Lose Them Pounds

Consistently including mushrooms in your dietary plan may offer unique health benefits, including helping to fight aging and prostate cancer.1 Researchers from Penn State,2 for instance, discovered that mushrooms are an abundant source of two excellent antioxidants, ergothioneine and glutathione.

Both antioxidants help inhibit oxidative stress and are considered important antiaging compounds. Researchers also recently identified one of the mechanisms the fungi use to interrupt and ultimately suppress the cell cycle of prostate cancer.

A mushroom is the umbrella-shaped fruiting body of a fungus that typically grows above ground. The seeds it produces are millions of microscopic spores that are carried by the wind or spread by animals. Once the spores have germinated in wood or soil, it sends out a network of rooting threads called mycelium that often persist for many years.3

The mycelium absorbs food by digesting the surrounding nutrients externally and then absorbing those nutrients. Although they are known as either mushrooms or toadstools, the term mushroom usually identifies those fungi that are edible and the term toadstool is often used to identify poisonous or inedible fungi.

Mushrooms belong to the Agaricaceae family and the most common mushroom found in your grocer’s is the white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), which was the focus of the current research. Science is only beginning to tap into the vast natural medicine warehouse that exists in these fungi.

Scientists do not agree on how many species there might be. Estimations have ranged from 1.5 to 5.1 million different species.4 However, according to a paper in the American Society for Microbiology,5 in 2017 there were 120,000 identified species.

You may be familiar with some of the more exotic mushrooms like shiitake, crimini and Portobello at your local grocer’s. Yet, it is the inauspicious common white button mushroom that was the focus of this study against prostate cancer.

White Button Mushrooms Help Fight Prostate Tumor Growth

Human6 and animal7 studies have demonstrated that white button mushrooms have antiproliferative properties and help inhibit prostate tumor growth. In the current studies, researchers first sought to identify the mechanism white button mushroom extract uses to help reduce prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in patients with prostate cancer.8

PSA is a protein made by the cells of prostate cancer, which can be measured in the blood of men with prostate cancer. In their first study,9 researchers led by Dr. Xiaoqiang Wang conducted a reverse translational study using androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell lines from a prostate tumor.

They found that white button mushroom extract could suppress dihydrogen testosterone-induced PSA and cell proliferation of the tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner.

Several analyses were performed, including immunofluorescence and RNA sequencing. The tests confirmed that the extract could suppress androgen response pathways and tumor growth and reduce PSA levels. In the second study,10 which was presented March 2021, at the Endocrine Society annual meeting, the same team took a deeper dive into the research using an animal model. In a press release, Wang said:11

“Androgens, a type of male sex hormone, promote the growth of prostate cancer cells by binding to and activating the androgen receptor, a protein that is expressed in prostate cells. White button mushrooms appear to suppress the activity of the androgen receptor.”

The researchers implanted human prostate cancer cells into mice and found that the white button mushroom extract could suppress androgen receptor activity and that the mice treated with the extract for six days demonstrated significant suppression of tumor growth and a decrease in levels of PSA. Wang continued:12

“We found that white button mushrooms contain chemicals that can block the activity of the androgen receptor in mouse models, indicating this fungus can reduce PSA levels. While more research is needed, it’s possible that white button mushrooms could one day contribute to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.”

Nutritional Profile Likely Contributes to Health Benefits

Nearly 88% of the mushrooms that are grown are sold fresh in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,13 on average, people eat about 3 pounds of fresh mushrooms each year and 87% of those are grown domestically.

Mushrooms are also commonly used in some types of traditional medicine. Many of the health benefits are likely related to the high nutrient content found in the mushroom. Mushrooms provide essential minerals such as manganese, copper, zinc, selenium, calcium, magnesium and iron.14

When compared to their size and weight, they are a rich source of protein and fiber. They are high in potassium and sulfur, as well as many of the B vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid.15 Ergothioneine in mushrooms has a specific role in protecting DNA from oxidative damage and glutathione is important for the detoxification of heavy metals and other contaminants. As noted in The Guardian:16

“… [S]cientists think [ergothioneine and glutathione] may help to protect the body against the maladies of old age, such as cancer, coronary heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.”

In a press release following the publication of a paper in Food Chemistry, Robert Beelman, Professor Emeritus of food science and director of the Penn State Center for Plant and Mushroom Products for Health, said:17

“What we found is that, without a doubt, mushrooms are the highest dietary source of these two antioxidants taken together, and that some types are really packed with both of them.

There’s a theory — the free radical theory of aging — that’s been around for a long time that says when we oxidize our food to produce energy there’s a number of free radicals that are produced that are side products of that action and many of these are quite toxic.

The body has mechanisms to control most of them, including ergothioneine and glutathione, but eventually enough accrue to cause damage, which has been associated with many of the diseases of aging, like cancer, coronary heart disease and Alzheimer’s.”

Interestingly, cooking the mushrooms does not appear to affect the compounds, including ergothioneine, which is heat stable.18 In one animal study,19 mice fed white button mushrooms demonstrated a rising number of Prevotella, a species of friendly gut bacteria.

White button mushrooms act as prebiotics that feed beneficial bacteria, which in turn produce short chain fatty acids that have been shown to affect glucose production. While eating a few button mushrooms is not going to have a significant effect on blood sugar levels, the long-term cumulative benefits of a diet high in a variety of prebiotic foods cannot be overstated.

Immunomodulation May Offer Support Against COVID-19

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition20 showed that eating less than 1 ounce of cooked shiitake mushrooms each day for four weeks boosted the participants’ T-cell levels, gut immunity and reduced inflammatory properties.

Other studies have also demonstrated that white button mushrooms may promote immune function by affecting the production of antiviral proteins.21 The laboratory-based study showed that white button mushrooms improve the maturity of dendritic cells released from the bone marrow.

Another showed how mushrooms could modify cytokines, specifically in a cancer cell model,22 and an animal study23 suggested that white button mushrooms could “promote innate immunity against tumors and viruses through the enhancement of a key component, NK activity.”

In the current global climate in which many scientists are researching ways of naturally fighting viral infections, including COVID-19, a recent paper in the International Journal of Environment, Science and Technology24 proposed the nutrients and active ingredients found in white button mushrooms may be a source of medicine to combat the novel coronavirus.

The study of coronaviruses in the past 30 years has demonstrated features of pathogenesis and biology like that exhibited by COVID-19. The authors expounded on the immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of the mushroom, and concluded the mushroom:25

“… might also provide sizable support towards COVID-19 because of high nutritional and medicinal properties. Consumption of WBM [white button mushroom] isn’t beneficial just in case of nourishment but also existing as anticancer, anti-cardiovascular diseases, anti-diabetes, antioxidant and antimicrobial.

Most of the investigation has proven that nutraceutical therapy may be a promising source of recent therapeutics against COVID-19 diseases. Furthermore, vitamins B treatment drastically withdrawn neutrophil intrusion into the lungs with an effective anti-inflammatory impact in the way of the ventilator-induced lung damage.”

As mentioned, in addition to the immunomodulatory effects, white button mushrooms are also rich in glutathione. One of the factors that differentiate people with mild or severe illness may be related to the ability to reduce hypercoagulability and the hyperimmune response that leads to a cytokine storm.

Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant your body uses to increase the effectiveness of other antioxidants, which has earned it the nickname “master antioxidant.”26 N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a precursor to glutathione and the focus of a trial announced by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the treatment of COVID-19.27

In early 2020, Russian scientist Dr. Alexey Polonikov published a paper28 proposing glutathione plays a crucial role in the ability to respond to a COVID-19 infection. I discuss this further in “Glutathione Deficiency May Be Associated With COVID Severity.”

Mushrooms May Help Prevent Cognitive Decline

There are several strategies to help keep your cognitive function intact and eating mushrooms may be one of them. Mushrooms are widely available, relatively inexpensive, can be grown in your backyard and are suitable for a wide variety of uses in the kitchen. Adding them to your diet may be one of the simplest ways to help support your brain health.

Research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease29 found that adults who routinely ate two portions of mushrooms each week reduced their odds of mild cognitive impairment by 50%,30 which was independent of confounding factors such as high blood pressure, heart disease, age, alcohol and cigarette consumption and physical activity.31

The team was from the National University of Singapore. The researchers defined a portion as three-quarters of a cup and two portions as approximately one-half of a plate. These were meant as guidelines since the results demonstrated that even a small portion of mushrooms each week could be beneficial.

Study author Lei Feng, assistant professor in the department of psychological medicine at NUS, said in a news release, “This correlation is surprising and encouraging. It seems that a commonly available single ingredient could have a dramatic effect on cognitive decline.”32

The researchers measured mild cognitive impairment using neurological tests, extensive interviews, physical measurements and dementia rating. The study was performed in Singapore where the six commonly consumed mushrooms include golden, shiitake, oyster, dried and canned mushrooms, and white button mushrooms.

Ultimately, the researchers believe the reason the participants who ate two servings of mushrooms each week had a reduction in mild cognitive impairment came down to ergothioneine, which is found in each of the varieties included in the study.33

Choose Organic or Grow Your Own

While an afternoon searching for mushrooms may sound like fun, it’s vital to recognize the need for caution. There are no simple rules to distinguish the difference between toxic and edible mushrooms. In more than 95% of the cases, amateur mushroom hunters have misidentified a poisonous mushroom.34

The severity of the poisoning can vary, but the most toxic are from mushrooms containing Amanita phalloides.35 There is no antidote for amatoxin poisoning, so it is essential if you have any reason to suspect someone has ingested an amatoxin containing mushroom you do not wait for symptoms but seek immediate emergency treatment.

There are some medications that may help lessen the severity of the poison,36 but they are not always successful. The most famous of these lethal mushrooms is the death cap mushroom, which may kill more people each year than any other type of mushroom.37

It’s also important to choose organically grown mushrooms as the fungi easily absorb air and soil contaminants. Growing your own mushrooms is an excellent option and a far safer alternative than picking wild mushrooms.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/12/white-button-mushroom.aspx

In this interview, Dr. Val Kanter, a board-certified endodontist and biological dentist with a practice in Beverly Hills, California, discusses the oft-ignored dangers of root canal procedures and modern technologies with which these issues can be effectively addressed and corrected.
Unfortunately, few regular dentists fully appreciate the intimate links between your oral health and overall physical health and, as a result, some of their interventions can actually cause catastrophic health challenges.
The sad reality is that if we knew how to eat properly from the time we were born, the need for just about any type of dentistry would, in my view, decrease by at least 90%, because we just wouldn’t develop cavities.
Thankfully we have trained professionals who can help restore our health, and Kanter is one of them. Her transition into holistic dentistry occurred after she moved from Florida to California and started doing some self-exploration.

“I had some enlightening moments,” she says, “and it was really interesting because I was raised in mainstream dentistry and mainstream health, not really understanding what I do now. It was through that self-discovery that I actually learned about water fluoridation and the major damage that has created.
I got involved with the Fluoride Action Network and worked closely with Michael [Connett] for a long time, publishing research on some of the damages. One of the things that is so obvious to us is fluorosis in kids. It was originally thought to affect only 10% of kids, and now we’re up to a place where it’s affecting 50% or more.
That’s a window. It’s a view of what’s happening inside the body. That’s what got me on the path and that led me into learning about ozone and laser therapy and it really opened up a whole new world for me in the field of endodontics.”

Do You Really Need a Root Canal?

One of the founding members of the American Endodontics Society, Dr. George Meinig, wrote the book “Root Canal Cover-Up.” It’s a really good primer and provides solid information as to why you may want to consider avoiding root canal treatment.
The conventional idea is that it’s best to preserve whatever you can of the original tooth rather than replacing it entirely. Hence, they’ll do a root canal and attach a crown rather than pull the tooth and replace it, typically with an implant. The downside is that root canal-treated teeth can cause significant health complications that often aren’t recognized as being a side effect of the root canal.
There’s a whole new world of regenerative dentistry and regenerative endodontics that if you’re using the proper equipment, you can preserve the vitality of the teeth. ~ Dr. Val Kanter
According to Kanter, more than 20 million root canal procedures are done every year in the U.S. “It’s an astronomical number, and most of those root canal procedures are done by general dentists,” she says. That in itself is a problem, as you typically do less than 10 root canals while in dental school, and once you’re in practice, much of the training you get is done by sales reps of various equipment.

“One of the most important things that I want the listeners to understand,” Kanter says, “is that there is a specialty out there that focuses on this procedure. If you do decide to have the procedure done, please go see a specialist. See two or three. Get multiple opinions.
It’s so important, because I feel that a lot of root canal procedures are done unnecessarily. It’s a quick way to hit a symptom, just like a medication. It’s, ‘Oh, let’s take out the nerve and the pain will stop.’ These inflammations inside the teeth can be reversed. I see it daily in my practice. I see a lot of patients who want to prevent a root canal.
There’s a whole new world of regenerative dentistry and regenerative endodontics that if you’re using the proper equipment, you can preserve the vitality of the teeth and that’s my passion and goal. With that said, most of my practice is retreating old, contaminated root canals …
My goal is to teach all of the dentists out there about these procedures because then it doesn’t even have to go to that level. If someone needs a root canal procedure, they should see an endodontist if they decide to go that route.
I think one of the top things that you should be seeking if you are a patient looking for a practitioner that’s going to resonate with the things that you want — which are some of these regenerative procedures — is finding dentists that are using this laser therapy.
It’s becoming more and more popular, but still probably about 10% of dentists use dental lasers. I would start there. Go to Fotona’s website1 and find someone in your area using this laser therapy.”

Prevention Basics
Of course, prevention is the best medicine, and some basic care can help you minimize the time you need to spend in a dentist chair. The most important factor in that regard is nutrition. Three crucial nutrients for oral and dental health are vitamins A, D and K. You also need a good supply of minerals.
“Unfortunately, most of our food is deficient in the minerals and micronutrients we need because of the way that farming has been done,” Kanter says. Ideally, you’ll want to do micronutrient testing along with testing your vitamin D level and hemoglobin A1C. Kanter will perform many of these tests at her office, and helps patients customize their diet.

“It’s challenging because the nutritional component of dental schools is minuscule. That’s why I did advanced training with the ACIMD, which is basically integrative biological dentistry and medicine training to become a naturopath … By decreasing sugar in your diet, and stress, you can actually [heal your teeth].
Your teeth are a beautiful complex system that are actually healing themselves constantly. There’s an outward fluid flow inside the nerve complex in your tubules and it’s protecting your teeth. As soon as you start loading your body with sugar and all of these other things, the fluid flow just reverses, and that leads to an influx of bacteria and other toxins that can start to create inflammation in the tooth.
The tooth is a very complex and unique system, unlike anywhere else in the body. If you have inflammation from any other injury, your skin can stretch and swell, whereas the tooth is encapsulated in enamel, and it can’t stretch. When inflammation starts to build up, it can quickly turn into a pathological process and that’s what leads to major nerve damage.”

Ozone and Laser Therapy
Once pain sets in, you’re past the point of being able to prevent deterioration, but this is where regenerative dentistry can come in and save the day (and your tooth). One is ozone therapy. Another is laser therapy.
Pulpitis is inflammation of the pulp nerve complex of the tooth. Using these regenerative therapies, Kanter has successfully reversed this kind of inflammation in many patients. Even when decay and bacteria have made it all the way into the nerve tissue, laser therapy can sterilize the surface of the nerve, while ozone gas, which also kills pathogens, can actually stimulate your immune system to kick in and eradicate the remaining infection.
In the interview, you’ll find a video showing how the Erbium YAG laser treatment seemingly melts away the decayed tooth structure. Contrary to mechanical drilling, the laser is so gentle on the tooth structure, you don’t even need anesthesia. It also sterilizes the surface as you go along. Why is this important? Kanter explains:

“When you drill, you’re starting to remove decay filled with bacteria. As the dentist is drilling deeper into the tooth into the more vulnerable layers near the nerve, you’re carrying that bacteria that’s trapped in the bur and you’re actually driving it deeper in the tooth. With the laser, you’re sterilizing cell layer by cell layer.”

Were the laser to hit the nerve, it also will not kill the nerve. Once the area is free of decay, Kanter will ozonate the entire surface, and since it’s a gas, the ozone is able to penetrate into and actually disinfect the tubules. Special bioceramic materials that are highly biocompatible are then used to complete the restoration of the tooth.

“Using photobiomodulation or low-level laser … a neodymium YAG laser, which is 1064 wavelength … you can actually stimulate the mitochondria inside the tissues, upregulating ATP production, collagen synthesis and angiogenesis,” she says.
“I generally use it at 20 Hertz, so the frequency is 20. Then, if it’s intraoral, we usually use it at a 2-watt power level. It takes just a couple of minutes … We do these low-level laser procedures on every single patient that’s coming to see me, and it’s profound, the amount of healing and the reduction of pain and inflammation that we can see.”

In the future, we may even have the ability to regenerate tooth material naturally. As explained by Kanter, researchers are investigating the ability of collagen matrices embedded with different medications to stimulate natural tooth formation. There are also studies looking at how to regrow teeth from scratch.
The Hidden Hazards of Root Canals

There are several reasons for avoiding root canals. Importantly, research by Dr. Weston A. Price demonstrated just how interconnected your teeth are with your overall health. He implanted infected root canaled teeth under the skin of rabbits, and in many cases, the rabbits went on to develop the very disease that the donor of the tooth had.
Granted, dentistry has changed a lot since Price, so his results may not be directly applicable to today. Kanter, who is the endo director of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), is now in the process of developing studies to try to recreate some of his studies to see whether the root canals of today, in which teeth are able to be cleaned to a far greater degree, still produce the same systemic effects.
That said, as recently as nine years ago, the American Association of Endodontists, which oversees the specialty of endodontics, admitted that current techniques fail to completely remove all infected material from root canaled teeth. To illustrate this, Kanter shows a CT scan of a root canaled tooth (see video).

“The red area is the area that the instrument has cleaned out. The green area wasn’t even touched. What this means is that a third of the soft tissue of this necrotic tissue in the tooth is completely untouched by instruments. Unfortunately, most [dental students] have in their head, ‘I need to get these instruments in and I got to do this shaping of these canals,’ and that’s actually not what’s cleaning the teeth at all.
What’s happening is that the dentist is grabbing a syringe of a fluid to irrigate the tooth. Generally, they’re using sodium hypochlorite, which is essentially bleach, and they’re just taking a syringe with a small needle on it and they’re introducing it down into the canal. It’s not cleaning everything out. It’s only cleaning a teeny tiny percentage of the dentinal tubules, leaving a ton of bacteria and toxins behind.
In the picture on the right, you see all this black material. These are complete channels of necrotic tissue that are left behind during these procedures. We can see why these teeth can be so toxic if all of this material is left behind. That’s just looking at the main nerve channels, not even tubules. It’s surprising that root canal treatments ever work.”

The good news is that the relationship of apical periodontitis and systemic illnesses is finally starting to be more widely recognized. Apical periodontitis is an infection around a tooth that leads to infection in the bone. “If you have apical periodontitis, you’re three times more likely to develop coronary artery disease,” Kanter says. It’s also associated with a higher risk of kidney disease and cancer.
Up to 78% of the plaques found in heart attack victims have oral pathogens in them, and they’re the exact same pathogens you find in failed root canal treatments. This kind of systemic infection can be identified by looking at biomarkers such as CRP and interleukin-6.
Yes, There Are Ways to Make Root Canals Safer

In cases where regenerative techniques are inappropriate and more aggressive treatment is required, you basically have only two options left: extraction of the tooth or a root canal. The good news is that there are safer ways of doing a root canal these days, but you need to use a combination of ozone and laser therapy in order to achieve optimal sterilization. Ozone alone isn’t even enough. Kanter explains:

“I have incorporated ozone therapy into my root canal procedures for the last five years. In fact, I started a pilot study at UCLA looking at the efficacy of ozone gas and comparing it to traditional techniques. It was a blow to me, but unfortunately the ozone gas wasn’t doing the job.
We use that at about 100 micrograms per milliliter, which is very high, but we only did it for one minute per canal. Now, what we know about ozone is that it’s both dose dependent and time dependent. Further studies are going to be done, but we may need to create a closed system where we can completely infuse the tooth with the ozone gas in order to sterilize it because, yes, of course, a gas is going to travel deeper into tubules than a liquid is.
The main issue is that if there’s debris and blockages in these tubules, I don’t believe the ozone gas to be able to penetrate. Now, with the traditional techniques, you’re leaving so much behind. I have a really cool video that compares the traditional technique with the new laser activated irrigation. This is what’s made me feel really good about these treatments that I’m doing on my patients …
With the new laser activation that I’m using in my practice, watch how quickly this biofilm is disrupted. The laser is simply at the top of the tooth. It doesn’t have to extend down the canal, and look at that energy.
This is what not a lot of people are familiar with. You cannot have a root canal procedure without an advanced irrigation. It is absolutely critical. Within 10 to 20 seconds, look at the amount of biofilm that’s disrupted. We’re also seeing complete cleaning of the dentinal tubules … down to the microtubules as well …
There’s one more technology on the market that’s reaching a lot of endodontists. If you need a root canal procedure, find someone that’s using either the laser or this gentle procedure. The general aid is using sound energy … all of these different frequencies, and you have a closed system on the tooth and it actually sucks all of the necrotic tissue and debris out of the root structure.
Between these two technologies, we’re getting results like this. This is the look of the tubules when they’re just sparkling clean. It is possible, but unfortunately the majority of root canal procedures that are being done are not using this.”

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
Another alternative treatment that can be very useful is hyperbaric oxygen treatment. By introducing higher pressures, you’re able to get oxygen deeper into the tooth area, thereby facilitating and speeding healing. Kanter has a couple of different hyperbaric centers in Los Angeles that she will sometimes refer patients to.

“The patients that come see me are generally very committed to their health. We do a variety of treatments that support the procedures that we’re doing. We do ozone inside the tooth, where it has an antibacterial effect, but we also inject it around the tooth. We do that at their recall appointments as well, so we’re constantly stimulating the immune system around these teeth.
We’re also doing the low-level laser treatments, as well as microcurrent and other things to keep energy flowing in these areas where I know that there is scar tissue. We have to break that down, and eventually energy can start flowing through,” she says.

Why Extraction Isn’t an Ideal Solution
The second option, to extract the infected tooth, also has its issues. For example, there’s a decrease in neurofeedback to the brain, and so it’s correlated with early Alzheimer’s and other degenerative, neurodegenerative diseases, Kanter says. Also, when you take a tooth out, the periodontal ligament that encompasses the root needs to be completely removed as well.
This ligament nourishes the root from the outside and acts as a defense mechanism against bacteria. The problem is it also provides 70% of the blood flow to the surrounding jaw bone. So, when you take a tooth and the surrounding ligament out, you also cut the blood supply to your jaw in that area by 70%, which is why you end up seeing bone degeneration and resorption, as there’s nothing left to support that bone.

“There’s definitely cases [in which] a tooth extraction is indicated, but I think there’s plenty of patients out there that can withstand having a root canal procedure and remain healthy. Even Weston Price said there are different categories of patients out there.
There are patients who are going to be very susceptible to any sort of remnant bacteria in these teeth, causing systemic illnesses, and then there’s going to be people that are just fine … Apical periodontitis or root canal infections cause systemic illnesses. But a root canal procedure or a root canal treated tooth in itself does not cause the systemic illness …
We need to do more research with these new techniques. It’s definitely a goal of mine to get the research done, to mimic some of these older studies, using the new technology, and looking at not only getting rid of the bacteria but getting rid of the endotoxins and everything else the bacteria leave behind, because those move quicker than the bacteria once they’re released into the body.”

Replacing Extracted Teeth
If you have a periapical abscess, it is typically too late to save the tooth as it is dead and seriously infected. In that case, it will need to be removed. Once a tooth is extracted, you then have to decide what you’re going to replace it with. Here, there are a number of options — implant, bridge or partial — each with its own pros and cons.

“First of all, if you’re going to extract the tooth, it needs to be done by a surgeon using things like PRF, platelet rich fibrin, which really helps the site heal and create new bone and collagen in the area quickly, and also provides an immune response in the area. That’s really important,” Kanter says.
“Also, if you’re thinking about doing an implant, you need to do sensitivity testing … because [many] are sensitive to titanium, and most of the implants being placed are made of titanium. There are alternatives like zirconia, but it’s important that you find out if you are compatible with these materials before you put them in your body.
If you’re not able to put these in your body because of sensitivity, then your options are going to be a bridge or a partial. But metal in the mouth is becoming more and more of an issue. We’re seeing it constantly. It’s creating these interference fields in the mouth and a lot of people are having hypersensitivity reactions to them.
It turns into a domino effect on the patient’s overall health. We’re constantly evaluating that and helping our patients figure out what materials are best for them and what prosthesis or restorative plan is going to be best for them.”

Call to Action

Unfortunately, many have improperly cleaned root canal-treated teeth, and more often than not, there can be silent infections around these teeth. For this reason, Kanter urges anyone who has a root canaled tooth to get a three-dimensional cone beam image done of the tooth.
Many endodontists have this machine. If they don’t have one, they should be able to refer you out for one. “You should have a 3D scan if you’ve ever had a root canal procedure,” Kanter says. “That’s my call of action to all of your listeners.”
In the interview video, she shows what an infected root canal looks like. You cannot see this infection, however, on a standard dental X-ray. These are the kinds of post-root canal problems Kanter deals with in her practice, using the regenerative technologies discussed above.

“That’s 75% of my practice,” she says. “Patients get the CT, we find these issues, we find the connections into the sinus, how it’s related to all of these [health] problems, and we just start breaking it down and doing our best to help these patients.”

So, getting a 3D cone scan of your tooth is the first step. Kanter recommends having the scan radiographically interpreted by your nearest university or a company called Beam Readers. “These are board-certified radiologists that look through every detail,” Kanter explains.
Again, to locate a biological endodontist familiar with the regenerative technologies discussed in this interview, check out fotona.com, or gentlewave.com. They offer lists of practitioners that are using these technologies.

“If you’re going to someone using either of these technologies, you’re going to generally be in good hands,” Kanter says. “In my practice, I’m using both. I use the laser and the gentle wave, so we are cleaning to the ultimate capacity in these teeth and that’s what I feel is necessary.”

More Information

Kanter is creating an educational platform to teach and endodontists and dentists about diagnosis and precision dentistry on her website, i-endo.com. “These new courses are already starting, and I’m going to be spending the next decade really trying to change this paradigm and shift into the new way of healthcare,” she says.
To learn more about the nutritional aspects of dental health, check out Weston Price’s classic book, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration,” and for a foundational understanding of the health hazards of root canal treatment, see “Root Canal Cover-Up.”
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/11/the-hidden-dangers-of-root-canals.aspx

At the end of 2020, there were large public demonstrations opposing severe restrictions on civil liberties, including in Germany1,2 and Great Britain.3 In Denmark, there was a public protest against proposed legislation that would mandate COVID-19 vaccination.4
There is increasing civil unrest in many countries after a year of experiencing the crippling side effects of government public health policies that have restricted autonomy and freedom of assembly5,6 and caused mass unemployment and destruction of small businesses,7,8,9 steep increases in substance abuse, depression and suicide,10,11,12,13 and inadequate treatment for other diseases like cancer.14,15
Since the beginning of 2021,16 demonstrations calling for an end to COVID lockdowns and voluntary vaccination have spanned the globe from Canada17 to the Netherlands18 and Lebanon.19 February and March 2021 saw anti-lockdown protests in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland20 and other countries.
The Netherlands: ‘Love, Freedom, Stop Dictatorship’

In January 2021, the government of The Netherlands instituted strict lockdown rules that banned gatherings of more than two people, shut bars and restaurants and imposed a 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. curfew, the first since the Nazi’s issued orders to Dutch citizens to “stay at home” during World War II.
People who break the curfew face a 95 Euro ($115) fine. Schools and “nonessential” shops have been closed since December 2020.21 On January 24, 2021, the police used water cannons and dogs to disperse hundreds of protesters opposed to curfews.
Tear gas was fired on a crowd of several hundred protesters in Eindhoven, where there were reports of looting and at least 30 arrests and a COVID testing center was burned in the city of Urk.22 In early March, a test center in another city near Amsterdam was the scene of a pipe bomb explosion.23
On March 14, 2021, Dutch riot police broke up a crowd of several thousand anti-lockdown protesters gathered at The Hague. Water cannons, batons and dogs were used by police after protesters violated social distancing rules and disregarded warnings to disperse. Holding yellow umbrellas and chanting, “love, freedom, stop dictatorship,” about 20 people reportedly were detained by police and two demonstrators were injured.24
Ireland: ‘Let Ireland Live’

On February 17, 2021, hundreds of people gathered in Dublin carrying signs like “End the Lockdown” and “Let Ireland Live” and clashed with police, resulting in 23 arrests.
The demonstration was held after the government extended the country’s third lockdown until April, which meant that all nonessential businesses, restaurants, pubs and gyms would remain shut, with the government recommending people stay at home and placing a 3-mile travel limit on movements.25
On St. Patrick’s Day and on March 20, 2021, the Irish police (Gardai) arrested a number of demonstrators for violating pandemic public health restrictions on public gatherings.26 The majority were not wearing face masks and some carried banners opposing mandatory COVID vaccinations.
Denmark: 1,200 Rally Against Lockdown Restrictions

On February 28, 2021, eight demonstrators were arrested in Copenhagen, Denmark, in front of the Town Hall during a mostly peaceful anti-lockdown rally attended by a crowd of about 1,200 people.
Organized by “Men in Black,” it was the first protest since the government announced the extension of many COVID health restrictions to April 4, which includes the closure of bars, restaurants and most secondary schools and universities. Danish police said the eight demonstrators were arrested for rowdy behavior and using fireworks during the protest.27
Sweden: First Protest Opposing New Public Health Rules

Unlike most other European countries, Sweden did not lockdown at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and there were few social distancing restrictions through most of 2020.28 However, when COVID cases began to rise in later in the year, the government instituted stricter rules.
On March 6, 2021, Swedish police broke up a rally of hundreds of people who had assembled in Stockholm to demonstrate against COVID public health restrictions.29 The rally, which was the first to protest the country’s new public health laws restricting movement, was organized by Freedom Sweden, a citizen group that maintains the new laws violate human freedom.
Switzerland: Protest Against ‘Dictatorial Powers’

On March 6, 2021, 4,000 Swiss citizens walked peacefully in the town of Chur, Switzerland, carrying banners in a protest against use of “dictatorial powers” by the government to implement restrictive COVID public health policies that include the continued closure of bars and restaurants.
In Zurich, police reportedly dispersed several public gatherings that violated the 15-person gathering limit outside (five people limit inside buildings).30
Greece: Lockdown Fatigue Fuels Protests

During the month of March, dozens of demonstrations took place in Athens and other cities in Greece against strict COVID lockdown measures that have included nightly curfews and police patrols on university campuses. There also have been riots protesting police brutality related to enforcement of social distancing rules.
One politician in Greece alleged the government is “taking advantage of the pandemic as a pretext to impose harsh measures, restrict democratic rights and freedoms, and advance an agenda that is damaging the public interest.”31
Australia: This All Ends When We Say NO!

On February 13, 2021, health officials in Victoria, Australia put into effect a hard “circuit breaker” five-day lockdown and told citizens “you cannot leave your home unless you are doing it for one of four reasons: shopping for necessary goods and services; care and caregiving; exercise; and essential work.”32
Protests across Melbourne against the new restrictions resulted in several arrests. The protesters urged Australians to “make your voices heard” because, they said, the people cannot endure another lockdown. One demonstrator held a sign that said, “This All Ends When We Say NO!”33
Canada: March of the Rebellious and Walk for Freedom

On March 13, 2021, in Quebec, Canada, thousands of people chanting “liberte” held a “March of the Rebellious” in opposition to Canada’s COVID strict curfews and other lockdown measures.34 The demonstrators asked the Quebec government to support the need for all its COVID-19 health regulations with published scientific reports and “allow people to make informed decisions about vaccines.”
Several people were arrested and tickets issued for failure to wear masks or to social distance. Hundreds of Canadians in the province of Alberta participated in a “Walk for Freedom” demonstration in Calgary on March 20, 2021. Like the protest in Quebec, their goal was to communicate opposition to ongoing pandemic public health restrictions.35 No tickets were issued or arrests made.
Several hundred residents of North Bay in Ontario, Canada, gathered at the North Bay waterfront holding banners that said “No More Lockdowns” and “No Vaccines” and called for an end to pandemic lockdowns and restoration of people’s freedoms.36
Germany: ‘We Are the People’

On March 20, 2021, more than 20,000 German citizens rallied in protest against pandemic lockdown restrictions in the city of Kassel, clashing with police in riot gear. Many of the protesters were chanting “Wir sind das Volk” — “We are the people” — a slogan that was used by protesters calling for and to the Berlin Wall and communist East Germany.37
According to Deutsche Welle(DW), some protesters tried to break through a police barrier, and police used mace and batons in scuffles with protesters and then used water cannons to disperse some demonstrators outside the area authorized for the rally. Police had warned that the demonstration would be broken up if protesters did not wear masks or social distance.38
Britain: ‘Stop Destroying Our Kids’ Lives’

On March 20, 2021, 10,000 British citizens holding banners with slogans like “Stop Destroying our Kids Lives” and “Fake Pandemic” marched in London against COVID pandemic rules that prohibit groups to gather together and engage in public protests for any reason.39 A number of demonstrators were arrested for violating pandemic restrictions on public protests.
According to AP/AFP, the march took place after “more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding that the government change the law and allow protests to take place even when pandemic restrictions bar other types of gatherings.” The letter was coordinated by Liberty and Big Brother Watch, two civil rights groups.40 There also were demonstrations in Newcastle and Manchester.
According to Britain’s Daily Mail, hundreds of protesters in Manchester marched to police headquarters, characterizing the COVID lockdown as a “crime against humanity,” while one of the groups marching through the center of London, Jam For Freedom, emphasized the need to avoid violence, reportedly instructing its members to: ‘Stay tight, stay aware, stay peaceful and polite.’41
France: Thousands Ignore New Lockdown Rules

On the weekend of March 20, 2021, thousands of protesters gathered in Marseille and Paris to oppose new COVID lockdown orders announced by the government. Many Parisians ignored the order and gathered outdoors in parks and promenades to enjoy the warm spring weekend, while more than 6,500 gathered in Marseille to attend a rule-breaking street carnival.42
Under the new restrictions in France, people are not required to spend most of the day confined at home, but “non-essential” shops are closed and people’s movements are confined to a six-mile radius from their home residence.
Finland: ‘Let the People Speak!’

On March 20, about 400 people without masks marched through city streets to the parliament building in Helsinki, Finland carrying signs like “Let the people speak!” and “Facts and numbers don’t add up.” Police said the marchers protesting the government’s COVID restrictions violated social distancing requirements and crowd limits on public gatherings but was peaceful.43
Romania: Parents, Protect Your Children!

Romania’s capital of Bucharest saw more than a thousand protesters opposing mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. According to an AP/AFP report, “the largely maskless crowd honked horns, waved national flags and chanted messages such as ‘Block vaccination’ and ‘Freedom.’ One placard read: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear!”44
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/09/lockdown-protests-flare-up-around-the-world.aspx

It was about one year ago, in spring 2020, when the jokes about the “quarantine 15” weight gain began making the rounds.1 But, one year later, one study2 shows that this estimation may be slightly lower than reality.

According to the Trust for America’s Health State of Obesity 2020 report,3 42.4% of U.S. adults are obese, which is the first time the national rate has topped 40%. The data also showed there were 12 states with a rate above 35%.

To put this into perspective, the overall rate has increased 26% from a mere 13 years ago (2008) and in 2012, there was no state with a rate above 35%. Childhood obesity is also growing, with the latest information showing 19.3% of young people ages 2 to 19 are obese, as compared to 5.5% in the mid-1970s.

Yet, these are only the obesity statistics and do not include the percentage of the population that is also overweight. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed that there is another 30.7% of adults who are overweight and 9.2% who were severely obese (BMI over 40).4 This means that 73.1% of the population is overweight, obese or severely obese.

New data gathered during 2020, reveals these rates may be even higher in the next NHANES survey, increasing the number of people who experience higher risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, mental illness and all-cause mortality.5

Americans Gained Weight Steadily During 2020

The results of a small longitudinal cohort study6 found participants experienced a consistent weight gain of 0.27 kg (0.59 pounds) every 10 days. The results were gathered from 269 participants in the Health eHeart Study.

They volunteered to report their weight using their Fitbit or iHealth smart scale. The cohort was not fully representative of the general public as they resided in 37 states and the District of Columbia, 48.3% were men, 77% were white, and their mean age was 51.9. At the end of the study, the researchers had 7,444 separate weight measurements spanning February 1, 2020, to June 1, 2020.

This offered data before lockdowns were in place, as well as after. Dr. Gregory Marcus, senior author of the study, expressed concern the trending weight gain, which totaled 1.5 pounds per month, may extend after the lockdown restrictions had ended.7

Over the course of one year, this would have totaled 20 pounds. He noted that many of those being tracked had been losing weight prior to the lockdown orders. Speaking to The New York Times, he said:

“It’s reasonable to assume these individuals are more engaged with their health in general, and more disciplined and on top of things. That suggests we could be underestimating — that this is the tip of the iceberg.

We know that weight gain is a public health problem in the U.S. already, so anything making it worse is definitely concerning, and shelter-in-place orders are so ubiquitous that the sheer number of people affected by this makes it extremely relevant.”

Marcus went on to hypothesize that the weight gain was likely related to a lack of physical activity and greater accessibility to food while working at home. Since working remotely may become the new norm after the pandemic is behind us, he suggests a focus on mitigating “work-from-home-related adverse health effects.”8

A second survey by the American Psychological Association (APA)9 was conducted by the Harris poll, providing data for this year’s Stress in America survey. Information was gathered from February 19, 2021, to February 24, 2021, among 3,013 adults over 18 who lived in the U.S.

The data revealed that 61% of the adults surveyed reported experiencing an undesired weight change, either weight gain or loss, since the start of the pandemic. Overall, 42% told the surveyor they had gained more weight than intended, and the average gain was 29 pounds.

When the information was broken out by generation,10 the results revealed that of those surveyed who reported an undesired weight change, 48% of Millennials had an average gain of 41 pounds. Baby Boomers had reported the least amount gained, 16 pounds, and there wasn’t enough sample size of adults over age 76 to report the average amount of unwanted weight gain or loss.

Focus on Health Not Shame

Many health experts are concerned this growing waistline trend will contribute to the rising rates of obesity and health conditions associated with it — including poor outcomes from a COVID-19 infection. Yet others — including health websites such as Healthline — are encouraging people to accept their new weight and the health risks that go along with it with rationalizations such as:11,12

Dieting is not without risk as it can lead to eating disorders or nutritional deficiencies
Your body image struggles are a brain issue, not a body issue
We need a war on weight stigma, not “obesity”
You deserve to experience joy at every size — and you can
You shouldn’t be ashamed of those extra pounds

Weight is a sensitive topic and shame should never be a part of the conversation but, still, while you can’t control the opinion of others and the unreasonable body image promoted by the modeling industry, it’s important instead to focus on your health and wellness.

Dr. Mark Hyman, author and head of strategy and innovation at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, spoke with ABC News in August 2020, saying:13

“There needs to be a massive public health initiative to educate people about the need for improved nutrition in the midst of the pandemic. I think that this is such a critical moment and it’s central for us to double down on our nutritional quality in our diet, people are completely neglectful that it is a way of preventing COVID-19.”

Unfortunately, there haven’t been governmental initiatives or a focus on nutrition and exercise, both foundational to health and wellness. Instead, the media and agencies have been focused on COVID-19 “cases,” mask mandates, social distancing and lockdowns in preparation for massive vaccination programs.

Health and wellness have taken a back seat to living through chemistry. The researchers from the study published in JAMA concluded:14

“It is important to recognize the unintended health consequences SIP [shelter-in-place] can have on a population level. The detrimental health outcomes suggested by these data demonstrate a need to identify concurrent strategies to mitigate weight gain, such as encouraging healthy diets and exploring ways to enhance physical activity, as local governments consider new constraints in response to SARS-CoV-2 and potential future pandemics.”

Strategies to Mitigate Weight Gain Also Help COVID Illness

There are specific health conditions that increase your risk of severe COVID-19.15 Heart disease, obesity, severe obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cerebrovascular disease all make the list of health conditions that increase your risk of severe illness from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Many of these are ameliorated by improving your metabolic inflexibility, which British cardiologist and author Dr. Aseem Malhotra believes is another factor that significantly increases your risk of severe illness. Malhotra recognized a clear link between metabolic inflexibility and worse outcomes from the virus when data were first coming in from China and Italy.

He talked about the link between insulin resistance and cytokines storms in our interview in October 2020. According to Malhotra, the good news is that these lifestyle factors can be modified in as little as 21 days by simply changing your diet.

This focus has been sorely missed from messaging during the pandemic. The central thesis of his book is we had a pandemic of metabolic inflexibility or metabolic ill-health. There are five primary parameters of metabolic ill health, which include having:

A large waist circumference
Prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes
Prehypertension or hypertension (high blood pressure)
High blood triglycerides
Low HDL cholesterol

As we discussed in the interview in the link above, Malhotra has found from the data that metabolic syndrome can as much as triple the risk of fatality from COVID-19. The knowledge that weight gain and the health conditions associated with it are dangerous and increase the risk of severe COVID has made mainstream media news.

Yet, it is obvious that much of the focus is on surveillance and behavioral control. In response to the overwhelming attention on vaccinations instead of healthy lifestyle choices, Russian lawyer Jenia Finegan commented on Twitter in March:16

“If this is the case, should we not have mandatory weight passports? Mandatory exercise and compulsory weight management programmes? Close all fast food outlets? No job for those refusing to lose weight? What else?”

Weight Gain Is Only One Consequence of Lockdown Orders

The global lockdown was reportedly initiated to protect the general public, and yet experts agree that this policy may well have been one of the biggest public health mistakes ever made.17 Thousands of doctors, concerned citizens and scientists have grave concerns over the damaging mental health and physical health impacts from mask mandates and lockdowns.18

Many are calling for focused protection, as communicated in the Great Berrington Declaration. As of March 26, 2021, 42,059 medical practitioners and 767,577 concerned citizens have signed the declaration.19

The authors note worse cardiovascular disease outcomes, deteriorating mental health and fewer cancer screenings20 as some of the health concerns arising from lockdown policies that are producing devastating effects on public health.

Lockdowns in New Zealand have cost the country at least $10 billion without reducing the number of deaths.21 An analysis22 of nonpharmaceutical interventions, including business closures and mandatory stay-at-home orders in 10 countries, revealed there was no clear significant beneficial effect in countries where more restrictive policies were used as compared to those with less restrictive policies.

Another consequence of the pandemic has been a loss of personal freedom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention inflated the mortality statistics by 1,670%,23,24 which has likely contributed to the growing fear and increasing compliance of society to accept less personal freedom and more surveillance as the “new normal.”

Lockdowns have even taken a toll on pet eating habits and activity levels, which in turn has resulted in a higher number of overweight and obese dogs and cats. According to one study,25 “more than 71% of pet professionals say the pandemic has impacted the way pets eat.”

The survey also showed that 33% of pet owners said their pet became overweight during 2020. Most likely, the weight gain was a result of pet parents spoiling their pets, giving treats more often as a form of love. Pictures of morbidly obese dogs have also made the news.26 One commenter said:27

“I managed to avoid weight gain, but my pets did not. Instead of reaching for a snack every time I went into the kitchen, apparently, I was always reaching for a cat treat … Ever try to put 3 20-pound cats on a diet?”

Consider These Tips to Eat Healthy and Start Moving

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown changed many people’s activity levels. While it may not have seemed like much, walking up and down the stairs, going to meetings and grabbing coffee with a friend all meant being slightly more active than sitting in front of a computer at home all day.

Even those small steps can add up to big results. Added to a lack of activity, is a rising level of anxiety, greater access to food just steps away in the kitchen and increasing boredom.

If you need to lose weight, I recommend adopting a cyclical ketogenic diet, which involves radically limiting carbs (replacing them with healthy fats and moderate amounts of protein) until you’re close to or at your ideal weight, ultimately allowing your body to burn fat — not carbohydrates — as its primary fuel.

This includes avoiding all ultraprocessed foods and also limiting added sugars to a maximum of 25 grams per day (15 grams a day If you’re insulin resistant or diabetic). KetoFasting, the program I developed and detail in my book, “KetoFast: A Step-By-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals,” combines a cyclical ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting with cyclical partial fasting to optimize weight, health and longevity.

In addition, each of the factors below can contribute to eating just a little bit more and moving just a little bit less. Consider using the accompanying tips to begin making healthier choices.

• Create a daily routine — It’s important to get up at the same time each morning, and work to get seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night. Plan your meals for the day, including the timing of your meals and any healthy snacks, and get dressed every day.

Loose fitting sweats or shorts make it easier to ignore weight gain. Include exercise in your daily routine and avoid sitting for long periods. If you work at a computer, stand instead of sitting for the majority of your day. If your favorite gym is closed, consider other forms of activity like walking, hiking, biking, dancing or an exercise tape.

Incorporate the Nitric Oxide Dump two to three times a day to raise your activity level and take advantage of the extra nitric oxide released during the short routine.

• Manage your stress — Unfortunately, many use food as comfort during times of stress. This only increases the difficulty in maintaining a healthy weight. Instead, consider exercise, yoga, meditation, connecting with friends or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). You’ll find a library of demonstrations at this link, including EFT for stress and anxiety.

• Be mindful — It’s easy to overeat and over snack when you’re watching television or visiting with friends. Avoid eating or grabbing a snack while you’re driving, watching television or working. When you’re busy, it’s also easy to underestimate how much you’re eating each day.

• Change your routine — Steer clear of settings or situations you associate with overeating. After a stress-filled day, avoid the gallon of ice cream in the freezer or the six-pack in the refrigerator. Instead, consider meditating, a soak in a hot tub or a walk with the dog.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/07/americans-getting-plump-during-lockdown.aspx

As predicted last year, vaccine passports are being rolled out across the world, including the U.S. As reported by Ron Paul in his Liberty Report,1,2 which streamed live March 29, 2021, the Biden Administration is “seriously looking into establishing some kind of federal vaccine passport system, where Americans who cannot (or will not) prove to the government they have been jabbed with the experimental vaccine will be legally treated as second-class citizens.”
Paul warns that this system “will quickly morph into a copy of China’s ‘social credit’ system, where undesirable behaviors are severely punished.” I’ve been saying the same thing for many months now, and there’s every reason to suspect that this is indeed where we’re headed.
Indeed, listen to Ilana Rachel Daniel’s emotional plea from Jerusalem, Israel, where a “Green Pass” is now required if you want to enter any number of public venues and participate in society. Daniel, who emigrated from the U.S. to Israel 25 years ago, is a health adviser, activist and information officer for a new political human rights party called Rappeh.
The COVID-19 data simply don’t support the rollout of this kind of draconian measure, as the virus is clearly in decline and has become endemic in most parts of the world. In the absence of a serious, truly massively lethal threat (which COVID-19 isn’t), having to show vaccine papers in order to travel and enter certain social venues is clearly more about imposing top-down government control than actually safeguarding public health.
We’re Looking at the End of Human Liberty in the West

Mandatory vaccine passports will be massively discriminating, and are quite frankly senseless, considering the so-called COVID-19 “vaccines” don’t work like vaccines. They’re designed to lessen symptoms when the inoculated person gets infected, but they do not actually prevent them from getting infected in the first place, and they don’t prevent the spread of the virus.
As such, vaccine passports are nothing but loyalty cards, proving you’ve submitted to being a lab rat for an experimental injection and nothing more, because in reality, vaccinated individuals are no safer than unvaccinated ones. It’s a truly mindboggling ruse, and unless enough people are able to see it for what it is, the world will rather literally be turned into a prison planet.
In Israel … we’re hearing from activists that it’s a two-tiered society and that basically, activists are ostracized and surveilled continually. It is the end of civil society, and they are trying to roll it out around the world. ~ Naomi Wolf
As noted by former Clinton adviser and author Naomi Wolf (whom I hope to interview in the near future), mandatory COVID-19 passports would spell the “end of human liberty in the West.” In a March 28, 2021, interview with Fox News’ Steve Hilton, she said:3,4

“‘Vaccine passport’ sounds like a fine thing if you don’t understand what those platforms can do. I’m [the] CEO of a tech company, I understand what these platforms can do. It is not about the vaccine, it’s not about the virus, it’s about your data.

Once this rolls out, you don’t have a choice about being part of the system. What people have to understand is that any other functionality can be loaded onto that platform with no problem at all. It can be merged with your Paypal account, with your digital currency. Microsoft is already talking about merging it with payment plans.

Your network can be sucked up. It geolocates you everywhere you go. You credit history can be included. All of your medical and health history can be included.

This has already happened in Israel, and six months later, we’re hearing from activists that it’s a two-tiered society and that basically, activists are ostracized and surveilled continually. It is the end of civil society, and they are trying to roll it out around the world.

It is absolutely so much more than a vaccine pass … I cannot stress enough that it has the power to turn off your life, or to turn on your life, to let you engage in society or be marginalized.”

Largest Medical Experiment in the History of the World
As noted by Donald Rucker, who led the Trump Administration’s health IT office, the individual tracking that goes along with the vaccine passport will also help officials to evaluate the effectiveness and long-term safety of the vaccines. He told The Washington Post:5

“The tracking of vaccinations is not just simply for vaccine passports. The tracking of vaccinations is a broader issue of ‘we’re giving a novel biologic agent to the entire country,’ more or less.”

In other words, health officials know full well that this mass vaccination campaign is a roll of the dice. It’s the largest medical experiment in the history of the world, and vaccine certificates will allow them to track all of the millions of test subjects. This alone should be cause enough to end all discussions about vaccine mandates, yet the experimental nature of these injections is being completely ignored.
Again, by shaming people who have concerns about participating in a medical experiment and threatening to bar them from society, government officials are proving that this is not for the greater good. It’s not about public health. It’s about creating loyal subjects — people who are literally willing to sacrifice their life and the life of their children at the request of the government, no questions asked.
Vaccinations Are the New ‘Purity Test’

Wolf also points out the horrific history of IBM, which developed a similar but less sophisticated system of punch cards that allowed Nazi Germany to create a two-tier society and ultimately facilitated the rounding up of Jews for extermination. I will be publishing an entire article about this in a couple of days.
Suffice it to say, some of the most gruesome parts of history are now repeating right before our eyes, and we must not turn away from this ugly truth. Doing so may turn out to be far more lethal than COVID-19 ever was.

The short video above features a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor who compares mask wearing to, as a Jew, having to wear a yellow star to mark their societal status. However, back then, everyone understood what was happening, she says.
At no point were they lied to and told that wearing the star was for their own good, which is what’s happening now. So, in that respect, the current situation is far more insidious. She says the “hypocrisy in the public narrative,” which claims that we need to wear masks to protect the old, “is absolutely unbearable.” “I would love to die in a state [of] freedom,” she says, “than live like this.”
She adds that at her age, her life expectancy is short, and she would gladly exchange her death for the life and happiness of the next generations. She wants the younger generations to have the freedom “to live their lives, as I have lived mine.” “To see people defile their children with masks is something totally unbearable to me,” she says. Vaccine credentials, in my view, are even more comparable to the Jewish yellow star, but in reverse.
Not having the certificate will be the yellow star of our day, which will allow business owners, government officials and just about anyone else, to treat you like a second-class citizen and deny you access to everything from education, work and travel, to recreation, social engagements and daily commerce — all under the false guise of you being a biological threat to all those who have been vaccinated.
According to the public narrative, vaccine certificates are a key aspect of getting life back to normal, but the reality is the complete converse, as they will usher in a markedly different society that is anything but normal.
Florida Bucks the Trend

As a resident of Florida, I must applaud Gov. Ron DeSantis who announced March 29, 2021,6 he will issue an executive order forbidding local governments and businesses from requiring vaccine certificates. He’s further calling on the state legislature to create a measure that will allow him to sign it into law.

“It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply participate in normal society,” he said.

States and countries that do decide on such a requirement are also bound to face the problem of black market vaccination certificates, which have already started emerging.7,8
As reported by the Daily Beast,9,10 a number of health care workers have been caught bragging about forging vaccination cards on their social media channels. Apparently, they have not yet realized the public nature of the internet, but that’s beside the point.
In Florida, a man working at a web design company was fired after posting a TikTok video advertising fake vaccine cards,11 and in Israel, where the two-tier society is already forming, a man was recently arrested for making and selling forged COVID-19 vaccination certificates, which are now required for entry into restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, swimming pools and other public venues throughout the country.12
Around the world, people are also being arrested for administering fake vaccines13,14,15,16,17 and selling bogus COVID-19 tests.18,19
Eugenics and Hygiene Obsessions
While it’s often considered bad policy to compare anything to the Nazi regime, the comparisons are growing more readily identifiable by the day, which makes them hard to avoid.
Aside from the parallels that can be drawn between mask wearing and/or vaccine “papers” and the Jewish yellow star, there’s the Nazi’s four-step process for dehumanizing the Jews,20 — prejudice, scapegoating, discrimination and persecution — a process that indoctrinated the German people into agreeing with, or at least going along with the plan to commit genocide.
In present day, the public narrative is not only building prejudice against people who refuse to wear masks or get an experimental vaccine, but is also using healthy people as scapegoats from the very beginning, blaming the spread of the virus on asymptomatically infected people.
With the rollout of vaccine certificates, we are stepping firmly into discrimination territory. The last step will entail persecution of non-vaccinated individuals. This in and of itself also harkens back to the Nazi regime, which was obsessed with “health guidelines” that eventually led to the mass-purging of “unclean” Jews. As reported by Gina Florio in a December 2020 Evie Magazine article:21

“When Hitler first came to power in Nazi Germany, he kicked off a series of public health schemes. He started by setting up health screenings all over the country, sending vans around to every neighborhood to conduct tuberculosis testing, etc.

Next up was factory cleanliness — he launched a robust campaign encouraging factories to completely revamp their space, thoroughly clean every corner … After the factories, the next mission was cleaning up the asylums …

What started as seemingly innocent or well-meaning public health campaigns quickly spiraled into an extermination of races and groups of people who were considered dirty or disgusting. In short, the beginning of Hitler’s reign was a constant expansion of who was contaminated and who was impure …

We’re seeing an obsession with covering our faces all the time so we don’t spread disease or deadly germs; most public places we walk into won’t even allow us to enter without slathering our hands in hand sanitizer; and people act terrified of someone who isn’t wearing a mask.

Nobody can say with a straight face that this is normal behavior … We’re even seeing people advocate for some kind of tracking device to show that a person is vaccinated or ‘clean’ enough to enter a venue … Let’s hope we can all learn the lessons from the past and we don’t witness history repeat itself.”

History Is Repeating Itself

Indeed, everyone calling for vaccine certificates — which became part of the public narrative early on in the pandemic — is guilty of following in the well-worn footsteps of this infamous dictator, repeating the very same patterns that were universally condemned after the fall of the Third Reich.
Highlighting them all would be too great a task for one article, so two glaring examples will have to suffice. In December 2020, Andrew Yang, an entrepreneurial attorney with political ambitions, tweeted the following:22

“Is there a way for someone to easily show that they have been vaccinated — like a bar code they can download to their phone? There ought to be … Tough to have mass gatherings like concerts or ballgames without either mass adoption of the vaccine or a means of signaling.”

Signaling what, if not your “unclean” biohazard state? In his March 2021 Tweet, law professor, political commentator and former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Harry Litman, was more direct about the ill intent behind vaccine certificates, saying:23

“Vaccine passports are a good idea. Among other things, it will single out the still large contingent of people who refuse vaccines, who will be foreclosed from doing a lot of things their peers can do. That should help break the resistance down.”

Comments like these demonstrate that vaccine passports are about creating justification for segregation, discrimination and elimination of certain groups of people, in this case, people who don’t want to be part of the experimental vaccine program.
The justification is that they’re too “unclean,” too “unsafe” to freely participate in public society and must therefore be identified and shut out. In reality, it’s really about identifying the noncompliant.
During the Nazi reign, those slated for segregation, discrimination and elimination were identified by their affiliation with Judaism (there’s controversy as to whether Jewishness is an issue of race, ethnicity, religion, national identity or familial bonds, which you can learn more about on JewInTheCity.com,24 but all were relevant criteria in the Nazi’s hunt for Jews).
Today, the global elimination strategy foregoes such identities, and focuses instead on identifying who will go along with the program and who will be a noncompliant troublemaker.
In short, vaccine passports are a device to identify who the loyal subjects of the unelected elite are, and who aren’t. Those unwilling to enter the new world of technocratic rule without a fuss are the ones that need to be eliminated, and willingness to be a test subject for an unproven experimental treatment is the litmus test. It’s really not more complicated than that.
Are You Ready To Be an Outcast?
This is essentially the conclusion drawn by Mike Whitney as well, detailed in a recent article25 posted on The Unz Review. I would encourage you to read the entire article as it succinctly summarizes the reasons behind the current censorship. I’ve reached out to Whitney and hope to be able to interview him about this in the near future.
In his article, he points out that behavioral psychologists have been employed by the government to promote the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and maximize vaccine uptake. They also have a “rapid response team” in place to attack the opinions of those who question the “official narrative.”
Mike also highlights a National Institutes of Health report26 titled, “COVID-19 Vaccination Communication: Applying Behavioral and Social Science to Address Vaccine Hesitancy and Foster Vaccine Confidence,” which lays out the intent to turn vaccine refusers into social outcasts as a tool to coerce compliance.

“This is very scary stuff,” Whitney writes.27 “Agents of the state now identify critics of the COVID vaccine as their mortal enemies. How did we get here? And how did we get to the point where the government is targeting people who don’t agree with them? This is way beyond Orwell. We have entered some creepy alternate universe …

If behavioral psychologists helped to shape the government’s strategy on mass vaccination, then in what other policies were they involved? Were these the ‘professionals’ who conjured up the pandemic restrictions?

Were the masks, the social distancing and the lockdowns all promoted by ‘experts’ as a way to undermine normal human relations and inflict the maximum psychological pain on the American people?

Was the intention to create a weak and submissive population that would willingly accept the dismantling of democratic institutions, the dramatic restructuring of the economy, and the imposition of a new political order? These questions need to be answered …

Vaccination looks to be the defining issue of the next few years at least. And those who resist the edicts of the state will increasingly find themselves on the outside; outcasts in their own country.”

Will You Obey?

As detailed in “Will You Obey the Criminal Authoritarians?” the 1962 Milgram Experiment (embedded above for your convenience), tested the limits of human obedience to authority, proving most people will simply follow orders, even when those orders go against their own sound judgment. They’ll commit atrocious acts of violence against others simply because they were told it’s OK by an authority figure.
We’ve already seen examples of this during the past year’s mask mandates. Suddenly, people felt empowered to verbally harass, pepper spray and physically attack others simply for not wearing a mask. Families were kicked off planes because their toddlers wouldn’t wear a mask. People were even shot for the grievous “crime” of not wearing a mask.
If those things were allowed to happen over mask wearing, one can only imagine what will be tolerated, if not encouraged, when vaccine certificates take full effect. The most obvious answer is to take a firm stand against devolution into inhumanity, regardless of whether you think COVID-19 vaccinations are a good idea or not. The question is, will you? In many ways, the months and years ahead will test the ethics and humanity of every single one of us.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/06/vaccines-are-the-new-purity-test.aspx

While much of the world slowed to a halt during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, one thing remained steady — lobbying efforts. Spending on lobbying reached $3.48 billion in 2020, which is just under 2019’s record of $3.5 billion.1 The numbers were revealed by OpenSecrets.org, which tracks federal campaign contributions and lobbying data.

The health sector spent the most on lobbying in 2020 — a record $615 million. The efforts paid off, and, Open Secrets reported, “Congress delivered massive windfalls to hospitals and the federal government awarded lucrative contracts to pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.”2

Spending on pharmaceutical industry lobbying also reached a record amount in 2020, at more than $306 million, compared to $299 million in 2019.3

PhRMA: Top Pharmaceutical Lobbyist for 2020

There were 1,502 pharmaceutical lobbyists in 2020, 63.58% of whom were former government employees.4 A revolving door, in which government employees and former members of Congress take jobs with lobbying firms, is common among lobbyists, and the reverse also occurs, in which people from the private sector end up in government positions.

The top pharmaceutical lobbyist in 2020 was the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which spent $25.9 million,5 making them the third top lobbying spender overall, behind only the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.6 PhRMA also runs the nonprofit PhRMA Foundation, which gives grants for research that can be funneled all the way to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA does not accept corporate money, but it does receive money funneled to them via nonprofit foundations, which may receive money from other nonprofits funded by private interests, including PhRMA. Take, for instance, the Reagan-Udall Foundation, a nonprofit foundation created by Congress in 2007 to support scientific research that is of interest to the FDA.

The Reagan-Udall Foundation said it would only accept grants from government, individual donors and other nonprofits, not industry, but in 2010 it received a $150,000 grant from the PhRMA Foundation which, being a nonprofit, technically fit the definition of an acceptable funding source, even though it’s founded and funded by drug companies.7

Other Top Big Pharma Lobbyists in 2020

After PhRMA, other top pharmaceutical lobbyists in 2020 included:8

Biotechnology Innovation Organization — $12.56 million
Amgen — $11.15 million

Pfizer — $10.87 million
Roche Holdings — $10.87 million

AbbVie — $7.07 million
Gilead Sciences — $7.03 million

Merck — $6.98 million
Pharmaceutical Care Management Association — $6.92 million

Bayer — $6.70 million
Novartis — $6.15 million

Eli Lilly & Co. — $5.83 million
Horizon Therapeutics — $5.76 million

Johnson & Johnson — $5.57 million
Bristol-Myers Squibb — $5.39 million

Medtronic — $5 million

Lobbying was heavy during the first quarter, when industries were eager to influence the first COVID-19 stimulus package.9 Many of the lobbyists also had close ties to congressional leaders. According to Open Secrets:10

“Over 1,000 clients dispatched lobbyists with close ties to the White House or congressional leaders through the first half of 2020. About 40 percent of those clients reported lobbying on issues related to the pandemic.

Pharmaceutical companies that received massive windfalls from the federal government to swiftly develop COVID-19 vaccines deployed Washington insiders. So did firms tasked with producing ventilators, and businesses in hard-hit industries angling for government aid. Companies that had not lobbied during the … administration — or ever before — signed contracts with K Street firms.

The vast majority of these clients are businesses or trade associations, which make up nearly 90 percent of lobbying spending this year. The success of revolving door lobbyists indicates that powerful interests saw former aides to top officials as their best chance to influence high-level negotiations that mostly sidelined rank-and-file lawmakers.”

Big Pharma Lobbying on the Rise

Annual lobbying on pharmaceuticals and health products has been on the rise since 2013,11 and in 2019 the pharmaceutical industry was the top lobbying group in Washington, spending far more than any other industry. Among their top priorities that year was fiercely opposing a bill that would reduce drug costs.12

From 2018 to 2019, some major increases were noted, including for Akebia Therapeutics, which manufactures drugs for kidney disease. Their spending increased from $110,000 in 2018,13 to $1.8 million in 2019,14 and $1.6 million in 2020.15 AbbVie, which manufactures Humira, has also steadily increased spending, from $4.3 million in 2018 to $5.4 million in 2019,16 reaching over $7 million in 2020.17

“That spending,” Open Secrets noted, “comes on top of the industry’s many ad campaigns designed to influence lawmakers and the general public. The industry fights threatening legislation in creative ways, including funding prominent but unrelated associations to push pro-industry messages on the airwaves.”18

PhRMA, for instance, funds the Partnership for Safe Medicines, which is a nonprofit group that claims to be in place to protect Americans from the sale of dangerous counterfeit drugs. In reality, it’s another industry front group, which in 2019 used at least $900,000 in grants to pay for a series of television commercials aimed at stopping the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from other countries.

The ads featured sheriffs warning people of the “dangers” of importing drugs with “loose foreign safeguards,” and claimed to be paid for by the National Sheriffs’ Association. They falsely gave the impression that law enforcement was widely against the less expensive drug imports but, in reality, the Partnership for Safe Medicines, funded by PhRMA, had given the National Sheriffs’ Association the grants to fund the industry-backed commercials.19

$30 Billion Spent on Medical Marketing

The marketing of prescription drugs, health services, laboratory tests and even disease awareness is big business in the U.S., and spending has been on a steady uphill climb since 1997. That year, spending on medical marketing was $17.7 billion, which rose to $29.9 billion in 2016.20

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) spending increased the most rapidly, from 11.9% of total spending to 32%. DTC prescription drug ads accounted for $6 billion in spending alone in 2016, which amounted to 4.6 million ads, including 663,000 television commercials, mostly for high-cost biologics and cancer immunotherapies.

Disease awareness campaigns, meanwhile, are actually marketing campaigns run by pharmaceutical companies geared at diseases treated by their drugs. Such campaigns rose in numbers from 44 in 1997 to 401 in 2016, with spending increasing from $177 million to $430 million over the same period.

DTC marketing for health services also rose from $542 million to $2.9 billion, with spending increases particularly notable for hospitals, dental centers, cancer centers, mental health and addiction clinics and medical services, such as home health care.21

Aside from DTC advertising, Big Pharma is still marketing directly to health professionals — an area that accounted for the most professional spending, according to a JAMA study on medical marketing in the U.S.22

“Pharmaceutical marketing to health professionals accounted for most spending and remains high even with new policies to limit industry influence,” the researchers, from The Dartmouth Institute’s Center for Medicine in the Media, noted. “Despite the increase in marketing over 20 years, regulatory oversight remains limited.”23

Gates and Wellcome Trust Use WHO to Swindle the World

The Wellcome Trust is a top funder of health research globally and has been a major player in the COVID-19 pandemic, including co-leading a WHO program to develop new COVID-19 therapeutics.24 However, the Wellcome Trust25 is part of the technocratic globalist network. Wellcome is the largest charity in the U.K. that funds “innovative biomedical research.” It was formed in 1936 after the death of Sir Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical pioneer and progressive industrialist.

Their board consists of present or former bankers, insurance executives and investment board members. Sir Henry Wellcome, while still alive, founded the company that went on to become GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), so the Wellcome Trust is essentially the “philanthropic arm” of GSK.

In a BMJ investigation, journalist Tim Schwab points out that the charity’s Big Pharma investments overlap with its research efforts, such that, “The major funder of health research stands to gain financially from the pandemic, raising questions about transparency and accountability.”26

While leading the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator project to deliver COVID-19 treatment options, Wellcome has invested heavily in the companies making the treatments. This includes $389 million in Novartis, which manufacturers dexamethasone, and $347 million in Roche, which is manufacturing monoclonal antibodies.

“Both Roche and Novartis report having had conversations with WHO’s ACT Accelerator about their therapeutic drugs,” BMJ reported, adding:27

“Wellcome’s financial interests have been published on the trust’s website and through financial regulatory filings but do not seem to have been disclosed as financial conflicts of interest in the context of Wellcome’s work on covid-19, even as they show that the trust is positioned to potentially gain from the pandemic financially.”

Profiting From the Pandemic Response

Wellcome’s director, Jeremy Farrar, also has a position on the U.K.’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, which advises the government on COVID-19, as well as a board seat with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which gave $1 billion to COVID-19 vaccine development.

While Farrar has spoken publicly on the benefits of specific COVID-19 drugs, Wellcome is heavily invested in companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and reported gains of $4.5 billion from its investments in 2020, which the BMJ notes is “three times more money than the trust gave away in charity.”28

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also in line to profit from its role in the pandemic response, as it has more than $250 million invested in COVID-19-related companies. Despite their financial interests in the “solutions” they’re touting, the Gates Foundation and Wellcome have been regarded favorably in the media for their role in pandemic response efforts.

The BMJ quoted Joel Lexchin, Professor Emeritus of York University’s school of health policy and management in Toronto, who stated:29

“What the pandemic is doing is buffing the reputation of organisations like Gates and Wellcome and the drug companies, when I don’t think they really deserve that buffing up.

I think they’re acting the way they always have, which is, from the drug companies’ point of view, looking after their own financial interests, and from the point of view of the foundations is pursuing their own privately developed objectives without being responsible to anybody but their own boards of directors.”

The fact remains that, via their extensive lobbying efforts and marketing, Big Pharma is continuing to grow ever more powerful, as are the foundations connected to them.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/06/big-pharma-lobbying.aspx

From 1973 to 2011, men experienced a 50% to 60% decline in sperm counts, according to a 2017 study by Shanna Swan, Ph.D., an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and colleagues.1
For more than two decades, Swan has been warning of an impending fertility crisis, one that’s often blamed on lifestyle or the choice to delay childbearing but which she says is being driven by environmental chemicals.
“I am not saying other factors aren’t involved. But I am saying chemicals play a major causal role,” she told The Guardian.2
Her book, “Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race,” goes into detail about how the modern world is not only threatening sperm counts but also altering reproductive development in males and females,3 and in so doing “imperiling the future of the human race.”4
Infertile World: By 2045, Sperm Counts Could Be Zero

According to Swan, if the curve of declining sperm counts from the 2017 study continues, by 2045 the median sperm count will be zero. “It is speculative to extrapolate, but there is also no evidence that it is tapering off. This means that most couples may have to use assisted reproduction,” she said.5
One reason why Swan believes environmental chemicals are to blame is that her research has shown younger women have experienced greater declines in the ability to have children than older women.6,7 This suggests that it’s not only aging or choosing to put off starting a family until later in life that’s involved. Miscarriage rates have also been on the rise, increasing at a relative rate of 2% per year from 1990 to 2011.8
“Count Down” brings some disturbing findings into the spotlight, like the fact that a significant part of the global population may not be able to reproduce without technological assistance come 2050.9 And, the book suggests, men today have about half the number of sperm compared to their grandfathers.
“In some parts of the world, the average twenty-something woman today is less fertile than her grandmother was at 35,” Swan wrote in her book. “The current state of reproductive affairs can’t continue much longer without threatening human survival … It’s a global existential crisis.”10
Environmental Chemicals Wreaking Havoc With Hormones

Environmental chemicals that interfere with hormones — known as hormone disrupters — are at the crux of the problem. The worst chemicals, Swan told The Guardian, are “those that can interfere with or mimic the body’s sex hormones – such as testosterone and estrogen – because these make reproduction possible. They can make the body think it has enough of a particular hormone and it doesn’t need to make any more, so production goes down.”11
Chemical exposure during pregnancy has been found to affect both masculinization and long-term fertility in males. In the wild, fish, frogs and reptiles are also increasingly being born with both ovaries and testes.12
Research published in PLOS Genetics13 also found that exposing male mice to ethinyl estradiol, a synthetic sex hormone found in birth control pills, causes developmental problems in the reproductive tract, thereby lowering sperm counts (men may be exposed to birth control pills through contaminated water and other sources).
Part of the problem is that hormone-disrupting chemicals are ubiquitous and are found in everything from food, drinking water and household goods to personal care products, cleaning products, nonstick cookware and plastics.
Much of the damage occurs in early pregnancy during crucial developmental windows, when the fetus is first forming and cells are rapidly dividing. Exposure then continues with accumulating exposures throughout life, and, worse still, the damage that occurs can be passed on to future generations.
“A female fetus, in utero,” Swan explained, “is growing the eggs that she will use to have her own children. These chemicals can make their way to those germ cells, too.”14 The PLOS Genetics study also demonstrated generational effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals, with effects worsening with each subsequent generation until, by the third generations, some of the animals could not produce any sperm.15
The 1% Effect

An alarming synergy is occurring as well, which “Count Down” dubs “the 1% effect,” because sperm count, testosterone and fertility are dropping, and testicular cancer and miscarriage are rising, all at about 1% per year.16 Erectile dysfunction and the rate of gestational surrogacy are also increasing by about 1% a year, while the global total fertility rate dropped by close to 1% from 1960 to 2018.17
All of these concerning reproductive changes occurring in unison are not a coincidence, according to Swan. “They’re just too synchronous for that to be possible,” she wrote in Scientific American.18 Male babies may be particularly vulnerable to toxic exposures that occur during the reproductive programing window in early pregnancy.
Phthalates, chemicals used to make plastic soft, are known to lower testosterone and women’s exposure to phthalates during pregnancy is linked to male babies’ anogenital distance (AGD) — the distance from the anus to the base of the penis — with higher exposure associated with shortened AGD.19 Later in life, shorter AGD is linked with a smaller penis20 and poorer semen quality, such that Swan believes AGD at birth is predictive of adult reproductive function.21
Exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals in utero also increases the risk that male babies will be born with undescended testicles or a malformed penis, both of which increase the risk of low sperm count and testicular cancer in later life.22
Along with the dropping sperm counts, changes in sexual development pose a threat to human survival, according to Swan, who also notes that human beings already meet three of the five criteria for what makes a species endangered.23
Phthalates Among the Worst Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals
Swan cites phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA) and flame retardants as among the worst chemicals for reproductive health. Regarding phthalates, she told The Guardian:24

“They are in everybody and we are probably primarily exposed through food as we use soft plastic in food manufacture, processing and packaging. They lower testosterone and so have the strongest influences on the male side, for example diminishing sperm count, though they are bad for women, too, shown to decrease libido and increase risk of early puberty, premature ovarian failure, miscarriage and premature birth.”

An estimated 8.4 million metric tons of plasticizers, including phthalates, are used worldwide each year,25 with phthalate production amounting to about 4.9 million metric tons annually.26 The Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that 90% of those tested from 2016 to 2017 had eight different plasticizers in their urine.27
Aside from their risks to reproductive health, phthalates can also impair brain development, increasing children’s risk of learning, attention and behavioral disorders. In one example, children born to mothers that were in the highest quintile of urinary phthalate levels (specifically, DEHP metabolites) during the second trimester of pregnancy were nearly three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD compared to children born to mothers in the lowest quintile.28
Prenatal exposure to phthalates, especially metabolites of DBP and DEHP, has also been linked to a range of additional problem behaviors such as an increased likelihood of delinquent behaviors and more aggressive behaviors,29 along with reductions in child perceptual reasoning, lowered IQ by seven points, anxiety and poorer working memory.30
The widespread use of face masks could be accelerating the problem, as research accumulates that microplastics in masks, which may contain phthalates, are ending up discarded in the environment31 and may be inhaled by the wearer.32
BPA, Atrazine and Flame Retardants Also Problematic

BPA is another prevalent hormone-disrupting chemical used to harden plastics, line metal cans and make receipts. This toxic chemical has been found to change the timing of puberty, reduce fertility, increase body fat and affect the nervous and immune systems.33
“It is estrogen mimicking and so is a particularly bad actor on the female side, increasing risks of fertility challenges,” Swan told The Guardian, “but likewise it can affect men. Men occupationally exposed to BPA have shown decreased sperm quality, reduced libido and higher rates of erectile dysfunction.”34
The pesticide atrazine is another culprit. Early research by Tyrone Hayes, Ph.D., an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, hypothesized that atrazine turned on an enzyme (aromatase) that caused testosterone to be converted into estrogen.35 If you’re a male, this means that you won’t make sperm, but you will make estrogen, even though you shouldn’t.
Flame retardants are also notorious and ubiquitous toxins that have been linked to hormone-disrupting effects36 with serious repercussions for fertility, reproductive health and brain development.
Animals Grown in Mechanical Womb

Scientists are already working on how to grow life outside of a human womb and, for the first time, grew a mouse embryo in a mechanical womb for about half of a typical gestational term — a time period equal to a human embryo at 5 weeks.37
Growing mouse embryos “ex utero,” the researchers said, is a valuable tool to investigate embryonic development in detail,38 but it comes with serious ethical questions, including might humans be next?39
The answer is yes, as lead researcher Jacob Hanna, a developmental biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, already told MIT Technology Review, “This sets the stage for other species. I hope that it will allow scientists to grow human embryos until Week 5.”40
For those interested in protecting their own fertility — and that of future generations — as much as possible, avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals is essential. Toward this end, Swan recommends some simple solutions, like eating unprocessed foods that you cook yourself as much as possible, as this will reduce your exposure to plastic food packaging. She also advises:41

“[W]hen cooking, don’t use Teflon or anything coated and don’t microwave in plastic. For personal care and household products use a minimum of simple products and try to avoid those that are scented; phthalates are added to hold scent.”

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/08/humans-will-require-assisted-reproduction-mechanical-wombs.aspx

In a March 28, 2021, interview with Fox News’ Steve Hilton, former Clinton adviser and author Naomi Wolf warned that mandatory COVID-19 passports will spell the “end of human liberty in the West”:1,2

“‘Vaccine passport’ sounds like a fine thing if you don’t understand what those platforms can do,” she said. “I’m [the] CEO of a tech company, I understand what these platforms can do. It is not about the vaccine, it’s not about the virus, it’s about your data.
Once this rolls out, you don’t have a choice about being part of the system. What people have to understand is that any other functionality can be loaded onto that platform with no problem at all. It can be merged with your Paypal account, with your digital currency.
Microsoft is already talking about merging it with payment plans. Your network can be sucked up. It geolocates you everywhere you go. Your credit history can be included. All of your medical and health history can be included.
This has already happened in Israel, and six months later, we’re hearing from activists that it’s a two-tiered society and that basically, activists are ostracized and surveilled continually. It is the end of civil society, and they are trying to roll it out around the world.
It is absolutely so much more than a vaccine pass … I cannot stress enough that it has the power to turn off your life, or to turn on your life, to let you engage in society or be marginalized.”

The Forgotten History of IBM
Wolf also points out the horrific history of IBM,3 whose Digital Health Pass will tie our biometric IDs to our health data through its smartphone app. This “health pass” will then grant or deny us access to public spaces and events, based on our vaccination status.
This is essentially the modern-day version of the punch card system — the forerunner to digital entry on computers — that IBM developed for the Nazi regime, which allowed them to create a census of Jews and other undesirables, who could then be identified, tracked and sorted into groups slated for incarceration or extermination.
In no uncertain terms, IBM’s technology facilitated the Third Reich’s genocide of the Jewish nation, and IBM leadership aided and abetted the Nazi’s reign of terror with full knowledge of what it was doing.
While it’s hard to understand how a company playing such an integral role in genocide was allowed to survive past the end of the war, it’s even harder to fathom why it would be entrusted to create the same kind of system decades later.
You don’t need a tinfoil hat to wonder whether IBM might have been purposely chosen for the task of creating a “health pass” system, for the simple reason that the purpose of the system itself is near-identical to that deployed in Nazi Germany. IBM also has a relationship with the CIA,4 which has a history of mind control abuses and assassination programs.5
IBM Played Strategic Role in the Holocaust

IBM’s connection to the Third Reich is no secret, and IBM has never denied even the most incriminating details of its involvement in the holocaust. In 2001, Edwin Black, a historian and investigative author, published the book “IBM and the Holocaust,”6 in which he detailed the company’s pivotal role in this criminal tragedy.
The book was based on documentation obtained from archives in seven different countries. In 2012, Black obtained another cache of correspondence that revealed just how much IBM knew about what was going on in the Nazi concentration camps. In a February 2012 article in HuffPost, Black wrote:7

“Newly-released documents expose more explicitly the details of IBM’s pivotal role in the Holocaust — all six phases: identification, expulsion from society, confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, and even extermination.
Moreover, the documents portray with crystal clarity the personal involvement and micro-management of IBM president Thomas J. Watson in the company’s co-planning and co-organizing of Hitler’s campaign to destroy the Jews …”

The fact that Watson received a 1% commission on all business profits made from the company’s business with the Nazis may help explain his eagerness to take on such a hands-on role in this gruesome business. Black continues:

“The new ‘expanded edition’ [of ‘IBM and the Holocaust’] contains 32 pages of never-before-published internal IBM correspondence, State Department and Justice Department memos, and concentration camp documents that graphically chronicle IBM’s actions and what they knew during the 12-year Hitler regime …
Among the newly-released documents and archival materials are secret 1941 correspondence setting up the Dutch subsidiary of IBM to work in tandem with the Nazis, company President Thomas Watson’s personal approval for the 1939 release of special IBM alphabetizing machines to help organize … the deportation of Polish Jews, as well as the IBM Concentration Camp Codes including IBM’s code for death by Gas Chamber.
Among the newly published photos of the punch cards is the one developed for the statistician who reported directly to Himmler and Eichmann.”

IBM Guilty of Genocide

As explained by Black, the population census and identification of Jews were managed by IBM directly, first at its New York headquarter, and later through subsidiaries in Germany, Poland, Holland, France, Switzerland and other European countries. IBM headquarters also directed the activities of a Dutch subsidiary charged with identifying and liquidating Jews in Holland.

“Particularly powerful are the newly-released copies of the IBM concentration camp codes,” Black writes.8 “IBM maintained a customer site … in virtually every concentration camp to sort or process punch cards and track prisoners. The codes show IBM’s numerical designation for various camps …
Various prisoner types were reduced to IBM numbers, with 3 signifying homosexual, 9 for anti-social, and 12 for Gypsy. The IBM number 8 designated a Jew. Inmate death was also reduced to an IBM digit: 3 represented death by natural causes, 4 by execution, 5 by suicide, and code 6 designated ‘special treatment’ in gas chambers.
IBM engineers had to create Hollerith codes to differentiate between a Jew who had been worked to death and one who had been gassed, then print the cards, configure the machines, train the staff, and continuously maintain the fragile systems every two weeks on site in the concentration camps.”

A particularly noteworthy memo came from the U.S. Justice Department, which post-war launched a federal investigation into IBM’s relationship with the Hitler regime. The memo, written by Howard J. Carter, the chief investigator of the Economic Warfare Section to his superiors, read:

“What Hitler has done to us through his economic warfare, one of our own American corporations has also done … Hence IBM is in a class with the Nazis … The entire world citizenry is hampered by an international monster.”

Black adds:9

“It is important to remember that Thomas Watson and his corporate behemoth were guilty of genocide. The Treaty on Genocide, Article 2, defines genocide as ‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.’
In Article 3, the treaty states that among the ‘acts [that] shall be punishable,’ are the ones in subsection (e), that is ‘complicity in genocide.’
As for who shall be punished, the Treaty specifies the perpetrators in Article 4: ‘Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials, or private individuals.’ International Business Machines, and its president Thomas J. Watson, committed genocide by any standard.”

Massively Organized Information as a Means of Social Control
As noted in Black’s introduction to his book, “IBM and the Holocaust,”10 at the time of Hitler’s rise to power, the world was unaware that “massively organized information” had “emerged to become a means of social control, a weapon of war, and a roadmap for group destruction.” Today, we cannot be accused of not understanding that massive data collection can be and is being used to manipulate societies across the globe.
Therefore, it would be insanely naïve to think that digital vaccine certificates, tied to our biometric IDs, banking, credit histories and health data would not end up being used as a tool for social control and a weapon for group destruction.
As Black points out, were it not for IBM and its information technology, Hitler, like other tyrants before him, would not have been nearly as successful in his plan to eradicate the Jews. Hitler also received help from other unexpected quarters:

“In the upside-down world of the Holocaust, dignified professionals were Hitler’s advance troops. Police officials disregarded their duty in favor of protecting villains and persecuting victims.
Lawyers perverted concepts of justice to create anti-Jewish laws. Doctors defiled the art of medicine to perpetrate ghastly experiments and even choose who was healthy enough to be worked to death — and who could be cost-effectively sent to the gas chamber,” Black writes.11

“Scientists and engineers debased their higher calling to devise the instruments and rationales of destruction. And statisticians used their little known but powerful discipline to identify the victims, project and rationalize the benefits of their destruction, organize their persecution, and even audit the efficiency of genocide.”
Will You Allow Yourself To Be Turned Into a Monster?

Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”12 Put another way, good people need to gather their wherewithal and refuse to follow instructions they suspect to be harmful or know will lead to evil ends.
Unfortunately, as demonstrated in the 1962 Milgram Experiment, featured in “Will You Obey the Criminal Authoritarians?” most people simply follow orders when given by a perceived authority. “I was just following orders” was indeed a hallmark excuse during the Nuremberg Trials that followed the end of World War II.
That excuse won’t suffice this time around, so just about everyone, at this point, probably need to engage in some preemptive internal reflection to orient their ethical compass in preparation for what might come next.
I have no doubt that the months and years ahead will test your ethics and humanity, and having a clear picture of recent history — how the greatest genocide in modern history was actually implemented and carried out using information technology — can be a valuable guide that can help you sidestep serious mistakes in judgment.
The Central Role of Information Technology in the Holocaust

In his book introduction, Black summarizes the key role of IBM’s information technology in the holocaust:13

“When Hitler came to power, a central Nazi goal was to identify and destroy Germany’s 600,000 Jews. To Nazis, Jews were not just those who practiced Judaism, but those of Jewish blood, regardless of their assimilation, intermarriage, religious activity, or even conversion to Christianity.
Only after Jews were identified could they be targeted for asset confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, and ultimately extermination. To search generations of communal, church, and governmental records all across Germany — and later throughout Europe — was a cross-indexing task so monumental, it called for a computer. But in 1933, no computer existed.
When the Reich needed to mount a systematic campaign of Jewish economic disenfranchisement and later began the massive movement of European Jews out of their homes and into ghettos, once again, the task was so prodigious it called for a computer. But in 1933, no computer existed.
When the Final Solution sought to efficiently transport Jews out of European ghettos along railroad lines and into death camps, with timing so precise the victims were able to walk right out of the boxcar and into a waiting gas chamber, the coordination was so complex a task, this too called for a computer. But in 1933, no computer existed.
However, another invention did exist: the IBM punch card and card sorting system — a precursor to the computer. IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler’s program of Jewish destruction a technologic mission the company pursued with chilling success.
IBM Germany, using its own staff and equipment, designed, executed, and supplied the indispensable technologic assistance Hitler’s Third Reich needed to accomplish what had never been done before — the automation of human destruction …
I was haunted by a question whose answer has long eluded historians. The Germans always had the lists of Jewish names. Suddenly, a squadron of grim-faced SS would burst into a city square and post a notice demanding those listed assemble the next day at the train station for deportation to the East. But how did the Nazis get the lists? For decades, no one has known. Few have asked.
The answer: IBM Germany’s census operations and similar advanced people counting and registration technologies. IBM was founded in 1898 by German inventor Herman Hollerith as a census tabulating company. Census was its business. But when IBM Germany formed its philosophical and technologic alliance with Nazi Germany, census and registration took on a new mission.
IBM Germany invented the racial census — listing not just religious affiliation, but bloodline going back generations. This was the Nazi data lust. Not just to count the Jews — but to identify them.
People and asset registration was only one of the many uses Nazi Germany found for high-speed data sorters. Food allocation was organized around databases, allowing Germany to starve the Jews.
Slave labor was identified, tracked, and managed largely through punch cards. Punch cards even made the trains run on time and cataloged their human cargo. German Railway … dealt directly with senior management in Berlin. Dehomag maintained punch card installations at train depots across Germany, and eventually across all Europe.”

Using a mere 2,000 precomputer automatic tabulators, the Third Reich was able to efficiently identify, sort, track and catch Jews of every stripe in multiple countries. Now fast-forward to today, where virtually every person on the planet has had their personal data siphoned off, hour by hour, day by day, year by year.
Decades’ worth of data are catalogued and cross-tabulated in ways we probably cannot even imagine. How efficient do you reckon a modern-day holocaust by would-be dictators might be, using the technologies of today? I’ll leave that for you to ponder.
IG Farben, Another Genocide Enabler

So far, no Big Tech company has vowed to ban their technologies from being used in an attempt to repeat the Holocaust, and that includes IBM, which played a central role in it.
In a 2002 Village Voice article,14 Black addressed this shortcoming, pointing out that while IBM has refused to discuss its role in Hitler’s regime, other companies, such as the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann and Ford Motor have at least had the couth to correct their company histories, admitting to (and apologizing for) sponsoring Hitler.
While technology played a determining role in the Holocaust, leaders in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry were also working with Hitler. One of the most prominent ones was the German chemical and drug company IG Farben, which had a factory complex near Monowitz (the slave labor camp at Auschwitz) and actually housed the IBM facilities there.
IG Farben used slave labor from the Monowitz camp and IBM’s technology to keep track of them. “The Monowitz systems were customized for the specific coding Farben needed to process the thousands of slave workers who labored and died there,” Black explains.15 Auschwitz archivist Piotr Setkiewicz further told Black:16

“The Hollerith office at IG Farben in Monowitz used the IBM machines as a system of computerization of civil and slave labor resources. This gave Farben the opportunity to identify people with certain skills, primarily skills needed for the construction of certain buildings in Monowitz.”

Of course, IG Farben was also in the business of pharmaceuticals, and prisoners from Auschwitz were used for horrific medical experiments at the company’s facility.17
While IG Farben executives were put on trial after the war, their sentences were light. As just one example, Fritz Ter Meer, a high-ranking executive charged with slavery and mass medical murder served just three of his seven-year sentence, and after release became chairman of Bayer’s advisory board.
Some have speculated18 that the reason they got off so lightly was because of their connections to other powerful figures, such as John Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and one of the masterminds behind the creation of Big Pharma.19 (There was actually a Standard Oil IG Farben company. Without the fossil fuels of Standard Oil, IG Farben couldn’t have made synthetic fertilizers or fuels.) As noted by Jon Rappoport:20

“You could say that, after the War, the emerging global pharmaceutical colossus was a reincarnation of the Farben pattern: Profit before safety; lethal medical experimentation beyond any legal limit; the use of drugs/vaccines as a means of control.”

IBM Partners With Moderna
IBM has now partnered with COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna, and together, they are producing digital COVID-19 vaccine passes to track vaccinated individuals in real time. A pilot program has already been rolled out in state of New York.21,22,23,24

IBM and Moderna will “explore technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and hybrid cloud” to “support smarter COVID-19 vaccine management,” according to a press release.25 In short, the partnership is aimed at facilitating data sharing between “governments, health care providers, life science organizations and individuals,” but this data is not restricted to health data.

As reported by Raul Diego in a March 10, 2021, Mint Press News article,26 other “multiple blockchain ledger applications” being leveraged include IBM’s Blockchain Transparent Supply and Food Trust services, which shares food sourcing and supply-chain data, and its Blockchain World Wire cross-border payment processing service.

Considering how similar kinds of data (but far less voluminous) was used to carry out Hitler’s genocide, we really need to start thinking about how all of this data collecting and sharing might be misused. While not discussed much, the collection of genetic data is part and parcel of this program as well,27,28 which opens all sorts of unpleasant possibilities.
IBM Is a Powerful Presence in Law Enforcement as Well

Already, in Israel, the requirement of vaccine certificates has resulted in the creation of a two-tier society where unvaccinated individuals are ostracized and forbidden from entering certain public venues such as bars, restaurants, hotels and public exercise facilities. 

Right now in the U.S., vaccine passports are voluntary, but IBM is already looking at its health pass as a model for what it predicts will be mandatory in the future. According to IBM’s U.S. public and federal market leader, Steve LaFleche, the passes will cease to be voluntary “once government guidelines and regulations force the private sector to enforce their implementation.”29 As noted by Diego:30

“Conveniently, IBM’s strong presence in the law enforcement space, as one of the largest providers of digital profiling technologies and AI policing systems in the world, may also help with any obstacles Moderna may face among vaccine-hesitant populations.”

When you look at the big picture, IBM is the best and worst candidate for the job of creating vaccine passports. It has a history of enabling genocide by misusing census data (which was its original business) and creating technologies to identify, track and capture individuals based on specific parameters such as bloodlines and religious affiliation.
They also used their technology to identify areas of food production where Jews lived in order to starve them, and now they’re planning to leverage their Blockchain Transparent Supply and Food Trust services that shares food sourcing and supply-chain data, and its Blockchain World Wire cross-border payment processing service. How might all of that be misused?

Only through exposing and examining what really occurred can the world of technology finally adopt the well-worn motto: Never Again. ~ Edwin Black

To get an idea, simply look at the services they rendered Nazi Germany. When you dissect IBM’s history and compare it to its current role in the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s virtually impossible to not reach the conclusion that they’re perfectly equipped to carry out a flawless repeat of the Holocaust, but at an unimaginable scale, and with unfathomable efficiency.

The only difference is they would not be helping to hunt a specific national, religious or racial profile. To start, they’ll hunt down vaccine dissenters. After that, there’s no telling what the target group might be. But whatever it is, they’ll be able to identify and track them down with near-effortless ease.
As noted by Black in the introduction to his book, “Only through exposing and examining what really occurred can the world of technology finally adopt the well-worn motto: Never Again.”31 We need to do that, and come to a global consensus that we’re simply not going to allow a repeat of history.
One small bright-spot amid all this darkness is Gov. Ron DeSantis, who March 29, 2021, announced32 he will issue an executive order forbidding local governments and businesses from requiring vaccine certificates.

“It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply participate in normal society,” he said.

He’s further calling on the state legislature to create a measure that will allow him to sign it into law. Hopefully, such laws will be put into place, and other states will follow suit.
IBM and Bill Gates

In case you are unaware, Bill Gates in the early ‘80s was responsible for providing IBM with the DOS operating system for its then-new personal computers, which heralded in the massive explosion of computer technology. I remember it quite well. I got my first IBM clone PC around 1985.
The reason why this is important is that eventually, computer hardware became a commodity and computer software became the source of most of the technology revenues. Gates’ nefarious strategies eventually led him to become the richest man in the world. That mantle now shifts between Bezos and Musk.

However, the current market cap of IBM is $110 billion while the market cap of Microsoft is 10 times that at over $1 trillion. So, while IBM has a clearly sordid history going back to World War II, the likely more serious threat is Gates himself, who is largely responsible for engineering and profiting from this entire COVID wealth transfer play through his strategic partnering with the World Health Organization, as we have carefully articulated in previous articles.
It is interesting that IBM is repeating its egregious contribution to the extermination of millions of Jews in Germany, but that may pale to the likely unintended consequences of Gates’ plans, which will probably far exceed the lives lost in Nazi Germany. We need to do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t succeed.

Too harsh? Then I suggest you review Gary Barnett’s recent article on Lew Rockwell, where he states:33

“The extermination of societies through genocide and democide is achieved in many ways, from war, forced starvation, psychological destruction, mass imprisonment, and sterilization; from chemical agents, bombs, nuclear weapons, and now the killing will be due to ‘vaccination.’
Surely I jest you say, but I do not, as the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of millions or billions of people around the world at the hands of the powerful is sought.

Some call it population control, some call it depopulation, but it is simply planned mass murder to benefit the agendas of the few. The tool being used to accomplish this goal is the untested, experimental, mind-altering, gene-changing, toxic poison called the Covid-19 ‘vaccine,’ and it is the newest weapon of mass destruction.
Many are having horrible effects due to these injections, and many others are dying. Some are dying immediately after taking this shot, some are dying after a few hours or days, others after a few weeks, and the long-term effects at this point are virtually unknown. (In nearly every case the media denies the association.)
It is as if people are deaf, dumb, and blind when it comes to logic, as this falsely claimed affliction called COVID that supposedly has a survival rate of 99.98%, is being treated as a deadly pandemic, and the ‘cure’ recommended is a ‘vaccine’ that kills many more than the purposely created fake virus scam.”

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/08/how-did-ibm-enable-the-holocaust.aspx

The planet may be facing a new plastic crisis, similar to the one brought on by bottled water, but this time involving discarded face masks. “Mass masking” continues to be recommended by most public health groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite research showing masks do not significantly reduce the incidence of infection.1
As a result, it’s estimated that 129 billion face masks are used worldwide each month, which works out to about 3 million masks a minute. Most of these are the disposable variety, made from plastic microfibers.2
Ranging in size from five millimeters (mm) to microscopic lengths, microplastics, which include microfibers, are being ingested by fish, plankton and other marine life, as well as the creatures on land that consume them (including humans3).
More than 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally annually — and that was before mask-wearing became a daily habit. Most of it ends up as waste in the environment, leading researchers from the University of Southern Denmark and Princeton University to warn that masks could quickly become “the next plastic problem.”4
Why Disposable Masks May Be Even Worse Than Plastic Bottles

The bottled water crisis is now well-known as a leading source of environmental plastic pollution, but it’s slated to be outpaced by a new mask crisis. While about 25% of plastic bottles are recycled, “there is no official guidance on mask recycle, making it more likely to be disposed of as solid waste,” the researchers stated. “With increasing reports on inappropriate disposal of masks, it is urgent to recognize this potential environmental threat.”5
Not only are masks not being recycled, but their materials make them likely to persist and accumulate in the environment. Most disposable face masks contain three layers — a polyester outer layer, a polypropylene or polystyrene middle layer and an inner layer made of absorbent material such as cotton.
Polypropylene is already one of the most problematic plastics, as it’s widely produced and responsible for large waste accumulation in the environment, as well as being a known asthma trigger.6 Further, the researchers noted:7

“Once in the environment, the mask is subjected to solar radiation and heat, but the degradation of polypropylene is retarded due to its high hydrophobicity, high molecular weight, lacking an active functional group, and continuous chain of repetitive methylene units. These recalcitrant properties lead to the persistence and accumulation in the environment.”

They also stated that when the masks become weathered in the environment, they can generate a large number of microsized polypropylene particles in a matter of weeks, then break down further into nanoplastics that are less than 1 mm in size.
Because masks may be directly made from microsized plastic fibers with a thickness of 1 mm to 10 mm, they may release microsized particles into the environment more readily — and faster — than larger plastic items, like plastic bags.
Further, “Such impacts can be worsened by a new-generation mask, nanomasks, which directly use nanosized plastic fibers (e.g., diameter <1 mm) and add a new source of nanoplastic pollution.”8 A report by OceansAsia further estimated that 1.56 billion face masks may have entered the world’s oceans in 2020, based on a global production estimate of 52 billion masks manufactured that year, and a loss rate of 3%, which is conservative. Based on this data, and an average weight of 3 to 4 grams for a single-use polypropylene surgical mask, the masks would add 4,680 to 6,240 additional metric tons of plastic pollution to the marine environment, which, they note, “will take as long as 450 years to break down, slowly turning into microplastics while negatively impacting marine wildlife and ecosystems.”9 Masks Entering Marine Environments Pose Additional Risks Plastic particles are known to travel great distances, posing immense risks to virtually every part of the globe. Small, weathered pieces of plastic — suggesting they’d been on a long journey — have been found at the top of the Pyrénées mountains in southern France10 and “in the northernmost and easternmost areas of the Greenland and Barents seas.”11 Calling the Greenland and Barents seas area a “dead end” for the plastic debris, researchers hypothesized that the seafloor below would be a catch-all for accumulating plastic debris.12 In separate research, it was also revealed that plastic pollution has reached the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica — an area believed to be mostly free of contamination.13 According to the featured study:14 “When not properly collected and managed, masks can be transported from land into freshwater and marine environments by surface run-off, river flows, oceanic currents, wind, and animals (via entanglement or ingestion). The occurrence of waste masks has been increasingly reported in different environments and social media have shared of wildlife tangled in elastic straps of masks.” Such plastics also contain contaminants, such as polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which may be genotoxic (i.e., causing DNA damage that could lead to cancer), along with dyes, plasticizers and other additives linked to additional toxic effects, including reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity.15 Aside from the chemical toxicity, ingestion of microplastics from degraded masks and other plastic waste is also toxic due to the particles themselves as well as the potential that they could carry pathogenic microorganisms. Another issue that’s rarely talked about is the fact that when you wear a mask, tiny microfibers are released, which can cause health problems when inhaled. The risk is increased when masks are reused. This hazard was highlighted in a performance study to be published in the June 2021 issue of Journal of Hazardous Materials.16 Researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University also said scientists, manufacturers and regulators need to assess the inhalation of microplastic and nanoplastic debris shed from masks — both disposable and cloth — noting:17 “… [C]omplaints of throat irritation or discomfort in the respiratory tract by children, the elderly, or other sensitive individuals after wearing these may be alerting signs of excessive amounts of respirable debris inhaled from self-made masks and respirators.” In the featured study researchers also called on the environmental research community to “move fast to understand and mitigate these risks,” suggesting that reusable cloth masks be promoted in lieu of disposable options and that mask-only trash cans be set up to assist in proper disposal.18 However, another option would be to loosen or eliminate mask mandates, which may turn out to cause more harm than good. Mask Use May Pose a Risk for Advanced Stage Lung Cancer While it’s well-known that gut microbiota affect your immune system and risk of chronic diseases, it was long thought that lungs were sterile. Now it’s known that microbes from your mouth, known as oral commensals, frequently enter your lungs.19 Not only that, but researchers from New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine revealed that when these oral commensals are “enriched” in the lungs, it’s associated with cancer.20 Specifically, in a study of 83 adults with lung cancer, those with advanced-stage cancer had more oral commensals in their lungs than those with early-stage cancer. Those with an enrichment of oral commensals in their lungs also had decreased survival and worsened tumor progression. While the study didn’t look into how mask usage could affect oral commensals in your lungs, they did note, “The lower airway microbiota, whether in health or disease state, are mostly affected by aspiration of oral secretions, and the lower airway microbial products are in constant interaction with the host immune system.”21 It seems highly likely that wearing a mask would accelerate the accumulation of oral microbes in your lungs, thereby raising the question of whether mask usage could be linked to advanced stage lung cancer. The National Institutes of Health even conducted a study22 that confirmed when you wear a mask most of the water vapor you would normally exhale remains in the mask, becomes condensed and is re-inhaled.23 They went so far as to suggest that wearing a moist mask and inhaling the humid air of your own breath was a good thing, because it would hydrate your respiratory tract. But given the finding that inhaling the microbes from your mouth may increase advanced cancer risk, this hardly sounds like a benefit. Not to mention, the humidity inside the mask will allow pathogenic bacteria to rapidly grow and multiply and, since the mask makes it more difficult to breathe, you’re likely to breathe heavier, thereby risking inhaling the microbes even deeper inside your lungs. Masks Are Harming Children and Adults The “new normal” of widespread masking is affecting not only the environment but also the mental and physical health of humans, including children. It’s largely assumed that face masks are “safe” for children to wear for long periods, such as during school, but no risk assessment has been carried out.24 Further, as evidenced by Germany's first registry recording the experience children are having wearing masks.25 Using data on 25,930 children, 24 health issues were reported that were associated with wearing masks that fell into the categories of physical, psychological and behavioral issues.26 They recorded symptoms that:27 “… included irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44%), malaise (42%), impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness or fatigue (37%).” They also found 29.7% reported feeling short of breath, 26.4% being dizzy and 17.9% were unwilling to move or play.28 Hundreds more experienced “accelerated respiration, tightness in chest, weakness and short-term impairment of consciousness.” It’s also known that microplastics exist in human placentas,29 and animal studies show that inhaled plastic particles pass through the placenta and into the heart and brains of fetuses.30 The fetuses exposed to the microplastics also gained less weight in the later part of the pregnancy.31 “We found the plastic nanoparticles everywhere we looked — in the maternal tissues, in the placenta and in the fetal tissues. We found them in the fetal heart, brain, lungs, liver and kidney,” lead research Phoebe Stapleton of Rutgers University told The Guardian.32 Dr. Jim Meehan, an ophthalmologist and preventive medicine specialist who has performed more than 10,000 surgical procedures and is also a former editor of the medical journal Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, also conducted an evidence-based scientific analysis on masks, which shows that not only should healthy people not be wearing masks but they could be harmed as a result.33 Meehan suggests that the notion of mask-wearing defies common sense and reason, considering that most of the population is at very low or almost no risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19. He also compiled 17 ways that masks can cause harm:34 Medical masks adversely affect respiratory physiology and function Medical masks lower oxygen levels in the blood Medical masks raise carbon dioxide levels in the blood SAR-CoV-2 has a “furin cleavage” site that makes it more pathogenic, and the virus enters cells more easily when arterial oxygen levels decline, which means wearing a mask could increase COVID-19 severity Medical masks trap exhaled virus in the mouth/mask, increasing viral/infectious load and increasing disease severity SARS-CoV-2 becomes more dangerous when blood oxygen levels decline The furin cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 increases cellular invasion, especially during low blood oxygen levels Cloth masks may increase the risk of contracting COVID-19 and other respiratory infections Wearing a face mask may give a false sense of security Masks compromise communications and reduce social distancing Untrained and inappropriate management of face masks is common Masks worn imperfectly are dangerous Masks collect and colonize viruses, bacteria and mold Wearing a face mask makes the exhaled air go into the eyes Contact tracing studies show that asymptomatic carrier transmission is very rare Face masks and stay at home orders prevent the development of herd immunity Face masks are dangerous and contraindicated for a large number of people with pre-existing medical conditions and disabilities Adding insult to injury, the first randomized controlled trial of more than 6,000 individuals to assess the effectiveness of surgical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection found masks did not statistically significantly reduce the incidence of infection.35 Considering the lack of evidence for their use, and the potential harms to human health and the environment, it’s no wonder that calls for peaceful civil disobedience against mandatory masking are growing. The U.S. nonprofit Stand for Health Freedom has a widget you can use to contact your government representatives to let them know wearing a mask must be a personal choice.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/07/face-mask-plastic-microfibers.aspx

On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television. It is a documentary most Americans will never see, explaining how the gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.

For millennia, farmers have saved seeds from season to season. But when Monsanto developed GM seeds that would resist its own herbicide, Roundup, Monsanto patented the seeds. For nearly all of its history the United States Patent and Trademark Office refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life-forms with too many variables to be patented. But in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for seed patents in a five-to-four decision, laying the groundwork for a handful of corporations to begin taking control of the world’s food supply.
Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company. Farmers who buy Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds are required to sign an agreement promising not to save the seed produced after each harvest for re-planting, or to sell the seed to other farmers. This means that farmers must buy new seed every year.
Monsanto puts pressure on farmers, farmers’ co-ops, seed dealers, and anyone else it suspects may have infringed its patents of genetically modified seeds. To do this, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents. They secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops. They infiltrate community meetings. They gather information from informants about farming activities.
Some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/05/01/this-company-may-be-the-biggest-threat-to-your-future-health.aspx