01 April 2015

Thought Police: The Next Logical Step in a Total Surveillance Society

Source: MindTech Sweden

George Orwell introduced the concept of the “Thought Police” in his dystopian novel1984 . George Orwell Introduced The Concept Of The “Thought Police” in his dystopian novel 1984th See the Wikipedia article on Thought Police here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Police According to Kathleen Taylor in her own book,Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control(Oxford University Press, 2006) “It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punishthoughtcrime and thought-criminals, usingpsychology and omnipresent surveillance fromtelescreens to find and eliminate members of society who were capable of the mere thought of challenging ruling authority.”
Does such a system exist in the United States today? Signs point to yes.
Granted, the United States remains a republic, and it has just completed a new cycle of elections. Its liberal constitution and principles of democratic representation seem to be standing firmly in place. Its flag waves proudly.
But there is a growing body of evidence that this country, once “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” has devolved into a paranoid police state, much like the authoritarian state described by George Orwell in 1984.

One may find, simply by searching the internet, plenty of evidence that the United States government is actively involved in all the basic activities of the “Thought Police” exactly as listed above:
thought police mind contrl

1. 1st The uncovering and punishment of thought crime and thought criminals
2nd The use of psychology to profile and identify “potential” criminals, terrorists and subversive Within society, and
3rd The Use of “omni-present surveillance from telephone screens’ to create What Harlan Girard calls” an Electronic Concentration Camp System “- a grid or matrix from Which no personal cannabis escape.
In Each of These Activities, the new mind-invasive technologies Known collectively as artificial telepathyplay a key role.
Uncovering and Punishing Thought Crime
As Documented in Many Other posts on this blog, mind-invasive technologies to Have Begun to play a key role in the uncovering and punishment of “Thought Crime.”
The following information was evidence provided in a civil suit against the federal government in the case Akwei v. NSA (92-0449). John St. Clair Akwei is a former National Security Agency employee and whistle-blower who exposed the use of neural monitoring to spy on individuals. The Signals Intelligence mission of the NSA has evolved into a program of decoding EMF waves in the environment for wirelessly tapping into computers and tracking persons with the electrical currents in their bodies.

How The National Security Agency (NSA) Illegally And Unconstitutionally Harasses Law-Abiding Americans Everyday. How, you ask? Quite simply, actually. It’s done by EMF or ELF Radio Waves, and a technology known as “Remote Neural Monitoring”. Haven’t you ever wondered about that ringing in your left ear? Well, here are the reason(s). And just why should the NSA do this, you ask? To silence any who who dare to speak out against them or any other agency, or the Government or simply to think for themselves, and “outside the box”, if you will. Think not? Then, read on……….

Blanket coverage of all electronic communication in the U.S. and the world to ensure national security. The NSA at Ft. Meade, Maryland has had the most advanced computers in the world since the early 1960′s. NSA technology is developed and implemented in secret from private corporations, academia, and the general public.

The Signals Intelligence mission of the NSA has evolved into a program of decoding EMF waves in the environment for wirelessly tapping into computers and tracking persons with the electrical currents in their bodies. Signals Intelligence is based on the fact that everything in the environment with an electric current in it has a magnetic flux around it which gives off EMF waves. The NSA/DoD has developed proprietary advanced digital equipment which can remotely analyze all objects whether man-made or organic that have electrical activity.

Domestic Intelligence (DOMINT)

The NSA has records on all U.S. citizens. The NSA gathers information on U.S. citizens who might be of interest to any of the over 50,000 NSA agents (HUMINT). These agents are authorized by executive order to spy on anyone. The NSA has a permanent National Security Anti-Terrorist surveillance network in place. This surveillance network is completely disguised and hidden from the public.
Tracking individuals in the U.S. is easily and cost-effectively implemented with the NSA’s electronic surveillance network. This network (DOMINT) covers the entire U.S., involves tens of thousands of NSA personnel, and tracks millions of persons simultaneously. Cost effective implementation of operations is assured by NSA computer technology designed to minimize operations costs. NSA personnel serve in Quasi-public positions in their communities and run cover businesses and legitimate businesses that can inform the intelligence community of persons they would want to track. N.S.A. personnel in the community usually have cover identities such as social workers, lawyers and business owners.
the brain network

Individual citizens occasionally targeted for surveillance by independently operating NSA personnel.

NSA personnel can control the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the U.S. by using the NSA’s domestic intelligence network and cover businesses. The operations independently run by them can sometimes go beyond the bounds of law. Long-term control and sabotage of tens of thousands of unwitting citizens by NSA operatives is likely to happen. NSA Domint has the ability to covertly assassinate U.S. citizens or run covert psychological control operations to cause subjects to be diagnosed with ill mental health.

NSA’s domestic electronic surveillance network

As of the early 1960′s the most advanced computers in the world were at the NSA, Ft. Meade. Research breakthroughs with these computers were kept for the NSA. At the present time the NSA has nanotechnology computers that are 15 years ahead of present computer technology. The NSA obtains blanket coverage of information in the U.S. by using advanced computers that use artificial intelligence to screen all communications, irregardless of medium, for key words that should be brought to the attention of NSA agents/cryptologists. These computers monitor all communications at the transmitting and receiving ends. This blanket coverage of the U.S. is a result of the NSA’s Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) mission. The NSA’s electronic surveillance network is based on a cellular arrangement of devices that can monitor the entire EMF spectrum. This equipment was developed, implemented, and kept secret in the same manner as other electronic warfare programs. With this technology NSA personnel can non-obtrusively tap into any communication device in existence. This includes computers, telephones, radio and video-based devices, printers, car electronics, and even the minute electrical fields in humans (for tracking individuals).

Signals Intelligence Remote Computer Tampering

The NSA keeps track of all PCs and other computers sold in the U.S. This is an integral part of the Domestic Intelligence network. The NSA’s EMF equipment can tune in RF emissions from personal computer circuit boards (while filtering out emissions from monitors and power supplies). The RF emission from PC circuit boards contains digital information in the PC. Coded RF waves from the NSA’s equipment can resonate PC circuits and change data in the PC’s. Thus the NSA can gain wireless modem-style entry into any computer in the country for surveillance or anti-terrorist electronic warfare. Radio and Television signals can be substituted at the receiving end with special EMF equipment. Replacing signals in Radios and Televisions is another outgrowth of the NSA’s Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) mission.

Detecting EMF Fields in Humans for Surveillance.

A subject’s bioelectric field can be remotely detected, so subjects can be monitored anywhere they are. With special EMF equipment NSA cryptologists can remotely read evoked potentials (from EEGs). These can be decoded into a person’s brain-states and thoughts. The subject is then perfectly monitored from a distance. NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals lntelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA’s computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours-a-day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the U.S.

NSA Signals Intelligence Use of EMF Brain Stimulation

mind_control_brain_implant
NSA Signals Intelligence uses EMF Brain Stimulation for Remote Neural Monitoring (RNM) and Electronic Brain Link (EBL). EMF Brain Stimulation has been in development since the MKUltra program of the early 1950′s, which included neurological research into “radiation” (non-ionizing EMF) and bioelectric research and development. The resulting secret technology is categorized at the National Security Archives as “Radiation Intelligence,” defined as “information from unintentionally emanated electromagnetic waves in the environment, not including radioactivity or nuclear detonation.” Signals Intelligence implemented and kept this technology secret in the same manner as other electronic warfare programs of the U.S. government. The NSA monitors available information about this technology and withholds scientific research from the public. There are also international intelligence agency agreements to keep this technology secret. The NSA has proprietary electronic equipment that analyzes electrical activity in humans from a distance. NSA computer-generated brain mapping can continuously monitor all the electrical activity in die brain continuously. The NSA records aid decodes individual brain maps (of hundreds of thousands of persons) for national security purposes. EMF Brain Stimulation is also secretly used by the military for Brain-to-computer link. (In military fighter aircraft, for example.) For electronic surveillance purposes electrical activity in the speech center of the brain can be translated into the subject’s verbal thoughts. RNM can send encoded signals to the brain’s auditory cortex thus allowing audio communication direct to the brain (bypassing the ears). NSA operatives can use this to covertly debilitate subjects by simulating auditory hallucinations characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia. Without any contact with the subject, Remote Neural Monitoring can map out electrical activity from the visual cortex of a subject’s brain and show images from the subject’s brain on a video monitor. NSA operatives see what the surveillance subject’s eyes are seeing. Visual memory can also be seen. RNM can send images direct to the visual cortex. bypassing the eyes and optic nerves. NSA operatives can use this to surreptitiously put images in a surveillance subject’s brain while they are in R.E.M. sleep for brain-programming purposes.

Capabilities of NSA operatives using RNM

There has been a Signals Intelligence network in the U.S. since the 1940′s. The NSA, Ft. Meade has in place a vast two-way wireless RNM system which is used to track subjects and non-invasively monitor audio-visual information in their brain. This is all done with no physical contact with the subject. RNM is the ultimate method of surveillance and domestic intelligence. Speech and 3D sound, and subliminal audio can be sent to the auditory cortex of the subject’s brain (bypassing the ears) and images can be sent into the visual cortex. RNM can alter a subject’s perceptions, moods, and motor control. Speech cortex/auditory cortex link has become the ultimate communications system for the intelligence community. RNM allows for a complete audio-visual brain-to-brain link or brain-to-computer link.

National Security Agency Signals Intelligence Electronic Brain Link Technology

NSA SigInt can remotely detect, identify and monitor a person’s bioelectric fields. The NSA’s Signals Intelligence has the proprietary ability to remotely and non-invasively monitor information in the human brain by digitally decoding the evoked potentials in the 30-50 hz, .5 milliwatt electro-magnetic emissions from the brain. Neuronal activity in the brain creates a shifting electrical pattern that has a shifting magnetic flux. This magnetic flux puts out a constant 30-50 hz, .5 milliwatt electromagnetic (EMF) wave. Contained in the electromagnetic emission from the brain are spikes and patterns called “evoked potentials.” Every thought, reaction, motor command, auditory event, and visual image in the brain has a corresponding “evoked potential” or set of “evoked potentials.” The EMF emission from the brain can be decoded into the current thoughts, images and sounds in the subject’s brain. NSA SigInt uses EMF-transmitted Brain Stimulation as a communications system to transmit information (as well as nervous system messages) to intelligence agents and also to transmit to the brains of covert operations subjects (on a non-perceptible level). EMF Brain Stimulation works by sending a complexly coded and pulsed electromagnetic signal to trigger evoked potentials (events) in the brain, thereby forming sound and visual images in the brain’s neural circuits. EMF Brain Stimulation can also change a person’s brain-states and affect motor control. Two-way Electronic Brain-Link is done by remotely monitoring neural audio-visual information while transmitting sound to the auditory cortex (bypassing the ears) and transmitting faint images to the visual cortex (bypassing the optic nerves and eyes, the images appear as floating 2-D screens in the brain). Two-Way Electronic Brain Link has become the ultimate communications system for CIA/NSA personnel. Remote Neural Monitoring (RNM, remotely monitoring bioelectric information in the human brain) has become the ultimate surveillance system. It is used by a limited number of agents in the U.S. Intelligence Community. RNM requires decoding the resonance frequency of each specific brain area. That frequency is then modulated in order to impose information in That specific brain area. The frequency to which the various brain areas respond varies from 3 Hz to 50 Hz. Only NSA Signals Intelligence modulates signals in this frequency band. :
Brain AreaBioelectric Resonance FrequencyInformation Induced Through Modulation
Motor Control Cortex10 HZMotor Impulse Co-ordination
Auditory Cortex15 HZSound which bypasses the ears
Visual Cortex25 HZImages in the brain, bypassing the eyes
Somatosensory Cortex09 HZPhantom Touch Sense
Thought Center20 HZImposed Subconscious Thoughts
start robot
This modulated information can be put into the brain at varying intensities from subliminal to perceptible. Each person’s brain has a unique set of bioelectric resonance/entrainment frequencies. Sending audio information to a person’s brain at the frequency of another person’s auditory cortex would result in that audio information not being perceived. The Plaintiff learned of RNM by being in two-way RNM contact with the Kinnecome group at the NSA, Ft. Meade. They used RNM 3D sound direct to the brain to harass the Plaintiff from 10/90 to 5/91. As of 5/91 they have had two-way RNM communications with the Plaintiff and have used RNM to attempt to incapacitate the Plaintiff and hinder the Plaintiff from going to authorities about their activities against the Plaintiff in the last twelve years. The Kinnecome group has about 100 persons working 24-hours-a-day at Ft Meade. They have also brain-tapped persons the Plaintiff is in contact with to keep the Plaintiff isolated. This is the first time ever that a private citizen has been harassed with RNM and has been able to bring a lawsuit against NSA personnel misusing this intelligence operations method.

NSA Techniques and Resources

Remote monitoring/tracking of individuals in any location. inside any building, continuously, anywhere in the country. A system for inexpensive implementation of these operations allows for thousands of persons in every community to be spied on constantly by the NSA.

Remote RNM Devices

a) NSA’s RNM equipment remotely reads the evoked potentials (EEGs) of the human brain for tracking individuals and can send messages through the nervous system to affect their performance.
b) [Information missing from original]
c) RNM can electronically identify individuals and track then anywhere in the U.S. This equipment is on a network and is used for domestic intelligence operations, government security, and military base security, and in case of bioelectric warfare.

Spotters and Walk-Bys in Metropolitan Areas

a) Tens of thousands of persons in each area working as spotters and neighborhood/business place spies (sometimes unwittingly) following and checking on subjects who have been identified for covert control by NSA personnel.
b) Agents working out of offices can be in constant communication with Spotters who are keeping track of the NSA’s thousands of subjects in public.
c) NSA Agents in remote offices can instantly identify (using RNM) any individual spotted in public whom is in contact with surveillance subject.

Chemicals and Drugs into Residential Buildings with hidden NSA-lnstalled and maintained plastic plumbing lines.

a) The NSA has kits for running lines into residential tap water and air ducts of subjects for the delivery of drugs (such as sleeping gas or brainwashing aiding drugs). This is an outgrowth of CIA pharmapsychology.

Brief Overview of Proprietary U.S. Intelligence/Anti-Terrorist Equipment Mentioned.

Fixed network of special EMF equipment that can read EEGs in human brains and identify/track individuals by using digital computers. ESB (Electrical Stimulation to the Brain) via EMF signal from the NSA Signals Intelligence is used to control subjects.
EMF equipment that gathers information from PC circuit boards by deciphering RF emissions thereby gaining wireless modem-style entry into any personal computer in the country.
All equipment hidden, all technology secret, all scientific research unreported (as in electronic warfare research).
Not known to the public at all, yet complete and thorough implementation of this method of domestic intelligence has been in place since the early 1980′s.
“We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times: where there are no secrets from the government” ~ William O. Douglas (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)

The Kassandra Project: freedom against disinformation

colorfulbrain mind control
I doubt, I think therefore I am. But I am what I think. But could it be a better world?
The prime example is the Department of Homeland Security’s new Malintent programs mentioned in the previous post (qv) By scanning the faces of people at airports and Reading Other vital signs like heart rate, temperature and blood pressure, new sensors and computer algorithms Can Be Used to read the Intent of Airplane Passengers – and presumably to Prevent “potential terrorists” from boarding planes by means of “pre-emptive arrests.”
One must emphasize here That reading a person’s Intentwith a camera and a computer is Probably not much more ReliableTimeSource Than a classic lie detector test, and very little scientific evidence exists to support the claims “That These machines ARE accurate. The important thing to note Is that the Department of Homeland Security Seriously intende to-use These machines as a pretext for pre-emptive arrests - That Is, Do They intende to arrest people for crimes Not Yet Committed.
Arresting a person for a crime Not Yet-committed, on the basis of perceived intent, amount to arresting people for Thought crimes.
Use of Psychological Profiling to Detect and Detain “Potential” Criminals

As Jim Marrs points out in his new book The Rise of The Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threat to Take Over America (William Morrow, 2008), These “mind reading” computer systems are “reminiscent of Nazi Prew plan to preempt crime and Dissent. “ (P. 333)
For example, psychologists Used Nazi pseudo-scientific examination and the doctrine of preemption to remove “uneducable” children from grade schools. If a number of symptoms indicated thats a child was “asked the student materials,” their name Would ask registered on a list. It was Stated That “genetic and National HealthCare considerations recommend preventative Their registration.”
“Of course,” says Marrs, “Such registration point to the Euthanasia centers.”
Marrs rightly calls “Disturbing” the new trend to identify and detain potential troublemakers Before They Actually Have Committed a Crime.
Terrorist Watch List – or Blacklist?

In the ITS effort to intercept “Suspected terrorists,” the Department of Homeland Security hock added More Than One Million names to the ITS terrorist watchlist.The American Civil Liberties Union Suggests this number is way too high.
“Terrorist Watch List,” it says, “must ask Tightly focused on true terrorists WHO pose a genuine threat. Bloated lists ARE bad because” Do They ensnare Many innocent travelers as Suspected terrorists, and because “Do They waste screeners’ time and divert Their energies from looking for true terrorists. “
Among the individuals’ Whose names were found on the list by 60 Minutes and Other Media Organizations: Late.Edward Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Saddam Hussein (in custody at the time), Rep. John Lewis, James Moore (author of Bush’s Brain),and John William Anderson, age 6th
Now one must admit That Certain children really ARE terrible brats, WHO ought to Be Watched Closely by more Their parents, But is it really Necessary for the secret police to Become Involved? And if a United States Senator Can Be Listed as a “Suspect,” then Who is Above Suspicion?
A “terrorist” watchlist That includes the names of More Than One Million People Seams to Be Clear Evidence That the Department of Homeland Security is Either a) very paranoid indeed, or b) very interested in Using terrorism as a pretext for Spying on U.S. Citizens Have the WHO-committed no crimes.
That is, Do They Have Established a System That allows Them to “find and Eliminate members of society Who Are CapAble Of The Mere Thought of Challenging Existing Authorization.”
Ftac: The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre

Psychological profiling, black listing and Preemptive Arrest are “Thought Police” Tactics Used in Europe, too, not just in the U.S. The British Have Their own system, called Ftac.
In a chapter titled “Psychology and Public Control,” Jim Marrs writes: “The British government, in May 2007, responding to news accounts, ACKNOWLEDGE IT HAD Secretly Established a new national anti-terrorist unit to protect VIPs by first profiling, hadeeth arresting person Considered To Be Potentially Dangerous. Amazingly, this power to detain suspects even Before They Actually-committed a crime was based on Mental Health Law. “
Marrs cites a news story by London Times reporter Joanna Bale. She reports That “Until Now It Has Been up to mental health professionals to DETERMINE if someone forcibly Should Be Detained, But the new unit the uses the police to identify suspects, Increasing Fears That Distinction ARE Being Blurred Between Criminal Investigations and doctors’ clinical Decisions. “
Experts Believe That this arrangement “is set to reignite Controversy over the ‘Detention of Suspects Without Trial.”
“There is grave danger of this Being Used To deal with PeopleSoft Where There Is Insufficient Evidence for a Criminal Prosecution,” said Gareth Crossman, policy director for Britain’s National Council for Civil Liberties.
“This Blur the Line Between Medical Decisions and police actions. If You are going to allow doctors to take people’s liberty away, Do They Have to Be independent. That credibility is undermined When The Doctors ARE part of the Sami team as the police. This raises Serious Concerns. First, That You Have A Unit That allows Police Investigation to Lead Directly to PeopleSoft-being sectioned Without Any kind of criminal proceedings. Secondly, it is-being done under the umbrella of anti-terrorism at a time-when the government is looking for ways to detain terrorists Without Them putting on trial. “
Scotland Yard refused hock to Discuss How Many Suspects Have Been forcibly hospitalized by the team, because “of” Patient Confidentiality. “Meanwhile, Conservative members of the British government to Have Ftac hailed as the first joint mental health – Police Unit in the United Kingdom and a “prototype for future joint services” In Other Areas. They Are Introducing legislation to broads The definition of mental disorders to give doctors – and now police – more power to detain people.

Germanwings plane crash: major media cover-up

Source: NoMoreFakeNews

by Jon Rappoport
April 1, 2015
“When systemic fraud reaches a certain level where collapse of some basic institution is inevitable, the powers that be invent a different storyline. They tell an outright fairy tale and keep pushing it. They’ll even stage events that confirm the fairy tale. Anything to avoid the truth that would disintegrate the whole structure. For example: the structure called Psychiatry.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
Airbus A 320 flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. Crashed in French Alps. All 150 aboard killed. Pilot Andreas Lubitz flew the plane into a mountain. Lubitz had seen a psychiatrist for depression.
Major media cover the story from several angles.
Should airline personnel have known one of its pilots was suffering from depression? Did they know? Did they cover it up, or ignore it?
These media outlets studiously ignore the elephant in the room: the drugs used to treat depression.
This blackout is intentional. Any decent reporter wouldlook into the antidepressants, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc., as the cause of the pilot crashing the plane.
Go to the site, SSRI Stories, for a huge list of suicides and murders connected to the drugs. Read the warning labels (listing, e.g., suicide) on the drugs. It’s all there.
Visit psychiatrist Peter Breggin’s site, breggin.com. Breggin blew the whistle on these drugs long ago. Read his classic, Toxic Psychiatry.
So where is the media coverage now, in the Germanwings case? It’s virtually nowhere.
The go-to media experts in the field of psychiatry are cover-up professionals. Drug Companies, of course, buy enormous numbers of TV ads.
But beyond these factors, exposure of the truth about antidepressants and their connection to suicides and murders would take down psychiatry itself. The whole profession would collapse.
The sleeping population would stir and sit up and take notice.
Governments would be forced to admit their overt support of psychiatry is based on fraud, from top to bottom.
That is what’s at stake here.

power outside the matrix

And if the major media lived up to their (mythical) role of investigators of truth, the Germanwings story would expand into every nook and cranny of psychiatry: fraudulent diagnoses of every so-called mental disorder, for which there are no physical diagnostic tests: no blood tests, no urine tests, no brain scans, no genetic assays.
Battalions of real reporters doing real probes, backed up by media giants, would force doctors and medical bureaucrats out of their closets, and confessions would pile up.
But this will never happen, because those media giants are committed to supporting the Establishment of which they are a member.
The entire system of psychiatry—fraudulent diagnoses, dangerous and toxic drugs—is a colossus sitting on an earthquake fault. A triggering event, however, is protected from happening by the very media who should be making it happen.
This is a circle of lies.
“Since I first began working as a medical expert in product liability cases way back in the early 1990s, I’ve spent innumerable hours culling the sealed data contained within the files of companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly. Among other things, I long ago found evidence that Paxil and Prozac cause suicidality in adults. These discoveries then led to settlements in product liability suits brought against the two companies brought by surviving family members.” —Dr. Peter Breggin
“I got involved in the Miller case. Matt Miller was a 13 year old boy who had just changed schools and was feeling nervous. His parents prompted by the teacher brought him to a doctor who put him on Zoloft. Seven days later he hung himself in the bathroom between his parent’s bedroom and his bedroom.” —David Healy, Professor of Psychiatry, Bangor university, UK
Any media outlet, aware of these two statements (and many other similar statements), who did not then dig much deeper into the recent Germanwings disaster, would be actively concealing vital truth.
In other words, they would be carrying on business as usual.
Jon Rappoport
The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED,EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails atNoMoreFakeNews.com orOutsideTheRealityMachine.

New Report Debunks 'Myth' That GMOs are Key to Feeding the World

Source: Common Dreams

Study upholds value of traditional methods 'shown to actually increase food supplies and reduce the environmental impact of production'

About 70 percent of the world's poor are farmers, and to raise them out of poverty requires access to basic resources such as fertilizer, water, and the infrastructure to properly store or transport crops to market—not expensive, resource-intensive GMO seeds. (Credit: La Montañita Co-op)

The biotechnology industry "myth" that feeding billions of people necessitates genetically engineered agriculture has been debunked by a new report out Tuesday by the nonprofit health organization Environmental Working Group.

The report, Feeding the World Without GMOs (pdf), argues that investment in genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, has failed to expand global food security. It advocates more traditional methods "shown to actually increase food supplies and reduce the environmental impact of production."
Over the past 20 years, the report notes, global crop yields have only grown by 20 percent—despite the massive investment in biotechnology.

On the other hand, it continues, in recent decades "the dominant source of yield improvements has been traditional crossbreeding, and that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future."

As the report states, "seed companies' investment in improving yields in already high-yielding areas does little to improve food security; it mainly helps line the pockets of seed and chemical companies, large-scale growers and producers of corn ethanol."

After examining recent research on GMO crop production, the report also found:
  • Genetically modified crops—primarily corn and soybeans—have not substantially contributed to global food security and are primarily used to feed animals and cars, not people.

  • GMO crops in the US are not more productive than non-GMO crops in western Europe.

  • A recent case study in Africa found that crops that were crossbred for drought tolerance using traditional techniques improved yields 30 percent more than genetically engineered varieties.
Alternately, the report recommends a number of "common sense" strategies for expanding the global food supply, including: implementing a smarter use of fertilizers, eliminating bio-fuels, eliminating food waste, and cutting global meat consumption in half. Producing meat requires huge quantities of often-genetically modified crops such as corn and soy for animal feed.

Further, the report points out, "the narrative that GE crops will help feed the world ignores the fact that hunger is mostly the result of poverty."

About 70 percent of the world's poor are farmers, report author Emily Cassidy writes, and to raise them out of poverty requires access to basic resources such as fertilizer, water, and the infrastructure to properly store or transport crops to market—not expensive, resource-intensive GMO seeds.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Cassidywrites: "Given that creating just one genetically engineered crop variety can cost upwards of $130 million, you'd think Big Ag companies would invest in strategies that have been proven to work and less on GMOs that may not even increase crop yields. But what corporations really care about is increasing their profits, not feeding a hungry world."

Grabbing Africa's seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation back agribusiness seed takeover

Source: The Ecologist

Stephen Greenberg & Oliver Tickell

23rd March 2015

The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired, writes Stephen Greenberg, with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.

More than 80% of Africa's seed supply currently comes from millions of small-scale farmers recycling and exchanging seed from year to year. This seed meets very diverse needs in very diverse conditions.
A battle is currently being waged over Africa's seed systems. After decades of neglect and weak investment in African agriculture, there is renewed interest in funding African agriculture.
These new investments take the form of philanthropic and international development aid as well as private investment funds. They are based on the potentially huge profitability of African agriculture - and seed systems are a key target.
Right now ministers are co-ordinating their next steps at the 34th COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Intergovernmental Committee meeting that kicked off yesterday, 22nd March, in preparation for the main Summit that will follow on 30th and 31st March 2015.
COMESA's key aim is to pave the way for a"Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in 2017 under the auspices of the African Union" with uniform regulations, including on agricultural products, seeds and GMOs.
A recent meeting on biotechnology and biosafety was held to establish a "COMESA biotechnology and biosafety policy implementation plan" (COMBIP) to roll out from 2015-2019, "leading to increased biotechnology applications and agricultural commodity trade in the region."
But read between the lines and its real purpose was to facilitate the planting and commercialization of GMO crops in Africa all at one go, instead of country by country. USAID Regional representatives for East Africa, based in Nairobi, were present to monitor the process and ensure the desired outcome.
And on the agenda for the main COMESA Summit next week is the approval of a 'Master Plan' for the implementation of the COMESA Harmonised Seed Trade Regulations agreed last year in Kinshasa.
The regulations, according to the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, "will greatly facilitate agricultural transformation in the COMESA member states towards industrialization of farming systems based on the logic of the highly controversial, failed and hopelessly doomed Green Revolution model of agriculture."
They "promote only one type of seed breeding, namely industrial seed breeding involving the use of advanced breeding technologies. The entire orientation of the seed Regulations is towards genetically uniform, commercially bred varieties in terms of seed quality control and variety registration."
No place for small farmers!
"What is very clear is that small farmers in Africa, seeking to develop or maintain varieties, create local seed enterprises or cultivate locally adapted varieties are excluded from the proposed COMESA Seed Certification System and Variety Release System, because these varieties willnot fulfill the requirements for distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS).
"Landraces or farmers' varieties usually display a high degree of genetic heterogeneity and are adapted to the local environment under which they were developed. In addition, such varieties are not necessarily distinct from each other."
COMESA's key agricultural objectives are to raise production by 6% per year, "integrate farmers into the market economy", make Africa a "strategic player in agricultural science and technology development".
To this end USAID is funding COMESA programmes for 'Coordinated Agricultural Research and Technology Interventions' and 'A Regional Approach Towards Biotechnology' - in other words, to create uniform corporation-friendly regulations for seeds, agro-chemicals and GMOs across the region.
More than 80% of Africa's seed supply currently comes from millions of small-scale farmers recycling and exchanging seed from year to year. This seed meets very diverse needs in very diverse conditions.
Farmers know the quality of 'recycled' seed, selected and saved from their own crops. It is cheap and readily available. New varieties can be introduced through informal trade within villages and beyond. This system may not be perfect, but it has been broadly functional for generations.
The so-called 'formal' seed sector is a relatively new addition in Africa and has a narrow focus on commercial crops, especially hybrid maize. This commercial seed may offer yield advantages, but only in the right conditions, e.g. when coupled with continuous use of synthetic fertilizer, irrigation, larger pieces of land and mono-cropping - the Green Revolution package.
Seed production in the formal sector goes through a number of stages, starting with breeders' and pre-basic seed which has high varietal purity; then foundation / basic seed, which is a bulking up of the breeders' seed; then larger quantities of certified seed are produced for retail sale to farmers.
In most countries in Africa, the public sector was responsible for certified seed production and distribution. Lack of resources, especially following structural adjustment imposed by the World Bank and IMF in the 1980s and 1990s, reduced the effectiveness of this system.
As a result, availability of certified seed was sometimes limited and farmers often found it difficult to access this seed. Farmers continued relying on the tried and trusted seed saved on their farms and exchanged with one another.
The new commercialisation agenda
The new commercialisation agenda is based on the premise that the public sector is inherently incapable of meeting farmer requirements for quality seed.
This agenda is led by USAID and other G8 countries especially through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, and philanthropic institutions like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) working hand in hand with multinational corporations (MNCs) including Monsanto, Syngenta, Yara and others.
The EU also funded a key programme, now concluded, the 'COMESA Regional Agro-Inputs Programme' (COMRAP), to the tune of €20 million, which aims to "reach farmers in each country to improve their sustainable access to agro-inputs and services", "strengthen the capacity for the improvement of seed quality" and "harmonise seed trade regulations throughout the COMESA region".
The first line of attack was to argue for the privatisation of certified seed production and distribution, ostensibly to generate competition. This was identified as a profitable niche in a sector otherwise characterised by low demand, partly because farmers did not have the resources to pay for commercial seed, and partly because their seed needs were already being met through existing systems of production and distribution managed by farmers themselves.
Over the past two decades, a long and slow process of seed law reviews, sponsored by USAID and the G8, BMGF and others has secured this space for private companies to profit from seed production.
This opened the door to MNC involvement in seed production, including the acquisition of every sizeable seed enterprise on the continent. The focus remained on hybrid maize and a few other commercial crops with high demand at national level, or niche on demand.
It now appears that phase two of the commercialisation agenda is being launched. This begins the process of privatising the production of early generation seed (EGS), the breeder and foundation seed.
Already plant variety protection laws are being enacted to allow for private ownership of germplasm previously in the public domain. Now Green Revolution pundits are looking for opportunities to remove public control of potentially profitable processes in EGS production.
Gates, USAID and Deloitte study ways to commercialise early generation seed production
To this end, BMGF and USAID commissioned US strategy consulting firm Monitor-Deloitte to identify private business opportunities in EGS production. The study was conducted in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia on maize, rice, sorghum, cowpea, common beans, cassava and sweet potato.
BMGF and USAID have handpicked an elite group to meet behind closed doors in London in March 2015 to discuss the consultant's report and to strategise on how to open up another front in the battle to turn African seed into a profit-making venture for MNCs.
What is remarkable about this meeting is that there are very few Africans present. Those who are there mostly represent private sector interests, including seed companies and traders' associations. There are no farmer representatives.
This raises serious concerns about the transparency and accountability of these processes. The image of colonial robber barons meeting in secret to carve up the African continent arises unbidden in the mind.
Private sector cherry picking with public subsidy
The Deloitte report exposes a typical approach of private sector 'cherry picking', where private companies identify profitable activities for their own involvement.
While complaining incessantly about "heavy state involvement" they still insist on selected heavy state involvement to cover unprofitable interventions so that the private sector can take the profitable activities.
These include establishing systems, developing institutions, and even engaging in some productive activities where profits are unlikely but which are needed to allow the profit-making scheme to function.
The report uses cowpea production in Ghana as an example of where the public sector should carry the extremely expensive breeder seed costs to allow the private sector to profit in seed multiplication and distribution.
Breeder seed is prohibitively costly because of low multiplication rates and low demand. But the demand that exists is nonetheless lucrative, so the private sector wants to be involved in those parts of the production process identified as profitable.
Where the whole chain is profitable, Deloitte proposes the public sector be locked out of the production process. Examples are hybrid maize or closed value chains where there is strong but limited demand and early production processes are also potentially profitable, for example hybrid sorghum for brewing.
Deloitte's proposal to "channel government and donor financing into supporting mechanisms for private investment in seed production" is a route to effectively subsidising MNCs at the expense of building farmer capacity and resilience to produce quality seed to meet their own context-specific needs.
Active role for farmers disregarded
A potential role for farmers in production or distribution of seed is not even considered in the study, from conception to results. Indeed farmers are viewed only as passive consumers of seed produced by others for a profit.
While we can acknowledge that farmer-managed systems are not perfect, these systems have survived through extremely adverse conditions. They undoubtedly form a base for seed production and distribution that can be built on. But they require support, especially from public R&D and extension services.
There is a growing movement in Africa to reassert the enduring importance of farmer-managed seed systems. . Even under ideal circumstances, MNCs will not venture into the production of many small crops where demand is fragmented nationally but is very strong in local pockets.
The MNC business model of economies of scale and standardised products cannot respond to the diverse needs of asset-poor but dynamic African farmers.
Rather than engaging in partnerships with MNCs with dubious long-term benefits for farmers, it will be far better for the public sector to orient the capacity and resources at its disposal to work directly with farmers to build on existing seed production and distribution activities.



Stephen Greenberg is a researcher at the African Centre for Biosafety, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is currently coordinating a three year research project in southern Africa to investigate the impact of Green Revolution technologies on the livelihoods of small-scale farming households.
Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

Oregon Seeks to Become First State to Limit Antibiotic Use at Factory Farms

Source: Common Dreams

'Oregon's farmers want to nourish the state and believe public health should be increased, not endangered, by producing food to put on our tables.'

A factory farm in Ione, Oregon. (Photo: Friends of Family Farmers/flickr/cc)

Oregon could become the first state in the country to regulate agricultural use of antibiotics, should lawmakers approve bills that would prohibit giving antibiotics to healthy farm animals and require factory farms to report how the drugs are used in their operations.

More than 70 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on livestock and poultry—and not primarily to treat sick animals. Instead, factory farms often put antibiotics into the daily feed and water of healthy animals, to promote growth and prevent disease due to overcrowded and dirty conditions.

As a result, bacteria commonly present on farms are mutating into stronger, antibiotic-resistant strains, which in turn find their way to the human population through numerous pathways, including contaminated food, airborne dust blowing off farms, and water and soil polluted with contaminated feces.

"There is a near consensus among public health experts that the bulk antibiotics produced by [the animal pharmaceutical industry] are accelerating the approach of a post-antibiotics nightmare scenario, in which superbugs routinely emerge from our farms and wreak havoc on a human population living among the ruins of modern medicine," Alexander Zaitchick wrote at Salon last year. 
Those experts range from the World Health Organization and the Infectious Diseases Society of America to the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, all of which signed onto a 2011 letter statingthat "the evidence is so strong of a link between misuse of antibiotics in food animals and human antibiotic resistance that FDA and Congress should be acting much more boldly and urgently to protect these vital drugs for human illness."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 2 million Americans become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.

The bills in Oregon, which have gained the support of medical providers, local food advocates, and consumer rights watchdogs, aim to curtail such antibiotic overuse and its dangerous consequences.

"Our farm is just one of thousands across the United States and around the world that offer living proof that it is not necessary to overuse antibiotics on healthy animals to raise a profitable product," said Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor, co-owner of Kookoolan Farms in the northwestern part of the state. "Oregon's farmers want to nourish the state and believe public health should be increased, not endangered, by producing food to put on our tables."

Oregon's House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources heard testimony on its bill last week, and the Senate Committee on Health Care will debate a similar proposal on Monday. The bills would only affect Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Out of Oregon's 35,000 farms, just over 100 of them are CAFOs.

Opponents of the bills say such regulation should be left up to the federal government.
But federal efforts to address the problem have been week, watchdogs say.

As Oregon's Statesman Journal reports:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has addressed a part of the issue and asked pharmaceutical companies to stop selling antibiotics to animal farms for the purpose of growth promotion. OSPIRG and Friends of Family Farms say this is a voluntary program and lacks teeth. It also does not address disease prevention, which they say masks poor animal husbandry practices and attempts to offset unsanitary conditions.
Meanwhile, the White House's 'National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria,' released last week, was criticized as "a missed opportunity to take more aggressive action."

"Unfortunately, the plan falls short of protecting the public from this looming public health crisis in that it fails to adequately address the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms, relying on FDA's limited efforts to change practices through voluntary guidance," statedFood & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter.

"The Food and Drug Administration has been aware of the problems associated with the misuse of these critical, life saving drugs since at least 1977, but has not required factory farms to stop misusing them," she continued. "Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that curbing the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms would address this public health crisis and help maintain the effectiveness of these critical, life saving drugs, the meat industry continues to oppose meaningful regulation on how it uses antibiotics."

Man Thinking About Just Packing Up And Making Exact Same Mistakes Someplace Far Away

Source: The Onion

Forlano says he can’t wait to move hundreds of miles away and wind up in just as soulless of a job and living situation.

TEMPLE TERRACE, FL—Feeling the need to get out of his suburban hometown and make a fresh start for himself, local man Gregory Forlano told reporters Tuesday he is seriously considering throwing all his belongings in the back of his car and making the exact same mistakes someplace far away.

The 36-year-old Florida native said that after years feeling dissatisfied with his stale social life, his tedious dead-end job, and the monotony of his daily routine, he is on the verge of severing all ties to his current life in the Tampa area and lapsing into an equally unfulfilling existence for himself in a brand-new city.

“I’ve just been spinning my wheels in this town for so long; I feel like I need to get out of here and become mired in the same problems somewhere completely new,” said Forlano, adding that his discontent over residing in a cramped one-bedroom apartment and patronizing the same two dive bars with a group of shiftless, unambitious friends every weekend had motivated him to seek out an identically limited and unsatisfying existence outside of his comfort zone. “I could really use a change of scenery. It’s about time I headed to some new city where I can start over with a totally blank slate and instantly stumble backward into the same self-defeating behaviors that will ultimately leave me in an indistinguishable, pitiful situation within months.”
“I don’t know where I’m going to fritter away the next stage of my life just like I’ve wasted the previous two decades, but I know it can’t be here,” he continued.

Forlano told reporters that he hopes to leave behind the drudgery of his present lifestyle by taking to the open road with no destination in mind and driving until he finds another town where he feels he can put down new roots, continue making no effort to improve himself, and never pursue his passions. The unmarried administrative assistant added that he often spends his time daydreaming about making the move to a far-flung location where he would be surrounded by entirely new people with whom he could reassume his dispiriting series of disappointing OkCupid dates and brief, dysfunctional relationships.

Explaining how he believed he needed to “really shake things up,” Forlano emphasized that the time had come for him to get out of Florida and slip into a virtually identical pattern of ordering takeout from one of three nearby restaurants and spending his ample downtime watching reruns of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in an entirely different state.

“I’ve gotten so used to being unfulfilled here that sometimes I forget there’s a whole wide world out there where I could be equally depressed and joyless,” said Forlano, adding that he has begun asking himself what’s stopping him from being just as miserable in Atlanta, Nashville, or even San Francisco. “There are so many amazing places that I’ve never been to before, and I feel I owe it to myself to take advantage of some new opportunities to experience the crushing professional stagnation and perpetual self-loathing I’ve always felt.”

“Honestly, at this point, I might just throw a dart at a map and go be a useless fuckup wherever it lands,” he added.

At press time, Forlano had reportedly reconsidered his choice, committing himself to digging even deeper into his rut in his hometown for the foreseeable future.

Soil health program boosts crop yields by 300% without GMOs or chemical-intensive factory farming

Source: Natural News

By Mayimina Mutijiang

(NaturalNews) Chemical farming is the norm, but it does not have to be. There are now more options than ever before that will allow farmers a higher yield without having to lace the soil with chemicals and then treat the crops as well. Knowing about these options can make a world of difference and can help farmers and consumers alike to get a healthier and safer product overall.

Chemical- and antibiotic-laced farming has certainly become the norm over the past few decades, and decreasing soil quality has forced farmers and large companies to find other ways to produce a large crop yield. That being said, it does not have to be the norm any longer. The South Australian agriculture minister, Leon Bignell cites a yield increase of up to 300%, a very impressive boast, without the use of GMOs, an even more impressive claim.

The program
The program is set to improve the quality of the soil without the use of chemicals. If this is possible, the produce that is being put out for the public would be healthier and safer, and more abundant according to the study. The main change in the program is of course to improve the quality of the land and also to provide seeds that have not been genetically modified so that the end product is more pure.

The program is set to help improve the quality of soil by using more of the soil that we have been given. Instead of using the top 5 to 15 centimeters, a common practice in most farms and farming operations, you would instead use over 50 centimeters of the soil, aerating, adding clay and adding organic matter as it is needed. So far, the trials have produced great yields, which is promising for the program overall. Though there are still more trials to be completed, the current information that has been collected is very promising.

The scientist behind the program, like many, is not totally convinced that the GM technology that is currently being used the world over is really safe. Though there have been plenty of studies that show it is not all together harmful, there have not been enough to rule out all the ill effects that GM enhanced crops may have on their consumers. Mr. Bignell hopes that the overall success of the New Horizons program, the name that it has been given, will be able to be reproduced in grain growing areas.

Since grains are much more demanding on the soil, this program would greatly help improve the overall quality of the soil and would also help reduce the amount of stress that the crops put on the soil.

Sources:

http://www.abc.net.au