When medicines are approved as preventive "nutrients" FDA approves Crestor for people who have no health problem to correct

Thank you Mike Great Article!!
(NaturalNews) Big Pharma has been trending this direction for a long time: marketing medicines to people who don't need them and who have nothing wrong with their health. It's all part of a ploy to position prescription drugs as nutrients -- things you need to take on a regular basis in order to prevent disease.

The FDA recently gave its nod of approval on the matter, announcing that Crestor can now be advertised and prescribed as a "preventive" medicine. No longer does a patient need to have anything wrong with them to warrant this expensive prescription medication: They only need to remember the brand name of the drug from television ads.

This FDA approval for the marketing of Crestor to healthy people is a breakthrough for wealthy drug companies. Selling drugs only to people who are sick is, by definition, a limited market. Expanding drug revenues requires reaching people who have nothing wrong with them and convincing them that taking a cocktail of daily pharmaceuticals will somehow keep them healthy.

All this is, of course, the greatest quackery we've yet seen from Big Pharma, because once this floodgate of "preventive pharmaceuticals" is unleashed, the drug companies will be positioned to promote a bewildering array of other preventive chemicals you're supposed to take at the same time. Did you take your anti-cancer pill today? How about your anti-diabetes pill? Anti-cholesterol pill? Don't forget your anti-Alzheimer's pill, too.


Medications are not vitamins

The very idea that these drugs can somehow prevent a person from becoming sick in the future strains the boundaries of scientific credibility. Only natural therapies like nutrition can prevent the onset of disease, not patented chemicals that don't belong in the human body in the first place.

The logical argument of the drug companies who push these "preventive" prescriptions is essentially that the human body is deficient in pharmaceuticals, and that deficiency can only be corrected by taking whatever brand-name drugs they show you on television. Forget about deficiencies in zinc, or vitamin D, or living enzymes; what your body really needs is more synthetic chemicals!

The FDA agrees with this loopy logic. And why wouldn't it? Subscribing to this pharmaceutical delusion is an easy way to instantly expand Big Pharma's customer base by tens of millions. Overnight, the market for Crestor ballooned from a few million people with high cholesterol to the entire U.S. population of 300 million people.

If Crestor can help healthy people be healthier (which it can't, but let's play along with this delusion for the sake of argument), then it's only a matter of time before they start adding Crestor to infant formula. I mean, why not? If it's so good for healthy people, then it must make babies healthier, too, right?

So let's add Crestor to sports drinks. Let's sprinkle it into the iodized salt supply. Let's drip it into the municipal water! (Don't laugh: This idea of dripping cholesterol drugs into the water supply has already been suggested by more than one doctor.) Let's merge the pharmaceutical supply with the food supply and charge people prescription drugs prices for "functional" foods laced with these chemicals!
Pharmaceutical deficiency

That's really where all this is headed. When medicines are approved as preventive "nutrients" for the human body, it's only a matter of time before the industry starts talking about your "pharmaceutical deficiency."

Not taking any medications? You have a pharmaceutical deficiency, and it needs to be corrected by taking more prescription drugs. But don't bother with actual nutrition, because nutrients have absolutely no role in preventing disease, the FDA claims. No nutrient has ever been approved by the FDA for the prevention or treatment of any disease whatsoever.

The message from the FDA is quite clear on this: Nutrients are useless, and you should eat medications as if they were vitamins.

Patented Big Pharma chemicals, after all, provide all the nutrition you'll ever need!

Jonathan Safran Foer - Eating Animals -- On Larry King & Ellen Show

Farm Forward Board Member and New York Times Bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer released his third book, Eating Animals, today. Foer’s first work of non-fiction is part memoir, part modern muckracking and the most important book on animal agriculture in decades. We say the most important because no other honest account of animal agriculture has ever addressed the issue on so many levels—something we believe is essential to creating lasting change.

Part of what makes Farm Forward unique is our insistence that how we raise farm animals is not simply an issue of animal welfare, ecological sustainability, or sound economics, but all of these and more. How we choose to feed our families and ourselves says a lot about who we are as individuals and as citizens. Our food choices are also statements of values. Foer’s book is so powerful in part because it recognizes that, “Food ethics are so complex because food is bound to both taste buds and taste, to individual biographies and social histories.”

Farm Forward is proud to have played a part in making Foer’s book possible. Speaking of the contributions of Farm Forward founder Aaron Gross, Foer writes, “It’s often said that such-and-such wouldn’t have been possible without so-and-so. But in the most literal sense, I wouldn’t have, and couldn’t have, written this book without Aaron.”

You may have already seen some of the fabulous reviews and coverage of Eating Animals. Here are just a few of our favorites:

* Farm Forward in the Huffington Post
* Natalie Portman on Eating Animals
* Dr. Andrew Weil on Eating Animals
* Rabbi David Wolpe on Eating Animals
* Excerpt from the New York Times Magazine

At Farm Forward we, of course, had high expectations for the book Foer would write. What we didn’t expect, though, was a book that articulates so much of Farm Forward’s own philosophy. For example, Foer singles out Frank Reese as the most important farmer in America. We’ve felt that way for years. Reese has the ability to recreate a more humane and sustainable poultry industry, which is why supporting Reese’s work is taking more of Farm Forward’s attention than any other project.

Lauded as one of the most accomplished writers of his generation, Foer is uniquely positioned to raise awareness about the troubling state of animal agriculture and the impact of our food choices. He is exactly the kind of culture-maker America needs to help us remember why food and farming matter and to inspire us to action. His choice to speak out has already inspired many others. Natalie Portman exclaimed that “Eating Animals changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist.”

The ability to make conscientious food choices is predicated on awareness and understanding. Eating Animals will help increase public awareness as well as enrich the public discussion of the problems in animal agriculture. It may well open the most important discussion about food and farming in a generation.

Farm Forward will continue to support culture makers like Foer to help advance our mission to “promote conscientious food choices, reduce farm animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture.” Foer found our help indispensable, but our work can only continue with your support. Help us change the national discussion of food and farming, and be sure to sign up for the Farm Forward newsletter (the form is just below the animal buttons on the right)!

From -  Farm Forward Website:

Factory Farming

Factory farms, also known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) or IFAP (Industrial Farm Animal Production) facilities,1 can house up to 125,000 animals2 under one roof and are designed to produce the highest possible output at the lowest possible cost to the operator. These farms and their associated industrial slaughterhouses produce “cheap” meat, eggs, and dairy by externalizing their costs. The costs to the public from the ecological damage and health problems created by factory farms are not considered any more than the law requires, and companies have often found it less expensive to pay fines than to alter their methods. For this reason, the true cost of meat is never reflected in the price consumers pay. Animal suffering is given no meaningful consideration except in a few idiosyncratic cases.

Factory farming now accounts for more than 99 percent of all farmed animals raised and slaughtered in the United States.3 (Virtually all seafood comes to us by way of industrial fishing or factory fish farms.)

Farmed animals are remarkable creatures who experience pleasure (pasture-raised pigs, for instance, are known to jump for joy)4 and have complex social structures (cows develop friendships over time and will sometimes hold grudges against other animals who treat them badly).5 The cheap animal products churned out by factory farms come at a high cost to the animals themselves (many are confined so intensively that they cannot turn around or stretch a wing).6 The structure of factory farming ensures that even the animals’ most fundamental needs—clean air, sunshine, freedom from chronic pain and illness—are denied them.

The present system of producing food animals in the United States is not sustainable and presents an unacceptable level of risk to public health and damage to the environment, as well as unnecessary harm to the animals we raise for food.” –Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production

At the same time, factory farming’s industrial slaughterhouses have created worker conditions that Human Rights Watch describes as “systematic human rights abuses.”7 Employing illegal immigrants and underage workers is a common practice, in part because the vulnerability of these populations allows the industry to avoid compensating them for the numerous injuries and chronic pain that are equally standard in industrial slaughter. Processing-plant line workers in California interviewed by Farm Forward reported, to their shame, that it was not uncommon for them to be denied access to the bathroom in order to “hold the line” and maintain productivity.

The factory farm record on the environment is no better: World Watch, the Sierra Club, the Pew Commission, Greenpeace, and other major environmental watchdogs have singled out factory farms as among the biggest polluters on the planet.8 There is now a scientific consensus that animal agriculture is the single largest contributor to global warming—outstripping even the transportation industry in its production of greenhouse gases.9 A 2008 New York Times article reported that “if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan—a Camry, say—to the ultra-efficient Prius.”10

The disturbing nature of these problems can make it difficult for many people to accept the truth about factory farming when they are first confronted with it: “Surely,” one is tempted to say, “it can’t be that bad.” But once the scale of the devastation that this industry is wreaking on our health, the environment, and animals becomes clear, the most surprising aspect of factory farming is how effectively these problems have been hidden from the public in the first place.

There are more humane, more just, and more sustainable ways to eat, and, more than ever before, there are numerous, progressive alternatives to factory farms. With your help, we can find a better way forward.

1. 1. While “CAFO” is often used in newspapers to refer to factory farms in general, it is technically defined by the EPA as referring only to a subset of the largest factory farms. Thus, some smaller factory farms are officially not considered CAFOs. The term “IFAP” was coined by the Pew Commission to refer to all factory farming. When Farm Forward speaks about factory farming, we are referring to IFAP facilities.
2. 2. Environmental Protection Agency, Producers’ Compliance Guide for CAFOs, August 2003.
3. 3. Farm Forward calculation based on U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2002 Census of Agriculture, June 2004; and ibid.
4. 4. Jonathan Balcombe, Pleasurable Kingdom (New York: Macmillan, 2006).
5. 5. Jonathan Leake, “Cows Hold Grudges, Say Scientists,” The Australian, February 28, 2005.
6. 6. Bill Niman, Niman Ranch Cookbook (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008).
7. 7. Human Rights Watch, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, 2004, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/usa0105/usa0105.pdf.
8. 8. Worldwatch Institute, Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry, August 2005; Sierra Club, “Water Contamination From Factory Farms,” Article here; Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on The Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, April 2008; Greenpeace, The True Cost of Food, March 2007.
9. 9. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Livestock’s Long Shadow, 2007.
10. 10. Mark Bittman, “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler,” New York Times, January 27, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html.

Big Pharma's "legal" narcotics kill more people than street drugs

(NaturalNews) On the heels of the sudden death of celebrity actress Brittany Murphy (http://www.naturalnews.com/027781_B...), people are once again raising the question of just how dangerous prescription drugs might really be.

Some are arguing, however, that street drugs are the real danger, not prescription drugs. But the following study demonstrates why prescription drugs are far more dangerous than illegal recreational drugs.

According to a new study conducted by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto, the number of deaths due to prescription opioid use has doubled between 1991 and 2004. Following the introduction of oxycodone into Toronto's drug formulary in 2000, there has been a 500% increase in deaths due to the drugs.

Researchers reviewed over 7,000 files from the Office of the Chief Coroner in Ontario and found that between the years of 1991 and 2004, oxycodone prescriptions increased by more than 850 percent, representing about one-third of the opioid prescriptions given in 2006. (This is the largest prescription increase among all opioid drugs.)

Following the addition of this drug into the provincial drug benefit plan in 2000, deaths from opioid usage rose by 41 percent. Shockingly, deaths from prescription opioids like oxycodone were far greater than deaths from heroin. The vast majority of people who died from opioids had visited their doctor and received a prescription for the drug within a month of their death.

The total number of opioid-related deaths in Toronto in 2004 is estimated to be 27.2 per million people. Study authors said they hope to shed light on the tremendous dangers associated with prescription opioid drugs.


Coked up on prescription smack

It's the dirty little secret of the pharmaceutical industry: More people are killed by prescription opioids than all those killed by heroin and cocaine combined. And that probably even includes all the shootings of gang bangers in northern Mexico.

Prescription drug abuse is now more common than street drug abuse -- by far! And yet Big Pharma rakes in huge profits from all the patient addictions to their opioids. And by "opioids", what I mean is narcotics. They are, in fact, one and the same.

So of all the drug addicts in America today, you can divide them into two camps:

1) People addicted to street drugs.
2) People addicted to prescription drugs.

The people in group #1 (street drugs) are taken to jail where they are given prison sentences. People in group #2 (prescription drugs) are taken to their doctor where they are given prescription refills. It's all really the same narcotics, it's just that one group is legal and the other is illegal.

And what really determines whether a particular narcotic is legal or illegal? Whether or not Big Pharma profits from it. If Big Pharma makes money off the narcotics, they're considered legal.

Big Pharma, you see, earns tens of billions of dollars each year from drug addicts. And just by coincidence, it turns out that their prescription narcotics are extremely addicting, guaranteeing repeat business. The business model is so dang lucrative, you might think they were drug dealers...

Why do you think the main sponsors for the Partnership For A Drug-Free America are the drug companies themselves? It's because Big Pharma is trying to eliminate the competition. By keeping up the so-called "War on Drugs" front, the pharmaceutical industry can make sure it dominates the market for narcotics. After all, if you're going to feed narcotics to a nation full of junkies, why not make a hefty profit on it? That's the thinking of drug companies, it seems, as they have done basically zilch to effectively stem the abuse of their own prescription narcotics.

Much like the tobacco companies, drug companies secretly want people to be addicted to their products.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...

Paul McCartney Narrates New Video

Music legend and activist Paul McCartney delivers a powerful narration of this must-see video. Watch now to discover why everyone would be vegetarian if slaughterhouses had glass walls.



Find out more at Meat.org.


Why Animal Rights?
Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? LEARN MORE.
Animals Are Not Ours to Eat
Animals Are Not Ours to Wear
Animals Are Not Ours to Experiment On
Animals Are Not Ours to Use for Entertainment
Animals Are Not Ours to Abuse in Any Way

Ringling's Baby Elephants Tied Up and Electro-Shocked by Trainers

Never-before-seen photos reveal how Ringling Bros. circus trainers cruelly force baby elephants to learn tricks, and it's not through a reward system, as they claim. Explore the photos that will make parents think twice about taking their child to the circus.

You may have wondered how Ringling Bros. gets 8,000-pound elephants to perform tricks like sitting up and even standing on their heads, but now you know. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they're vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Unsuspecting parents planning a family trip to the circus don't know about the violent training sessions with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods that elephants endure, so we need you to tell them.


http://www.ringlingbeatsanimals.com/bound-babies.asp

About the Whistleblower

 Haddock was an elephant handler who worked at Ringling's Center for Elephant Conservation (breeding and training center) in Polk City, Florida, off and on between 1997 and 2005. Mr. Haddock was himself heavily involved in training baby elephants at Ringling and came to regret his career choice later in life. He provided PETA with these never-before-seen photos to share with the public and help elephants.
His circus career began with Ringling in the 1970s as an elephant trainer. In 1978, he left the circus and was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) a few weeks later. He believed that he had contracted this deadly disease from the elephants, who were being treated for TB. Some 30 years later, elephants at Ringling are still becoming infected with and dying from TB.
When Mr. Haddock first contacted PETA, he described the violence and unimaginable cruelty inflicted on baby elephants and said that he had the shocking photos to prove it.
Mr. Haddock's late wife had urged him to do the right thing and expose Ringling's torturous treatment of elephants at its so-called "conservation center." A short time after providing PETA with dozens of disturbing images and a statement detailing how baby elephants are bound with ropes to break their spirits, Mr. Haddock himself passed away following a sudden illness. Read Sam's complete statement here.


Visit RinglingBeatsAnimals.com

Eva Mendes Poses Nude & Speaks Out Against Wearing Fur

Eva Mendes is one of Hollywood's sexiest leading ladies, sharing screen time with the likes of Nicolas Cage, Will Smith, Joaquin Phoenix, and Mark Wahlberg. A regular red-carpet knockout, Eva is courted by all the top designers, but you can rest assured that she will never show up to any event draped in fur. In fact, she'd rather go naked than wear fur of any kind!
That's why this sexy Latina posed nude for PETA's anti-fur campaign alongside the tagline "Fur? I'd rather go naked."
In her interview with PETA, Eva says, "I want people to know that there are options—that killing a poor animal and wearing it isn't cool ... respecting all life forms is cool." We couldn't have said it better!
Like most people, Eva wasn't always aware of the cruelty of the fur trade. She told us, "I remember having my first premiere in New York City and being so naïve that I didn't have a coat with me. My stylist sent me a ... fur wrap for the evening, and I ignorantly wore it. PETA then wrote me a beautiful letter commenting on my less-than-educated choice. I was so impressed that I vowed to them and myself to NEVER wear real fur on the red carpet or in my life again."
As Eva knows, the fur trade is a violent, bloody industry that has no place in fashion. On fur farms in China, where most fur originates, minks, foxes, rabbits, and other animals are kept in tiny wire cages in all weather extremes. They are strangled, bludgeoned, and often skinned while they are still alive. Since fur is often deliberately mislabeled, if you wear fur, there's no way to tell whose skin you're in—it could even be cat or dog fur.
Follow Eva's example and sign PETA's pledge to be fur-free today!

Read Eva's interview with PETA on PETA's blog The PETA Files.

Eva Mendes epitomizes glamour. She has starred in numerous films—including hits such as Hitch, Sin City, and Ghost Rider—and has modeled for clothing and cosmetics giants such as Calvin Klein and Revlon. Eva believes fashion should be fun, but there's nothing fun about the animal suffering caused by the fur industry.




Eva Mendes Fur Trade Exposé


When Eva learned how cruel the fur industry is—and that there are no laws to protect many of the animals who are raised or trapped for fur—she vowed never to wear fur again. To kill animals without damaging their fur, trappers usually strangle, beat, or stomp them to death, and some are even skinned alive or have their throats cut while they are still conscious.
An undercover investigation of Chinese fur farms revealed that dogs and cats frequently end up in traps and cages and fur is often mislabeled when it's sold, so there really is no way to know what kind of animal a piece of fur came from. More than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the U.S. contain fur that came from China.
Eva says, "At a time when there is so much violence in the world, this is one type of violence that all of us can help stop—by being informed consumers." Watch the following interview to find out more reasons why Eva strongly supports animal rights and refuses to wear fur:


Eva Mendes talks about being fur-free.
Join Eva in taking a stand against the cruelty of the fur industry and pledge to be fur-free today! Help spread the word about the truth behind fur and share these videos with your friends by posting them to your Facebook, MySpace,YouTube, and other social networking sites.

NY Times Blows The Whistle On Drug Industry's Dirty Tricks

Dr. Mercola:
As a sobering example of how members of Congress can be spoon-fed the views and even the exact words of high-powered lobbying firms, consider remarks inserted into the Congressional Record after the debate and vote on health care reform in the House.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.

The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.

The apparent goal was to show that, even though there were sharp divisions between the parties on the overall reform bill (only one Republican voted for it), there was bipartisan support for provisions relating to drugs produced by the biotechnology industry. One provision, for example, would allow generic competition to expensive biological drugs but only after the original manufacturer had enjoyed 12 years of exclusive use, a generous period by anyone’s standards.

Asked about the Congressional statements, a lobbyist close to Genentech said: “This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it.”


Sources:

New York Times November 14, 2009


New York Times November 16, 2009

Dr. Mercola's Comments:



Let's remember that it all started with a gaggle of moralizing and marginalized religious dissidents who feasted on fowl, and a native relish of sour red berries.

On Thursday, Americans will stop and share a meal like these long-ago Pilgrims. Thanksgiving is the holiday of hope, as well as drumsticks and football. It is also the emblem of American identity -- of who we are as a people and our distinctive role in history.

The two New York Times’ articles above provide a powerful commentaryabout health care “reform,” and the true power behind the US health care system in general. They document the level of influence, corruption, and conflict of interest that affects your health.

There should be no doubt about the power the drug industry wields in shaping the US health care system.

Big pharma has been the driving force behind conventional medicine, and the beneficiaries of exploding health care costs for well over a century, and there are no signs that the current health care reform will change any of this.

Yes You, One Person, CAN Make a Difference

During this Thanksgiving season, I want to express my thanks to you for your partnership in the movement of awakening our culture to the truth about natural health and how the drug companies currently control the conventional medical system. And the best way I know to do that is to share with you how your partnership is making a difference.

This past year our partnership together has been able to FINALLY make a significant dent in the culture. We provided powerful explanations from some of the top experts in the world on these issues, and you were able to spread and share that message with MILLIONS.

You were so effective that the MAJORITY of the US population have refused the H1N1 vaccine despite the massive government propaganda and deception.

Doctors Typically Destroy Health Because It’s about Wealth, Not Health

Drug companies are not here to bring health to the population but to scam them on one level for vast amounts of money, by treating the symptoms and not addressing the cause.

Sir William Ossler, MD (1849-1919), one of the leading physicians at the turn of the twentieth century, and considered by many to be the founder of modern medicine, said that one of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.

You are Making a Difference

Most everyone reading this does not understand that when I started this newsletter I was not a natural medicine expert. I was a simple family physician seeing patients in my office, who just decided I wanted to tell the truth about health to more people.

When I first started Mercola.com in 1997, to educate people about natural medicine, I had less than 100 subscribers and 300 page views per month. Twelve years later we have 1.5 million subscribers from nearly every country in the world, and we have over twenty million page views per month.

Do we have a ways to go?

Absolutely, but together we are making a difference.

You need to remember the obvious. We OUTNUMBER the evil doers by thousands to one. However, they are very well organized and have loads more money, power, and influence than we do.

You need to know that their Achilles Heel is our ability to communicate with each other and learn the truth about their lies and scams.

So persistently reading our newsletter and others that share the truth, and spreading the message with those you love and care about, will ultimately unite us enough that we can defeat them.

Mercola.com Charity Project

Many of you probably don’t realize that one-third of our staff of over 100 is based in Manila, Philippines. They are an absolutely amazing group of people, and are directly responsible for allowing us to have such a huge impact on the web.

Recently, the team decided to support the Kythe Foundation. It is an organization dedicated to treating cancer in children.

Our team built the website for them, and are helping provide the infrastructure to support their efforts.

I thought you would enjoy a video of how some of the efforts have been working to date and have included it below.

My primary passion is optimal health, so I have not specifically focused on cancer treatment. However, I know many of my readers know of experts in this area. If you know of anyone that is passionate about treating cancer in children, please have them contact BrianB@mercola.com so we can incorporate them into our team.

Remember, this is the Philippines, so most of the crazy prohibitions that exist in the US are absent and we can go all out to provide therapies that REALLY work. With your help, we can begin to replicate the work of how health care was effectively administered before the government got involved.

We can form the equivalent of charity hospitals, and leverage the Internet to provide life saving treatment to innocent kids who are suffering with tragic cancer. At this time, my only request is that you help us provide natural health experts who can help train the volunteer physicians in the Philippines with treatments that can help save these kids' lives.

Food for Thought

The nice thing about truth is that it never goes out of style. Here are several quotes that are as timely today, as when they were first uttered.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
P.J. O‘Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it‘s free.
P.J. O‘Rourke

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn‘t mean politics won‘t take an interest in you.
Pericles (430 B.C)

What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.
Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

Suzanne Somers limitations of chemotherapy , why the cancer industry has failed people!

(NaturalNews) As the author of the New York Times bestseller, "Knockout: Interviews with doctors who are curing cancer," Suzanne Somers is making waves across the cancer industry. Her powerful, inspired message of informed hope is reaching millions of readers who are learning about the many safe, effective options for treating cancer that exist outside the realm of the conventional cancer industry (chemotherapy, surgery and radiation).

Recently, Suzanne Somers spoke with NaturalNews editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, to share the inspiration for her new book Knockout. "People are just starving for some new information... for other options, for hope in [treating]cancer," she explained.

The full interview with Suzanne Somers is available as a downloadable MP3 file from NaturalNews.com:http://naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas...

In it, Somers explains why she's so concerned about the current course of the cancer industry:

"In 2010, cancer will be the biggest killer in the world. I fear for everybody walking into the present cancer protocol. It's going to make billions and billions of dollars for the industry, which is already a $200 billion-a-year business. It's going to bankrupt families. It causes expensive deaths. It emaciates people and they die anyway. Why not look into the options that are offered in Knockout? Why not look into Dr. Burzynski out of Houston? Why not look into Dr. Gonzalez in New York or Dr. Forsythe out of Nevada? [They] have a different protocol that doesn't require harsh chemicals or degrading the body."

In the interview, Suzanne also explains the limitations ofchemotherapy and why the cancer industry has failed the people:

"There are only three kinds of cancer that respond to chemotherapy: Testicular cancer, childhood leukemia, some lymphomas including Non-Hodgkin's," she says. "For all of us who have raised money marching, going to black-tie fundraisers, we've thrown billions and billions of dollars at pharmaceutical companies and the FDA to find a cure, and it has failed. They do not have a cure."

Mammograms causing more harm than good

In the NaturalNews interview, Somers also discusses the problems with mammograms. When asked for her thoughts on the US government's sudden change in position that now says women under 50 should never receive mammograms, Somers explained:

"I have information so shocking in Knockout about mammograms that I have been reluctant on television to even bring it up, because to say anything negative about mammograms is going against the gold standard. So I was thrilled when I saw this report yesterday. Nobody's saying the real truth [about the harm caused by mammograms]. They don't want to open Pandora's Box ...you mean a lot of the women who faithfully had mammograms got their cancer from mammograms?"

What's in the "Knockout" book

Suzanne Somers' book presents a collection of interviews from leading doctors who have developed and now apply natural cancer therapies to patients, producing outstanding results. To gather information for her book, Somers explains, "I called doctors, I interviewed their patients, I talked to hundreds of people, I interviewed science writers, PhDs, neuroscientists, nutritionists... even the scientific advisory board of Life Extension."

And rather than preaching to people about what they should or shouldn't do, Somers' book simply provides new information and new options to men and women who want to know more before making a potentially deadly decision about chemotherapy. "You've got to get smart and connect the dots and ask yourself, with all the money going into [conventional] cancer, do they have an answer? The answer is no. We're on our own, so let's look at these independent doctors who are having success," Somers says.

The information presented in Somers' book, not surprisingly, has raised the ire of the conventional cancer industry and all their powerful allies (including more than a few organizations in the mainstream media). That's why Somers' message has been viciously attacked by conventional cancer and chemotherapy pushers who see the information presented in Knockout as a threat to their authority (and repeat business). "My message interferes with Big Business's bottom line," explains Somers. "But until what Big Business is doing is good for us, and for the betterment of our healthand mankind, then I think people have to speak out about it."

And she's speaking out with a powerful, inspired voice. Listen to the full interview with NaturalNews editor Mike Adamshere: http://naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas...

After hearing the interview, pick up the book yourself at your local book retailer or online. Here's the Amazon.com link:http://astore.amazon.com/wsdm-20/de...

"The war on cancer is a dismal failure," says Somers. "If this were a military project, the people in charge would be fired. It's not working."

But there are real solutions for cancer, and there are doctors delivering "alternative" cancer treatments right now that are producing astonishing results (putting conventional chemotherapy to shame). Suzanne's book lists a wealth of resources where you can find more information about natural cancer treatments and the clinics that offer them.

Here's a short list of some of the health experts she mentions (many more are listed in her book):

Dr. Julian Whitaker
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.whitakerwellness.com

Dr. Burzynski
Houston, TX
http://www.burzynskiclinic.com

Dr. Gonzalez
New York, NY
http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/index.htm

Ralph Moss
http://www.CancerDecisions.com

Dr. Russell Blaylock
http://www.RussellBlaylockMD.com

Dr. Forsythe
Nevada
http://www.DRforsythe.com

Do you know someone just diagnosed with cancer?

If so, send them the link to this article. Make sure they listen to this interview with Suzanne Somers. Information is power, and by providing your family members, friends or coworkers with more information and more options, you are empowering them with precisely the kind of information that might very well save their lives.

Chemotherapy is extremely toxic to the human body. It causes permanent damage to the brain, heart and kidneys. Mammograms harm ten times as many women as they help. Don't your loved ones deserve to know about the options available right now that can treat and reverse cancer without destroying their health?

That's what you'll learn in this interview and in Suzanne Somers' "Knockout" book. Inform yourself, and help empower others with knowledge -- the kind of knowledge the cancer industry would prefer people never had access to.

Hear the full interview here:
http://naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas...

Pick up "Knockout" at Amazon.com:
http://astore.amazon.com/wsdm-20/de...

Why boys are turning into girls

(NaturalNews) Mike Adams---

In a bombshell finding that has far-reaching implications for society and culture, scientists at theUniversity of Rochester have found that phthalates -- the chemical found in many vinyl and plastic products -- tends to "feminize" boys, altering their brains to express more feminine characteristics. The study has been published in the Journal of Andrology.

Phthalates are found in vinyl products (including vinyl flooring), PVC shower curtains, plastic furniture and even in the plastic coating of the insides of dishwashing machines.

The feminization process happens during pregnancy when phthalate exposure causes hormone disruptions in the unborn baby. This chemical feminizes males by disrupting the action of the hormone testosterone.

In this recent study, researchers found a strong correlation between the types of toys that male children play with and the level of phthalates found in their mothers when they were pregnant. Researchers discovered that boys exposed to high levels of phthalates in the womb tend to avoid playing with cars, trains or toy guns. They also avoided rough play, instead preferring more feminine toys and activities. (Barbie?)

Phthalates used in pharmaceutical coatings

What very few people know about phthalates is that they are used in the coatings of pharmaceuticals to create "enteric" coatings. This means that many people taking certain pharmaceuticals are unknowingly eating phthalates. If expectant mothers take such pharmaceuticals during pregnancy, they may then feminize their unborn male babies.

How do we know phthalates are used in pharmaceuticals? This Google Books link (http://books.google.com/books?id=e7...) shows a page from the Handbook of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Formulations: Over-the-counter products. In it, a recipe is given for manufacturing aclear enteric coating. The ingredients are:

Acetone
Purified water
Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose Phthalate
Vanillin
Acetylated Monoglycerides
Alcohol

This combination of highly toxic chemicals is cooked, stirred and then used to coat pharmaceutical pills that people actually swallow!

Here's a patent that describes the process in more detail:
http://www.wikipatents.com/5723151.html

Phthalates in antidepressant SSRI drugs

These phthalate chemicals are also used in antidepressant drugs. Here's a patent that describes the process: "Controlled Release Compositions of an Antidepressant Agent" http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/200...

As the patent explains:

"...the enteric coating polymer is selected from the group consisting of cellulose acetate phthalate, polyvinyl acetate phthalate, methacrylicacid copolymer, cellulose acetate trimellitate, shellac, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate and combination thereof."

Another section says:

"..the plasticizer is selected from diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, cetyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol-4000, triethyl citrate, triacetin or propylene glycol."

Now here's the real kicker: The drug companies are pushing to have expectant mothers dosed with antidepressant drugs during pregnancy! This is supposedly to prevent "post-partum depression" but the real reason is because Big Pharma simply wants to sell more drugs and pregnant women are the next target on the list.

But taking these drugs results in toxic phthalate levels in the body that are 50 times greater than a "normal" contamination level. As this study published in Environmental Health Perspectives explains:

"Select medications might be a source of high exposure to some phthalates, one of which, DBP, shows adverse developmental and reproductive effects in laboratory animals. These results raise concern about potential humanhealth risks, specifically among vulnerable segments of the general population and particularly pregnant women and children." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...)

If expectant mothers are taking more antidepressants coated with phthalates that cause the feminization of boys, we are going to be looking at the mass feminization of males in modern society.

Along with this mass feminization, you can expect to see dropping sperm counts (already happening), increased infertility and the emergence of more feminine physical characteristics among men.

Many would say this hormonal shift is already underway.

Macho Macho Man! (to quote The Village People)

If you look at the transformation of men in modern society over the last 50 years or so, there appears to be a measurable trend towards more feminine looks and behavior. NaturalNews doesn't judge this one way or the other -- it's just an observation of a trend.

We all need to be mindful when discussing this topic due to potential issues ranging from male "femininity" to homosexuality. There is no indication from this particular study that phthalate exposure in the womb tends to cause boys to adhere to any particular sexual orientation, but it's probably a question that scientists will be asking: Does exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals tend to alter the behavioral sexual expression of developing babies?

And if so, what's "normal" anyway? Is it normal for boys to grow up playing with toy guns and fighting all the time? Some might label that an overly-aggressive expression of testosterone. It is arguably too much testosterone that has landed our planet in a perpetual state of military conflict, after all. Clearly, this research brings up some intriguing questions about nutrition, chemical exposure, sexual orientation and societal norms. It all deserves a tremendous amount of thoughtful discussion.

In any case, there does seem to be a subtle shift taking place toward the feminization of men. The full extent of the role of plastics chemicals in this matter has yet to be understood, but it certainly has an impact.

A recent 326-page report from the State of Denmark, by the way, warns that today's children are exposed to hundreds of "gender-bender" chemicals found in products like sunscreen lotions, moisturizing creams, rubber boots and bed linens (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ea...). The title of the article? "Why boys are turning into girls..."

Does taking the Pill make feminine men more attractive to women?

At the same time this is going on, there is evidence that women who take birth control pills also have their hormonesunknowingly altered to be more attracted to feminine males.

Here's a fascinating story on this very topic, with lots of example photos of macho men vs. feminine men:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...

As long as we're on this touchy subject, I might as well mention that PETA recently ran advertisements claiming that hormones in animal products cause men to grow "man boobs." Their campaign slogan is, "Dude looks like a lady. Lose the breasts. Go vegetarian." (http://blog.peta.org/archives/2009/...)

These are just a few examples of the complex issues that surface during any investigation of sexual expression, sexual orientation and the consumption of chemically-laced foods or medicines. Clearly, what you put in your mouth (or on your skin) affects your hormone balance, and today's consumers are assaulted with a bewildering array of toxic chemical substances such as phthalates.

Body care products are another source of phthalates

As it turns out, foods and pharmaceuticals may not be the only source of phthalate exposure you need to be concerned about. Phthalates are also commonly used in personal care products -- especially "baby" products such as baby shampoos, baby lotions and baby powders. From Wikipedia:

"Body care products containing phthalates are a source of exposure for infants. The authors of a 2008 study 'observed that reported use of infant lotion, infant powder, and infant shampoo were associated with increased infant urine concentrations of [phthalate metabolites], and this association is strongest in younger infants. These findings suggest that dermal exposures may contribute significantly to phthalate body burden in this population.' Though they did not examine health outcomes, they noted that "Young infants are more vulnerable to the potential adverse effects of phthalates given their increased dosage per unit body surface area, metabolic capabilities, and developing endocrine and reproductive systems."

So even if your baby is born with a macho mustache and leather tool belt already buckled around his waist, exposure to phthalate chemicals in baby personal care products might disrupt his hormones and have a feminizing effect. It's yet another reason to avoid all conventional personal care products. (Phthalates aren't the only chemical contaminant found in those toxic products...)

Drink from glass if you want to stay hormonally balanced

Phthalates aren't the only chemicals you need to avoid in plastics -- there's also BPA (Bisphenol-A). To avoid such gender-bender chemicals, hormonally-aware men like Daniel Vitalis (www.DanielVitalis.com) drink only from glass containers. They avoid plastics like the plague. "When you drink bottled water," Vitalis once told me, "you're actually drinking a 'plastic tea' beverage."

And that plastic tea may very well disrupt your hormones, causing strange biological effects for both men and women. Think about that the next time you pick up a bottle of water bottled by Coke or Pepsi (Dasani or Aquafina).

If you want to protect your manliness (or your womanhood), stay away from plastics! Doubly so if you're a soon-to-be mom and you want your child to be born with unaltered hormone function.

For all the men out there, stay away from pharmaceuticals, since you never know what sort of bizarre chemical concoctions might be coating those pills. Swallowing enteric-coated antidepressants may very well lead to the shrinkage of your precious man junk, causing even more serious depression!

Editor's note: I realize the subjects presented here may create a firestorm of discussion or debate among NaturalNews readers. For the record, NaturalNews does not condone the idea that little boys have to play with cars and toy guns to be considered "normal." And men don't necessarily have to be macho macho men in order to be "real" men. There are too many gender stereotypes in society today, including the idea that little girls have to play with Barbie dolls to be normal. My personal view is that I honor and respect each individual human being for who they are, regardless of their sexual orientation, skin color, religious beliefs, etc. And in terms of gender expression, my own opinion is that parental messages and societal cues probably have at least as much impact on gender expression as hormone-disrupting chemicals. Feel free to discuss these topics in the comment section, below.

Sources for this story include:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalates

Hernández-Díaz S, Mitchell AA, Kelley KE, Calafat AM, Hauser R (February 2009). "Medications as a potential source of exposure to phthalates in the U.S. population". Environ. Health Perspect. 117 (2): 185–9. doi:10.1289/ehp.11766. PMID 19270786

"Country View Family Farms," in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania

A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals unconscionable cruelty to mother pigs and their young piglets at a Hatfield Quality Meat supplier - "Country View Family Farms," in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania.
Graphic...

The hidden camera video provides consumers with a jarring glimpse into the nightmarish world of factory pork production. video shows a slew of horrors, including workers as they hurl baby pigs and slam them into transport carts, pick piglets up by their ears and tails, cut off the animals' tails with pliers, and rip off their testicles with their bare hands without any painkillers. (The sound of screaming piglets in the video made my skin crawl.) Their squealing mothers are shown scrambling to escape workers who slam spiked mallets into the animals' sides. Many pigs bear sores from their constant confinement—one mother pig suffered an excruciating prolapsed rectum for at least 13 days before she was killed.
Folks, this video is tough to view (I had to pause it three times), but as caring people, we owe it to ourselves and the animals it shows to watch it and then pass it on to others—along with a link to GoVeg.com. You can share the video and the link via e-mail, via a link on your Facebook page, and via "tweets." Anyone you know who still needs convincing that animals suffer on factory farms won't question it after they've watched this footage.
Posted by Karin Bennett

Detailed Diary of 73 days inside the Pork industry!






Seaboard Farms Pig Farm Investigation





detalied diary:
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/pigs/field-notes.asp

Day 1

Every day, the workers castrate and tail dock between 100 and 500 piglets. This is done by grabbing a piglet out of the crate by his leg, holding him upside down, slicing open his scrotum with a scalpel, and tearing out the testes with their bare hands. Tails are then docked by clipping them at the base with a dull set of pliers. The pigs struggle and squeal violently; it appears to be extremely painful, and no anesthesia is issued. Commonly during castration, a male pig's intestines will rupture, falling out of the incision. This is usually not immediately noticed, but when it is the pig is brought to the gas cart and suffocated to death.

Pigs that are too small are brought to the "death cart." Pigs gather here throughout the day until there are enough to economically justify using the gas. A cracked and chipped cover is placed over the cart, and CO2 is pumped into the bin. My supervisor told me it's supposed to take 5 minutes, but usually takes 10, sometimes more. "It's incredibly cruel," she told me, "but it's how we're told to do it."

Day 2

Today I went into the Gestation area. The sows are kept here for the vast majority of their lives. The crates are only 20" wide and about 75" long. Most of the sows are large enough that both of their sides touch the bars, allowing them absolutely no movement except a step forward or backwards. Many have deep sores on their shoulders and scrapes on their noses from constant rubbing against the metal bars.

The floor is made of concrete, and covered in manure. Flies and fruit flies are everywhere. The smell is thick and oppressive. Many of the sows display neurotic behavior such as bar-biting and head-shaking.

Day 8

My coworker handles the baby pigs with apparent contempt for their welfare, often taking amusement from shaking them or throwing them at their mothers. He picks them up by their ears and throws them at me, or carries them that way to the gas cart. One time today, he took one by the leg and casually flipped him up in the air over and over, the way a tennis player does with his racket.

Day 10

Most of the sows here are very anxious for any stimulation. When I go to feed them, they stick their snouts through the area between the feeders and the bars, sniffing my hand and trying to work their way closer to me. They like being touched and petted.

Day 11

At the end of the day, a medium-sized pig in the gas cart was still breathing. I told my supervisor, who told me that occasionally the gassing doesn't kill them, and that we should gas him again.

Day 17

There was another dying pig lying in the hall today, gasping for air. My coworkers stepped around him and went into a room to continue working. When we finished and went back into the hall, a worker kicked the dying pig hard in the chest, and he flew back into the wall, leaving a trail of blood from his mouth. He continued to breathe as the workers walked away.

Day 18

Before being moved from Gestation to Farrowing, sows are washed with a high-pressured hose. This equipment is not meant for use on live animals. Often, the workers end up cutting lines into their midsections, teats, feet and faces with the hot, high-pressured water. After this painful process, they are then soaked in an industrial detergent that causes them to furiously rub against the bars of their crates in discomfort.

Day 21

I found an unusually large number of pigs that had been "laid on" today, which literally means they were caught between their mothers and the floors or walls of the crates. This is as tragic as it is common. It is obviously a very painful way to go.

Day 22

Moving the sows from Gestation to Farrowing rooms can be difficult because the sows only get the chance to walk a handful of times a year. When they reach their destination and realize they are to enter another tiny crate, many resist, bucking and squealing and pushing their way past the workers, who force them in by pulling their ears and kicking them.

One worker who was unloading baby pigs entertained himself by throwing them around in the air by their legs. Other times, he would hold them as high in the air as he could and let them drop, or forcefully dunk them into the bin of pigs. On one instance, he tried spinning a pig in midair towards the bin. It went flying, hit its back on the edge of the bin, and fell on the floor. "Don't let the animal rights people see that!" he declared. The workers continued to grab these pigs by their ears and legs and throw them into these bins until there were as many as 40 at a time, with them piled on top of each other.

I was handed a ruptured pig and told to bring him to the gas cart. The cart was off but the lid was on. I opened it, and found about 15 dead pigs inside, and one who was still breathing but unconscious. This is the second time (out of very few instances that I've checked) that I've found a live pig after the gas has been run.

Day 31

The sows are tattooed just above each leg with their serial numbers. To do this, a worker dips a large mallet with 3/4" long spikes at the end into ink, and then chases the sows around a group pen, whacking them with the spikes. The sows scream and run in avoidance.

A gestation worker told me that she bolted two sows today. She said one took a long time to die, and walked around vomiting after being bolted.

Day 32

The Gestation manager explained to me that the shock of being dropped from 24 lbs of feed a day (which they receive in Farrowing) to 5 lbs. (which they get in Gestation) serves to "shock" the sows' bodies into going back into heat. Ideally, he said, you can breed them immediately after they return from Farrowing.

Day 43

Today, we gassed 17 pigs for being "non-viable," or not growing fast enough.

At the end of the day, a female worker came back from bolting a sow looking exhausted. She told me that the sow couldn't use her back legs, but still managed to give her a lot of trouble. She kept dragging herself in the wrong direction, "squealing bloody murder," as she tried to lead the sow outside to bolt her. She said she was pushing the sow and yelling at her, and finally just said, "Goodbye, pig," and bolted her in the middle of the feed aisle.

Day 44

Injecting the sows with drugs is about half of the workers' daily load. They are mostly antibiotics, penicillin, and steroids to keep them from succumbing to sickness.

It's been very hot recently, which makes this facility dryer and dustier than ever. This must cause great discomfort to the pigs, who prefer cool, moist environments. This arid environment is not simply the result of carelessness on the corporation's part, however. We are repeatedly reminded never to allow the sows to get wet because, with their weakened immune systems, any water would breed a scourge of diseases.

Day 45

At a company-wide meeting, a speaker for the Pork Quality Assurance program briefly mentioned our animal welfare guidelines, which she admitted were tricky. Sows are supposed to have enough room to lie down without touching another animal, the guidelines say, but as she said, "How can they lay down without touching another animal? Well, they can't. There's no crate in the world where they can lay down with their legs sticking out!"

Day 52

In one room while I was treating pigs, I noticed a sow with a large rectal prolapse. I mentioned it to the other Farrowing workers, asking if I should write her up.

"For what?" they asked.
"For treatment," I said.

They looked confused. "We don't treat that," one of them told me. "We'll let her wean her babies, if she makes it that long, then she's probably a goner."

While doing vaccinations, one worker found a male pig that had ruptured, took him by his leg, and tossed him outside into the hallway, then resumed vaccinating. When we were finished, we found him near the dead bins. The worker rounded him up and grabbed him by his leg, then laconically walked down the halls, swinging him. When he turned into the gas cart room, he swung the pig lazily up into the air and slammed him into the wall, then tossed him into the cart, announcing, "Die honky!" and turning on the gas.

I saw firsthand how clever and empathic pigs can be. A sow and her entire litter had escaped their crate and gathered in the hallway. I examined how they'd escaped and discovered that the sow had loosened steel pegs in two different places. I told a co-worker this story and she said that when a sow figures out how to unlock her crate, she often goes around unlocking all of the other crates as well.

Day 54

The sow with the prolapsed rectum remains untreated, and the prolapse has started to decay, turn black, and smell.

Day 59

Because her pigs are being weaned tomorrow, the workers bolted the sow with the rectal prolapse today. The Farm Manager came in with the bolt gun, looking frustrated. She said that she had just bolted a sow in Gestation, and had to bolt her four times before she died.

When the workers bolted the prolapsed sow, she took two bolts. After the first, the sow became "mad as hell," as my coworker said, making it difficult to efficiently deliver the second one.

Day 61

While throwing pigs - a common and very stressful practice I've described in earlier entries - my coworker told me that when he does this alone, he just throws the pigs right into the cart, from all the way across the crate.

The tally of dead piglets for Monday - Friday this week is 145. Broken down, that's 71 laid-ons, 32 starve-outs, 16 runts, 10 ruptures, 9 poor quality, 3 deformed and 2 joint infections.

Day 66

Today we had to bolt another sow with a rectal prolapse. One worker said that he was excited about this event. He told me that yesterday while driving with his family on the highway, he saw a groundhog running across the road, and prayed that it would come into his lane. When it did, he swerved and ran it over. "I just feel like killing something," he said. This was the second sow in as many weeks to develop a severe rectal prolapse.

When he bolted her the first time, she didn't die. She just stood there looking stunned as blood trickled from her forehead. She then got her bearings and tried to turn and run. After a struggle, the worker got in another shot, which sent her down. She continued to spasm for another 15 minutes. When we returned, my supervisor told me she was dubbing my coworker "Two-Shot" in light of the fact he rarely kills the sow with one bolt.

I found a pig with his snout and front teeth torn off and hanging by skin. He was still alive, and had clearly been like this for a while, since the blood had begun to scab. A worker pulled him out of the crate and gassed him with the other kill pigs.

Day 67

Today, there was a dead sow in Farrowing. She had been "off feed" for the last two weeks, and appears to have starved to death. Last week, I had pointed out this sow to both my supervisor and the farm manager, who told me not to worry about her. As she became increasingly skinny and lethargic, I kept mentioning this sow to them, but they insisted she was fine. Now, she had either died of starvation or succumbed to whatever had caused her to stop eating. We dragged her emaciated body outside and later we dumped her in the compost pile. No testing was done.

The gas cart was filled to the brim with pigs today, a total of 39, including 9 large pigs that were at weaning age. They were left in the cart all day to trample each other, before being gassed all at once.

Day 73

After my supervisor asked me to turn off the gas in the gas cart, I did so, even though I could still hear rustling in the cart (According to our training manual, the ambient gas is supposed to kill them). Fifteen minutes later I checked the cart, and found that of about a dozen pigs, four were still breathing. Later that day, I mentioned this experience to my supervisor. A coworker said that she had the same experience earlier today. Any remaining illusions I had of this being a humane and efficient means of euthanasia are long gone.


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