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Farmers in South Africa have reported an inexplicable failure to seed in three different varieties of corn genetically modified (GM) by the Monsanto Corporation.

“One can’t see from the outside whether a plant is unseeded,” said Kobus van Coller of Free State province. “One must open up the cob leaves to establish the problem.”

The problems occurred only in corn engineered by Monsanto for increased yields or for resistance to the company’s trademark herbicide, Roundup (glyphosate). Failure to seed has been documented in the provinces of Free State, Mpumalanga and North West.

According to Monsanto, the crop failure occurred due to “underfertilization processes in the laboratory,” and has only been a problem in “less than 25 percent” of the seed from the three corn varieties.

Marian Mayet of the Africa Center for Biosecurity disputed the company’s claims, however. According to her sources, some farms have experienced crop failures as high as 80 percent. She also expressed doubt over Monsanto’s explanation for the problem, laying the blame instead on the GM technologies used to produce the seed.

“Monsanto says they just made a mistake in the laboratory, however we say that biotechnology is a failure,” Mayet said. “You cannot make a ‘mistake’ with three different varieties of corn. We have been warning against GM-technology for years, we have been warning Monsanto that there will be problems.”

Mayet called on the government to launch an investigation into the crop failures and to institute an immediate ban on the cultivation of all GM crops in South Africa.

South Africa was one of the first countries after the United States to adopt GM corn. Like the United States but unlike many European countries, South Africa does not require that GM ingredients be labeled as such on food packaging.

The South African grocery chain Woolworths imposed a ban on carrying any GM foods in 2000.

Sources: http://www.naturalnews.com/026705_……

If you`ve been roaming the aisles of your local grocery store recently, you`ve probably noticed an encouraging trend that we`re seeing more and more of lately. On food products not traditionally associated with natural foods that make spaghetti sauces, pizza crusts and whole wheat breads are big banner headlines that read, “Now without High Fructose Corn Syrup.”

Is this a sign of things to come?

Whether more companies follow or not is unknown, but this is a very encouraging trend in the meantime. So often, people unfamiliar with what makes a food natural see a loaf of bread that says “Whole Wheat” or a cereal that says “Whole Grain” and believe it`s natural. And why shouldn`t they? Health advocates in the media have emphasized the importance of eating foods that are whole wheat or whole grain, so food makers and food consumers have taken notice. To a certain extent, this is good, as foods are now being made with whole grain flour instead of highly processed refined flour.

What isn`t so good, however, is that despite these foods being listed as “whole grain,” many remain loaded with high fructose corn syrup. And because the FDA still doggedly stands behind their belief that high fructose corn syrup is safe to consume, there`s really no need for these food companies to change how they make their breads, their spaghetti sauces or virtually everything and anything else that claims to be one thing but is really something else entirely. At least some companies are taking the dangers of high fructose corn syrup seriously.

Members of the Food and Drug Administration should take people like Natalie Rotunda seriously, a writer and “organic food examiner” for Examiner.com, whose daughter`s adverse reactions to foods were stopped dead in their tracks once high fructose corn syrup was eliminated from her diet. As Rotunda writes in a recent article of hers, “[My daughter] had no reactions to any other type of sugar, just HFCS. For others like me who have made such a connection, it`s all the proof we need to quit those foods and drinks that attack the delicate workings of our bodies and the bodies of those we love.”
But the adverse reactions to high fructose corn syrup extend far beyond Rotunda`s daughter. Study after study shows how high fructose corn syrup leads to obesity, due primarily to the fact that it suppresses the body`s release of a key hormone called leptin. When leptin is suppressed, the body is unable to convert sugar into energy, ultimately turning sugar into fat that`s packed away as storage rather than burned for energy. The latest study to corroborate this fact was one done by the University of Florida, released in September 2008 and published in the American Journal of Physiology.

The FDA may claim that high fructose corn syrup is safe to consume, but study after study shows links between HFCS and adult-onset diabetes (i.e. type II diabetes) and contributes to obesity. You`d think that`d be enough to reconsider their stance. Apparently not. But one thing`s certain: More and more people are taking notice of HFCS and the detrimental impact it has on health. If they weren`t noticing, food companies wouldn`t be labeling their products with labels like “No HFCS.” After all, consumers rule in this dour economic climate. The only way to get people to buy is for businesses to give people what they want.

Thankfully, food companies are finally glomming on to this fact. Let`s hope more follow in 2009 and beyond.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026691_corn_syrup_fructose_high_fructose_corn_syrup.html

At the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society recently held in San Diego, researchers presented a study showing that the flu vaccine – widely touted as a “must have” for children with chronic illnesses – isn’t effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially ones with asthma. But here’s the most damning evidence that flu shots aren’t the safe, helpful vaccine the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC) and other government agencies claim: the researchers also found that children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine.

Scientist Avni Joshi, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told the meeting, “The concerns that vaccination may be associated with asthma exacerbations have been disproved with multiple studies in the past, but the vaccine’s effectiveness has not been well-established. This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the TIV (trivalent inactivated flu vaccine in children overall, as well as the children with asthma, to prevent influenza-related hospitalization.”

Paradoxically, he then presented the results that appeared to show the vaccine did cause health problems serious enough to result in children being admitted to hospitals for care.

The children were harmed by influenza vaccines

To see if the vaccine actually reduced the number of hospitalizations for all children, especially those with asthma, over eight consecutive flu seasons, Dr. Joshi and his research team conducted a cohort study of 263 children. All the youngsters had been evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota between the ages of six months to 18 years and each had had laboratory-confirmed flu between 1996 to 2006. The scientists documented which of the children had been vaccinated against the flu, and those that had not received the flu jab. The kids’ asthma status was also noted along with records of and who did and did not require hospitalization.

Then the investigators checked the records for each child research subject to see who had been vaccinated before experiencing a flu-related episode that lead to a hospitalization during that illness. The results showed that youngsters who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine. For kids with asthma, there was even a higher risk of hospitalization in subjects who received the flu shot. No other measured factors, which included insurance coverage or severity of asthma, was found to impact the risk of hospitalization.

So does this raise a red flag against vaccinating children, especially those who are asthmatic, against the flu? Incredibly, despite the findings of his own study, Dr. Joshi refused to find fault with the flu shot. “While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations,” Dr. Joshi said in a statement to the media. “More studies are needed to assess not only the immunogenicity, but also the efficacy of different influenza vaccines in asthmatic subjects.”

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continue to recommend annual influenza vaccination for all children aged six months to 18 years. Moreover, the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (3rd revision) pushes annual flu vaccination of asthmatic children older than six months. However, as reported last fall in Natural News (http://www.naturalnews.com/024624.html) there’s little evidence flu shots work for youngsters.  A large study reported in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews of 260,000 children between 23 month and six discovered that the flu vaccine is no more effective that a placebo.

Source:  http://www.naturalnews.com/026612_asthma_the_flu_flu_shots.html

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In the clothing world today, the colors navy blue and black are thought of as professional and sometimes formal colors. They are fun to wear and can create a good impression. That is…unless the look is ruined by shoulders full of dandruff. Take heart. There are natural remedies you can use to help.

Your scalp sheds its dead skin cells as does the rest of your body. An over-shedding of this skin on your scalp is what we know as dandruff. Dandruff isn’t life threatening but it sure can be embarrassing!

Dandruff affects both men and women. It is not a respecter of persons. Both rich and poor can develop this scalp condition. Dandruff doesn’t necessarily mean that your hair is dirty. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Too much washing could dry out your scalp further. But you also want to be sure your hair and scalp remain clean. Having this condition may cause itching and if scratched intensively, it could cause your skin to develop secondary complications such as bacterial or fungal infection.

There are wonderful natural remedies that will help eliminate dandruff. One such remedy would be in using lime juice. When shampooing your hair, during rinsing, use the juice of a fresh lime. This will not only help your hair to look shiny but will also help clean your scalp. Another remedy is to use white beets. The tops and roots of fresh beets can be boiled in water. You would then use this water to give your head a good massage. Try to do it nightly. Shop at your local natural health food store for an herb called Indian Gooseberry. Mix this with lime juice and massage into the scalp every night for dandruff removing properties. Cider vinegar and water mixed together in equal parts and rubbed onto you scalp may also help disperse dandruff.

An all fruit diet is best to follow for any ailment and that includes dandruff. You may add raw vegetables if desired. Staying fit and healthy is especially important when you are trying to cure a problem related to your health.

How much do you brush your hair? Well, it important that you brush it at least once daily and even better if you do it more. This helps to improve the circulation of your scalp and will also remove flakes. Massaging your scalp aids in improving circulation as well. Spend some time outdoors this summer in the sunshine. The vitamins from the sun help your scalp maintain health and will give you a healthy glow.

Source:  http://www.naturalnews.com/026462_dandruff_health_water.html

“Tell a lie loud enough and long enough and people will believe it.” - Adolf Hitler

“Fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century.” - Robert Carlton, Ph.D, former EPA scientist, 1992

The history of forcing fluoride on humans through the fluoridation of drinking water is wrought with lies, greed and deception. Governments that add fluoride to drinking water supplies insist that it is safe, beneficial and necessary; however, scientific evidence shows that fluoride is not safe to ingest and areas that fluoridate their drinking water supplies have higher rates of cavities, cancer, dental fluorosis, osteoporosis and other health problems. Because of the push from the aluminum industry, pharmaceutical companies, and weapons manufacturers, fluoride continues to be added to water supplies all over North America; and, due to recent legal actions against water companies that fluoridate drinking water supplies, precedent has been set that will make it impossible for suits to be filed against water supplies that fluoridate. There is a growing resistance against adding toxic fluoride to our water supplies; but, unfortunately, because fluoride has become “the lifeblood of the modern industrial economy”(Bryson 2004), there is too much money at stake for those who endorse water fluoridation . The lies of the benefits of water fluoridation will continue to be fed to the public, not to encourage health benefits to a large number of people, but to profit the military-industrial complex.

The story begins in 1924, when Interessen Gemeinschaft Farben (I.G. Farben), a German chemical manufacturing company, began receiving loans from American bankers, gradually leading to the creation of the huge I.G. Farben cartel. In 1928, Henry Ford and American Standard Oil Company (The Rockefellers) merged their assets with I.G. Farben; and, by the early thirties, there were more than a hundred American corporations which had subsidiaries and co-operative understandings in Germany. The I.G. Farben assets in America were controlled by a holding Company, American I.G. Farben, which listed on its board of directors: Edsel Ford, President of the Ford Motor Company; Chas. E. Mitchell, President of Rockerfeller’s National City Bank of New York; Walter Teagle, President of Standard Oil New York; Paul Warburg, Chairman of the Federal Reserve and brother of Max Warburg, financier of Germany’s War effort; Herman Metz, a director of the Bank of Manhattan, controlled by the Warburgs, and a number of other members, three of which were tried and convicted as German war criminals for their crimes against humanity. In 1939, under the Alted agreement, the American Aluminum Company (ALCOA), then the world’s largest producer of sodium fluoride, and the Dow Chemical Company transferred its technology to Germany. Colgate, Kellogg, Dupont and many other companies eventually signed cartel agreements with I.G. Farben, creating a powerful lobby group accurately dubbed “the fluoride mafia”(Stephen 1995).

At the end of World War II, the US government sent Charles Eliot Perkins, a research worker in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pathology, to take charge of the vast Farben chemical plants in Germany. The German chemists told Perkins of a scheme which they had devised during the war and had been adapted by the German General Staff. The German chemists explained of their attempt to control the population in any given area through the mass medication of drinking water with sodium fluoride, a tactic used in German and Russian prisoner of war camps to make the prisoners “stupid and docile”(Stephen 1995). Farben had developed plans during the war to fluoridate the occupied countries because it was found that fluoridation caused slight damage to a specific part of the brain, making it more difficult for the person affected to defend his freedom and causing the individual to become more docile towards authority. Fluoride remains one of the strongest anti-psychotic substances known, and is contained in twenty-five percent of the major tranquilizers. It may not seem surprising that Hitler’s regime practiced the concept of mind control through chemical means, but the American military continued Nazi research, exploring techniques to incapacitate an enemy or medicate an entire nation. As stated in the Rockerfeller Report, a Presidential briefing on CIA activities, “the drug program was part of a much larger CIA program to study possible means of controlling human behavior”(Stephen 1995).

The ‘dental caries prevention myth’ associated with fluoride, originated in the United States in 1939, when a scientist named Gerald J. Cox, employed by ALCOA, the largest producer of toxic fluoride waste and at the time being threatened by fluoride damage claims, fluoridated some lab rats, concluded that fluoride reduced cavities and claimed that it should be added to the nation’s water supplies. In 1947, Oscar R. Ewing, a long time ALCOA lawyer, was appointed head of the Federal Security Agency, a position that placed him in charge of the Public Health Service (PHS). Over the next three years, eighty-seven new American cities began fluoridating their water, including the control city in a water fluoridation study in Michigan, thus eliminating the most scientifically objective test of safety and benefit before it was ever completed.

American ‘education and research’ was funded by the Aluminum Manufacturing, Fertilizer and Weapons Industry looking for an outlet for the increasingly mounting fluoride industrial waste while attaining positive profit increase. The ‘discovery’ that fluoride benefited teeth was paid for by an industry that needed to be able to defend “lawsuits from workers and communities poisoned by industrial fluoride emissions” (Bryson 1995) and turn a liability into an asset. Fluoride, a waste constituent in the manufacturing processes of explosives, fertilizers and other ‘necessities,’ was expensive to dispose of properly and until a ‘use’ was found for it in America’s water supplies, the substance was only considered a toxic, hazardous waste. Through sly public re-education, fluoride, once a waste product, became the active ingredient in fluorinated pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides, anesthetics, tranquilizers, fluorinated pharmaceuticals, and a number of industrial and domestic products, fluorinated dental gels, rinses and toothpastes. Fluoride is so much a part of a multibillion-dollar industrial and pharmaceutical income, that any withdrawal of support from pro-fluoridationists is financially impossible, legally unthinkable and potentially devastating for their career and reputation.

Funded by US industrialists, in an attempt to encourage public acceptance of fluoride, Edward Bernays, known also as the father of PR, or the original spin doctor, began a campaign of deception to persuade public opinion. Barnays explained “you can get practically any idea accepted if doctors are in favour. The public is willing to accept it because a doctor is an authority to most people, regardless of how much he knows or doesn’t know”(Bryson 2004). Doctors who endorsed fluoridation didn’t know that research discrediting fluoride’s safety was either suppressed or not conducted in the first place. Fluoride became equated with scientific progress and since it was introduced to the public as a health-enhancing substance, added to the environment for the children’s sake, those opposing fluoride were dismissed as cranks, quacks and lunatics. Fluoride became impervious to criticism because of a relentless PR offensive, but also because of its overall toxicity. Unlike chemicals that have a signature effect, fluoride, a systemic poison, produces a range of health problems, so it’s effects are more difficult to diagnose.
Recently declassified US Military documents, such as Manhattan Project, shows how Fluoride is the key chemical in atomic bomb production and millions of tons of it were needed for the manufacture of bomb-grade uranium and plutonium. Fluoride poisoning, not radiation poisoning, emerged as the leading chemical health hazard for both workers and nearby communities. A-bomb scientists were ordered to provide evidence useful for defense in litigation; so, they began secretly testing fluoride on unsuspecting hospital patients and indignant, mentally retarded children. “The August 1948 Journal of the American Dental Association shows that evidence of adverse effects from fluoride was censored by the US Atomic Energy Commission for reasons of “national security” (Griffiths 1998). The only report released stated that fluoride was safe for humans in small doses.

During the Cold War, Dr. Harold C. Hodge, who had been the toxicologist for the US Army Manhattan Project, was the leading scientific promoter of water fluoridation. While Dr. Hodge was reassuring congress of the safety of water fluoridation, he was covertly conducting one of the nation’s first public water fluoridation experiments in Newburgh, New York, secretly studying biological samples from Newburgh citizens at his US laboratory at the University of Rochester. Since there are no legal constraints against the suppression of scientific data, the only published conclusion resulting from these experiments was that fluoride was safe in low doses, a profoundly helpful verdict for the US Military who feared lawsuits for fluoride injury from workers in nuclear power plants and munitions factories. Fluoride pollution was one of the biggest legal worries facing key US industrial sectors during the cold war. A secret group of corporate attorneys, known as the Fluorine Lawyers Committee, whose members included US Steel, ALCOA, Kaiser Aluminum, and Reynolds Metals, commissioned research at the Kettering Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati to “provide ammunition”(Bryson 2004) for those corporations who were fighting a wave of citizen claims for fluoride injury. The Fluorine Lawyers Committee and their medical ambassadors were in personal and frequent contact with the senior officials of the federal National Institute for Dental Research, and have been implied in the ‘burying’ of the forty-year-old Kettering study, which showed that fluoride poisoned the lungs and lymph nodes in laboratory animals. Private interests sought to destroy careers and censor information by ensuring that scientific studies raising doubts about the safety of fluoride never got funded, and if they did, never got published.

During the 1990’s, research conducted by Harvard toxicologist Phillis Mullenix showed that fluoride in water may lead to lower IQs and produced symptoms in rats strongly resembling attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Just days before her research was accepted for publication, Mullenix was fired as the head of toxicology at the Forsyth Dental Center in Boston. Then, her application for a grant to continue her fluoride and central nervous system research was turned down by the US National Institute of Health (NIH) when an NIH panel told her that “fluoride does not have central nervous system effects”(Griffiths 1998).

Despite growing evidence that it is harmful to public health, US federal and state public health agencies and large dental and medical organizations such as the American Dental Association (ADA) continue to promote fluoride. Water fluoridation continues despite the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s own scientists, whose union, Chapter 280 of the National Treasury Employees Union, has taken a strong stand against it. Dr. William Hirzy, Vice President of Chapter 280, stated that “fluoride (that is added to municipal water) is a hazardous waste product for which there is substantial evidence of adverse health effects and, contrary to public perception, virtually no evidence of significant benefits”( Mullenix 1998). Although fluoride is up to fifty times more toxic than sulfur dioxide, it is still not regulated as an air pollutant by the American Clean Air Act. Since thousands of tons of industrial fluoride waste is poured into drinking water supplies all over North America, supposedly to encourage gleaming smiles in our children, big industry in the US has the benefit of emitting as much fluoride waste into the environment as they like with absolutely no requirement to measure emissions and no way of being held accountable for poisoning people, animals, and vegetation.

In August 2003, the EPA requested that the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), re-evaluate water fluoride safety standards by reviewing recent scientific literature, because the last review in 1993 had major gaps in research. “Neither the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nor the National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR), nor the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has any proof on fluoride’s safety or effectiveness”(Sterling 1993). The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology has classified fluoride as an unapproved dental medicament due to its high toxicity and the US National Cancer Institute Toxicological Program has found fluoride to be an “equivocal carcinogen” (Maurer 1990).

Currently, the US government is continuing to introduce further fluoridation schemes throughout the country, including the Water Act passed in November 2003, which has made it impossible for water companies to undergo civil or criminal hearings as a result of adding fluoride to public water supplies.

In a society where products containing asbestos, lead, beryllium and many other carcinogens have been recalled from the marketplace, it is surprising that fluoride is embraced so thoroughly and blindly. It seems absurd that we would consider paying the chemical industry to dispose of their toxic waste by adding it to our water supply. Hiding the hazards of fluoride pollution from the public is a capitalist-style con job of epic proportions that has occurred because a powerful lobby wishes to manipulate public opinion in order to protect its own financial interests. “Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country…our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of” (Bernays 1991).

—-Gabriel Goers is a student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where there is no fluoride in the tap water. Active in his local wellness and environmental communities, Gabriel also makes custom orthotics and is an avid organic gardener.
Source: ekoscommunications.com, who engage, inspire, motivate and support individuals and organizations living in harmony with the planet.

“Health care” and what we need doctors for are two 100% different things. Until we realize this and admit it within the medical system then “health care” will remain nothing more than “a money grabbing tool owned and operated by the pharmaceutical industry”.

The following statement may seem like it goes against all you were taught in school or what your parents taught you and it may even seem like it goes against common sense. But in this day and age it could absolutely save your life. It will at least prevent you from having a compromised, drug addicted, much less then full healthy life. The statement is this:

“If you are concerned about a common health problem (Blood pressure, cholesterol, heart arrhythmias, angina, blood sugar, common flu and colds, etc.) or even if you suspect cancer or anything else but do not have a traumatic emergency (Broken bones, gunshot wounds, cardiac arrest, etc) then stay far away from the main stream medical system. Don’t even get your toes in the water! The last thing you ever want to do is tell a common MD”.

The biggest problem with our doctors is convenience. Doctors are best served in the emergency rooms for true life saving care. Anyone watching doctors work in the ER rooms can tell you they are really working (many times with amazing speed, endurance and efficiency)! These ER Docs are real life savers and true heroes.

However the word “Work” is not as easily accepted by most doctors. After they have “paid their dues” in the ER rooms, they all look forward to the opportunity to have a nice quite office. Here, they can juggle between 100 or more patients daily giving each one a few minutes of conversation and enough time to write an often deadly prescription dictated by Big Pharma. Ah! Now this is so much more convenient.

Many of us know drug companies are doing a great evil by dominating the commercial TV ads, convincing us that “this is the way to better health”. It’s quite obvious they control the doctors’ protocol when in these ads they ask you to, “Ask your doctor”. In this way they have their drug pushing technique in perfect line for executing! They can then simply lower their deadly ax on your health. Most people swallow this hook line and sinker. Then, in the most deceiving of all statements, they say, “Ahem, as you can see the life expectancy has gone up so much in the last 100 years; this is of course due to all the wonderful drugs we now have and are continuing to develop!”

This is of course, pure Hogwash! Did anyone ever stop to think that the work industry is now mostly not hard dangerous physical labor anymore? And we don’t have to battle the elements of heat, cold, wind and rain like we did? And the fact is that many of us retire at around 55-60 which was when hard working men and women used to die. Then think about the fact that in spite of this the life expectancy is, as of late, on the downward curve. Then add this to the equation:

The estimated total number of iatrogenic deaths, that is deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedure, in the US annually is 783,936. (2002) It is evident that the American medical system is itself the leading cause of death and injury in the US! By comparison, approximately 699,697 Americans died of heart problems in 2001, while 553,251 died of cancer.

In April, 2002 the Journal of American Medicine itself reported that “properly prescribed” legal drugs killed 106,000 Americans each year, due to toxic reactions. That’s more than twenty times the number of Americans killed by illegal drugs, estimated at 5,212. Will politicians declare a War on the Pharmaceutical Drug Pushers? Of course not!

So why are we spending $17 billion on the War on Drugs and not including the biggest Drug Pushers and killers of all which are the pharmaceutical companies?

The cures are all in the plants, the whole plants, not isolated molecular compounds. If we had a medical system that truly cared about health instead of profits, doctors could do what most of them really want to do and we would have an average life span of at least 90 years with happy smiles on our faces! We need a medical system that cares about our health in the natural from its very beginning all the way to the end of our lives. God handed us this system with the plants of the earth. All we have to do is use it. It’s still here and God’s still here. They never left us at all! Why did we abandon them?

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026647_health_doctors_drugs.html

Yoga has long been associated with stress reduction and increased flexibility, but not everyone realizes that yoga can also help them lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and eliminate harmful toxins. Yoga practitioners can even learn how to control their cravings for unhealthy foods.

Yoga is one of the most holistic activities there is, focusing on mind, body, and spirit. When done properly, the benefits are endless. It can ease your anxiety, improve your coordination, strength, and posture, and help you lose pounds and inches. That’s because it combines deep breathing, relaxing meditation, and limbering poses.

Breathe Deeply, Burn Fat
When you breathe deeply and consciously - instead of taking short, shallow breaths - you not only feel more relaxed, you burn more calories. Studies have shown that regular deep breathing burns up to 140% more calories than riding a stationary bike! (Of course, breathing deeply won’t help you lose weight if you’re also inhaling cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, sodas, and packaged meals. Eating a vegetarian diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in sugar and processed foods is also essential for weight loss and maintenance.)

To lose the most weight, practice Bikram yoga, which is a mix of low-key twisting poses and cardio exercises performed in a room where the temperature has been raised higher than 100 degrees, or Ashtanga Yoga, which combines complex yoga poses with deep breathing techniques.

The twisting poses stimulate your internal organs, which in turn boosts your metabolism, helping you to lose weight. And because Bikram yoga is practiced in such hot temperatures, your body sweats out toxins, which also helps you to shed pounds. Yoga also reduces stress hormones and increases insulin sensitivity, so your body kicks into a fat-burning mode and burns food as fuel rather than storing it as fat.

Doing just one session of yoga will help tighten your muscles and improve your posture, making you look and feel five pounds leaner. The more you practice yoga, the more patience and self control you learn. As you become more disciplined, you become better able to ignore cravings for unhealthy food, which is a key component of any effective weight loss program.

Inverted Yoga-Decreased Cholesterol
You can control your cholesterol and blood pressure by doing yoga and eating plant-based foods (meat, eggs, and dairy products are the only dietary sources of cholesterol.) When you practice inverted yoga poses, including the plough pose, the headstand, and the crane pose, your legs and abdomen are higher than your heart, which increases your circulation and allows blood to flow throughout your body. Inverted yoga poses not only improve your cardiovascular health, they stimulate your brain and glandular system, and relieve pressure on your abdominal organs. Another type of yoga, known as integrative yoga therapy, is sometimes used to alleviate certain medical conditions, including clinical depression, asthma, back pain, arthritis, and even insomnia and multiple sclerosis.

Karmic Benefits of Yoga
While yoga undoubtedly has many physical benefits, it can also be good for your soul. One of the main tenants of yoga is ahimsa, a Sanskrit term meaning to do no harm to any living being. It is one of the reasons why serious yoga practitioners advocate a total vegetarian diet. Sharon Gannon, a founder of Jivamukti, one of the best known yoga centers in the U.S., has even produced a video on the philosophical connection between yoga and vegetarianism.

There’s virtually no limit to what yoga can do for your body and your spirit. You are never too out of shape to take up yoga. In other words, “Never too late, never too old, never too bad and never too sick to do this yoga and start from scratch again,” says Bikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram yoga. If you’ve been struggling to lose weight, eat healthily, and improve your strength, posture, and flexibility, fitting yoga into your lifestyle is a wise and healthy choice.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026646_yoga_health_toxins.html

The FDA used to be the world’s gold standard health regulator.  However, it has recently spiraled into a Byzantine phalanx of independent centers providing hasty approvals of high-risk products, without oversight, and inconsistent regulations.

A powerful example is its regulation of mercury amalgam fillings.  The FDA has done nothing until compelled to act by court order.

To be FDA’s new Commissioner, President Obama chose former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D.  The Harvard-educated physician was confirmed May 18th  without controversy or opposition.

The FDA Protects Animals from Mercury but Not Humans

A good way for Dr. Hamburg to begin would be to reverse years of FDA inaction on mercury amalgam – a step she assured Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) she would take in response to his question during the confirmation process.  Inexplicably, the FDA zealously protects animals from mercury exposure, while taking almost a laissez-faire approach to human exposure to mercury.

In 2002, the agency pulled from the market a mercury-containing ointment for horses, and proclaimed zero tolerance for mercury in any product used to treat an animal.  The FDA ruled that mercury is so toxic to mammals, it had no duty to prove its presence actually harms horses.

When it comes to mercury-containing products marketed to the humans however the FDA’s zeal evaporates.  The FDA requires  mercury critics to prove actual and widespread harm — the shocking opposite of its position on protecting animals.  Interestingly, the FDA policies ignore warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency that one in seven American women of childbearing age has so much mercury she is at risk of having a brain-damaged child.

Mercury Amalgams (Silver Fillings) Are Archaic, Deceptive, and Dangerous

Nowhere is the FDA’s failure to protect humans from mercury more blatant than in the field of dentistry.  Amalgam fillings are 19th century devices containing 50% mercury.

However, the FDA continues to allow unregulated amalgam use in assembly-line clinics and institutions – including, sadly, the military – despite the fact that modern dentists have switched to safer alternatives like resin.  A national dentist poll published in the June edition of The Wealthy Dentist states that slightly over 50% of dentists are mercury-free, meaning the 19th-century-style dentists – the mercury-users – have declined to less than half of all US dentists!

The FDA never even acted to stop use of the deceptive term “silver fillings” to describe amalgam.  As a result, a Zogby poll conducted three years ago found that more than three in four Americans could not name mercury as amalgam’s main component.

FDA Successfully Sued

I run a small national consumer group, and have sparred with the FDA for seven years, first coaxing, then suing, to get the agency to do what is legally required.  After my organization, Consumers for Dental Choice, sued the FDA, the agency retracted its claims of amalgam’s safety from its website and issued a stark advisory:  Mercury from amalgam fillings  “may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.”

As a result of my lawsuit against the FDA it must, by court order,  classify amalgam – that is, issue a regulation deciding the degree of risk it poses for the general public and for vulnerable subpopulations – by July 28, 2009.  In anticipation, public officials are imploring the FDA to protect dental consumers.

The State and Local Public Officials Mercury-Free Caucus, a coalition of state lawmakers, mayors, and other public officials from eleven states, wrote a letter asking that FDA “act decisively to protect Americans, especially children and young women, from mercury by limiting, then phasing out the use of amalgam.”

Then, on May 14, Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Calif.) and Congressman Dan Burton (R-Ind.) sent a letter urging the FDA to steer consumers to safer materials.  Co-signed by 17 other Members of Congress, it emphasizes that mercury from amalgam can “threaten the development of the fetus” and “pass into breast milk of the lactating mothers.”  Thus, the FDA must not only ensure that all consumers know about the mercury, but the FDA must also “protect women and children from the harmful effects of mercury fillings.”

The End of Silver Fillings May Be Near!

As the FDA approaches its duty to classify, manufacturers and pro-mercury dentists are increasingly feeling the heat.  In May, a religious-consumer-environmental coalition, led by Sister Valerie Heinonen, Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, presented a resolution to the annual meeting of Danaher, the #1 manufacturer of toxic mercury fillings.  Calling for Danaher to consider exiting amalgam, one-sixth of all shareholders (forty-three million shares) voted for it, an extraordinary outcome for a first-time presentation.

But it isn’t just activists weighing in – it’s Wall Street itself.  A financial analysis by Bank of America Securities advises that Dentsply, the #2 manufacturer, would be more profitable if mercury fillings are banned. And where manufacturer liability looms, the trial lawyers won’t be far behind.  My article in the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association Journal provides a preliminary road map for such litigation.

An industry analysis by J.P. Morgan predicts that the FDA will finally stop mercury amalgam fillings from going to children and pregnant women.  It’s about time.  The Canadian government took this action thirteen years ago.

You Can Make a Difference

For all players, the upcoming FDA rule on July 18, 2009 will mark the watershed moment in dental history.

• For the average person, it means empowerment, access to the information we need to reject mercury fillings – and switch to mercury-free dentists.
• For the bitter-ender pro-mercury dentists, as represented by the American Dental Association, it means the chance to recognize that the FDA’s rule will mark the beginning of the end of mercury fillings – or surely these dentists and their trade group will fall on their collective swords for toxic mercury.
• For the Obama Administration’s FDA, it means the first and best opportunity to return to the path toward becoming the world gold standard health regulator.
• If you want to find a mercury free dentist the best resource out there now is DAMS at www.amalgam.org, call them at 651-644-4572 or email them at dams@usfamily.net. Toxicteeth.org also has a list you can use.
• If you want to be a volunteer to help in the next phases of the removal of mercury from the US write us at info@toxicteeth.org

Charles G. Brown is National Counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice (www.toxicteeth.org), Washington, D.C.
Source: www.mercola.com