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(NaturalNews) A patient suffering from a chest infection, and given antibiotics, claims she is now incapacitated due to the side effects of the drug that should have cured her condition. Within three days of being prescribed ciprofloxacin the housewife complained of extreme tightness in the back of her calf muscles and could barely walk. Ten days later she was rushed to hospital after a sharp pain in her left calf and was treated for a ruptured Achilles tendon. The patient, Judy Thomas from Devon, claims she has been unable to walk properly since and is now terrified the right tendon will rupture as it also showed signs of severe damage.

Ciprofloxacin is from the fluoroquinolone group of antibiotics that have been linked with tendon problems and other muscolo-skeletal issues. Some other side effects include chest pain, rapid heartbeat, blackouts, swelling, hot flushes, sweating, pancreatitis (inflamed pancreas) and tinnitus. There have been 2269 suspected adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones reported to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UK drug safety watchdog) including 67 deaths since January 2000.

One in six of all prescriptions in the UK are for antibiotics, and some believe this kind of over-prescription is responsible for the escalation of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria such as MRSA. The drugs are given for all sorts of infections from sore throats to kidney infections. But what many who take these drugs do not realize is that they are not as safe as commonly believed, and many have numerous side effects, some serious.

The most commonly prescribed antibiotic in the UK is amoxicillin, from the penicillin group, which is given for minor infections, but has side effects including rashes, itching, nausea, diarrhea, wheezing and a swollen tongue. Another common antibiotic Flucloxacillin can also cause diarrhea and nausea, but also breathing difficulties, abdominal pain and Stevens Johnson syndrome which is potentially fatal.

Dr. Kieran Hand of Southampton General Hospital and a spokesperson for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said, “There’s been a perception that antibiotics are a bit like vitamins in that it won’t do the patient any harm to take them, even if it’s not absolutely certain they do have an infection.” He added, “We are realizing antibiotics are not completely harmless, and prescribing them is not a decision to be taken lightly.”

Ciprofloxacin has been available for around 25 years, and was one of the first broad spectrum antibiotics which could be given to patients in tablet form to treat patients at home. It is a treatment for anthrax infection and is considered when a patient has an allergy to penicillin. Neal Patel, from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society says that “if patients notice anything untoward while taking antibiotics they should seek advice from their GP or pharmacist as soon as possible.”

A spokesman for Bayer, manufacturer of ciprofloxacin, stated that the drug had a “well established safety profile” and that the product information includes information about tendonitis and tendon rupture which are recognized, but are “very rare adverse drug reactions.”

The truth of the matter is that the drugs to treat some of these infections are very dangerous indeed, and as stronger antibiotics are needed due to bacterial immunity, we will no doubt see the more powerful and dangerous forms of antibiotics used more and more often. It is best practice to avoid antibiotics if at all possible, however if you ever are required to take them you should be very aware of what your body is telling you, and always read the information either online or from the leaflet inside.

Sources for this article include:

(http://www.medicinenet.com/amoxicillin/article.htm)

(http://www.patient.co.uk/medicine/Ciprofloxacin.htm)

( http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

(http://www.skinassn.org/what-is-stevens-johnson-syndrome.html)

( http://www.medicines.org.uk)

About the author:
D Holt is currently involved in research in the UK into the mechanisms involved in healing due to meditation, hypnosis and other ”spiritual” healers and techniques. Previous work has included investigations into effects of meditation on addiction, the effects of sulphites on the digestive system and the use of tartrazine and other additives in the restaurant industry. new blog is now available at http://tinyurl.com/sacredmeditation

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• The End of Antibiotics

• Hospitals Are Breeding Grounds for Superbugs

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• Antibiotics Kill Eighty Thousand Chinese a Year

• Negative Reactions to Antibiotics

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Woman disabled by antibiotic taken for a simple chest infection

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(NaturalNews) More and more health reasons for eating dark chocolate keep coming in. Many will be pointed out here, then explained further in the sources indicated by numbers in parenthesis. But first, understand that organic dark chocolate brought into the market place under fair trade agreements is best.

Some of the major cheap chocolate producers use child slaves in Africa to pick cacao. The more dark the chocolate with less sugar, milk, and other ingredients, the closer it is to cacao. A range of at least 70% to 90% cacao in dark chocolate is both tasty and healthy.

Milk chocolate contains milk, which negates the health benefits, and sugar, which feeds cancer cells. Avoid it.

According to Dr. Debra Miller’s statement in Chemistry Central Journal , “Cacao seeds are a ‘Super Fruit’ providing nutritive value beyond that of their macronutrient composition.” (1)

Interestingly, one doesn’t have to gorge lots of chocolate every day to get the health benefits. A little treat, like a square or two daily will support good health.

A study of almost 20,000 participants in Germany concluded that those who ate 7.5 grams of dark chocolate a day received most of the heart protection benefits of chocolate. Organic dark chocolate bars are usually 100 grams. (1)

Cardiac and stroke protection : Dark chocolate lowers blood pressure, which lowers risks of heart attacks and strokes. (1)

Reduces risk of colon cancer : Cocoa polyphenols from dark chocolate reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. This was determined in a study by the Science and Technology Institute of Food and Nutrition in Spain, which was published in the journal Molecular Nutrition. (2)

Healthy fats :The fat in chocolate does little to raise cholesterol. It contains abundant oleic acid, the type of fatty acid found in olive oil, which helps prevent heart disease and promote antioxidant activity. (3)

Enhances glucose metabolism : Dark chocolate (70% plus) candy bars inhibit blood sugar issues to help prevent diabetes and obesity. How’s that for a surprise! (3)

Improves mood : Studies have shown that dark chocolate contains serotonin and increases endorphin production. It’s a natural anti-depressant. (4)

Improves brain function : Nottingham University professor Ian MacDonald used MRI analysis to determine improved brain activity with people who had just consumed cocoa drinks. (4) Hopefully they didn’t have to undergo too many MRI scans that would fry their brains!

Eases PMS issues : Here’s a hint for husbands and boyfriends to give dark chocolate to your wives and lady friends. (5)

There you have it: many reasons to enjoy organic dark chocolate that is at least 70% cacao. There are brands with 80% to 90% as well. These aren’t your kiddy chocolates with lots of sugar or milk or creamy nugget fillings, etc. They are semi-sweet at best.

The more bitter the better. It’s not difficult to get used to if you really like chocolate. Enjoy chocolate with the knowledge that it’s actually good for you.

Sources for this article include:

(1) http://www.naturalnews.com/031959_dark_chocolate_antioxidants.html

(2) http://www.naturalnews.com

(3) http://greenqueen.wordpress.com

(4) http://www.laurelonhealthfood.com

(5) http://www.ecomii.com

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• Raw, “empowered” chocolate products launched by Empowered Foods; full review of sensational product line

• Interview with Steve Adler, Creator of “Sacred Chocolate” from Naturaw.com

• Chocolate for Valentine’s Day? This Year, Choose Real Cacao Superfoods, Not Processed Chocolate Candy

• Sacred Chocolate bon-bon truffles are topped with rose petals, mango powder and even 24 carat gold

• Improve Your Health and Well-Being with Raw Chocolate

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(NaturalNews) The vaccine-pushing, disease scare-mongering agency known as the CDC has put out a stunning piece of propaganda attacking fresh milk (raw dairy), claiming it is “150 times more dangerous” than pasteurized milk. This is all part of their anti-American agenda to crush food freedom and criminalize fundamental farming practices upon which this very nation was founded. (Yes, George Washington and the founding fathers drank raw milk, grew hemp and even smoked a little weed as medicine.)

But what the CDC won’t dare reveal to the public is the far more horrifying truth: Pasteurized dairy is produced in the dirtiest milk factories imaginable, where blood, pus, e.coli and other truly dangerous pathogens are routinely bottled into milk containers and fed to consumers.

That’s the whole point of pasteurization, you see: To kill everything that might be alive in their ultra-dirty milk. The real purpose of pasteurization is not to simply “make milk safe” as is claimed by the CDC, but rather to allow the dairy industry to operate DIRTY. It’s so much easier to just cook the crap out of the milk (yes, there’s fecal matter in it) than to clean up their operations, get it?

Thanks to pasteurization, conventional (non-organic, non-raw) dairy operators have no need to thoroughly wash their milking machines, no need to sterilize any milk containers, no need to wash their hands, and no need to maintain a clean milking environment whatsoever. It’s just total filth with festering diseased animals dying on the floor and being physically abused by the corporate dairy operators (see video links, below).

Want to know how conventional (pasteurized) dairy cows are really treated? Here’s something the CDC won’t show you.

Watch this highly disturbing video of dairy cows being kicked, tortured, abused and injured by conventional dairy workers. This was filmed with an undercover spy cam (WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGERY):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUmtSONLhOc

When you buy pasteurized milk at the grocery store, you are supporting an industry that tortures cows and produces a dirty, filthy product!

Of course, the dairy industry would much rather force everybody to pasteurize their milk and outlaw clean raw dairy than to clean up their own act. That’s the whole point of the CDC going after raw dairy: To destroy the raw dairy industry and force everyone to drink dirty, contaminated pasteurized milk that’s extracted from tortured cows.

Here are some other short videos you may want to view (WARNING):

Dairy Cow Abuse – “Mercy For Animals” hidden camera in New York:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdiwZKsrgdA

The disgusting treatment of (conventional) dairy cows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzS8p727gvM

Dairy cows with injuries and infections:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrMj0oBdyWs

ABC Nightline – Dairy farm abuse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIRshcfNLDk

So get it through your heads, folks: If you buy pasteurized, homogenized milk, you are supporting an industry of filth, torture, infected animals and dirty, dirty milk.

The reason all that milk has to be pasteurized is because it’s strongly contaminated with:

• blood
• pus
• bacteria
• fecal matter

In addition, conventional dairy cows are:

• Pumped full of bovine growth hormones
• Fed masses of antibiotics
• Fed tons of GMOs such as corn and soy
• Heavily contaminated with chemical pesticides

That’s what you get when you buy “Pasteurized” milk. Plus the feces in the milk, of course.

So the next time somebody gets mad at you in bumper-to-bumper traffic and they scream out the window: “EAT SH*T!” just hand them a glass of pasteurized milk. Let them drink it, huh?

You want to see a super clean dairy operation? Go to a raw dairy farm and check out their operation. It’s the cleanest, most pristine dairy operation you’ll ever find. And why? Because it has to be. If you want to produce clean, fresh dairy without pasteurization, you have to run a super clean facility with healthy cows, stringent cleanliness practices and a commitment to producing wholesome food.

Only raw milk dairies have this kind of commitment to cleanliness.

View this powerful comparison between pasteurized milk and raw milk:
http://organicpastures.com/whyraw.html

In fact, if you took a gallon of unpasteurized milk from a conventional dairy and you compared it to a gallon of unpasteurized milk from a quality-certified raw milk dairy, I have no doubt you would find that the conventional dairy has at least 150 times the level of blood, pus, feces and dangerous bacteria (if not more).

In contrast, raw milk from a reputable dairy operation such as Organic Pastures (www.OrganicPastures.com) is the cleanest milk on the planet, bar none. Sure, it has friendly bacteria in it, but that bacteria is good for you — it’s probiotics. The CDC, of course, is so clueless about infectious disease that they hate ALL bacteria and want to destroy them all with chemicals or heat.

The CDC won’t dare discuss any of this, however. Instead, the CDC has resorted to what can only be called a raw milk fear mongering campaign using the exact same tactic they used to promote vaccine sales by pushing false swine flu fear.

The only thing dirtier than pasteurized milk, it seems, is the CDC itself, which has degraded from a once-respected group of actual scientists to a cabal of junk science fear mongerers and political prostitutes who drop trow and bend over for Big Business (Big Pharma, Big Dairy, etc.) at every opportunity. Instead of doing something important to stop the spread of infectious disease (like promoting vitamin D, immune-boosting nutrition and improved sanitation), the CDC is now a total sellout to the interests of the corporate giants who feed us filth and call it food.

So it’s no surprise to see the CDC promoting pasteurized milk — the very product whose digestive enzymes have been destroyed so that it causes allergic reactions in those who consume it.

Pasteurized, homogenized milk also promotes heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disorders, constipation, sinus congestion and many other chronic health conditions. It is the perfect food for the uninformed masses who the U.S. government seems to be trying to keep in a state of lifelong disease and medical enslavement.

Keep reading NaturalNews to learn more about what’s wrong with conventional pasteurized dairy products. We’re working on several articles covering this topic.

And remember:

Pasteurized milk is so disgustingly dirty that if they didn’t kill everything in it with heat, the liquid would probably kill YOU.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/21/feds-fresh-milk-150-t…

http://organicpastures.com/

www.RealMilk.com

www.WestonAPrice.org

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He’s also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known on the ‘net as ‘the Health Ranger,’ Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org

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Related Articles:

• Asthma explained by common allergy to milk and dairy products

• Raw milk battle reveals FDA abandonment of basic human right to choose your food

• What’s best? Soy milk, cow’s milk, raw milk and fermented milk (kefir)

• Dairy industry ridiculously claims milk prevents type 2 diabetes based on distorted study (opinion)

• Four Ways Milk Causes Acne

• Dairy Un-Forbidden: Discover the Virtues of Raw Milk (Opinion)

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Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police and security forces in Afghanistan in a second day of angry demonstrations over reports that copies of the Quran were burnt at an airbase used by NATO and coalition troops.

An Afghan government source told Al Jazeera that seven people have been killed during Wednesday’s protests and 32 have been wounded, but no exact location was given.

In Kabul, the capital, several people were reported wounded as demonstrators blocked a major highway outside Camp Phoenix, a US base in the city. Police said protesters threw stones, smashed car windows and charged at police lines.

But a police spokesman denied that police officers had shot at protesters.

“People are marching towards Kabul. Police are trying to stop them. We have sent more reinforcements to the area,” the spokesman said.

A second protest erupted in west Kabul, involving about 100 university students, a police spokesman said, adding that riot police were present and the demonstration was under control.

According to AFP, one person was killed and 10 were wounded when shots were fired at anti-US demonstrators in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Protesters there praised the leader of the Afghan Taliban, shouting “Long live Mullah Omar!”, Reuters reported.

The US embassy said on Wednesday it was locked down and had suspended all travel in Afghanistan.

US apology

The protests, which followed reports of the discovery by local labourers of charred copies of the Quran as they collected rubbish at the Bagram airbase, prompted apologies from the US government and the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, issued an apology for the ”inappropriate treatment” of Islam’s holy book at the base and backed General John Allen’s call for ”swift and decisive action to investigate this matter”.

“These actions do not represent the views of the United States military. We honour and respect the religious practices of the Afghan people, without exception,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reporting from Herat said: “These protests that began outside the Bagram base on Tuesday, have now seemed to have spread to other cities across Afghanistan.”

Hundreds of protesters besieged Bagram, about 60km north of Kabul, on Tuesday, firing slingshots and petrol bombs at the gate of the base.

Quran copies ‘not burnt’

Reports suggest US personnel had confiscated materials that they suspected Taliban prisoners were using to send messages.

Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the NATO-led international force in Afghanistan, said an investigation had been launched into the issue and preliminary information showed that Quran copies had not been burned.

“Fortunately for all of us, local workers recognised the type of material and intervened. Actually the disposal process was stopped in time but it led to protests over the day. As far as we know, and the investigations are ongoing, they were not burned. But we have to wait for the results.”

Allegations that NATO troops working inside the base had set fire to copies of the Quran were first reported by a senior government official.

“It is surprising that after all these years American and NATO forces have been here in Afghanistan and all the lessons they have learned about how important it is to treat Islamic material with due respect, this sort of thing is still happening,” our correspondent said.

“That is what causes so much offence here in Afghanistan and adds fuel to the anti-American and anti-foreigner feelings.”

Similar protests have in the past turned violent in Afghanistan, an extremely devout Islamic nation where an insult to the religion carries the death penalty.

Some 10 people were killed and dozens of others were injured during days of unrest caused last April over the burning of a copy of the Quran by an American pastor, Terry Jones, in Florida.

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/02/201222261457220606.html

Ethiopian and Somali troops have captured the strategic Somali city of Baidoa from al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab fighters, who vowed to avenge the loss.

Baidoa, 250km northeast of the capital Mogadishu, is one of the main bases of the anti-government group, and Wednesday’s capture deals a major blow to the fighters, who control large parts of southern and central Somalia.

“We have taken control of Baidoa without a single shot, it is a great day for the people who are now welcoming us warmly,” said Muhidin Ali, a Somali government military commander in Baidoa.

“We are at the centre now and moving towards every corners of the town, to ensure that we are in full control,” Ali added. “The enemy fled the city before our army has reached the town empty.”

Sporadic shooting was reported on the outskirts of the town, but residents said the city was largely calm.

‘More bloodshed’

“The takeover does not mean that the enemy will enjoy the city, there will be more bloodshed,” said Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim, a Shabab commander.

“The areas they took will only be the graveyards of the Christian invading forces and their apostate Somali militia.”

Ethiopian troops, who moved into southern and western Somalia in November, began a major push on Tuesday towards Baidoa, which hosted the transitional parliament before Shabab rebels seized the town in 2009.

“There was no fighting, the Somali troops and the Ethiopian forces entered the town, setting up their base at the police station and the main crossroads in town,” said Abdulahi Hassan, a resident.

“People are out in the streets watching the soldiers who are gradually moving into the different parts of the city.”

The rebels are already struggling financially and face increasing pressure from regional armies and pro-government forces. The rebels still control the southern port town of Kismayo, a major source of income.

Witnesses had said earlier that Shabab fighters and their families were seen fleeing Baidoa towards rebel-held Afgoye.

“Many people, most of them al-Shabab families and supporters, are fleeing Baidoa,” said Hussein Ali, a resident. “They are heading towards the Afgoye.

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/02/20122221485262611.html

Nine people were reportedly killed in addition to the journalists. Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy was said to be injured, along with two other reporters.

Victoria Nuland, a US state department spokesperson, said the incident was “another example of the shameless brutality of the Assad regime”.

France demanded access to the victims of the attack and summoned Syria’s envoy to Paris.

“I am asking the Syrian government to immediately stop attacks and respect  its humanitarian obligations,” Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister said.

“I have asked our embassy in Damascus to require the Syrian authorities provide secure medical access to assist the victims with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” he said in a statement.

Government forces bombarded the Bab Amr neighbourhood for a 20th straight day, according to activists, leaving at least 30 people killed in the area on Wednesday.

‘Extraordinary figure’

“Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of The Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered,” Sunday Times editor John Witherow said in a statement.

“She believed profoundly that reporting could curtail the excesses of brutal regimes and make the international community take notice.”

The statement said the newspaper was doing what it could to get Conroy to safety and to recover Colvin’s body.

In a phone interview with British broadcaster BBC on Tuesday, Colvin described the situation in the area as “absolutely sickening”.

She said she had witnessed the death of a two-year-old boy after he was hit by shrapnel, and said there was a “constant stream of civilians” in the field clinic she visited.

“No one here can understand how the international community can let this happen,” she said.

Colvin was an experienced foreign correspondent and was named Foreign Reporter of the Year by the British Press Awards in 2001.She lost an eye to a grenade while working in Sri Lanka.

Ochlik had photographed the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions as well as the war in Libya. His work was published in Le Monde Magazine, Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal, among other outlets.

Hours after the bombardment that killed the journalists, Syria’s information ministry said journalists illegally inside the country should report to the government.

“The ministry asks all foreign journalists that have entered Syria illegally to go to the nearest centre for immigration and passports to resolve the situation according to the laws in force,” the ministry said in a statement on Syria TV.

Shortage of medicine

In Homs, activist Hadi al-Abdallah, described the humanitarian situation in Bab Amr as “catastrophic” on Wednesday morning.

“Water has been cut off from Bab Amr for 18 days,” he told Al Jazeera. ”There’s no electricity, cooking oil or even bread. Many people are literally on the brink of starvation.

“People have fled their homes in fear of being bombed. They took refuge in a mosque, and there they were bombed too.”

The Homs Revolutionary Council reported a shortage of medicine, and said a large number of killed civilians were buried under the rubble of buildings damaged in the shelling.

In the nearby Inshaat neighbourhood, the council said security forces, supported by the army and by armoured vehicles, had carried out house raids and arrests.

Bab Amr is a stronghold of the armed opposition, but activists say most of those killed in the assault on the area are civilians.

The Local Co-ordination Committees says about 3,000 people have been killed in Homs province since the uprising began in March last year. The activist network says more than 8,000 people have been killed nationwide.

Official media said government forces were targeting “armed terrorist groups who have been terrifying citizens and attacking security forces and robbing public and private property”.

State-run news agency SANA cited residents of Homs saying food and services were available and that reports claiming the opposite were “lies”.

‘Two evils’

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said on Wednesday it was coming to the view that military intervention was the only solution to the nearly year-old crisis in the country.

“We are really close to seeing this military intervention as the only solution. There are two evils, military intervention or protracted civil war,” Basma Kodmani, an SNC spokeswoman, told a news conference in Paris.

Kodmani said the SNC was also proposing that Russia, an ally of Syria, help persuade Damascus to guarantee safe passage to humanitarian convoys ferrying aid to civilians. She said the SNC proposed setting up corridors from Lebanon to the besieged city of Homs, from Turkey to Idlib and from Jordan to Deraa.

Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman said Russia was supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross’s call for a daily two-hour ceasefire to provide aid to the population of Syria.

Alexander Lukashevich said Russia was using its contacts with both the Syrian government and the opposition to help settle humanitarian issues.

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201222291445322238.html

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(NaturalNews) It’s no secret that biotech giant Monsanto has been hard at work genetically modifying everything on the planet, but now the mega-corporation may have gone too far.

In what is being viewed as a major victory for public health advocates, a French court last week declared Monsanto guilty in the chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a ruling that could – and should – lead to additional health claims against the use of pesticides.

Paul Francois, a grain grower, told the court he suffered neurological problems that included memory loss, stammering and headaches after having inhaled Monsanto’s Lasso weed killer in 2004. He accused Monsanto of not providing adequate warnings on the product.

A court in Lyon, which is located in southeast France, agreed, ordering an expert to determine the extent of Francois’s losses and injuries to determine a proper sum of damages.

Killing farmers?

The ruling marks the first time anyone has been able to establish a clear link between one of Monsanto’s dangerous products and illnesses caused by exposure to them.

“I am alive today, but part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this,” Francois told Reuters in an interview.

Francois brought his case after he and other farmers banded together to form an association of individuals who claim they, too, began suffering illness following exposure to Monsanto’s so-called “crop protection” chemicals. The rising tide of illnesses – about 200 per year since 1996, according to the agricultural branch of the French social security system – should be more than enough to give pause, not only to French citizens, but to anyone exposed to produce that has been “treated” with any of these dangerous pesticides.

Banning poison

On the surface, the French court’s ruling seemed inevitable, if not somewhat overdue. Monsanto’s Lasso was banned throughout France in 2007, following a European Union directive after the product had been taken out of use in a few other countries.

Perhaps because of the increasing health problems caused by chemical use in agriculture, France – the EU’s largest grower – is going a step further, having announced a plan to curb pesticide use by 50 percent between 2008 and 2018.

From the sound of it, the cut in usage can’t come soon enough. Other farmers have blamed chemicals for their lingering health problems as well.

“It’s like lying on a bed of thorns and trying to say which one cut you,” one farmer recovering from prostate cancer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, regarding his widespread exposure to a number of agricultural chemical products.

History of foul play

For its part, Monsanto has a long history of producing products that are a detriment to society. The biotech giant paid $700 million in settlements in 2003 for secretly poisoning residents who lived next to their PCB plant in Anniston, Ala.

In 2008, an expose revealed the agri-giant as a ruthless corporation that routinely threatens small farmers and planters over dubious claims of patent violations and other alleged “crimes” against the company, all for engaging in the millennia-old practice of reusing seeds from season to season.

But farmers – especially organic farmers – are battling back. About 300,000 of them filed suit in March 2011 in a bid to keep at least a portion of the world’s food supply completely organic.

Spearheaded by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the suit seeks to keep Monsanto’s GenuityR Roundup ReadyR canola seed out of their farms. “Organic agriculturalists say that corn, cotton, sugar beets and other crops of theirs have been contaminated by Monsanto’s seed, and even though the contamination has been largely natural and unintended, Monsanto has been suing hundreds of farmers for infringing on their patent for incidentally using their product,” said one report.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are also examining Monsanto’s business practices. It’s about time.

Sources for this article include:

http://in.reuters.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/034432_Monsanto_public_health_threat.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/033772_Monsanto_Roundup.html

http://rt.com/usa/news/organic-monsanto-lawsuit-seed/

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• Monsanto: The world’s poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit

• Monsanto nation: Exposing Monsanto’s minions

• Help stop former Monsanto VP from attaining top position at the FDA – sign the petition

• Monsanto: History of Contamination and Cover-up

• Monsanto Nation: Taking Down Goliath

• Who and What Is the Monsanto Chemical Corporation?

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(NaturalNews) Mass hysteria over a measles outbreak in Hamilton County, Indiana, has led county health officials there to irrationally prohibit all unvaccinated children from attending two public schools. According to reports, 21 preschool-age students, seven elementary-age students, and 26 intermediate-age students in the Noblesville Schools District will not be allowed to attend either White River Elementary School or Noblesville Intermediate School, the two schools where there have been confirmed cases of measles, unless they either get the combination measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, or wait until 21 days after the last confirmed case of the disease is remediated.

Officials believe the outbreak first began as a result of two infected individuals who attended the recent Super Bowl in Indianapolis. It has since spread to 13 people in the Hoosier state, all of whom reportedly live in either Boone or Hamilton counties. And the two confirmed cases in schoolchildren has led to drastic measures that unfairly discriminate against students who have not been vaccinated for measles, some of whom are allergic to the vaccine.

“One confirmed case in a school setting constitutes an outbreak and will trigger outbreak procedures as designated by the state and local health department,” read a memo from Carmel Clay Schools, a nearby school district that plans to ban unvaccinated students from its schools as well, should there be a confirmed measles case in the district. As of this writing, however, there have been no confirmed cases outside the two Noblesville schools.

The so-called procedures for handling measles outbreaks involve barring students and even teachers that have not complied with the state-sponsored vaccine schedule from attending school, despite the fact that Indiana law provisions for individuals to opt out of vaccines for both medical and religious reasons. Five of the unvaccinated students reportedly have religious exemptions on file with the school district, while the others are presumably exempt for medical reasons.

In the collective mind of the state, refusal by some students to get vaccinated somehow represents a threat to other students, even though those other students have been vaccinated. Prohibiting unvaccinated students from attending school on the grounds that they will spread the disease further makes no sense, as though who are vaccinated are said to already have protection against the disease.

And oddly enough, most or all of those who have already contracted the measles in Indiana as part of the current outbreak have likely been vaccinated as well, which just goes to show the sheer hypocrisy of the vaccine pushers in trying to coerce everyone to get vaccinated for their own protection.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.wishtv.com

http://www.indystar.com

http://www.nvic.org/Vaccine-Laws/state-vaccine-requirements.aspx

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(NaturalNews) Organic gardening avoids the use of chemicals to make plants grow or protect them from insects, relying instead on natural gardening principles used for thousands of years. Permaculture organic gardening goes a step further and also emphasizes growing plants sustainably, working with rather than against the grain of the natural environment. Permaculture organic gardening is growing in popularity as more people realize that it offers an inexpensive and relatively low-maintenance way to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Observe your property at different times of day. Consider which areas receive the most sun, which are in shade for much of the day. Depending on where you live, if sunshine is a scarce commodity, you will want to expose plants to receive as much as possible. On the other hand, in desert regions, you will not want your plants to be in the area most likely to be parched by sun exposure. Also think protecting your garden from the paths where strong winds tend to blow through your property. Even a small property will have microclimates — notice these and plant accordingly to give different plants either more sun or more shade according to their preference.

Avoid disease-prone plants which require time-consuming chores such as spraying and pruning by the gardener. Select plants which will thrive in your area rather than those which will require extra labor on your part to protect them from the environment. As far as possible, select plants which serve multiple purposes, such as fruit trees which will put forth blossoms in one season, fruit to pick in another, and provide shade for when you want to sit and enjoy your garden’s natural beauty. Native plants are also more likely to attract local pollinators such as bees, and to draw butterflies so that your garden contains even more natural beauty.

Raised beds require less physical effort on the part of the gardener and also benefit plants, providing better air circulation, more protection from spring chills and improved usage of water. Raised beds also mean a small permaculture garden is an option even for apartment dwellers and others with little available space since you can rely on containers and vertical gardening principles.

One of the key concepts of permaculture organic gardening is to avoid waste. Having a garden gives you a means of re-using natural waste such as eggshells, apple cores, coffee grinds as well as yard waste which many people throw away. You can either purchase or make a compost bin to turn this organic material into gardening gold which can be used to help your plants grow.

Modern gardeners who do not follow sustainability principles tend to draw heavily on piped-in water resources, often using hoses and sprinklers to make plants which require abundant water grow in a desert climate. Permaculture organic gardening tries to use natural water as much as possible, maximizing the use of groundwater and rainwater. Rain barrels allow you to collect rainfall and extend its use over longer periods of time.

Eschewing the use of chemicals does not have to mean a garden full of pests. You can use companion gardening principles, growing plants which deter pests near those which attract them. There is also a natural synergy between some plants which means planting them near each other increases your yield. Also, just as some herbs have a medicinal effect on human health, they also offer benefits to plants which grow near them. For more information about companion planting, visit http://www.appropedia.org/CCAT_companion_planting and http://www.gardeningknowhow.com

If you have space and live in an area where it is permissible to keep poultry, chickens can make a wonderful addition to a permaculture garden. If they are permitted free-range for most of the day, they will consume many pests. Chicken manure also contributes beneficial nitrogen to the soil of your garden.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.safecom.org.au/permaculture.htm

http://www.organicgardening.com

http://www.appropedia.org/Beginners_permaculture_garden

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Polls have closed in the presidential election in Yemen, with reports indicating high turnout in many areas despite calls for a boycott from the opposition and deadly violence in the south.

As the only candidate in the race, Abd-Rabbou Mansour Hadi, the vice-president, is set to take power, ending the 33-year rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Reuters news agency quoted an official from the election security committee as estimating a turnout of 80 per cent in Tuesday’s vote, although final results will not be known for several days.

Turnout was likely to be lower in the south, where the boycott call and security concerns kept many at home.

Southerners, who accuse the north of grabbing their resources and discriminating against them, are demanding a divorce from the north with which they fought a civil war in 1994 after political union in 1990.

The Election Commission said in a statement that voting was halted in nine southern electoral districts, out of a national total of 301, because of the chaos.

Khamis al-Dayani, an election committee official, said nine of up to 300 polling areas in the country had experienced severe disruption.

‘Qualitative leap’

Hadi cast his vote at a polling station near his house in the capital, Sanaa. The station was changed at the last minute because of reports of a bomb threat.

“This is a qualitative leap for modern Yemen,” he said after voting.

“There will be big political, economic and social change, which is the way out of the crisis that has ravaged the country.”

However, Saleh, who over the years has built a strong web of tribal and family relations, could still hold considerable sway after Hadi is installed.

Despite the vote’s predetermined result, voting was brisk in Sanaa and some other cities, prompting election officials to keep the polls open two extra hours.

Long queues formed early in the morning outside polling stations in Sanaa amid tight security.

Yemen has more than 10 million registered voters, in a population of 24.7 million, according to the latest census.

Voters dipped their thumbs in ink and stamped their finger print on a ballot paper bearing a picture of Hadi and a map of Yemen in the colours of the rainbow.

“We are now declaring the end of the Ali Abdullah Saleh era and will build a new Yemen,” Tawakul Karman, the prominent Yemeni human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said as she waited to cast her ballot outside a Sanaa university faculty.

Elsewhere in Yemen, security forces fired on protesters throwing stones during an anti-election rally in front of a polling station in al-Hota, the capital of the southern Lahej province, killing two, witnesses and local officials said.

In Makala, another southern city, at least 16 people were injured in clashes between security forces and people opposed to the election.

An explosion struck a voting centre in the southern port city of Aden on the eve of the vote.

Streets deserted

The streets of Aden were nearly deserted and intermittent gunfire could be heard. Masked youths carrying rifles and machine guns patrolled junctions, preventing people from reaching polling stations.

Abdel-Aziz Yehiya, the election commission head in Aden province, said voting had gone well in most places, but that unknown armed men had seized 44 ballot boxes out of some 800 total.

For more on Yemen, visit our Spotlight page

After polls closed, Victoria Nuland, the US state department spokeswoman, congratulated the Yemeni people for “carrying out this successful presidential election and taking the next step in their democratic transition”.

However, she said, the election was “only the first step in a long, complex transition” including constitutional and voting system reforms.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, called on all parties in the country to abide by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)-brokered power transfer deal.

“The international community and the United Nations Security Council would closely monitor this process,” he said in Sanaa.

As part of the US -backed deal brokered by Yemen’s Gulf neighbours, Saleh is stepping down in exchange for a blanket immunity from prosecution.

Saleh is now in the US for medical treatment after an attack on his palace in June left him badly burned, and hastened his descent from power.

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201222117511739757.html