Beware, there may be bacterial feces in processed milk

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | FEBRUARY 26, 2013

In this case, it is not human excrement, human tissue or horse DNA, but artificial sweeteners.

Back in 2009, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition requesting that the Food and Drug Administration of the United States changed the way in which processed milk ingredients are identified, so that they could include “safe” and “suitable” additives.

As many remember, the FDA, among other government organizations waged war against raw milk and those who consume, sell or gift people with raw milk. The FDA and armed police raided dozens of milk farms, stopped and detained cars or trucks that carried milk within states and to consumers in other states. After confiscation, the armed men proceeded to throw out all milk and other milk-derived products such as cheese and yogurt.

While the FDA criminally persecuted producers and consumers of raw milk and other natural products, the dairy industry requested the amendment of the way ingredients appear on milk labels to reflect details different from the real names and descriptions or to not appear at all. On its website, the Federal Register explains that “the petition requests that FDA amend § 131.110(c)(2) to allow the use of “any safe and suitable” sweetener in optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk.” A lot of attention must be given to the words “suitable” and “optional characterizing flavoring ingredients”, which are the ones the dairy lobby intends to have unregulated.

Along with deregulating the standards for sweeteners in milk, the petition also asks for the amendment of standards for another 17 dairy  products. According to the Registry, the petition would include “additional dairy standards” for acidified milk (§ 131.111), cultured milk (§ 131.112), sweetened condensed milk (§ 131.120), non-fat dry milk (§ 131.125), non-fat dry milk fortified with vitamins A and D (§ 131.127), evaporated milk (§ 131.130), dry cream (§ 131.149), heavy cream (§ 131.150), light cream (§ 131.155), light whipping cream (§ 131.157), sour cream (§ 131.160), acidified sour cream (§ 131.162), eggnog (§ 131.170), half-and-half (§ 131.180), yogurt (§ 131.200), low-fat yogurt (§ 131.203), and non-fat yogurt (§ 131.206).

Although at the beginning of its request the dairy lobby talks about “safe” ingredients, the truth that after reading the fine print, it becomes clear that there will be more than a few substances they want to include that would not fall under the “safe” label. In the text posted by the Registry, the organization explains that the dairy lobby is asking for amendments on the optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk which enable them to use “non-nutritive sweeteners” such as aspartame.

As most readers are aware, Aspartame is nothing less than bacterial excrement which is included into artificial sweeteners. The substance was accepted as a food additive after former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld lobbied on behalf of the chemical industry to get the ingredient approved for human consumption.

As it has been widely explained, Aspartame is responsible for serious damage to the brain. The substance is proven to cause brain lesions by leaving traces of Methanol in the blood. Aspartame manufacturers usually lure consumers with their low calorie products which they sweeten with an ingredient which is some 200 times sweeter than regular sugar. How does Aspartame achieve this level of bitter sweetness? It is made of 3 different substances: aspartic acid, phenylalanine and a methyl ester bond or Methanol. As explained before, the Methanol manages to travel through the body via the blood stream.

The Methanol has the capacity to break the blood-brain barrier and once it turns into formaldehyde, it causes brain damage in humans and animals. Fortunately for animals, they do have the ability to get rid of the formaldehyde before it accumulates, but humans lack that ability. Another government entity, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has determined that Methanol destroys a tissue called myelin tissue, which normally protects the nerves while they emit and receive electric signals.

What does the excessive intake of Methanol do to the humans body? In layman’s terms, it destroy neurons in various regions of the brain, causing the death of most neural cells, which are killed before the consumer feels any symptoms or detects signs of  illness.

Why is Aspartame still being used in food and drinks? Why is the FDA even considering a request from the dairy lobby to allow them to put this neuro-chemical in the food? Because as in many other examples of how big corporations control government agencies, the IDFA and NMPF argue that the amendments to the standards will promote healthful eating practices while reducing childhood obesity “by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products.”

Both lobbying organizations say that lower-calorie flavored milk would benefit school children because they are more likely to drink flavored milk than unflavored milk at school. Right now, food products such as milk and milk-derived products can contain only nutritious sweetening agents. Non-nutritious or unsafe elements can also be added as long as they are properly included in the product’s description. What the processed milk lobby intends to do is, among other things, remove the requirement to include those dangerous substances on the food product, so that people don’t become aware of the toxic chemicals they are ingesting.

Just yesterday, The Real Agenda published an extensive report on how the World Health Organization admits that humans, animals and the environment are being exposed to thousands of chemical poisons used to manufacture food products. Most of those products contain substances such as Aspartame, which are responsible for the highest incidence in endocrine disease. Among the diseases created by chemicals in the food are Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, and affections of the neurological system.

As pointed out in our report, the case of Aspartame is similar to that of DDT, Genetically Modified Organisms, nicotine, PCBs, fluoride and other industrially produced chemicals which are now part of almost everything people consume. At first, they were deemed as safe for everyone and everything, only to be identified as heavily toxic decades later.

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BPA linked to behavior problems in girls: study

AFP
October 24, 2011

Girls who were exposed to the industrial chemical bisphenol A while in the womb showed more behavioral problems at age three than those whose moms had lower BPA levels, said a study released Monday.

Anxiety, depression and hyperactivity were seen more often in toddler girls whose mothers had high levels of the chemical in their urine while pregnant, said the research led by the Harvard School of Public Health.

“This pattern was more pronounced for girls, which suggests that they might be more vulnerable to gestational BPA exposure than boys,” said the study in the October 24 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

BPA is used in the manufacture of plastics and adhesives, and can be found in the lining of canned foods, some plastic bottles and containers, cashier receipts and dental fillings.

The analysis was done using data from 244 mothers and their children up to age three in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. The mothers’ urine samples were tested while pregnant at 16 and 26 weeks, and again at birth.

The children’s urine was tested at age one, two and three. BPA was found in 85 percent of the mothers’ urine and in 96 percent of the samples from the children.

The higher the BPA levels were while the mother was pregnant, the more likely the daughters were to experience behavioral problems by age three.

The same correlation was not seen in boys, nor was there any apparent link between behavior and levels of BPA in the children’s urine, said the data derived from questionnaires on child behavior filled out by the parents.

“None of the children had clinically abnormal behavior, but some children had more behavior problems than others,” said lead author Joe Braun, research fellow in environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The study reported that “increasing gestational BPA concentrations were associated with more hyperactive, aggressive, anxious, and depressed behavior and poorer emotional control and inhibition in the girls.”

The research appeared to support previous studies that have suggested a link between BPA exposure in the womb and child behavior, but is the first to show that in utero exposure is the critical window when altering effects may occur.

However, due to the small size of the sample, the study authors — who also included scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia — said more research is needed.

“There is considerable debate regarding the toxicity of low-level BPA exposure, and the findings presented here warrant additional research,” said the study.

Funding for the study came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences training.

China Awakens to Mass Vaccination Fraud

AP

China’s plans to vaccinate 100 million children and come a step closer to eradicating measles has set off a popular outcry that highlights widening public distrust of the authoritarian government after repeated health scandals.

Since the Health Ministry announced the World Health Organization-backed measles vaccination plan last week, authorities have been flooded with queries and Internet bulletin boards have been plastered with worried messages. Conspiracy theories saying the vaccines are dangerous have spread by cell phone text messages.

The public skepticism has even been covered by state-run media, which noted the lack of trust was about more than vaccines.

“Behind the public’s panic over the rumors is an expression of the citizens’ demands for security and a crisis in confidence,” a columnist wrote in the Chongqing Daily newspaper.

“The lack of trust toward our food and health products was not formed in one day,” said the Global Times newspaper. “Repairing the damage and building credibility will take a very long time. The public health departments need to take immediate action on all fronts.”

In recent years, government agencies have dragged their feet or withheld information about the spread of SARS, bird flu and, last month, an outbreak of cholera. China’s slow response to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was widely blamed for causing the outbreak that swept the globe in 2003, and led to deep mistrust both internally and internationally.

Milk products contaminated with industrial chemicals are still found despite mass recalls and several criminal convictions, including executions, after tainted infant formula sickened 300,000 babies and killed at least six two years ago.

Feeding into worries about the measles vaccine were media reports in March that vaccines for encephalitis, hepatitis B and other diseases possibly killed four children and seriously sickened dozens in one province. The health ministry said an investigation showed those vaccines were improperly stored but subsequent illnesses were unrelated. Many remain unconvinced.

Meanwhile, two Chinese vaccine makers recently said they shut operations after rabies vaccines they produced were found to be substandard.

The ministry has tried to calm the public’s anxieties about the 10-day measles immunization drive, which started Saturday. It has busily issued statements, refuted rumors and held briefings to emphasize the need for the vaccine as well as its safety.

The campaign, likely the world’s largest, targets all children ages 8 months to 4 or 14 years, depending on locality, and is intended to include remote areas, migrant communities and other places where previous vaccination coverage has been spotty.

Yet the publicity is not likely to easily reassure a public increasingly skeptical of reassurances from a government often seen as opaque and unaccountable, especially where public health is involved.

“This time how could the public have no doubts? They are asking: ‘Is there an outbreak of the disease? Are previous vaccinations not working? Are the people in the government trying to make money from this?'” newspaper commentator Wei Yingjie said in an interview.

The public push-back marks a turnaround from the mass campaigns in the communist heyday under Mao Zedong and shows how prosperity and greater access to information are creating a more assertive populace.

“This campaign would have been no problem in the Mao era, but today we know with globalization, the Internet, the information explosion, this increasingly assertive civil society, they want to participate in the public policy process,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can develop into blindness, pneumonia and encephalitis and lead to death, and health experts say China needs an effective vaccination program.

Despite previous vaccination drives, China recorded 52,000 measles cases last year, including 39 deaths. The infection rates mean China is far from meeting its national pledge from 2005 to eradicate measles by 2012.

Mass drives in other parts of the world have either virtually eliminated measles or significantly reduced the number of infections. The disease has been nearly nonexistent in the Americas since 2002 and cases in seven countries in southern Africa fell from 60,000 in 1996 to 117 by 2000, according to the WHO. Dr. Lisa Cairns, head of immunization at WHO China, said many of those infected with measles in China are young children who were likely never vaccinated. “Because the disease is not as common as it used to be, it is easy to forget how serious it is,” she noted. China’s Health Ministry has repeatedly said that the measles vaccine is safe, with random samples tested from stores around the country, and has tried to assure the public that medical personnel are prepared for emergencies, including any adverse reactions. On Friday, a senior ministry official promised that no one would be forced to take the vaccination. “Vaccination will only proceed after parents sign an agreement,” the ministry’s deputy director for disease control Hao Yang said. “We heard that some places were linking vaccination with admission to kindergartens and schools. So yesterday we issued a notice that admission to school should never be used to force children to vaccination.” Health care professionals, however, have questioned the immunization drive’s broad scope, given that many children have previously been inoculated and thus would be vaccinated again. A blog posting by a prominent immunization expert, Wang Yuedan of Peking University, urged the government to focus on formerly underserved groups like the children of rural migrants now living in urban areas, instead of vaccinating some children again. By Friday, Wang withdrew his reservations and backed the campaign, saying he was convinced by the Health Ministry’s explanations. Still, Wang said in an interview that he winced at the thought of his 4-year-old daughter suffering a possible fever from the vaccine. “I’m a man and a father first, who has emotions and who can’t watch his child suffer pain blindly,” he said. ___ Associated Press researcher Xi Yue contributed to this report.