Vallianatos exposes EPA through his book – Poison Spring

Posted on June 6, 2014 by admin

As the title says, Evaggelos Vallianatos, along with Mr. M. Jenkins co-authored the book on EPA, and how the organization has been literally captured by the toxic chemical industry, to the disadvantage of the average American, and by extension, of the people the world over.

I found the book very useful to understand how toxic chemicals get approved and how much of a clout the industry has over the regulatory mechanism. So much so that I approached Evaggelos Vallianatos for a phone interview, even if I was not very successful in pronouncing his first name accurately.

He agreed and we had a talk a few days ago.

Here are the basic points:

The prevailing culture in EPA was to pretty much let the chemical industry to run the show.
The Government has been captured by the industry, and EPA is simply an example.
EPA is too important to be allowed to be dominated by such outside forces.
Decision made in EPA are questionable due to the influence that comes from the Congress, from the White House and directly from the Chemical Industry.
Credibility of science has been damaged due to the history of fraud in the testing of these toxic chemicals for decades.
The climate of fear, and acceptance of outside influence, is still pervasive.
America aught to reject the current EPA and redesign it as an independent organization, with a wall of protection from the industry so the scientists would feel secure and confident that their work and decisions are to be made on reliable and untampered data.
Also, the EPA or the Government needs to create a set of independent laboratories to test all these chemicals before they get into the market, and not rely on labs under control of the industry.
Credibility of the industry right now is as good as zero. Nobody trusts it’s findings. He himself would not trust them because of what he has seen in EPA.
This is very important because this not only affects the people of America, but also of Canada and pretty much the rest of the industrial world and beyond.
The system needs to be reformed, and its workings set right, and the industry needs to be kept away from interfering with the work of this agency.
We need to raise awareness by speaking about it, in Canada, in USA and elsewhere, in order to raise public awareness to the level where it can make an impact.
It has been 53 years since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. There should be no need now to re-state the problem, and we are still tackling with the same old problem albeit with a new breed of toxins.
CSPAN book TV has interviewed Dr. Vallianatos to be broadcast soon – and people are encouraged to see it.
Eggevelos Vallianatos would love to speak to Canadians on this.
He believes, if we have to select just a handful of pesticides that should be removed immediately, we might choose to kick out 2,4-D and Glyphosate first.
When EPA banned 2,4,5-T, they likely made a secret agreement with Dow not to touch 2,4-D since it was so popular.
Glyphosate in Roundup is used for decades and there are some experts that believe it will destroy American agriculture. We don’t think such extremely toxic substances should be in our environment.
Moms Across America has some young mothers test their breast milk and found traces of Glyphosate in them. Imagine the feeling of the mothers when they know they might poison their babies through breast feeding !!
There is science papers out there already about how bad these toxins are for many animals and even humans. And now it is in mothers milk.
Governments should ban it. There is enough good food possible through organic clean agriculture. There is no need for this toxic model.
So why is this toxic industry surviving? Not to provide nutrition or kill insects or do any favour to nature or people, Vallianatos argues. They survive so a small number of corporations can have a mega empire.
Advise to Canadians – start eating organic food. Doing so you avoid GMO, you avoid pesticide, you avoid sludge, radiation, and other synthetic chemicals. Then, start influencing others to do the same. Join environment protection groups. Then try to organize bigger groups to influence the politics of your region and your nation.

Its a 14 minute interview. You can listen to it directly at the bottom of this page, or you can download it to play later through your music player.

I shall be glad to hear your opinion. Write to tony.mitra@gmail.com

Cheers

Tony Mitra

March Against Monsanto, Vancouver, May 2014 – Canada under GMO attack

Posted on May 26, 2014 by admin

The March Against Monsanto itself has been evolving the world over. In Vancouver, the march started from its usual location – Vancouver Art Gallery and ended back there. This time there were six speakers before the march and then there were a singer and a closing speaker at the end of the March.

My wife and later myself filmed most of the speakers, including myself, before the march.

Although I have some video clips of the march itself, I have not had the time to stitch them into a meaningful collage.

Here, I am putting up the clips of the speakers prior to the commencement of the march, all linked to U-Tube, all filmed by me or Anuradha.

The task at hand now is to organize ourselves for some of the immediate work – such as handling the Glyphosate testing issue – or to ascertain what other chemical one should test against.

There may also be a need to put all the analyzed data into some sort of a database, to make sense of later on. I am willing to do it initially, but not using any database software (don’t have the time), but perhaps into a giant spreadsheet, or worksheet.

We may need to form a volunteer group that are willing to work on this. A lot of folks showed interest in doing so at the Vancouver Art Gallery where I broached the subject. We do not have a group specific email list, or a separate FB page or other platforms where this can be stored, viewed, discussed, explained or advertised. All that might need to happen.

Perhaps there is a need for airing out views on this on a few conference calls. People with Skype account comes first to mind. Google hangout is another possibility. I do not have a conference call facility with my telephone provider, nor a subscription to specific conference call service providers, which usually involve a monthly paid subscription. Anyhow, these are issues worth thinking through.

Then there is also the question of what to test, how to test, and who should monitor the process, as well as bulk pricing against individual pricing.

Dr. Anthony Samsel and Dr. Stephanie Seneff have reportedly offered a service for the people of PEI, Canada, for a pilot study on a small group of target people for long term study of adverse effect on people through exposure of Glyphosate. I am not certain at this point if the study will include exposure to other biocides. PEI is an interesting case. It is a relatively isolated island with a small population, and heavily burdened with biocides, both in the past and at present. However, Glyphosate may not be the most used poison there. 82% of the current biocide load appears to come from a fungicide used on the potato fields.

The product most used as a desiccant on the potato fields in PEI is reportedly Syngenta’s Reglone, with uses the active ingredient diquat, as a contact killer through cell membrane disruption and photosynthesis inhibition.

I know some dairy farmers in PEI cannot grow their own cattle feed and purchase it from special cattle feed producers, who may be growing or using GM corn and soy for this purpose. Therefore, Glyphosate is likely to be in the diet of these dairy cattle, and could therefore me present in the milk. This of course is not typical of just PEI, but across Canada, and opens an opportunity for independent citizen’s action groups having dairy milk tested for glyphosate from select areas. I know the Dairy farmers in the Comox Valley in Vancouver Island are using this method.

Interstingly, Syngenta’s Reglone, with its diquat, is used by the Canadian Govt on surface water reservoirs used for drinking throughout the Canadian prairie, and possibly elsewhere.

What is even more interesting, or disquieting, is a report I have read, by Hans Peterson, Senior Research Scientist, Saskatchewan Research Council, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – that says “average treatment concentration of diquat is around 1,000 ug per litre of dugout water. The Canadian Drinking Water Guideline for diquat is 70 ug per litre. The federal government restricts consumption of diquat treated water for 24 hours. It is, however, likely that a treatment concentration of 1000 ug per litre has not decreased to 70 ug per litre 24 hours after treatment.”

I further learned from Hans Peterson’s report that the US EPA, no saint themselves, allow only 10 ug/litre and do not allow it to be consumed before 14 days have passed.

The European Union, apparently, allow only 0.1 ug/l.

I am as a result looking for a chance to speak with Hans Peterson, but do not know his contact details, or if he likes to be contacted on this issue. I would appreciate if anyone can trace him or help me contact him on this issue. I intend to learn a bit more about this desiccant that is also used on drinking water across Canada.

Then there is the issue of wood preservatives in British Columbia. I shall get to it later on. For now, this is a quick note from me, on issues that are before us, in Canada as well as Globally. Since our Government is not showing sufficient concern and not conducting wide ranging tests on how much of these man made poisons are entering into our ecology and our persons, the task it left for the people to handle.

I have no doubt in my mind that GMO and pesticides are not just a health hazard, but are part of a design to undermine Canada’s very independence and democratic underpinnings, and convert it into a colony to be made profit from, by a handful of corporations. I have no doubt in my mind that the solution will have to come through political action of the people, and not through polite academic debates on policy. There is also mounting evidence that science is now censored and there is little freedom of press left. The media is not as much corporate controlled as is education.

So, the citizens need to take back control of the political process. Sooner or later, something has to give, because the current trend is only heading towards a cliff.

Here are the MAM Vancouver speakers videos:

1. Kenneth Young

[youtube N7t7K5e3XP0]

2. Tony Mitra

[youtube dOADhM-Ennw]

Another – Official version

[youtube ArURGIx_x3c]

3. Teresa Lynne

[youtube UJqIQ10JL70]

4. Daniel Bissonnette

[youtube mGhRuO0JMzY]

5. Harold Steves

[youtube XVHaBaZJVXw]

6. Lili Dion

[youtube cQ-ODb–AA8]

Letter to Scott Hamilton, MLA, Delta North, BC

Posted on May 20, 2014 by admin

To MLA Scott Hamilton, North Delta
cc: Jennifer Newman, Constituency Assistant to Minister Steve Thomson, BC Govt.
cc: Ministry of forestry, BC Govt.
cc: MLA Vicky Huntington, South Delta

Subject: Request for data on Pesticide use in BC wood processing industry,

Dear Honorable MLA Hamilton

Good day,

I am an engineer, a citizen journalist, a blogger (www.tonu.org), a podcaster, a videographer and a food security activist.

You are my representative in the legislative assembly of British Columbia, and I have been asked by the secretary of the Minister of Forestry, Mr. Steve Thomson, to approach you with my request. For reference I include an email sent to the honourable Minister Steve Thomson.

We, the citizens of Canada and residents of BC, are concerned about the rising pesticide load on the agricultural land, the forests and the aquatic ecosystem of the province, and wished to check how far the local Government has actually performed independent testing for presence of any potentially harmful substance in our environment that could be attributed to industrial activity.

While this effort is still ongoing, people are getting ready to conduct their own tests, thus bypassing the political process if need be, to find out if harmful contaminants have entered their neighbourhood.

From documents released by Environment Canada, I tried to use the information on latest records of pesticide use in different provinces, and by dividing that with area and population of each province, tried to get a per capita and per unit area pesticide load in a table. I include this table for your reference.

We note from the Environment Canada document, that a high percentage of pesticide use in BC is on wood preservatives, presumably due to concentration of lumber processing plants.

We would therefore like to know what kind of wood preservatives have been used in the past and being use now. Specifically, we are looking for figures, in Kg of toxic metals such as chromium, copper, tin or arsenic.

Further, we wished to know if Tributiltin (TBT) had been or is being used as wood preservative in the province and the Kg amount that may have been used so far.

All these are toxic and harmful to human health. Many of these items are now banned from industrial use in various parts of the world. TBT for example, has been banned from Marine use, where earlier it was used as anti-fouling paint on ships underwater hull, to prevent encrustation of barnacles. This was killing marine lifeforms and is now banned.

Based on information thus received, it is the wish of the people, to engage in conducting tests of the ground water, soil, and human and animal body fluids for the presence of these materials.

Ideally, such tests should have been conducted by the health and/or environment ministry, and not left to the industry which may have a vested and conflict of interest in such tests.

In absence of such tests performed by the BC Government, we plan to do it ourselves.

Meanwhile, we request information, from the Government and through you, on :

A year upon year breakdown of the amount (by weight) of which kind of pesticide has been sold and used in the province.
Specific types of wood preservatives that have been and are being used in the wood processing industry in BC and in which areas these are concentrated.
Has the Govt of BC conducted independent study of presence of toxic chemicals or elements used by the industry, in the environment where they could harm the living planet including humans and livestock? If “yes” I would request for copies of these reports for public consumption.

Since I am part of a large body of grassroots organizers and since many of them are involved in this effort, and since this is a transparent above board effort of the people, this email may be put up on line or circulated for information.
In the coming March Against Monsanto event this May 24th in Vancouver, where thousands are expected to gather, I have been asked to address the people, and would have liked to mention a few elected officials that are working for us in finding the information thus requested.

I would have preferred to get encouraging feedback from the elected politicians, and thus would have mentioned them at the rally. Unfortunately, we have not received a single response from any elected official at the provincial level, although a number of elected Councillors have shown support for the effort, and a few MPs are also considering it.

I would therefore appreciate if you could assist us in finding the right answers to the pesticide distribution in BC, and help reduce cost of endless tests to find out what is more prevalent where. I would be glad to speak with you on phone on this, and pay you a visit should you so prefer. I would also like to take your name, in case you offer help and if you allow, in the march against Monsanto, as an example of an elected MLA that is helping us find further information on this very important issue.

Hoping for a positive response
With much regards
Tony Mitra
10891 Cherry Lane, Delta, BC, V4E 3L7, Canada
tony.mitra@gmail.com

Prince Edward Island, Chloropicrin and Dr. Anthony Samsel

Posted on May 19, 2014 by admin

Malcolm Joseph Pitre of Prince Edward Island asked for information that might help him resist the PEI provincial Government’s plan to introduce Chloropicrin for soil sterilization for a fruit farm, presumably strawberry.

I tried contacting Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus, Purdue University. But he was not around. So I called Anthony Samsel of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Samsel knew Cholopicrin and told me much about it, which I recorded for listeners here.

Chloropicrin was a chemical warfare agent in the first World War, was stored in WW II, but is now banned, I believe, from military use – but is still used in Agriculture, for example as a soil fumigant. CDC identifies this chemical as a Lung Damaging Agent.

It is hazardous, a killer. Some of it would evaporate out of the soil after use. This gas is heavier than air and would stay close to the ground. The safety warnings say people should stay away from it. As Sr. Samsel said, non-toxic methods are less harmful and should be the first choice – such as steam sterilization methods. These technologies exist, and units are available that can be hauled as a trailer to site. A few samples are given here.

There are quite a few examples of steam soil sterilizers out there if one googles it. There may be someone within PEI that can source one locally or from within the maritime provinces. There are many documents freely available on line that give examples of how to use Steam, or even solar power to organically sterilize a patch of soil before planting. If needed, I wonder if Av Singh of Nova Scotia might help locate one, or offer advise on another non-toxic method of doing the same job.

As to calculating the pesticide load, I first picked the data off Environment Canada’s document on pesticide use in PEI as well as other provinces. Then I checked the area and the population, to create a table of per capita and per unit area, the average pesticide use for each province. PEI stands out in contrast because of the high pesticide load, which is ten times higher per capita and up to 17 times higher per unit area, compared to its neighbour Nova Scotia. It also appears to be way higher that any other region in Canada.

I would not be surprised if reported cases show higher occurrence of some disease, such as Cancer,Crohn’s disease, Celiac, Autism, obesity, and other illnesses were higher per unit population than elsewhere in Canada. However, I do not have the data, and it would be important to get the information on this. I did write a letter( emails ) to the Government of PEI, but received no response. I have not checked thoroughly for the PEI government information online, and would encourage local residents to try to locate or ask for information on annual reported cases of these illnesses and then see how they measure up against the rest of Canada and the rest of the western world.

After all, PEI is part of Canada and Canada is not exactly a third world country – or is it?

Gutsy Walk for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, for example, says in its web site:
“Canada has one of the highest rates for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the world and those rates are increasing. Most alarming, the number of new cases of Crohn’s disease in Canadian children has almost doubled since 1995. Crohn’s and colitis are lifelong diseases that can have a devastating impact on quality of life, elevate the risk of colorectal cancer, and in the case of Crohn’s disease, shorten life expectancy“.

Sustainable Pulse, for example, has an article about the link between Monsanto’s Roundup and Global Bloom of Celiac disease and Gluten intolerance.

There are more things in the pipeline for Prince Edward Island, the maritime Provinces and the rest of Canada. One of them is about testing of Glyphosate in body fluids such as blood, urine, breast milk and also soil samples.

Dr. Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff have gotten engaged in providing a service that includes scientific analysis of the data, and on a more professional level. This service is provided to the right candidates in Canada. The right candidates would be those that are already sick from exposure, and those that are suspect due to living close to areas with heavy pesticide use, or are not so careful with what they eat. Nursing mothers with babies are preferred if they are suspect, since they can provide multiple samples, that could prove bio-accumulation of the material.

The cost of each test is US$ 100, to be paid ahead of the tests. Should a deserving candidate cannot afford to pay for the test, Drs. Samsel and Seneff will try to cover it out of their own pocket.

From our end, we need to identify the right candidates, and if they cannot afford the test, we should consider raising funds to help out, and not tax Dr. Samsel and Dr. Seneff far as possible.

More on all this later. This part of the talk (testing for Glyphosate) is not included in the podcast and will be covered with more detail down the line.

For now, you can click on the play button and listen to the 10 minute podcast of Dr. Samsel about a cleaner method for soil sterilization that Chloropicrin – for residents of PEI.

I shall be most happy to hear your comments to: tony.mitra@gmail.com

Thanks/ Tony

Canadians testing if Glyphosate accumulates in the body

Posted on May 16, 2014 by admin

While speaking with Dr. Don Huber and Dr. Anthony Samsel about GMO and Glyphosate, I came to learn of Moms Across America group, lead by Zen Honeycutt, and their efforts to have presence of Glyphosate tested in volunteers urine and breast milk.

While this was going on, there were fledgeling groups of people across Canada that were getting ready to have their water, and body fluids tested for presence of pesticides, including Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer trade named ‘Roundup’.

I ended up asking a few labs for quotation for testing for pesticides. The labs approached were :

Gamma Dynacare
London Laboratories Services Group (LLSG – Ontario)
Maxxam Analytics

I had asked them to quote for testing for the following products:

Glyphosate
AMPA
Mancozeb
2,4-D,
Bacillus theuringiensis H-14
MCPA

Gamma Dynacare cannot do it now. LLSG tests for trace elements, but not molecules such as pesticide. That leaves only Maxxam Analytics for now who will offer a quote for Glyphosate around next Tuesday. Brody Mossman of Maxxam lead me to the Nova Socita site for pesticide tolerance limits. You can find it here. I am also including parts of their tabulated chart with limits for Glyphosate here:

Glyphosate limit in soil - just under 1 ppm in fine and 1.4 in course

As you can see, the limits to ground (potable) water allowed is (at 280 ppb) is almost five times higher than allowed in surface water (65 ppb). Is that good ? We intend to ask around.

Meanwhile, Moms Across America used a lab called Microbe Inotech Labrotories (MIL) in St Lois, MO. I spoke with them too. They can do it, and are preparing a quote.

In order to popularize the effort and get more volunteers to come forward, I spoke with Rose Stevens of Manitoba to make a video and an audio podcast.

While all this was going on, I got linked with Henry Rowlings of Sustainable Pulse, who spoke about the Global GMO Free Coalition (GGFC) which is going to be announced on Tuesday (4 days from now). And now I know that it may be better, to find double samples from the same person, urine and breast milk from a nursing mother. Even better may be three samples, including urine from the baby, to see if:

Glyphosate can bio-accumulate, and get from being in the gut and urine, into breast milk
and if that Glyphosate can then establish itself into babies, who are inherently more vulnerable than grown ups.

Also, it may be an idea to take sample from people that have not been careful of where they get their food from.

All this is happening as we speak. Meanwhile, here is the talk between myself and Rose Stevens, to help kickstart the awareness drive on this issue.

[youtube kfpzLbdFtQs]

You can also listen to the audio podcast by clicking on the player below, or download and listen at leisure.

Hope you like it. You can send me your comments at tony.mitra@gmail.com

Letter to Mayor Jackson, Delta, BC, about testing for Glyphosate

Posted on May 15, 2014 by admin

To: Ms Lois E. Jackson, Mayor, Delta, BC, mayor@delta.ca

Dated : Thursday, May 15, 2014

Mayor Jackson

Subject: Canadians arranging to test their urine and water for presence of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer – requesting your moral support

Dear Mayor Jackson,

Good day.

We are a group of concerned Canadians from Delta, BC, and across the land all the way to the east coast of Canada, that are arranging to have our waters, urine, blood and mothers breast milk tested by ourselves, for presence of Monsanto’s week killer Roundup. This is in recognition of fact that a rising tide of serious illness in north America may be linked to an ever increasing release of Glyphosate as a weed killer, as an agricultural desiccant, and an antibiotic, on our agricultural fields as well as out forests and watersheds.

We are in discussion with labs in Canada and the US for suitable bulk quote for such a test and building of data base on the spread of this week killer in human blood, organs and tissues across Canada. There are claims made by Monsanto and other producers of Glyphosate in herbicides that identify this chemical as harmless to animals and only affects plants, and any ingestion is promptly flushed out by humans without accumulation in our body and without causing any harm. As a result EPA has raised the presence of Glyphosate to be considered safe for food to a level several thousand times higher than that in Europe. It has recently been proven by tests conducted on human urine, blood and mothers breast milk, that the claim of safety for humans in false, that it bio-accumulates and crosses several safety boundaries to be able to enter blood and breast milk. Further, it has been established by independent scientists that the item wrecks havoc with our micro-biome which is responsible for producing a lot of our enzymes, vitamins and other essential bio-chemicals which makes it possible for us to function properly.

I personally know and speak with many such scientists, and will provide references to two conversations, one with Dr. Anthony Samsel (http://www.tonu.org/2014/05/14/samsel/) and another with Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT (http://www.tonu.org/2014/04/19/stephanie-seneff/) about the harmful effects of Glyphosate. These scientists have been studying Glyphosate for years.

You probably know that an organization in the US, named Moms Across America (MAA) have already started doing such tests by themselves, and some shocking results are coming up, including presence of this toxin in their mothers milk.

So, grassroots groups are joining up across Canada, to arrange for similar testing of human body fluids as well as ground water, for presence of Glyphosate, at their own cost. I am part of it, and am writing to find out if this effort may have your moral support. All we intend to do is find out if the weedkiller is already accumulating in our bodies, and then let the chips fall as they may.

Ideally, such a test should have been conducted by Health Canada, or Environment Canada, or corresponding ministries within individual provinces, or departments of Environment within Municipalities. However, since the Govt has taken no initiative to investigate this potentially huge health risk, citizens are arranging to take initiative in their own hands, bypassing the political establishment.

I write this to you, asking if you might like to lend your support to this effort. We do not seek financial support, nor do we seek your organizational or campaigning support. We simply ask if you are willing to publicly come out in support of this grassroots movement, by lending a few words of encouragement in writing that we can use, or to have your voice recorded and added in future audio podcasts, which will be made to cover this issue.

You are the fourth elected official I write this to, and the first one from a Municipality. I wrote a letter to MP Alex Atamanenko of NDP yesterday after speaking with his legal assistant team. I also wrote two other personalized letters earlier today, to South & North Delta MLAs Ms Vicky Huntington and Scott Hamilton. For now, I am not planning on writing to any more elected politicians. However, this being a transparent grassroots organization that exchanges views with others, I may inform of my effort to reach your office as a sample for others across Canada to consider doing the same in their own areas.

There is a high level of interest by people across Canada. We know about this interest since I am part of a team that have been touring the length and breadth of Canada speaking to folks on invitation, on the potential harm of GMO and pesticides in agriculture and environment on one side, and the need for citizens to take initiative without waiting for politicians on the other side, and have now links with groupings from the east coast of Canada to the west coast, and have a huge number of volunteers ready to send samples for testing, at their own cost. Thats how we know.

I would appreciate your feedback if you consider this effort worth providing your moral support, or not. Absence of any response would be taken as either your disagreement that such a test should at all be conducted to check if Roundup weed killer is accumulating in our bodies, or that you find this movement politically unacceptable in your point of view.

Should you be interested to meet me and a few like minded citizens face to face, I shall be most glad to pay you a visit.

Hoping for a positive response,

With best wishes

Tony Mitra

10891 Cherry Lane, Delta, BC, V4E3L7, Canada

tony.mitra@gmail.com, www.tonu.org 604-649 7535

A letter to the Govt of New Brunswick, department of forest management

Posted on April 20, 2014 by admin

To: Government of New Brunswick – Forestry

Ms Gail Elliott, Administration, Regional Unit

Government of New Brunswick, Canada

cc: Honorable Mr. Hugh J. Flemming, Minister of Health, New Brunswick

cc: Dr. Thierry Vrain, Genetic Engineer, retired, Agriculture Canada,

Subject: Data regarding past annual release quantities of herbicide containing Glyphosate in Forestry and agriculture, in New Brunswick

Dear Ms Elliot

Good day. I am a retired engineer, a nature lover, citizen journalist and blogger, and food safety activist with some contact with the world of scientists on study of Glyphosate and its effects on people and environment.

Dr. Thierry Vrain, copied, is a genetic engineer that worked for 35 years with Agriculture Canada before retiring, and is a critic of GMO and its associated herbicide Glyphosate, on account of health risks and absence of sufficient testing in Canada.

We are coming on invitation to speak to a gathering in Fredericton on the 2nd of May, and would like to invite you and your colleagues to attend the meeting. Details are:

St. Mary’s Anglican Church

780 McEvoy Street

Fredericton, NB E3A 3B7

Friday, May 2nd, 2014

7:00PM-9:00PM

Host: NB Community Harvest Gardens Inc.

www.nbchg.org

info@nbchg.org

I would also like to present to you a recent audio podcast I made through talks with two scientists, Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus, University of Purdue, and Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT, USA. Both these scientists have done extensive research on Glyphosate and its possible harmful effects on living world, both bacteria and higher animals such as wildlife, cattle and humans. We would request you to consider listening to them:

Meanwhile, we request you to kindly provide us, or point us to the right direction where we might find, the year upon year release (use) of the forest herbicide of types Forza, Vision and Vantage Forestry, which are listed in the Government web site on forest management as the brands used on New Brunswick forests, each of which contain Glyphosate as its active ingredient, far as we could see.

We are enclosing one recent article from Dr. Stephanie Seneff and Dr. Anthony Samsel that came out in Interdisciplinary Toxicology for your reference. Perhaps you are already aware of it.

The paper shows links with rapid rise of various disease and release of Glyphosate in agriculture, but the effect may be the same if Glyphosate released on forests got to animals and people.

Anyhow, we have been checking if concerned people can have their blood, urine, or breast milk tested for presence of Glyphosate. This is an initiative recently started in the US by a group named Mothers Across America and the some of the results are rather disturbing, with Glyphosate noted to be present in mothers breast milk in some cases.

We are also checking if similar tests can be done for those Canadians that might be concerned, or live near or downhill of the forests where Glyphosate is being sprayed. There is also an appeal from Deer biologists in New Brunswick that claim that wildlife is under serious harm through Glyphosate exposure.

We wonder if you might be interested to discuss or join hands with us in encouraging independent testing on presence of Glyphosate in humans and animals in New Brunswick. If there is no trace of Glyphosate, the matter can be put to rest and results publicized. If on the other hand results show presence of Glyphosate and if they correlate with people having health issues, then it might indicate a need for further investigation and a kicking in of the precautionary principle.

We understand use of Glyphosate makes business easy, and keeps cost down for the logging industry, but we are sure you will put health of people and environment on a higher priority than just profit for the logging firms.

By copy to Honorable Mr. Hugh Flemming, Minister of health, we are keeping him advised and also extend the request assist us in organizing some sample testing done for presence of Glyphosate within body fluids, of people of New Brunswick that might be living close to areas of Glyphosate application, or are suffering from some of the Chronic diseases such as Celiac, Intestinal infection, Cancer, Kidney injury, renal disease, Parkinson’s, all of which, according to study by Dr. Seneff, Dr. Samsel, Dr. Huber and Dr. Swanson, show strong correlation with increase in application of Glyphosate in USA.

A similar study in Canada would require the data on annual use of Glyphosate and record or reported illnesses, for Canada and also New Brunswick. We request that this data be made available to us.

In case this message should be directed to the another person in the department of forestry, appreciate if you will do that for us.

Hoping to see you or get a chance to shake hands when we are there.

Looking for to your response

With thanks

Tony Mitra

10891 Cherry Lane, Delta, BC, V4E 3L7, Canada

604-649 7535

tony.mitra@gmail.com

www.tonu.org

=======================================

From: Natural Resources Info / Ressources naturelles Info <dnr_mrnweb@gnb.ca>

Subject: RE: Data regarding past annual release quantities of herbicide containing Glyphosate in Forestry and agriculture, in New Brunswick

Date: April 20, 2014 at 5:53:03 PM PDT

Thank you for visiting the Department of Natural Resources Website.

Hours of operation: Monday to Friday, 8:15 am to 4:30 pm.

Your e-mail inquiry was forwarded to the appropriate office. A representative will contact you via e-mail during regular business hours.

Thank you.

************************************************************************

Nous vous remercions d’avoir consulté le site Web du Ministère des Ressources naturelles.

Heures d’ouverture: lundi au vendredi, 8 h 15 à 16 h 30.

Votre courriel a été transmis au bureau approprié. Le ou la représentant(e) communiquera avec vous par courriel pendant les heures normales d’ouvertures.

Merci.

Stephanie Seneff on Glyphosate – the 900 pound gorilla at our dinner table.

Posted on April 19, 2014 by admin

Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT straddles multiple scientific disciplines and has pooled
in her resources, including jointing hands with specialists that had knowledge beyond her reach, to create tools that dots the ‘I’ and crosses the ’T’ on how Glyphosate is perhaps the most dangerous manmade product to be unleaded on the planet, as an agent of mass extinction.

It is a 45 minute podcast. The relevant points might be :

Biology, & Computer : Stephanie explains how she studied both subjects and more, and how her knowledge and expertise with both has helped her in her work.
Stephanie mentions Dr. Don Huber, Dr. Anthony Samsel, as people who have done seminal work that have been important in this area.
Autism – Stephanie talks about the rising tide of autism and its link with Glyphosate. Where is the autism spectrum leading ?
Cancer and the sad story of the province of Punjab in India. Can Glyphosate be behind it too ? Stephanie Seneff says yes, and mentions work of Dr. Nancy Swanson in this regard, even naming the kinds of cancer that might be relevantLab test on effect of Glyphosate on individual bacteria – can be done and has been done, including studies involving E.Coli that changes its function when in contact with Glyphosate. One can also test effect indirectly with animals by study in the change of their fecal material, mentioning Judy Carman’s pig study.
Cat-ions (metal ions), and minerals and enzymes – how important are they and why are our micro biota important with regard to these items? Dr. Seneff explains this big question on how our body needs many such minerals even though in small doses and how it depends on our gut bacteria to manage this function since we cannot perform them ourselves and how Glyphosate disrupts these processes by attacking these beneficial bacteria.
Kids getting violent reactions from vaccines is on the rise – and Glyphosate is partially responsible for it – as Dr. Seneff explains.
Autism is not only found at birth, but can increase in what is ‘regressive autism’, through causes that are linked to complex interactions between unhealthy ingredients in our food, environment as well as vaccines, and other factors.
Sri-lanka story of arsenic, Glyphosate, sugarcane farming and kidney failure – Stephanie links these to explain the unfolding horror story in Sri-Lanka, which is prompting their Govt to ban the use of Glyphosate.
Why do they include Aluminum and Mercury in vaccines, if these are dangerous metals?
Is microbiome, or gut bacteria identical between people, or are the colony of bacteria unique for each person? It is unique for each.
What is Shikimate pathway, and is it really right to say that we humans do not use it, and therefore Glyphosate is safe for us. The answer is we humans do use it, but indirectly through our micro biome and it is therefore very unsafe for us to be exposed to Glyphosate. And yet, it is approved for use. The argument that Glyphosate is safe for humans – is false.
If Glyphosate in the food and the ground water is damaging to humans, can it also be damaging to wild animals, birds, insects and the living world? Yes it can, it is, and is a disaster of global proportions in the making.
How does roundup ready crop survive Roundup? Also, the extra energy used by GM crop to do work as designed by the inserted gene, not take away from what the crop would otherwise do, i.e add nutrient to its seed or fruit?
The story of the super weeds and the chemical treadmill.
Corporate funding of science, as against public funding: Is science losing its neutrality, and objectivity ? Talks on what happened to Seralini.
If Govts will not fund science, and if corporate funding is making science biased, what is the alternative?
How does Roundup ready crops manage to survive when weeds and other organisms cannot ?
Can super weed develop if pesticides are used continually?
Is development of super weeds a more or less given? Does this mean more herbicides in quantity, more toxic herbicides will be needed? Are we on a chemical treadmill ?
BIotech funding and control of Universities, journals and media. Is science losing its independence and objectivity ?
If Governments will not fund science research any more and corporate funding is turning science to have a biased stance – what is the alternative ?
Is Stephanie Seneff also facing corporate backlash because of her work ? Yes.
Is funding for her work drying up as a result? No. She is not funded by the biotech industry, but by the computer industry, which hopes she will develop computer tools that can be used by other biologists, and other scientist to study biophysics without having her level of expertise in Computer systems.
So, to study Glyphosate, does one need to be primarily in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, or biophysics and electrical engineering ? All of it and then some.
Advice to listeners – go organic as if your life depends on it, and try to grow you own food, even if small quantities, because sooner or later sh*t is going to hit the fan. This may turn out to be the most important life saving skill for all young people of today.

You can play the podcast by clicking on the player at the bottom of this page, or download it to listen at leisure.

I shall be glad to hear your comment or suggestion. Send me a note at tony.mitra@gmail.com

Cheers.

Tony Mitra

Dr. Don Huber talks on his work on Glyphosate in agriculture

Posted on April 15, 2014 by admin

Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus of Purdue University, Idaho, is a microbiologist and plant pathologist that has worked for over half a century on chemicals such as Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s patented herbicide Roundup. He is well aware of how the chemical damages plants, as well as soil organisms, and how it damages the colony of gut bacteria that perform essential symbiotic services for humans and other higher animals. IN short, Glyphosate in our environment is a disaster that will have long term effects, spanning several generations, and there seem to be no end in site of this avalanche of bad chemicals permeating our neighbourhood.

I spoke with him a few times over the past one month, to compile a 37 minute podcast. Further, he has sent me a CD full of information of his papers and independent studies, powerpoint presentations, PDF files, charts and other material related to this subject.

Salient points of the talks are:

Dr. Huber has been researching and working on the ill effects of Glyphosate and other herbicides for 55 years.
Glyphosate is not just a herbicide but also patented as an antibiotic. Both these functions, and its ability to chelate or capture important metals and minerals – essentially deny a whole host of micro organisms that depend on those metals to do their work, and often will kill classes of bacteria even in human guts, wrecking the persons biology and health.
It disrupts the Shikimate pathway used by many gut bacteria for biosynthesis of important amino acids that we need. Also, while such beneficial bacteria are denied sustenance and are often killed off by Glyphosate. Not just that. Some of these bacteria prevent space for some of the harmful pathogens that are also in the plants we eat, thus protecting us from harm. However, when Glyphosate damages the good bacteria, it creates vacancy in our gut that can now be filled by the harmful pathogens which are also insensitive to Glyphosate, dealing us a double blow.
Dr. Samsel and Seneff have worked on how Glyphosate helps increase our susceptibility to disease. These studies should be read and understood.
Dr. Nancy Swanson has plotted the correlation graphs from information obtained from official sources such as Centre for Disease Control that points to identical rise of Glyphosate application and rise of chronic illnesses reported in hospitals.
Soybean oil has been found to have 40 ppm of Glyphosate, which will kill all sorts of useful bacteria in our gut. The herbicide will also chelate and immobilize cobalt, manganese, iron, zinc and copper that we need ourselves for our own good health. Livers are affected. A very small part 1/10 of a ppm is often enough to cause serious harm. Even illness such as E.oli, salmonella etc can rise directly proportional to the increase of Glyphosate and GMO, along with autism, leaky gut, gluten intolerance, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diarrhoea, and similar very major illnesses begin to come back in pandemic proportions because of the disruption and destruction of our micro-biome.
Once a patient’s gut bacteria has been seriously damaged, the only good cure may be fecal transplant. fecal bacteriotherapy or stool transplant. This essentially means taking stool from a healthy person and re-inserting it anally into a patient, transplanting the healthy bacteria to recolonize the gut. This has a high chance of recovery, but the patient has to onto organic diet, else he or she is likely to fall sick again.
Independent science research through public funding is nearly gone. Science is now mostly funded by corporations who have a vested interest in funding studies that find good effects of their technology rather than possible unwanted side effects. So, science and technology is losing its neutral position and objectivity. Normally, Dr. Huber would not get funding for his work that mostly finds the dangers of using Glyphosate. He managed to conduct his long term study by doing independent consulting work and then donating to the Purdue University as grant money to support his research on herbicides. In other words he was partially or wholly, funding himself.
There are written public statements of 26 scientists selected by the USDA to determine safety of genetically engineered plants, back in the 1960s. All 26 scientists wrote to the Govt. that they were unable to perform their work as the corporations would not provide access to information and were also prohibited to publish any finding to the public. Therefore they could not be objective in their investigation and without it the scientists could not do justice to the task.
When asked why so many diseases are increasing to pandemic levels, the official response is they do not know why. There is a perception that the relevant departments of the Govt does not want to know the cause.
Local troubles such as Yakima valley birth defect epidemic is a case in point where babies are still born and birth defects involving half the brain fails to develop in babies. This is suspected to be directly related to excessive application of Glyphosate in the farm and even in the water streams.
Some Cattle Farmers are going out of business because cattle fertility has dropped so much that half the newborns are still born and the business becomes economically unviable.
Europe is realizing they are in a dangerous situation with regard to Glyphosate, although their exposure is less than in USA. Yet, Dr. Huber laments that in USA people do not appear to be as alarmed as in Europe.
300 million pounds of Glyphosate is being used in agriculture annually in the US, and providing such food to animals and dumping such powerful herbicides in the environment indiscriminately – we can expect dangerous effects on our environment.
This is a crisis for our children. Autism is around 1 in 50 today. it is going to rise to 1 in 2 in the next seven to 14 years. Back in 1960 it was 1 or 2 in a hundred thousand.
Fecal transplant can be beneficial treatment for a number of illness – autism in kids, leaky guts, crone, celiac, Parkinson’s and even diabetes. Glyphosate is also related to cancer – childhood cancer. Dr. Huber does not know if fecal transplant can cure this kind of cancer once initiated by effects of Glyphosate. Seralini research is an example. Although his study was not set up to check cancer, it did show signs of cancer development in rats.
Regarding testing water, human blood or urine for presence of Glyphosate – Microbe Inotech Laboratories (http://www.microbeinotech.com/) can conduct these tests./ It might be useful to check with them if they also test for AMPA, especially if water sample are to be tested. IN Human Urine sample, presence of AMPA is expected to be rather small and could be ignored. AMPA is the first breakdown product of Glyphosate and is just as toxic as Glyphosate. Therefore, for testing soil or water, testing for both Glyphosate and AMPA combined would give a better result, since the percentage of AMPA can be more than 50% at times, the rest being Glyphosate that has not yet broken down.
If there is shortage of funds for large scale testing, then first concentrating on testing of Urine would be a better way to give an indication of exposure by humans to this dangerous herbicide.
How does one get rid of Glyphosate ? Detoxifying soil or water from Glyphosate is possible, through chelation. But if Glyphosate is in the human body already, it needs to be eliminated, and that can cause difficulties. Kidney failure in central America and Sri Lanka are relevant here, as Kidney shuts down and cannot handle the accumulation of Glyphosate.
Dr. Huber goes to Guatemala, as a consultant, regularly, as they in central America and many other countries there are trying to find ways to ban or remove Glyphosate from their environment. Their effort to ban Glyphosate is being challenged at courts, and the corporations have tried to confuse the issue and applying pressure on the Govts. A lot of farm workers in sugar plantations have died last year due kidney failure. Brasil and Argentina are also looking at banning Glyphosate. Hawaii has banned it but they are being sued now.
You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link below or check it up at iTunes as a podcast under my name (Tony Mitra).

Feel free to send me a note or a suggestion at tony.mitra@gmail.com