Big Brother to track your medication compliance with electronic transmitters in pills

Big Brother to track your medication compliance with electronic transmitters in pills: "
(NaturalNews) Now that the U.S. government has achieved its monopoly over health care, new technologies are in the works that will allow the government to remotely monitor and track whether ordinary citizens are complying with taking medications prescribed by conventional doctors. One new technology described at the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging allows "pills to be electronically outfitted with transmitters" which would track the patient's compliance with medications and broadcast that information back to government health care enforcers who check for "compliance and efficacy."

"Emerging technologies allow pills to be electronically outfitted with transmitters to communicate with the user's wristwatch that shows that the pill has been consumed," said University of Virginia professor Robin Felder at the committee meeting. "Broadband connectivity of these devices would allow the electronic medical record to be updated with regard to medication compliance and efficacy."

This would allow government health operators, for example, to know whether you've taken all your prescribed psychiatric medications. If you veer from the course of pharmaceuticals prescribed by your doctor, health care enforcement agents could be dispatched to your door to make sure you start taking your pills.

Parents who currently attempt to protect their children from toxic medical therapies such as chemotherapy could be closely monitored by government medical enforcement agents. If you try to flush dangerous pharmaceuticals down the toilet instead of actually taking them, the lack of an electronic tracking signal will let your health care observers know you didn't really take the pills.

Get ready for E-Care

It's all part of a new push called E-Care which involves a number of medical devices that monitor you in your home and report back to government authorities. A blood pressure monitoring device, for example, could report your blood pressure to your government-approved doctor. A blood sugar monitoring device could determine if you've eaten too much sugar and order you to take more diabetes pills to try to compensate.

Big Government, you see, doesn't just want to monopolize health care; it wants to monitor your compliance with it. If you depart from their system of pharmaceuticals, you may be found unfit as a parent, for example. Or possibly just declared insane (which gets you drugged with psych meds).

Big Brother snooping in on your diet

One of the ultimate goals of this remote monitoring technology is to install a blood monitoring chip in your arm that would sample and run diagnostic tests on your blood every few minutes. While this could be used in a positive way to detect early signs of cancer or liver problems, for example, it could also be used to snoop on the dietary habits of everyday citizens.

If you take too much vitamin C, for example -- beyond what is allowed by CODEX -- it could trigger a monitored alert that causes government-run medical operatives to force their way into your home and confiscate your "non-compliant" vitamins.

If your vitamin D levels rise high enough to actually prevent cancer, they could have you arrested for "spending too much time in the sun" and thrown into a hospital with no windows to, as they claim, "Protect you from skin cancer."

These are some of the very practical realities that could theoretically emerge in the dystopian medicalized society that seems to be getting closer with each passing day.

We're monitoring you for your own good

This isn't science fiction: It's modern medical fact. As CNSNews reports, "...Areas of interest include medicines that can tell a doctor if they have been taken on time [and] wireless monitoring of nutritional information..."

Of course, as with all privacy-invading monitoring devices, government will argue that monitoring you is "for your own good." You can expect an RFID chip to be implanted in your arm, too, containing your entire medical history. So every time you pass near an RFID reader at a government-controlled facility (airports, schools, interstate toll booths, etc.), your entire medical history can be scanned and assessed for a variety of metrics.

Combined with the blood analysis chip implants, this would give health enforcement authorities a way to find and arrest "dangerous" people -- such as people who aren't taking enough antidepressants, for example. Or people who show signs of consuming herbal medicines. All these people could be tracked down, arrested and then forced to consume medications before they are released back into the public.

TIA for your body

The program is basically Total Information Awareness at the personal biology level. Big Brother wants to monitor your biochemistry, you see, to make sure you remain compliant with its pharmaceutical and junk foods agenda.

It's not enough for the government to monitor your phone calls, scan your emails and watch you sunbathing on your back porch with spy satellites; now they want to snoop into your bloodstream and monitor what you've been eating, drinking or swallowing.

"This device here connects to other devices that measure a patient's blood pressure and glucose [sugar] levels." said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. "It wirelessly uploads this data to an electronic medical health record that is monitored by a health care professional." (A government-mandated health care enforcer, in other words.)

With this technology, they could even monitor your moods by tracking fluctuations of hormone levels. They will know when you're happy, when you're angry, when you're having sex, when you're sleeping. All this information will be at the fingertips of government health care enforcers who are, of course, working to further the Big Pharma agenda of medicating everyone from cradle to grave.

Remote administration of medications

But it gets even worse. Part of this E-Care technology involves the remote administration of medications directly into your bloodstream. A supply of medication chemicals can be worn on your body (like a wristband, for example), and when it receives a remote command from your health care enforcers, it can inject another dose of some chemical into your bloodstream.

These chemicals could be anything -- antidepressants, tranquilizers, antipsychotics, statin drugs, chemotherapy drugs and so on. So now you've got remote government medical operatives who can essentially control your biochemistry as if you were a robot in a Big Government reality game.

If they are about to come to your house and take away your children because you refused to give them vaccines, for example, they could first remotely inject you with tranquilizers so that you will be "calm, docile and compliant" upon their arrival.

This now puts the government in control of your mind through the remote administration of mind-altering chemicals.

"What we're talking about, folks, is using a device like this one," said Senator Wyden during the committee meeting. "It attaches to the patient's skin and is loaded with drugs that are administered in the exact way that the doctor prescribes -- wirelessly."

Except it's not really the way the doctor prescribes; it's the way the government prescribes. Because now Big Government is running health care and telling doctors exactly what to do. So government is determining what chemicals get administered to you, and before long they'll be able to administer those chemicals wirelessly.

Did you get your happy chemicals today?

At the click of a mouse, in other words, Big Government could mass medicate the entire nation. Imagine the entire population being dosed with "happy chemicals" in the days before an important vote. Or imagine the population being medicated with "anger hormones" following some staged false-flag attack, all designed to create outrage so that the politicians can sweep in with yet more "solutions" that destroy civil liberties.

This may be what's coming, which is why establishing a government health care monopoly was so important in the first place. Without the government monopoly and the IRS penalties for non-compliance, there would be no way to force everybody into participating in such a system. But now, health care run by Big Government has opened the door for us all to be chipped, monitored and medicated without our knowledge and against our will.

It's a brave new world after all, it seems. Maybe the drug-dispensing implants will start administering soma to us all. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_...)

Sources for this story include:
US Senate Special Committee on Aging
http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_det...

CNS News
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/64663

The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth page 0

The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth page:
A girl half my age selling organic soap hit me with a sobering truth so insightful, it made me abandon five years of false beliefs and unlock a powerful new philosophy of financial abundance. I'm sharing that breakthrough financial philosophy with you here, but it's only something you'll find valuable if you're ready to let go of false limitations about money and welcome real, lasting change in attracting the money you deserve into your life.

The girl sells soap. Natural soap. It's the best soap I've ever found, and she was selling it at prices so cheap, it might have well been the brand-name chemical soap you buy at the grocery store.

I asked her, "Why are you selling this soap so cheaply? It's worth three times the price..." And in her response, I learned that she didn't really value her soap... or herself. She was selling her soap too cheaply because she didn't feel like she deserved to charge the prices her soap was really worth!

She was limiting her financial abundance by choice. Like many of us, she had unconsciously decided that her contribution to the world (her soap) wasn't worth much, and she had resigned to a life of financial challenges, living from one paycheck to the next, never achieving the real financial independence or wealth she truly deserved.

And yet her soap was among the best natural soaps in the world. Why shouldn't she be at least as wealthy as the executives at Proctor & Gamble who sell junk soap? (This is a good question to ask yourself, too: Don't you deserve more wealth than the corrupt Big Pharma executives who sell drugs that harm children? Of course you do!)

Imagine my shock when she turned the tables on me and asked, "So what about YOU, Health Ranger? I read your website. You've helped a hundreds of companies and millions of readers, but you don't allow yourself to make a dime, either. Why's that?"

Next: Getting past self-imposed limits on wealth...

The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS page 0

The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS page 0: "
(NaturalNews) This is a special report the FDA doesn't want you to read. In fact, this is the story that the corporate "leaders" of the natural health products industry don't want you to read, either. Why? Because they've all been hijacked by Big Pharma interests, and they no longer represent real natural medicine like the kind revealed in this story. Read more about this consumer betrayal by the natural products industry leaders here: http://www.naturalnews.com/026215.html

When it comes to H1N1 influenza (Swine Flu), all the "authority" institutions in America agree on one thing: Keep the American people ignorant! Don't allow people to learn the truth about the anti-viral properties of herbs, superfoods and dietary supplements.

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. It gives people options. It allows people to be independent from the government and independent from the medical system. It gives people control over their own lives, and in a police state society that seeks to dominate the health decisions of every citizen (http://www.naturalnews.com/026305.html), giving people control over their own lives simply cannot be tolerated.

That's why this article will be blasted as "irresponsible" by health authorities. It will be portrayed as "dangerous" by pharmaceutical pushers. If the FDA could ban this website, this article would be precisely the kind of content they would target for censorship.

And what's so dangerous about this article? It dares to advocate specific anti-viral products as protection against the H1N1 swine flu.

NEXT PAGE: Why modern medicine will fail us in the next great pandemic...

Two Ways to Get Prepared Now for the Next Pandemic: • Audio program: How to Prepare For and Survive Any Pandemic featuring Dr. Sheldon Marks and the Health Ranger. Covers emergency medical preparedness and more. • The Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness Course with the Health Ranger, including Q&A from readers. Includes powerful strategies for protecting you and your family from any pandemic.

The Water Cure: An interview with Dr. Batmanghelidj page 0

The Water Cure: An interview with Dr. Batmanghelidj page 0: "Physicians rarely promote the curative properties of H2O, but Dr. Batmanghelidj, M.D. has studied water's effect on the human body and has found it to be one of the best pain relievers and preventative therapies in existence. I was one of the last people to interview the late Dr. Batmanghelidj, and I listened in awe as he shared his research and stories about 'The Healing Power of Water.'

In a fascinating one-hour phone conversation, Dr. B. shares:

• Which common ailments and 'diseases' are actually caused by dehydration

• Why many doctors use water-regulating antihistamines to alleviate pain

• How Dr. Batmanghelidj unintentionally discovered water's healing properties

• Why most people are chronically dehydrated and suffer from symptoms of dehydration that are labeled 'diseases'

• Which ingredients in soft drinks deplete the body's water reserves

• Why thirst is not a reliable indicator of dehydration

• Why the body produces cholesterol and how water keeps it in balance

• Why Dr. Batmanghelidj believes the public is being mislead about AIDS

• How dehydration impairs mental functioning

• Why some organizations want to withhold alternative health information from the public

• How lack of water causes depression

• Why popular beverages are no substitute for water

• How dehydration causes the vascular system to constrict, leading to hypertension

• How to recognize signs that your body is starting to dehydrate

• Why restaurants push you to drink disease-promoting soft drinks

• Why and how water effectively treats pain and inflammation"

Monsanto Under Investigation

Monsanto Under Investigation by Seven U.S. States

Posted by Dr. Mercola | April 22 2010 | 5,494 views

Email this to a friend

Share this article

Next Article

"At least seven U.S. state attorney generals are investigating whether Monsanto Company has abused its market power to lock out competitors and raise prices on seed," the Organic Consumers Association reports.

This adds to the increasing pressures on the agricultural biotech giant.

The seven states are "probing whether Monsanto violated laws by offering rebates to seed distributors for excluding rival seeds, imposing limits on combining the product with other genetic modifications, or offering cash incentives to switch farmers to more expensive generation of seed varieties."

In addition to that, Monsanto's marketing practices are being reviewed by the US Justice Department, and DuPont Company has accused Monsanto of anti-competitive practices in licensing litigation.

Sources:

  Organic Consumers Association April 2010

  Bloomberg March 10, 2010

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

According to Bloomberg, the seven-state antitrust probe adds to previous allegations of abusive competitive tactics and is a serious threat to Monsanto's soybean market share.

It would almost seem like an open-and-shut case when you consider Monsanto's history of quenching the competition at nearly any cost, and being found guilty of falsely marketing dangerous herbicide as biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

But I guess that still remains to be seen. Let's just hope they don't deem Monsanto too big to nail, or fail, like the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and any number of banks…

One problem I foresee though, is that not only has Monsanto become the dominat force in the seed market by buying up seed companies, they've become the Goliath that they are by influencing politics from the ground-floor and up.

For example, they've helped write state laws that make cleaning, collecting and storing seeds so cumbersome and costly that having normal, non-GM seeds is nearly impossible in some states. They're also lobbying for laws that ensure farmers and citizens can't prevent the planting of GMO crops, even if they can contaminate other conventional crops nearby.

They've successfully manipulated US legislators to put those self-serving laws in place, so the question is whether or not this antitrust probe can accomplish what the rest of our government has failed to do, which is to rein in an out-of-control company that has its mind set on "advancing" agriculture into oblivion and "saving the world" by eventually starving it to death.

Big Bucks at Stake

Bloomberg reports:

"At stake are the costs to farmers who produce $80.3 billion a year in corn and soybeans, used in products ranging from Coca-Cola to cattle feed to ethanol.

"Monsanto has become such a dominant player in the seed business that producers have real concerns that the price they pay for seed is going to be anywhere near reasonable," said John Crabtree, a spokesman for the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Nebraska, a nonprofit group that provides services to farm communities. "The fear is that the sky's the limit."

These fears are not unfounded when you consider that prices on everything from the seed to the obligatory fertilizers and pesticides that are required to make the GM seeds "grow properly" have skyrocketed.

According to a report by Charles Benbrook, chief scientist at the Organic Center in Boulder, Colorado, the influx of genetically modified seed has steadily ratchet prices upward.

Seed used to be fairly inexpensive, in large part due to the practice of planting seed collected and saved from the previous year. With GE seeds, this ancient farming practice is no longer employed and farmers must buy new seed each year.

The 2009 Organic Center report, titled The Magnitude and Impacts of the Biotech and Organic Seed Price Premium, states that farmers who purchase Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2 soybeans in 2010 will pay 42 percent more per bag than they paid just last year.

This is in stark contrast to the overall rise in soybean seed prices over the last 25 years, which was 63 percent.

Between the years of 1975 and 1997, soybean farmers spent four to eight percent of their farm income on seeds. Last year, those who planted GE soybeans spent 16.4 percent of their income on seeds.

The story is the same for GM corn growers, who will pay just over twice the amount for the latest eight-trait "SmartStax" corn seed, compared to those planting conventional seeds. And GE cotton seed now cost nearly 6 times more than conventional.

The report shows that the GE seed price premiums FAR exceed the organic seed price premium, across the board, for various crops.

This should be an eye opener for anyone who still believes genetically engineered crops are the way to inexpensively feed the world…

The only one who is truly benefitting, it seems, is Monsanto, who ended their fiscal year in 2009 with revenue of $11.7 billion. Over $7 billion of that came from sales and licensing of seeds and seed genes.

So, is growing GM crops REALLY in the best financial interest of most farmers? Or are they simply being hoodwinked by fancy marketing that promises increased yield and reduced pestilence?

Benbrook asks the same question, and has called for further studies to evaluate whether or not GM crop yields warrant the disproportionate difference in price. If previous studies are any indication, I believe the answer is no.

GM Crops Yield Unimpressive Results

In reality, GM crops create previously unimaginable profits for sub-par performance when compared to conventional or organic crops.

And when you review the potential danger these crops pose to human and environmental health, the list is so disturbing you could easily say we're all paying for poison when we buy GM food products.

After 30 years of GMO experimentation, the data to shows:

• No increase in yields; on the contrary GM soya has decreased yields by up to 20 percent compared with non-GM soya. Up to 100 percent failures of Bt cotton have been recorded in India. And studies by scientists from the USDA and the University of Georgia in 2008 found that growing GM cotton in the U.S. can result in a drop in income by up to 40 percent.
• No reduction in pesticides use; on the contrary, USDA data shows that GM crops have increased pesticide use by 50 million pounds from 1996 to 2003 in the U.S., and the use of glyphosate went up more than 15-fold between 1994 and 2005, along with increases in other herbicides to cope with rising glyphosate resistant superweeds.
• Roundup herbicide is lethal to frogs and toxic to human placental and embryonic cells. Roundup is used in more than 80 percent of all GM crops planted in the world.
• GM crops harm wildlife, as revealed by UK and U.S. studies
• Bt resistant pests and Roundup tolerant superweeds render the two major GM crop traits useless. The evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have been confirmed and documented.
• Vast areas of forests, pampas and cerrados have been lost to GM soya in Latin America.
• Epidemic of suicides in the cotton belt of India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, more than 182,900 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007 as a result of failed GM crops. It estimates 46 Indian farmers commit suicide every day.
• Transgene contamination is completely unavoidable, as science has recently revealed that the genome (whether plant, animal or human) is NOT constant and static, which is the scientific base for genetic engineering of plants and animals. Instead, geneticists have discovered that the genome is remarkably dynamic and changeable, and constantly 'conversing' and adapting to the environment. This interaction determines which genes are turned on, when, where, by what and how much, and for how long. They've also found that the genetic material itself has the ability to be changed according to experience, passing it on to subsequent generations.
• GM food and feed linked to deaths and sicknesses both in the fields in India and in lab tests around the world.

How Can YOU Stop Monsanto from Ruling, and Ruining, the Food Supply?

Allowing Monsanto to monopolize the market could have lethal consequences for all of us. Because not only is Monsanto doing what it can to eliminate competition from other agricultural biotech products, their end game is to do away with conventional seeds, period.

As I've discussed in many previous articles, this is a threat to human civilization and would spell disaster for the entire planet.

Fortunately, you don't have to be directly involved in the legal or political end of the battle.

You, as an ordinary citizen, still have the power to make perhaps an even GREATER difference in how business will pan out for Monsanto – by steering the market demand toward non-GMO crops and foods.

Every time you choose to buy a non-GMO product over a product that contains GM ingredients, you are making a dent in the empire that is Monsanto.

While you're waiting for the leaders of the world to catch up, take advantage of local sources of organic foods as often as you can. You can also avoid GM foods by:

• Reducing or Eliminating Processed Foods. Some 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients. Use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, available for free at www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.
• Read produce and food labels. When looking at a product label, if any ingredients such as corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu (to name a few) are listed, there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it bears the USDA organic seal.
• Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified.

Related Links:

  The Most Evil Company on the Planet -- Monsanto

  France Finds Monsanto Guilty of Lying

  How Monsanto Manipulates the System to Poison Your Health

Please use this link if you are having problems reading this newsletter: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx April 22, 2010 - Issue 1446 The newsletters are also available via RSS: http://rss.mercola.com/NL/rss.aspx

Believe it or Not: 80% of Your Immune System is Actually in Your GI Tract    When looking to effectively promote your immune system health, you need to look no further than your intestinal tract. Learn about a great way to start promoting your digestive health and overall health as well. Monsanto Under Investigation by Seven U.S. States The marketing practices that built the Monsanto empire are getting more careful scrutiny. Obamacare Creates Windfall for Drug Companies A little-known change written into the new health care bill could mean higher prices for you and greater profits for the drug companies. 10 Most Incredible Images of Sunsets Did you know some of the most spectacular displays of nature's beauty can be seen around the setting sun? German Magazine Reveals Drug Companies' Influence to Engineer Swine Flu Fake Pandemic Why did 30 senior pharmaceutical reps meet with the WHO Director General just before the peak of the swine flu mass hysteria?

Three Supplements that Can Take You to Your Peak of Health*... These 'Essential 3' players should be on your dream team for optimal health.* They help defeat free radical production (affecting the aging process), boost cellular energy production, and enhance your immune health.* Active-form CoQ10, Krill Oil and Probiotics create a powerful force for your health triumphs.* Now available in a convenient package. Why Are 1 in 4 US Adults Deficient in this Vital "Energy Vitamin?" Vitamin B12 is known as the "energy vitamin," essential for critical energy production and immune system support.* But as you age... Why are Children More Vulnerable to Cell Phone Radiation than Adults? In the next minute, you'll discover some outrageous facts about cell phone use and how to minimize its potential risk to you and your family. View All Products 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Subscribe Now! Unsubscribe © Copyright Dr. Joseph Mercola, 2010. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, as long as copyright, contact, and creation information is given, only if used only in a not-for-profit format. If possible, I would also appreciate an endorsement and encouragement to subscribe to the newsletter. If any other use is desired, written permission is required. Mercola.com 3200 W. Higgins Rd. Hoffman Estates, IL 60169

Pfizer Charged with a Crime, Their Subsidiary Took the Blame

Pfizer Charged with a Crime, Their Subsidiary Took the Blame:

The Feds Cut a Deal with Pfizer

Pfizer did end up getting prosecuted for its fraudulent marketing spree … but their sentence was a mere slap on the wrist. And you won’t hear Pfizer being charged with any crime, because it was actually Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc, a Pfizer subsidiary, that took the rap.

This was not due to an oversight or a smooth move on Pfizer’s part … it was the result of a deal made between Pfizer and federal prosecutors. The feds essentially let Pfizer off the hook so their products could continue to flow through Medicare and Medicaid.

As CNN wrote:

“ … Any company convicted of a major health care fraud is automatically excluded from Medicare and Medicaid. Convicting Pfizer on Bextra would prevent the company from billing federal health programs for any of its products. It would be a corporate death sentence.

Prosecutors said that excluding Pfizer would most likely lead to Pfizer's collapse, with collateral consequences: disrupting the flow of Pfizer products to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, causing the loss of jobs including those of Pfizer employees who were not involved in the fraud, and causing significant losses for Pfizer shareholders.”

So rather than sentencing Pfizer for the massive fraud and deception they carried out with no regard for patients’ health, and letting the company crumble as it should have, the feds decided to protect them.

They allowed Pfizer’s “imaginary friend” Pharmacia & Upjohn to take the conviction, even though the latter company had never sold any drugs. As CNN found, “the subsidiary is nothing more than a shell company whose only function is to plead guilty.”

So Pfizer got off scot-free -- other than a fine that amounted to three months of profits -- had little damage to their reputation and still sells their drugs through federally funded programs.

You Simply Can’t Trust the Government to Keep You Safe

If you are still under the impression that agencies like the FDA are looking out for your safety, it’s time to open your eyes. As in this latest case with Pfizer and Bextra, the federal government has a long history of siding with, and protecting, the drug companies.

It is no surprise when you consider that the drug companies have the largest political lobby and that a job with the FDA is frequently a revolving door with the drug companies. It is very common for many high ranking FDA officials to get lucrative consulting positions with the drug companies after they quit.

The converse is also very common. They can get paid millions before the go to the FDA, like the current commissioner of the FDA Margaret Hamburg did with Henry Schein.

Another case in point, occurred last year when President Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, and federal health agencies urged Americans to run out and get vaccinated, or else? The swine flu pandemic is now being called one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century … and it’s another prime example of the partnership between the government and the pharmaceutical industry.

Fortunately, more people are waking up to the illusion and deception of the drug industry as a whole, and starting to clearly see the truth.

The public is correct in their conclusion that drug companies manipulate or suppress negative clinical trials, promote their toxic products for unapproved uses, and focus on developing drugs that are no better than older ones.

Physicians must also, en masse, come to the realization that drug reps cannot be trusted. This may be one of the most difficult areas to change, as the pharmaceutical industry has devised a highly effective system of indoctrination and very specific psychological techniques to manipulate physicians.

Doctors usually believe they are immune to persuasion tactics, and drug reps know just how important it is to maintain that illusion -- which is why it works so well.

Consider for a moment the in-depth report published in both The New England Journal of Medicine and PLoS Medicine, which admitted that pharmaceutical sales reps are trained in tactics that are on par with some of the most potent brainwashing techniques used throughout the world!

The idea that reps provide some kind of valuable, informative service to physicians is total fiction, created and perpetuated by the drug industry, to keep this deadly, but profitable, scheme going.

So until real change takes place, please don't risk your money or your life on a paradigm designed to profit from your ill health. Take control of your health by adopting natural lifestyle strategies that will promote your body’s natural healing abilities without the need for the drug companies’ latest creations.

Life-Cycle Studies: High-Fructose Corn Syrup | Worldwatch Institute

Life-Cycle Studies: High-Fructose Corn Syrup | Worldwatch Institute:

Life-Cycle Studies: High-Fructose Corn Syrup

by Ben Block on April 9, 2010

Photo courtesy Archives of Ontario

Early 20th-century label." class="caption" align="" height="207" width="250">

Photo courtesy Archives of Ontario

Early 20th-century label.

For the past five years, Worldwatch has explored the history, production method, and environmental and social impacts of everyday products - from chopsticks to pencils - in the Life-Cycle Studies section of its bi-monthly magazine, World Watch. This print-exclusive content is now available for free to Eye on Earth readers. Look for a new study every Friday!

Overview

Corn was once a simple food, chewed off the cob. Now, with corn reinvented and transformed, it takes a chemist to recognize all its offspring. Among these is high-fructose corn syrup (a gooey sweetener used in soft drinks, meats, cheeses, and dozens more foods) that appeases confectionary cravings. But recent studies have raised concerns about the syrup by drawing links to obesity and other health effects.

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also called isoglucose, is mainly a blend of two sugars, fructose and glucose. Soda and ice cream often blend 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose, while the HFCS used in canned fruits and condiments is generally a 42/48 percent mix (with other ingredients). White sugar is a 50/50 split.

In the United States, heavy corn subsidies and sugar-import barriers have made HFCS some 20 percent cheaper than sugar. The United States accounted for nearly 80 percent of global production in 2004 and U.S. consumers swallowed 58 pounds of the syrup per person last year in various products, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Other producers include Japan, Argentina, the European Union, and China.

Production

U.S. refineries discovered in the 1860s that mixing liquefied cornstarch with either acids or enzymes rearranges sugar molecules into a dextrose solution (a form of glucose). Chemists mixed dextrose with additional enzymes in the 1940s for the first batches of HFCS. The syrup was not quite as sweet as sugar itself until 1971, when a Japanese chemist's further tweaking perfected HFCS, according to the Corn Refiners Association.

The food industry began to replace cane and beet sugar with HFCS after sugar prices quadrupled in the 1970s, and a few years later soft-drink companies followed suit. The syrup's affordability in the United States has helped soda companies sell larger bottles and greatly expand consumption of the calorie-rich drinks.

As HFCS spreads to parts of the developing world, dietary concerns are convincing many U.S. consumers to avoid it. In response, a growing number of sweetened products are being reformulated with cane sugar.

Photo courtesy USDA

The environmental impact of high-fructose corn syrup depends on how the corn is grown. " class="caption" align="" height="170" width="250">

Photo courtesy USDA

The environmental impact of high-fructose corn syrup depends on how the corn is grown.

Impact

Some claim that HFCS's global expansion and the parallel increase in obesity are linked. The concerned dietitians argue that, unlike glucose, which triggers appetite-suppressing signals in the body, fructose does not tell its eaters to stop. The theory remains unproven, but a growing body of literature has suggested the syrup may indeed counteract the satiation-hormone leptin. Conflicting research, supported by the American Beverage Institute, insists HFCS is no different than other sweeteners and is "safe in moderation."

The latest health concern stems from a recent Environmental Health study that found mercury in samples from two HFCS manufacturers. Chemicals mixed during production to stabilize pH may have contributed the toxic metal, the study said. The industry accuses the research of using "scant data of questionable quality."

The environmental impact of HFCS depends on how the corn is grown. Conventional farming practices use significant water resources, pesticides, and fertilizers, leading to widespread water pollution and nutrient-depleted soil. Corn production has also become a major contributor to climate change. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, author Michael Pollan estimates that between one-quarter and one-third gallons (about 1.0 to 1.25 liters) of oil are needed per bushel of corn to create the pesticides, fertilizers, and tractor gasoline, and to harvest, dry, and transport the corn. The U.S. high-fructose corn syrup industry used about 490 million bushels of corn last year, according to USDA.

Ben Block is the staff writer for World Watch. He can be reached at bblock@worldwatch.org.

For permission to republish this article, please contact Juli Diamond at jdiamond@worldwatch.org.