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Mercury Leaking: The State of Homosexual White Ibises in Florida’s Everglades

National Geographic reported on a recent experiment in the Florida Everglades, where male white ibises, exposed to mercury, became homosexual. The birds built nests together, stayed there for a month and had sex.

White IbisesIn the Florida Everglades, wild White Ibises consume the poisonous metal mercury, daily, in their diets of various small invertebrates and crustaceans.

For many years, Mercury has oozed into the Everglades as a byproduct of industrial processes like waste incineration.

Actually, in most aquatic ecosystems, atmospheric deposition is the primary source of mercury leaking; however, there are many recorded examples of geologic and anthropogenic point-source contamination. There are, all in all, many sources of mercury in the atmosphere, both natural and human caused.

For the five-year experiment, conducted by the University of Florida in Gainseville, three groups of male white ibises were fed a diet containing low, medium and high quantities of mercury; while a fourth control group was fed food free of mercury.

Oddly, in all three groups exposed to mercury, homosexual bonding occurred.

Natural Sources of Mercury Leaking:

Among known natural sources for the leaking of mercury into the atmosphere are: volcanoes, ocean outgassing, and natural mercury deposits. Waste incineration, coal combustion, chloralkai production, and metal processing are the main human-related sources.

In ecosystems where atmospheric deposition is the main source, resulting concentrations of total mercury in the water are quite low; usually less than 10 nanograms per liter (ng/L).

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Sickness Sprouts Up Across America – Alfalfa Is To Blame

“Inside Bay Area” reporter Mary Clare Jalonick reported that an evil supply of Alfalfa sprouts were recalled because of salmonella poisoning. These Caldwell Fresh Foods raw sprouts had been sold to more than 400 Wal-Mart stores in 15 states around America: in Alabama, California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin.

The recall came too late. The federal Centers for Disease Control told us that the salmonella sprouts sickened at least 22 people in 10 states – eleven persons in Cali and one Oregon baby. The dangerous vegetables were sold in seven stores in California which weren’t Wal-Mart stores, including Trader Joe’s. They were sold to restaurants, delis and other retailers.

Two sprout eaters were sickened in Nevada and two in Wisconsin. Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Colorado each had one sickened sprout eater.

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious infections in those with weakened immune systems. It can cause diarrhea, fever and vomiting – it can be fatal.

75 Wal-Marts in Illinois, 56 Wal-Marts in Georgia and 47 Wal-Marts in Louisiana purchased the sickening sprouts. The rest of the stores were spread through the other 12 states.

According to Mary Clare Jalonick:

“The alfalfa sprouts were sold in plastic cups and plastic bags under the Caldwell Fresh Foods brand, plastic cups under the Nature’s Choice brand and plastic containers under the California Fresh Exotics brand”

Alfalfa sprouts are grown in a warm, humid environment, which increases the chances of salmonella, listeria or E. coli infection.

For future reference: children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind, including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts.

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Somebody Stop that Cow!

As if auto and industrial emissions aren’t enough to pollute our air, it is now being found that cattle also makes its “contributions” to causing environmental pollution. In fact, one European country, Lithuania, has now passed a law that dairy farmers in that country are liable to pay fines for undue “emissions” of methane gas for both belching and flatulence of cattle. It appears that large numbers of dairy cattle, confined to feed lots on dairy farms, one of Lithuania’s most important agricultural industries, has reached the point that unacceptable levels of methane gas is being produced as a “by-product” of these dairy herds.

Nuclear Explosion poisons the atmosphereCattle, like other hoofed mammals including deer and antelope, are ruminants and have a four chambered stomach. After eating grass, grains and other cattle food, they must belch up the food and chew it thoroughly before finally swallowing it again. This process, know as “chewing the cud” enables the food to be finally digested. Doing so, it results in both the belching and the release of large quantities of gas due to the high fiber content of the cow’s feces.

So, far, Lithuania is the only country in Europe to have passed such a law, and its implications are being carefully monitored by dairy and beef farmers in other E. U. countries who also have large dairy herds, including Denmark, Germany, Holland, and Belgium.

Methane gas is also produced in large quantities at sewage disposal and recycling facilities, also as a by-product of decaying waste material. Although methane gas is being considered as a possible alternative fuel source since there appears to be plentiful supply, it has a very high global warming potential and contributes to what is now known as the “greenhouse effect”. The amount of methane gas present in the earth’s atmosphere is now more than 1,800 parts per billion, as compared to an estimated 750 parts per billion in the beginning of the 19th Century. Of course, the Earth’s population has grown considerably since then, resulting in much more garbage, sewage, and other decaying material that causes this gas to be formed. There is also considerably much more cattle in the world, which adds to the amount of methane gas eventually reaching the Earth’s atmosphere.

How dairy farmers in countries such as Lithuania plan to solve this problem is now under speculation, as trying to plug up the rear source of the gas obviously won’t work, as well as trying to put some kind of bib-like device on the cow’s mouth. It’ll be interesting to follow the development of this story in Europe. After all, the issue is much more than just “hot air”.

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Massage Stone Therapy

Massage stone therapy is a holistic medicine technique that has its origins in ancient Chinese medicine. The technique involves the use of heated basalt (volcanic) stones together with cool, harder stones which are placed on certain parts of the body, and together with various massage techniques influences the energy centers of the body and helps remove lymph blockages, relieves stress, and eliminates negative energy forces.

Therapists who specialize in this technique use what they refer to as a “balance” between both the warm and cool stones which are usually placed either on the patient’s shoulders, back, pelvic region, and limbs; areas where negative energy build-ups are often present.

The use of warm and even hot stones as a healing aid has also been use by Native American tribes for centuries. Tribal healers often used these stones to help people suffering from a number of ailments including fevers, with the idea that the heat from the stones would “draw out” the poisons and negative forces present in the body. In this therapy, the practitioner first uses massage on parts of the body where the negative energy forces as suspected to be present. Then the practitioner places several flat basalt stones that have been heated to a temperature of between 125 and 150 degrees F. These stones are then placed on the body’s energy points, including the back, hands, toes, stomach and forehead. Cool stones, usually colored white, are placed on areas where inflammation is present. Sometimes the hot stones are placed under a layer of towels, and the patient simply lies on them.

Many therapists combine this therapy with suction cups which help to bring negative energy forces and blockages to the surface. These therapies can be very helpful in relieving problems of muscle tension and stress.

Stone therapy is now being seen more in use in spas and professional massage parlors; and combined with therapeutic massage techniques are being said to create a truly unique and beneficial therapeutic experience.

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Should Vitamins Be Regulated?

Should Vitamins Be Regulated?Vitamins and weight control supplements have been offered to people for many years now. The virtual “flood” of these products make them available in drugstores, health and fitness products stores (including mall chain stores like GNC), and by a myriad of internet and multilevel marketing companies. Vitamin products, ranging from lower priced ‘house brands’ found in chain drug stores (Wallgreens, Eckerds, etc.) as well as in discount merchandising stores like Target and Wallmart, offer multivitamin products that claim to not only provide much more that the body’s daily vitamin requires, but aid in helping the body lose or gain weight as well.

Each year in America and other Western countries, a number of deaths occur which can be traced to over consumption of vitamin supplements, combined with alcohol and use of over-the-counter medications, including amphetamines and anti-depressant medications. In addition, many people are taking high priced vitamins and food supplements which are sold by multilevel marketing hucksters, that are not only very expensive (due to so many ‘associates’ involved in the MLM ‘pyramid’), but potentially dangerous as well. Many vitamin supplements sold by both MLM companies, as well as over the internet, are made by foreign manufactures who may not be properly regulated in their own countries (usually with much lower standards that American products which are FDA controlled) but may have not been regulated properly in the U.S.A. as well.

Recent television consumer awareness programs have said that many Americans spend as much as $500 or more per month on these products, consumer as many as 20 different pills and capsules per day! Not only is there much doubt as whether these products actually do all they claim to do to maintain one’s good health, the over-consumption of vitamin and mineral supplements may actually create toxins within one’s own body that could lead to heart and liver failure, as well as a number of other
physical problems – many of them potentially fatal.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA for short) is trying to create legislation that will require more government regulation of these products, include who can legally purchase them. In addition to providing more regulation these products, the FDA is interested in making sure that people have more complete information involving the potential side effects or even poisoning from over consumption of vitamins and food supplements.

It is advisable to consult your family doctor in order to determine what types and quantities of these products you can safely consume, as well as any potential dangers. This especially true for persons suffering from a chronic medical condition, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and various allergies that are potentially serious, and even fatal .

While it’s great to try to improve your personal health by taking these products, like many things, they should be taken moderately and with an element of caution. After all, only one person is going to take care of you personal health, and that’s you, yourself.

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Our Daily Poisons and the Earth Friendly Option

Organic FoodsThey’re around you every day; and in fact you and your family use and consume products that in the long run can be just as deadly as weapons that kill and maim people in the millions. We are not referring to guns, knives, and poisons such as arsenic, cyanide or other kinds of poisons used to eradicate rodents and other kinds of pests. The products referred to here range from detergents and cleaning compounds to deodorants and cosmetics to even seemingly harmless food and beverage items.

Every time people wash their clothing in their washing machine, or their dishes in their dishwasher, they are using chemical compounds which, if used in large enough amounts can cause not only burning and severe skin irritation, but eventual cancers like melanoma. Even though some detergents may claim to be “non-toxic” or “environmentally safe” they still contain such ingredients as sodium or calcium hypocrite, or sodium tri-polyphosphate, which can become very dangerous chemical compounds if used excessively.

Cosmetic items such as lipstick, hand cream, deodorants and anti-perspirants, all contain such chemicals as aluminum chlorhydrate, propylene glycol, or BHA and coal tar dyes (both lipstick preservatives and color enhancers that are said to contain carcinogens or cancer causing compounds). Even that liquid ’soap less soap’ that most people keep in their bathrooms is so full of chemical compounds (ammonium chloride, sodium laurel sulfate, plus a number of color-dyes, fragrances, etc.) that it may be better to use old fashioned home-made hand soap, even if it contains lye and other caustic compounds.

You don’t have to go through the list of cleaning compounds or cosmetic items to find these poisons; but many food products have similar chemical compounds as well. Even that soft tub of margarine has what is called ‘trans-fat’ and is extremely bad for your heart if consumed in large quantities (many nutrition advisors claim it’s better to use pure butter than these so called “safe” cooking and spreading products.

Yes there are alternatives; and by acquiring knowledge of safer, environmental ‘earth-friendly’ products, you can protect yourselves and your families from the long term effects of these ‘lethal weapons’.

Find out more about Organic Foods, Organic Teas, and Organic Herbal Supplements.