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About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

Probiotics Help Reduce Symptoms of Depression

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Dr Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Scientific advances suggest your state of mind is strongly influenced by the microflora in your gut, and that probiotics (beneficial bacteria) can alleviate symptoms of depression
  • A small study involving adults diagnosed with IBS and depression found the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum provided depression relief. At six weeks, 64% of the treatment group had reduced depression scores compared to 32% of the control group that received a placebo
  • While taking a probiotic supplement may be helpful, it’s unlikely to make a significant difference if you’re still eating junk. Dietary keys include limiting sugars and gluten, and increasing healthy fats, omega-3, fiber and fermented foods rich in natural probiotics

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published June 22, 2017.

When it comes to mental health, most assume the brain is in charge. In reality, your gut may be calling the shots. Interestingly enough, in the 1800s and early 1900s, it was thought that waste in your colon could produce infections that lead to depression. As it turns out, they weren’t too far off the mark.

Scientific advances now suggest your state of mind is influenced, if not largely directed, by the microflora in your gut, and probiotics (beneficial bacteria) are being thought of as “the new antidepressants.” However, while it may be tempting to trade one pill for another, I urge you to consider taking a more comprehensive approach.

Taking a probiotic supplement may be helpful, but if you’re still eating the same junk as before, it’s not likely to make a significant difference. The key, really, is to eat a healthy diet. Limiting or eliminating sugar is absolutely essential, as adding healthy fats will provide your brain with much-needed fuel, while fermented foods will give you the beneficial bacteria you need.

Add to that daily movement and regular exercise, good sleep and sensible sun exposure, and you’re really giving your body the basic building blocks it needs for optimal performance — both physically and mentally. A probiotic supplement cannot achieve this all on its own. That said, studies have demonstrated just how important healthy gut bacteria are when it comes to treating depression.

Probiotics Reduce Symptoms of Depression

More recently, a small, randomized, placebo-controlled study1,2,3,4 involving 44 adults diagnosed with both irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and mild to moderate depression or anxiety found that the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 provided depression relief. Half of the participants received the probiotic while the other half received a placebo. At six weeks, 64% of the treatment group had reduced depression scores compared to 32% of the control group.

Those receiving the probiotic also reported fewer symptoms of IBS and improved overall quality of life. At the end of 10 weeks, approximately twice as many in the treatment group were still reporting lower levels of depression.

[…]

Compelling Links Between Depression and Gut Inflammation

A number of studies have confirmed that gastrointestinal inflammation can play a critical role in the development of depression, and that healthy bacteria may be an important part of the treatment. For example, a Hungarian scientific review8 published in 2011 made the following observations:

1. Depression is often found alongside gastrointestinal inflammation, as well as autoimmune, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor in all of these. Thus, “depression may be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome”

2. A number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammation with probiotics, omega-3 fats and vitamins B and D also improves symptoms of depression by attenuating proinflammatory stimuli to your brain9

3. Research suggests the primary cause of inflammation may be dysfunction of the “gut-brain axis.”10 The gut-brain connection is well-recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, so this isn’t all that surprising. Your gut acts as a second brain, and is in fact created from the identical tissue as your brain during gestation.

If you consume loads of processed foods and sugars, your gut bacteria will be severely compromised because processed foods tend to decimate healthy microflora. This leaves a void that is filled by disease-causing pathogenic bacteria, yeast and fungi that instead promote inflammation

Previous research has also demonstrated that probiotics have the power to alter your brain function,11 so the featured study is not alone in that regard.

And, while Bercik and his team failed to find a reduction in anxiety, a study done on mice12 found that Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 — the same strain used in Bercik’s study — normalized anxiety-like behavior in animals that had infectious colitis. Here, the antianxiety effect was attributed to modulation of the vagal pathways within the gut-brain axis.

Other research13 has shown the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus has a marked effect on GABA levels — an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes — in certain brain regions, lowering the stress-induced hormone corticosterone. As a result, anxiety- and depression-related behavior was lessened. Strong connections between the gut microbiome and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have also been found.14

How Sugar Influences Your Risk of Depression

A high-sugar diet can trigger or contribute to depression in a number of ways, including by:

  • Distorting your microflora by nourishing microbes that are detrimental to health
  • Triggering a cascade of chemical reactions in your body known to promote chronic inflammation
  • Elevating your insulin level, which can have a detrimental impact on your mood and mental health by causing higher levels of glutamate to be secreted in your brain. Glutamate has been linked to agitation, depression, anger, anxiety and panic attacks
  • Suppressing activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth hormone that promotes healthy neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia, which animal models suggest might actually be causative

There’s a great book on this subject written in 1986, “Sugar Blues,” by William Dufty, that delves into the sugar-depression link in great detail. He even advocated eliminating sugar from the diet of the mentally ill, stating it could be an effective treatment in and of itself for some people.

I too believe the dietary answer for treating depression starts with limiting or eliminating refined sugars (especially processed fructose) and grains, as all forms of sugar feed bad bacteria in your gut and promote systemic-wide inflammation. As a standard recommendation, I suggest limiting your daily fructose consumption from all sources to 25 grams per day or less.

Gluten has also been implicated in depression and other, more serious, mental health problems such as schizophrenia. Bear in mind that if you’re sensitive to gluten, it’s not enough to cut down. You need to remove it from your diet entirely. The easiest way to eliminate most sugars (and gluten, if need be) is to avoid processed foods and cook from scratch using whole ingredients.

Cutting out processed foods will also significantly reduce your exposure to genetically engineered ingredients, which have also been implicated in chronic inflammation and the destruction of healthy gut bacteria, as well as pesticides such as glyphosate — another culprit in both microbiome disruption and inflammation. Keep in mind that conventionally grown foods may also be contaminated with pesticide residues so, ideally, aim for as organic a diet as you can.

Dietary Keys to Overcoming Depression

Aside from cutting out sugars and gluten, make sure you’re getting sufficient amounts of healthy fats in your diet. Examples of healthy saturated fats include avocados, butter made from raw, grass fed organic milk, organic pastured egg yolks, coconuts and coconut oil, raw nuts and grass fed meats. You may need as much as 50% to 80% of your daily calories in the form of healthy fats such as these.

Beyond that, animal-based omega-3 fat may be the single most important nutrient to battle depression.15,16 It’s particularly important when combating more serious problems such as psychosis and schizophrenia.17,18 Good sources of animal-based omega-3 include fatty fish that are also low in mercury, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines and anchovies.

If you don’t eat these types of fish on a regular basis, it would be advisable to take a high-quality omega-3 supplement such as krill oil, which has a number of benefits over fish oil, including better absorption. Lastly, to rebalance your gut flora, be sure to eat plenty of:

• Fiber-rich foods — This means more vegetables, nuts and seeds (not grains). Research confirms that in order to work, the fiber must be unprocessed.19,20 Processed supplement fiber such as inulin powder does not provide gut bacteria with what they need.

Organic whole husk psyllium is a great fiber source, as are sunflower sprouts and fermented vegetables, the latter of which are essentially fiber preloaded with beneficial bacteria. Flax, hemp and chia seeds are other excellent fiber sources.

• Fermented foods — By eating a variety of fermented and cultured foods such as fermented vegetables (all kinds), kombucha, kefir or raw yogurt, natto, kimchi and others, you will get a wide assortment of beneficial bacteria into your system.

If you, for whatever reason, will not eat fermented foods, then a high-quality probiotic supplement is certainly recommended. Just understand you probably will not reap as great a benefit as if you were actually eating fermented foods.

 

Zinc Copper Selenium
Niacin (B-3) Vitamin B-6 Vitamin B-1221,22,23
Folates Vitamin D24 (Low vitamin D levels are associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety.25) S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe)

Walsh is convinced the use of psychiatric medication will eventually fade away as we learn more about normalizing brain function through nutritional interventions. “These powerful drugs … they do not normalize the brain. They cause an abnormal condition,” he warns. “They might correct depression or anxiety, but you wind up with something that’s not normal.”

Cass also stresses that one of the first steps in treating any mental health problem is to clean up your diet and address your gut health. Otherwise, you’ll have virtually no chance of getting emotionally and mentally well. On her website, CassMD.com, you can find a free report called “Reclaim Your Brain,” which details nutritional substances you can use to address conditions like anxiety and depression.the future but there are many online resources that can guide you until then, one of them being my video below.

Holistic Mental Health Suggestions

Regardless of the nature or severity of your mental health problem, to successfully treat it, you need to take a holistic approach. Rarely will medication be the sole answer. So, in addition to all of the dietary guidelines already offered, here are some other suggestions — presented in no particular order — to keep in mind.

Combat inflammation — Keeping inflammation in check is an important part of any effective treatment plan. If you’re gluten-sensitive, you will need to remove all gluten from your diet. A food sensitivity test can help ascertain this. Switching to a whole food diet as described in my optimal nutrition plan can go a long way toward lowering the inflammation level in your body and brain.Optimize your vitamin D level — Vitamin D deficiency is another important biological factor that can play a significant role in mental health, especially depression. A double-blind randomized trial26 published in 2008 concluded that supplementing with high doses of vitamin D “seems to ameliorate these symptoms indicating a possible causal relationship.” Research27 also claims that low vitamin D levels appear to be associated with suicide attempts.

[…]

Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/02/10/probiotics-depression.aspx

Who Did Putin Talk To?

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Dmitry Orlov

Judging from the reaction in Western media, Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson has caused a great deal of confusion. The most terrible thing about it, from the point of view of the editors of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the other usual suspects, is that people in the West — over a hundred million of them — got to actually listen to Putin speak. The interview broke through an information blockade: Western media sources are not allowed to quote Putin directly and must carefully misconstrue his words to make them fit the approved Western narratives. Thus, they were not able to address the content of the interview directly; unable to quote from it, they were forced to resort to circumlocution, mischaracterization and innuendo. Luckily, they are quite good at that.

But what did the over a hundred million people in the West who actually watched the interview get out of it? Do they now fondly remember the year Putin’s predecessor Vladimir the Great baptized the Russians? (That was in AD 988.) Do they now understand the legal intricacies of the USSR’s dissolution and the promises made around the time the Ukraine was granted independence (which have since been violated in every possible way)? What was up with that history lecture anyway?

Putin seems to have done some homework on Tucker. Tucker studied history while attending Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (but failed to graduate). Seeing as Tucker was fired as a journalist and is currently unemployed (i.e., a blogger), Putin naturally assumed that Tucker is an amateur historian with an incomplete professional education who came as a political emissary to hear some words of wisdom from the leader of a great nation on a certain specific subject — the Ukraine. Therefore, Putin saw it as perfectly reasonable to fill the lacunae in Tucker’s education by presenting a brief outline of the last 1000 years of Russian history with a specific focus on the territory that for just the last 3% of that history has been referred to as “the Ukraine” or “ukraine” or “okraina.” This word translates as “outskirts; fringe; periphery; border districts; outlying districts; marginal land.” This definition begs an obvious question: “The ukraine/okrainа of what?” Of Russia, obviously

Tucker seemed bewildered by Putin’s history lesson. His entire shtik of yapping out provocative questions and giggling at the answers had been derailed and he was at a loss for what else to do. And so he went back to basics, which, for any American, is business. And business hinges on The Art of the Deal, authored by Tucker’s lord and master, Donald Trump. And so poor Tucker was reduced to asking some obvious questions: is Putin willing to deal? The stunning answer was that, yes, Russia has never refused to engage in negotiations and wants peace and prosperity for all.

As far as the Ukraine conflict, Russia almost got what it wanted in İstanbul on 22 July 2022, but then Blundering Boris Johnson blundered in and told the Ukrainians to rip up the deal and to fight-fight-fight. No matter; if the US and NATO wanted to put an end to the hostilities in the Ukraine, all they’d have to do is cut off the flow of weapons and a couple of weeks later the war would be over.

But what about the upcoming war between Russia and NATO that various European leaders have been jibber-jabbering about? If Russia is attacked or invaded, said Putin, then that would mean war; if not, then not. Russia isn’t the least bit interested in attacking countries such as Poland or the Baltics: there is nothing there that Russia could possibly want. All Russia wants from them is for them to stop threatening Russia. Given that, they can either live happily ever after or curl up and die — Russia wouldn’t care.<

So much for war; what about energy? Well, said Putin, the Americans blew up Nord Stream, but there is one pipe of it (out of four) left intact and the Germans could open it up if they wanted to. There is another pipe running through Poland that’s been shut down — talk to the Poles about it. And the Ukraine has shut down one of its two pipes — ask them about it. The EU starving itself of energy is not Russia’s problem: they can open the valves any time.

I suppose that Tucker got what he wanted: now he can go back to Trump and tell him that Putin is ready to deal and that the way forward is clear. The immediate agenda is:

1. Stop support for the Ukraine; that will end the war. Then talk about what to do with the various regions of the former Ukraine. Putin made it clear that some of that territory is rightfully Polish, Hungarian or Romanian. Get everyone on the same page and hold a peace conference. There is no point in inviting the Ukrainians: they are Russian (as Putin patiently explained, handing to Tucker a folder of archival documents proving this fact) and what’s the point of inviting the Russians twice?

2. Tell the NATO-heads to knock it off with their insipid warmongering. Either they stop threatening Russia, or it’s no more money for them. That part is dead easy; again, as Putin patiently explained, the NATO-heads always do exactly what their Washingtonian masters tell them to do.3. Open up the gas pipelines: one through the Ukraine, one through Poland and the remaining Nord Stream pipe. That should be enough to rescue what’s left of German industry.

4. Putin also has some asks for the Americans. Shut down the southern border… do something about the $33 trillion debt… as a minimum. Deal with your own problems, please! Don’t worry about Russia or China, they’ll be fine without any of your help.

That seems like it ought to be enough for Tucker to take back to the home office. He did good; give him the vice presidency. But what about the audience — the hundred million plus people who have watched the interview so far?

I imagine it was a bit of a shock for them to hear the leader of a country speak for two whole hours on a wide range of topics without notes, quoting lots of facts, dates and figures and succinctly stating a number of important theses. They didn’t need to actually understand all of what he said, or even any substantial portion of it, to appreciate what sort of person Putin is, just as one doesn’t need training in classical music to listen to Itzhak Perlman perform Rondo capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra by Camille Saint-Saens to be able to tell that he is one hell of a violin player.

[…]

Via https://boosty.to/cluborlov/posts/93a06054-6430-4dd8-a45b-3fbfb267e5b7

French Revolutionary Culture and Festivals

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Buy France #1197-8 - Marianne (1967) | Arpin Philately

Episode 22: Revolutionary Culture and Festivals

Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon

Dr Suzanne M Desan

Film Review

In republican France, revolutionaries seeking to eliminate the Church’s despotic control set out to create a new French culture based on Enlightenment values and beliefs. They began by creating a new calendar, declaring Sept 22, 1792 (the day the National Convention declared the Republic) the first day of Year 1. Deputies also voted to replace weeks with ten-day segments called decades and to rename months based on seasons and natural phenomena.*

This new culture also replaced saints’ days with days celebrating nature and agriculture, secular festivals, and civic banquets and dances to celebrate army volunteers marching off to war. Although abolishing Sundays alienated much of France’s working class, the new calendar lasted until 1805.

The National Convention also introduced (our current) metric system of measurement, as well a replacing titles such as Madame (“my lady”) and and Monsieur (“my lord”) with citizen and citizeness, as well as abolishing the use of “vous” for the singular “tu.”** They simultaneously encouraged a change in the way the middle classes dressed, adopting the long pants of the san culotte, in place of knee britches and silk stockings. Villages replaced their mardi gras queens with “liberty” queens and repurposed ol religious status by decorating them with tunics, long skirst and revolutionary banners and sashes.

The new icon of the simple peasant woman Marianne came to represent the new French Republic in paintings and on coins and stamps.

Desan also describes de-Christianization campaign the Jacobins started in the provinces, where, along with national guards, they drove off priests (or pressured them to marry) and burned churches. In Paris, they organized a Festival of Reason in Notre Dame. In response, 20,000 priests resigned or went into exile. Non-juring priests (those who refused to swear allegiance to the revolution) remaining France organized counterrevolutionary armies to fight off the citizen soldiers.

The Convention let the communes (aka city councils) decide the fate of individual churches in most of France. In some places they burned them down, ripped down and burned paintings and melted down silver chalices for ammunition. In others they became store houses and stables.

*New months created by the revolution:
Vendémiaire (from the Latin ‘vindemia’, grape harvest) (22 September to 21 October).
Brumaire (from the French ‘brume’, fog)
Frimaire (from the French ‘frimas’, hoarfrost)
Nivôse (from the Latin ‘nivosus’, snowy)
Pluviôse (from the Latin ‘pluviosus’, rainy)
Ventôse (from the Latin ‘ventosus’, windy)
Germinal (from the Latin ‘germen, germinis’ a bud)
Floréal (from the Latin ‘floreus’, flowery
Prairial (from the French ‘prairie’, meadow)
Messidor (from the Latin ‘messis’, corn harvest and the Greek ‘doron’, gift)
Thermidor (from the Greek ‘thermon’ heat and the Greek ‘doron’ gift)
Fructidor (from the Latin ‘fructus’, fruit and the Greek ‘doron’, gift)

**In many European languages, kings, queens and nobles insisted on being referred to in the plural.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/149323/149365

Over One Million Jobs Reported in 2023 That Didn’t Actually Exist

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President Biden Delivers Remarks To The South Carolina Democratic Party

(Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo

Will Kessler
The federal government in 2023 overestimated the number of jobs in the U.S. economy by an average of 105,000 per month in initial reports, equating to a cumulative monthly difference of 1.3 million, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The cumulative number of jobs reported each month was 1,255,000 less than previously thought, with new seasonal and census data affecting total employment estimates, according to data from the BLS calculated by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The huge downward revisions are in spite of a 115,000 upward revision in December, the only month that saw an upward revision to the employment level in 2023. (RELATED: One Key Moment Of Fed Chair’s ’60 Minutes’ Interview Leaves Financial Markets In A Frenzy)

The biggest revision was for March, which was revised down by a total of 266,000 jobs, followed by January at 234,000 and April at 205,000, according to the BLS. The lowest downward revision was in November, with only 2,000, followed by 11,000 in October.

“Revisions are a normal part of the reporting process, but large changes, or adjustments that consistently move in the same direction, are not normal,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Instead, they’re indicative of something problematic with the BLS’ methodology. That can happen when market conditions change drastically enough to be outside of the assumptions used in their models.”

The revisions are due in part to an overestimate of the number of jobs in the U.S. economy in January 2023 at 155,007,000 instead of the revised 154,773,000, according to the BLS. The job level increased to a revised 157,347,000 by December, totaling an increase of 2,340,000 positions in the year.

The most recent jobs report in February also released an adjustment to the total jobs level, lowering March by 266,000 positions, according to the BLS. The jobs totals were also adjusted to recent census data, throwing off past estimates.

The downward revisions were accompanied by a huge reported gain in February’s jobs report, with the U.S. adding 353,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in January, far higher than the 180,000 that economists anticipated.

Recent years have not seen the same high downward revisions as 2023, with 2022 only seeing negative revisions in five months, equating to a downward revision of 66,000 for the year. March was the only month that was revised down in 2021, with the total number for the year being revised up by nearly 2 million as the country recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growth in government positions has bolstered recent job numbers, adding a total of 601,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in the past 12 months. The gains have led to an all-time record for government positions at 23,091,000, outdoing a surge in hiring from the 2010 census collections.

“When the economy was rapidly deteriorating at the onset of the Great Recession, the BLS repeatedly and consistently overestimated job levels, which then had to be revised down,” Antoni told the DCNF. “The worsening economic conditions fell outside of the assumptions used by the BLS statisticians, so the estimates became inaccurate. There could be similar problems today due to fallout from the government-imposed recession in 2020 because the labor market still hasn’t recovered.”

[…]

Via https://dailycaller.com/2024/02/06/one-million-jobs-reported-2023-didnt-exist/

General Mills urged to reduce plastic chemicals in food products

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By Elizabeth Napolitano

Consumer Reports is urging General Mills to reduce plastic chemicals in its pre-packaged foods.

In a letter sent Wednesday to General Mills, the advocacy group said it found “concerning” levels of phthalates in several General Mills products, including Annie’s Organic Cheesy Ravioli. Other General Mills products that tested positive for high levels of chemicals include Yoplait Original Low Fat Yogurt, Cheerios Original and Green Giant Cream Style Sweet Corn, according to Consumer Reports.

“When you buy organic, the last thing you’d expect is that you would be eating plastic chemicals,” Consumer Reports Food Policy Director Brian Ronholm said in a statement.

General Mills did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Phthalates, also known as plasticizers, are chemicals that can be used to make plastics more durable and flexible, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some studies have linked the chemicals to adverse health outcomes such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Consumer Reports also launched a petition on Wednesday calling on General Mills and its subsidiary, Annie’s, to eliminate plasticizers from their products.

The organization in January published a report listing the plastic chemical contents of more than 80 popular snacks and other pre-prepared foods. The study found that 99% of supermarket and fast foods contain phthalates, while 79% contain traces of another potentially harmful substance called bisphenol A.

“In a recent test of a wide variety of foods, Consumer Reports found plasticizers in every food product at very high levels, including several General Mills products,” the group said in its February 7 letter to General Mills CEO Jeffrey Harmening.

“Because of the number of ways that plasticizers can enter our food supply, we recognize that these chemicals cannot be completely avoided,” Consumer Reports add. “However, our test results revealed that some products had much lower levels compared to others. This demonstrates that, even though these chemicals are ubiquitous in food, it is possible to reduce their presence, and consumers expect the industry to achieve these lower levels.”

Via https://www.cbsnews.com/news/general-mills-annies-plastic-chemicals-in-food-consumer-reports/

Late-Breaking Study Admitted as New Evidence in Landmark Fluoride Trial

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girl drinking cup of water with words "fluoride on trial day 6"

The night before the final day of plaintiffs’ testimony in a trial that could end drinking water fluoridation in the U.S., Canadian researchers published a new systematic review linking fluoride exposure, at very low levels, to lower IQ in children.

Canada’s public health agency, Health Canada, commissioned a team of scientists to study the effects of fluoride on human health, but the agency did not publish the review.

The peer-reviewed journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology independently published the study on Tuesday.

The researchers calculated the toxicological “point of departure” for the effects of fluoride on IQ — also known as the “hazard level,” the lowest point at which a toxic effect is observed — and found it to be 0.179 milligrams per liter (mg/L) in water.

Levels of fluoride found in drinking water in the U.S. and Canada typically are in the higher range of 0.7 mg/L.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) report linking fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children set the hazard level at 1.5 mg/L, and one of the key studies at the center of the trial set the level even lower than 0.2 mg/L.

The authors of the new study did note the data at that low range had significant uncertainty and would benefit from further data collection.

Food & Water Watch, Fluoride Action Network, Moms Against Fluoridation and other advocacy groups and individuals are suing the EPA in a bid to force the agency to prohibit water fluoridation in the U.S. due to fluoride’s toxic effects on children’s developing brains.

The lawsuit is being brought under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which regulates the legal levels of human exposure to toxic substances like lead.

All of the other toxic chemicals regulated under TSCA have acceptable human exposure levels set at least 10 times and up to 79 times the hazard level to account for uncertainty in identified hazard or exposure levels, particularly for the most vulnerable people.

Even at a hazard level of 1.5 mg/L, exposure levels for fluoride carry significant risk under TSCA’s guidelines, but this new level identified by Canadian researchers would set a risk level even further below current exposure levels.

The findings are important to the trial because the identified hazard level was quite low and also because the authors calculated their hazard level in terms of water fluoridation levels, which they extrapolated from the urinary fluoride levels used in most studies. Whether and how that can be done has been a significant point of debate at trial.

The findings also are significant because David Savitz, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at Brown University and the EPA’s first witness, was part of the expert panel that advised Health Canada on how to interpret this study and other data.

The expert panel concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to lower the amount of fluoride in drinking water based on its neurocognitive effects.

The EPA called Savitz as a witness because he was also part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) expert panel that reviewed the NTP report linking fluoride exposure to lower IQs in children. The report is a central piece of evidence in the trial.

NASEM and the NTP authors did not agree on all changes to the report suggested in NASEM’s review, and the final changes were eventually adjudicated by the NTP’s Board of Scientific Counselors, although the report has still not been published.

Savitz will also testify about Health Canada’s interpretation of these findings.

Health Canada’s decision to commission the study and revisit and affirm its existing water fluoridation standards happened while the NTP’s report findings were being debated, and allegedly suppressed, by U.S. public health agencies.

Before Wednesday’s testimony began, plaintiffs moved to put the new study into evidence. EPA attorneys countered, arguing that Health Canada’s expert panel summary report from June 2023 — in which the agency concluded current drinking water levels for fluoride were likely safe — should be entered into evidence instead.

The EPA argued that Savitz had not read this new peer-reviewed document. He had only read and evaluated the unpublished and confidential report submitted to Health Canada, and would not be able to speak to the new publication.

Federal Judge Edward Chen, who will rule on the case, accepted both documents into evidence. He also ordered the EPA to obtain a copy of the unpublished report submitted to Health Canada, if possible.

Study found IQ loss, dental fluorosis were most significant issues

The newly published study systematically reviewed evidence from human, animal and in vitro data on the epidemiological and toxicological effects of fluoride in drinking water using the “Bradford Hill” criteria.

Bradford Hill criteria are a set of epidemiological principles used to identify causal relationships between a toxin and its associated effects.

The review included the studies assessed by the NTP’s systematic review of the literature, along with more recent studies.

The review also examined fluoride’s epidemiological effects beyond the narrow question of IQ loss among children and found strong evidence linking fluoride exposure to dental fluorosis.

It also linked fluoride exposure to other problems, including thyroid dysfunction, kidney dysfunction and hormone disruption, with varying strengths of evidence.

However, the authors established that IQ loss and dental fluorosis were the most significant issues of concern and calculated hazard levels for those two items.

They recommended a 1.56 mg/L hazard level for moderate dental fluorosis and concluded that “precautionary concerns for potential neurodevelopmental cognitive effects may warrant special consideration” for setting acceptable water fluoride levels.

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fluoride-trial-day-6-systematic-review-lower-iq-children/?utm_id=20240208

 

 

Israel Aid Bill Fails in House

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JAKE JOHNSON

“The supplemental funding proposed, which includes no humanitarian aid for Gaza nor assistance for Ukraine, supports weapons of war and destruction that further jeopardize Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians,

“Each U.S.-made or funded bomb dropped in Gaza further jeopardizes the chances of long-lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez.

A Republican effort to push through a standalone military aid package for Israel failed to clear the U.S. House on Tuesday, with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus condemning the proposed $17.6 billion in unconditional assistance for a government that stands accused on the world stage of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The legislation, which President Joe Biden threatened to veto if it reached his desk, needed two-thirds support to pass the House under a suspension of the rules. The final tally was 250 to 180, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans voting no.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said in a statement that “under no circumstances” could she have voted for the legislation, which House Republican leaders sought to advance ahead of the Senate’s planned procedural vote on a broader package that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine and a border agreement that would dramatically weaken asylum protections.

“The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. Gazans are starving,” Ramirez said late Tuesday. “Over 1.5 million people have been displaced. Hostilities between the U.S. and Iran are escalating. And just this morning, The New York Times reported that one-fifth of the hostages still in captivity since the start of the conflict have likely died. We must change course.”

“The supplemental funding proposed, which includes no humanitarian aid for Gaza nor assistance for Ukraine, supports weapons of war and destruction that further jeopardize Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians,” she continued. “Each U.S.-made or funded bomb dropped in Gaza further jeopardizes the chances of long-lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it now: I will only support actions that bring us closer to peace.”

In a brief floor speech ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) described standalone Israel aid legislation as a “blank check for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu” and other far-right officials seeking the permanent removal of Palestinians from Gaza.

If passed, the aid measure would have allowed the U.S. State Department to waive congressional notification requirements for billions of dollars in U.S. military financing for Israel, which has massacred Gaza civilians with American-made weaponry.

“I will vote no because it is painfully obvious to the entire world that what is needed today is a permanent cease-fire and a release of all hostages,” Khannas said. “There come moments in a nation’s history when our actions reveal our values. This is such a moment.”

The failure of the Israel aid bill came shortly after House Republicans also fell short in their effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) wrote in response to the Mayorkas vote that “Republicans are deeply disconnected from the people.”

“They’re not serious about fixing our immigration system, they have no plan to improve folks’ lives, and they keep wasting our time with political stunts like these,” Pressley added. “This sham, failed impeachment is just the latest example.”

Senate Republicans on Wednesday are expected to block consideration of the broader supplemental security package over the border agreement, which they claim isn’t sufficiently harsh—a position right in line with that of former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Via https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-aid-house

Electric Vehicles Prove Bad for Business

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Rhoda Wilson

While the World Economic Forum fabricates its Global Risk Report, an amateur futurist comes up with his own more realistic list.

Wind turbines are not a “green renewable” energy source and electric vehicles are proving to be a disaster for those championing them. The UK House of Lords has found a novel way of explaining away the slow electric vehicle market; it’s Mr. Bean who has put people off them.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Queensland state energy companies are remotely turning off air conditioners in people’s homes because the power grid is in trouble.

Below are brief descriptions of a collection of articles from recent days.  To read the full article click on the section title.

Global Risks Report 2024

In its Global Risks Report 2024, the World Economic Forum claims environmental threats are on the rise in the 2024 to 2034 period.

However, amateur futurist Michael Spencer makes his own list of global risks that are more grounded in reality including China’s debt crisis and geopolitical conflicts that are likely to erupt such as Taiwan, North Korea and Iran.

Schwab: Davos is More Than Just a Meeting

The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting took place in Davos from 15-19 January 2024. China Global Television Network’s programme ‘Leaders Talk’ sat down with Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (“WEF”), to discuss the agenda of this year’s meeting and the necessity and the importance of rebuilding trust in an increasingly “fearful and fragmented” world.

According to Schwab, WEF’s annual Davos meetings are necessary because “the big challenges in the world”- such as “the environmental threats”- can only be resolved through co-operation between business and government.

“There are over 100 governments who are represented by the head of state, or the head of government… If you look at the business community, we think that out of the 1000 top global companies, about 70% will be represented in Davos by the top person.”

Europe: Ursula Von Der Leyen Scraps Pesticide Reduction Bill, in Gift to Farmers

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on 6 February that she will scrap a contentious upcoming bill that aimed to slash the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture.

The European Commission first pitched the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUR) regulation in 2020 as part of its Green Deal, von der Leyen’s signature policy project, that involves ambitious and legally binding plans to make the Continent climate-neutral by 2050. The Commission then formally proposed the SUR bill in June 2022, setting a target to slash pesticide use and risks by 50 per cent by 2030. But with mounting political opposition from farmers’ lobbies and centre-right politicians, and now with farmers’ protests sweeping European countries – and even outside the Parliament itself last week – the EU executive pulled the plug.

Wind Turbines are Not a Source of Green or Renewable Energy

Wind turbines have a life expectancy of about 20 years. To date, there has yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those wind turbines.  As a result, old wind turbines are being dumped into toxic waste dumps. Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem.

According to Today’s Homeowner, wind turbines that are properly maintained and occasionally have their parts replaced will last a full 25 to 30 years. But if the operators fall behind on maintenance, the turbines may face an early death. This is especially true for wind farms in harsh environments, such as those out at sea.

Wind turbines are predominantly made of steel, fibreglass, resin or plastic, iron or cast iron, copper, and aluminium.

Steel is critical for both onshore and offshore wind turbines, making up 20% and 90% of turbine mass, respectively. Onshore wind turbines rely on concrete for their foundations, while offshore wind turbines rely on steel structures.  To build one wind turbine (inland), around 225 to 285 tonnes of steel is required.  A windmill made with 260 tonnes of steel requires 170 tonnes of coking coal and 300 tonnes of iron ore, all mined, transported and produced by hydrocarbons.

A two-megawatt windmill weighs 1,688 tonnes, including 1,300 tonnes of concrete, 295 tonnes of steel, 48 tonnes of iron, 24 tonnes of fibreglass, 4 tonnes of copper, 4 tonnes of neodymium, 0.65 tonnes of dysprosium and more.

AI Helped a Mining Startup Backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates Find a Major Copper Deposit

California-based KoBold Metals announced Monday, 5 February, that it has found an expansive copper deposit in Zambia. Backed by a group of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, the mining startup uses artificial intelligence to discover critical minerals needed for the energy transition. The company said that the site will be “one of the world’s biggest, high-grade large copper mines.”

China Built 96% of All Coal Power in 2023; US And Canada Sold it to Them

According to data from the US-based Global Energy Monitor, China accounted for 68% of all new coal generation that came online in 2023, 81% of all newly announced planned projects and 96% of all active construction projects.

China is hardly the world’s biggest coal hypocrite; that title goes to both the US and Canada whose exports of thermal coal climbed to multiyear highs in 2023 even as their own consumption fell to the lowest in a century.

Coal is the most widely used fuel in the world, and rising thanks to Canadian and US exports to India and China.

Grid on the Edge: Queensland Government Switched Off Thousands of Home Air Conditioners Six Times in the Last 8 Weeks

Welcome to modern Australia where the grid is so fragile, poor people have to buy air conditioners that the government can remotely switch off.  Such is the state of decay that Queensland no longer has enough electricity to allow the riff-raff to have air conditioning whenever they want it – only the rich can do that.

The state energy companies of Queensland offer customers up to $400 cashback when they buy an air conditioner, but in return they allow the government to reach into their homes and turn off the air conditioner when the grid is in trouble. It was only supposed to be a “few days a year” but it seems to be happening a lot lately.

It’s a way to manage the grid – think of it as 170,000 mini blackouts instead of one big one.

UK Electric Vehicle Maker Arrival Enters Administration With 170 Jobs at Risk

New York-listed British electric vehicle maker Arrival has collapsed into administration – putting 170 jobs at risk – just three years after it was valued at more than $15bn.

Arrival’s demise adds another failure to Britain’s mixed recent history in the EV market. Britishvolt, the EV battery maker collapsed into administration last year after struggling to secure investment.

On 1 February, MarketWatch noted that only a month into 2024, the year was already off to a rocky start for EV fans.  “Earlier this week, French automaker Renault said it has decided to cancel the initial public offering of its electric car unit Ampere. Ford, meanwhile, has slashed production of its electric F-150 Lightning, a pickup truck.”

Mr. Bean Actor Rowan Atkinson Blamed for Slow Electric Car Sales

Rowan Atkinson has been blamed for “damaging” the reputation of EVs and contributing to slow sales.

The Mr Bean actor was name-checked in the House of Lords on Tuesday during its environment and climate change committee meeting.

Thinktank Green Alliance gave its views on the main obstacles the government faces in its bid to phase out petrol and diesel cars before 2035 and said a comment piece by the Johnny English star published in June 2023 was damaging to the cause.

Major Auto Company Shuts Down Funding to EV Subsidiary, Immediately Sees Stock Price Boom

Volvo stock was doing well last Thursday, but it wasn’t because of a new product launch or something that the Swedish car manufacturer was building. On the contrary – the stock was up on the news that the company was going to stop doing something.

Shares in Volvo were up 26 per cent Thursday after it announced that it would no longer fund its Polestar Automotive, an electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacturer it had previously spun off as a separate subsidiary.

Tesla is the Worst-Performing Stock in the S&P 500 This Year

The EV manufacturer’s stock is the worst performer this year in the S&P 500.

Teslas had the worst accident rate in 2023. The EVs have been recording glitches that have raised their accident risks over the years. Tesla has recalled most of its car models at one time or another, the latest one being a 5 January recall of 1.6 million cars sold in China.

However, Bloomberg’s Matt Levine says Tesla stock is performing badly because Elon Musk’s antics have helped erase more than $200 billion of shareholder value.

GM is Going Back to Hybrids; It’s Been Here Before

Amid an industry-wide sales slowdown for EVs and struggles to get production of its own EV under control, GM went and did something surprising: the company listened. Mere days after calls from its dealerships for hybrids, GM CEO Marry Barra announced the company would be bringing back hybrids in a recent earnings call.

Hertz’s CEO Called Its Electric Vehicle Fleet a “Distraction”

Last July, Hertz boasted had the largest rental fleet of EVs in the US. It hasn’t aged well. The car renter has now told investors that profits took a $464 million swing to a $348 million loss, and CEO Stephen Scherr is blaming EVs, calling them an “operational distraction.”

What does becoming less distracted look like? The rental car company dropped a third of its EVs and indicated it might thin the fleet further.

Hertz is reportedly modifying a 2022 purchasing agreement and putting a pause on EVs claiming the company wants to stop buying electric vehicles because it can’t sell them after their rentable mileage limit is reached.

[…]

Via https://expose-news.com/2024/02/08/electric-vehicles-prove-bad-for-business/

Governments wasting TRILLIONS on “climate change” using faulty temperature data

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Ethan Huff

The only reason why it seems like global temperatures are rising is because a whopping 96 percent of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) temperature monitoring stations are located in “urban heat islands” next to things like warm exhaust fans and “blistering-hot rooftops.”

Despite trillions of dollars in taxpayer-funded mitigation measures that have been implemented over the years, 2023 was still said to be the hottest year on record, according to the NOAA. However, we now know that this is because the federal agency’s thermometers were intentionally placed near really hot urban structures, which ultimately skewed the data.

For years, the United Nations (UN) has been warning that global temperatures can only warm 1.5 degrees Celsius in the coming years. Anything more than that will make the planet unlivable, resulting in major catastrophes like droughts, flooding and extreme heat.

Based on the skewed temperature readings from the NOAA’s monitoring stations, the earth is already 1.35 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average noted by the UN, meaning there is only 0.15 degrees Celsius more for it to warm before the planet melts.

“Not only was 2023 the warmest year in NOAA’s 174-year climate record – it was the warmest by far,” commented Sarah Kapnick, the NOAA’s chief scientist. “A warming planet means we need to be prepared for the impacts of climate change that are happening here and now, like extreme weather events that become both more frequent and severe.”

What Kapnick failed to mention is the fact that her own agency’s measuring standards are flawed, and the earth is not, in fact, warming to the degree that the NOAA says it is, if at all.

(Related: By 2030, the world will face “severe cold and food shortages” as a grand solar minimum takes over the planet, solar researchers say.)

Heat bias means fake global warming

Anthony Watts, a meteorologist and senior fellow for environment and climate at The Heartland Institute, as well as author of the climate website Watts Up With That, examined the NOAA’s climate stations and reported that the agency’s climate claims are laughably flawed.

More than 90 percent of the NOAA’s temperature stations, Watts found, have a clear heat bias, meaning they record temperatures that are too high compared to actual temperatures outside of urban heat islands.

“And with that large of a number, over 90 percent, the methods that NOAA employs to try to reduce this don’t work because the bias is so overwhelming,” Watts told the Epoch Times.

“The few stations that are left that are not biased because they are, for example, outside of town in a field and are an agricultural research station that’s been around for 100 years … their data gets completely swamped by the much larger set of biased data. There’s no way you can adjust that out.”

Fellow meteorologist Roy Spencer, an esteemed principal research scientist at The University of Alabama, agrees on this point.

“The surface thermometer data still have spurious warming effects due to the urban heat island, which increases over time,” he says.

Spencer serves as the U.S. Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite. He is the recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his work in satellite-based temperature monitoring.

Even worse than the NOAA’s urban heat island temperature stations are the computerized climate models that climate zealots are using to drive changes in energy policy, which aim to shift the West away from earth-based “fossil” fuels into “green” energy technologies like solar and wind.

[…]

Via https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-02-07-trillions-wasted-climate-change-faulty-temperature-data.html