Health & Fitness

Until now, the government and the Department of Health have been reasonably united. But with the lifting of most mask mandates in NSW yesterday, it looks like the two are at odds.

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We know women’s pain is often not taken as seriously by healthcare professionals, but recent and substantial research found a higher risk of death among women who were operated on by men.

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Consuming lead can cause health problems for anyone, but children are particularly vulnerable because the element can interfere with their growth and development. While water systems will soon be required to measure lead levels in school tap water, it's not clear how these measurements should be interpreted. Researchers have now used real-world data to determine an approach for identifying schools likely to have problematic lead levels.

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When ocean waves break, microscopic particles break free into the air. For beachgoers, aerosolized sea salts contribute to the tousled 'beach hair' look. But other compounds found in seawater, including perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), could become airborne as bubbles pop at the water's surface. Now, researchers have observed in a thorough field study that sea spray pollutes the air in coastal areas with these potentially harmful chemicals.

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High blood pressure during pregnancy remains a major cause of maternal and fetal pregnancy-related complications and death, and it increases women's short- and long-term risks for cardiovascular disease. Emerging data from clinical trials and observational research support the benefits and safety of blood pressure treatment during pregnancy. Continued investigation is critical to determine which blood pressure levels, during- and post-pregnancy, both for starting therapy and as treatment goals, are beneficial for the mother and safe and beneficial for the fetus.

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N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a powerful antioxidant that was approved as a drug in September 1963.¹ Since that time it’s been used as a nutritional supplement that is not found in natural sources.² NAC contains the amino acid cysteine, which is a precursor to glutathione, also called “the master antioxidant.”³

Glutathione is made of three amino acids — glutamic acid, glycine and cysteine.⁴ However, NAC is only available in supplement form. The precursors to NAC can be found in foods that are high in cysteine, which include pork, beef, chicken, eggs, dates and sunflower seeds.⁵

NAC is used in prescription form as an antidote for acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity.⁶ It is also a powerful mucolytic agent for use in upper respiratory conditions. Memorial Sloan-Kettering⁷ also lists uses in the treatment of depression, precancers, HIV and AIDS, and to alleviate cancer treatment side effects.

In 2020, NAC made the news when the FDA decided over-the-counter sales of this compound, which at that time had been available for 57 years, should require a physician's prescription going forward. The FDA issued warning letters⁸ to seven companies the agency said were illegally selling hangover products. By May 2021, Amazon, which also owns Whole Foods, decided to remove any supplements containing NAC.⁹

FDA Requests More Information on NAC

As Natural Products Insider reports, the letters warned that NAC could not be “lawfully marketed in dietary supplements because it was first studied as a drug in 1963.”¹⁰ The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) sent a letter in December 2020 to the FDA’s Office of Dietary Supplement Programs describing the position as “legally invalid.”¹¹

The CRN and the Natural Products Association (NPA) filed separate citizen petitions with the FDA. The CRN letter in December 2020 challenged the FDA’s determination that NAC should be precluded from supplementary use.¹² They then filed a citizen position petition June 1, 2021, requesting the FDA reverse their position and outlining why this sudden policy change is “legally invalid on multiple grounds.”¹³

The NPA filed a separate citizen petition with the FDA¹⁴ requesting that the agency not exclude NAC as a dietary supplement or, alternatively, that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issue a regulation finding NAC is lawful in supplements. While the HHS has the authority, it has not been used in the 27 years since the law giving the HHS such power was enacted in 1994.

November 24, 2021, the FDA announced they were requesting more information about how NAC has been marketed as a dietary supplement.¹⁵ Natural Products Insider reports that this was encouraging to some in the industry as it signaled the FDA was open to the idea of issuing the regulation that NAC is a lawful ingredient in supplements.¹⁶ The FDA called this:¹⁷

“… tentative responses to both citizen petitions, requesting additional information from the petitioners ... and noting that the agency needs additional time to carefully and thoroughly review the complex questions posed in these petitions.”

The FDA¹⁸ also requested information and data on the date that NAC was first marketed as a dietary supplement, reports of adverse events and details on how the products are marketed and sold. The data are requested by January 25, 2022. Steve Mister, president and CEO of CRN said in a statement:¹⁹

“The provisions of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) may not be interpreted retroactively to remove ingredients that were lawfully marketed in 1994 and have enjoyed a long history of safe use since then. The delay in clearing up the status of NAC by asking for more data and refusing to admit its error disregards the law and disserves consumers who use NAC.

This is not a complicated determination for the FDA to make. DSHEA makes clear that ingredients in use as dietary supplement ingredients prior to its enactment are grandfathered into the supplement marketplace. Thus, pharmaceutical manufacturers could not have had any expectation of exclusivity in the years prior to the creation of this provision of the law.

Given the long history of safe use of NAC, FDA cannot now try to establish a safety concern in order to award this ingredient exclusively to drug makers.”

FDA First Used Legally Questionable Drug Exclusion Provision

U.S. code Title 21,²⁰ specifically defines what a dietary supplement is and is not. According to experts, the actions of the FDA in banning the sale of NAC and finding it a “medication” is illegal under the law. Attorney Stan Soper²¹ writes that under Title 21 §321 paragraph (ff)(3)(b)10 the actions of the FDA do not meet the Drug Exclusion Provision.

According to Soper,²² the exclusion provision has only been invoked a few times, specifically when used to keep red yeast rice, vitamin B6 and cannabidiol (CBD) from being sold as supplements. In each of these cases there was a potential pharmaceutical financial loss that triggered the assertion the supplement was illegal.

In the case of red yeast rice, it contains a naturally occurring substance that acts in a similar manner to Lovastatin, a statin medication.²³ In 2005, drug manufacturer Biostratum filed an investigational new drug (IND) application with the FDA to use vitamin B6 in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease.

Their argument was there was “no evidence that it was marketed as a dietary supplement or food prior to its IND and Phase II investigations.”²⁴ In 2009 the FDA declared vitamin B6 was not a dietary supplement despite documentation that it had been sold as such before the IND application.

The FDA has also invoked the Drug Exclusion Provision against CBD, warning that it is not a legal dietary supplement since there was no meaningful evidence it was marketed as such before drug investigations were approved for Sativex and Epidiolex, which are drugs that contain CBD.

After the 2018 Farm Bill was signed legalizing hemp, then-FDA secretary Dr. Scott Gottlieb made the statement that it was illegal to introduce CBD into the food supply or market it as a supplement.²⁵ Soper postulates²⁶ that the use of the Drug Exclusion Provision against CBD may have opened the door for the FDA to use it against NAC.

Why Take Aim at NAC?

In the citizen petition²⁷ sent to the FDA June 1, 2021, CRN argued that the FDA failed to sufficiently explain this sudden change in policy on NAC, thus “rendering it arbitrary and capricious.” According to CRN, before the seven warning letters in July 2020, “it was FDA’s longstanding policy to permit the marketing of dietary supplements containing NAC.”

Even though the agency had reviewed more than 100 notification structure/function claims for NAC-containing supplements over the years, they never raised the drug exclusion clause. In one response to a petition for a qualified health claim, the FDA had even stated that NAC was considered a dietary supplement.

While the Drug Exclusion Provision on CBD may have opened the door, it still raises the question of why the FDA chose now to target NAC. Historically the provision was used inappropriately to protect the finances of pharmaceutical companies. That is also likely the root of the motivation to ban NAC as a supplement.

As pulmonologist Dr. Roger Seheult succinctly explains in the MedCram video below, NAC is a crucial chemical compound necessary to reduce the oxidative stress associated with severe COVID-19 infections and thus may significantly impact the sales of antiviral drugs. And, as I and other health experts have pointed out in the past, without severe disease, is there truly a need for a vaccine?

Glutathione Depletion Worsens COVID-19 Outcomes

Researchers have been studying NAC since it was discovered. In 2010,²⁸ researchers found that it could inhibit the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in cells that were infected with highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus. These same proinflammatory cytokines play a crucial role in severe COVID-19.

Researchers have confirmed that in severe cases, cytokine levels are elevated and once they reach excessive levels it triggers a cytokine storm.²⁹ This causes significant tissue damage that NAC may be able to inhibit. In one 2020 paper,³⁰ the authors describe a case of COVID-19 in a patient with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.

This is a genetic disorder that can lead to hemolytic anemia³¹ and depletes glutathione,³² increasing the risk for human coronavirus infections such as the common cold. NAC was given to the G6PD-deficient patient and nine other COVID patients on ventilators. The NAC “elicited clinical improvement and markedly reduced CRP in all patients.”³³

Other published papers have since demonstrated there is a potential use of NAC in the treatment of COVID-19.^34,35,36 One 2021 study³⁷ compared consecutive patients hospitalized with moderate or severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

One group received only standard care and the other group received 600 mg of NAC twice daily for 14 days. There were 42 in the NAC group and 40 in the control group. Treatment with NAC led to lower rates of severe respiratory failure and significantly lower mortality rates.

Early at Home Treatment Is Crucial

NAC is only one in a line of treatment modalities that have proven to be successful but have been vilified by governmental agencies. Since the start of this pandemic, it seems global and national health authorities have done everything in their power to discourage and prevent people from accessing treatments, such as ivermectin^38,39,40 and hydroxychloroquine,^41,42,43,44 that compete with the COVID jab.

The actions around NAC appear to be yet another shameful attempt to prevent patients from helping themselves. By limiting access to nutritional supplements that have demonstrated the capability of reducing severity of the infection, agencies are essentially boosting the risk that infections progress into more serious cases.

Should you come down with symptoms of COVID-19, early treatment is crucial. Not only can it significantly reduce the length of time that you’re sick, but early treatment will also minimize your risk of long-hauler syndrome,⁴⁵ which can include symptoms that last much longer than the original infection.⁴⁶ This can include cough, body aches, difficulty sleeping, headaches and brain fog.

There is also scientific evidence that NAC can improve a variety of lung problems, including pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), common characteristics of COVID-19. For example:

• Research⁴⁷ published in 2018 found NAC reduces oxidative and inflammatory damage in patients with community-acquired pneumonia.
• Another 2018 study⁴⁸ found NAC improves postoperative lung function in patients undergoing liver transplantation.
• A 2017 meta-analysis⁴⁹ found a significant reduction in ICU stays among ARDS patients treated with NAC.
• NAC is also a well-known mucolytic used to help clear mucus out of the airways of cystic fibrosis patients.⁵⁰ Some studies also suggest NAC can help reduce symptoms of COPD and prevent exacerbation of the condition.⁵¹

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Just in time for one of the most joyous times of year, when families and friends tend to gather and celebrate, the globalists working on their (not so) covert takeover roll out yet another SARS-CoV-2 variant. Despite a scary-sounding name, the Omicron variant really appears to be a nothing-burger. As noted by The Hill’s “Rising” reporter Kim Iversen (see video above),¹ the panic around Omicron doesn’t make any sense.

The symptoms, according to Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, who discovered the Omicron variant, amount to little more than a couple of days of fatigue and malaise.

No serious illness has thus far been reported anywhere in the world. No Omicron patient has thus far required oxygen or even hospitalization for any of their symptoms. In other words, Omicron appears to be nothing more than a hyped-up cold. In a recent interview, Coetzee said:²

“Looking at the mildness of the symptoms that we are seeing — apparently, there’s no reason for panicking as we don’t see severely ill patients…

The most predominant complaint is severe fatigue for one or two days, with headache, body aches and pain. Some will have a scratchy throat and some will have a dry cough [that] comes and goes. Those are more or less the big symptoms we have seen.”

Dramatic Overreaction Designed to Drum Up Fear

Despite that, countries are going all-out again, closing borders and locking down their residents. Without any evidence whatsoever, chairman of the global physicians' society of the World Medical Association, Dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, told German reporters he believes Omicron could be as dangerous as the Ebola virus, and called for the closure of Christmas markets nationwide.³

The U.S., the U.K., Canada and the European Union have specifically banned travelers from southern Africa, even though the variant has been detected in several other countries already.

In fact, some reports claim Omicron emerged in The Netherlands before it was found in South Africa.⁴ It’s also been found in Australia,⁵ even though Australia’s borders have been closed to the unvaccinated since March 2020.⁶ So, how did Omicron get there?

The variant is also, as expected, blamed on the unvaccinated — and the “under-vaccinated.” Indeed, having just one or two doses of the COVID gene therapy will now leave you vulnerable to the same illogical attacks as having none at all.

People around the world are now finding that partial compliance is no compliance. You’re either all-in, or you’re out. You either do as you’re told, every time, or you’re a science-denying domestic terrorist, along with all those who saw through this game and said no from the start.

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For a dose of the insanity we’re up against, just listen to Australian premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews’ rant in the video above. In short, regardless of how many COVID shots you’ve submitted to, if you refuse the next, or if you speak out against mandates in any way, you are an anti-vaxxer and will be treated accordingly.

(On a side note, Andrews now stands accused of covert acts of treason and fraud and has been summoned for a court appearance December 17, 2021. In summary, he’s accused of enacting a law in 2004 that removed the British Queen from the Australian constitution, and deliberately concealing that material fact.⁷)

Vaccination Rates Have No Correlation to Caseloads

The fact that Africa’s low vaccination rate is now being blamed for the emergence of Omicron is particularly irrational considering the continent has extremely low levels of infection compared to the U.S., Canada and Europe, for example.

Real-world data analyses⁸ have repeatedly shown that vaccination rates have nothing to do with rates of infection. If anything, areas with the highest COVID jab uptake rates have higher case rates than areas with the lowest “vaccine” uptake, and this case is no different. Africa is “just not a hotspot for spread,” Iversen says.

She also points out the curious timing of Omicron’s emergence. Just days before the World Health Organization declared Omicron a variant of concern, South Africa had requested that COVID shot deliveries be delayed, as they have too many doses already. Nobody wants them.

By the end of November 2021, only 6% of the adult population in Africa had been “fully jabbed” against COVID.⁹ Worry about new variants and COVID in general is also very low. One poll found 77% of respondents in five African countries said they believe COVID will not be a serious problem over the next six months.¹⁰

Then, all of a sudden, Omicron is announced, and the world closes its borders to South Africans and blames the variant on their vaccine refusal. Coincidence? Meanwhile, the first four Omicron cases identified in Botswana were in fact fully jabbed.

Overall, all the evidence points to the COVID shots being ineffective and vaccine passports useless for preventing spread. As noted by Iversen, a plane with some 600 passengers was diverted for testing when the news about Omicron broke, and 10% of the passengers were found to have COVID; 13 of the 61 positive passengers had Omicron, while the rest had Delta or some previous strain.

So, while most intercontinental travel requires proof of vaccination, it’s clearly not doing anything to prevent spread of the virus. Fully “vaccinated” people are just as likely to carry and transmit the virus as the unvaccinated.

Australia Proposes New Digital ID System

While Omicron is making headlines around the world, Australia, a clear forerunner and test ground for this totalitarian takeover, is quietly trying to pass legislation to expand the digital identity system that currently allows Australians to access government services. As reported by The Conversation:¹¹

“After asking around among major stakeholders, it seems this piece of legislation has largely slipped under the radar since it was unveiled on October 1, [2021] ...

The government’s proposed Digital Identity system promises a “safe, secure and convenient way to prove who you are online every time you access government services”. In other words, it aims to streamline your experience by avoiding the need to repeatedly identify yourself when accessing a range of government services.

Currently, you can create a digital identity using a “myGovID” to access 80 government services. This allows you to link your data across services such as Medicare, Centrelink and the Australian Tax Office.

The new legislation proposes an expansion of powers to outsource the process of identity verification to approved Australian businesses. Presumably, this could lead to an expansion of acceptance of the digital ID system so it can be used more widely than just to access government services ...

But this goes against all the standard advice about not linking all of your personal information, such as tax history and medical history, as it can lead to mass analytics, behaviour profiling, targeted advertising, and more (as we saw in the Cambridge Analytica scandal) ...

The government says the proposed digital identity system will be entirely voluntary, and that the system is not designed to replace identification documents such as your birth certificate, visa, driver’s licence or passport.

It also says the system will not be used to access or record COVID vaccinations, and that the information collected will not be used for purposes such as consumer profiling or marketing. Of course, Australians who opt to use the system are being asked to put their trust in the government to share their data with “verified” identity providers.”

Australia Is ‘Ground Zero for Chinese Influence’

Well, what can I say? This was predicted. And note how, to start, this system is “voluntary.” That’s how they get the populating to agree with what will eventually become unacceptable. It’s a trap.

It’s entirely likely that it will not remain voluntary because this is precisely the kind of system that the technocrats want to implement around the world — with the power to control it all being centralized with an as-yet unidentified group of unelected leaders.

Many have been surprised at the speed and intensity at which Australia is being turned into a dystopian nightmare, free of any semblance of democracy or individual liberties. At the end of November 2021, the Australian army began forcibly removing residents in the Northern Territories to a quarantine camp in Darwin (another “conspiracy theory” that has become reality), and that’s in addition to hard lockdowns.¹²

But perhaps we should not be surprised. Australia (and New Zealand) are “ground zero for Chinese influence,” according to NPR international correspondent Rob Schmitz, who detailed that influence in an October 2, 2018, article.¹³

The Chinese embassy is located in the same compound as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization and Australia’s federal police, and the CCP has infiltrated most of Australia’s society, including universities, think tanks, scholarly associations, media and religious organizations.

In previous articles, I’ve discussed how the technocratic totalitarianism that’s coming for every country is modeled after the Chinese Communist Party’s style of authoritarian rule, and the digital surveillance apparatus that allows the CCP to reach into the homes and lives of every resident.

Not a single expression of dissent goes unnoticed (and typically not unpunished), as the CCP’s automated eyes and ears are everywhere, analyzing every written word and physical action. A digital ID system is part and parcel of that control structure.

We Need to Reclaim Our Lives From the Panic-Mongers

The purpose of the COVID countermeasures is quite clear. It has nothing to do with protecting us from a deadly virus. No. The pandemic is an excuse used to implement a series of sweeping societal changes that will bring us into a dystopian anti-human civilization from which we will not be able to extricate ourselves.

Our only hope is to reject any and all proposals that add, in any way, to the control structure being erected, because we are the ones building what will become our prison. More often than not, we’re being deceived into acquiescing, but that’s no excuse.

At this point, the plan is clear enough for most rational people to grasp, and once grasped, we must act. We’re building our prison when we go along with plans that strengthen or expand surveillance, data collection, data sharing and integration.

We’re building our prison when we go along with anything that limits or restricts our freedom. So, we must stop going along, saying “It’s just a mask;” “It’s just an injection;” “If it makes others feel safe, it’s worth it;” “I have nothing to hide so I don’t care about surveillance.”

We must reject all of these arguments and become laser focused on the end goal, which is to stop the march of tyranny and reassert our God-given rights and liberties. As Andrews so clearly demonstrates, we’re in an all-or-nothing situation.

There’s no middle ground anymore. We either resign ourselves to give up everything, or we refuse to give up even the tiniest bit of freedom, because they are intent on incrementally taking everything from everyone. As noted by Juliet Samuel in a November 26, 2021, Telegraph article:¹⁴

“The question of when exactly we plan to return to a normal level of risk appetite goes unasked, let alone answered ... We don’t know much about the latest variant ... There are some things we do know, however. We know that new variants are now a permanent fact of life ...

What we cannot accept, however, is that our basic freedoms are now just loans that can be called in at any time. Free societies do not require their citizens to get new vaccines every year in order to live a normal life. They do not allow teachers to shut down schools at the drop of a hat.

They do not suspend Christmas or close offices or ban drinking every time something unusual pops up in a laboratory somewhere. Last year, as the [U.K.] entered its third and most depressing lockdown over Christmas, politicians supporting the restrictions promised us that liberation was just around the corner.

‘Let’s not fall at the last hurdle,’ they said. ‘The vaccine is here!’ they said. ‘Just wait for the rollout and then enjoy your freedoms.’ Well, the rollout has happened. The virus is still out there, evolving, and it’s going to keep evolving forever.

This is as good as it’s going to get. So, we need to know when and how we will switch from ‘COVID mode’ back to ‘normal life.’ With so many panic-mongers resisting the change, it won’t happen without a fight.”

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