Smith

How Can the Wealthiest Industrialized Nation be the Sickest?

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Mercola | September 15 2012 | Thanks, Annette

The human race is the unwitting participant in a massive science experiment, as presented in this masterful new documentary by Jeffrey Smith. Smith is one of the world’s leading authorities on the health dangers of genetically engineered (GE) foods.
The film expands on his second book, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.

As a consumer advocate against GE foods, Smith’s authority is unrivaled. His meticulous research has documented how biotech companies continue to mislead legislators and safety officials.

The health of the environment in peril. Smith has made this information widely available via his Institute for Responsible Technology website, one of the most comprehensive sources of GE health information on the Internet.

How Can the Wealthiest Industrialized Nation be the Sickest?

Americans get sick more often than Europeans or people from any other industrialized nation. Since the mid-1990s, the number of Americans suffering from at least three chronic illnesses nearly doubled. Life expectancy has decreased and infant mortality has increased. Illnesses once rare are now common, with some approaching epidemic levels. For example:

  • Autism now affects one in 88 children (CDC1), compared to one in 25,0002in the mid-1970s
  • Type 2 diabetes rates in the U.S. increased by 176 percent between 1980 and 20103
  • Celiac disease is four times more common now than 60 years ago4
  • Alzheimer’s disease is rising at alarming rates. It’s estimated that 5.4 million Americans (one in eight older Americans) now has Alzheimer’s disease, and nearly half of those age 85 and older have it; AD rates have doubled since 19805
  • New infectious diseases are increasing in number, according to a 2008 study6

In his documentary, Jeffrey Smith makes a convincing argument that one of the primary forces driving these illnesses is America’s changing food supply. And one of the most profound changes is genetically engineered food. Proving GE food is causing Americans to be sick is a tall order, but the evidence presented in this film is very compelling and should not be ignored.

Two Types of Genetic Engineering

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Jim Hightower ~ Banker Hubris Knows No Bounds

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Nation of Change | March 21 2012

Have you heard about the earthquake that has shaken Wall Street to its very core? Well, brace yourself, for this really is a shocker: Bonus payments are down.

GoldmanYes, the exorbitant bonus checks pocketed each year by the Goldman Sachers, Citigropers and other financial tinkerers have been cut by about 25 percent this year, and — oh! — you should hear the Wall Streeters moaning the hard-times, down-and-out banker blues.

“It’s a disaster,” sobbed one. “The entire construct of compensation has changed.”

Many Americans, of course, will say … “Good! About time!” And it is difficult in these times of middle-class collapse and rising poverty to get teary-eyed over a few financial swells getting a trim. But, come on, Wall Street bankers are human, too (aren’t they?) — so open your hearts to their pain.

A hedge-fund manager, for example, says he’ll now have to strain to pay his $7,500 annual dues to remain a member of the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester. Plus, he worries about food, health care and boarding. Not for him and his family, but for his two dogs — he’s been laying out $17,000 a year for upkeep of his labradoodle and bichon frise, including around $5,000 to hire a dog-walker to take them out each day. He might resort to walking them himself a couple times a week.

The crunch is so bad that one financier confesses that he now shops for discounted salmon for dinner and has had to give up his annual ski trip to Aspen, Colo. And a high-dollar accountant who does financial planning for the wealthy practically weeps for clients who are having to cut back.

Empathizing with the stress of it all, he asks: “Could you imagine what it’s like to say, ‘I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out?’ How do you do that?” Dabbing his eyes with tissues, he adds that these people have been raking in around $500,000 a year, and they never dreamed “that they’d be broke.”

Broke? We should all be as “broke” as they are.

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