Dark Matters Season 3 Episode 1, Agent Orange – The Accidental Inventor
Synopsis: A chemical that speeds up the flowering process in soybeans turns into a weapon during Vietnam.
Original air date: November 22, 2012

Dark Matters: Twisted But True is a television series featured on the Science Channel. Hosted by actor John Noble of Fringe and Lord of the Rings, the show takes the viewer inside the laboratory to profile strange science and expose some of history’s most bizarre experiments. This show uses narration and reenactments to portray the stories in this show

NON-GMO Verified Products By Category

Alternative Dairy Products	Baby Food & Infant Formula	Beverages
Body Care Products	Breads & Baked Goods	Candy, Chocolate & Sweeteners
Cereal & Breakfast Foods	Condiments, Oils, Dressings & Spreads	Dairy Products
Feed & Seed	Fruits & Vegetables	Grains, Beans, & Flour
Herbs, Spices & Other Ingredients	Meat, Fish & Eggs	Mercantile
Packaged/Frozen Meals	Pasta	Pet Products
Snack Foods & Bars	Soups & Sauces	Tofu, Tempeh, & Alternative Meat Products

http://www.nongmoproject.org/

Study Included

Just when you thought the market for controversy over genetically modified organisms(GMOs) was completely saturated, a new study published in the Journal of Organic Systems finds that pigs raised on a mixed diet of GM corn and GM soy had higher rates of intestinal problems, “including inflammation of the stomach and small intestine, stomach ulcers, a thinning of intestinal walls and an increase in haemorrhagic bowel disease, where a pig can rapidly ‘bleed-out’ from their bowel and die.” Both male and female pigs reared on the GM diet were more likely to have severe stomach inflammation, at a rate of four times and 2.2 times the control group, respectively. There were also reproductive effects: the uteri of female pigs raised on GM feed were 25 percent larger (in proportion to body size) than those of control sows. (All male pigs were neutered, so scientists were unable to study any effects on the male reproductive systems.)

The study confirms anecdotal evidence from hog farmers who’ve reported reproductive and digestive problems in pigs raised on GM feed. Those who were following this sort of news in 2011 will remember an open letter to the USDA from Dr. M. Huber, a professor at Purdue University, about an unknown organism in Roundup Ready crops causing miscarriages in farm animals.

A common complaint from critics of GM technology — often painted as “anti-science” by GM proponents — is that they’ve been inadequately studied. (Don’t think about that for too long — your first instinct is correct, it doesn’t make sense.) The European Union has long based its regulatory framework (and resultant slow adoption of GMOs) on theprecautionary principle. And in fact, according to this study, most of the research on the health impacts of GMOs has either been short term (less than 90 days), performed on non-mammals or failed to examine multiple GM traits concurrently, despite that many new GM crops “stack” traits, and that many diets — of both animals and humans — include multiple types of GMOs.

The scientists behind the study report having chosen pigs as their subject for the similarity between their digestive systems and those of humans, and the mixed GM diet for its similarity to the real-life diets of both swine and humans, so this is really damning stuff. They also describe their findings as conservative, noting that even the control group is likely to have been exposed to GMOs in indirect ways they couldn’t avoid, such as trace amounts of GMOs in non-GM feed, and parents fed GM diets.

As one might expect, the scientists conclude their report with a call for more testing, particularly of whether the findings also apply to humans. Scientists at the Consumers Union go one further, saying that concerns raised by the study further underscore the need to label GMOs.

Will the government listen? Time will tell. It’s also  hard to predict the potential impact of this study on the U.S. pork market — or on the prices of corn and soy. As we saw recently when Japan and South Korea canceled orders for U.S.-produced wheat after the discovery of unapproved GM wheat in Oregon, not all countries take a laissez-faire approach to GMOs. And what about that merger/takeover of Smithfield Foods by Chinese-held Shuanghui, rumored to have been spurred in part by friction over the livestock drug ractopamine? For that matter, will American hog farmers — seeking rightly to avoid sickening their own hogs — seek non-GM feed from other countries?

For now, more questions than answers, but if the findings of this study are as serious as they look, American agriculture may be on the verge of paying a very dear price for a long roll in the hay with the biotech industry.

Originally published at Ecocentric.

COVVHA Member Interviewed On Main Stream Media Regarding Birth Defects In Children Of Vietnam Veterans
Vietnam Veterans Seek Reparation for Medical Problems With Their Children

The Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation will hold its first 2-day patient conference June 29th and 30th at the ACE Conference Center 800 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, Pa. 19444. Doors open at 8am, conference is open to cutaneous lymphoma patients, their families and clinicians interested in learning more about cutaneous lymphoma.

John Bury, US Navy, retired Vietnam War veteran, Agent Orange Advocate will hold a veterans round table session June 30th 1pm to 2pm. Mr. Bury is the Foundation’s veterans advisor. Veterans from all branches of service and all wars are invited to attend. He will advise on Cutaneous Lymphoma as well as other diseases associated with the herbicide agent orange, also other disorders that may have relevance to military service.

Registration is required, For details and registration go to www.clfoundation.org or call
248-644-9014 ext 1.

Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City houses one of Vietnam’s busiest maternity clinics, but hidden in a quiet corner, far from the wards of proud new mothers, is a room stacked floor to ceiling with every parent’s nightmare. In dozens of glass jars lie the bodies of deformed babies preserved in formaldehyde — some have no heads, others have two, several are so scrambled that their faces jut from their stomachs and their arms are where their legs should be.

The doctor who delivered many of these children was Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong. Forty-five years ago she was a young intern at Tu Du Hospital when the city was known as Saigon, capital of war-torn South Vietnam.

“In 1966 or 1967 I started noticing an unprecedented increase in the number of birth defects at the hospital. There were too many deformed babies to count. They were born in areas sprayed with defoliants by the U.S. military,” she told The Japan Times.

During the Vietnam War, the Pentagon drenched South Vietnam with 76 million liters of herbicides — including Agents Blue, White and Orange — in a bid to destroy its enemies’ crops and jungle hiding places. The U.S. government assured Vietnamese people and their own troops that these “rainbow herbicides” were perfectly harmless to human health. But it was lying.

Agent Blue, the Pentagon’s preferred chemical for killing rice crops, included a poisonous compound of arsenic. Among the ingredients of Agent White were the carcinogens hexachlorobenzene and a cocktail of nitrosamines. Agent Orange, the best known and most commonly used herbicide, contained dioxin. Categorized as one of the deadliest poisons on the planet, dioxin has a lethal dose measured in the millionths of grams; it is also teratogenic, meaning it can damage the growth of the fetus.

Dr. Phuong was one of the first doctors to link South Vietnam’s soaring number of birth defects to the U.S. military’s defoliation campaign. But even when the herbicide flights ended in 1971, the health problems continued to grow.

“For example, those who were directly sprayed by Agent Orange passed the dioxin to their children in their breast milk. Then the problems were passed from the second to the third generation through damage to the cells and the DNA,” Phuong explained.

These second- and third-generation victims of Agent Orange suffer from illnesses ranging from cancers and diabetes to autoimmune disorders. Maj. Gen. Tran Ngoc Tho, chairman of the Ho Chin Minh City branch of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, explained that 3 million people are currently suffering from the effects of herbicides in Vietnam — and the numbers are rising every year.

However, according to Tho, when these birth problems first began to emerge in the late-1960s, the government of South Vietnam had a special name for the source of this scourge.

“They called it ‘Okinawa bacteria.’ During the war, Okinawa had many U.S. Air Force bases, and American planes came from there to bomb South Vietnam. There were stories that the planes that used to spray these chemicals came from Okinawa, too.”

From 1945 to 1972, Okinawa was under U.S. jurisdiction, and during the Vietnam War the island served as the Pentagon’s forward staging post for the conflict. Used to train troops, store supplies and ship them to the war zone, Okinawa also hosted the more clandestine side of the American war machine, including at one point as many as 1,200 nuclear warheads, as well as a massive arsenal of nerve and mustard gas.

Given the presence of these weapons of mass destruction, the storage of rainbow herbicides on Okinawa should come as no surprise. Dozens of U.S. veterans and Okinawa base workers claim these substances were warehoused on the island and sprayed around the bases’ fences to keep back the vegetation, a practice also common in South Vietnam at the time. Although the Pentagon denies such allegations, many of these former service members have illnesses consistent with dioxin exposure. Moreover, their children — and grandchildren — are sick, too.

One of these veterans is Rick Dewess. A former U.S. marine stationed on Okinawa between 1969 and 1970, he currently suffers from multiple illnesses — including diabetes, ischemic heart disease and respiratory problems — that he blames on dioxin poisoning. He believes his exposure has also damaged the health of his children.

“Our first child was a miscarriage. Then our next try, a son, had a kidney removed and needed another two surgeries by the time he was 5 years old. My second son had problems with his spine and my daughter has thyroid issues,” Dewess told The Japan Times.

Neither he nor his wife has any family history of the medical issues his children have been diagnosed with.

Dewess believes his exposure to dioxin occurred at Naha Military Port, where he was assigned to off-load equipment damaged during combat in Vietnam. He worries that this work put him in contact with dioxin-contaminated soil. Such fears were supported by a 2008 ruling from the Department of Veterans Affairs — the federal agency responsible for awarding compensation to sick service members — which recognized that another former G.I. on Okinawa had been exposed to rainbow herbicides while handling contaminated gear in the same circumstances.

A second marine veteran alleging dioxin exposure — and consequent damage to her children’s health — was Caethe Goetz. Featured in The Japan Times in August 2011, Goetz had developed multiple myeloma — a rare form of cancer usually found in men in their sixties and seventies — when she was 49 years old. She passed away in November 2012 at the age of 58.

During her service on Okinawa, Goetz was pregnant and often used to take walks near the perimeter fence of Camp Foster. She recalled walking through foliage that had recently been treated with herbicides and, on one occasion, even being sprayed in the face. “I didn’t think much of it at the time — I just wiped the liquid away,” she said in an interview shortly before her death.

As with the other veterans claiming dioxin exposure on Okinawa, the Pentagon denied that the substance Goetz was exposed to was one of the rainbow herbicides. But in a recent interview, marine Sgt. David Robinson, a member of one of Camp Foster’s maintenance crews, seemed to confirm Goetz’s suspicions. “I sprayed the base perimeter. When filling up my fogger [a handheld spray machine], a barrel with an orange stripe was in the stand. I asked the sergeant in charge what it was, and he said, ‘Agent Orange.’ ”

Antonia, the child Goetz was carrying on Okinawa, was born with a number of problems.

“I have deformed knee caps and then, at the age of 32, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The only family history of this illness is my grandfather, who was diagnosed in his sixties,” Antonia told The Japan Times.

Goetz’s second daughter, Catherine, also shows signs of her mother’s suspected dioxin exposure; she suffers from recurring infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, reproductive problems and a fused pelvis.

Antonia explained that these problems are now becoming apparent in the third generation of the Goetz family. Her oldest daughter has a defect with her eyes and was diagnosed with cataracts at the age of 10. Her young son suffers from developmental delays and a congenital problem with an artery in his neck.

Other U.S. veterans who believe they came into contact with rainbow herbicides on Okinawa also have children with similar diseases. Kris Roberts — a New Hampshire state representative who claims he unearthed a large cache of Agent Orange on Futenma air station in 1981 — has a daughter who suffers from health problems he suspects were caused by his exposure to dioxin on Okinawa.

Likewise, Joe Sipala — a former air force sergeant now leading veterans’ demands for an independent inquiry into Agent Orange on Okinawa — has also witnessed the sufferings of his children. While serving at Awase Transmitter Site in 1970, Sipala was tasked with spraying Agent Orange around the installation to kill weeds. As a result of this work, Sipala soon fell sick. His first child died in the womb, so misshapen that the presiding doctor told him he was lucky the baby hadn’t survived. His two surviving children were both born with birth defects — including a daughter whose deformed feet required multiple operations.

Even though the Pentagon kept information about the toxicity of these chemicals hidden, Sipala and many of his fellow veterans feel responsible for their children’s illnesses.

“It makes me feel guilty. At the time we didn’t know the dangers of spraying these herbicides, but it was my damaged DNA that caused my children’s issues,” Sipala said in a recent interview.

According to Heather Bowser, co-founder of Children of Vietnam Veterans’ Health Alliance, such feelings are common among former service members who were unwittingly exposed to poisonous herbicides during the 1960s and ’70s. “I struggled my whole young life watching my father carry the guilt believing he had caused my birth defects,” said Bowser, who was born two months premature and missing her right leg below the knee and several fingers — problems her father attributed to his exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Bowser said that the scale of the second-generation problems in the U.S. is appalling.

“A 1986 report stated that among 200,000 veterans surveyed, 56,000 of their children had birth defects. But we have no idea how many of them are truly affected, because we have never been offered an open dialogue by the U.S. government,” she said.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence linking dioxin exposure to birth defects, Washington has been reluctant to support America’s second-generation victims. For example, while offering limited help to the children of female veterans who served in South Vietnam born with defects such as cleft palate, heart disease and clubfoot, it refuses to link their illnesses to Agent Orange; instead, it states that “these diseases are not tied to herbicides, including Agent Orange, or dioxin exposure, but rather to the birth mother’s service in Vietnam.” It is as though the country itself were somehow responsible for children’s birth defects, not the 76 million liters of toxic chemicals sprayed there.

As for the sickened children of male veterans, the U.S. government only recognizes one illness related to Agent Orange: spina bifida.

However, when it comes to Okinawa, the Pentagon’s blanket denials that Agent Orange was ever on the island prevents even this limited assistance reaching the sickened children of U.S. veterans such as Dewess and Sipala.

Goetz’s daughter Catherine believes the motivation for the Pentagon’s denials is simple: money.

“If the U.S. government admitted Agent Orange exposure on Okinawa, it would open a floodgate of claims for many generations to come. Seeing how my mother was treated by her country, I feel the government has dishonored all who served — it should be looking out for the people who defend our nation.”

Back in the country that blamed the birth defects maiming its newborns on “Okinawa bacteria,” Maj. Gen. Tho shares Catherine’s anger with Washington. Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the U.S. government has repeatedly denied assistance to Vietnamese people suffering from dioxin exposure. As recently as 2003, the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam accused the Hanoi government of waging a “two-decade-long propaganda campaign” over military herbicides; the following year, the ambassador alleged Vietnamese claims of health damage were based upon “fake science.” Even in 2012, when Washington announced it would clean up its former Agent Orange storage site in Da Nang, it refused to acknowledge any human health problems and instead labeled the project as simply “environmental remediation.”

Although Tho echoed Catherine’s belief that money lies at the root of Washington’s denials, he also suspects another motive.

“If they admitted to the health problems their defoliants caused, they’d be admitting to having waged a campaign of chemical warfare against the people of Vietnam. This would make them liable to be taken to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to be tried as war criminals,” he said.

With the stakes this high, perhaps it is understandable that the U.S. government has attempted to shroud its usage of these poisons within so many denials and lies. But with scientists estimating that serious health problems will persist into the fourth, fifth and possibly sixth generations, the coming decades will see millions more demanding answers about their illnesses — putting Washington under growing pressure to take responsibility for what Dr. Phuong first uncovered at Tu Du Hospital all those years ago.

Author: Kelly L. Derricks

Organic & Heirloom Seed Companies List

Many people ask for a list on NON-GMO and Heirloom seed companies on a weekly basis.

http://www.2bseeds.com/
http://www.abundantlifeseeds.com/
http://www.agtoseeds.com/
http://www.amishlandseeds.com/
http://www.annapolisseeds.com/
http://www.anniesheirloomseeds.com/
http://www.aravaipa.com/
http://www.bbbseed.com/
http://boondockers.sharepoint.com/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/
http://www.bountifulgardens.org/
http://www.clearcreekseeds.com/
http://www.clearskyfarm.com/
http://www.cooksgarden.com/
http://www.companionplants.com/
http://comstockferre.com/
http://www.dianeseeds.com/Index.html
http://www.dirtworks.net/
http://ecoseeds.com/
http://www.eonseed.com/
http://www.eternalseed.ca/
http://www.farmdirectseed.com/
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
http://www.filareefarm.com/
https://www.gardenmedicinals.com/
http://www.ghorganics.com/
http://www.gourmetseed.com/
http://www.goodwincreekgardens.com/
https://www.grannysheirloomseeds.com/index.php/
http://www.growitalian.com/
http://www.groworganic.com/
http://www.harmonyfarm.com/
http://www.heirloomacresseeds.com/
http://www.theheirloomgarden.com/
http://www.heirloom-organics.com/
http://www.heirloomsevermoreseeds.com/
http://www.heirloomseeds.com/
http://heritageharvestfestival.com/
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/
http://www.hometownseeds.com/
http://www.horizonherbs.com/
http://www.humbleseed.com/
http://www.italianseedandtool.com/
http://www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/
http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/
http://www.lakevalleyseed.com/
http://www.landrethseeds.com/
http://www.livingstonseed.com/index.php
http://www.localharvest.org/store/seeds.jsp
https://www.mainepotatolady.com/productcart/pc/home.asp
http://www.markhamfarm.com/
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
http://www.mushroomsfmrc.com/
http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/
http://www.nativeseeds.org/
http://www.naturalgardening.com/shop/index.php3
http://www.naturescrossroads.com/
http://www.neseed.com/
http://www.newhopeseed.com/
https://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/store/
http://www.non-hybrid-seeds.com/
http://www.nybotanics.com/
http://oldpueblocompany.webs.com/
http://www.orchardhouseheirlooms.com/
http://www.organicas/
http://www.potatogarden.com/
http://www.prseeds.ca/
http://qrseeds.com/
http://rareseeds.com/
http://www.reneesgarden.com/
http://www.richfarmgarden.com/
http://www.richters.com/
http://rollinghillsherbs.com/
http://www.ronnigers.com/
http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/
http://www.seeds.ca/
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
http://www.seedsforthesouth.com/
http://www.seedsnow.com/
http://www.seedsavers.org/
http://www.seedstrust.com/joomla/
https://www.superseeds.com/
http://www.southernexposure.com/
http://sowtrueseed.com/
http://www.stclareseeds.com/
http://sustainableseedco.com/
http://www.territorialseed.com/
http://www.thymegarden.com/
http://www.tomatofest.com/
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/
http://www.turtletreeseed.org/
http://www.underwoodgardens.com/
http://www.uprisingorganics.com/
http://www.ufseeds.com/
http://www.victoryseeds.com/
http://www.virtualfarmseedco.com/
http://www.westwindseeds.com/
http://www.wildflowerseed.com/
http://www.wildgardenseed.com/
http://www.wildseedfarms.com/
http://www.woodprairie.com/

COPYRIGHT © 2013 (COVVHA) Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC.  All rights reserved.

Heather A. Bowser, LPCC
COVVHA Co-Founder

What is more frightening than the thought of being intentionally poisoned by someone in authority over you? Perhaps, offspring being born with devastating birth defects, learning disorders, or rare illnesses?  Maybe dying of horrible cancers, heart conditions, or complications of Parkinson’s Disorder? These are not merely frightening thoughts to those exposed to Agent Orange; it is reality, life and death.

Over the weekend, there were wide reports coming from Turkey that police were using Agent Orange on protesters as a form of crowd control. Social media, especially Twitter became ablaze with re-tweets calling foul to this form of force by Turkish police on people who were trying to protest unrest within Turkey.  Social media accounts of the violence fueled more protesters to join the throng. Rampant reports of police using tear gas and high force water cannons to dissipate the crowd were coupled with images.

Agent Orange advocates and founders of (COVVHA) Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC. , Kelly L. Derricks & Heather A. Bowser, felt after researching media reports about the incident in Turkey, it was important keep the dialog about Agent Orange set in fact and not fiction. COVVHA is fighting for justice for all generational victims of Agent Orange. It is a difficult fight shrouded in denial, secrecy and lack of media support. It is coupled by the urgent needs of sick and dying offspring of those exposed.

Agent Orange has a notorious history in Vietnam from 1961-1971. The United States military used several chemical herbicides during the Vietnam War to “help” in the War effort. The military sited the thick jungle foliage of Vietnam, and the enemy’s access to food crops, as reason to spray an unfettered amount of chemicals onto South Vietnam, killing all the vegetation in its spray zone.  The military deducted, if the enemy had no food and no place to hide, the U.S. and Allies would be victorious in Vietnam. In the end, they sprayed an estimated eighteen million gallons of Agent Orange, on a country the size of New Mexico.

Protesters in Turkey have stated the police were shooting orange liquid filled canisters at the crowd.  Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War was colorless. It was called agent orange because of the orange stripe around the middle of the fifty five gallon barrel it was stored in. It was not orange. However, a Turkish protester seeing this substance being shot would think something is very wrong here. It is natural for them to question what police were shooting at them. If a protester was un-knowledgeable of the history of Monsanto, Dow, and the 5 other chemical company’s recipe for herbicide, it’s not a far leap for a protester to think the Turkish police, firing an orange substance at them could think they were using Agent Orange. At that point protesters believe it had gone well beyond crowd control. Instead the police were trying to kill protesters with chemical warfare.

Agent Orange wasn’t used as a crowd deterrent it was used to defoliate plant material.  It was not sprayed directly on people as an act of chemical warfare. However, many were indirectly sprayed with Agent Orange during its use in Vietnam. Many U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers and Vietnamese civilians have recounted times when they were exposed by aerial spray.  Others were exposed when handling the chemical with no protective gear, working or living in areas that had been defoliated, or drinking contaminated water or food. The U.S. Military has fought back against outrage that Agent Orange was used as chemical warfare. They state it was used strictly as vegetation control, an agricultural chemical. The problems with the herbicides used in Vietnam were they were toxic. They were contaminated with an industrial byproduct called dioxin. Dioxin is one of the deadliest known contaminants to man.  Production of Agent Orange ended in the 1970’s.

The process of dying at the hands of Agent Orange is a long painful process, with the exception of Chloacne, which appears shortly after acute exposure; symptoms of exposure do not surface for years.  Police are looking for quick responses in riot control situations.

A quick internet image search about the effects of Agent Orange on the children of Vietnam can leave a person horrified. Babies today are still being born in Vietnam with severe deformities, especially in areas where the deadly dioxin is still in high concentration in Vietnam’s soil. There are still twenty eight such places in South Vietnam today.

The plight of America’s Vietnam Veterans, Australian Veterans, and Vietnamese Veteran’s illnesses and battle to gain justice has been going on for over forty years. Children and grandchildren of all, who fought in the Vietnam War from around the globe, are currently pleading for those in power to recognize the birth defects and diseases they suffer from and believe are caused by their parent or grandparent’s exposure to Agent Orange.  All of these groups cannot afford the reality of their life or death fight to be watered down or distracted from by Facebook and Twitter posts from Turkey.

So was this report from Turkey simply a misstep by a confused, uninformed protester, or was it something else? Could Turkish protesters have been trying to ride the impact of the fear associated with Agent Orange to gain more recognition for their county’s unrest? Or was it a simple mistake, which people perpetuated by not checking their facts? If the act by Turkish protesters was to gain international media exposure by claiming Agent Orange was used on them, it’s worked. The whole world did a double take when headlines read,” Turkish Riot Police, Starts Using Agent Orange,” all of the sudden the focus of the protest was lost.

There isn’t any evidence of Agent Orange being used in Turkey.  Members of the media and activists must check the facts so disinformation is not spread. To be successful we must push ourselves to be knowledgeable before just clicking the share button.

The challenge is to stay focused to the matters at hand. Turkey is going through unrest. Agent Orange is continuing to kill people every day. Don’t confuse the two, and do not turn away, your attention matters.

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ~ Mark Twain

© 2013 (COVVHA) Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC.  All rights reserved.

As evidence of Agent Orange in Okinawa stacks up, U.S. sticks with blanket denial

Evidence ignored in Pentagon probe: A picture supplied by Kris Roberts, the former maintenance chief at Futenma air station, shows the worksite where he says he unearthed some 100 barrels of Agent Orange in 1981. Roberts, who is now a state representative in New Hampshire. | JON MITCHELL

In April 2011, these Community pages published the first accounts of sick U.S. veterans who believe their illnesses were caused by exposure to Agent Orange on Okinawa during the Vietnam War era.

Since that initial article, The Japan Times has published a further dozen stories in which retired service members alleged toxic herbicides were stored and sprayed on the island — as well as buried in large volumes on Futenma air station and in what is now a popular tourist area in Chatan Town. Japanese former base workers have corroborated veterans’ accounts and photographs seem to show barrels of these herbicides on Okinawa. U.S. military documents cite the presence of Agent Orange there during the 1960s and ’70s.

Suggestions that these poisonous substances were widely used on their island have worried Okinawa residents, and politicians including Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima have demanded that the U.S. government come clean on the issue.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon revealed that it had concluded its own nine-month investigation into allegations reported by The Japan Times and other newspapers. On Feb. 19 the results of this investigation were announced at a meeting attended by representatives from the State Department, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and diplomats from the Embassy of Japan.

Authored by retired air force Col. Alvin Young, the investigation boiled down the allegations into seven points — and then dismissed them one by one.

In response to veterans’ claims that ships had transported Agent Orange via the island on their way to Vietnam, the investigation stated that such vessels were not designed for the delivery of barrels, and nor were there any shipping records that supported veterans’ allegations. The investigation also cited documents — long believed destroyed — which it claimed supported its assertion that Agent Orange had been delivered directly from the U.S. to Vietnam without passing through Okinawa.

Another issue addressed by the investigation was a 2003 U.S. Army report titled “An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll” that stated that 25,000 barrels of Agent Orange had been on Okinawa prior to 1972. The investigation dismissed this by arguing that its authors “were not DoD [Department of Defense] employees, nor were they likely familiar with the issues surrounding Herbicide Orange.” The Pentagon further distanced itself from the 25,000-barrel statement, claiming it was “inaccurate and does not reflect the facts as known to the Army or to the U.S. Government.”

A second U.S. Army report, which cited the presence of a herbicide stockpile at Kadena Air Base in 1971, was also repudiated by the investigation — this time on the basis that a follow-up report, prepared three years later in 1974, “did not identify any stockpiles of Herbicide Orange . . . in Okinawa.”

In conclusion, the investigation stated: “After an extensive search of all known and available records, there were no documents found that validated the allegations that Herbicide Orange was involved in any of these events [the burials at Chatan and Futenma], nor were there records to validate that Herbicide Orange was shipped to or through, unloaded, used or buried on Okinawa.”

Following the release of the full 29-page text of the investigation in March, scientists, veterans and environmental groups disputed the veracity of its contents.

Former U.S. stevedores stationed on Okinawa questioned how the Pentagon had been able to come up with shipping records for Agent Orange when they’d been told such documents had been destroyed long ago. Other veterans argued that the Pentagon’s disowning of the 2003 Army report that cited 25,000 barrels on the island was disingenuous — had it not been thoroughly screened by the Department of Defense in the first place, its publication would never have been permitted. The same veterans also suggested that the reason why the later report failed to mention the Agent Orange stockpile at Kadena was because it had been removed from the island in 1972. That year, the U.S. shipped its herbicide stockpiles from around the world to Johnston Island in the northern Pacific for eventual destruction in 1977.

As well as highlighting the apparent discrepancies in the investigation, many critics also questioned the Pentagon’s choice of author, Alvin Young. They cited previous funding he received from the manufacturers of Agent Orange — Monsanto and the Dow Chemical Co. — and his close ties to the Department of Defense. Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Pentagon, defended Young by stating he is “a world-recognized and published authority on the topic” of Agent Orange.

However, of most concern to experts and veterans was what the investigation failed to do. No bases on Okinawa where Agent Orange had allegedly been stored were visited. The photographic evidence was not addressed and, perhaps most tellingly, none of the eyewitnesses making these claims were interviewed.

“It’s like saying that if there wasn’t a paper trail, then it didn’t happen. The report clearly wanted to emphasize that there was nothing in the files they looked at, but that’s only one type of evidence,” said Richard Clapp, professor emeritus at Boston University School of Public Health.

Singled out for particular criticism by Clapp, who has 30 years’ experience researching Agent Orange, was the investigation’s failure to interview any of the U.S. veterans claiming exposure. In July 2012, for example, 10 former service members wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate volunteering testimony on the issue, but none of them was contacted for the Pentagon investigation.

Kris Roberts, the former maintenance chief at Futenma air station who claimed to have unearthed barrels of Agent Orange on the installation in 1981, thinks he knows the reason why he wasn’t interviewed.

“Being a retired lieutenant colonel with five medals for superior performance gives me a high degree of creditability. There is no doubt in my mind that they decided in advance not to contact me — but there is no excuse whatsoever for this,” said Roberts, who is now a state representative in New Hampshire.

Wright told The Japan Times the Pentagon had not interviewed any veterans because it had wanted to make “best use of government resources.” He also appeared keen to emphasize that the Pentagon was not accusing the dozens of veterans of fabricating their accounts. They “remembered actual events that happened. … However, the source documents showed that, while these events took place, either the material involved was not Herbicide Orange or the location was not Okinawa.”

Herbicide expert Clapp also criticized the investigation’s failure to conduct soil checks. “One of the obvious ways to resolve conflicting — or missing — evidence is to test environmental samples taken now from sites where burial was alleged to have happened. Ideally this should be done by an independent contractor familiar with environmental and wildlife reservoirs of Agent Orange and its dioxin contaminants.”

Although dioxin, the poison found in Agent Orange, is quickly broken down by sunlight, it can remain toxic for decades when buried underground. On former U.S. military storage areas in Vietnam, for example, the soil remains polluted more than 40 years later, and local residents exhibit high levels of contamination and continue to suffer from associated health problems.

Despite a 1973 Japan-U.S. Joint Committee agreement that allows local leaders to request environmental tests on bases located in their communities, the U.S. military and the Japanese government have refused to permit them. For example, in September 2011, demands from Nago City Council for dioxin tests on Marine Corps Camp Schwab — a base believed to have been a storage area for Agent Orange — were turned down.

The investigation’s failure to address potential contamination dismayed Masami Kawamura, director of environmental policy and justice at the Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa, an NGO calling for a full inquest into Agent Orange usage on the island.

“Even though the investigation was submitted on an intergovernmental level between Japan and the U.S., it was substandard. Washington wanted to bring closure to the issue of Agent Orange on Okinawa, but what it really showed was that the U.S. government looks down on the government of Japan. It didn’t think that the Japanese government would analyze the report in any detail.”

Kawamura’s suspicions would appear to be correct: Tokyo has not commented on the investigation, either to endorse or question its findings. But it might soon regret such acquiescence. In April, it was announced that over the coming years, some of the U.S. bases at the center of Agent Orange allegations would be returned to civilian control. These installations include Futenma air station and Makiminato Service Area in Urasoe city, where veterans claim the military kept its main stockpile of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

If the Pentagon conducted environmental tests on these installations and the results revealed Agent Orange dioxins, U.S. service members currently stationed there would undoubtedly demand remediation. Washington is particularly sensitive to pollution worries among its troops in the wake of recent revelations regarding drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where as many as 750,000 service members and their families were exposed to harmful substances. In 2012, Congress was forced to pass an act in an attempt to resolve the problem.

However, if the Pentagon can delay environmental tests on its Okinawa bases until the land reverts to civilian control — currently scheduled to occur after 2022 — it will be able to shift the cost of clean-up onto the shoulders of Japanese taxpayers. Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, Washington is absolved of all responsibility to restore military land formerly under its control to safe environmental levels.

So how much would such remediation cost?

In April, a meeting in Naha pegged the price of cleaning up former military land on Okinawa at ¥60 billion — approximately $600 million. However, these estimates were only based upon the presence of pollutants such as mercury and lead. Factoring Agent Orange’s dioxin into calculations, the costs could skyrocket to a price tag potentially approaching $1 billion.

Given these figures — in addition to the compensation exposed veterans would be liable to claim — the Pentagon’s need to continue its denials is perhaps understandable. Herb Worthington, head of the Vietnam Veterans of America Agent Orange and Other Toxic Substances Committee, is only too familiar with such a stance. His organization led the campaign to secure assistance for U.S. veterans exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam — a struggle that only bore fruit in 1991, when Washington finally agreed to compensate sick service members.

“Eventually, I am sure that Okinawa will be proven to have used or stored Agent Orange,” he said. “But by the time it is admitted, most of the outspoken veterans will have passed away. The mantra of our government agencies is ‘deny, deny, deny.’ ”

Keep Reading Via – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/06/04/issues/as-evidence-of-agent-orange-in-okinawa-stacks-up-u-s-sticks-with-blanket-denial/#.UazIiUDVCVN

ATTENTION READERS —  Please take time to read the following article linked below,

U.S. veterans who served in Okinawa believe Agent Orange caused their children’s ailments

It talks about the second generation of our population whose dads serves on Okinawa, and in Vietnam. Jon does a great job of tying it all together. There is also a quote by Heather Bowser and a reference to COVVHA.

Please go to the article and share it on your FB wall. Jon is about to have a big article released in a few hours that challenges one of the biggest nay-sayers in Agent Orange history, Alvin Young. He was the forefront of making our Dads get denied in the years prior to 91.

Alvin has swooped in to help the govt. cover up AO on Okinawa, JP very recently. Jon will be really putting it out on the limb for us in the next few hours. PLEASE read, PLEASE Share. He needs to know our community supports the risks he is taking professionally and personally.

Read - ‘Okinawa bacteria’ toxic legacy crosses continents, spans generations – Via – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/06/04/issues/okinawa-bacteria-toxic-legacy-crosses-continents-spans-generations/#.UazbskDVCVO

“I’ve watched bombs fall out of the sky and blow up the ponds where my mother, siblings and I had been sitting just moments ago, looking over my Mom’s shoulder as she held all three of us kids and just ran for our lives. We watched the ponds just explode and the water and debris come right at us. The force of it so strong, it had to be by sheer determination to live, and protect her children, she would make it safely to the tree line, so we could hide yet again. Oh, the heat that followed, to this day I still have horrible nightmares about so many things from back home.”

Linda is an Amerasian woman, born in 1972 in Saigon, Vietnam. The term Amerasian was coined to define Asian born children fathered by U.S. Military men, and has been used to describe children from Japan, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines in an attempt to stop the negative term half-breed. I called Linda on a spring afternoon. I knew I was about to hear a story so important, all I could do is take a deep breath to relax before dialing her number.

Linda is currently forty-one years old and married with two grown children. She told me that only now is she able to talk about her life in Vietnam before evacuating to the United States without having many nightmares in the nights to follow. Sharing that she didn’t understand why, while growing up she had so many recurring terrifying nightmares, Linda said it was finally, after a particularly rough night that she broke down and asked both of her parents to tell her if she was having just horrendous nightmares or if they were in fact suppressed memories pushing to come thru to the surface. Both of her parents confirmed her worst fears; that they were indeed very vivid memories of exact things that had happened in Vietnam before they evacuated. Linda had been just three years old when they suddenly left her homeland and her grandmother forever.

Linda’s mother, Xuan, lived in Saigon. She was marked from day one. You see, there was a myth in Vietnam that if you delivered twins, you had slept with two men. Her mother was an identical twin and as a result of the stigma, lived a very difficult life. At age sixteen, she was basically given into slavery by her biological father, whom she didn’t know. Given to a step-sister, Xuan was made to sleep outside on the porch and given only scraps of food after the rest of the household had eaten. She got word that the U.S. PX was hiring, and, knowing that she had to get away from her imprisonment, Xuan went and applied. Beaten severely by the other women who were also applying for the position, by some twist of fate she secured the job. It was during her time working in the PX that Xuan met the man who would later become her husband. William, A.KA. Sarge, courted her with a Coca-Cola and a Hershey bar one day. Xuan said no one had ever been kind to her and she had never tasted anything so sweet. They were smitten by each other. William set her up in an apartment away from her cruel life, but soon after, he was called back home because his mother was seriously ill. Xuan said she had thought it may be the last time she would see him.

Having already served five years in the military, when Sarge was home, instead of taking his discharge, he re-enlisted. His time and experience eventually placed him in an office job by the end of his career in Saigon, however, he had seen intense fighting in the jungles as an infantry man, and told Linda that he was sprayed with Agent Orange several times and that he practically bathed in the herbicide. Linda was born in 1972, and at two years old literally died of Malaria, but was brought back to life by a doctor under the eyes of Linda’s father, who Linda described as able to be an intensely intimidating man, and who threatened the doctor if he did not resuscitate his daughter. In addition, at three years of age, Linda was diagnosed with Spina Bifida.

The war continued, and on April, 4, 1975, a warning siren went off in her town’s square. Immediately jumping into action, Linda’s father gathered his family, telling them a jeep was on its way to pick them all up. Linda remembers walking outside and seeing a mountainside covered in troops advancing towards their village. At just three years old, she said she thought they were the good guys; they weren’t. The Viet Cong were quickly approaching. The jeep arrived and Linda recalls how quickly everyone was shoved into it. Throwing her into the back, Linda bumped her head and hit her knee. Also loaded into the vehicle was her grandmother, who cared for her and had never before ridden in a vehicle. Her father jumped in last as the Jeep was pulling away. Linda described a large field with several large planes, and her father rushing around trying to get the family’s papers signed. He was holding them all tightly, as the M.P.’s were yelling for women and children to board the next departing flight. Trying to separate Sarge from his wife and children, the M.P.’s were pushing him, shouting “Women and half breeds now!” “They will stay with me,” Sarge barked back, “We will stay together or we won’t go!”

The plane the family would have been on had he relented to the M.P’s took off, barely leveling out before exploding in mid-air. Linda remembers being on her mother’s hip, watching what remained of the plane fall back to earth, sharing that while she had no idea what she had just witnessed, it was the first time she ever saw her father cry. According to DOD figures, 138 people were killed in the crash, including 78 children and 35 Defense Attaché Office Saigon personnel. Linda’s grandmother’s evacuation was not approved, and the chaotic time at the airfield was the last time Linda saw her grandmother. With the rest of the family shoved onto a large cargo plane and headed for Guam, Linda said it was during a refueling stop in Guam that her little sister’s finger was amputated by accident in the door of the plane; an incident that delayed them two days while she received medical care.

Linda described another terrifying section of her journey to the U.S., sharing that at one point in the trip after Guam, she and her family were made to take refuge in an abandoned subway tunnel. Having to travel deep into it, there was no electricity and her father had only one small flashlight. They found there were other refugees deep inside, with mattresses lining the walls and a bucket used for a bathroom. Linda said they had no food or water and could not tell how many days passed in the complete darkness. She remembers being very parched, and that her father would leave the tunnel to try to find them food and water. Linda said she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be scared or not, whether bad guys were trying to find them. Taking her cues from her father, who didn’t seem scared, she said she tried not to be either. With no sheets of blankets, it was the first time in her life she had ever felt cold, it was always warm in Vietnam. There was also the day her father left to find his family some food and water but came back empty handed to his dehydrated, hungry family.

“He was so sad; he knew how hungry and thirsty we all were. The hardest part of the whole trip was seeing the look of defeat in his eyes. I remember thinking, what is this new life going to be like? He can’t even find us water. We had a home, why did we leave?”

Linda and her family relocated to Arkansas. The only “dark-skinned” child in her town, “I had never in my life seen so many white people,” she said, adding that despite getting beat up frequently, “I never got mad, I just figured they would eventually stop; I was a peaceful kid.” Linda said her mother clung to her traditional ways, refusing to use the modern appliances in their home and instead washing clothes on a rock in their bathtub and forcing her children to do the same. She raised her own vegetables and beef and fed her family traditional Vietnamese food from scratch. Linda shared that she had never seen the interior of a supermarket until she was much older, and that her aunt had to teach her how to buy things. This also made her feel different from the other white families; she just wanted to fit in.

Linda’s family continued to struggle, and her father’s drinking became progressively worse, and he would lash out at his children and wife. Linda described him as having terrible nightmares. Because of her broken English, Xuan was ridiculed by others when out in public, however no one dared said anything in front of Sarge; everyone was afraid of him. It was following a drunk- driving accident which injured someone that he later quit drinking. Linda said she misses her father, who died four years ago from complications of Alzheimer’s, having also suffered from heart disease and diabetes for years. Often wondering why his anger was almost never directed at her, Linda said when she was old enough she asked him. He replied that the day she was resuscitated because of Malaria, he made a pack with God that he would treat her like a treasure if she survived. Her siblings were not so lucky.

When she was young she worked as a cook and would often have to unload 100 pound boxes of meat. It wasn’t until she was 16 and collapsed at work and was taken to the hospital that x-ray of her back confirmed her Spina Bifida, a diagnosis her father had failed to mention to her. Linda had to eventually give up working and fought having to file for disability because she felt too young to be disabled. It wasn’t until after several episodes of having to be carried to her vehicle or into her home by her co-workers that she realized it was time.

Linda’s Spina Bifida has become complicated by Spondylolisthesis, a condition in which vertebra in the spine slip out of the proper position onto the bone below it. She’s had two spinal surgeries; one of which led to Osteoporosis, after a doctor actually shattered her hip. Her spine is not Linda’s only pressing health concern. Shortly after her children were born, she required a partial hysterectomy at the age of 24, and later, her ovaries were removed because of a rapidly growing cyst that grew from 5cm to the size of volleyball very rapidly. Linda’s medical issues continue with endocrine problems that include a thyroid goiter, and hormone dysfunction. At age, 35 she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Placed on heart medication and large daily dose of Lasix, there have also been times that due to extreme swelling, she has required hospitalization to drain fluid from around her lungs. In addition, Linda has Multiple Sclerosis. Today, she takes 17 different medications to keep functioning.

Mentally, Linda says she still has nightmares and struggles with extreme Panic Disorder. Sharing that there have been times she has left a full grocery cart in the middle of the aisle to make a quick escape, Linda said she finds it excruciating to leave the house, and when military planes fly over their home; she instinctively wants to fall to the floor. Linda believes her health conditions are caused by her father’s and her mother’s exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant the U.S. Military sprayed over Southern Vietnam to kill the vegetation. Veterans were told the chemical was safe, only to come home and become ill. Although the Veterans Administration has recognized Spina Bifida as a birth defect caused by Agent Orange in the Children of Male Vietnam Veterans, Linda has never filed for benefits from the VA because the VA will not recognize Spina Bifida Occulta, which is the type she believes she has. “I know I would have to get an attorney to fight it,” she said.

Many Children of Vietnam Veterans with Spina Bifida are turned down because they have Occulta type. However, sources have told  (COVVHA) Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC. that some children of Male Vietnam Veterans have won suits against the VA to get compensation for Occulta type Spina Bifida. They have found the VA has granted compensation, in return for the cases to be sealed. Sources also report, the VA cannot claim that Occulta is an exception, Spina Bifida, is Spina Bifida and they cannot separate it from the other types and deny it. It is strongly suggested that those seeking a claim are acquire a lawyer.

Linda has never returned to her homeland of Vietnam, but she said she would love to go back and find where she came from. Also curious about her grandmother, wondering if she is still alive and wanting to pay her respects if she is not. She said her mother would never want her to go back to her homeland, as Xaun, who suffers from Diabetes and heart problems stemming from her exposure to Agent Orange, is terrified Linda would be held by communist and never be allowed to return. Linda does not share her Mother’s fears, and wants to visit Vietnam someday. As for Agent Orange, Linda has watched over the years, seeing the devastation it has caused to the children in Vietnam. She said her heart breaks when she considers the environmental damage, and she dreams of the day when Dioxin is out of the soil in Vietnam so no one else has to suffer. In the United States, she would like to see the government take the concerns of the Children of Vietnam Veterans seriously, with more research and compensation for the ill.

At 41 Linda, who lives with her husband and helps take care of her young grandchild, looks back at her life and finally understands the connection to the nightmares. She wishes the war wouldn’t have followed her into her current health, and now keeps a close watch on her grown children, both of whom have issues with their back. Having seen what their mother has gone through, Linda said both are afraid to be diagnosed. Choosing to ignore it in a sense may for them make it not seem real. For Linda it is very real.

GMO Food List and Organic Shopping Guide – Updated

Here’s a Quick List of 10 Popular Brands that are not GMO, according to their site:

1. Amy’s Kitchen
2. Annie’s Homegrown
3. Arrowhead Mills
4. Earth Balance
5. Happy Baby Pouches
6. Hodgson Mill
7. Kettle Foods
8. Kind Healthy Snacks
9. Nasoya and Silk products for dairy free folks
10. Zing Nutrition Bars

Read more Via: http://healthy-family.org/brands-that-are-not-gmo/

Relaxation techniques can be very helpful in a world such as this. They can provide a quiet place for you to go which costs nothing.

Relaxation Techniques

1. Right Now: Right now is the only time that should focus on. How often do we find ourselves worrying about future events?  Giving in to anxiety about the future takes up a significant portion of our thoughts. But, to be honest, worrying about the future doesn’t help in any way. If you always live in the past or future you will never be able to relax. To be in a state of relaxation means living only in the now.

2. Your environment: Your environment is very important. Where you spend time has a subtle effect over your state of mind. Consciously we may not be always aware of this; however, you will notice that in some rooms it’s easier to relax and be at peace. Look at your room. Do you see a cluttered mess? Is there no sense of calm and peace already? If you try and relax here you will find yourself unable to do so because it will only serve to remind you of all this stuff you have yet to complete.

These reminders are a continual reminder of what you have yet to do. When you clean up these spaces and create a calming environment there, this will help you to relax. Carefully consider your money and do not worry if you buy a candle or some incense. This can help you to make a space for yourself.
3. Meditation: During meditation you are meant to find your center and calm your core. Words like this might be difficult to follow and I will explain further on.When you meditate the idea is to still your thoughts. Clear your mind. This does take time.A few weeks of dedication to calming yourself and paying attention to your breathing will make a difference. After a time you will find yourself automatically stilling and calming in an instant because you are willing this to be.

4. Look To Your Own Counsel:  Do you look at others as the source of knowledge? Do you consider other peoples opinions before you think of how you feel? When you allow the opinions of others to bother you or change your path in life, then you are giving them power over your life that is not theirs. You may not realize it but when you give in to what other people say or think you are going to subconsciously attempt to please them. But when you do this it is almost impossible to relax. You end up in a cycle of worrying about pleasing others and then you hardly have any time to relax if you relax at all. Therefore, we should develop an attitude of detachment to both praise and criticism.

This doesn’t mean we do not care at all of the viewpoints of others, it just means we must maintain control over what we allow to bother us. We must maintain our inner peace. Friends and family will always have their own viewpoints and opinions. What you must not allow is for these things to dominate how you feel. It does take time to do this of course. But if you are aware of it you can see how it influences your life, your choices and ultimately how you feel.

6. Take Time For Yourself! You should not allow yourself to be at the beck and call of others at all times. Seriously stop sometimes and breath and remember not to allow yourself to be overwhelmed ok? Thanks to modern technology and our loss of focus on ourselves we have created the perfect environment for stress to flourish. Put down your phone and turn it off for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes. Walk away from the computer and turn off the television and radio. These distractions, because this is exactly what they are, need to be put down once in a while.
Everyone has some time during the day that they can use to relax. Have a cup of tea. Stretch your body. Go for a short walk. Sometimes cleaning can be relaxing..it is for me

7. Make a Change in Your Life: The monotony and repetition of your daily schedule can be in itself a stress. Doing the same things over and over again sometimes I admit is hard to avoid. But come the weekend or the evening you can make some time to try something new. It stimulates the mind, provides interest and fun, which we all need. Take a chance and explore the world you are in. Staying in your house is not the only course of action. The internet can be a great resource for finding things to do in your area. Find something and just go do it! Seriously there is a whole world out there waiting for you to find it!

Learning Basic Meditation

I began thinking I could never learn to calm my mind. My thoughts were always going a mile a minute and it kind of drove me a bit batty to be honest. I would sit there and there is a thought…so I would try again and again and again until one time it finally worked. I would sit on my bad sitting upright in a comfortable way and close my eyes. I will share with you a video that helped me to no end. This is called a guided meditation and it can be great for people that have a hard time beginning. But once you learn you spread your wings and fly free.

This is Called: Remembering Who You Really Are:

This one is just a chill out video that I find particularly beautiful and hope you will like it as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEk0bamXv6k

Plain Meditation Music:

I will ask you to give it a chance. Sit quietly without distractions and if you have to, wear headphones to achieve this. Ask your partner for 22 minutes.Once they agree then please do this. Relax and let her guide you. It truly helped me and I will tell you that I cried the first time I did this and it was so calming and made me smile and I felt so good afterwards. I hope that you can get the same feeling. I felt like I had achieved something. Something I had set my mind to.

Finding your center I mentioned earlier. Here is a great article on how to do just that.

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-ways-to-find-your-center-when-life-feels-overwhelming/

It is very important to do this to keep calm in a world such as ours.

The next thing I want to discuss is breathing. It is very important how you breathe. If you breathe from your chest and upper body then you are breathing from fear. You must learn to breathe from your stomach.

http://www.successfulaging.ca/programs/stress/27.html

http://www.freedomtoflynow.com/Diaphragmatic-Breathing.html

Both of these links can help you to learn how to breathe properly. Once I started doing this I found I was getting more oxygen and it is surprising how many people are in fact breathing the wrong way and thus adding more stress to their lives without even knowing it.

Getting caught up in this world and letting it bother you is something that you can control. You can relax and learn to find that tranquil pool inside of yourself and watch as the ripples calm down and become still. It is healthy and a beautiful thing to stop and look around. Find beauty that is right there in front of you and has been the whole time. You just needed to slow down long enough to see it and appreciate it. You are an amazing being all your own and you are stronger than you know. So try what I suggest and see how you feel at the end. If you have any further questions you can of course contact me and I will do all I can to help you.

We live on this magnificent planet and yet we forget how truly miraculous it is. This is meant for you my dear friend. This is meant to give you a change for the better. To help you harness some of the control you may have feared you lost a long time ago. You didn’t lose that you know. You just got so busy you most likely forgot. Slow down and listen to the music and remember who you really are. A beautiful being capable of great things. I believe in you..now you have to believe in yourself. Hugs

Q.A.S.

                                                                                  © Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance

1. GMOs are grown with toxic chemicals and resulting pesticide residues are known to be harmful to human health.

2. Research has shown that laboratory mammals fed GMOs suffer adverse effects that include damage to kidneys, liver, adrenal glands, spleen, and heart. Additionally, their immune systems were compromised and in some cases brain size was reduced.

Environmental harms.

3. GMO crops require huge amounts of chemicals that are harmful to soil, water, the atmosphere, and creatures. Although they are promoted as a technology to reduce pesticide usage, GM crops in the U.S. used greater than 26 percent more pesticides per acre in 2008 than non-GMO crops, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.

4. GMOs are actually increasing the need for stronger and more poisonous pesticides. For example, one agrochemical company is awaiting USDA approval of corn and soybeans resistant to 2, 4-D, a chemical related to Agent Orange.

5. GMOs are causing a growing epidemic of “superweeds.” These massive weeds have evolved a resistance to glyphosate, a chemical used on GM crops. Stronger toxic chemicals and soil-eroding tillage operations are required in order to eliminate superweeds.

6. GMOs contribute to global warming: GM crops require synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which are responsible for approximately 60 percent of total emissions of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO2). GM crops use high amounts of fossil fuels through the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

7. GMO practices contaminate our organic and local food systems. A report titled, Gone to Seed, found that 50 percent or more of non-GMO corn, canola, and soybean seed have been contaminated with GM genes.

8. Beneficial insects can be harmed. A Cornell University study showed that monarch butterflies suffered higher mortality rates when consuming milkweed leaves dusted with the Bt toxin associated with GM crops. And recently, pesticides called neonicotinoids have been blamed for the collapsing bee populations.

Harms to social and human rights.

9. GMOs are promoted as way to feed the world and mitigate hunger; however, numerous studies demonstrate that the GM crops do not produce higher yields as claimed. As one example, a USDA publication reports that “GM crops do not increase the yield potential.”

10. GMOs lead to corporate control over seed and food: Today only one company controls about 95 percent of GM seeds. This limits access to seeds, which are the center of food and life.

11. These large agri-corporations do not let farmers save seeds, a basic practice that has continued for centuries to ensure food security.

12. GMO agriculture is an extension of current industrial-farming practices that have resulted in the loss of family farms and farmer livelihoods around the globe.

Read Full Article by guest blogger Alberto Gonzalez, founder and CEO of GustOrganics