Health & Fitness

I've discussed why COVID-19 vaccines are in fact gene therapies and not vaccines in several previous articles, including "COVID-19 mRNA Shots Are Legally Not Vaccines," "COVID-19 'Vaccines' Are Gene Therapy" and "How COVID-19 'Vaccines' May Destroy the Lives of Millions."

However, despite being a recognized form of gene therapy since its inception, vaccine makers are now frantically trying to deny that this mRNA technology is gene therapy. One reason for this, suggested by David Martin, Ph.D.,¹ might be because as long as they're considered "vaccines," they will be shielded from liability.

Experimental gene therapies do not have financial liability shielding from the government, but pandemic vaccines do, even in the experimental stage, as long as the emergency use authorization is in effect. Another reason might be because they fear people won't line up for experimental gene therapy. It has a very different connotation in people's minds (as it should).

A third possibility is that they know full well that you cannot, ethically, mandate gene therapy in the way you can mandate vaccines. Mandatory public health measure directives are typically based on the idea that it's acceptable for some individuals to be harmed as long as the measure benefits the collective.

Well, the COVID-19 "vaccines" are only designed to lessen symptoms of COVID-19. They do not prevent infection or spread, and since the vaccinated individual is the only one receiving a potential benefit, "the greater good" argument falls apart.

Who knows, there may be other factors at play that we've not realized as of yet, but whatever the reason, they really do not want you to think of these injections as gene therapy. They want you to accept them as any other conventional vaccine.

mRNA-Based Medicines Designed to Not Irreversibly Alter DNA

Try as they might, though, they cannot get rid of mRNA's gene therapy label. For starters, Moderna describes its product as "gene therapy technology" in its SEC filings. On page 70, they also provide the following specifics:²

"Currently, mRNA is considered a gene therapy product by the FDA. Unlike certain gene therapies that irreversibly alter cell DNA and could act as a source of side effects, mRNA-based medicines are designed to not irreversibly change cell DNA; however, side effects observed in gene therapy could negatively impact the perception of mRNA medicines despite the differences in mechanism."

In other words, it's a form of gene therapy, but one that doesn't enter and permanently alter your actual DNA. Instead, the mRNA stays in the cellular fluid where ribosomes read the code and create the protein per the mRNA's coding.

The difference between vaccine mRNA and your natural mRNA is that your natural mRNA resides in the nucleus of the cell where your cellular DNA resides — it can be likened to a reverse photocopy of your DNA — and exits the nucleus when a protein needs to be made.

This is in stark contrast to mRNA from vaccines, which is synthetic and enters the cell from the outside and is not designed to enter the nucleus. Additionally, your own mRNA is rapidly degraded by enzymes, but the one from the vaccine is protected in a liposome that will protect it from degradation and keep on producing spike proteins. How long? No one knows because it has never been tested.

Can Vaccine mRNA Reverse-Transcribe Into Genome?

However, some doctors still worry that mRNA injections might be able to reverse-transcribe into your genes and alter your DNA on a permanent basis. One is Dr. Richard Urso, an ophthalmologist, who shared his concerns on a December 2020 episode of The Shepard Ambellas Show.^3,4

He claimed the mRNA of retroviruses (which are part of our genome) have been shown to have the ability to transcribe into your DNA, and if it can do that, vaccine mRNA might be able to do this as well. According to Urso, if this turns out to be correct, the result of mRNA vaccination might be lifelong COVID-19.

Another skeptic is Dr. Doug Corrigan, who in a March 16, 2021, blog reviewed the findings of recent research^5,6 showing SARS-CoV-2 RNA can reverse-transcribe into the human genome:⁷

"In my previous blog, 'Will an RNA Vaccine Permanently Alter My DNA?'⁸ I laid out several molecular pathways that would potentially enable the RNA in an mRNA vaccine to be copied and permanently integrated into your DNA.

I was absolutely not surprised to find that the majority of people claimed that this prospect was impossible … After all, we've been told in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible for the mRNA in a vaccine to become integrated into our DNA, simply because 'RNA doesn't work that way.'

Well, this current research which was released not too long after my original article demonstrates that yes, indeed, 'RNA does work that way'… Specifically, a new study^9,10 by MIT and Harvard scientists demonstrates that segments of the RNA from the coronavirus itself are most likely becoming a permanent fixture in human DNA.

This was once thought near impossible, for the same reasons which are presented to assure us that an RNA vaccine could accomplish no such feat. Against the tides of current biological dogma, these researchers found that the genetic segments of this RNA virus are more than likely making their way into our genome.

They also found that the exact pathway that I laid out in in my original article is more than likely the pathway being used (retrotransposon, and in particular a LINE-1 element) for this retro-integration to occur.

And, unlike my previous blog where I hypothesize that such an occurrence would be extremely rare (mainly because I was attempting to temper expectations more conservatively due to the lack of empirical evidence), it appears that this integration of viral RNA segments into our DNA is not as rare as I initially hypothesized …

To be fair, this study didn't show that the RNA from the current vaccines is being integrated into our DNA. However, they did show, quite convincingly, that there exists a viable cellular pathway whereby snippets of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA could become integrated into our genomic DNA. In my opinion, more research is needed to both corroborate these findings, and to close some gaps."

A January 2020 Phys.org article,¹¹ "Modified RNA Has a Direct Effect on DNA," also notes that "it has now been revealed that RNA has a direct effect on DNA stability," and this too may or may not play a role in mRNA therapy for COVID-19.

Vaccine Makers Fear Negative Perception of Gene Therapy

Getting back to Moderna's SEC filing, in it, they also admit that public perception of other types of gene therapy may negatively impact perception of mRNA medicines. The problem, they admit, is that irreversible gene therapies have side effects, and knowing this, people might shun mRNA medicines too. The SEC filing goes on to note:¹²

"Because no product in which mRNA is the primary active ingredient has been approved, the regulatory pathway for approval is uncertain. The number and design of the clinical trials and preclinical studies required for the approval of these types of medicines have not been established, may be different from those required for gene therapy products, or may require safety testing like gene therapy products."

Well, the pandemic allowed them to sneak mRNA gene therapy under the proverbial radar so that they don't have to conduct more stringent gene therapy safety testing. Instead, they were handed the global population for the largest testing imaginable, and all without liability when something goes wrong — provided it's viewed as a "vaccine," that is.

mRNA Therapies Classified as Gene Therapy in Europe and US

The SEC filing¹³ for BioNTech (BioNTech's mRNA technology is used in the Pfizer vaccine) is equally clear, stating on page 21: "Although we expect to submit BLAs for our mRNA-based product candidates in the United States, and in the European Union, mRNA therapies have been classified as gene therapy medicinal products, other jurisdictions may consider our mRNA-based product candidates to be new drugs, not biologics or gene therapy medicinal products, and require different marketing applications."

So, in the U.S. and Europe, mRNA therapies, as a group, are classified as "gene therapy medicinal products." The crux here, again, appears to be the idea that mRNA therapy does not cause permanent DNA alterations. On page 35 of the BioNTech SEC filing, they further clarify the alleged difference between other, irreversible, gene therapies and mRNA gene therapy:

"There have been few approvals of gene therapy products in the United States and other jurisdictions, and there have been well-reported significant adverse events associated with their testing and use.

Gene therapy products have the effect of introducing new DNA and potentially irreversibly changing the DNA in a cell. In contrast, mRNA is highly unlikely to localize to the nucleus, integrate into cell DNA, or otherwise make any permanent changes to cell DNA.

Consequently, we expect that our product candidates will have a different potential side effect profile from gene therapies because they lack risks associated with altering cell DNA irreversibly."

Hacking the Software of Life

Company executives and scientists familiar with mRNA technology have, for years, been referring to this new technology as gene therapy. The video above features a TED Talk by Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer of Moderna, given in 2017, more than two full years before COVID-19.

In it, he points out that they were, at that time, already working on a variety of vaccines, including an mRNA vaccine for influenza and individualized cancer vaccines based on the genetic sequence of the patient's tumor, stressing that this vaccine would not act like any previous vaccine ever created.

"We've been living this phenomenal digital scientific revolution, and I'm here today to tell you that we are actually hacking the software of life, and that it's changing the way we think about prevention and treatment of disease," Zaks said.

"In every cell there's this thing called messenger RNA or mRNA for short, that transmits the critical information from the DNA in our genes to the protein, which is really the stuff we're all made out of. This is the critical information that determines what the cell will actually do. So, we think of it as an operating system ...

So, if you could change that … if you could introduce a line of code, or change a line of code, it turns out that has profound implications for everything, from the flu to cancer …

Imagine if instead of giving [the patient] the protein of a virus, we gave them the instructions on how to make the protein, how the body can make its own vaccine," he said.

How mRNA Vaccines Work

Zaks further differentiates conventional vaccines and mRNA vaccines by explaining that when using a conventional vaccine, you have viral protein floating around outside the cell, whereas the mRNA approach reprograms the cell to create that viral protein inside of itself.

"What's more alarming?" he asks. "A stranger prowling the neighborhood, or somebody who just broke into your ground floor and tripped the alarm? That's what happens with an mRNA vaccine. You've tripped the alarm wire and now the cell is dialing 911, it's calling the police — at the same time that it's making the protein, saying 'That's the bad guy.' That's how an mRNA vaccine works."

Zaks also refers to the company's mRNA shots as "information therapy," which is just another way of saying gene therapy because mRNA is a carrier of genetic code. (For clarification, code in your natural mRNA matches your DNA, whereas vaccine mRNA has no equivalence inside your genome since it's coming from the outside. Vaccine mRNA still carries "genetic code," though, just not anything found in your body before.) As explained on genome.gov:¹⁴

"Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene. The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.

During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

mRNA, are one of the types of RNA that are found in the cell. This particular one, like most RNAs, are made in the nucleus and then exported to the cytoplasm where the translation machinery, the machinery that actually makes proteins, binds to these mRNA molecules and reads the code on the mRNA to make a specific protein.

So in general, one gene, the DNA for one gene, can be transcribed into an mRNA molecule that will end up making one specific protein."

mRNA Technology Ushers in Transhumanism

In true technocratic, transhumanist Fourth Industrial Revolution fashion, Zaks and other mRNA pushers view the body as your hardware, your genetic code as software and these mRNA injections as software updates. As noted by Patrick Wood in a recent Technocracy News article:¹⁵

"Pure and simple, this is unvarnished, raw transhumanism … Scientists think they can rewrite the genetic code [his words, not mine, for all you out there who still don't believe these mRNA vaccines change the genetic code just because some 'fact checker' says they don't], believing they can improve on a person's God-given genetic makeup is entering dangerous territory …

These scientists truly believe that the human body is nothing more than a machine that can be hacked into and reordered according to some programmer's instructions … Who's to say they won't correct one problem and create something far worse?"

What Is Transhumanism?

What exactly is transhumanism? Technocracy News describes¹⁶ it as "a twisted philosophy that believes in the use of high technology to transform humans into immortal beings … Furthermore, they seek to use genetic engineering to create a new master race of sorts, that will shed all of the 'unseemly' characteristics of humans." Britannica defines¹⁷ it as a:

"… social and philosophical movement devoted to promoting the research and development of robust human-enhancement technologies. Such technologies would augment or increase human sensory reception, emotive ability, or cognitive capacity as well as radically improve human health and extend human life spans.

Such modifications resulting from the addition of biological or physical technologies would be more or less permanent and integrated into the human body."

Great Reset Is a Transhumanist Agenda

Miklos Lukacs de Pereny, research professor of science and technology policy at the Peruvian University San Martin de Porres, has given presentations¹⁸ and interviews¹⁹ in which he warns that transhumanism is part and parcel of the Great Reset and the Fourth Industrial Revolution agendas, which are being rolled out at a furious pace under the auspices of the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported by Life Site News, November 10, 2020:²⁰

"The COVID-19 pandemic was manufactured by the world's elites as part of a plan to globally advance 'transhumanism' — literally, the fusion of human beings with technology in an attempt to alter human nature itself and create a superhuman being and an 'earthly paradise,' according to a Peruvian academic and expert in technology.

This dystopian nightmare scenario is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but an integral part of the proposed post-pandemic 'Great Reset,' Dr. Miklos Lukacs de Pereny said at a recent summit on COVID-19.

Indeed, to the extent that implementing the transhumanist agenda is possible, it requires the concentration of political and economic power in the hands of a global elite and the dependence of people on the state, said Lukacs.

That's precisely the aim of the Great Reset, promoted by German economist Klaus Schwab, CEO and founder of World Economic Forum, along with billionaire 'philanthropists' George Soros and Bill Gates and other owners, managers, and shareholders of Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Finance who meet at the WEF retreats at Davos, Switzerland, contended Lukacs.

Transhumanists … seek to 'relativize the human being' and 'turn it into a putty that can be modified or molded to our taste and our desire and by rejecting those limits nature or God have placed on us' …

Indeed, WEF's Schwab has been promoting the Great Reset as a way to 'harness the Fourth Industrial Revolution' … which, he declared in January 2016, 'will affect the very essence of our human experience.' Schwab described the Fourth Industrial Revolution then as 'a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines among the physical, digital and biological spheres' …

Those technologies include genetic engineering such as CRISPR genetic editing, artificial intelligence (A.I.), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, and quantum computing. 'The Fourth Industrial Revolution is nothing other than the implementation of transhumanism on a global level,' emphasized Lukacs."

mRNA Technology Is Still Gene Therapy

In "COVID-19 'Vaccines' Are Gene Therapy" (hyperlinked above), I provide even more background information showing that mRNA "vaccines" are in fact gene therapy, and how this technology has been viewed and presented as gene therapy in the past.

The fact is, everywhere you look, mRNA technology, mRNA therapy and mRNA medicines — anything mRNA — have been, for years, treated as a form of gene therapy. Take the 2015 paper²¹ "mRNA: Fulfilling the Promise of Gene Therapy" in the journal Molecular Therapy. In this paper, the authors point out that in vitro-transcribed mRNA has the potential to play a role in gene therapy previously only envisioned for DNA.

Back in 2009, the paper²² "Current Prospects for mRNA Gene Delivery" in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics noted that while "replication-deficient viruses have been used most successfully in the field of gene therapy … mRNA has … emerged as an attractive and promising alternative in the nonviral gene delivery field," and a 2019 paper²³ in Frontiers in Oncology discussed the therapeutic prospects of "mRNA-based gene therapy for glioblastoma."

If they want to call it "temporary gene therapy," I'm OK with that — provided they can prove that it is in fact temporary, how long the effects last, and that vaccine mRNA cannot reverse-transcribe into the human genome like SARS-CoV-2 RNA apparently can.

But to deny that it's gene therapy altogether and insist that it's simply an updated form of vaccine technology is simply impossible, as it does not perform any of the functions of an actual vaccine (i.e., prevent infection and spread).

Do You Want to Update Your Software?

Now, if our genetic makeup is to be viewed as "the software of life," as Zaks puts it, then should we not have the sole authority to decide for ourselves whether we actually want a "software update," be it temporary or permanent?

"If we truly live in a free society, wouldn't it stand to reason that we would want to have an energetic debate over how to answer that question?" Wood asks.²⁴

"Contrary to what some scientists believe, we are not machines. We are human beings with bodies, souls and free wills. Anyone who tries to mandate the acceptance of an experimental gene-altering treatment is going against the international Nuremberg Codes, which require informed consent of any experimental treatment."

What to Do if You've Had a Change of Heart

If you already got the vaccine and now regret it, you may be able to address your symptoms using the same strategies you'd use to treat actual SARS-CoV-2 infection. I review these strategies at the end of "Why COVID Vaccine Testing Is a Farce."

Last but not least, if you got the vaccine and are having side effects, please help raise public awareness by reporting it. The Children's Health Defense is calling on all who have suffered a side effect from a COVID-19 vaccine to do these three things:²⁵

1. If you live in the U.S., file a report on VAERS
2. Report the injury on VaxxTracker.com, which is a nongovernmental adverse event tracker (you can file anonymously if you like)
3. Report the injury on the CHD website

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The phrase “better living through chemistry” is a variation on an advertising campaign used by the DuPont Chemical Company¹ in the mid-1930s until the early 1980s.

In 2014,² it became the title of a “comedy” that portrays the life of a man bullied by his father and wife, and his subsequent “rebirth” through chemical use. However, the Hollywood and public relations versions of “better living through chemistry” are not the reality.

For instance, recent data from the University of California San Francisco revealed that 55 chemicals previously not found in humans were found in the bodies of pregnant women and their babies.³

Chemical-laden plastic has become such a ubiquitous part of modern-day life that is hard to imagine a world without it. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively new invention⁴ and there's still a lot we don't know about how it impacts human and environmental health.

The chemicals in plastic are intergenerational endocrine disruptors⁵ for which there is not enough evidence to demonstrate plastic is safe for current and future generations. These chemicals have widespread use in plastic products and are similar in nature to natural sex hormones, which earns them the designation of endocrine disruptors.

But the chemicals in plastics are just one of the enormous number of chemicals being released into the environment through human use and disposal in waste products, including human waste. For example, according to the Environmental Working Group,⁶ every day women in America use an average of 12 personal care products, including cosmetics, that contain up to 168 different chemicals.

And those are just the chemicals the manufacturers have told the public is in those products. Many of these are applied to the skin, which allows ingredients to be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. This is only one of the ways chemicals are absorbed in the body.

For example, food can introduce chemicals in the body, either through its ingredients or through its packaging. The fast-food industry was valued at $647.7 billion in 2019 and is estimated to grow 4.6% by 2027, reaching $931.7 billion.⁷ Yet, despite the fact that it has been identified as a significant source of hormone-disrupting chemicals, the market continues to grow as consumer demand increases.

Scientists Find 42 ‘Mystery Chemicals’ in Pregnant Women

In the featured study, researchers⁸ found 109 chemicals using high-resolution mass spectrometry on blood samples from pregnant women and their babies. The study was done to develop a screening workflow for the identification and prioritization of chemical exposure in maternal and cord blood samples as a development for the future evaluation of health risks.

In a small sample of 30 women and their babies’ cord serum samples, they discovered 55 previously unreported chemicals in human blood. In addition to this, they also found 42 “mystery chemicals” with sources and uses that were unidentified by the researchers.⁹ The scientists wrote that the majority of the 55 compounds had “limited to no information about their sources or uses.”¹⁰

However, the source of the chemicals is believed to be from consumer products and other industrial sources, as written in a press release from the University of California.¹¹ Since they were found in both the pregnant woman and their newborn children, evidence suggests the chemicals are able to pass across the placenta.

Tracey Woodruff, Ph.D., is a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco and senior researcher on the study. She commented in the press release:¹²

“These chemicals have probably been in people for quite some time, but our technology is now helping us to identify more of them. It is alarming that we keep seeing certain chemicals travel from pregnant women to their children, which means these chemicals can be with us for generations. It’s very concerning that we are unable to identify the uses or sources of so many of these chemicals.”

Woodruff spoke to a journalist from Live Science,¹³ expressing her concerns that exposure during pregnancy is dangerous since it's at a vulnerable time of development, potentially leading to lifelong consequences. Two of the newly detected chemicals in the human body were polyfluoroalkyl or perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFASs), used in products such as pizza boxes and nonstick cookware.

Ten were plasticizers, such as phthalates, but the majority of the newly detected chemicals the researchers had no information about. Another author, Dimitri Abrahamsson, told Live Science that the number of chemicals discovered should signal a sense of “alarm,” continuing:¹⁴

"We're being exposed to chemicals that we have very little information about. And these chemicals could potentially have harmful health effects that we don't know and can't predict.”

Phthalates and Plasticizers Pose Health Dangers

Data from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health discovered 90% of the people tested from 2016 to 2017 had eight different plasticizers in their urine.¹⁵ These colorless, odorless chemicals, composed mostly of phthalates, are used to change the elasticity of materials during the manufacturing process.¹⁶

Although you can probably name shower curtains, takeout containers and storage bags as plastic products, did you know clothing, paper coffee cups, tea bags and chewing gum are also made with plastic?¹⁷ Because the chemicals are not tightly bound to the products, they can dissipate into the surrounding environment, including the food you eat and the water you drink.

While the National Toxicology Program¹⁸ believes phthalates are “reasonably considered to be a human carcinogen,” politics and regulations have allowed plastics to remain in many of the products you use today.

In addition to the passage of chemicals from mother to child, ingestion of plastic particles can start in infancy. Globally, the baby bottle industry was valued at $2.6 billion in 2018, and the plastic segment accounted for 44.1% of the overall share.¹⁹ Researchers²⁰ found that microplastics are released from plastic baby bottles into the contents, sometimes up to 16 million plastic particles per liter.

In this study, researchers tested only the number of particles released by the bottle as they use purified water and not standard drinking water. Since standard drinking water also contains microplastics,²¹ this means the number may have been significantly underestimated when the bottles are used at home.

Phthalates are powerful hormone disruptors that can cause males in many species to develop feminine characteristics.²² By disrupting the endocrine system they can also increase the risk of testicular cancer, low sperm count and infertility, which researchers have found in animal species including whales, deer, otters and bears.

A peer-reviewed article published in the American Journal of Public Health²³ used data from longitudinal birth cohort studies to show associations between exposure to phthalates in utero and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, lower IQ, impaired social communication, poor psychomotor development and adverse cognitive development.

EPA and FDA Responsible for Your Toxic Exposure

Woodruff and her team were able to tentatively identify some of the chemicals used in chemical libraries. However, confirmation is made by comparing them to the pure chemicals known as “analytical standards,” provided by the manufacturer. Manufacturers do not always provide the samples. Woodruff continued her statement in the press release from the University of California, saying:²⁴

“EPA must do a better job of requiring the chemical industry to standardize its reporting of chemical compounds and uses. And they need to use their authority to ensure that we have adequate information to evaluate potential health harms and remove chemicals from the market that pose a risk.”

During the UCSF study, researchers found chemical manufacturer Solvay halted access to a chemical standard for one of their perfluorooctanoic acid compounds they have used as a replacement for those that have been phased out. The researchers had been applying this chemical standard as a comparison, looking for the presence and toxicity of the replacement chemical.²⁵

It may seem odd that a regulated industry would have the option of withdrawing its chemical composition, but as Sharyl Attkisson from Full Measure²⁶ revealed in an investigative report, the industry is self-regulated. When the law was passed in 1938, it was missing a section that would have given the FDA the authority to impose sanctions.

Melanie Benesh of the Environmental Working Group told Attkisson that the FDA does not have jurisdiction to recall products or “to do a systematic look at their ingredients and what their long-term effects are.”

While the FDA has no teeth, the EPA is not using its regulatory prerogative in many cases. According to their website, the EPA “gathers health, safety and exposure data; requires necessary testing; and controls human and environmental exposures for numerous chemical substances and mixtures. EPA regulates the production and distribution of commercial and industrial chemicals ...”²⁷

Yet, as I have covered in the past, the EPA has been sued for its mercury policy, allowing dental offices to continue to discharge nearly 5.1 tons of mercury each year into publicly owned water treatment plants, most of which are subsequently released into the environment.²⁸

The EPA has also been accused of colluding with Monsanto, which you can read more about in “Evidence EPA Colluded With Monsanto to Dismiss Cancer Concerns Grows Stronger.” They have blocked warning labels about glyphosate, and they promote the use of sewage sludge, which they dubbed “biosolids.”

This sludge is spread as fertilizer on U.S. agricultural lands, golf courses, parklands and cemeteries. As described in “BioSludged,”²⁹ biosolids can contain dioxins, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, hormones and heavy metals, as well as disease-causing pathogens.

The persistence of these toxins in the treated soil means they may be absorbed by food crops that end up on your plate. Yet, high-profile PR companies, some funded by the EPA, spin biosolids as environmentally friendly and a form of recycling.

The EPA’s Environmental Dumping Ground

According to the World Wildlife Federation,³⁰ between 1930 and 2000, there was a 400-fold increase in the production of man-made chemicals across the world, rising from 1 million to 400 million tons each year. These man-made chemicals produce widespread environmental contamination during their manufacture, use and disposal.

Chemicals can travel vast distances through the air or water and have been found to contaminate nearly every environment and type of wildlife, including birds, alligators, polar bears and panthers. There has been a widespread decline of mink in the Great Lakes, otters in Canada and other species across North America and Western Europe.³¹

Experts believe it is the environmental contamination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, which is supported by studies using laboratory mink. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is classified by the U.S. EPA as a cancer-causing agent. It has been found in the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea.

In 1979, it was tested on monkeys and they all died within weeks. Scientists have found caimans, an alligator species native to South America, with sex reversals caused by environmental contamination from bisphenol A. The chemical was also responsible for reproductive malformations in quail and chicken embryos.

Consider Your Daily Choices

It doesn't appear that the EPA or FDA has plans to take broad steps to warn the public about dangerous environmental chemicals now or in the near future. On the contrary, in some cases, they're working with the companies to remove warning labels that could have alerted consumers to their risks, such as the incident in California where the EPA stepped in to remove warning labels about glyphosate.³²

Despite scientific evidence to the contrary,^33,34,35 to date the EPA continues to insist that there is “No evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans.”³⁶ Governmental regulatory agencies do not appear willing to go against large manufacturers in order to protect the health of their citizens.

Instead, it's up to you to vote with your pocketbook and keep an eye on the products and services that you use. For example, one way to promote change in the cosmetic industry is to participate in tracking adverse events³⁷ from any chemical or product you use.

Instead of buying the newest celebrity-endorsed personal care product or cosmetic, consider making your own bath and handwashing products without preservatives. Seek out safe products that are free of potentially dangerous chemicals by using the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database.³⁸

The easiest way to steer clear of glyphosate is to buy locally and organically grown food from a trusted source. For a list of ways to help reduce your exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, see “Why Your Hormones Have Been Hijacked.”

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Yesterday, Jesinta Franklin shared her undergoing Bengkung belly binding as part of her post-childbirth recovery. But what is it? We investigate.

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Superbly preserved braincase of this new species is an important find - it suggests there was a greater diversity and abundance of abelisaurids late in dinosaurs' era than previously thought.

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Whether parents prefer a conformance-oriented or independence-oriented supplemental education program for their children depends on political ideology, according to a study of more than 8,500 American parents.

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In a randomized clinical trial, researchers found participants with moderate to severe irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who were knowingly treated with a pharmacologically inactive pill -- referred to as an honest or open-label placebo -- reported clinically meaningful improvements in their IBS symptoms.

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Researchers have discovered a protein that could be key to blocking the most common bacterial cause of human food poisoning in the United States.

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People are adept at discerning most of the different emotions that underlie screams, such as anger, frustration, pain, surprise or fear, finds a new study. Screams of happiness, however, are more often interpreted as fear when heard without any additional context, the results show.

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Many previous studies have linked increased maternal body weight and unhealthy diets to poorer metabolic outcomes in offspring, often many years later. Understanding the mechanisms of how maternal exercise can reverse these effects might lead to interventions that prevent these diseases transmitting across generations.

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A new study to measure SARS-CoV-2 viral load in a variety of organs and tissues may aid our understanding of how COVID-19 develops following infection.

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New modeling identifies country-specific human and human-influenced environmental factors associated with disease outbreaks. A country's land area, human population density, and area of forest are associated with zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19. Human development index, average annual temperature, and health expenditure predict other kinds of disease.

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Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, chronic, inflammatory disease of the bile ducts and is difficult to treat, since its causes have not yet been adequately researched. An international research consortium has now succeeded in identifying a new prognostic factor for PSC from liver biopsies. This is so-called cellular ER stress.

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Studies indicate a link between children's cardiorespiratory fitness and their school performance: the more athletic they are, the better their marks in the main subjects. Similarly, cardiorespiratory fitness is known to benefit cognitive abilities. But what is the real influence of such fitness on school results? Researchers tested pupils from eight Geneva schools. Their results show that there is an indirect link with cardiorespiratory fitness influencing cognitive abilities, which in turn, influence school results.

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Working with fruit flies, scientists say they have identified a new molecular pathway that helps steer moving cells in specific directions. The set of interconnected proteins and enzymes in the pathway act as steering and rudder components that drive cells toward an 'intended' rather than random destination, they say.

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Those who need to change their eating habits to normalize their blood pressure should start with a fast. Scientists explain why patients can use it as a tool to improve their health in the long term.

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The latest gene editing technology, prime editing, expands the 'genetic toolbox' for more precisely creating disease models and correcting genetic problems, scientists say.

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Artificial Intelligence is now capable of generating novel, functionally active proteins. The new results represent a breakthrough in the field of synthetic proteins.

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Researchers have succeeded for the first time in measuring brain waves directly via a cochlear implant. These brainwaves indicate in an objective way how good or bad a person's hearing is. The research results are important for the further development of smart hearing aids.

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A type of glaucoma called normal-tension glaucoma is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and possibly dementia, finds new research.

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In a two-year study that could help guide educators developing the post-pandemic new normal, student groups at the assigned to make video presentations showed more creativity and risk-taking than groups making conventional in-person presentations.

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Scientists have developed a diagnostic test, which makes use of CRISPR, that can detect the virus that causes COVID-19 even after it has gone through mutations. Since viruses have the ability to evolve over time, a diagnostic test robust against potential mutations is a crucial tool for tracking and fighting the pandemic.

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While bionic devices are very safe, there has been no standard test for moisture leakage into the devices - until now. Researchers say a standard test will be increasingly important as bionic implants become more common.

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