Month: July 2010

by Chuck Baldwin

It is no hyperbole to say that the consequences of the recently passed "Obamacare" bills by the Congress will be horrific. In fact, I'm not even sure that the English language contains a word sufficiently suitable to describe exactly how dreadful the consequences of this new national health care monstrosity will actually be.

by: David Gutierrez

(NaturalNews) A new study has once again shown that people living farther from the equator are significantly more likely to suffer from vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D3-5

"Results show clear differences in vitamin D status between the north and south and marked ethnic differences," said researchers from Aberdeen University in Scotland.

The body produces vitamin D upon exposure to the UV-B radiation found in sunlight, with a light-skinned person able to synthesize all they need in as little as 15 minutes during the summer at a moderate latitude. Because the sun gets weaker the farther a person moves from the equator, however, it takes more and more sun exposure to get the same amount of the vitamin. This problem is only exacerbated in the winter.

The researchers compared both sun exposure and vitamin D levels in women under the age of 66 living in either Aberdeen, in the north of Scotland, or in Surrey, in England's south. All the women wore UV-B sensitive bandages on their bodies, and their vitamin D blood levels were measured once every three months over a 15-month period.

The researchers found significantly lower sun exposure in Aberdeen than in Surrey at all times of the year. Mirroring these results, they found no vitamin D deficiency among any white Surrey residents. In contrast, between 25 and 27 percent of Aberdeen women were vitamin D deficient during the winter or spring, while 4.2 percent were deficient even in the summer.

Even in Surrey, as many as 60 percent of Asian women were still vitamin D deficient, and also showed lower sun exposure than their white counterparts. The researchers suggested that more traditional clothing (which covers more of the skin) and darker skin might account for part of this difference.

People with darker skin produce vitamin D more slowly than people with lighter skin.

"The recommendation of 10 minutes of sunlight exposure a day may need to be changed for those with darker skin or in higher latitudes," researcher Helen Macdonald said.

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I'm about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from "diverting" water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

Check out this YouTube video of a news report out of Salt Lake City, Utah, about the issue. It's illegal in Utah to divert rainwater without a valid water right, and Mark Miller of Mark Miller Toyota, found this out the hard way.

After constructing a large rainwater collection system at his new dealership to use for washing new cars, Miller found out that the project was actually an "unlawful diversion of rainwater." Even though it makes logical conservation sense to collect rainwater for this type of use since rain is scarce in Utah, it's still considered a violation of water rights which apparently belong exclusively to Utah's various government bodies.

"Utah's the second driest state in the nation. Our laws probably ought to catch up with that," explained Miller in response to the state's ridiculous rainwater collection ban.

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use "their" rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don't actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn't you agree?)

Outlawing rainwater collection in other states
Utah isn't the only state with rainwater collection bans, either. Colorado and Washington also have rainwater collection restrictions that limit the free use of rainwater, but these restrictions vary among different areas of the states and legislators have passed some laws to help ease the restrictions.

In Colorado, two new laws were recently passed that exempt certain small-scale rainwater collection systems, like the kind people might install on their homes, from collection restrictions.

Prior to the passage of these laws, Douglas County, Colorado, conducted a study on how rainwater collection affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study revealed that letting people collect rainwater on their properties actually reduces demand from water facilities and improves conservation.

Personally, I don't think a study was even necessary to come to this obvious conclusion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using rainwater instead of tap water is a smart and useful way to conserve this valuable resource, especially in areas like the West where drought is a major concern.

Additionally, the study revealed that only about three percent of Douglas County's precipitation ended up in the streams and rivers that are supposedly being robbed from by rainwater collectors. The other 97 percent either evaporated or seeped into the ground to be used by plants.

This hints at why bureaucrats can't really use the argument that collecting rainwater prevents that water from getting to where it was intended to go. So little of it actually makes it to the final destination that virtually every household could collect many rain barrels worth of rainwater and it would have practically no effect on the amount that ends up in streams and rivers.

It's all about control, really
As long as people remain unaware and uninformed about important issues, the government will continue to chip away at the freedoms we enjoy. The only reason these water restrictions are finally starting to change for the better is because people started to notice and they worked to do something to reverse the law.

Even though these laws restricting water collection have been on the books for more than 100 years in some cases, they're slowly being reversed thanks to efforts by citizens who have decided that enough is enough.

Because if we can't even freely collect the rain that falls all around us, then what, exactly, can we freely do? The rainwater issue highlights a serious overall problem in America today: diminishing freedom and increased government control.

Today, we've basically been reprogrammed to think that we need permission from the government to exercise our inalienable rights, when in fact the government is supposed to derive its power from us. The American Republic was designed so that government would serve the People to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. But increasingly, our own government is restricting people from their rights to engage in commonsense, fundamental actions such as collecting rainwater or buying raw milk from the farmer next door.

Today, we are living under a government that has slowly siphoned off our freedoms, only to occasionally grant us back a few limited ones under the pretense that they're doing us a benevolent favor.

Fight back against enslavement
As long as people believe their rights stem from the government (and not the other way around), they will always be enslaved. And whatever rights and freedoms we think we still have will be quickly eroded by a system of bureaucratic power that seeks only to expand its control.

Because the same argument that's now being used to restrict rainwater collection could, of course, be used to declare that you have no right to the air you breathe, either. After all, governments could declare that air to be somebody else's air, and then they could charge you an "air tax" or an "air royalty" and demand you pay money for every breath that keeps you alive.

Think it couldn't happen? Just give it time. The government already claims it owns your land and house, effectively. If you really think you own your home, just stop paying property taxes and see how long you still "own" it. Your county or city will seize it and then sell it to pay off your "tax debt." That proves who really owns it in the first place… and it's not you!

How about the question of who owns your body? According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, U.S. corporations and universities already own 20% of your genetic code. Your own body, they claim, is partially the property of someone else.

So if they own your land, your water and your body, how long before they claim to own your air, your mind and even your soul?

Unless we stand up against this tyranny, it will creep upon us, day after day, until we find ourselves totally enslaved by a world of corporate-government collusion where everything of value is owned by powerful corporations — all enforced at gunpoint by local law enforcement.

by: Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) Summertime heat is an annoyance to some people, but according to Xu Qian, director of the infectious diseases department at the China-Japan Frienship Hospital in Beijing, sweating from the hot, summer heat is a natural part of keeping your body healthy, and avoiding this heat can actually cause health problems.

People typically run their air conditioners throughout the summertime in order to beat the heat, but doing so can actually compromise the immune system.

"People should go with the rules of nature. Summer is the time to sweat. It's a natural process for the body to respond to the outside environment, and adjust itself through the constricting of blood vessels and nerves. In this sense, air conditioning is a reactive restrain of the body against nature," Qian explained in a China Daily article.

Excessive sweating without replenishing the body with water, electrolytes and healthy salt, can be a bad thing, but not sweating at all can be even worse. And moving from hot areas to cold areas, and vice versa, on a regular basis throughout the summer can put excessive strain on a person's health

"Air conditioning might induce infection of the upper respiratory tract, cause colds, throat pain, pharyngitis, and even pneumonia," said Qian.

Sweating is also an important method by which the skin helps to eliminate toxins from the body.

by: Aaron Turpen

(NaturalNews) One thing that has certainly been proven over and over again on NaturalNews is that the U.S. government is extremely good at insider dealing and very inept at actually protecting the people. From sellouts in the Food and Drug Administration, to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to the Environmental Protection Agency and more, it's all been documented here. So it should come as no surprise that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is no different.

When it comes to dental office safety, OSHA hasn't just dropped the ball; they never showed up to the game. OSHA has clear rules regarding how mercury is to be handled when in inorganic form (such as amalgams).¹ David Kennedy, DDS, has more than thirty years experience in dental practice and sums those rules up in what he calls the "7 steps to employee protection."²

1. Inform the employee and, at a minimum, review the MSDS sheets as required by the Right to Know Act of 1987
2. Provide training in how to protect yourself
3. Provide all the protective equipment
4. Institute engineering controls like fans and vacuums
5. Employ work practices to minimize exposures such as how you drill
6. Monitor both their facility when exposure is likely and medically test their employees for mercury
7. Record all of the above and keep these records available for immediate inspection upon OSHA enforcement request for a minimum of 30 years

Despite their own rules, OSHA does not enforce this in most dental offices in the country, says Dr. Kennedy.

Most people are aware of the news stories that created laughter last year when the Environmental Protection Agency issued cleanup procedures in the event of a broken compact fluorescent light bulb. What most don't know is that dental offices are subject to the Clean Water Act, under the EPA, which requires municipal water sources to enforce mercury disposal mitigation at its source (in this case the dental office).³ This is rarely done.

Studies have shown the danger of mercury from dental amalgams (silver fillings) to humans. According to one study done for the World Health Organization (WHO), the largest single source is dental amalgams at more than seven times the amount from eating seafood.⁴

Exposures to mercury are clearly not just limited to dentists and dental assistants (see the previous entry in this article series), but are also affecting patients. A study by the University of Iowa showed a clear correlation between the number of silver fillings (amalgams) and the amount of mercury in a person's blood.⁵

Yet despite all of the evidence regarding mercury dangers and poisonings to both people and nature, the American Dental Association, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration all do nothing to inform the public or stop its continued spread.

"If you include [only] the costs of… repeated dental care, amalgams are terribly costly," says Dr. Kennedy. That, of course, is only one aspect of the huge cost of mercury fillings to the population as a whole, which we'll be exploring throughout this article series on silver fillings.

He has a solution, however.

"Now if we could just fire all the OSHA enforcement people who aren't doing their jobs and hire some who would, the problem would simply go away. Since you cannot legally open the amalgam mixing capsule with a civilian (patient) present, they wouldn't have to ban amalgam. They simply couldn't use it because of existing laws."

In our next segment, we'll explore how dental mercury poisons the public water supply.

by: Louanne Piccolo

(NaturalNews) Natural family planning depends on a couple`s ability to recognise the phases of a woman`s menstrual cycle and to calculate when ovulation is most likely to occur. In this way, they can avoid an unwanted pregnancy.

How Reliable are Natural Birth Control Methods?

For a natural method to be effective a woman`s menstrual cycle must follow the same pattern month after month so that she can rely on the regularity of her fertile period. A woman with a regular menstrual cycle will ovulate approximately fourteen days before her following period. An egg has 24 hours to be fertilized before dying but sperm can live for up to seven days after ejaculation. Therefore, a woman with an irregular cycle may have difficulty in identifying the phases when she should avoid unprotected sex.

Natural Birth Control Methods

Being able to pinpoint the period of ovulation is the most important part of natural family planning methods. Two methods for calculating ovulation are:

The Basal Body Temperature Method: Progesterone makes a woman's body temperature rise, to half a degree Celsius higher than normal, the day after ovulation has occurred. A woman will easily recognise this slight rise in temperature if she measures her temperature, using the same thermometer every day, immediately after waking and before getting out of bed.

This method is entirely natural making it a good choice of contraception for women wishing to avoid the contraceptive pill. However, it may be difficult to maintain the habit of temperature taking every morning and even a slight cold may cause temperatures to rise resulting in a false reading.

The Calendar Method: To use this method effectively, the amount of days between the beginning of one period and the next must be jotted down for a period of six months. Eighteen days are subtracted from the shortest interval between periods and eleven days from the longest interval between cycles. Calculations could look like this: the shortest interval is 25 days – 18 = 7 and the longest interval is 30 days – 11 = 19. The fertile phase for a woman with this data would be from day seven of her cycle to day nineteen. During this period, unprotected sex could result in an unplanned pregnancy.

For this method to work, data must be recorded every month, without fail, for six months. The calendar method requires couples to abstain from sex for one to two weeks per month unless they use other forms of contraception during the fertile period.

The Persona: It is a small battery-operated machine that identifies fertile periods during a woman's menstrual cycle. It is easy to use and understand. It requires a urine test every morning until it has enough information on a woman's cycle and then asks for a test only every few days.

Urine strips are bought separately. Every morning, a urine strip must be inserted into the machine which will then flash a green light for go or a red light for no. It also has a handy little ovulation sign which flashes a day before ovulation is likely to occur, during ovulation and a day after ovulation has occurred. The Persona basically identifies luteinizing hormones which are secreted by the body before ovulation and warns that a woman's fertile phase is beginning.

These natural family planning methods may be difficult to become accustomed to but once the habit of using them has been acquired, they are easy to use and practical. As they are used to identify a woman's fertile period they can be adapted by couples who want to begin a family too.