Organic Bytes
Newsletter #819: The Biolab Work That Has Potential to Inflict Over a Billion Casualties

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BAN GAIN OF FUNCTION

Wisconsin Bill to Ban Gain-of-Function Biolabs

The state of Wisconsin is home to the most notorious virologist on the planet doing the most dangerous lab work in the world.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin at Madison creates diseases far more deadly than COVID-19. His experiments (and lab safety breaches) have been so scary that they triggered an Obama Administration moratorium. Since the Trump Administration lifted the moratorium, Kawaoka has resumed the very same work.

As Sam Husseini reports in “Wisconsin Bill Would Stop Lab Work that Could Cause Catastrophic Pandemic,” the Wisconsin state legislature might try to shut Kawaoka’s mad science down again with a bill to prohibit institutions of higher education from conducting gain-of-function research on potentially pandemic pathogens.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka is an Anthony Fauci-funded scientist who, since 1990, has been receiving grants with titles including “Influenza Virus Assembly.”

Highly pathogenic bird flu didn’t cause disease in humans until Kawaoka had studied this potential in the lab for several years.

Then, it happened in Hong Kong in 1997, in the midst of what the British call the “Hong Kong handover,” when sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the U.K. to China. It was during this “politically sensitive” year that the World Health Organization’s reference laboratory at the University of Hong Kong confirmed human cases of H5N1 that infected 18 people and killed six.

Chillingly, the 1997 Hong Kong H5N1 virus had regions that were identical to portions of an avian virus that struck Pennsylvania chicken farms in 1983—a virus Kawaoka had studied.

In 2006, Fauci commissioned Kawaoka’s now infamous gain-of-function research showing that, through lab manipulation, H5N1 could be altered to become highly transmissible among humans via airborne infection. Bill Gates chipped in, too, with grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2012, Kawaoka met Fauci’s goal of turning the avian flu, which is very deadly but rarely transmissible, into a highly contagious airborne virus.

In 2014, he used genetic engineering techniques to resurrect the deadly Spanish flu.

These controversies caused his work to be halted for several years, but Kawaoka resumed his bird flu work in 2018 under the same grant that was paused in 2014.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your state legislators to ban gain-of-function research!

STOP WEAPONIZING PATHOGENS

71 High-Risk Human-Caused Pathogen Exposure Events

National Library of Medicine writes:

“Biological agents and infectious pathogens have the potential to cause very significant harm, as the natural occurrence of disease and pandemics makes clear. As a way to better understand the risk of Global Catastrophic Biological Risks due to human activities, rather than natural sources, this paper reports on a dataset of 71 incidents involving either accidental or purposeful exposure to, or infection by, a highly infectious pathogenic agent.

There has been significant effort put into both reducing the risk of purposeful spread of biological weapons, and biosafety intended to prevent the exposure to, or release of, dangerous pathogens in the course of research. Despite these efforts, there are incidents of various types that could potentially be controlled or eliminated by different lab and/or bioweapon research choices and safety procedures.”

RIsks from potentially weaponisable pathogens can arise from a) their use in a biological attack, b) accidents involving their use within a biological weapons program, c) accidents involving their use within research for research purposes.”

Read the research here: High-Risk Human-Caused Pathogen Exposure Events From 1975-2016

ECOSYSTEM

Fungi Foundation Says Let’s Add ‘Funga’ to ‘Flora and Fauna’

Jude Coleman writes for Science News:

“Fungi. They grow between toes, on bread and in the shower. But the organisms also produce food and medicine and act as ecosystem maids by decomposing dead matter — benefits that are sometimes overlooked (SN: 11/17/20). That’s why the Fungi Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fungi education and conservation, advocates for adding “funga” to the popular phrase “flora and fauna.”

The mushrooming movement is also backed by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which in August called for the addition of “a third ‘F’ — funga — to address the planetary challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.” More than 20 countries already use the term, including Australia, Iceland and Brazil.

Historically, fungi have been left out of most conservation discussions and plans, says mycologist Giuliana Furci, founder of the Fungi Foundation, which was created in Chile and is now based in the United States. While flora refers to an area’s plant diversity and fauna its animal diversity, fungi don’t fit into either category. “Fungi didn’t have a way in,” Furci says. “It’s about time they get this recognition.”

NATIONAL FORUM

Forging a Future with Nature

You won’t want to miss this!  

The existential challenge to end petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer use

Beyond Pesticides 40th National Forum Series — 2023

Session 1: Sept 14, 2023 – 1:00-3:30pm Eastern (EDT)

Featuring David Goulson, PhD and André Leu, DSc.

Plan Now to Join!

The goal of the Forum Series is to enable a collective strategy to address the existential health, biodiversity, and climate threats and chart a path for a livable and sustainable future. We come together to empower effective action. You are part of the solution! 

About The Program

A future supported by the natural environment depends on our effective involvement in decisions in our homes, communities, states, and at the federal level to ensure that we are taking the steps necessary to protect against existential threats to health, biodiversity, and climate. The Forum is an important opportunity to hear from those working as scientists, advocates, land managers (from gardens, parks, play fields to farms), and public decision makers about steps being taken and action needed to prevent catastrophic collapse of the natural systems that sustain life.

André Leu, DSc speaks to the need for clearly defined and enforceable regenerative, organic land management systems that are critical to meet the challenges of our time, lest we fall victim to empty words and promises that do not effect the urgent changes required for a livable future.

David Goulson, PhD writes: “We have to learn to live in harmony with nature, seeing ourselves as part of it, not trying to rule and control it with an iron fist. Our survival depends on it, as does that of the glorious pageant of life with which we share out planet.” 

Register Now!

Your registration includes access to all three seminars. Donations are requested, but not required.

MENTAL HEALTH

Mindful Breathing Is Coming to New York City Classrooms

Michaela Haas writes in Reasons to be Cheerful:

“Third-grader Noah Hill at Dr. Ronald E. McNair Public School 5 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, has learned a very simple method to calm himself: “Breathe in through your nose,” he says, closing his eyes behind his dark-rimmed glasses to take an in-breath, “and breathe out with a whisper.” This is the so-called “ocean breathing” he has been taught at his school, and he’s a fan: “Breathing like that takes my stress away,” he says.

At the start of this school year, all public schools in New York — from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 — are required to offer two to five minutes of mindful breathing every day to improve mental health. As part of this initiative, the city has rolled out a citywide professional development program for educators to make sure at least one staff member in each school is trained in mindful breathing practices. Mindful breathing in this context is taught as a secular practice that students of any religious tradition can adopt as a powerful tool to cope with anxiety and stress.

There is an urgent need to focus on students’ mental health. The international COH-FIT study showed a drastic increase in depression, anxiety and persistent frustration among youth, compared to 2019. More than a third of US students reported in 2021 that they experienced poor mental health during the Covid pandemic, and 44 percent describe themselves as persistently sad or hopeless. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five children struggles with anxiety, and almost half experience at least one serious stressor at home, like food insecurity or a caregiver’s addiction. Even before the pandemic, mental health was getting worse among high school students, according to prior CDC data.”

Learn more about this secular movement to educate students academically, emotionally, socially, ethically and spiritually with “mindfulness”: Mindful Breathing Is Coming to New York City Classrooms This Fall

HEALTH ISSUES

Sperm Counts, Testosterone Levels, and Women’s Reproductive Health

Richard Heinberg writes for Common Dreams:

“Nature is increasingly stewing in air- and water-borne toxins originating in industrial processes. Tens of thousands of chemicals, only a tiny proportion of which have been tested for safety, are making their way into the environment—from pharmaceuticals that have passed through human bodies, to plastics, pesticides, solvents, fire-retardants, and chemicals used in making cookware coatings.

Recent research shows that whole classes of these chemicals are affecting sexuality and disrupting reproduction—not just in humans, but in a host of other animal species as well. But the whole subject is controversial and is getting far too little attention, partly because reproduction and sexuality are culturally sensitive topics, and partly because the chemicals industry wields considerable political power. In this article, we’ll explore both the science and the controversy, and see why 2 percent is such a scary number in this context.

While the reasons for falling sperm counts are still being investigated, it is clear that the fetus is particularly susceptible to the effects of pollutants, and that impacts at the fetal stage of life can significantly shape the adult. The pollutants most likely to have widespread impacts on reproductive health have been identified—hormone-mimicking chemicals that have become widely dispersed in the environment, many of which persist for decades or longer.’

Read Why 2% Is the Most Dangerous Number No One Is Talking About

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Microplastics May Be Harming Your Body and Brain

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

“We live in a throwaway society. The next time you’re in a grocery store, take a look around you and note the number of items packaged in plastic. The problem is, many of these petroleum-based plastics will last forever. So we have products for short-term consumption packaged in materials that survive for centuries, endangering wildlife and human health alike all the while.

Discarded plastic — both large and microscopic — circles the globe, choking our oceans and polluting our food supply, ultimately finding their way into your body where they can accumulate over time. In recent years, scientists have detected microplastic in all kinds of human tissues, including the placenta, lungs, spleen, liver, kidney, heart, brain and stool.

In 2022, Dutch scientists also confirmed the presence of microplastics in meat and milk, as well as the blood of both farm animals and humans. In all, nearly 80% of meat and dairy products tested contained microplastics.”

Read about how to lower your microplastic exposure and more

SUPPORT OCA

Invest in a Healthy, Safe Future

We at OCA promise to step up our campaigning for an organic and regenerative future and to do our part to stop the dangerous weaponization of pathogens to help bring peace, justice, freedom, and participatory democracy.

Thank you for your help, no matter how large or small, spreading the word, taking action, and providing financial support.

From all of us at OCA, Regeneration International, and Via Organica, a heartfelt thank you for sticking to your ideals in these difficult times.

If you can afford it, please consider giving us a late-summer donation now.

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BAN BIOLABS

The Rise of Maximum Containment Laboratories

By Erik English

“The world’s deadliest diseases are studied in maximum containment laboratories, which trace their origins back to the first major outbreak of Marburg virus in Europe. The number of labs has grown significantly since the early 2000s and more labs are being planned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These facilities play a crucial role in studying infectious diseases, including those with pandemic potential. However, the rapid expansion of these labs worldwide raises important questions around biosafety and biosecurity.”

Watch this enlightening interview by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists about the many aspects of these laboratories

GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE

FBI Hoovering Up DNA at a Pace That Rivals China

Ken Klippenstein writes for The Intercept:

“The FBI began building a DNA database as early as 1990. By 1998, it helped create a national database called Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, that spanned all 50 states. Each state maintained its own database, with police or other authorities submitting samples based on their states’ rules, and CODIS allowed all the states to search across the entire country. At first, the collection of data was limited to DNA from people convicted of crimes, from crime scenes, and from unidentified remains.

Even those categories were controversial at the time. When CODIS was launched nationally, most states did not submit DNA from all people convicted of felonies; the only point of consensus among the states’ collection programs was to take DNA from convicted sex offenders.

“If you look back at when CODIS was established, it was originally for violent or sexual offenders,” Anna Lewis, a Harvard researcher who specializes in the ethical implications of genetics research, told The Intercept. “The ACLU warned that this was going to be a slippery slope, and that’s indeed what we’ve seen.”

Read on to find out who police have the authority to take DNA samples from and more