A new study in Nature Communications adds to concerns that the growing clean energy sector could harm the environment even as it strives to combat climate change, but proponents of electric vehicles said there are alternatives.
A type of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other electronics is polluting air, soil and water in the U.S. and Europe, adding to concerns that the growing clean energy sector could harm the environment even as it strives to combat climate change, according to a new study.
Researchers said they analyzed samples of soil, sediment and surface water collected in 2022 near manufacturing plants in Minnesota, Kentucky, Belgium and France, finding they were commonly contaminated with a subtype of PFAS called bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs) at concentrations in the parts per billion.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Communications, also found that bis-FASI emitted into the air at these sites may travel long distances, potentially polluting areas far from the facilities where they are made and used.
“If we are not careful about the choices of materials and chemicals used in renewable energy technologies, then it is a concern that this may become a new source of PFAS pollution,” said Ariana Spentzos, Ph.D., a science and policy associate at the Green Science Policy Institute. Spentzos was not involved in the study.
“However, it is a false choice to choose between renewable energy and less PFAS pollution,” she added, noting that there are viable alternatives for many uses of PFAS in renewable energy.
Bis-FASIs, particularly the chemical bistriflimide, are manufactured by major chemical companies, including 3M and Solvay, and marketed as electrolytes that extend battery cycle life and maintain battery performance over time.
Many types of PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment, are used in the coatings on windmill turbines and are incorporated into solar cells, as well as being used in lithium-ion batteries.
A 2023 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviewed the small handful of existing studies on bis-FASIs, noting that studies have reported liver effects in rats after they were exposed to the chemicals.
Although the toxicity of bis-FASI in humans has not been studied, other types of PFAS have been linked to cancers, infertility and immune system damage.
The EPA in April set a limit of four parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS, in drinking water and 10 parts per trillion for several others.
Bis-FASIs are toxic to two types of small aquatic animals, a crustacean and zebrafish, altering their behavior and metabolic processes, the study found.
Similar to better-studied types of PFAS that have been phased out, bis-FASIs do not appear to break down naturally in the environment, said Lee Ferguson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University and an author of the study.
The researchers also analyzed samples from untreated landfill leachate in North Carolina, finding bistriflimide at levels close to 1 part per billion — a concentration that Ferguson said he considered surprisingly high.
“Some of the data we showed in the paper indicates that measurements of bistriflimide in landfill leachates may be coming from disposal of these lithium-ion batteries,” said Ferguson. “We really need to pay attention, if we are going to use materials that are very persistent, to what happens to them at end of life.”
As clean energy production gains traction, now is society’s chance to evaluate environmental risks and avoid a “regrettable substitution” on the path toward more sustainable infrastructure, said Jennifer Guelfo, Ph.D., an assistant professor of environmental engineering at Texas Tech University and an author of the study.
Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are secretly plotting to replace Joe Biden with Michelle Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee, according to Democrat party insiders.
According to reports, Obama never thought Biden had the ability to be President. In recent months, his support for Biden behind the scenes has become non existent.
Townhall.com reports: Nancy Pelosi also poked the bear this week, coming right to the edge of calling on Biden to drop out. Reportedly, both Democrats are in contact with one another, colluding to find a way to get Biden to exit the race. The problem is that they don’t know how to make that happen, which is the predicament facing everyone in the ‘dump Biden’ camp.
PSAKI: The entire Biden White House is in complete and total disarray — and literally nobody knows what to expect moving forward.
"The question is: what is the plan moving forward? 99% of them don't know the answer to that question." pic.twitter.com/ahUjJTTwLu
In a lengthy CNN piece by Jeff Zeleny and Edward Isaac-Dovere, the article delves into the Obama factor behind the scenes, where the two men have spoken less since the Biden presidency and where public displays of affection belie a cooler relationship. Obama is also aware that any further involvement besides his reported hands-off approach in sifting through this mess engulfing the Democratic Party will likely find its way into a Trump rally. The last thing Obama wants is for Trump, whom he despises, to say something along the lines of ‘even Biden’s former boss, Obama, wants him out.’ He’s also aware that he could be viewed as being the proverbial Brutus in pushing out his former VP (via CNN):
BREAKING: CNN’s @jeffzeleny reports that @SpeakerPelosi has had a “private conversation” with former President @BarackObama about Joe Biden’s mental fitness for office:
“The new information we are learning is that [Pelosi] has had a conversation — perhaps more than one of them —… pic.twitter.com/DlcnyYxUOY
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) July 12, 2024
Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have spoken privately about Joe Biden and the future of his 2024 campaign. Both the former president and ex-speaker expressed concerns about how much harder they think it’s become for the president to beat Donald Trump. Neither is quite sure what to do.
Democrats are desperate for the dispiriting infighting to end so they can get back to trying to beat the former president. And they’re begging either Obama or Pelosi to help them get there, aware that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn’t have the trust of Biden and that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries doesn’t have the depth of relationship to deliver the message.
CNN spoke with more than a dozen members of Congress, operatives and multiple people in touch with both Obama and Pelosi, many of whom say that the end for Biden’s candidacy feels clear and at this point it’s just a matter of how it plays out, even after Thursday night’s news conference.
[…]
Many of Pelosi’s colleagues are hoping that she can bring an end to the turmoil that has engulfed Democrats for the last two weeks. And to a good chunk of them, that end can come if and when she tells Biden that he has to drop out.
Pelosi has spoken to Biden since the debate, but in the time since, the California Democrat has made clear that she does not see Biden’s decision to stay in the race as final. But she, through an aide, declined to comment further.
[…]
But Obama’s deepening skepticism about his friend’s ability to win reelection is one of the worst kept secrets in Washington.
[…]
In conversations with some Democrats over the past two weeks, Obama has swatted away the notion that he could push Biden one direction or the other even if he wanted to, which underscores their long-running complicated, yet loyal, relationship. And it’s been complicated even further during their time apart: since leaving office behind – and their weekly lunches at the White House for eight years – the two have spoken far less than some of their advisers have often intimated.
If the former president did try to steer Biden to get out, people who know Obama say, he is aware the prism through which it could be seen. Biden has written that he felt Obama was not encouraging of his jumping in late to the Democratic primaries in the months after his son Beau died in 2015. Though Obama believes that he was trying to help his then-vice president focus on his grief and not wade into what would have been an incredibly hard primary campaign against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, that may not be how another conversation would go.
“Biden would say, ‘Well, Mr. President, you already used that chip in 2015 and it got us Donald Trump,’” speculated a longtime 2020 campaign aide. “I think it would harden him more.”
One point of contention is the damning New York Times op-ed by George Clooney, who called on Biden to drop out, saying that the Biden we all saw on debate night was the president the nation witnessed getting demolished by Trump. Clooney was in contact with Obama before the op-ed was published. While the former president didn’t explicitly order the essay, he didn’t try to dissuade him from writing it—a pure Tony Soprano move.
Yet, the lack of action on this topic is a throwback to one of Obama’s biggest flaws, which was to become afflicted by paralysis by analysis. If Biden can’t win, and there are scores of Democrats who think it’s over, then how do they prevent going off the cliff?
“Fluoride causes more human cancer, and causes it faster, than any other chemical . . . more people have died in the last 30 years from cancer connected with fluoridation than all the military deaths in the entire history of the United States.”
—Dr. Dean Burk, Congressional Record, 21 July 1976.
Fluoridated Cities have higher rates of cancer.
In 1975 Dr Dean Burk, former head of the cytochemistry laboratory at the US National Cancer Institute, and John Yiamouyiannis, a biochemist, did an analysis of the cancer rates in the the ten largest fluoridated cities compared to the ten largest nonfluoridated cities in the USA from 1950 to 1970.
They selected cities that had similar cancer death rates for the preceding ten years i.e. 1940 to 1950. They found that while cancer rates had gone up slightly in the nonfluoridated cities, they had gone up a lot in the fluoridated cities. Watch this interview on a TV show in the Netherlands where Dr Dean Burk was able to explain their findings. Actual study can be found in Fluoride Journal.
These findings created a lot of controversy and two subsequent studies were published which showed no correlation and then further research found those studies to be flawed.
National Toxicology Program 1990
In 1990, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) released a report on fluoride’s carcinogenicity, which led to controversy and concerns over the “systematic downgrading” of cancers in the study. The report found a dose-dependent increase of a rare liver cancer (hepatocholangiocarcinoma) in male and female mice and a small but statistically significant dose-related increase in osteosarcomas in male rats but not in female rats.
Key Findings
The 1990 study included the finding of a dose-dependent increase of a rare liver cancer (hepatocholangiocarcinoma) in male and female mice.
A small but statistically significant dose-related increase in osteosarcomas was found in male rats but not in female rats.
Dr William Marcus, chief toxicologist at the EPA was fired for blowing the whistle.
“Fluoride is a carcinogen by any standard we use. I believe the EPA should act immediately to protect the public, not just on the cancer data, but on the evidence of bone fractures, arthritis, mutagenicity, and other effects.”
In 2006 a study was published in Cancer Causes and Controls. “Boys who drink water with levels of fluoride considered safe by federal guidelines are five times more likely to have a rare bone cancer than boys who drink unfluoridated water, according to a study by Harvard University scientists published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Kiev has been tightening restrictions on the use of the Russian language, despite it being the native tongue of many Ukrainians
Ukrainian children don’t know their official state language well enough because they’re still using Russian in their daily lives, Kiev’s Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremin has complained, urging citizens to report violations of language restrictions.
The commissioner said there are also many violations being recorded in the sphere of education, as well as on the internet and in the service industry. He cited a recent study that suggested one-third of children in some Ukrainian regions prefer to speak Russian.
“A child outside of school uses services, visits shopping and catering establishments, sees external advertising and signboards in non-state language, hears non-state at home,” Kremin wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
He suggested that many schoolchildren were therefore prone to bilingualism and do not have sufficient knowledge of the Ukrainian language.
Kremin said Kiev should strengthen control over compliance with the law on state language, which defines Ukrainian as the only language approved for education, and called on citizens to be more involved in recording and reporting violations of the law.
Since gaining its independence in 1991, Ukraine has largely been a bilingual nation, with most citizens able to speak or understand both Russian and Ukrainian, particularly in the eastern half of the country. After the 2014 US-backed coup in Kiev, however, Ukraine’s new authorities abolished Russian as an official regional language and have adopted policies aimed at suppressing and outlawing it, arguing that it represents a threat to national unity and security.
In 2019, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law requiring Ukrainian to be used exclusively in nearly all aspects of public life, including education, entertainment, politics, business and the service industry, obliging all Ukrainian citizens to know the language. It also requires that 90% of TV and film content produced in the country be made in Ukrainian. From July 17, the use of the Russian language in Ukrainian media will be virtually outlawed, Kremen has said.
This forced Ukrainization was one of the reasons why Russian-speaking residents living in the east of the country rejected the post-coup authorities in Kiev in 2014. Many of these regions, namely the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, have since joined Russia after overwhelmingly voting to do so in public referendums in 2022.
Kremin, however, has denied that the term ‘Russian-speaking’ could be applied to any Ukrainian citizens, stating in an interview last year that the word is a “marker introduced by Russian ideology,” and declaring that “everyone in the country must have command of the Ukrainian language.”
Support from President Joe Biden’s administration for the Israeli government’s war on Gaza has resulted in an unprecedented surge of dissent within United States agencies.Several officials and military officers have resigned in opposition since the Israeli military launched a massive bombardment after Hamas fighters stormed Israel on October 7, 2023.
During the week of July 4, 2024, 12 individuals who resigned released a unified statement of opposition.
“America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza,” the dissenters declared. “This is not only morally reprehensible and in clear violation of international humanitarian law and U.S. laws, but it has also put a target on America’s back.”
While outlining the “current crisis” and what they believe should be done, the dissenters appealed to their former colleagues to “amplify calls for peace” and hold their respective institutions accountable for the violence unfolding in Palestine.
“We recognize the systemic obstacles you face, both as you perform your work, and as you consider leaving it. We particularly embrace those of you representing America’s diversity who feel that your voices have been disempowered, ignored, and tokenized. We are with you, and we know that a better way is possible, but only when we are all brave enough to challenge institutions and outdated forces that attempt to silence us.”
The dissenters further declared, “We encourage you to keep pushing. In our experience, no decision point is too minor to challenge, so while you are in government service, use your voice, write letters to leaders in your agencies, and bring up your disagreements with your team. Speaking out has a snowball effect, inspiring others to use their voice.”
“There is strength in numbers, and we urge you to not be complicit. We encourage you to consult with your Inspectors General, with your legal advisors, with appropriate Members of Congress, and via other protected channels, to question the veracity and/or legality of specific actions or policies. There are resources, and you have advocates, including all of us, who can support you in speaking your truth,” they concluded.
Several of the dissenters are whistleblowers with firsthand knowledge of how Biden administration officials have enabled the Israeli government’s atrocities. All of them are courageous individuals, who have sacrificed their careers for peace, justice, and human rights.
Until the war ends, The Dissenter will keep this page updated and track U.S. officials and military officers who resign in protest. (If anyone is missing, please email newsletter@thedissenter.org)
Below is a list of all the people who have resigned from the U.S. government or military during the war on Gaza as of July 5 and in reverse chronological order.
Maryam Hassanein was a special assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management in the United States Interior Department. “As a Muslim American,” she stated in her resignation letter that she could not “continue working for an administration that ignores the voices of its diverse staff by continuing to fund and enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”
“After months of Israel’s brutal violence, including the murders of over 37,000 Palestinians and the intentional starvation of millions of Palestinians, the only way I know how to make my voice heard and meaningfully represent my community is to leave,” Hassanein added.
She accused President Biden of “fueling hate crimes against Palestinian Americans by repeating anti-Arab tropes and outright lies.”
Hassanein connected the war on Gaza to her work at the Interior Department, which is an agency that is supposed to “right the wrongs the United States has committed against Indigenous peoples.”
“But we should not wait decades to act in the best interest of Palestinians whose struggles mirror those of Indigenous peoples native to the US. We can and should act now to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
Larry Hebert Jr.
Publicly seeking conscientious objector status as of June 4, 2024
Larry Hebert Jr. was an airman for the U.S. Air Force for six years before he sought “conscientious objector” status so that he could be honorably or generally discharged. He told NBC News that he worked on a U.S. operation that provided weapons sales to Israel.
He accelerated his efforts to part ways with the military after six year-old Hind Rajab died. An Israeli tank shelled her family’s car and then attacked the ambulance that tried to rescue Rajab.
“She looks almost just like my daughter, and that was something that was extremely hard to grasp, is that all these children that have aspirations and dreams and lives that many of us are living and want, and it’s wholly unjustified to support what’s happening,” Hebert shared.
Hebert was also moved to act by Aaron Bushnell, a fellow airmen who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., on February 25. “It touched me deeply. I knew I had to speak out in opposition to our government sending Israel the bombs and rockets to commit genocide.”
In April, while he was on leave, Hebert stood outside the White House and announced that he was on hunger strike. He confronted General David W. Allvin, the chief of staff for the Air Force, after he testified before Congress. His superiors immediately canceled his leave and ordered him to return to his post in Rota, Spain.
Juan Bettancourt
Juan Bettancourt, United States Air Force service member (Credit: Veterans For Peace/Fair use)
Publicly seeking conscientious objector status as of June 5, 2024
Juan Bettancourt sought “separation” from the U.S. military as a conscientious objector on June 5. In a posting from Veterans For Peace, Bettancourt declared, “My vehement stance against war and strong moral objection to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, perpetrated by the Israeli government under the aegis of the United States, have brought me to this critical juncture where I must speak out against these atrocities despite the potential reprisal it may bring.”
“My proudest act of service so far has been championing the Appeal For Redress, a campaign that empowers fellow service members to securely voice their moral outrage about our government’s complicity in Israeli war crimes and genocidal onslaught in Gaza.”
“Military members are frequently used as pawns in the game of American politics, with our beliefs and personal experiences manipulated for agendas that bear little connection to our lived reality,” Bettancourt continued. “Although our rights are limited by our oath, this appeal allows service members to carve out a modicum of agency and break through this pernicious cycle by dispelling any apprehensions that may impede us from denouncing this unspeakable carnage.”
“Our voice is a powerful instrument, and it is our responsibility to humanity and the principles we hold dear to speak up against these heinous acts and make it known to our elected officials that we will not stand by silently while genocide unfolds,” Bettancourt stated. “We refuse to be complicit. Rest in Power Aaron Bushnell!”
Bettancourt expressed horror during an NBC interview in San Antonio, Texas: “I see the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians,” and “all while the world watches through their smartphones.”
Stacy Gilbert
Resigned on May 28, 2024
Stacy Gilbert worked for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Although there was no published resignation letter, news reports indicated that Gilbert emailed colleagues to announce that she was “leaving because of an official finding by the department that Israel was not deliberately obstructing the flow of food or other aid into Gaza.”
The finding was part of the NSM-20 report submitted to Congress on May 10, which was supposed to update lawmakers on countries that received arms shipments from the U.S. and their compliance with international humanitarian law.
According to Gilbert, the report was “edited at a higher level” during the final weeks so that it did not reflect the consensus of experts at the State Department. Lead officials at the department did not want it to say that Israel was obstructing food and medical supply deliveries to Gaza.
The State Department knew the Israeli government was blocking aid because, as she described on “PBS News Hour,” there are databases that track “how many trucks are backed up at the border, how many tons of flour have not been allowed in.” Humanitarian aid organizations regularly send reports that detail obstacles that stem from the Israeli government.
Alexander Smith worked for four years at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He was a senior advisor on gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition at USAID’s Bureau of Global Health when he resigned.
In his resignation letter to USAID administrator Samantha Power, Smith recounted how he was scheduled to present a session at a USAID conference on May 22, 2024. The session was vetted in February 2024 and was titled, “An Intersectional Gender Lens in Gaza: Ethnicity, Religion, Legal Status, and Maternal/Child Health Outcomes.” It was to focus particular attention on “indigenous women and women from racial and ethnic minorities,” who “often experience higher maternal mortality rates and other negative maternal health outcomes.”
Smith’s presentation dealt with “maternal and child health outcomes in Gaza and the long-term implications of starving and bombarding pregnant women in this and previous conflicts.” But a day before he was scheduled to give his presentation, leadership at USAID apparently told Smith that he was “forbidden” to use the terms “Israel-Gaza border,” “Palestinian state,” and “Palestinians” when referring to Palestinian or Arab citizens of Israel. Leadership also objected to the inclusion of a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) map that accurately described the 2022 borders.
Before the day ended, Smith said his entire session was canceled. “I cannot do my job in an. Environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race.”
“I can no longer in good conscience continue to be silent amidst USAID’s de facto policy of ignoring human suffering when that suffering is perpetrated by an ally,” Smith concluded.
Lily Greenberg Call was the first Jewish American political appointee, who resigned from the Interior Department over President Joe Biden’s support for the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza. She announced her resignation on Nakba Day, “which recognizes the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 and the displacement of the majority of the Palestinian people for the formation of today’s modern Israel.”
Throughout Greenberg Call’s resignation letter, she consistently raised her Jewish identity. “My whole life has been spent in [the] Jewish community in the US and Israel,” she recalled. She described learning Hebrew and Arabic in school in the the community. While acknowledging the horror of what occurred with the October 7 attack, she asserted that collectively punishing “millions of Palestinians through displacement, famine, and ethnic cleansing” was not the answer.
“The United States has used nearly no leverage throughout the last eight months to hold Israel accountable; quite the opposite, we have enabled and legitimized Israel’s action with vetoes of UN resolutions designed to hold Israel accountable. President Biden has the blood of innocent people on his hands,” declared Greenberg Call.
Greenberg Call further stated, “I reject the premise that one people’s salvation must come at another’s destruction. I am committed to creating a world where this does not happen—and this cannot be done from within the Biden Administration.”
Hala Rharrit worked for nearly two years as a spokesperson for the State Department’s regional media hub for the Middle East and Africa, which is based in Dubai. She appeared on Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC Arabic, Asharq Al Awsat, and Independent Arabia to discuss numerous global issues. She was a foreign service officer for the State Department for 18 years.
There is ample evidence to show that routine childhood vaccines cause sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, and have done so for decades. Yet that evidence is ignored or suppressed.
In 2011, Dr. Raymond Obomsawin gave a lecture during which he provided several scientific studies to show the harm, including sudden death, that childhood vaccines are causing.
Dr. Obomsawin believed that most cases of shaken baby syndrome are also caused by childhood vaccines. “We see this epidemic of accusations against parents, and there are large numbers of people now in prison, in which they’re claiming they shook their babies and killed them. Most of these parents loved their children and I believe didn’t do it,” he said.
Raymond Obomsawin (1950-2021) was a dedicated researcher who held an MSc and a PhD with a focus on health science and human ecology. He unearthed many of the harms from the widespread vaccination programs such as Canada’s vaccine program in Thailand increasing death and disability for those vaccinated, which was of course never published. You can read more about Dr. Obomsawin’s work HERE.
In a presentation titled ‘Historical & Scientific Perspectives: Immunity, Infectious Disease & Vaccination’ given to the Life Science Seminars International in August 2011, Dr. Obomsawin gave a historical overview of human attempts to create immunity artificially via vaccination; explored the issues surrounding these artificial attempts to protect human health; showed the real causes of some of the more recent health issues; and, how vaccines, among other artificial chemicals and pharmaceutics, cause harmful and, oftentimes, lifelong health damage. He showed, using statistical and historical facts, that vaccines have no positive impact on the decline of disease.
“We will have quite a bit of interesting history to look at. And the history you’re going to be exposed to is very different from what you’ll read in a mainstream textbook because it‘s not talked about. It’s ignored or it’s suppressed,” he said.
Dr. Obomsawin began by speaking about the work carried out by Australian doctor Archie Kalokerinos who authored the book ‘Every Second Child’. Dr. Kalokerinos titled his book ‘Every Second Child’ because when he first became the Director of the Collarenebri Health Centre in the Northern Territory, Australia, the death rate among infants and small children was at about 50%; every second child was dying.
“Over a period of months, he began to investigate why this was happening,” Dr. Obomsawin said. “Finally, after several months of inquiry, he was shocked to discover that the reason behind these deaths was the fact that these malnourished, immune system-deficient children were receiving these mass vaccine campaign programmes sponsored by the government. And if the parents didn’t want to do it, they would force the parents to [make their child] take it.”
Toward the end of his presentation, Dr. Obomsawin spoke more about vaccine harm to babies and children. He began with sudden infant death syndrome (“SIDS”). We have embedded the video below to begin at this point.
In October 2009, autopsy reports of infants in the Austin, Texas, morgue listed as SIDS were examined by two researchers. They wanted to know if there was a correlation between the timing of deaths and prior vaccination.
They found a “highly, disproportionate amount of sudden deaths were occurring at 2, 4 and 6 months [old], the very same time when infants were being routinely vaccinated,” Dr. Obomsawin said.
The researchers concluded that if the vaccines were not causing the infant deaths, then the deaths should have been occurring randomly, spread out throughout the first six months of life. But because the deaths were clustered around the specific ages when vaccinations were given then the vaccines should be considered as the cause of death.
Next, Dr. Obomsawin spoke about a study published in December 2004 authored by Australian Dr. Viera Scheibner.. Using an instrument developed by her husband that monitors stress in an infant’s breathing patterns, she observed that for as long as 21 days after receiving a vaccine, infants would go through periodic stress episodes.
“[She] showed that when they go through these stress breathing episodes, it’s very dangerous because they can actually stop breathing and die,” Dr. Obomsawin said. “[Dr. Scheibner] concluded that these, they call it the non-specific stress syndrome, can be a critical factor in infant deaths. And it was all, they believe, related to the previous administration of the vaccines.”
Dr. Obomsawin then spoke about a paper Dr. Scheibner published in 2001 titled ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome Diagnosis On Shaky Ground’. Dr. Scheibner, in addition to several other doctors such as Dr. Kalokerinos, found that the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome are identical to what happens with vaccines in these infants’ bodies, Dr. Obomsawin said.
“We see this epidemic of accusations against parents, and there are large numbers of people now in prison, in which they’re claiming they shook their babies and killed them. Most of these parents loved their children and I believe didn’t do it,” he added.
“It’s in particular infants who have been delivered with forceps. Because what happens after, a lot of these babies who are delivered with forceps, there is brain damage, slight brain damage and bleeding on the top of their brain as a result of that. And when they receive the vaccine, it causes a much greater release of blood in the brain area which can precipitate death,” Dr. Obomsawin explained.
Roberts met with regulatory scientists in the US National Institute of Health in 1999 to look at the safety of vaccine manufacturing methods, Dr. Obomsawin said and briefly described what Chapter 7 detailed:
“She was shocked at what they found: that there was the chicken leukosis virus in the MMR vaccine when it shouldn’t have been there; that the polio vaccine sometimes contained more monkey viruses than polioviruses; and, there were grave concerns also about foreign residual DNA and RNA [contaminating] these vaccines.
“There was a fear that could be causing autoimmune disorders and cancers … Also, DNA contamination could possibly be linked to the incidence of autism and other serious disorders.”
For the section on SIDS, he ended with a study that was published in 2011 which examined data for 30 countries on infant mortality and vaccine doses. The researchers found that infant mortality rates reduced, or regressed, with fewer vaccine doses that were routinely given.
Amazing Discoveries: Immunity, Infectious Disease and Vaccination | Raymond Obomsawin (2010), uploaded 21 August 2023 (90 mins)
You can find the slides for Dr. Obomsawin’s presentation HERE. If the video above is removed from YouTube, you can watch it on Amazing Discoveries HERE. It is the first episode in a series of seven titled ‘Science of Life’. You can find all 7 episodes HERE.
Sharing the video above, the Vaccination Information Network provided links to information in support of Dr. Obomsawin’s presentation. The links are no longer available. However, we were able to find archived copies which we have also shown below:
Supplemental material (graphs) HERE, archived on Wayback Machine HERE. We were also able to find a copy of the supplemental material on SlideShare HERE.
Last year, Canadian emergency room doctor Daniel Nagase wrote about his personal experience regarding the link between vaccination and SIDS in a Substack article. We’ve reproduced Dr. Nagase’s article below as it compliments Dr. Obomsawin’s presentation.
There has been much unrest in Bolivia in recent days, as Bolivian Army General Juan Jose Zuniga threatened to overthrow President Luis Arce as he demanded a new cabinet and the release of political prisoners. He led military units to gather in the main square of La Paz, home to the presidential palace and Congress. An armored vehicle slammed a palace door to allow soldiers to rush into the building. But it was a failed attempt.Amidst Bolivia’s bid to join the BRICS group, Arce, supported by international allies, addressed and defused the situation, reaffirming his commitment to democracy and swearing in new military commanders. The now dismissed military chief was ordered to six months of “preventive detention” for his role in leading the failed coup against the government.
Following Wednesday’s unsuccessful coup, observers have raised suspicion that the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) was part of the master plan. Users on X, formerly known as Twitter, speculated that the coup attempt was secretly backed by the CIA, either because of Bolivia’s vast supplies of lithium, in retaliation for its closeness to Russia or its hostility to Israel. One X user said: “This is the second CIA-backed coup plot against the Bolivian state in under five years. Bolivia has 21 million tons of lithium reserves, the largest on the planet. Bolivia also cut off all relations with Israel in condemnation of the genocide in Gaza. Coincidence? I think not.” A comment that seemed to refer to the U.S. from Puerto Rican communist “Combate” said: “They own Argentina. They own Chile. They’re going after Bolivia.”
A different post highlighted Arce’s recent trip to St. Petersburg and talks between Bolivia and Russia on nuclear research. “Let’s not pretend we don’t know who is responsible for today’s coup, this is the work of the U.S. CIA,” the post said.
Meanwhile, Great Game India reported that Zuniga was seeking to prevent former President Evo Morales from running for president again. He claimed that the former chief would harm the country. However, a Bolivian court has already declared Morales unable to run again.
Just like X users, analysts also believe that the CIA is involved in the failed resistance. Suspicion of the U.S. in Bolivia, stemming from the CIA’s historical support for Latin American military regimes and the State Department’s involvement in several coups under Henry Kissinger, has left a lasting legacy on the political life of the South American country, which has seen over 190 coup attempts in its history. (Related: How the CIA helped discredit Hunter laptop story for Biden win.)
Also, Bolivia is a contender for BRICS membership, which is likely to take place at the BRICS leaders’ conference in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 22. Arce has been vocal about his commitment to the intergovernmental organization’s worldview. In fact, he and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last month, June 5-7, and they discussed the importance of the emerging multipolar world, free of neocolonialism and the strictures of the “rules-based order.” So, if Zuniga was successful in his coup attempt, Arce’s removal from power would be convenient for those forces targeting Brazil.
In a speech to supporters at the palace, Zuniga “saluted those officers who wear their uniform with pride and value the Armed Forces in a democratically-elected government,” Los Tiempos, a Bolivian newspaper, said. The Presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela all issued statements of support for Arce while Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda urged the international community to come out in support of Arce and Bolivian democracy.
Arce celebrates Zuniga’s failed coup attempt
The former Army commander has been handed a terrorism charge, which carries 15-20 years in prison, as well as a charge for an armed uprising, which carries a sentence of 5-15 years. The Attorney General’s Office requested the six-month detention and said other government bodies, including the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry, supported the request “due to the importance and seriousness of the events that occurred,” state prosecutor Cesar Siles said.
Within hours of the attack, Zuniga urged the soldiers to withdraw, after leaders from around the world blasted the army’s actions as illegal. Zuniga later claimed that he was following an order from Arce, who has denied having any involvement in or prior knowledge of Zuniga’s operation.
The Bolivian president hailed the withdrawal as a victory for Bolivia’s democracy and addressed the country’s citizens in the aftermath, some of whom had taken to the streets in protest of the alleged coup attempt. “Many thanks to the Bolivian people,” said Arce. “Long live democracy.”
A video has been shown on Bolivian television showing Arce facing down Zuniga and a group of soldiers in a palace hallway on Wednesday. “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.
Zuniga was Arce’s hand-picked leader for Bolivia’s military. But as he entered the presidential palace on Wednesday, Zuniga cited the malaise in the country as the reason why he started the resistance. “The three chiefs of the armed forces have come to express our dismay. There will be a new cabinet of ministers. Surely things will change, but our country cannot continue like this any longer,” Zuniga told a local TV station. “Stop destroying, stop impoverishing our country, stop humiliating our army.”
A “coordinated Democrat rebellion” will be underway over the next 48 hours as the largest pro-Biden super PAC freezes $90 million in pledged donations if Biden remains on the ticket, according to The New York Times.
This comes after Joe Biden’s disastrous “Big Boy” solo press conference Thursday evening where he called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump.”
“Some major Democratic donors have told the largest pro-Biden super PAC, Future Forward, that roughly $90 million in pledged donations is now on hold if President Biden remains atop the ticket, according to two people who have been briefed on the conversations,” The New York Times reported.
“The frozen contributions come as he had hoped to turn the page on a weekslong crisis within his party following a nearly hourlong news conference on Thursday evening. That appearance — in which he delivered a few gaffes but also demonstrated a command of foreign policy — did not immediately seem to worsen Democrats’ fears about his viability, but it also did not silence the calls for him to drop out. After he was done speaking, three more House members joined the ranks of elected Democrats calling for Mr. Biden to end his campaign,” the Times reported.
BREAKING: Major Democrat donors to the largest pro-Biden super PAC have frozen $90 million in pledged donations, per the NYT, until Joe Biden steps down. Reports say a “coordinated Democrat rebellion” will be underway over the next 48 hours. pic.twitter.com/4e4aWmaHOj
Democrat lawmakers Thursday evening and Friday morning came forward and called for Joe Biden to step aside after his dumpster fire press conference.
Old Joe botched the first question when he called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump.”
This was literally right after Joe Biden called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “President Putin.”
At one point Joe Biden told reporters that he’s following the advice of his “Commander-in-Chief” in response to a question about his future.
“I’m following the advice of my Commander-in-Chief– my–my chief of staff of the military as well as the Secretary of Defense and our Intelligence people,” Biden said.
There is no chief of staff of the military. Biden botched that too. Biden meant to say Joint Chiefs of Staff but his brain is fried.
Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Jim Hines called for Joe Biden to step aside Thursday night.
Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled. His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.
He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/FMMrTK8pb8
The main premise of this book is that farming “is the most destructive force ever to be unleashed on humans.” As I understand Monbiot’s argument, the only way to save the planet is to force people who refused to eat a plant-based diet (like him), to eat fake meat. In his final chapters, he makes a strong case for restoring the planet by replacing farms with factory produced meat from plants and genetically engineered bacteria.
Setting aside Monbiot’s climate alarmism,* the early chapters of his book are quite promising, especially his summary of revolutionary discoveries in soil science over the last two decades. He details, in easy-to-understand language, the complex relationship between plants and soil fungus and bacteria that assist plants in accessing nutrients. In fact, he compares it to mammals’ complex relationship with gut microbes. He also emphasizes the crucial point that plowing (loosening the soil prior to planting), the most important technology to come of of the 10,000 year old agricultural revolution, systematically destroys these complex networks. This, in turn has a devastating effect on both plant nutrition and disease resistance.
After providing detailed descriptions of the farming practices of two organic farmers, one practicing “horticulture,” and the other no-till farming, he somehow leaps to the conclusion that organic farming is more harmful than industrial agriculture because it supposedly requires more land to provide comparable yields. Yet he does so with no mention of the international permaculture movement (started in 1978 in Australia by Bill Mollisson), biointensive farming (which is at least 200 years old) or Navdanya’s biodiversity organic movement founded in India in 1987 by internationally renowned anti-globalist Vendana Shiva.
His failure to acknowledge the body of scientific knowledge accumulated by these existing movements results in two important misstatements of fact:
Land use for farming is decreasing, not increasing (see The Shrinking Land Challenge)
Yields are actually higher (in terms of total calories produced) with biointensive polycropping than with Industrial monoculture farming – owing to improved soil fertility.
The fact that farming is the worst catastrophe impacting human survival is just plain silly. Surely most people on this planet would view unrestrained military aggression by the US and NATO, which threatens to provoke a nuclear holocaust, as a far bigger bigger threat. Likewise the illegal US biological warfare program that operates 330 bioloabs worldwide (see The Mystery of 336 US Bio-Labs Worldwide). The ubiquitous presence of 100+ toxic forever chemicals (and microplastics) in human blood is a close third.
Unlike Monbiot, I agree totally with the ban in most states on plant- and bacteria-based meats until the technology is thoroughly researched for its effect on human health. 100% plant-based diets simply aren’t an option for a large proportion of humankind, owing to mitochondrial stress stemming from from high PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) vegetable fats.**
*Thanks to growing awareness of the politicization of scientific research (triggered by the recent Covid vaccine debacle), dissenting physicists and meteorologists are gaining wider public recognition for research questioning the cimate agenda promoted by the WEF, The UN 2030 Sustainability Development Goals, the World Bank and other corporate-controlled institutions Several present convincing evidence that planetary warming actually represents ongoing recovery from the last Little Ice Age (which ended in 1900) and that the Earth is actually starting to cool (see Climate: The Movie). Where I live on the west coast of New Zealand. our growing season has shortened by a month over the last 17 years. I’m in contact with gardeners in the southern US who are also experiencing shorter growing seasons.
In France, law is as weaponized as it is in the US under Merrick Garland. Paris prosecutors are “investigating”Marine Le Pen for alleged illegal financing of her 2022 Presidential campaign. If indicted and convicted, she faces 10 years imprisonment and a ban on standing for political office.
The French ruling establishment has been trying to get rid of Le Pen for longer than the American establishment has been trying to get rid of Donald Trump. Both leaders are guilty of the same “crime”–speaking for citizens instead of the immigrant-invaders that are being used to marginalize the ethnic basis of the countries. As has become completely clear, no Western government represents its citizens. Political leaders who speak for the people are seen as the worst enemies of the governments.
By winning the first round of the French parliamentary election, Marine Le Pen came too close to power and set off yet another effort to frame her on a charge that rids the French establishment of the only challenger to its ongoing sellout of the French people.
