Anger at corporations is spilling -- literally -- into the streets.
Big businesses are no longer content to wield their considerable influence only through lobbyists. Now they want to use their profits to directly elect and defeat political candidates, and thanks to Citizens United, there's nothing to stop them.
We believe that elections should be decided by "we, the people," not "they, the corporations." That's why we're launching a major campaign calling on publicly traded companies not to spend their profits on politics in the 2012 elections. Their ability to spend huge amounts of money drowns out the rest of our voices.
We need your help to determine where to start. Vote today and tell us who is #1 on your "worst of the worst" list.
Will you vote for Bank of America, which is under investigation for its role in the mortgage collapse and which gave $14 million to PACs (political action committees)? Or will Comcast, a company that pays big bucks to the American Legislative Exchange Council for the privilege of sitting side-by-side with state legislators to draft bills to protect its media monopoly, be your top choice?
See who else made our list and submit your vote today. Think we missed someone? There is even a write-in ballot! (Just in case you're wondering why Koch Industries isn't on our list: We're focusing on publicly traded companies, and Koch is private. But don't worry -- we're keeping the pressure on the Kochs in other ways!)
It's time for corporations to get out of the business of electing our leaders. Please vote today, and stay tuned for more ways you can help take back our democracy.
Sincerely,
Bob Edgar
and the rest of the team at Common Cause
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Common Cause is a national nonpartisan organization with chapters in 35 states. Our mailing address is 1133 19th Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20036. Our phone number is (202) 833-1200.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Monsanto is secretly poisoning the population with Roundup
By Jeffrey M. Smith -(NaturalNews)
Dr. Andreas Carrasco remained in the locked car and watched with fear as the crowd beat the vehicle and shouted at him -- for two hours. His friends who didn't make it into the vehicle were not so lucky. One ended up paralyzed. Another unconscious. The angry crowd of about 100 were likely organized by a local rice grower who was furious at Carrasco for what he was trying to do that day. Carrasco's crime? Telling people that Roundup herbicide from Monsanto causes birth defects in animals, and probably humans.
Carrasco is a leading embryologist at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and the Argentinean national research council. He had heard the horrific stories of peasant farmers working near the vast fields of Roundup Ready soybeans -- plants genetically engineered to withstand generous doses of Monsanto's poisonous weed killer. The short-term impact of getting sprayed was obvious: skin rashes, headaches, loss of appetite, and for one 11 year old Paraguayan boy named Silvino Talavera, who biked through a fog of herbicides in 2003, death. But Carrasco also heard about the rise of birth defects, cancer, and other disorders that now plagued the peasants who were sprayed by plane. He decided to conduct a study.
Exposing Roundup's 30 year cover-up of birth defects
Carrasco injected minute amounts of Roundup into chicken and frog embryos, and sure enough, the offspring exhibited the same type of birth deformities that the peasant communities were seeing in their newborns. A report by the provincial government of Chaco soon followed, confirming that those living near soy and rice fields sprayed with Roundup and other chemicals did in fact have higher rates of birth defects -- nearly a fourfold increase between 2000-2009. (Child cancer rates tripled during the same period.)
Regulatory agencies had given Roundup a green light years before, claiming that it was free of such problems. However after Carrasco's findings were published, European authorities quietly pushed their official re-assessment of Roundup, due in 2012, back to 2015. And the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, charged with responding to Carrasco's findings, issued a statement claiming that the Argentine scientist must be mistaken; earlier studies conducted by manufacturers of Roundup (including Monsanto) had already demonstrated that Roundup does not cause birth defects.
But in June 2011, a group of international scientists released a report detailing a massive cover-up that went back to the 1980s. The very industry studies cited by the German Consumer Protection office in fact showed just the opposite. Roundup did increase birth defects. Using scientific sleight of hand, Europe's regulators had ignored statistically significant increases in birth defects, and so did every other regulatory agency worldwide. Monsanto has relied on these misleading statements of safety by regulators ever since, using them to deny that Roundup causes birth defects.
Monsanto secretly poisoning the population, again and again
Covering up toxic effects of their products was not new for Monsanto. They're experts at it. In 2003 the company paid $700 million in settlements for secretly poisoning the population living next to their PCB factory in Anniston, Alabama. Court documents showed the arrogance of Monsanto executives made aware of the product's effects: 'We can't afford to lose $1 of business,' was the written response in a secret company memo.
Leaked documents also revealed that EPA scientists had charged Monsanto with fraudulently hiding the toxic effects of Agent Orange -- effectively preventing Vietnam veterans from collecting compensation for cancer, birth defects, and other symptoms of exposure.
When Carrasco first reported his findings, he got the usual treatment. His results were vehemently denied, and he was attacked in the press by biotech advocates. Four highly aggressive men showed up at his office and tried to interrogate him, but he wasn't physically attacked. Not until he tried to give a speech on his results in the small Argentine farm town of La Leonesa on August 7, 2010. That was unusual.
Punishing messengers worldwide
When Dr. Irina Ermakova came to her office, the meaning of the charred remains of papers on her desk was unambiguous -- it was yet another attempt to intimidate or punish her. So was the theft of samples from her laboratory, and the continuous verbal attacks by biotech advocates. Her crime? She fed rats genetically modified Roundup Ready soy, and reported the results.
Those results were clearly not what the sellers of GM soy wanted us to hear. After female rats were fed GM soy, more than half their babies died within three weeks. The rat pups were also considerably smaller, and in a later experiment, were unable to reproduce. Offspring from mothers fed non-GM soybeans, on the other hand, died at only a 10% rate, and were able to mate successfully.
Journal ambushes scientist
After Ermakova presented the results as 'preliminary' at an October 2005 conference, the biotech industry's damage control teams kicked into high gear. At the center of the coordinated attack was the editor of the journal Nature Biotechnology
PureHealthSystems.com
But that was just a 'dummy proof.' What was actually published was quite different. Instead of an essay, the journal had inserted scathing criticisms from the four biotech advocates after nearly every paragraph. Many of Ermakova's citations were also stripped off and replaced with those chosen by the biotech detractors -- to weaken her case. It was an academic lynch mob, conducted by four biotech apologists: Bruce Chassy, Vivian Moses, Val Giddings, and Alan McHughen. All acknowledged that they had no personal experience in the type of research they were condemning, but that didn't stop them from throwing every type of challenge they could think of at Ermakova.
The purpose of the attack was transparent. It allowed the biotech industry to claim from that point forward that the study showing high death rates was officially refuted and discredited. It also served as a warning: if anyone wanted to defend Ermakova (or do similar research) they too would be mercilessly attacked.
The problem was that nearly all their criticisms were utterly baseless. About 75 % of their arguments, for example, were simply complaints that she didn't provide sufficient detail. Now remember -- she was told to only provide a summary. Her request to the editor to submit complete details was denied. It was quite a setup. When the details of this ambush were made public, independent scientists charged Nature Biotechnology with an unethical 'premeditated attack.' At least one letter called on the editor to resign.
It didn't happen. Instead, international pressure against Ermakova got so intense, her boss told her not to do any more studies on GMOs. One of her colleagues even tried to comfort her by suggesting that perhaps the GM soy could solve the human overpopulation problem. (She wasn't comforted.) According to Ermakova, the editor contacted her and told her he was going to include a description of her study as a sort of essay in the journal. She was then asked to summarize her research over the phone, or if she preferred, in writing. Ermakova, a senior scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, was surprised by the request and asked instead to properly submit the findings for peer review and publication. Oh no, the editor insisted, he just wanted a summary. She sent it in, and the journal sent Ermakova back a proof of the article, with her named as the author.
Real life confirms research: GM soy = high infant mortality for rats
The main valid criticism against Ermakova's research was that she failed to conduct a biochemical analysis of the feed. Without that, we don't know if some rogue toxin present in the bag of soy flour might have been responsible for the astonishing death rate and stunted growth in her experiment. But subsequent events at her laboratory suggest otherwise.
PureHealthSystems.com
After Ermakova repeated the test three times with similar results, the supplier of rat food used at the facility began using GM soy in the formulation. With all the rats now eating GM soy, Ermakova couldn't conduct any more experiments (she had no controls). After two months, however, she asked her colleagues at the lab about the mortality rate in their rat experiments. It turned out that 99 of 179 (55.3%) rat pups whose parents were fed GM soy-based rat chow had died within the first 20 days. Thus, whatever caused the high death rate does not appear to be confined to the one batch of GM flour used in her experiment. Both the study, and the subsequent laboratory-wide mortality rate, are published in the Russian peer-reviewed journal Ecosinform.
Horrific reproductive disorders
Other studies on Roundup Ready soy also show scary reproductive problems. Ermakova showed that the testicles of rats fed GM soy changed from the normal pink to blue (not published). Peer-reviewed research from Italy also showed changes in mice testicles, including alterations in young sperm cells. A Brazilian team found changes in the uterus and ovaries of female rats. The DNA of mice embryos functioned differently, compared to those whose parents were fed non-GM soy. And when hamsters were fed GM soy for two years, by the third generation, most lost the ability to have babies. The offspring grew at a slower rate and the infant mortality rate was 4-5 times that of the non-GM soy group. Many also had hair growing in their mouths.
When the Austrian government tested Roundup Ready corn (which was also engineered to produce an insecticide), mice had fewer – and smaller – babies.
PureHealthSystems.com
It's not possible to know if the reproductive damage was due to the genetic changes in the GM crops, the high residues of Roundup in the GM soybeans and corn, or some other reason. But the American Academy of Environmental Science is among the medical organizations that don't need more animal studies before issuing a warning. They urge all doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets to everyone.
Omnipresent Roundup literally falls from the sky
Although eliminating Roundup Ready soy and corn from our diet will certainly reduce our intake of Roundup, a recent study suggests that getting our exposure down to zero is not possible. In the Midwest during the growing season, Roundup is found in 60–100% of air and rain samples, as well as in streams.
The omnipresence of Roundup in the US is due in large part to the more than 100 million acres of Roundup Ready crops. As farmers pour on Monsanto's weed killer, weeds are learning to adapt and withstand the poison -- so farmers pour on more. In the first 13 years since GM crops were introduced, the use of herbicide-tolerant crops resulted in an additional 383 million pounds more herbicide. And due to the emergence of superweeds (now found in 11 million acres), the increased use of Roundup is accelerating dramatically.
USDA solution? Even more Roundup
The USDA has a unique response to this mounting threat: Add more Roundup. In January 2011 they deregulated yet another Roundup Ready crop, alfalfa -- which is widely used for animal feed. Only 7% of the more than 20 million acres of this crop typically gets any herbicide applied to it. But that's about to change, since Roundup Ready alfalfa will soon be drinking Roundup in a hay field near you.
Not content with just the alfalfa, on July 1 the USDA told Scotts Miracle-Gro that it could introduce Roundup Ready Kentucky Bluegrass to lawns, golf courses, and soccer fields around the nation, without any government oversight.
So now we have Roundup in our food, animal feed, air, rain, and streams, and soon it will be sprayed in high doses where our children play on the grass. It's not just birth defects that may soon plague America as a result. Roundup is also linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, lower sperm counts, abnormal sperm, human cell death, miscarriages, and other disorders. But it's also linked to billions in profits for Monsanto. No wonder they are working overtime to silence the scientists and cover-up the findings. What if people knew the truth?
PureHealthSystems.com
_____________________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception (http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Pub...), the world's bestselling book on GMOs. He is also the author of Genetic Roulette (http://www.geneticroulette.com), and the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (http://www.responsibletechnology.org). The Institute's Non-GMO Shopping Guide website (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com), iPhone app ShopNoGMO, and pocket guide, help people navigate to healthier non-GMO foods. Join the Institute's Non-GMO Tipping Point Network (http://action.responsibletechnology...) to connect with others in your area, to bring the truth about GMOs to your friends and community.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033772_Monsanto_Roundup.html
For 15% off your next order for qualified products, simply use coupon code 'Oct-2011-15off' when you check out. Discount does NOT apply to H2O2 due to related hazmat and shipping costs. Coupon code good through the end of October.
Dr. Jeffrey T. Maehr
PureHealthSystems.com
970-731-9724
If you are doing anything to improve your health, then you should STRONGLY consider these products for decreasing your aging rate, promoting regeneration of cells and building a healthy immune system!
PureHealthSystems.com Get the research facts and learn what you need to have to be truly healthy!
Did you know there are a number of proven health products that are making a major difference in people's overall immune system health, and minimizing premature degenerative changes?
* Berkey Water Filters: For regular use or emergency preparation!
* BioMagnetic Therapy' :for Health and Healing--- lasts forever!
* New generation Magnetic Energy products: For Home and Car energy savings!
* Natural Sea Salt
* Oxy2Go Portable Oxygen System
* 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide
* Living Streams Probiotic: Natural anti-infective
* Whole Food Vitamins and Minerals
* Organic Green Foods, Vegetable and Fruit Powders
* Digestive Enzymes
* Enzyme Weight Loss System
* Beta Glucan: Powerful Cancer Product
* Natural Heavy Metal Removal
* Natural Parasite Cleansing
* Cetyl Myristoleate! Arthritis and Pain Support Breakthrough
* Natural Iodine Supplement
* Homeopathic Human Growth Hormone
* Powerful Homeopathic Remedies
* Bone & Joint Support
# Many More Natural Health Products available through PureHealthSystems.com
'Clinically speaking, unless we are taking positive steps to support our immune systems and minimize degenerative changes taking place from so many directions, we will see major segments of our population succumb to the many major health threats we all face.' Dr. Jeffrey T. Maehr, Pu
Dr. Andreas Carrasco remained in the locked car and watched with fear as the crowd beat the vehicle and shouted at him -- for two hours. His friends who didn't make it into the vehicle were not so lucky. One ended up paralyzed. Another unconscious. The angry crowd of about 100 were likely organized by a local rice grower who was furious at Carrasco for what he was trying to do that day. Carrasco's crime? Telling people that Roundup herbicide from Monsanto causes birth defects in animals, and probably humans.
Carrasco is a leading embryologist at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and the Argentinean national research council. He had heard the horrific stories of peasant farmers working near the vast fields of Roundup Ready soybeans -- plants genetically engineered to withstand generous doses of Monsanto's poisonous weed killer. The short-term impact of getting sprayed was obvious: skin rashes, headaches, loss of appetite, and for one 11 year old Paraguayan boy named Silvino Talavera, who biked through a fog of herbicides in 2003, death. But Carrasco also heard about the rise of birth defects, cancer, and other disorders that now plagued the peasants who were sprayed by plane. He decided to conduct a study.
Exposing Roundup's 30 year cover-up of birth defects
Carrasco injected minute amounts of Roundup into chicken and frog embryos, and sure enough, the offspring exhibited the same type of birth deformities that the peasant communities were seeing in their newborns. A report by the provincial government of Chaco soon followed, confirming that those living near soy and rice fields sprayed with Roundup and other chemicals did in fact have higher rates of birth defects -- nearly a fourfold increase between 2000-2009. (Child cancer rates tripled during the same period.)
Regulatory agencies had given Roundup a green light years before, claiming that it was free of such problems. However after Carrasco's findings were published, European authorities quietly pushed their official re-assessment of Roundup, due in 2012, back to 2015. And the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, charged with responding to Carrasco's findings, issued a statement claiming that the Argentine scientist must be mistaken; earlier studies conducted by manufacturers of Roundup (including Monsanto) had already demonstrated that Roundup does not cause birth defects.
But in June 2011, a group of international scientists released a report detailing a massive cover-up that went back to the 1980s. The very industry studies cited by the German Consumer Protection office in fact showed just the opposite. Roundup did increase birth defects. Using scientific sleight of hand, Europe's regulators had ignored statistically significant increases in birth defects, and so did every other regulatory agency worldwide. Monsanto has relied on these misleading statements of safety by regulators ever since, using them to deny that Roundup causes birth defects.
Monsanto secretly poisoning the population, again and again
Covering up toxic effects of their products was not new for Monsanto. They're experts at it. In 2003 the company paid $700 million in settlements for secretly poisoning the population living next to their PCB factory in Anniston, Alabama. Court documents showed the arrogance of Monsanto executives made aware of the product's effects: 'We can't afford to lose $1 of business,' was the written response in a secret company memo.
Leaked documents also revealed that EPA scientists had charged Monsanto with fraudulently hiding the toxic effects of Agent Orange -- effectively preventing Vietnam veterans from collecting compensation for cancer, birth defects, and other symptoms of exposure.
When Carrasco first reported his findings, he got the usual treatment. His results were vehemently denied, and he was attacked in the press by biotech advocates. Four highly aggressive men showed up at his office and tried to interrogate him, but he wasn't physically attacked. Not until he tried to give a speech on his results in the small Argentine farm town of La Leonesa on August 7, 2010. That was unusual.
Punishing messengers worldwide
When Dr. Irina Ermakova came to her office, the meaning of the charred remains of papers on her desk was unambiguous -- it was yet another attempt to intimidate or punish her. So was the theft of samples from her laboratory, and the continuous verbal attacks by biotech advocates. Her crime? She fed rats genetically modified Roundup Ready soy, and reported the results.
Those results were clearly not what the sellers of GM soy wanted us to hear. After female rats were fed GM soy, more than half their babies died within three weeks. The rat pups were also considerably smaller, and in a later experiment, were unable to reproduce. Offspring from mothers fed non-GM soybeans, on the other hand, died at only a 10% rate, and were able to mate successfully.
Journal ambushes scientist
After Ermakova presented the results as 'preliminary' at an October 2005 conference, the biotech industry's damage control teams kicked into high gear. At the center of the coordinated attack was the editor of the journal Nature Biotechnology
PureHealthSystems.com
But that was just a 'dummy proof.' What was actually published was quite different. Instead of an essay, the journal had inserted scathing criticisms from the four biotech advocates after nearly every paragraph. Many of Ermakova's citations were also stripped off and replaced with those chosen by the biotech detractors -- to weaken her case. It was an academic lynch mob, conducted by four biotech apologists: Bruce Chassy, Vivian Moses, Val Giddings, and Alan McHughen. All acknowledged that they had no personal experience in the type of research they were condemning, but that didn't stop them from throwing every type of challenge they could think of at Ermakova.
The purpose of the attack was transparent. It allowed the biotech industry to claim from that point forward that the study showing high death rates was officially refuted and discredited. It also served as a warning: if anyone wanted to defend Ermakova (or do similar research) they too would be mercilessly attacked.
The problem was that nearly all their criticisms were utterly baseless. About 75 % of their arguments, for example, were simply complaints that she didn't provide sufficient detail. Now remember -- she was told to only provide a summary. Her request to the editor to submit complete details was denied. It was quite a setup. When the details of this ambush were made public, independent scientists charged Nature Biotechnology with an unethical 'premeditated attack.' At least one letter called on the editor to resign.
It didn't happen. Instead, international pressure against Ermakova got so intense, her boss told her not to do any more studies on GMOs. One of her colleagues even tried to comfort her by suggesting that perhaps the GM soy could solve the human overpopulation problem. (She wasn't comforted.) According to Ermakova, the editor contacted her and told her he was going to include a description of her study as a sort of essay in the journal. She was then asked to summarize her research over the phone, or if she preferred, in writing. Ermakova, a senior scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, was surprised by the request and asked instead to properly submit the findings for peer review and publication. Oh no, the editor insisted, he just wanted a summary. She sent it in, and the journal sent Ermakova back a proof of the article, with her named as the author.
Real life confirms research: GM soy = high infant mortality for rats
The main valid criticism against Ermakova's research was that she failed to conduct a biochemical analysis of the feed. Without that, we don't know if some rogue toxin present in the bag of soy flour might have been responsible for the astonishing death rate and stunted growth in her experiment. But subsequent events at her laboratory suggest otherwise.
PureHealthSystems.com
After Ermakova repeated the test three times with similar results, the supplier of rat food used at the facility began using GM soy in the formulation. With all the rats now eating GM soy, Ermakova couldn't conduct any more experiments (she had no controls). After two months, however, she asked her colleagues at the lab about the mortality rate in their rat experiments. It turned out that 99 of 179 (55.3%) rat pups whose parents were fed GM soy-based rat chow had died within the first 20 days. Thus, whatever caused the high death rate does not appear to be confined to the one batch of GM flour used in her experiment. Both the study, and the subsequent laboratory-wide mortality rate, are published in the Russian peer-reviewed journal Ecosinform.
Horrific reproductive disorders
Other studies on Roundup Ready soy also show scary reproductive problems. Ermakova showed that the testicles of rats fed GM soy changed from the normal pink to blue (not published). Peer-reviewed research from Italy also showed changes in mice testicles, including alterations in young sperm cells. A Brazilian team found changes in the uterus and ovaries of female rats. The DNA of mice embryos functioned differently, compared to those whose parents were fed non-GM soy. And when hamsters were fed GM soy for two years, by the third generation, most lost the ability to have babies. The offspring grew at a slower rate and the infant mortality rate was 4-5 times that of the non-GM soy group. Many also had hair growing in their mouths.
When the Austrian government tested Roundup Ready corn (which was also engineered to produce an insecticide), mice had fewer – and smaller – babies.
PureHealthSystems.com
It's not possible to know if the reproductive damage was due to the genetic changes in the GM crops, the high residues of Roundup in the GM soybeans and corn, or some other reason. But the American Academy of Environmental Science is among the medical organizations that don't need more animal studies before issuing a warning. They urge all doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets to everyone.
Omnipresent Roundup literally falls from the sky
Although eliminating Roundup Ready soy and corn from our diet will certainly reduce our intake of Roundup, a recent study suggests that getting our exposure down to zero is not possible. In the Midwest during the growing season, Roundup is found in 60–100% of air and rain samples, as well as in streams.
The omnipresence of Roundup in the US is due in large part to the more than 100 million acres of Roundup Ready crops. As farmers pour on Monsanto's weed killer, weeds are learning to adapt and withstand the poison -- so farmers pour on more. In the first 13 years since GM crops were introduced, the use of herbicide-tolerant crops resulted in an additional 383 million pounds more herbicide. And due to the emergence of superweeds (now found in 11 million acres), the increased use of Roundup is accelerating dramatically.
USDA solution? Even more Roundup
The USDA has a unique response to this mounting threat: Add more Roundup. In January 2011 they deregulated yet another Roundup Ready crop, alfalfa -- which is widely used for animal feed. Only 7% of the more than 20 million acres of this crop typically gets any herbicide applied to it. But that's about to change, since Roundup Ready alfalfa will soon be drinking Roundup in a hay field near you.
Not content with just the alfalfa, on July 1 the USDA told Scotts Miracle-Gro that it could introduce Roundup Ready Kentucky Bluegrass to lawns, golf courses, and soccer fields around the nation, without any government oversight.
So now we have Roundup in our food, animal feed, air, rain, and streams, and soon it will be sprayed in high doses where our children play on the grass. It's not just birth defects that may soon plague America as a result. Roundup is also linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, lower sperm counts, abnormal sperm, human cell death, miscarriages, and other disorders. But it's also linked to billions in profits for Monsanto. No wonder they are working overtime to silence the scientists and cover-up the findings. What if people knew the truth?
PureHealthSystems.com
_____________________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception (http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Pub...), the world's bestselling book on GMOs. He is also the author of Genetic Roulette (http://www.geneticroulette.com), and the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (http://www.responsibletechnology.org). The Institute's Non-GMO Shopping Guide website (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com), iPhone app ShopNoGMO, and pocket guide, help people navigate to healthier non-GMO foods. Join the Institute's Non-GMO Tipping Point Network (http://action.responsibletechnology...) to connect with others in your area, to bring the truth about GMOs to your friends and community.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033772_Monsanto_Roundup.html
For 15% off your next order for qualified products, simply use coupon code 'Oct-2011-15off' when you check out. Discount does NOT apply to H2O2 due to related hazmat and shipping costs. Coupon code good through the end of October.
Dr. Jeffrey T. Maehr
PureHealthSystems.com
970-731-9724
If you are doing anything to improve your health, then you should STRONGLY consider these products for decreasing your aging rate, promoting regeneration of cells and building a healthy immune system!
PureHealthSystems.com Get the research facts and learn what you need to have to be truly healthy!
Did you know there are a number of proven health products that are making a major difference in people's overall immune system health, and minimizing premature degenerative changes?
* Berkey Water Filters: For regular use or emergency preparation!
* BioMagnetic Therapy' :for Health and Healing--- lasts forever!
* New generation Magnetic Energy products: For Home and Car energy savings!
* Natural Sea Salt
* Oxy2Go Portable Oxygen System
* 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide
* Living Streams Probiotic: Natural anti-infective
* Whole Food Vitamins and Minerals
* Organic Green Foods, Vegetable and Fruit Powders
* Digestive Enzymes
* Enzyme Weight Loss System
* Beta Glucan: Powerful Cancer Product
* Natural Heavy Metal Removal
* Natural Parasite Cleansing
* Cetyl Myristoleate! Arthritis and Pain Support Breakthrough
* Natural Iodine Supplement
* Homeopathic Human Growth Hormone
* Powerful Homeopathic Remedies
* Bone & Joint Support
# Many More Natural Health Products available through PureHealthSystems.com
'Clinically speaking, unless we are taking positive steps to support our immune systems and minimize degenerative changes taking place from so many directions, we will see major segments of our population succumb to the many major health threats we all face.' Dr. Jeffrey T. Maehr, Pu
The Eight Marks of Fascist Policy, Part II
[Ed. Note: In his 1944 book, As We Go Marching, John T. Flynn outlined what he saw as eight marks of fascist policy. Recently, at Doug Casey’s “When Money Dies” conference in Phoenix, AZ, Llewellyn Rockwell presented Flynn’s points, offering some thoughts on each as he went. In today’s edition, we present a snippet from that presentation. For Part I, please see here.]
Point 5. Economic planning is based on the principle of autarky.
Autarky is the name given to the idea of economic self-sufficiency. Mostly this refers to the economic self-determination of the nation- state. The nation-state must be geographically huge in order to support rapid economic growth for a large and growing population.
This was and is the basis for fascist expansionism. Without expansion, the state dies. This is also the idea behind the strange combination of protectionist pressure today combined with militarism. It is driven in part by the need to control resources.
Look at the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. We would be supremely naive to believe that these wars were not motivated in part by the producer interests of the oil industry. It is true of the American empire generally, which supports dollar hegemony.
It is the reason for the planned North American Union.
The goal is national self-sufficiency rather than a world of peaceful trade. Consider, too, the protectionist impulses of the Republican ticket. There is not one single Republican, apart from Ron Paul, who authentically supports free trade in the classical definition.
From ancient Rome to modern-day America, imperialism is a form of statism that the bourgeoisie love. It is for this reason that Bush’s post-9/11 push for the global empire has been sold as patriotism and love of country rather than for what it is: a looting of liberty and property to benefit the political elites.
6. Government sustains economic life through spending and borrowing.
This point requires no elaboration because it is no longer hidden. There was stimulus 1 and stimulus 2, both of which are so discredited that stimulus 3 will have to adopt a new name. Let’s call it the American Jobs Act.
With a prime-time speech, Obama argued in favor of this program with some of the most asinine economic analysis I’ve ever heard. He mused about how is it that people are unemployed at a time when schools, bridges, and infrastructure need repairing. He ordered that supply and demand come together to match up needed work with jobs.
Hello? The schools, bridges, and infrastructure that Obama refers to are all built and maintained by the state. That’s why they are falling apart. And the reason that people don’t have jobs is because the state has made it too expensive to hire them. It’s not complicated. To sit around and dream of other scenarios is no different from wishing that water flowed uphill or that rocks would float in the air. It amounts to a denial of reality.
Still, Obama went on, invoking the old fascistic longing for national greatness. “Building a world-class transportation system,” he said, “is part of what made us an economic superpower.” Then he asked, “We’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads?”
Well, the answer to that question is yes. And you know what? It doesn’t hurt a single American for a person in China to travel on a faster railroad than we do. To claim otherwise is an incitement to nationalist hysteria.
As for the rest of this program, Obama promised yet another long list of spending projects. Let’s just mention the reality: No government in the history of the world has spent as much, borrowed as much, and created as much fake money as the United States. If the United States doesn’t qualify as a fascist state in this sense, no government ever has.
None of this would be possible but for the role of the Federal Reserve, the great lender to the world. This institution is absolutely critical to US fiscal policy. There is no way that the national debt could increase at a rate of $4 billion per day without this institution.
Under a gold standard, all of this maniacal spending would come to an end. And if US debt were priced on the market with a default premium, we would be looking at a rating far less than A+.
Point 7. Militarism is a mainstay of government spending.
Have you ever noticed that the military budget is never seriously discussed in policy debates? The United States spends more than most of the rest of the world combined.
And yet to hear our leaders talk, the United States is just a tiny commercial republic that wants peace but is constantly under threat from the world. They would have us believe that we all stand naked and vulnerable. The whole thing is a ghastly lie. The United States is a global military empire and the main threat to peace around the world today.
To visualize US military spending as compared with other countries is truly shocking. One bar chart you can easily look up shows the US trillion-dollar-plus military budget as a skyscraper surrounded by tiny huts. As for the next highest spender, China spends 1/10th as much as the United States.
Where is the debate about this policy? Where is the discussion? It is not going on. It is just assumed by both parties that it is essential for the US way of life that the United States be the most deadly country on the planet, threatening everyone with nuclear extinction unless they obey. This should be considered a fiscal and moral outrage by every civilized person.
This isn’t only about the armed services, the military contractors, the CIA death squads. It is also about how police at all levels have taken on military-like postures. This goes for the local police, state police, and even the crossing guards in our communities. The commissar mentality, the trigger-happy thuggishness, has become the norm throughout the whole of society.
If you want to witness outrages, it is not hard. Try coming into this country from Canada or Mexico. See the bullet-proof-vest- wearing, heavily armed, jackbooted thugs running dogs up and down car lanes, searching people randomly, harassing innocents, asking rude and intrusive questions.
You get the strong impression that you are entering a police state. That impression would be correct.
Yet for the man on the street, the answer to all social problems seems to be more jails, longer terms, more enforcement, more arbitrary power, more crackdowns, more capital punishments, more authority. Where does all of this end? And will the end come before we realize what has happened to our once-free country?
Point 8. Military spending has imperialist aims.
Ronald Reagan used to claim that his military buildup was essential to keeping the peace. The history of US foreign policy just since the 1980s has shown that this is wrong. We’ve had one war after another, wars waged by the United States against noncompliant countries, and the creation of even more client states and colonies.
US military strength has led not to peace but the opposite. It has caused most people in the world to regard the United States as a threat, and it has led to unconscionable wars on many countries. Wars of aggression were defined at Nuremberg as crimes against humanity.
Obama was supposed to end this. He never promised to do so, but his supporters all believed that he would. Instead, he has done the opposite. He has increased troop levels, entrenched wars, and started new ones. In reality, he has presided over a warfare state just as vicious as any in history. The difference this time is that the Left is no longer criticizing the US role in the world. In that sense, Obama is the best thing ever to happen to the warmongers and the military-industrial complex.
As for the Right in this country, it once opposed this kind of military fascism. But all that changed after the beginning of the Cold War. The Right was led into a terrible ideological shift, well documented in Murray Rothbard’s neglected masterpiece The Betrayal of the American Right. In the name of stopping communism, the right came to follow ex-CIA agent Bill Buckley’s endorsement of a totalitarian bureaucracy at home to fight wars all over the world.
At the end of the Cold War, there was a brief reprise when the Right in this country remembered its roots in noninterventionism. But this did not last long. George Bush the First rekindled the militarist spirit with the first war on Iraq, and there has been no fundamental questioning of the American empire ever since. Even today, Republicans elicit their biggest applause by whipping up audiences about foreign threats, while never mentioning that the real threat to American well-being exists in the Beltway.
Regards,
Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.,
for The Daily Reckoning
Joel’s Note: If, as Mr. Rockwell asserts, the US is much further down that road to fascism than most people think (or indeed, already there), it probably helps to at least have an idea of what’s going on. Last Friday, Agora Financial executive publisher, Addison Wiggin, released a presentation that most people won’t want to view. It contains certain truths they simply don’t want to hear. But ignoring these facts won’t make them go away...and it won’t help people properly prepare for their consequences. Take a look at what Addison has to say here in a video. or
If you would like to read about the biggest of all of America's financial bubbles bursting, read it here by clicking to delete it and a POPUP will pop up and you can click Cancel,then read the article.
Point 5. Economic planning is based on the principle of autarky.
Autarky is the name given to the idea of economic self-sufficiency. Mostly this refers to the economic self-determination of the nation- state. The nation-state must be geographically huge in order to support rapid economic growth for a large and growing population.
This was and is the basis for fascist expansionism. Without expansion, the state dies. This is also the idea behind the strange combination of protectionist pressure today combined with militarism. It is driven in part by the need to control resources.
Look at the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. We would be supremely naive to believe that these wars were not motivated in part by the producer interests of the oil industry. It is true of the American empire generally, which supports dollar hegemony.
It is the reason for the planned North American Union.
The goal is national self-sufficiency rather than a world of peaceful trade. Consider, too, the protectionist impulses of the Republican ticket. There is not one single Republican, apart from Ron Paul, who authentically supports free trade in the classical definition.
From ancient Rome to modern-day America, imperialism is a form of statism that the bourgeoisie love. It is for this reason that Bush’s post-9/11 push for the global empire has been sold as patriotism and love of country rather than for what it is: a looting of liberty and property to benefit the political elites.
6. Government sustains economic life through spending and borrowing.
This point requires no elaboration because it is no longer hidden. There was stimulus 1 and stimulus 2, both of which are so discredited that stimulus 3 will have to adopt a new name. Let’s call it the American Jobs Act.
With a prime-time speech, Obama argued in favor of this program with some of the most asinine economic analysis I’ve ever heard. He mused about how is it that people are unemployed at a time when schools, bridges, and infrastructure need repairing. He ordered that supply and demand come together to match up needed work with jobs.
Hello? The schools, bridges, and infrastructure that Obama refers to are all built and maintained by the state. That’s why they are falling apart. And the reason that people don’t have jobs is because the state has made it too expensive to hire them. It’s not complicated. To sit around and dream of other scenarios is no different from wishing that water flowed uphill or that rocks would float in the air. It amounts to a denial of reality.
Still, Obama went on, invoking the old fascistic longing for national greatness. “Building a world-class transportation system,” he said, “is part of what made us an economic superpower.” Then he asked, “We’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads?”
Well, the answer to that question is yes. And you know what? It doesn’t hurt a single American for a person in China to travel on a faster railroad than we do. To claim otherwise is an incitement to nationalist hysteria.
As for the rest of this program, Obama promised yet another long list of spending projects. Let’s just mention the reality: No government in the history of the world has spent as much, borrowed as much, and created as much fake money as the United States. If the United States doesn’t qualify as a fascist state in this sense, no government ever has.
None of this would be possible but for the role of the Federal Reserve, the great lender to the world. This institution is absolutely critical to US fiscal policy. There is no way that the national debt could increase at a rate of $4 billion per day without this institution.
Under a gold standard, all of this maniacal spending would come to an end. And if US debt were priced on the market with a default premium, we would be looking at a rating far less than A+.
Point 7. Militarism is a mainstay of government spending.
Have you ever noticed that the military budget is never seriously discussed in policy debates? The United States spends more than most of the rest of the world combined.
And yet to hear our leaders talk, the United States is just a tiny commercial republic that wants peace but is constantly under threat from the world. They would have us believe that we all stand naked and vulnerable. The whole thing is a ghastly lie. The United States is a global military empire and the main threat to peace around the world today.
To visualize US military spending as compared with other countries is truly shocking. One bar chart you can easily look up shows the US trillion-dollar-plus military budget as a skyscraper surrounded by tiny huts. As for the next highest spender, China spends 1/10th as much as the United States.
Where is the debate about this policy? Where is the discussion? It is not going on. It is just assumed by both parties that it is essential for the US way of life that the United States be the most deadly country on the planet, threatening everyone with nuclear extinction unless they obey. This should be considered a fiscal and moral outrage by every civilized person.
This isn’t only about the armed services, the military contractors, the CIA death squads. It is also about how police at all levels have taken on military-like postures. This goes for the local police, state police, and even the crossing guards in our communities. The commissar mentality, the trigger-happy thuggishness, has become the norm throughout the whole of society.
If you want to witness outrages, it is not hard. Try coming into this country from Canada or Mexico. See the bullet-proof-vest- wearing, heavily armed, jackbooted thugs running dogs up and down car lanes, searching people randomly, harassing innocents, asking rude and intrusive questions.
You get the strong impression that you are entering a police state. That impression would be correct.
Yet for the man on the street, the answer to all social problems seems to be more jails, longer terms, more enforcement, more arbitrary power, more crackdowns, more capital punishments, more authority. Where does all of this end? And will the end come before we realize what has happened to our once-free country?
Point 8. Military spending has imperialist aims.
Ronald Reagan used to claim that his military buildup was essential to keeping the peace. The history of US foreign policy just since the 1980s has shown that this is wrong. We’ve had one war after another, wars waged by the United States against noncompliant countries, and the creation of even more client states and colonies.
US military strength has led not to peace but the opposite. It has caused most people in the world to regard the United States as a threat, and it has led to unconscionable wars on many countries. Wars of aggression were defined at Nuremberg as crimes against humanity.
Obama was supposed to end this. He never promised to do so, but his supporters all believed that he would. Instead, he has done the opposite. He has increased troop levels, entrenched wars, and started new ones. In reality, he has presided over a warfare state just as vicious as any in history. The difference this time is that the Left is no longer criticizing the US role in the world. In that sense, Obama is the best thing ever to happen to the warmongers and the military-industrial complex.
As for the Right in this country, it once opposed this kind of military fascism. But all that changed after the beginning of the Cold War. The Right was led into a terrible ideological shift, well documented in Murray Rothbard’s neglected masterpiece The Betrayal of the American Right. In the name of stopping communism, the right came to follow ex-CIA agent Bill Buckley’s endorsement of a totalitarian bureaucracy at home to fight wars all over the world.
At the end of the Cold War, there was a brief reprise when the Right in this country remembered its roots in noninterventionism. But this did not last long. George Bush the First rekindled the militarist spirit with the first war on Iraq, and there has been no fundamental questioning of the American empire ever since. Even today, Republicans elicit their biggest applause by whipping up audiences about foreign threats, while never mentioning that the real threat to American well-being exists in the Beltway.
Regards,
Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.,
for The Daily Reckoning
Joel’s Note: If, as Mr. Rockwell asserts, the US is much further down that road to fascism than most people think (or indeed, already there), it probably helps to at least have an idea of what’s going on. Last Friday, Agora Financial executive publisher, Addison Wiggin, released a presentation that most people won’t want to view. It contains certain truths they simply don’t want to hear. But ignoring these facts won’t make them go away...and it won’t help people properly prepare for their consequences. Take a look at what Addison has to say here in a video. or
If you would like to read about the biggest of all of America's financial bubbles bursting, read it here by clicking to delete it and a POPUP will pop up and you can click Cancel,then read the article.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
You Earn 2% per Day or 60% per Month! No sponsoring Requirements at JSS Tripler
Basically, You Earn 2% per Day or 60% per Month! No sponsoring Requirements. Use Daily Compounding to Increase Your Earnings! Make Daily Withdrawals to Get Your Money Out! This may be one of the easiest and best ways to earn money you've ever seen!
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
We Regularly Apply the "Cash Acceleration Bonus" (CAB) to Speed Up Your Earnings! Sponsor People to Earn 10% Referral Bonuses on the First Level and 5% on the Second! Withdraw this Money Daily, or Use It to Further Compound and Increase Your Earnings!
The basic formula JSS-Tripler uses is to apply 80% of funds received to pay unexpired positions. This means that every position bought enables JSS-Tripler to pay 40 positions for a day. Watch JSS Videos here.
This makes "cash acceleration" possible: JSS-Tripler has a "Cash Acceleration Bonus" (CAB) feature. From time to time, JSS-Tripler uses CAB to pay extra bonuses to members.
You Can Start with Just $10 and Turn It into a Fortune!
The total cash earnings per position is $15 or 150%. The further $15 is paid in the form of JSS positions. When four of your JSS-Tripler positions have matured and earned you $15 each, you get a JSS position that pays you $60 when it cycles. This amounts to $15 per JSS-Tripler position. This is how your money is tripled. For the details of how JSS works, see the Synergy Surf FAQ.
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
All Similar Programs (Usually Called Revenue-Share Programs, Doublers, Cyclers, Autosurfs, or HYIPs) Slow Down, Stall, and Disappear. Fortunately, JSS-Tripler is Indefinitely Sustainable!
Enrich Yourself by Joining the JSS-Tripler Money Stampede!
For more details on how JSS-Tripler works, check out the JSS-Tripler FAQ.
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
We Regularly Apply the "Cash Acceleration Bonus" (CAB) to Speed Up Your Earnings! Sponsor People to Earn 10% Referral Bonuses on the First Level and 5% on the Second! Withdraw this Money Daily, or Use It to Further Compound and Increase Your Earnings!
The basic formula JSS-Tripler uses is to apply 80% of funds received to pay unexpired positions. This means that every position bought enables JSS-Tripler to pay 40 positions for a day. Watch JSS Videos here.
This makes "cash acceleration" possible: JSS-Tripler has a "Cash Acceleration Bonus" (CAB) feature. From time to time, JSS-Tripler uses CAB to pay extra bonuses to members.
You Can Start with Just $10 and Turn It into a Fortune!
The total cash earnings per position is $15 or 150%. The further $15 is paid in the form of JSS positions. When four of your JSS-Tripler positions have matured and earned you $15 each, you get a JSS position that pays you $60 when it cycles. This amounts to $15 per JSS-Tripler position. This is how your money is tripled. For the details of how JSS works, see the Synergy Surf FAQ.
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
All Similar Programs (Usually Called Revenue-Share Programs, Doublers, Cyclers, Autosurfs, or HYIPs) Slow Down, Stall, and Disappear. Fortunately, JSS-Tripler is Indefinitely Sustainable!
Enrich Yourself by Joining the JSS-Tripler Money Stampede!
For more details on how JSS-Tripler works, check out the JSS-Tripler FAQ.
Please Give Your Experiences with this program in the Web Success Forum
Thursday, October 6, 2011
America's Credit Card Shut Off: How Do People NOT See This Coming?
The best-selling author who predicted the housing crisis, gold's meteoric rise and the fall of the U.S. dollar now predicts a much more insidious event.
An event that could change your lifestyle forever.
Services you take for granted could start disappearing overnight. 911 calls could go unanswered, newly paved roads become dusty, gravel paths hardly suitable for driving, trash removal will be services only the super-wealthy can afford.
What's more, phase one of this event has already begun to take place... although you may not have even noticed yet.
And should the final phase of this event unfold, it will be too late to do anything about it.
Don't be caught unprepared. Learn more about his controversial prediction -- including specific actions he suggests you take - right here in a video.
OR
Or Read it here by clicking Exit then Cancel to to stay on page and read:“The Mother of All Financial Bubbles Is Just Now Starting to Pop...”-- Addison Wiggin Three time NYT bestselling author and co-founder of dailyreckoning.com
Sincerely,
Doug Hill
Publisher, Laissez Faire Books
An event that could change your lifestyle forever.
Services you take for granted could start disappearing overnight. 911 calls could go unanswered, newly paved roads become dusty, gravel paths hardly suitable for driving, trash removal will be services only the super-wealthy can afford.
What's more, phase one of this event has already begun to take place... although you may not have even noticed yet.
And should the final phase of this event unfold, it will be too late to do anything about it.
Don't be caught unprepared. Learn more about his controversial prediction -- including specific actions he suggests you take - right here in a video.
OR
Or Read it here by clicking Exit then Cancel to to stay on page and read:“The Mother of All Financial Bubbles Is Just Now Starting to Pop...”-- Addison Wiggin Three time NYT bestselling author and co-founder of dailyreckoning.com
Sincerely,
Doug Hill
Publisher, Laissez Faire Books
FWP's Statement on Fair Trade USA's Resignation from Fairtrade International (FLO)
* Fair World Project, Oct 3, 2011 Straight to the Source
Fair trade is a social movement and market model that aims to empower small-scale farmers and consumers in underdeveloped countries to create an alternative trading system that supports equitable trading, sustainable development and long-term trading relationships. Fair trade supports fair prices and wages for producers, safe working conditions, investment in community development projects, and the elimination of child labor, workplace discrimination and exploitation.
Certified fair trade products now represent a multi-billion dollar industry with over 10,000 products in the marketplace. Consumer demand for fair trade products has steadily risen over the course of the last decade thanks to the tireless work of dedicated advocates, fully committed companies, and students.
On September 15th, Fairtrade International (FLO) and Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) jointly announced that FTUSA is resigning its membership in FLO, effective December 31, 2011. FTUSA's resignation from the FLO system is partially due to its new initiative, "Fair Trade For All" (http://fairtradeforall.com/) which it claims will "double the impact" of fair trade by 2015.
In an open letter, Rob Cameron, CEO of Fairtrade International, wrote: "I, the staff at Fairtrade International, and the entire global Fairtrade network sincerely regret FTUSA's decision to pursue its own approach, rather than continue working within the global system. It is a decision they have taken themselves, and we have to respect their choice."
Fair Trade USA's move raises many questions for fair trade producers in the Global South. Many producers rely heavily on the US market for sales and distribution. FTUSA's rash exit from the FLO system will most certainly cause chaos in the near-term as FTUSA has failed to publish its own standards or details regarding its new labeling scheme. In the long run, everything from consumer apathy to competing labels that make similar claims will undermine the fair trade market and the overall positive impact for producers.
At its core, "Fair Trade For All" is FTUSA's unilateral decision to initiate certification of Fair Trade coffee on plantation and hired labor operations. FTUSA intends to open other commodities, like cocoa, to plantation and hired labor for certification as well. Fair trade was established on the values of supporting small-scale, disenfranchised farming communities, most often organized in democratic cooperatives. Despite claims to the contrary, hundreds of thousands of small producers organized in cooperatives still lack access to fair trade markets. To continue to make progress and expand the benefits of fair trade, these producers must be given priority and support when considering further expansion of the fair trade system. Without strict standards and implementation, the expansion of fair trade to include plantations in coffee and other sectors will most certainly erode standards and dilute fair trade's impact.
While it is true that farmer and worker advocates are deeply concerned with the plight of farmworkers and other hired laborers in the Global South, it is not conclusive that the current fair trade system is the best antidote for their situation. Fair trade's record as it relates to hired labor operations, like tea and bananas has been anything but successful. In fact, the literature suggests that fair trade certification often undermines national labor laws and the union presence that brings more benefits to plantation workers than fair trade.
FTUSA's decision has drawn the widespread condemnation of fair trade producer networks, including the Network of Asian Producers (NAP), Latin American and Caribbean Network of Small Fair Trade ... and Fairtrade Africa. It is inconceivable that an organization who's organizational values include striving "to always act ethically and we value relationships built on honesty, mutual respect and trust" would advance a program without the knowledge or consent of the very producers it aims to support.
FTUSA's move away from FLO comes on the heels of the organization's controversial name change. In fall of 2010, FTUSA changed their name from TransFair USA, eliciting a significant uproar from within the FT community, with over 10k concerned consumers, advocates, and FT organizations sending letters to FTUSA expressing their concern about what many saw as an effort to monopolize the FT market and movement in the United States.
In January 2011, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), charging that FTUSA authorized the misleading and deceptive labeling and advertising of the "Mark" brand products as "Fair Trade Certified" when, in fact, the products so labeled contain a minimal amount of fair trade certified ingredients. Over 8k people have signed letters in support of OCA's complaint. OCA is awaiting the pending decision from the FTC.
FTUSA has repeatedly failed to apply FLO standards. Case in point is FLO's commercial availability standard 2.2.Various brands and products lines which states that "Food composite ingredients must contain as many [FLO Fair Trade] certified ingredients as available." (http://www.fairtrade.net/standards.0.html). Dozens of products in the marketplace, ranging from Honest Tea to Sunspire Organic Cocoa Chips, have failed to source fair trade ingredients, yet continue to display the FTUSA fair trade seal. This dilution of the standards undermines consumer confidence in fair trade and denies producers the full benefit of a fair trade market.
Finally, FTUSA has a poor track record of responsibly engaging stakeholders on new initiatives. For example, FTUSA's textile and apparel multi-stakeholder process was contentious and divisive, not to mention a missed opportunity to create common cause and alliances with trade unions and labor advocates. For more information on this process, see the open "Letter to Transfair USA regarding Fair Trade Garments Pil..." signed by International Labor Rights Forum, SweatFree Communities, Presbyterian Hunger Project, STITCH, Workers United (an affiliate of SEIU), New York Labor Religion Coalition and the Organic Consumers Association.
The future of fair trade in the United States and beyond
Fair trade is at a critical crossroads. Despite the incredible potential in the United States to support ethical and fair companies and initiatives, the market is overrun with hundreds of social, ethical, green, and sustainable labels and certifiers, many with questionable ethics and standards. For consumers to maintain confidence in FTUSA and its certification program, FTUSA must actively and in good faith be accountable to producers and civil society at large.
FWP calls upon Fair Trade USA to do the following:
1) Suspend plans for certifying plantations and other hired labor operations in coffee and other commodities.
2) Promptly publish its new fair trade standards with clear mechanisms for accountable stakeholder review and engagement.
3) Open its Board of Directors to broad participation from members of producer networks, fair trade advocates, and students.
4) Commit to full transparency and traceability.
5) Create an ethical labeling scheme that clearly identifies percentage of FT ingredients on packaging and whether the product contains ingredients from plantations or estates.
6) Actively cooperate with FLO, IMO and other reputable certifiers to establish a "high bar" standard for fair trade certification.
Fair Trade References:
1. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_24073.cfm
2. http://www.fairtrade.net/897.0.html
3. http://fairtradeforall.com/
Fair trade is a social movement and market model that aims to empower small-scale farmers and consumers in underdeveloped countries to create an alternative trading system that supports equitable trading, sustainable development and long-term trading relationships. Fair trade supports fair prices and wages for producers, safe working conditions, investment in community development projects, and the elimination of child labor, workplace discrimination and exploitation.
Certified fair trade products now represent a multi-billion dollar industry with over 10,000 products in the marketplace. Consumer demand for fair trade products has steadily risen over the course of the last decade thanks to the tireless work of dedicated advocates, fully committed companies, and students.
On September 15th, Fairtrade International (FLO) and Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) jointly announced that FTUSA is resigning its membership in FLO, effective December 31, 2011. FTUSA's resignation from the FLO system is partially due to its new initiative, "Fair Trade For All" (http://fairtradeforall.com/) which it claims will "double the impact" of fair trade by 2015.
In an open letter, Rob Cameron, CEO of Fairtrade International, wrote: "I, the staff at Fairtrade International, and the entire global Fairtrade network sincerely regret FTUSA's decision to pursue its own approach, rather than continue working within the global system. It is a decision they have taken themselves, and we have to respect their choice."
Fair Trade USA's move raises many questions for fair trade producers in the Global South. Many producers rely heavily on the US market for sales and distribution. FTUSA's rash exit from the FLO system will most certainly cause chaos in the near-term as FTUSA has failed to publish its own standards or details regarding its new labeling scheme. In the long run, everything from consumer apathy to competing labels that make similar claims will undermine the fair trade market and the overall positive impact for producers.
At its core, "Fair Trade For All" is FTUSA's unilateral decision to initiate certification of Fair Trade coffee on plantation and hired labor operations. FTUSA intends to open other commodities, like cocoa, to plantation and hired labor for certification as well. Fair trade was established on the values of supporting small-scale, disenfranchised farming communities, most often organized in democratic cooperatives. Despite claims to the contrary, hundreds of thousands of small producers organized in cooperatives still lack access to fair trade markets. To continue to make progress and expand the benefits of fair trade, these producers must be given priority and support when considering further expansion of the fair trade system. Without strict standards and implementation, the expansion of fair trade to include plantations in coffee and other sectors will most certainly erode standards and dilute fair trade's impact.
While it is true that farmer and worker advocates are deeply concerned with the plight of farmworkers and other hired laborers in the Global South, it is not conclusive that the current fair trade system is the best antidote for their situation. Fair trade's record as it relates to hired labor operations, like tea and bananas has been anything but successful. In fact, the literature suggests that fair trade certification often undermines national labor laws and the union presence that brings more benefits to plantation workers than fair trade.
FTUSA's decision has drawn the widespread condemnation of fair trade producer networks, including the Network of Asian Producers (NAP), Latin American and Caribbean Network of Small Fair Trade ... and Fairtrade Africa. It is inconceivable that an organization who's organizational values include striving "to always act ethically and we value relationships built on honesty, mutual respect and trust" would advance a program without the knowledge or consent of the very producers it aims to support.
FTUSA's move away from FLO comes on the heels of the organization's controversial name change. In fall of 2010, FTUSA changed their name from TransFair USA, eliciting a significant uproar from within the FT community, with over 10k concerned consumers, advocates, and FT organizations sending letters to FTUSA expressing their concern about what many saw as an effort to monopolize the FT market and movement in the United States.
In January 2011, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), charging that FTUSA authorized the misleading and deceptive labeling and advertising of the "Mark" brand products as "Fair Trade Certified" when, in fact, the products so labeled contain a minimal amount of fair trade certified ingredients. Over 8k people have signed letters in support of OCA's complaint. OCA is awaiting the pending decision from the FTC.
FTUSA has repeatedly failed to apply FLO standards. Case in point is FLO's commercial availability standard 2.2.Various brands and products lines which states that "Food composite ingredients must contain as many [FLO Fair Trade] certified ingredients as available." (http://www.fairtrade.net/standards.0.html). Dozens of products in the marketplace, ranging from Honest Tea to Sunspire Organic Cocoa Chips, have failed to source fair trade ingredients, yet continue to display the FTUSA fair trade seal. This dilution of the standards undermines consumer confidence in fair trade and denies producers the full benefit of a fair trade market.
Finally, FTUSA has a poor track record of responsibly engaging stakeholders on new initiatives. For example, FTUSA's textile and apparel multi-stakeholder process was contentious and divisive, not to mention a missed opportunity to create common cause and alliances with trade unions and labor advocates. For more information on this process, see the open "Letter to Transfair USA regarding Fair Trade Garments Pil..." signed by International Labor Rights Forum, SweatFree Communities, Presbyterian Hunger Project, STITCH, Workers United (an affiliate of SEIU), New York Labor Religion Coalition and the Organic Consumers Association.
The future of fair trade in the United States and beyond
Fair trade is at a critical crossroads. Despite the incredible potential in the United States to support ethical and fair companies and initiatives, the market is overrun with hundreds of social, ethical, green, and sustainable labels and certifiers, many with questionable ethics and standards. For consumers to maintain confidence in FTUSA and its certification program, FTUSA must actively and in good faith be accountable to producers and civil society at large.
FWP calls upon Fair Trade USA to do the following:
1) Suspend plans for certifying plantations and other hired labor operations in coffee and other commodities.
2) Promptly publish its new fair trade standards with clear mechanisms for accountable stakeholder review and engagement.
3) Open its Board of Directors to broad participation from members of producer networks, fair trade advocates, and students.
4) Commit to full transparency and traceability.
5) Create an ethical labeling scheme that clearly identifies percentage of FT ingredients on packaging and whether the product contains ingredients from plantations or estates.
6) Actively cooperate with FLO, IMO and other reputable certifiers to establish a "high bar" standard for fair trade certification.
Fair Trade References:
1. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_24073.cfm
2. http://www.fairtrade.net/897.0.html
3. http://fairtradeforall.com/
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