb
vitamin C well due to something Dr Robert Cathcart called bowel
tolerance. [iii]  Take too much of the vitamin in a single dose and it will
cause loose stools. In good health, a person might be able to take a
couple of grams at a time without this problem. Strangely, when a
person becomes sick they can take far more without this side effect: as
much as 20-100+ grams a day, in divided doses. [iv]

High dose vitamin C has a short half-life in the body. The half-life is
the time for the level in the blood plasma to fall back to half its
concentration. Until recently, some people claimed that the half-life of
vitamin C was several weeks. We have shown that this long half-life
applies only to very low doses.[v] By contrast, the half-life for high blood
levels is only half an hour. This short half-life means that for high dose
vitamin C the period between doses needs to be short – a few hours at
most.

The aim is to achieve dynamic flow, to get vitamin C flowing continuously
through the body. Dynamic flow requires multiple high doses taken
throughout the day. When separated in time, each dose is absorbed
independently. Two doses of 3 grams, taken 12 hours apart, are absorbed
better than 6 grams taken all at once. Multiple large doses, say 3 grams
four times a day, produce a steady flow of the vitamin from the gut, into
the bloodstream and out, via the urine. Some of the intake is not
absorbed into the blood and stays in the gut, as a reserve against the
early onset of illness. As illness begins, the body pulls in this “excess”
to help fight the virus.

The idea behind dynamic flow is that the body is kept in a reduced
(antioxidant) state, using high doses. There is always vitamin C available,
to refresh the body and other antioxidants. Each vitamin C molecule
(ascorbic acid) has two antioxidant electrons, which it can donate to
protect the body. It then becomes oxidised to dehydroascorbate (DHA).
This oxidized molecule is then excreted, so the body has gained two
antioxidant electrons. The kidneys reabsorb vitamin C, but not DHA; the
vitamin C molecule is absorbed, used up, and then the oxidized form is
thrown out with the rubbish.

The effectiveness of vitamin C is not directly proportional to the dose;
it is non-linear. There is a threshold above which vitamin C becomes
highly effective. Below this level, the effect is small; above it, the effect
is dramatic. The problem is that no-one can tell you in advance what
intake of vitamin C you need. The solution is to take more – more than
you think necessary, more than you consider reasonable. The mantra is
dose, dose, dose.

Types of Vitamin C
Straightforward, low cost ascorbic acid is the preferred form of s
upplement. Vendors may try to sell you “better absorbed” forms with
minerals or salts such as sodium, potassium or calcium ascorbate, and
so on. These are irrelevant, if not counterproductive, for high intakes.
It is worth noting the following:

1. Timing is more important than form. Two large doses of ascorbic
acid taken a little time apart are better absorbed than a single dose
of mineral ascorbate.

2. Mineral ascorbates are salts and do not carry the same number of
antioxidant electrons. Ascorbic acid has two electrons to donate while
a salt typically has only one. With high doses, the “improved” forms
are thus only about half as effective. This is consistent with reports
that mineral forms are correspondingly ineffective in combating illness.

3. Ascorbic acid is a weak acid, much weaker than the hydrochloric acid
in the stomach. Mineral ascorbates may be better tolerated, as they
make the stomach more alkaline than ascorbic acid. However, an
alkaline stomach is not a good idea – there are reasons the body
secretes hydrochloric acid into the stomach, including preventing
infection.

Furthermore, if you are coming down with a haemorrhagic viral infection,
mild discomfort will not be something of great concern.

4. For high intakes, capsules of ascorbic acid are preferable to tablets.
This is because tablets are packed with fillers and it is not wise to take
massive doses of these chemicals. Check the ingredients – you want to
take ascorbic acid and very little else. Bioflavonoids are alright, and
the capsules may be made with gelatine or a vegetarian equivalent.

5. The cheapest way to take ascorbic acid is as powder, dissolved in
water. If you do this, use a straw to avoid it getting on the tooth
enamel, as it is slightly acidic. You will need a set of accurate
electronic scales to monitor the dose. If you do not weigh it carefully,
it will be difficult to keep close to bowel tolerance.

Intravenous Vitamin C
Ideally, infected people would be given a continuous intravenous (IV)
infusion of massive doses of vitamin C (sodium ascorbate is preferred
as ascorbic acid is irritant to veins).

1. People who are sufficiently ill will not be able to take vitamin C by
mouth.

2. IV provides the highest possible blood levels

3. IV means continuous drip, not an injection (short half-life)

Unless you are a medical professional who can treat yourself and your
family, or are exceptionally rich, IV ascorbate will not be an option in
an Ebola outbreak.

Rectal Vitamin C
Rectal administration of sodium ascorbate is a method that can be
used in emergencies, and in developing world circumstances, when IV
is unavailable or unsuitable. Nurses can quickly be trained to mix 15-30
grams of sodium ascorbate in 250-500 ml clean water, and give it by
enema. It can be safely and effectively used in children. An enema also
removes from the bowel material that may be challenging. This has been
done successfully with aboriginal people in the Australian outback.

Liposomes
In healthy people, liposomes help the absorption of oral vitamin C; in
some circumstances this is also true for sick people. However, we need
to dispel some popular myths.

In a healthy person, higher blood levels (about 600 microM/L) can be
achieved using liposomal vitamin C compared with standard ascorbic
acid (about 250 microM/L). We were the first to demonstrate this fact
experimentally.[vi] However, the two absorption methods are different
and if both are used together the resultant plasma levels are additive
(something like 600 + 250 = 850 microM/L). Since ascorbic acid is
much cheaper than liposomal vitamin C, it is cost effective for a
healthy person to start with ascorbic acid and top up with liposomes
as required.

When a person becomes ill they can absorb massive doses of standard
ascorbic acid, using the dynamic flow approach. So if you are sick,
taking a gram of liposomal vitamin C instead of a gram of cheap
ascorbic acid will provide little extra benefit. Both will be well
absorbed, and the liposome contains sodium ascorbate which is less
effective. Liposomes only provide added benefit once the sick person
has approached bowel tolerance levels, using standard ascorbic acid.

Liposomal vitamin C is NOT more effective than IV for fighting acute
infections. This suggestion is unscientific and unsupported by data.
We prefer liposomes for chronic infections and cancer, but this does
not extend to acute illness. There is also a lot of hype around the fact
that liposomes can be absorbed directly into cells. Many liposomes
are absorbed from the gut and pass into the liver, where they are
stored and the vitamin C released. Liposomes may also float around
in the bloodstream, lymph nodes, and so on, waiting to release their
contents or be taken up by cells. But the cells that take up the
liposomes are not necessarily those that are most in need of vitamin
C. Moreover cells may suffer side effects; liposomes are basically
nanotechnology and have additional theoretical issues.

Prevention
To have a reasonable chance of avoiding a major viral infection, a
daily intake of at least 10 grams of ascorbic acid is needed. The idea
is to start low, taking say 500 -1,000 mg four times a day. Build up the
intake to close to bowel tolerance; increased wind and large soft stools
will  occur before diarrhea signals that bowel tolerance has been
exceeded. At this stage, back off the dose a little, to a reasonably
comfortable level.

At the first hint of an infection – feeling unwell, itchy throat, fatigue,
and so on – take more ascorbic acid. If the hint of impending sickness
is mild, take perhaps 5 grams every half hour or even more frequently.

Anything more than a hint of infection, take as large a dose as you
feel could be tolerated and follow this by taking 5 grams every half
hour. The rule is to take as much as you can without going over the
tolerated level:  you will probably be taking too little, even though you
are trying hard to take a massive dose.

If you are already in dynamic flow and want extra protection, then
add liposomal vitamin C. Take it at the same intervals as the ascorbic
acid; that is several times a day. The limit is once again bowel
tolerance – take too much and it will give you loose stools. This will
provide the maximum preventive effect, for the lowest cost.

Treatment
We assume that you are not a medical professional and do not have
access to IV ascorbate. However, if IV sodium ascorbate is available,
it should be given slowly and as continuously as possible. For children,
enemas may be the most practical method (we hope to publish
practical instructions for this soon). Medical professionals can deal
with such things with little difficulty, but others may do more harm
than good.

The first important thing is to start the treatment early. The longer a
person waits after the initial symptoms, the less effective the
treatment will be. Also if the illness is allowed to develop the sick
person may become unable to take anything orally.

Once again, the idea is to get dynamic flow going with as much
ascorbic acid as can be tolerated. In this case, the doses are massive.
Five to ten grams every half hour, through the day, will provide 120
to 240 grams a day. Even at this high intake, the blood plasma levels
may be low or undetectable; at most 250 microM/L will be achieved.
So the question then becomes how much additional liposomal vitamin
C the patient can tolerate.

A practical approach would be to start with 5 grams of ascorbic acid
and a similar amount of liposomal vitamin C in very frequent doses.
Remember the key is dose, dose, dose. More vitamin C!

How it Works
The mechanism of action of high dose vitamin C is known and
understood. In normal healthy tissues it acts as an antioxidant.
In other tissues, it generates hydrogen peroxide, the chemical that
platinum blondes use to bleach their hair. This happens in sick and
inflamed tissues, for example in a malignant tumour. The process is
typically a form of Fenton reaction, generating free radicals. The
oxidation and free radicals arising from the hydrogen peroxide kill
bacteria and inactivate viruses. In other words, vitamin C acts as a
targeted bleach and antiseptic.

Vitamin C is unique, because it has low toxicity and can be taken
safely in massive amounts. Other antioxidants and supplements will not
have a similar effect. Do not be confused and think that Echinacea, for
example, will help. Yes, there may be supplements and herbs that
provide a little immune system support, but this is Ebola we are talking
about – get real!

Note, vitamin C is not some magical antitoxin; this idea is a metaphor.
A disease such as Ebola is not caused by toxins that are inactivated by
vitamin C. Free radicals are not toxins. Oxidants are not toxins. Vitamin
C nearly always acts by transferring electrons, as an oxidant or
antioxidant. It is just basic chemistry. Also, it does not matter if you
have poor dental hygiene, this will hardly affect how massive intakes
of vitamin C tackle an acute viral infection.

Interactions
Sugar interferes with the uptake of vitamin C. If you are using vitamin
C to combat a viral infection do not eat any sugar or carbohydrates
(long chain sugars) or the vitamin C will not be absorbed properly. We
stress that this means no sugar and no carbs, at all.

Smoking releases enormous amounts of oxidants and free radicals
into the bloodstream. The vitamin C will expend itself, trying to mop
up the chemicals from the smoking. We have no moral objections to
people smoking: it is a personal choice. However, smoking will hinder
even massive doses of vitamin C from preventing infection. Once
infected with Ebola, smoking will stop the vitamin C from keeping you
alive.

It is sensible also to supplement with a little chelated magnesium,
such as magnesium citrate, which helps overcome the (largely
theoretical) risk of kidney stones.

The reaction that generates hydrogen peroxide in sick tissues can be
enhanced a little by taking selenium with the vitamin C. A little caution
is needed as too much selenium will cause diarrhoea, fatigue, garlic
breath, and hair and nail loss; severe toxicity can have more severe
effects but is hard to achieve. Methylselenocysteine is a less toxic form
and this would be our choice. The normal intake is perhaps 100-200
micrograms (0.1-0.2 mg) a day; we would take 400 micrograms a day
during an epidemic and up this to 1,000 micrograms
(one milligram) a day, at the initial onset of symptoms. It is possible
to go up to 3 mg for short periods, with medical supervision.

Other supplements may be synergistic with vitamin C. Alpha-lipoic
acid can be taken at reasonably high levels reasonably safely. We
would take up to a gram or two a day (1,000-2,000 mg) in the short
term. Vitamin K also helps with blood clotting and is safe in the
recommended amounts – we would get the highest dose vitamin K2
supplement available. Note vitamin K is contraindicated in those with
clotting disease or those on blood thinners such as warfarin.

Contraindications
The only established side effects of ascorbate therapy are wind, loose
bowels and chronic good health. There are some contraindications;
people with kidney disease, iron overload disease, or
glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency should not immediately take high
doses of vitamin C. In the setting of an epidemic they can start as
we recommend but should increase more cautiously, with appropriate
medical monitoring.

Why Put This Out?
People need to know that vitamin C is an option for fighting Ebola, and
how it works. There is a great deal of misinformation, particularly on
the internet, both from vested interests and from “loonies”. Moreover,
in an Ebola epidemic vitamin C supplements may be hard to source.

This account is intended for intelligent adults, who can make their
own rational decisions and take responsibility for their health. We
strongly promote the idea that medicine should be based on rational
patients, rather than authoritarian doctors. Doctors are there to provide
the information for patients, to help them choose between available
options. This is information only – what you decide to do with it is up
to you.

In our opinion the use of vitamin C in Ebola is a no-brainer. Get the
illness and, it is said, you have at best a 50-50 chance of surviving
without vitamin C-based therapy. Corporate medicine has no effective
treatment. Furthermore, if a drug were available, it would be untested
and almost certainly unavailable to you, dear reader. Vitamin C is
considered safe and should do no harm. The cost of treatment is low.
The clinical reports of vitamin C in viral infection are that if you get
the dose right, you will survive. Vitamin C is known experimentally to
inactivate viruses.

In the event, we hope people make rational decisions.

For further reading:
There are lots of other sources but these make a good fast start for
a person beginning an investigation into the antiviral properties of
vitamin C.

Hickey S., Saul A. (2008) *Vitamin C: The Real Story, the Remarkable
and Controversial Healing Factor*, Basic Health. The book gives an
easy readable account of the story of vitamin C.

Archive of the *Journal or Orthomolecular Medicine*. Decades worth of
clinical observations and reports on vitamin C are available.
http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2761&l=-http–www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

Pubmed contains mostly abstracts of medical research papers.
Unfortunately, most of these have been selected to exclude
observations on high doses of vitamin C.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2762&l=-http–www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

References:
i Cathcart R. (1984) Vitamin C in the treatment of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), *Medical Hypothesis*, 14(4), 423-433.
http://www.mall-net.com/cathcart/aids.html
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2763&l=-http–www.mall-net.com/cathcart/aids.html

ii Brighthope I, Fitzgerald P. (1988) *The AIDS Fighters*, Keats.

iii Cathcart R. (1981) Vitamin C, Titration to Bowel Tolerance,
Anascorbemia, and Acute Induced Scurvy, * Medical Hypothesis*, 7, 1359-1376.
http://www.mall-net.com/cathcart/titrate.html
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2764&l=-http–www.mall-net.com/cathcart/titrate.html

http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
<http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2765&l=-http–www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html>

iv Cathcart R. (1985) Vitamin C, the nontoxic, nonrate-limited antioxidant
free radical scavenger, *Medical Hypothesis*, 18, 61-77.
http://www.mall-net.com/cathcart/nonrate.html
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2766&l=-http–www.mall-net.com/cathcart/nonrate.html
http://vitamincfoundation.org/www.orthomed.com/nonrate.htm
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2767&l=-http–vitamincfoundation.org/www.orthomed.com/nonrate.htm

v Hickey D.S. Roberts H.J. Cathcart R.F. (2005) Dynamic Flow: A New
Model for Ascorbate, *J Orthomolecular Med*, 20(4), 237.

vi Hickey S. Roberts H. and Miller N.J. (2008) Pharmacokinetics of oral
ascorbate liposomes, *J Nutritional Environmental Med*, July, 10. 1080/13590840802305423.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine.  Orthomolecular
medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For
more information:
http://www.orthomolecular.org
http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=245&m=322&nl=3&s=0493db9b61992681c9efdc55148d0021&lid=2768&l=-http–www.orthomolecular.org

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California Drought Seriously Reducing Crops

29 Sep 2014 1 Comment

by truthfarmer in Consolidation, food shortage Tags: , , , ,

I’ve seen many conflicting reports on the size of the almond crop in California. A few have stated that despite the most egregious drought the almond growers are harvesting a bumper crop. I find that difficult to believe. It looks to me like the drought seriously affecting food supply levels and prices is a great indication of the problem with not only monoculture, but the massive consolidation and centralization of our food supply. If you have a yard at all, even ten feet by ten feet, you can grow a lot of food in a small area. The other thing about everyone jumping on the growing wagon is that it is a hedge against hunger and poor nutritional quality. 

Recently, I have been investigating biochar and it looks to me like it is a potential miracle for soil ills when combined with compost. Intensive gardening is the future of life here in the US. I’d recommend that anyone who can see the systemic problems with our food supply, poor nutritional values, soil depletion, genetic pollution, centralization of markets, consolidation of sectors, cease trying to fix what doesn’t work and set about creating a different system that actually heals land, animals and people. We could grow enough food in the US to feed the entire planet if only greed, politics and control didn’t get in the way. And we don’t need to do it in giant scale. Bigger is not generally better. And bigger is definitely more problematic if it breaks! I don’t mind people growing their businesses, and I don’t think the answer is a to go against large farmers, but to shift the paradigm and buy directly as much as possible, and GROW YOUR OWN.

Please read the following article. I think it is important information and that it isn’t getting enough general attention from the MSM:

 

California harvest much smaller than normal across crops

By Dale Kasler
The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Sep. 28, 2014 – 12:00 am

It’s harvest time in much of California, and the signs of drought are almost as abundant as the fruits and nuts and vegetables.

One commodity after another is feeling the impact of the state’s epic water shortage. The great Sacramento Valley rice crop, served in sushi restaurants nationwide and exported to Asia, will be smaller than usual. Fewer grapes will be available to produce California’s world-class wines, and the citrus groves of the San Joaquin Valley are producing fewer oranges. There is less hay and corn for the state’s dairy cows, and the pistachio harvest is expected to shrink.

Even the state’s mighty almond business, which has become a powerhouse in recent years, is coming in smaller than expected. That’s particularly troubling to the thousands of farmers who sacrificed other crops in order to keep their almond orchards watered.

While many crops have yet to be harvested, it’s clear that the drought has carved a significant hole in the economy of rural California. Farm income is down, so is employment, and Thursday’s rain showers did little to change the equation.

An estimated 420,000 acres of farmland went unplanted this year, or about 5 percent of the total. Economists at UC Davis say agriculture, which has been a $44 billion-a-year business in California, will suffer revenue losses and higher water costs – a financial hit totaling $2.2 billion this year.

Rising commodity prices have helped cushion at least some of the pain, but more hurt could be on the way. With rivers running low and groundwater overtaxed, the situation could get far worse if heavy rains don’t come this winter.

“Nobody has any idea how disastrous it’s going to be,” said Mike Wade of Modesto, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, an advocacy group based in Sacramento. “Is it going to create more fallowed land? Absolutely. Is it going to create more groundwater problems? Absolutely.

“Another dry year, we don’t know what the result is going to be, but it’s not going to be good,” Wade said.

Central Valley residents don’t have to look far to see the effects. Roughly one-fourth of California’s rice fields went fallow this year, about 140,000 acres worth, according to the California Rice Commission, leaving vast stretches of the Sacramento Valley brown instead of their customary green.

“We’d all rather be farming, as would everybody who depends on us – the truck drivers, the parts stores, the mills,” said Mike Daddow, a fourth-generation rice grower in the Nicolaus area of southern Sutter County.

Daddow opted to fallow 150 of his family’s 800 acres this year and counts himself lucky. “We did better than a lot of people,” he said.

Last week, Daddow was gearing up for the harvest, which begins Monday. It was pleasantly warm, but the faint smoky smell from the King fire was another unwelcome reminder of the parched season of discontent.

“It affects me, yes, I will have less profit,” he said. “It affects hourly workers. If there’s no ground to till, I can’t hire them to do anything.”

Daddow hired just six workers during spring planting, instead of the usual nine or 10.

Three boxes, not two

Calculating total job losses related to the drought is difficult, especially in an industry in which many workers are transient and much of the work is part time. The state Employment Development Department, drawing from payroll data, said farm employment has dropped by just 2,700 jobs from a year ago, a decline of less than 1 percent.

But experts at UC Davis say they believe the impact is more severe. Richard Howitt, professor emeritus of agricultural economics, said he believes the drought ultimately will erase 17,000 jobs. He bases that, in part, on the increased number of families seeking social services.

The human cost shows up at rural food banks, which are reporting higher demand for assistance from farmworkers and their families. At the Bethel Spanish Assembly of God, a church in theTulare County city of Farmersville, the number of families receiving food aid every two weeks has jumped from about 40 last year to more than 200. Farmersville, a city of 10,000, is at the heart of a region that grows an array of crops, from lemons to pistachios to grapes.

“Some of them are working … but they’re not putting in the hours,” said the Rev. Leonel Benavides, who is also Farmersville’s mayor. Thanks to state-funded drought relief, the church has been able to meet the increased demand – and then some.

“Instead of just two boxes, we give them three,” Benavides said.

The effect goes beyond the farm fields. N&S Tractor, which sells Case IH brand farm equipment throughout the Central Valley, has seen business tail off as farmers conserve cash.

“It’s not just our dealership,” said N&S marketing director Tim McConiga Jr., who works out of the company’s sales office in Glenn County. “You talk to John Deere, you talk to Caterpillar, everyone is going to tell you their numbers are down.”

The drought has had varying impacts on different areas of the state, depending in part on who has first dibs on the dwindling water supply. Some growers have stronger water rights than others. Generally speaking, Sacramento Valley farmers have had it easier than their counterparts south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the cutbacks have been more severe.

The Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts are delivering about 40 percent of their usual amounts. The Merced Irrigation District is far worse off, as are many of the West Side areas supplied by the federal Central Valley Project. The Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts have not had large cutbacks, but leaders worry about a dry 2015.

Regardless of geography, many growers have had to make difficult choices about which fields to water, leaving portions of their farms idle.

Bruce Rominger of Winters, chairman of the California Tomato Growers Association, made the decision to push ahead with his tomato crop at the expense of other commodities. With tomatoes selling for a robust $83 a ton, vs. about $70 a year ago, it was a matter of simple economics.

“Other crops are not getting the water,” said Rominger, who owns and leases a total of about 5,000 acres. “We sacrificed some alfalfa, we sacrified some sunflowers, we sacrificed quite a bit of rice. We fallowed 25 percent of our farm.”

Much of the processing tomato crop goes to canneries in Modesto, Oakdale, Escalon and Los Banos.

Almonds, citrus affected

Choosing to focus on one crop doesn’t guarantee victory. Even the $4 billion almond industry – the great success story of California agriculture in recent years – could not be shielded from the drought’s effects.

As worldwide demand for almonds has boomed, prices have soared past $4 a pound and farmers have responded with more supply. Orchard plantings have continued unabated, even this year. With water supplies running low, many almond growers set aside other commodities to keep their orchards going.

Even so, the almond yield declined. Blue Diamond Growers, the big farmer-owner almond cooperative based in Sacramento, predicts that production in California will fall this year to around 1.9 billion pounds when the harvest is complete in a few weeks. That compares with the 2 billion pounds harvested last year and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forecast, released in late June, that this year’s crop would total 2.1 billion pounds.

What went wrong? Almonds are one of the thirstiest crops around, and there wasn’t enough water to generate big yields.

“I don’t think there was anyone who used as much (water) as they normally do,” said Dave Baker, director of member relations for Blue Diamond. The hot spells in June and July “stressed the trees even further” and curtailed production, he said.

With California accounting for 80 percent of global almond supply, Baker said he’s worried about being able to meet demand. “We have a growth industry,” he said.

Blue Diamond has plants also in Salida and Turlock, and several smaller processors are in or near Stanislaus County.

The lack of water last spring likely also has stunted navel orange production in the San Joaquin Valley, where harvest is expected to begin in a few weeks.

“We’re expecting some kind of damage to the crop,” said Alyssa Houtby, spokeswoman for California Citrus Mutual, a grower-owned association based in Tulare County. “We didn’t have the water in those key months.”

Economist Vernon Crowder, a senior vice president with agricultural lender Rabobank, said farmers went into this difficult season with a couple of advantages: Most commodity prices have risen in recent years, and most growers are in pretty good financial shape as a result. But another dry year could bring more serious hardship, he said.

“They have a little bit of cash to withstand this,” Crowder said. “They’re going to get through it. The real question is what is going to happen next year.”

Similar questions are being raised in the California wine industry, which produces much of its volume in the Modesto area. The last two grape harvests were extraordinarily strong, leaving an overhang of product that should help offset the slight declines in this year’s harvest. “Pricing should be steady,” said industry consultant Robert Smiley, a professor emeritus of business at UC Davis.

That doesn’t eliminate fears that next season’s crop could shrink substantially. Craig Ledbetter of Vino Farms, a Lodi grape producer, had enough water this year but said he’s afraid he’ll receive “curtailment notices” from the state signaling significant cutbacks in next season’s water supply.

“I’m very nervous about water,” said Ledbetter, who also raises wine grapes in Sonoma County. “If we don’t have a rainy winter, I can pretty much guarantee we’re all going to be receiving curtailment notices. If that happens, we’re going to be concerned about keeping the vine alive rather than harvesting it.”

 

Remote Re-Posession

25 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

by truthfarmer in Control, Privacy

This is some pretty scary stuff here. Actually physically re-posessing a vehicle is an entirely different ball game. Guess I will never get a car loan. Read the article below:

Miss a Payment? Good Luck Moving That Car

 

The thermometer showed a 103.5-degree fever, and her 10-year-old’s asthma was flaring up. Mary Bolender, who lives in Las Vegas, needed to get her daughter to an emergency room, but her 2005 Chrysler van would not start.

The cause was not a mechanical problem — it was her lender.

Ms. Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender, C.A.G. Acceptance of Mesa, Ariz., remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting. Before she could get back on the road, she had to pay more than $389, money she did not have that morning in March.

“I felt absolutely helpless,” said Ms. Bolender, a single mother who stopped working to care for her daughter. It was not the only time this happened: Her car was shut down that March, once in April and again in June.

This new technology is bringing auto loans — and Wall Street’s version of Big Brother — into the lives of people with credit scores battered by the financial downturn.

Auto loans to borrowers considered subprime, those with credit scores at or below 640, have spiked in the last five years. The jump has been driven in large part by the demand among investors for securities backed by the loans, which offer high returns at a time of low interest rates. Roughly 25 percent of all new auto loans made last year were subprime, and the volume of subprime auto loans reached more than $145 billion in the first three months of this year.

But before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers like Ms. Bolender must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. Using the GPS technology on the devices, the lenders can also track the cars’ location and movements.

The devices, which have been installed in about two million vehicles, are helping feed the subprime boom by enabling more high-risk borrowers to get loans. But there is a big catch. By simply clicking a mouse or tapping a smartphone, lenders retain the ultimate control. Borrowers must stay current with their payments, or lose access to their vehicle.

“I have disabled a car while I was shopping at Walmart,” said Lionel M. Vead Jr., the head of collections at First Castle Federal Credit Union in Covington, La. Roughly 30 percent of customers with an auto loan at the credit union have starter interrupt devices.

Now used in about one-quarter of subprime auto loans nationwide, the devices are reshaping the dynamics of auto lending by making timely payments as vital to driving a car as gasoline.

Seizing on such technological advances, lenders are reachingdeeper and deeper into the ranks of Americans on the financial margins, with interest rates on some of the loans exceeding 29 percent. Concerns raised by regulators and some rating firms about loose lending standards have disturbing echoes of the subprime-mortgage crisis.

As the ignition devices proliferate, so have complaints from troubled borrowers, many of whom are finding that credit comes at a steep price to their privacy and, at times, their dignity, according to interviews with state and federal regulators, borrowers and consumer lawyers.

Some borrowers say their cars were disabled when they were only a few days behind on their payments, leaving them stranded in dangerous neighborhoods. Others said their cars were shut down while idling at stoplights. Some described how they could not take their children to school or to doctor’s appointments. One woman in Nevada said her car was shut down while she was driving on the freeway.

Beyond the ability to disable a vehicle, the devices have tracking capabilities that allow lenders and others to know the movements of borrowers, a major concern for privacy advocates. And the warnings the devices emit — beeps that become more persistent as the due date for the loan payment approaches — are seen by some borrowers as more degrading than helpful.

“No middle-class person would ever be hounded for being a day late,” said Robert Swearingen, a lawyer with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, in St. Louis. “But for poor people, there is a debt collector right there in the car with them.”

Lenders and manufacturers of the technology say borrowers consent to having these devices installed in their cars. And without them, they say, millions of Americans might not qualify for a car loan at all.

A Virtual Repo Man

"I have disabled a car while I was shopping at Walmart," said Lionel M. Vead Jr., the head of collections at First Castle Credit Union in Covington, La., who said that starter interrupt devices and GPS tracking technology had made his job easier.
“I have disabled a car while I was shopping at Walmart,” said Lionel M. Vead Jr., the head of collections at First Castle Credit Union in Covington, La., who said that starter interrupt devices and GPS tracking technology had made his job easier. Cheryl Gerber for The New York Times

From his office outside New Orleans, Mr. Vead can monitor the movements of about 880 subprime borrowers on a computerized map that shows the location of their cars with a red marker. Mr. Vead can spot drivers who have fallen behind on their payments and remotely disable their vehicles on his computer or mobile phone.

The devices are reshaping how people like Mr. Vead collect on debts. He can quickly locate the collateral without relying on a repo man to hunt down delinquent borrowers.

Gone are the days when Mr. Vead, a debt collector for nearly 20 years, had to hire someone to scour neighborhoods for cars belonging to delinquent borrowers. Sometimes locating one could take years. Now, within minutes of a car’s ignition being disabled, Mr. Vead said, the borrower calls him offering to pay.

“It gets their attention,” he said.

Mr. Vead, who has a coffee cup that reads “The GPS Man,” has been encouraging other credit unions to use the technology. And the devices — one version was first used to help pet owners keep track of their animals — are catching on with a range of subprime auto lenders, including companies backed by private equity firms and credit unions.

Using his computer or cellphone, Mr. Vead can monitor the movements of about 880 subprime borrowers, and if they are late in making a payment, he can disable their vehicles.
Using his computer or cellphone, Mr. Vead can monitor the movements of about 880 subprime borrowers, and if they are late in making a payment, he can disable their vehicles. Cheryl Gerber for The New York Times

Mr. Vead says that first, he tries reaching a delinquent borrower on the phone or in person. Then, only after at least 30 days of missed payments, he typically shuts down cars when they are parked at the borrower’s house or workplace. If there is an emergency, he says, he will turn a car back on.

None of the borrowers or consumer lawyers interviewed by The New York Times raised concerns about the way Mr. Vead’s credit union uses the devices. But other lenders, they said, were not as considerate, marooning drivers in far-flung places and often giving no advance notice of a shut-off. Lenders say that they exercise caution when disabling vehicles and that the devices enable them to extend more credit.

Without the use of such devices, said John Pena, general manager of C.A.G. Acceptance, “we would be unable to extend loans because of the high-risk nature of the loans.”

The growth in the subprime market has been good for the devices’ manufacturers. At Lender Systems of Temecula, Calif., which sells a range of starter interrupt devices, revenue has more than doubled so far this year, buoyed by an influx of new credit union customers, said David Sailors, the company’s executive vice president.

Mr. Sailors noted that GPS tracking on his company’s devices could be turned on only when borrowers were in default — a policy, he said, that has cost it business.

The devices, manufacturers say, are selling well because they are proving effective in coaxing payments from even the most troubled borrowers.

A leading device maker, PassTime of Littleton, Colo., says its technology has reduced late payments to roughly 7 percent from nearly 29 percent. Spireon, which offers a GPS device called the Talon, has a tool on its website where lenders can calculate their return on capital.

Fears of Surveillance

While the devices make life easier for lenders, their ability to track drivers’ movements has struck a nerve with a number of borrowers and some government authorities, who say they are a particularly troubling example of personal-data gathering and surveillance.

At its extreme, consumer lawyers say, such surveillance can compromise borrowers’ safety. In Austin, Tex., a large subprime lender used a device to track down and repossess the car of a woman who had fled to a shelter to escape her abusive husband, said her lawyer, Amy Clark Kleinpeter.

The move to the shelter violated a clause in her auto loan contract that restricted her from driving outside a four-county radius, and that prompted the lender to send a tow truck to take back the vehicle. If the lender could so easily locate the client, Ms. Kleinpeter said, what was stopping her husband?

“She was terrified her husband would be able to find out where she was from the tow truck company,” said Ms. Kleinpeter, a consumer lawyer in Austin, who said a growing number of her clients had the devices installed in their cars.

Lenders and manufacturers emphasize that they have strict guidelines in place to protect drivers’ information. The GPS devices, they say, are predominantly intended to help lenders and car dealerships locate a car if they need to repossess it, not to put borrowers under surveillance.

Spireon says it can help lenders identify signs of trouble by analyzing data on a borrower’s behavior. Lenders using Spireon’s software can create “geo-fences” that alert them if borrowers are no longer traveling to their regular place of employment — a development that could affect a person’s ability to repay the loan.

A Spireon spokeswoman said the company takes privacy seriously and works to ensure that it complies with all state regulations.

Corinne Kirkendall, vice president for compliance and public relations for PassTime, which has sold 1.5 million devices worldwide, says the company also calls lenders “if we see an excessive use” of the tracking device.

Even though the device made her squeamish, Michelle Fahy of Jacksonville, Fla., agreed to have one installed in her 2001 Dodge Ram because she needed the pickup truck for her job delivering pizza.

Shortly after picking up her four children from school one afternoon in January, Ms. Fahy, 42, said she pulled into a gas station to fill up. But when she tried to restart the truck, she was not able to do so.

Then she looked at her cellphone and noticed a string of missed calls from her lender. She called back and asked, “Did you just shut down my truck?” and the response was “Yes, I did.”

To get her truck restarted, Ms. Fahy had to agree to pay the $255.99 she owed. As she pleaded for more time, her children grew confused and worried. “They were in panic mode,” she said. Finally, she said she would pay, and within minutes she was able to start her engine.

Borrowers are typically provided with codes that are supposed to restart the vehicle for 24 hours in case of an emergency. But some drivers say the codes fail. Others say they are given only one code a month, even though their cars are shut down more often.

Some drivers take matters into their own hands. Homemade videos on the Internet teach borrowers how to disable their devices, and Spireon has started selling lenders a fake GPS device called the Decoy, which is meant to trick borrowers into thinking they have removed the actual tracking system, which is installed along with the Decoy.

Oscar Fabela Jr., who said his 2007 Dodge Magnum was routinely shut down even when he was current on his $362 monthly car payment, discovered a way to circumvent the system.

That trick came in handy when he returned from seeing a movie with a date, only to find his car would not start and the payment reminder was screaming like a burglar alarm.

“It sounded like I was breaking into my own car,” said Mr. Fabela, 26, who works at a phone company in San Antonio.

While his date turned the ignition switch, Mr. Fabela used a screwdriver to rig the starter, allowing him to bypass the starter interruption device.

Mr. Fabela’s car eventually started, but it was their only date.

“It didn’t end well,” he said.

Government Scrutiny

"I felt like even though I made my payments and was never late under my contract, these people could do whatever they wanted," said T. Candice Smith, who testified before the Nevada Legislature that her car, which had a starter interrupt device installed, was shut down while she was driving on a Las Vegas freeway, nearly causing her to crash.
“I felt like even though I made my payments and was never late under my contract, these people could do whatever they wanted,” said T. Candice Smith, who testified before the Nevada Legislature that her car, which had a starter interrupt device installed, was shut down while she was driving on a Las Vegas freeway, nearly causing her to crash. John Gurzinski for The New York Times

Across the country, state and federal authorities are grappling with how to regulate the new technology.

Consumer lawyers, including dozens whose clients’ cars have been shut down, argue that the devices amount to “electronic repossession” and their use should be governed by state laws, which outline how much time borrowers have before their cars can be seized.

State laws governing repossession typically prevent lenders from seizing cars until the borrowers are in default, which often means that they have not made their payments for at least 30 days.

The devices, lawyers for borrowers argue, violate those laws because they may effectively repossess the car only days after a missed payment. Payment records show that Ms. Bolender, the Las Vegas mother with the sick daughter, was not in default in any of the four instances her ignition was disabled this year.

PassTime and the other manufacturers say they ensure that their devices comply with state laws. C.A.G. declined to comment on Ms. Bolender’s experiences.

State regulators are also examining whether a defective device could endanger the borrowers or other drivers on the road, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Last year, Nevada’s Legislature heard testimony from T. Candice Smith, 31, who said she thought she was going to die when her car suddenly shut down, sending her careening across a three-lane Las Vegas highway.

“It was horrifying,” she recalled.

Ms. Smith said that her lender, C.A.G. Acceptance, had remotely activated her ignition interruption device.

“It’s a safety hazard for the driver and for all others on the road,” said her lawyer, Sophia A. Medina, with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

Mr. Pena of C.A.G. Acceptance said, “It is impossible to cause a vehicle to shut off while it is operating,” He added, “We take extra precautions to try and work with and be professional with our customers.” While PassTime, the device’s maker, declined to comment on Ms. Smith’s case, the company emphasized that its products were designed to prevent a car from starting, not to shut it down while it was in operation.

“PassTime has no recognition of our devices shutting off a customer while driving,” Ms. Kirkendall of PassTime said.

In her testimony, Ms. Smith, who reached a confidential settlement with C.A.G., said the device made her feel helpless.

“I felt like even though I made my payments and was never late under my contract, these people could do whatever they wanted,” she testified, “and there was nothing I could do to stop them.”

DRIVEN INTO DEBT Articles in this series are examining the boom in subprime auto loans.

 

FDA Warns Companies Against Things that Help Fight Ebola

25 Sep 2014 1 Comment

by truthfarmer in Control, Disease, Enforcement, FDA, Food Destruction Agency

This is perhaps the best advertising money can’t buy. If you don’t already get these companies products, you might want to.

Remember it took the FDA 30 years to admit that vitamin C was helpful in combatting another virus…the common cold. BTW, I just started with doTerra. So if you want to get into that, please feel free to email me about it. Young Living has the MOST phenomenal product for helping with eye issues, it’s called Ningxia Juice and it has been tremendously helpful in halting ocular migraines. I can also help get you into that line, although I am not a member. Dr. Rima has been fighting the FDA longer than many of us have been alive. While I haven’t used their products, I think I am going to get some.

I guess I take the contrarian position to the US Federal Government’s agencies. If they are against it, there might very well be good reason to use it. If they recommend it, probably best to stay away from it. Also, my opinions, experiences, thoughts and existence have not been tested, approved, proven effective, nor sanctioned by the FDA.

Here’s the article:

FDA warns three companies against marketing their products as Ebola treatments or cures

By Abby Ohlheiser September 24 at 4:21 PM

This photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Protection shows the Ebola virus. (CDC via Associated Press)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent letters to three companies this week, warning them against marketing their products as possible treatments or cures for Ebola. The letters, posted online on Wednesday, document multiple claims from the companies or their paid representatives that essential oils and other natural remedies can “help prevent your contracting the Ebola virus” and in at least one instance, “effectively kill the Ebola virus.”

There are currently no approved treatments, cures or vaccines for Ebola.

screenshot from http://www.nsfmarketplace.com/silver-sol/
screenshot from http://www.nsfmarketplace.com/silver-sol/

Natural Solutions Foundation, Young Living, and dōTERRA International LLC all produce products that were promoted on the Web as cures for a variety of ailments, all without FDA approval. The products in question, the letters note, are not FDA-approved drugs, yet their marketing makes the sort of claims that only approved drugs may make — that they can be used to treat, mitigate, prevent and cure diseases.

According to the three letters, those promotions — either on Web sites owned by the companies or on sites and accounts used by paid “consultants” promoting and selling the products — included Pinterest messages, Facebook postings and blog posts claiming products such as “CBD Organic Dark Chocolate Bars,” “Clary Sage” essential oils and the “Family Protection Pack” can do what has not yet been done: Treat, cure or prevent the deadly Ebola virus.

In one letter, to doTERRA, the FDA outlined the extent of those claims:

“Your consultants promote your above mentioned dōTERRA Essential Oil products for conditions including, but not limited to, viral infections (including ebola), bacterial infections, cancer, brain injury, autism, endometriosis, Grave’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, tumor reduction, ADD/ADHD, and other conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners. Moreover, your consultants redirect consumers to your website, http://www.doterra.com, to register as a customer or member (i.e., consultant), and to purchase your dōTERRA Essential Oil products.”

According to the FDA, these promotions — especially ones related to Ebola — are inaccurate but not unexpected. “Oftentimes with public health incidences, like Ebola or even during H1n1, we see products that are marketed, often online, that claim to treat or cure the disease…without FDA approval,” FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said in an interview, adding that “these sorts of things pop up” in almost any public health crisis.

In August, as the Ebola outbreak was accelerating in West Africa, the agency issued a preemptive warning to consumers, emphasizing that there is no FDA-approved vaccine or drug for the prevention or treatment of Ebola. The letters issued this week are something of a follow-up to that concern, Yao said, based on the results of online monitoring from the agency’s health fraud unit. The FDA will continue to monitor for similar claims.

Here is a sample of one such post, which was at the time this article was published available here:


theoildropper.com

Written by a paid consultant (referred to as a “member”) for Young Living, the post goes on to tout the possible benefits of a few oils sold by the company: “The Higley Essential Oil Reference guide mentions that the Ebola Virus can not live in the presence of cinnamon bark (this is in Thieves) nor Oregano. I would definitely add those two oils to whatever I was using.”

It adds: “I pray we don’t have to hear about this virus coming to the U.S. but if you travel outside of our country or know someone who goes to Africa or lives in Africa, maybe you could send them a care package of Young Living essential oils!”

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, a spokesman for Young Living said that the company was “cooperating fully with the FDA regarding its inquiry.” Young Living “members,” the statement continued, “are provided specific instructions on how to promote our products to their customers. In the coming days we will be contacting all our membership to ensure that they understand how to best use our products and remain compliant with regulatory directives.

“We have already contacted each of the Members cited in the FDA letter to help get them into compliance.”

One company targeted by the FDA, Natural Solutions Foundation, had materials on related Web sites promoting the company’s products as cures to several serious diseases and viruses, including Ebola.

On one YouTube video posted to the Natural Solutions Foundation account, the written text complains that the “WHO, FDA, the New York Times, etc., have gone on a rampage of disonformation [sic] to keep you in the dark about natural ways to dispose of dangerous microbes without damaging your beneficial bacteria.”

The video features Rima Laibow, the company’s medical director, claiming that the Natural Solutions product, Nano Silver, can “inactivate viruses like the HIV Virus, the Hepatitis B and C virus, Influenza viruses like H1N1, and Ebola virus.”

According to the FDA, all three companies have 15 days to respond to the documented violations and notify the agency of any corrective actions. If the companies are unable to correct those violations within 15 days, they’re required to explain why and provide a timeline for completion.

If they don’t take corrective action, the FDA could take any number of enforcement actions against the companies. Those include seizure, or possible criminal charges.

We’ve reached out to all three FDA-warned companies for comment.

The agency’s three letters are available here.

Abby Ohlheiser is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post.

 

 

First Volunteer For Untested Ebola Vaccine Innoculated

17 Sep 2014 1 Comment

by truthfarmer in Conspiracy, Disease Tags: , ,

What chance is there that this is “out of the frying pan and into the fire” decision making? In my opinion, which is irrelevant as far as any government goes, the only thing to do is to fully quarantine. With a 21 day incubation period, this strain is bound to go globally because of decision making on the part of “officials”. The article below states that there is only one protein in this vaccine and that it is not possible for this to transmit the virus. I guess we shall see.

The US is sending troops there, the Ebola is airborne, not long lived in the air, but nonetheless, as sneeze could transmit it to others…Does anyone else feel like we are in the plagues of the last days?

Here’s the article about the human guinea pigs for the new Glaxo vaccine:

First Volunteer Receives Ebola Vaccine in U.K. Trial

Ruth Atkins, 48, a communications and and engagement manager in the National Health Service in the U.K. is the first volunteer to be injected with an Ebola vaccine in a safety trial at the University of Oxford. The drug is in development by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

The current Ebola outbreak has infected 4,963 people and killed 2,453 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. One of the greatest concerns is that there are currently no vaccines or drugs to fight the disease, largely because researchers say pharmaceutical companies did not have a financial incentive to invest in them before the outbreak.

MORE: A Timeline of the Worst Ebola Outbreak in History

Clinical trials in the U.S., Canada, and in the U.K. are underway on various drugs, the majority of which have never been tested on humans. Though the World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the use of experimental drugs during the outbreak, countries will want to know which drugs have the greatest probability of working.

Atkins is the first participant out of 60 volunteers in Oxford’s trial. “I volunteered because the situation in West Africa is so tragic and I thought being part of this vaccination process was something small I could do to hopefully make a huge impact,” said Atkins in a statement. She heard about the trial while listening to one of the developers being interviewed on the radio.

Safety trials with a small number of participants are needed to determine whether a vaccine is effective and safe enough to initiative larger efficacy trials in higher-risk populations. So far, Atkins has reported feeling fine. The drug uses a single Ebola virus protein to generate an immune response in the volunteer. There’s no infectious components involved, so an individual will not get infected with Ebola by participating. GSK is beginning to manufacture about 10,000 doses of the vaccine so that if safety trials are successful, the vaccine can be made immediately available to the WHO.

 

 

 

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