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Natural News

  • MEPs sitting on the EU Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety have bowed to industry pressure and voted through a two tier system of rules for gene edited plants, now called New Genomic Techniques or NGT. NGT plants in tier 1, considered to be equivalent to conventionally bred plants, will be exempt from safety checks and labelling requirements, while those in tier 2 will remain under existing GMO legislation. All NGT plants will continue to be prohibited in organic systems. The decision, which comes after significant industry lobbying, will go the EU Parliament to be voted on in February
  • A consortium of six environmental NGOs has taken the first step to challenge the European Commission’s recent decision to reapprove the use of glyphosate in the EU. The legal challenge could be boosted following revelations by Politico that EU regulators aren’t following their own safety rules by ensuring long-term safety data is available for all approved pesticides
  • Levels of overweight and obesity in UK children, under the age of 11, increased by 4% (higher than expected rates) during the pandemic and have remained elevated. A new study published in PLOS One calculates the future costs and impacts of childhood obesity on healthcare systems along with the economic impacts
  • Knowsley council in Liverpool has become the latest local authority in the UK to restrict the advertising of unhealthy food and drinks, after researchers claimed such restrictions on the London Underground led to a reduction of 100,000 cases of obesity and nearly 3,000 cases of type 2 diabetes. In reality, the modelling used to estimate the impact of the campaign in London showed a 1,000 calorie a week reduction in energy purchase per household (or the equivalent of 1.5 fewer standard bars of milk chocolate per person), compared to a control group outside of London. However, as advertising of highly processed foods is banned in one area, food manufacturers continue to target people via social media, TV and supermarkets to drive consumption further deepening the obesity health crisis.

>>> Rob Verkerk PhD explores the problems with government strategies on obesity using an analogy of a motor car

  • Losing weight increases the length of obese children's telomeres, the shortening of which could lead to premature ageing. A new study published in Pediatric Obesity suggest that measuring telomere length is a good way to assess the effects of adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle rather than more traditional markers, such as body mass index, which is no longer considered fit for purpose
  • More and more US adults are turning to complementary medicine therapies to manage pain. A new Research Letter published in JAMA reports a 36.7% increase in the use of therapies such as yoga, acupuncture, chiropractic, massage and naturopathy for pain management over the past 20 years, as increasing numbers of people seek natural alternatives to highly addictive opioid painkillers
  • Thailand is increasing the maximum Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) for eight vitamins and minerals. Seventeen remain unchanged, while three have either been reduced or removed. The changes will come into force at the beginning of July
  • In the Philippines, the Food and Drug Administration has just concluded a consultation on maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in foods and supplements. The consultation covers 26 vitamins and minerals. The new guidelines are designed to replace those originally published in 1991
  • The UK Government has announced £50 million in funding towards finding new treatments for dementia. The new funding will develop a network, which will recruit people with dementia to take part in trials. Rather than looking at how to use diet and lifestyle interventions to prevent and reverse early-stage dementia, the funding will push further pharmaceutical treatments, which more often than not come with a plethora of serious adverse effects.

>>> Alzheimer’s disease: cheap nutrients outperform latest drug. Rob Verkerk PhD and Patrick Holford discuss natural interventions to prevent dementia

  • Children in the US will now receive at least 76 doses of 18 different vaccines before the age of 18. The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the 2024 immunization schedule for children, which also now includes newly authorised jabs for covid, respiratory synctial virus (RSV) and pneumococcal disease. The adult schedule includes a minimum of 80 doses of various jabs from age 19-79. The Defender dives into the details
  • When it comes to clinical trials, the US Food and Drug Administration has quietly implemented a new regulation that means researchers will no longer be required to seek informed consent from trial participants where the research is considered to pose “no more than minimal risk” to their health. The new ruling is suitably weak in its definitions leaving the door wide open for potential abuse by both the government and researchers
  • A new report from the Food System Economics Commission has grand plans, promising to transform food systems, create carbon sinks, shift to sustainable agricultural systems, promote biodiversity and eliminate undernourishment. As with so many things, the devil is in the detail. In this case, the proposed changes regurgitate existing proposals, but are packaged up with a neat bow to make them look more inviting and agreeable than previous iterations. Proposals include taxing unhealthy foods and habits e.g. ultra-processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol and tobacco consumption. Use of nudge techniques, such as those from the Coolfood project, reduced taxation on plant foods and gamification to get people to accept dietary changes such as a reduction in the amount of animal products eaten and increased consumption of plant foods, as set out in the EAT Lancet Planetary Diet. More pharmaceuticals will be developed to tackle obesity and reduce the burden on healthcare systems. Precision agriculture, synthetic foodstuffs including novel protein sources (ferming), urban food production (think hydroponics), biofortification of plants (gene editing), payment for nature schemes e.g. biocredits, while increased biodiversity will be achieved through tree planting along with sustainable forestry and protection of existing untouched areas. A 50% reduction in livestock production is also proposed, with a redistribution of meat eating from high-income countries to low-income countries. Whilst it all sounds good on paper, are the solutions on offer don't really the solutions needed to protect and planetary and human health, but to benefit large corporates pushing new-to-nature 'foods' and food systems.

ANH-USA Update

  • Will Big Pharma’s focus on creating new drugs to target menopause symptoms drive the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) efforts to remove compounded bioidentical hormone replacement therapy from use? Find out more….
  • The FDA is continuing its cat and mouse game over proposed regulations that could see over 40,000 dietary supplements removed from the shelves in the US. Its latest move sees it publish a notice explaining its intent to break up new guidance into chunks. Find out more and lobby your representative to protect your access to supplements…

Covid News

  • A global moratorium on mRNA vaccines should be brought in until the safety of the technology has been thoroughly tested. The team behind a new paper published in Cureus, is also calling for an immediate removal of mRNA injections from childhood immunisation programmes until such time as sufficient toxicological studies have been carried out. The Defender has more
  • The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) didn’t send an official safety alert to health officials and practitioners regarding the link between covid jabs and heart issues because they thought it would cause panic and reduce uptake of the jabs. Documents obtained by The Epoch Times (behind a paywall) also reveal email exchanges between a CDC official and pharma employee (company redacted), giving them a heads up that a communication to alert healthcare professionals about the risk was being discussed
  • The number of myocarditis reports following covid shots in 2021 was 223 times higher than the average of reports for all vaccines for the past 30 years. A new paper, published in Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, found a strong link between covid injections and the development of myocarditis in children and young adults (under the age of 30). Myocarditis was more likely to occur following a second dose. The authors, which include Dr Peter McCullough and Jessica Rose PhD, call for further investigations into the issue to ensure covid injections are safe for continued use across all age groups. Note: the use of the phrase 'safe for continued use' has been added by the authors in order for the paper to be published
  • The Biden Administration has been forced to hire more lawyers to handle a spike in vaccine compensation claims in the US. It’s unclear if the spike in claims is due to injuries from covid shots
  • A youth worker in Australia has won a legal case against his employer for covid jab related injuries. Mr Shepherd, who developed pericarditis following his third shot, required by his employer, has been awarded compensation and expenses
  • In the UK an Employment Tribunal has ruled, under the Equality Act, that an ambulance worker’s homeopathic lifestyle and right to bodily autonomy gives him the right to decide what medical interventions, including covid ‘vaccines’, he accepts or refuses.

 

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