Organic Bytes
Newsletter #838: Keep Mind-Control Headsets Out of Schools and Workplaces

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EMANCIPATE YOURSELF FROM MENTAL SLAVERY

Keep Computer-Brain Interfaces Out of Schools and Workplaces!

From mind hacking to brain data theft, it’s time to get our legislators to protect us against the threats posed by technologies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

But, Neuralink probably isn’t the biggest threat.

Few people are going to line up for brain surgery, but people are already buying virtual reality goggles, smartwatches that measure biometric data and brain-training “neurofeedback” headsets.

That’s a pretty powerful mind-control system right there.

Brain surgery is not required for electronic devices to have the power to identify the unique signatures of specific thoughts, intentions and emotions.

Emotiv has made electroencephalography (EEG) headsets commercially available since 2010.

A 2019 study reported the invention of a “Wearable In-Ear EEG Device for Emotion Monitoring.”

OpenBCI’s Galea headset “is a complete mix of all sorts of sensors: EEG, EMG, EDA, PPG and eye tracking” integrated with virtual reality.

The Matrix is here.

How do they plan to plug us in?

By getting their mind-control headsets into schools (see “Solving the Education Crisis using Brain Computer Interface”) and workplaces (see “What Brain-Computer Interfaces Could Mean for the Future of Work”).

How do we stop them?

By keeping their mind-control headsets out of schools and workplaces—and making sure everyone understands the risks of “non-invasive” tech.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Keep Mind-Control Headsets Out of Schools and Workplaces!

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Scientists Say New Glowing Plants Could Replace Artificial Yard Lighting

What could possibly go wrong?

Could these glowing plants be another on the long list of species that wreak havoc on native insects and wildlife?

Tenielle Jordison writes in Homes and Gardens:

“Light Bio is selling bioluminescent plants that glow in the dark as an alternative to artificial yard lighting.

There’s a new backyard lighting option on the scene as synthetic biology scientists have developed plants that glow in the dark, which they say could provide an alternative to artificial lighting.

The team of 26 scientists, who work across nine research organizations, used mushroom genes to brighten plants. The first bioluminescent petunias will go on sale in the US as of February 1st.

The Firefly™ Petunia is available in the 48 contiguous states of the US and promises to give off an ‘ethereal glow’ at night, from a seedling to a mature plant with an abundance of flowers.

This achievement isn’t just novel and exciting – it shows how the power of synthetic biology can light a passion for nature and technology,’ says Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginko Bioworks, a Light Bio partner in this project.

The Firefly™ Petunia’s development and availability comes after the US Department of Agriculture determined that the genetically engineered plants from Light Bio can be safely grown and bred in the United States.”  

Read more: Scientists Say New Glowing Plants Could Replace Artificial Yard Lighting

APPETITE FOR A CHANGE

Heartbreaking: Harmful Food Dyes in Valentine’s Day Candy

By Iris Myers (EWG):

“Many brands and varieties of heart-shaped candy contain Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6 and Red Dye No. 40.

These synthetic dyes can all be found in Valentine’s Day sweets made by popular brands Frankford Candy, Brach’s, Disney and Jelly Belly.

Artificial dyes have been linked to an array of health harms. They can make children vulnerable to behavioral difficulties, including decreased attention, according to a 2021 study by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Additional human studies have linked these chemicals to inattentiveness, learning difficulties and restlessness in sensitive children.

One study found that exposure to just 1 milligram of Yellow Dye No. 5 can adversely affect the most sensitive children. Many products on the market that include Yellow Dye No. 5 contain far more than 1 milligram. For example, a store-bought slushy contains, on average, 1 to 10 milligrams of food dye per serving.”

Get Your Free Guide: EWG’s Guide to Food Additives

COMING CLEAN

Reduce, Reuse, Refuse: Tips To Cut Down Plastic Use in Your Kitchen

Cecilia Nowell, The Guardian

“Cutting boards, non-stick pans, mixing bowls, even tea bags: in the kitchen, plastics can be hidden in plain sight.

It’s something that Jessica Brinkworth, an anthropology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, realized once she began looking for ways to cut down on plastic use in her own kitchen after her workplace started doing the same. Although much of her lab’s waste was unavoidable – plastics are key for the sterile medical research they conduct – it still made her uncomfortable. That discomfort was only magnified in her own home, where she knew plastics were “largely a matter of convenience”.

“Large macroplastics are a problem worldwide because we dump them on the shores of other nations,” she says, where things like plastic bottles block access to food for coastal nations and kill about a million people a year due to flooding, landslides and other environmental disasters. Much smaller plastics, like micro and nanoplastics, which are tinier than a grain of rice, “pose a whole other level of problem. Many types of plastic are endocrine disruptors,” meaning they disrupt the excretion and use of insulin, which can lead to obesity and reproductive health disorders.

Every year, we dump 10m tons of plastic into the ocean, killing a million marine animals annually. That plastic can work its way into our bodies from both the food we eat (most of our seafood contains microplastics) to how we cook in the kitchen.”

Read about changes you can make in your shopping, storing, cleaning and cooking

USDA WATCH

Experts Across the Country Weigh in About USDA Updated Gardening Map

By Katherine Kornei, Civil Eats:

“The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was recently updated after more than a decade. It confirms what anyone who’s planted seeds recently already knows.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is a familiar sight to most gardeners. The brightly colored map, which can be found on the back of many seed packets, is intended to provide guidance for selecting the perennial plants that are most likely to do well in a gardener’s distinct climatic zone. “You can think of the Plant Hardiness Zone Map as a plant selection and risk management guide,” says Chris Daly, a geospatial climatologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis and a key contributor to the map.

Last November, the USDA released the 2023 version of the map. Compared with earlier iterations, the most recent version incorporates data from significantly more weather stations and provides a more granular look at conditions across the United States and Puerto Rico. Relative to its predecessor, which was published in 2012, the new map is overall about one quarter-zone warmer, on average.

And while the USDA is reticent to attribute those shifts to climate change, it’s undeniable that the globe is warming—2023 was the hottest year in recorded history—and that extreme weather is becoming more commonplace.

Scientists, gardeners, and horticultural industry experts across the country weigh in about the history of the map

SUPPORT THE OCA & RI

What to Do with the Time That is Given to Us

There’s a scene in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Fellowship of the Rings” where Gandalf reminds Frodo that as much as it hurts to be alive during dark, frightening and tumultuous times, it’s best to focus on the choices we do have.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” Gandalf tells Frodo.

For anyone who cares about the right to safe food and a healthy environment, the past few years of watching our corporate-owned government roll back one regulation after another—regulations that were supposed to protect us—have brought us more dark, frightening and tumultuous moments than we care to count.

Through it all, we’ve never wavered when it comes to knowing to what to do with the time given us.

We have a long way to go before we rid the world of corporations whose food destroys our health, who attack seed and food sovereignty, employing dangerous technology to create synthetic foods, and whose production practices destroy our environment.  

But thanks to you, we’re making progress.

OCA is committed to continue our search for new friends and allies, even in the most unlikely places, as well as improve our health, strengthen our resolve, and prepare for any eventuality.

Help us take action and please spread the word! Share this newsletter with your friends and family and make a donation today!  

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Click here for more ways to support our work

THE TRUTH ABOUT FACTORY FARMING

American Grass Fed Certification Assures the Highest Quality for Beef and Dairy Products

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola:

“* While the beef checkoff program began with the best of intentions, to help ranchers by pooling their money to pay for the promotion of beef, misappropriation of funds has grown over the years

* Many cattle ranchers feel they are being forced to pay for activities that go against their financial interests and environmental or ethical views on animal welfare and environmental stewardship

* The American Grassfed Association is introducing much-needed grass fed standards and certification for American-grown grass fed beef and dairy

Great News: Grass Fed Dairy Standard Introduced!

Fortunately, you need not worry as there is an alternative certification that will bypass most of this nonsense. The American Grassfed Association (AGA) introduced much-needed grass fed standards and certification for American-grown grass fed dairy, which will allow for greater transparency and conformity.

Prior to this certification, dairy could be sold as “grass fed” whether the cows ate solely grass, or received silage, hay or even grains during certain times. As reported by Organic Authority:

“The new regulations are the product of a year’s worth of collaboration amongst dairy producers like Organic Valley as well as certifiers like Pennsylvania Certified Organic and a team of scientists.

‘We came up with a standard that’s good for the animals, that satisfies what consumers want and expect when they see grass fed on the label, and that is economically feasible for farmers,’ says AGA’s communications director Marilyn Noble of the new regulations.”

Boycott Big Meat! It’s Time for Radical Reform: No More Factory Farms.

BIG PHARMA

New Disease Trends Highlight Medicine’s Biggest Failures

From Ron Hoffman, MD, ANH-USA Board President and Medical Director:

“It seems that nearly every day, we learn of yet another medical “breakthrough”; hi-tech and often pricey cures are commonplace. More of us take medications and undergo life-saving procedures.

Yet a series of recent articles in the Wall Street Journal (sorry—paywalled for some) highlight how critical aspects of Americans’ health are deteriorating.

One, entitled “Cancer Is Striking More Young People, and Doctors Are Alarmed and Baffled” heralds:

“Cancer is hitting more young people in the U.S. and around the globe, baffling doctors. Diagnosis rates in the U.S. rose in 2019 to 107.8 cases per 100,000 people under 50, up 12.8% from 95.6 in 2000, federal data show.”

Worldwide, the uptick is even starker, with a BMJ Oncology review finding:

“In 2019, the incidence number of early-onset cancer was 3.26 million, a 79.1% increase from 1990.”

This notwithstanding the fact that we’re curing more cancers with precision medicine; cancer death rates are down by a third since 1991. Notable improvements have been seen in early detection and treatment for breast cancer with the five-year risk of death from breast cancer falling from about 14% for women diagnosed in the 1990s to about 5% for women diagnosed around 2015.

And lung cancer deaths are decreasing, not so much because we’ve licked the disease but simply because smoking bans have had their impact.

But despite improvements in treatment, there’s more cancer:

“Through the end of 2019, incidence rates were increasing for some of the most common cancers, including breast, pancreatic, uterine, renal and HPV-related oral cancers, as well as melanoma.”

U.S. cancer cases are projected to reach a record high—over 2 million cases—in 2024.”

So, to echo Buffalo Springfield, “There’s something happening here—what it is ain’t exactly clear”.

Read the full article: New Disease Trends Highlight Medicine’s Biggest Failures

HEALTH ISSUES

Common Anticholinergic Drugs Like Benadryl Linked To Increased Dementia Risk

By Harvard Health Publishing Staff:

“Anticholinergic drugs block the action of acetylcholine. This substance transmits messages in the nervous system. In the brain, acetylcholine is involved in learning and memory. In the rest of the body, it stimulates muscle contractions. Anticholinergic drugs include some antihistamines, tricyclic antidepressants, medications to control overactive bladder, and drugs to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

What the study found regarding Benadryl and dementia

A team led by Shelley Gray, a pharmacist at the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy, tracked nearly 3,500 men and women ages 65 and older who took part in Adult Changes in Thought (ACT), a long-term study conducted by the University of Washington and Group Health, a Seattle healthcare system. They used Group Health’s pharmacy records to determine all the drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, that each participant took the 10 years before starting the study. Participants’ health was tracked for an average of seven years. During that time, 800 of the volunteers developed dementia. When the researchers examined the use of anticholinergic drugs, they found that people who used these drugs were more likely to have developed dementia as those who didn’t use them. Moreover, dementia risk increased along with the cumulative dose. Taking an anticholinergic for the equivalent of three years or more was associated with a 54% higher dementia risk than taking the same dose for three months or less.”

Read why The ACT results add to mounting evidence that anticholinergics aren’t drugs to take long-term into old age

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Online Certificate Course on Regenerative Agriculture

February 26 — April 2 • 2024
Details here: https://bit.ly/494UQK5
This is a fantastic opportunity, please help us spread the word!
Taught by Prof. Dr. André Leu D.Sc., BA Com., Grad Dip Ed.
International Director, Regeneration International
Ambassador, IFOAM – Organics InternationalCost – USD $500

A reduced price will be available to anyone on a limited income wanting to take this course.

To apply, submit your name, position or profession, email, mailing address, tel #, portrait photo, and why you want to take this course to admin@SouthSeasUniversity.com.

To register and secure your place in this uniquely valuable course, submit your full name as you want it on the certificate, position or profession, email, mailing address, tel # with country code, DOB, & portrait photo to admin@SouthSeasUniversity.com.

Upon registration, we will provide payment details.

**After completion, a Certificate will be awarded to participants.**

GUT HEALTH

Common Food Preservative Has Unexpected Effects on the Gut Microbiome

By University of Chicago:

“Food manufacturers often add preservatives to food products to keep them fresh. The purpose of these preservatives is to kill microbes that could break down and otherwise spoil the food. Common additives like sugar, salt, vinegar and alcohol have been used as preservatives for centuries, but modern-day food labels now reveal more unfamiliar ingredients such as sodium benzoate, calcium propionate, and potassium sorbate.

Bacteria produce chemicals called bacteriocins to kill microbial competitors. These chemicals can serve as natural preservatives by killing potentially dangerous pathogens in food. Lanthipeptides, a class of bacteriocins with especially potent antimicrobial properties, are widely used by the food industry and have become known as “lantibiotics” (a scientific portmanteau of lanthipeptide and antibiotics).

Despite their widespread use, however, little is known about how these lantibiotics affect the gut microbiomes of people who consume them in food. Microbes in the gut live in a delicate balance, and commensal bacteria provide important benefits to the body by breaking down nutrients, producing metabolites, and—importantly—protecting against pathogens. If too many commensals are indiscriminately killed off by antimicrobial food preservatives, opportunistic pathogenic bacteria might take their place and wreak havoc—a result no better than eating contaminated food in the first place.”