Mark Engler writes that the Bush Administration is making the world unsafe for Microsoft and Mickey Mouse.... Maybe George Bush and Dick Cheney aren't very good capitalists at all.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110405P.shtml

Jonathan Schell writes that the pivot is of course the war in Iraq, which in its origins and conduct was and remains a colossal, blood-drenched fraud. But now a majority of the public has caught on and wants the United States to withdraw.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110405O.shtml

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald has centered in on what are believed to be his final inquiries as to whether Mr. Rove was fully forthcoming regarding the belated discovery of an email confirming his conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper, to whom Mr. Rove had mentioned the CIA officer.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110405N.shtml

Senators of both parties said Thursday that Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court, had told them he believed the court might have gone too far in separating church and state.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110405K.shtml

By Bill Van Auken
4 November 2005

In the midst of the Bush administration’s belated response to the threat of a global bird flu pandemic, the Pentagon last week quietly issued a legal memorandum concerning Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s participation in the government’s plan to confront the danger.

This is not a small matter for the Bush administration, given the president’s single-minded determination to exploit what is a very real public health danger to promote his own political agenda of eliminating constitutional restrictions on the use of the U.S. military on American soil.

The government’s 396-page response plan, posted on the Internet this week ( http://www.pandemicflu.gov ), speaks of using military forces to seal off towns and communities declared to be stricken with the disease, imposing what the document refers to as a cordon sanitaire, or sanitary barrier.

Presumably this would mean armed troops manning roadblocks with orders to use deadly force to prevent people from either entering or leaving.

In a statement last month, Bush called for the use of the military in this fashion, and urged Congress to consider changing the law to give him greater latitude to deploy military forces domestically.

The statement drew sharp criticism from public health officials, who suggested that Bush was proposing what amounted to martial law, a policy that has little efficacy in dealing with the threat of a pandemic.

Last week’s Pentagon memo indicated that Rumsfeld could participate in the martial law component of the government’s plan.

He is recusing himself only from decisions regarding the use of drugs to prevent or treat bird flu.

The problem, it seems, is that the defense secretary is a major stockholder in Gilead Sciences, the company that holds the patent on the prescription antiviral drug Tamiflu, which is said to be the most effective medicine to prevent influenza or ameliorate the symptoms among those already infected.

From 1997 until he came back to Washington in 2001 to head the Pentagon and prepare for the war against Iraq, Rumsfeld was Gilead’s CEO.

He separated with the corporation on very profitable terms and still holds Gilead stock worth up to $25 million, according to his recent federal financial disclosures.

The stock’s price has soared from $35 to over $50 over the past six months as fears of the pandemic have grown.

As Fortune magazine put it on its web site, “The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it’s proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu...”

According to the government’s estimates, the pandemic could claim nearly 2 million lives in the U.S. and 50-60 million worldwide.

But for Rumsfeld and his friends, the danger has already produced windfall profits worth millions.

According to Fortune, the spiraling stock price has “made the Pentagon chief, already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer.”

He is not alone among prominent Republicans celebrating the good fortune that has accrued from the threat to the lives of millions.

George Shultz, the former secretary of state, is also a Gilead board member and has sold more than $7 million worth of the company’s stock since the beginning of the year. Also on the board and a major stockholder is the wife of California’s former Republican governor, Pete Wilson.

While Gilead holds the patent for Tamiflu, it has given marketing and manufacturing rights to the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG.

In return, it receives a 10 percent royalty on all of the Swiss firm’s sales.

Among the biggest US customers for the drug has been the Pentagon, which last July ordered $58 million worth of Tamiflu for troops deployed overseas.

Under Bush’s proposed plan, some $7.1 billion is to be spent on preparing to combat the potential pandemic, with much of it going to buy Tamiflu and other drugs.

The Pentagon would again be one of the main consumers of the medicine, as the government’s plan calls for protecting the troops it proposes to use in enforcing quarantines.

The silver lining that catastrophes hold for members of the Bush cabinet did not begin with Rumsfeld and bird flu.

Since he was elected, Vice President Dick Cheney, like the Pentagon chief a multimillionaire, has received $2 million from Halliburton Corp, which he previously headed.

Last July, the company announced a 284 percent increase in operating profits for its KBR division during the second quarter of this year.

KBR is responsible for implementing billions of dollars worth of no-bid, cost-plus Pentagon contracts in Iraq.

Halliburton’s own stock prices have tripled over the past year. They soared once again in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans in the expectation that the company would reap super-profits from government contracts for reconstruction.

This administration has provided the most powerful confirmation— and in the most personal terms— of the old adage that “it is an ill wind that blows no good.”

Rumsfeld has nothing to worry about in recusing himself from any decisions regarding Tamiflu.

His interests will be well looked after.

The source of the millions in profits that he and other well-connected Republicans are making off of the avian flu threat is the effective monopoly that Gilead and Roche hold over the production and supply of the antiviral drug.

Public health officials have warned that the drug companies exercising this monopoly cannot possibly produce enough of the medicine to meet the global demand, and have called for the government to abrogate the patent and allow the manufacture of generic equivalents of the drug.

Needless to say, such an obvious measure— which could save millions of lives— is not contemplated by the Bush administration.

On the contrary, it has used the pandemic threat as a means of boosting the power and profits of the big pharmaceutical corporations, among the most generous corporate contributors to both Republican and Democratic campaign funds.

Bush called for the government to grant the drug companies “liability protection,” providing them with immunity from court actions over deaths and injuries caused by faulty drugs.

See Also:

Bush bird flu plan includes windfall for pharmaceuticals giants [3 November 2005]

Bush seizes on flu threat to press for martial law power [7 October 2005]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/rums-n04.shtml


Informant: friends2b

Bei einer großen Koalition könnte es zu einer Laufzeitverlängerung von AKWs kommen, daher noch einmal ein Blick auf die Argumente der Atomlobby.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21265/1.html

04.11.05

Eine Gruppe von Vermögenden, Schriftstellern und Wirtschaftsexperten wirbt für eine Erhöhung der Vermögens- und Erbschaftssteuern. Die 21 Unterzeichner kritisieren, dass im internationalen Vergleich in Deutschland Vermögen am niedrigsten besteuert werde. Der Initiator des Aufrufs, der Hamburger Reeder Peter Krämer, sagte, es könne nicht sein, dass ernsthaft über eine Erhöhung der Mehrwertsteuer nachgedacht werde, ohne auch die Vermögenden stärker zu belasten. Eine Erhöhung der Mehrwertsteuer träfe Normalverdiener, Rentner und Arbeitslose wesentlich stärker. Unterdessen hat sich die für den Arbeitsmarkt zuständige Arbeitsgruppe der Koalitionsgespräche auf schärfere Regeln für das Arbeitslosengeld II geeinigt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12213

heroay wrote:

If you buy vitamin/mineral supplements, just go for the 'Natural/Organic' brands, and they don't have to be the most expensive... they will WORK for you. Any trash from your doctor against them, is because he feels threathened in his 6 figure income. And so be it. It's your health, or their bank accounts.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD There is no replacement for magnesium in the body Wed Nov 2, 2005 00:27
64.140.159.208

There is no replacement for magnesium in the body except magnesium. Magnesium depleted cells are in trouble and introducing another toxic drug will not build their defenses or strength. The average severe flu lasts approximately 10 days so we must question whether spending billions to stockpile Tamiflu to reduce that average by a day is really going to save anyone's life. The pharmaceutical industry, the CDC and the FDA of course see no problem with adding more toxic chemicals into the populations' blood streams. Without the selling of poison they simply would have no place on earth. Their very existence runs parallel to the commercial introduction and destruction of human health via toxic chemicals used in everything from foods to medicines. The entire medical industrial complex depends on the use of toxic drugs.

Yes it pays to be prepared for the flu, so stock up your medicine cabinets with effective substances that will help, not hurt your family. It would also be worthwhile to detoxify and chelate our families during the warmer months so hidden toxicities like mercury, which is known to increase the dangers of influenza, would be less present in our children's bodies. Truly doctors can be blamed when their patients die of influenza for it is not the virus that is deadly but the deficiencies of vitamin C and magnesium combined with the drugs and vaccines doctors use that bring old and young alike down to their graves.

Why is it a government, whose only money is the money they can borrow, so anxious to invest billions in Tamiflu and flu vaccines laced with mercury? The Boston Globe reported this month that alarmed infectious disease specialists have indicated that excessive use of Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs could lead to the emergence of flu strains that do not respond to antivirals, making both avian and regular flu strains even more of a health threat. Yet another reason for using a natural protocol is raised and as usual ignored by medical authorities. Dr. Klenner is right though, medical authorities would standby and watch millions die rather than entertain the thought that it all could be stopped by using Vitamin C and magnesium chloride.

There should be no doubt that key government officials are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for example, seems likely to profit from government purchase of Tamiflu, the drug developed by Gilead Sciences when Rumsfeld was president of the company. He is reported to hold major portions of stock in Gilead.[viii] Tamiflu was actually developed by Gilead which then gave Roche the exclusive rights to market and sell Tamiflu.[ix] Trust in our government's medical officials is in short supply.

And if that were not enough "The Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005" [iix] is in real danger of its getting passed by Congress. If it does pass, American citizens will be forced to submit to being drugged whether they want it or not. The bill would not only permit the American government to drug its people with untested and experimental vaccines, but drug companies would have complete freedom from liability. The sponsors of this bill also want to prevent us from using the Freedom of Information Act to learn what's in these vaccines. One must wonder if they are actually trying to cause an Avian Flu pandemic via these vaccines.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD Director International Medical Veritas Association http://www.imva.info http://www.detoxchelationclinic.com http://www.worldpsychology.net
+55-83-3252-2195 http://www.skype.com ID: marksircus

Special Note: The IMVA recommends whole food vitamin C over ascorbic acid. Suggested companies are MegaFood , which can be ordered online at VNF Nutrition, and New Chapter also from VNF. And for the magnesium chloride we recommend Global Light Network.

Bird Flu infecting Vietnamese Girl found Resistant to Primary Drug http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051015/NEWS01/510150466


The general gist of it is ..you don't need flu shots. Our medications deplete our bodies of Magnesium.

The bottom portion of the article includes additional information on magnesium.......the quote"below is so true....

Thanks for the forward Lina! Klenner is one of my heroes.

Some physicians would stand by and see their patient die rather than use ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) because in their finite minds it exists only as a vitamin.

biogerminator


ECOTERRA Intl.

In Bush and Cheney's energy vision, America, Europe, India and China will build more nuclear power plants. In mine, we just build smarter homes.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6641

by Timothy Karr, TomPaine.com

The CPB chair may be gone, but there's more housecleaning to be done to make public broadcasting safe from propaganda.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051104/tomlinsons_shady_exit.php

by Dennis Kelleher, TomPaine.com

A closer look at Scooter Libby's leaking and obstruction reveals a pattern of deception designed to conceal the actions of the White House.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051104/libbys_lying_habit.php

Asia Times
by Eshran Ahrari

11/04/05

The CIA's secret prisons in various countries, used to imprison and interrogate alleged terrorists, won't help to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. The question is, how many more of these 'black sites' will the US need to build to hold the next generation of terrorists?

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK04Ak04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Christian Science Monitor
by Daniel Schorr

11/04/05

The fascination with the subject of which official knew what about Valerie Plame and how they peddled the information should not distract us from contemplating the great con game that the administration played with the American people on the road to war in Iraq. Clearly the principals chose to assert, whether true or not, that only an invasion would spare America from the imminent danger of Iraqi nuclear and/or biological weapons. From early on, they bought and retailed a dubious bill of goods. ... So let's not get too bogged down in details of the coverup and the leak. More important is what was being covered up - the sometimes frantic effort to justify a war that didn't seem to have much justification...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1104/p09s02-cods.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

11/04/05

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, is of a type not seen in many years: he seems to personify the virtue of rationality and the spirit of rectitude combined. He seems, in short, the incarnation of an age gone by. This, in concert with his boyish yet stern visage, imbues him with authority and a distinctively American air: he looks vaguely like Charles Lindbergh, another American hero sprung from the heartland, and this physical resemblance raises, in my own mind, a possible propaganda ploy by Libby's defenders...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7908


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

11/03/05

A company the state hired to gather computerized facial imaging and thumbprints on all Texas driver's licenses failed to protect the identities of 7,500 Nevada drivers last spring, Nevada officials say. And, civil libertarians warn that the coming futuristic identification system could endanger both the private identities and individual liberties of law-abiding Texans. Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a five-year homeland security wish list Wednesday that calls for checking the coming high-tech thumbprints of all driver's license applicants with federal criminal and terrorism lists. Scott Henson, a privacy expert for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, called Perry's goal further evidence that a recent change in state law 'lets formerly private personal information be used by law enforcement for any conceivable purpose with no judicial oversight'

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3435054


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

11/03/05

For the first time in his presidency a majority of Americans question the integrity of President Bush, and growing doubts about his leadership have left him with record negative ratings on the economy, Iraq and even the war on terrorism, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows. On almost every key measure of presidential character and performance, the survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9917012/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Jack Random

The remaking of the United States Supreme Court has been framed by the most extreme ideologues in modern political history as a battle between strict constructionists in white hats and their counterparts in moral darkness: the judicial activists. In keeping with the Orwellian nature of the neoconservative culture, whose programmed indifference is delivered in the name of compassion, whose evisceration of individual rights is coaxed in the name of justice, and whose wars are prosecuted in the name of peace, the real judicial activists are the very same champions of neoconservative federalism. It is ludicrous to suggest that either John Roberts or Samuel Alito do not have an agenda. For all of their professional lives, they have been devoted to a rightwing cause of judicial activism. That their cause is regressive hardly negates its blatant activism. Far from ruling passively on the merits of the law in a given case, both men have pressed the cause of federalism to the detriment of individual rights...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Random1104.htm

by Mike Whitney

Did you know that under the terms of the new Patriot Act prosecutors will be able to seek the death penalty in cases where “defendants gave financial support to umbrella organizations without realizing that some of its adherents might eventually commit violence”? (NY Times editorial, October 30, 2005) So, if someone unknowingly gave money to a charity that was connected to a terrorist group, he/she could be executed. Or, that the Senate Intelligence Committee is fine-tuning the details of a bill that will allow the FBI to secretly procure any of your personal records without “probable cause” or a court order giving them “unchecked authority to pry into personal and business matters”? (“Republicans Seek to Widen FBI Powers,” New York Times, October 19, 2005) Or, that on June 29, President Bush put “a broad swath of the FBI” under his direct control by creating the National Security Service (a.k.a. the “New SS”)? This is the first time we’ve had a “secret police” in our 200-year history. It will be run exclusively by the president and beyond the range of congressional oversight...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Whitney1104.htm

http://www.mz-web.de/extern/forum/read.php?f=32&i=1404&t=1404



Samstag: Sternmarsch gegen "große Koalition der Sozialräuber" in Berlin (04.11.05)

Ein Bündnis bundesweiter Initiativen will am Samstag in Berlin mit einem Sternmarsch gegen die neue Bundesregierung demonstrieren. Die Veranstalter erwarten 10.000 Teilnehmer, wie ein Polizeisprecher am Freitag sagte. Die Protest unter dem Motto "Gegen die große Koalition der Sozialräuber" ist unter anderem gegen die "Hartz IV"-Reform und den Abbau von Arbeitsplätzen gerichtet. Auf der Agenda der Demonstranten steht auch der Einsatz für "soziale und politische Rechte, Frieden, Schutz der natürlichen Umwelt und ein menschenwürdiges Leben".

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12211

Italy's spymaster identified an occasional Italian spy named Rocco Martino as the disseminator of forged documents that described efforts by Iraq to purchase uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear weapons program, three lawmakers said on Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110405Z.shtml

Residents fearing for the health of their children have stepped up their fight to have a mobile phone mast removed from near their homes.

Families living in Longueville Drive, Oswestry, claim they were never consulted about the mast and fear the possible health risks associated with radiation.

Phil Chapman, of Longueville Drive, says the “unsightly” mast stands higher than a telegraph pole and he has now called on his neighbours to support his petition to have the mast removed.

Mr Chapman said: “It’s on land on the other side of the bypass opposite housing on Longueville Drive and it’s been there over 12 months.

“It’s been running on a generator but in the next couple of weeks they will be connecting it to the electricity supply under Longueville Drive.

Mr Chapman has also called on the support of Oswestry Borough Councillor Martin Bennett.

Councillor Bennett said a notification was made to the Borough Council on behalf of the mobile phone company Orange back in August 2001.

The full version of this story appears in tonight’s Shropshire Star

http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=39003

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3588/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

--------

General calls use of 152nd 'inexcusable' :

"Three years in . . . it's inexcusable to have brought a maintenance company over there to do anything but maintenance," Libby said. "It's particularly galling to me when I strip myself of full-time mechanics and they get there and they're in a tower."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/051104general.shtml


From Information Clearing House

http://ga3.org/campaign/moralbudget?rk=X1_Nvg41TmBHW


Informant: Andrea Ball

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/4037021.html


MARC PARENT

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777


Informant: beefree

To mark the one-year anniversary of President Bush's re-election Wednesday, a group called The World Can't Wait staged rallies at sites across the United States, calling for radical change in Washington. TO was in Los Angeles and San Francisco. To view a video report from Los Angeles, go to http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm. We will post a video report from San Francisco in the coming days as well.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305Q.shtml



Anti-Bush protests mark re-election anniversary

11/03/05

CBS News

"The 22nd Amendment ensures that a new commander in chief will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009. But some Americans aren't willing to wait that long. To mark the one-year anniversary of President Bush's reelection Wednesday, a group called The World Can't Wait staged rallies at sites across the United States, calling for radical change in Washington...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/02/national/main1005030.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Emmis Communications Bans Ad

New York 's HOT 97 Radio Stopped from Playing Ad Poised to Reach

PLAY THE BANNED AD EVERYWHERE!

Minutes before its scheduled airing, Emmis Communications, owners of Hot 97 in New York, pulled the plug on the World Can't Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime Ad. Hot 97 is "the" number one rap station in this city. The station itself had consciously approved the content of the ad knowing that this was both controversial and important. For some working inside the station, the idea of this spot reaching millions of urban youth in New York at this critical time was inspiring. Emmis Corporation's legal department called Hot 97 just as the spots were to begin to play.

The ad itself was a collaboration of artists Boots Riley from the Coup and Miles Solay from Outernational. It can break down walls.

Download the spot:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=51143479&url_num=2&url=http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=20&Itemid=33

Youth today have come of age under the gruesome shadow of the Bush Regime. An entire generation has been betrayed, brutalized, criminalized, enlisted. The US Military saturates the youth "market" with slick high-tech ads aimed at turning young people into cannon fodder and the Christian Right spends millions to indoctrinate youth with politics of intolerance and punishment.

We stand at this unprecedented time in history. The energy and creativity of young people around the country will take this movement to the level where it will be unstoppable.

This cannot go down this way. Here is what you can do:

PLAY THE BANNED WORLD CAN'T WAIT AD TODAY before November 2nd. Send this email to everyone you know in the media. Call in to local radio stations, send to place you think you can get this on the air. Forward this to press contacts and get it posted prominently on websites. Get d-jays to talk about this on the air and announce it at gigs. But most importantly PLAY THE SPOT which says it all. World Can't Wait Press contact at 866-973-4463

Call Ennis Communications at IR@emmis.com or call (317) 266.0100, and let them know that their actions have only given us one more reason to NOT WAIT on November 2nd. Demand that they lift the ban immediately.

Call and Hot 97 at (212) 229.9797, or email them hot97@hot97.com Tell them to take off the muzzle. Tell them they were right to approve the ad and they should play it now.

Then download the ad into your cell phones and i-pods and play them everywhere!

Here are the words to the ad. You get the picture.

Hey, this is Boots Riley from The Coup. The world can't wait to drive out the Bush Regime!

November 2, no work, no school.

Widespread support for actions grows! Check it out
http://www.worldcantwait.org/ or 866-973-4463

STAY TUNED - FOR MORE INFO!
The Operation Ceasefire Crew


Informant: ralphdraw3

Paris MATCH (extrait)
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=dernieresinfos&date_news=2005-11-04

From: "Kathy Guthrie" <kathyguthrie@fcnl.org>

FCNL

Legislative Action Message

Torture: Your Messages Are Working, Keep It Up – FCNL

This week has brought dramatic developments in the public demand for Congress to outlaw U.S. use of torture. Your letters and phone calls have had a powerful impact, contributing to a wave of shock and disgust over the administration’s torture policy and practice. Your messages are reaching Washington, with profound impact.

The administration is responding with backroom efforts to debilitate the McCain anti-torture amendment to the 2006 defense appropriations bill (HR 2863), to add exceptions to the amendment that would allow the president to authorize torture, or worse, that would exempt the CIA from the legal prohibition against torture. FCNL expects a vote very soon in the House on whether to retain the McCain amendment without modification. Action: Tell your representative that he or she must do everything possible to retain the Senate’s bi-partisan “McCain amendment” as part of the military appropriations bill. Tell them that the amendment must not be modified to allow for exceptions - no exception for “presidential waiver,” no exception for the geographic location of the detainee, and no exception for the CIA. To find a sample letter and information on your elected congressional representatives, visit the FCNL website at

http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8197461&type=CO

Background: This week, Fifteen Republicans in the House sent a letter to powerful committee heads, calling for adoption of the McCain anti-torture amendment, without modification, as part of the military funding bill. Newspaper editorials all over the country stood behind retaining the amendment. The Washington Post revealed on Nov. 1 that the CIA operates secret detention centers scattered across the globe, without the oversight of court or Congress or the Pentagon. Read the article. The New York Times reported Nov. 1 that the administration is engaged in a fierce debate about U.S. torture policy. Read the article. On less than 24 hours notice, over 50 House staffers and two members of the House attended an anti-torture Hill briefing by a panel that included a retired Army brigadier general, two religious leaders (Jewish and Catholic), a military law expert, and William Howard Taft IV, former Chief Legal Advisor to Colin Powell and former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense under President. Reagan.

To recap: President Bush has threatened to veto the 2006 military appropriations bill (H.R. 2863) because the Senate amended its version of the bill to require that: (1) treatment of all Department of Defense (DoD) detainees or detainees held in DoD facilities must follow the Army Field Manual for Intelligence Interrogation; and (2) the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (to which the U.S. is a signatory) governs all U.S. detainees. Read the text of the amendment at

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1567&issue_id=70

Administration supporters have proposed a number of exemptions from the outright ban on torture by U.S. forces, including: presidential waiver, allowing the president to issue an order that in certain circumstances, the rule against torture would not apply; an exception for some geographic locations, countries or locations outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts; and an exception for classified intelligence gathering, allowing the definition of “classified intelligence” rendered in the field to determine whether torture can be permitted in a given interrogation session. Vice-President Cheney has even proposed an outright exemption for the CIA from the constraints of the torture ban, an astonishing proposal that would give permission for a U.S. agency to practice torture in violation of U.S. statutory law and treaty obligations.

With an overwhelming bi-partisan vote (90-9), the Senate passed the McCain amendment, which would adopt clear interrogation guidance for U.S. personnel in the field, based on the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Army Field Manual is the sum of professional judgment about which interrogation methods work, and which do not. It states that detainee abuse is counterproductive to the psychological bonds that produce reliable results. The Convention Against Torture was signed by President Reagan and sent to the Senate by President George H.W. Bush. It prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Congress and the administration of President George H.W. Bush clarified those terms for application to U.S. forces by requiring use of the standards prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution. In other words, U.S. forces would be required to follow U.S. Constitutional standard to guide their own conduct.

The Army Field Manual states that, “Experience indicates that the use of prohibited techniques is not necessary to gain the cooperation of interrogation sources. Use of torture and other illegal methods is a poor technique that yields unreliable results.” Twenty-nine senior retired officers, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Shalikashvili issued their support for the McCain amendment, approving the amendment’s clarification of consistent, top-down rules for all U.S. forces to follow. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell also endorsed the amendment, aligning himself with the letter from General Shalikashvili and the “distinguished group of senior offices in support of the amendment.”

The McCain amendment does not prevent intelligence gathering. It prevents abuse and torture. The amendment insists on following the Army Field Manual, which in turn states that the methods that are expressly forbidden “should not be confused with psychological ploys, verbal trickery, or other nonviolent or non-coercive ruses used by the interrogator” to seek reliable information.

Visit the FCNL web site for further background information about the use of torture at

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=70


Stop New Nuclear Weapons! Find out how
http://www.fcnl.org/nuclear/

The Next Step for Iraq: Join FCNL's Iraq Campaign
http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/

Contact Congress and the Administration:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/


Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795
fcnl@fcnl.org *
http://www.fcnl.org
phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330

We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled We seek an earth restored.


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Study
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1103-02.htm

In a message dated 11/3/2005 9:02:55 AM, clg_news@legitgov.org writes:

Most Offspring Died When Mother Rats Ate Genetically Engineered Soy

By Jeffrey M. Smith Oct 2005 "The Russian scientist planned a simple experiment to see if eating genetically modified (GM) soy [Monsanto's Roundup Ready soy] might influence offspring. What she got, however, was an astounding result that may threaten a multi-billion dollar industry... [T]he real shock came when the rats started dying"...

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/forumpost.shtml?toppid=482253


Informant: JHW369

--------

Offspring Died When Rats Ate Genetically Engineered Soy
http://www.newswithviews.com/Smith/jeffrey8.htm

http://groups.msn.com/votefraudusa/3.msnw


Informant: Sasha Karlik

A planned mobile phone mast which sparked uproar in Earlsfield has been scrapped because it was submitted for a conservation area.

The 10m mast was planned for a recreation area between Godley Road and Tilehurst Road.

A 600-signature petition, including protests from children upset at their play space being ruined, was handed to Wandsworth Council.

Under Government guidelines, councils are powerless to stop masts being erected that are under 15m, unless there are special circumstances.

But Wandsworth Council spotted the mast was planned for a conservation area and told the telecommunications company to submit a planning application.

The company decided to bin the plans, and a T-Mobile spokesman said it would look into what it planned next.

Wandsworth Common councillor Kathy Tracey said it was a victory for residents who were unhappy about the mast being erected.

Coun Tracey said: "It is a great victory for the residents.

"We do not have to go through the whole process, they have withdrawn."

A Wandsworth Council spokesman said: "The company has gone back to the drawing board on this proposal."

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.648028.0.plans_scrapped_for_mast.php

A DECISION on controversial plans to erect a 20ft tall mobile phone mast on top of 23ft high building within a few feet of back gardens in Harrogate is expected within weeks.

As part of the planning process an independent government inspector visited the site off Hookstone Avenue on Wednesday.

He also viewed the area from Mount Gardens, Halstead Road and Beech Avenue in the Oatlands area.

Plans for the mast by mobile phone company O2(UK) Ltd were twice rejected for the same site by Harrogate Borough Council.

Following the latest refusal by councillors, the company lodged an appeal, sparking the site visit by independent government inspector Jonathan King. He announced that a decision would be made within weeks.

Coun Fred Willis (Con Pannal) who represents the area on the borough council, accompanied the inspector on his site visit along with a borough council planner, the appelants and three residents' representing the wider Oatlands Anti Mast Group.

Coun Willis said: "The development has caused an outcry because the mast would be so close to people's back gardens – little more than 12ft from their boundaries.

"If the scheme went ahead it would simply domineer residents' gardens because the 20ft structure would be erected on a building more than 23ft high making such an unwelcome impact."

Mr King visited back gardens which would be affected by the plans and also viewed the site from bedroom windows at the invitation of local residents.

After spending 45 minutes on the site visit which Mr Mr King spent 45 minutes making the site visit on roads surrounding a former leisure centre in Beech Avenue.

Coun Willis, in his submission to the appeal, said the mast would be a dominant and overpowering feature, creating an unneighbourly intrusion and should be rejected.

He said it would seriously diminish the amenity residents should reasonably expect to enjoy in their own back gardens.

04 November 2005

http://www.harrogatetoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=17&ArticleID=1243754

http://www.omega-news.info/travelers_mission.htm

I am forwarding this page to you aiming to introduce the UNITED HUMAN RESOURCE (UHR), India.

I hope the summary of UHR, ‘Traveler’s Mission’, and its proposed ‘Environment-Friendly Farming & Ecological Center and Training Institute for Vocational Education’ (EFFECTIVE) will give you a clear idea about the organization.

Please go through it and kindly send an email specifying your term of volunteering, your Date of Birth, Sex, Nationality, Passport number and Present address with phone number (if any) and your possible date of joining the mission to receive a formal Letter of Invitation from the UHR.

From the date of joining, the UHR takes every care for you including your food, accommodations etc. in a homely environment and arranges all transportation during the mission.

I would be extremely grateful for your comment, suggestions and advice and initiative in order to meet the required goal of UHR.

I believe you would be kind enough to render your joining hands to lead UHR towards its goal.

Wishing you all the best and hope to see you soon.

With Love and Regards

Sincerely

Pranab Saikia
UHR Founder Director

This is the page that I thought might interest you:
http://www.idealist.org/org/85197-183

--------

DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE: A DECLARATION FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/990236/

LINZ/WIEN. Die Verwendung von Handys in Autos, Bussen oder anderen öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln könnte bedenklich sein: Neue Studien weisen auf eine stark erhöhte Sendeleistung hin.

Moderne Handys richten ihre Sendeleistung selbständig danach aus, wie gut der Empfang ist: Dadurch steigt die Strahlungs-Belastung bei schlechten Bedingungen wie eben in der abschirmenden Umgebung einer Blech-Karosserie von Auto, Bus oder Straßenbahn besonders stark an. Dieser Zusammenhang wurde jetzt erstmals in Studien untersucht und bestätigt.

"Leider ist es ausgerechnet so, dass viele Handy-Benützer die Zeit im Auto oder in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln dazu verwenden, jemand anzurufen", räumt die Grün-Abgeordnete Gabi Moser ein: Gerade das sei leider problematisch. "Wenn man schon meint, unbedingt gleich telefonieren zu müssen, dann sollte man besser die Wartezeit an der Haltestelle nutzen und das Gespräch möglichst vor dem Einsteigen beenden", rät Moser.

Die Bluetooth-Technologie kabelloser Ohrhörer schütze nicht vor der erhöhten Sendeleistung: Zwar sei die Belastung geringer, wenn das Handy selbst in einer Halterung stecke oder am Beifahrersitz liege, doch verursache auch das Headset selbst eine elektromagnetische Strahlung.

Umweltmediziner warnen in diesem Zusammenhang auch vor drahtlosen Computer-Netzwerken, wie sie in vielen Haushalten schon üblich sind: Auch sie seien Strahlungsquellen.

vom 08.10.2005

http://www.nachrichten.at/lokal/392031?PHPSESSID=32de9d673c68888def2b9ce89b072677

--------

Grenzwerte und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/242821/

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 04/11/2005)

People who believe electricity makes them ill should be informed of ways to reduce their exposure to appliances such as computers and hairdryers, a senior government health adviser said yesterday.

Dr Jill Meara, of the Health Protection Agency, said that while there was no scientific evidence to show electrical sensitivity was real, those who thought they were sufferers should be advised to consider keeping their distance from electric devices.

Brian Stein suffers from electromagnetic sensitivity

However, the Department of Health immediately contradicted the advice and a series of scientists criticised the HPA for advising the public how to avoid health risks that had not been scientifically proven.

Dr Meara, the deputy director of the HPA's radiation protection division, said: "There is no proof that the symptoms are caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields, but people still have real symptoms.

"There is sufficient uncertainty that it is worth telling members of the public practical things they can do to reduce exposure in case they feel they are suffering from these fields.

"It would be things like making sure people are far away from their appliances and buying slightly more expensive [low power] hair dryers, unlike those tinny ones that teenagers use.

"It's not an easy thing to study in a lab as people who suffer from it are not comfortable in an environment with a lot of electrical equipment."

But Sir Colin Berry, emeritus professor of pathology at Queen Mary University, London, said: "If there is no scientific evidence that electrical devices are causing people harm, one should be extremely careful about giving advice to people about what to do. If people believe they are being harmed by something they must take their own steps to avoid them, but I don't think it should be part of government policy to advise them about it."

John Adams, professor of risk at UCL, said: "This is yet another example of the modern disease of compulsive risk assessment psychosis - otherwise known as Crap."

Some researchers believe some people suffer symptoms including fatigue, headaches and skin problems when exposed to electromagnetic fields. But mainstream scientific and medical opinion does not recognise electrical sensitivity as a real condition.

A recent review of 30 studies into electrical sensitivity by Dr James Rubin at the King's College London School of Medicine found no evidence that electrical fields cause ill health.

This study and one being carried out at the University of Essex into whether attention span and memory are affected by exposure to a mobile phone mast have received £750,000 from the Government and telecommunications industry.

The Definition, Epidemiology and Management of Electrical Sensitivity report published yesterday was written by Dr Neil Irvine, an HPA epidemiologist in Belfast. He concluded that there was no proven scientific link between electromagnetic fields and ill health.

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=electrosensitive
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1108878/
Electrical pollution can influence allergies: the asthma plague
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1139199/

But the report found that for some people the symptoms were real and could have a big impact on their lives. It said some people were so badly affected that they were forced to move house, give up their jobs or move to remote areas.

Brian Stein, 56, a businessman from Nottingham, began to get severe pains in his ear while using his mobile phone about four years ago. Now he cannot use a computer or a telephone for more than a few minutes or travel by modern car, electrified train or on long distance flights.

He had to drop out of the Essex University tests because they made him too ill.

He said yesterday: "The one thing the scientists and authorities don't want to do is talk to people like me who are affected. If they did they might find a way to prove that the condition is actually real."

nfleming@telegraph.co.uk

Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 538 7505 or e-mail syndication@telegraph.co.uk

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/04/nelec04.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/04/ixhome.html

--------

Dr Jill Meara

National Radiological Protection Board
Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OXI1 ORQ, United Kingdom
Fax: +44 1235 822 630
Tel: +44 1235 822 612
E mail:
Jill.Meara@hpa-rp.org.uk
jill.meara@nrpb.org
Jrmeara@aol.com (home)

--------

Electro Hypersensitivity

This is a copy of an e-mail I have sent to Jill Meara following her comments on EHS.

Sylvia


Hello Dr Meara

I corresponded with you a year ago, after I had attended the Symposium on EHS at the Royal College of Medicine, where you gave a presentation. I was heartened by your tone at that meeting, feeling that a new system of investigation was going to take place in order to try to resolve the disputed condition of EHS in many individuals. You intimated that the HPA were to "cast their net wider" in order to take in research from around the World in an attempt to establish whether EMR caused ill health in certain sensitive groups.

When asked by me how your measures were going to help my community in Essington (South Staffordshire) who have suffered the effects of numerous mobile phone base stations for 15 years, you answered "I am afraid these measures will not help communities like yours for 5-10 years".

In the wake of the recent publication of a report on EHS by the HPA this statement has been attributed to you (reported in the Telegraph) -

Jill Meara, the agency's deputy director, said: "In the lab, you can't reproduce the symptoms these people report, so scientifically there is definitely no link."

Estimates of the numbers of people around the world affected by electrical sensitivity range from a few per thousand people to a few per million. In about 10% of cases the symptoms are severe enough to affect quality of life. If people had symptoms, Mrs Meara added, they could try cognitive behaviour therapy, or in the case of headaches, painkillers. "They can also reduce their exposure to electrical fields by changing their appliances."

I would like you to explain to me how my community can follow your advice and what exactly you envisage can happen over the next (now) 4-9 years to make that difference.

If laboratories cannot reproduce symptoms experienced by EHS individuals then £7.5m is being wasted at Essex University - and the only answer is to put funding into epidemiological studies in villages like Essington, and many other communities around Britain, where those symptoms are in evidence. These studies need not span several years - all that is required is to monitor what physiological changes take place in the body in areas of high emissions (also easily monitored).

I would appreciate your comments please.

Regards

Cllr Sylvia Wright

-------

Sylvia,

An excellent letter if I may say so. The wind blows one way and Jill Meara follows; it reverses direction and so does she.

It doesn't need me to tell you that the response, if any, will amount to "a waste of rations" as is said in military terms. But that is no reason for not keeping up the pressure.

David

--------

Dear Jill Meara

There was a recent excellent BBC programme in which their reporter spoke from Sweden and mentioned the financial and practical help available from the Government for victims of electro-sensitivity. As the HPA have now denied that the condition exists - but there are many of us who know we are suffering from ES due to phone masts, a great number of us are now seriously doubting the capabilities of the HPA.

Withholding acceptance/knowledge of a condition that so many people are suffering from will not make the condition disappear, nor will it help the public 'trust' the reliability of the HPA's knowledge and 'protection role'!

I am seriously worried that the Health Protection Agency's current responsibility seems only to protect the interests of big business and not the general public's health!

Please will you confirm if you and your colleagues at the HPA have read and taken notice of the attached reports that are available to everyone to read on the Internet?

1. This 7 page Naila report which sets out the other health risks associated with masts.

http://www.tetrawatch.net/papers/naila.pdf

2. PRESS RELEASE May 1, 2005

Cell phone base stations change brain currents and cause unwellness

Research in Austria

The radiation of a cell phone base station at a distance of 80 metres causes significant changes of the electrical currents in the brains of testees (measured by electroencefalogram, EEG). All the testees said they felt unwell during the radiation, some of them seriously.

That is the result of an investigation by a team of Austrian scientists. They measured alpha 1 (8 to 10 Hz), alpha 2 (10 to 12 Hz) and beta waves (13 to 20 Hz). A small density of GSM 900 and GSM 1800 radiation already caused several significant changes in these three frequency ranges. This means the body is stressed - temporarily this may have some positive effect, in the long run however stress certainly reduces the quality of life, capacity for work and state of health.

The results of the research will be published in international scientific magazines and confirmed by replication. The research was financed by Land Salzburg in Austria. The testees were nine women and three men between 20 and 78, who considered themselves 'electrosensitive'. They were invited to sit in a chair, eyes covered and ears plugged. Of course they were not aware of the sequence of the tests.

The side of the room directed at the cell phone base station was shielded against radiation, except for a small part which could be (un)shielded easily. In the first phase, the radiation density near the head was 26 mikroWatt/m2, in the second phase 3327 mikroWatt/m2 and in the third phase 26 mikroWatt/m2 again. Several other environmental parameters were measured to be sure they could not influence the results, such as radiation by television and FM-radio, noise, CO2, temperature, relative humidity, low frequency magnetic fields and soherics (electrical discharges in the atmosphere, possibly causing radiation).

During the second phase the parameters of all the brainwaves, measured by EEG, changed significantly. Afterwards the testees were asked to describe their experiences. All of them felt unwell during the second phase. They reported symptoms like buzzing in the head, palpitations of the heart, unwellness, lightheadedness, anxiety, breathlessness, respiratory problems, nervousness, agitation, headache, tinnitus, heat sensation and depression.

According to the scientists, this is the first worldwide proof of significant changes of the electrical currents in the brain by a cell phone base station at a distance of 80 metres. It has been scientifically established before that the radiation of cell phone base stations leads to unwellness and health complaints.

Cell phone base stations are not the only source of radiofrequent radiation. Also UMTS-videophones, DECT-telephones, WLAN- and WIFI-networks, C2000/TETRA-networks and many other digital wireless communication systems contribute to the level of radiation. In many houses and offices the densities by DECT and WLAN are higher than those by cell phone base stations.

The scientists involved were dr. med. Gerd Oberfeld (Land Salzburg, dept. of environmental medicin), dr. Hannes Schimke (Salzburg University, EEG-measurements, psychofysiology, statistics) and univ. prof. dr. Günther Bernatzky (Salzburg University, neurodynamics and neurosignalling). The research was supported by dr. med. univ. Gernot Luthringshausen (permanent member of the ethical commission of Land Salzburg, neurology and psychiatry).

Sources in German:

http://www.salzburg.com/cgibin/sn/printArticle.pl?xm=1524270 http://www.salzburg.gv.at/themen/gs/gesundheit/umweltmedizin.htm

and 3.

The Balmori paper supports other truly independent research on animals, where psychology cannot be blamed for ill health and loss of wellbeing.

Omega see "Pulsed microwave radiation and wildlife - Are Cell Phones Wiping Out Sparrows?" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/926007/

I look forward to hearing from you, hopefully with some better news for those of us who are adversely affected by being near mobile phone masts, which we cannot switch off or choose not to live near, as is the case with the mobile handsets.

Yours truly

Jane Lee
Glebelands Otterton Devon EX9 7JJ

--------

Jill Meara e-mails

The following is the dialogue so far on EHS studies:

I corresponded with you a year ago, after I had attended the Symposium on EHS at the Royal College of Medicine, where you gave a presentation. I was heartened by your tone at that meeting, feeling that a new system of investigation was going to take place in order to try to resolve the disputed condition of EHS in many individuals. You intimated that the HPA were to "cast their net wider" in order to take in research from around the World in an attempt to establish whether EMR caused ill health in certain sensitive groups.

When asked by me how your measures were going to help my community in Essington (South Staffordshire) who have suffered the effects of numerous mobile phone base stations for 15 years, you answered "I am afraid these measures will not help communities like yours for 5-10 years".

In the wake of the recent publication of a report on EHS by the HPA this statement has been attributed to you (reported in the Telegraph) -

Jill Meara, the agency's deputy director, said: "In the lab, you can't reproduce the symptoms these people report, so scientifically there is definitely no link."

Estimates of the numbers of people around the world affected by electrical sensitivity range from a few per thousand people to a few per million. In about 10% of cases the symptoms are severe enough to affect quality of life. If people had symptoms, Mrs Meara added, they could try cognitive behaviour therapy, or in the case of headaches, painkillers. "They can also reduce their exposure to electrical fields by changing their appliances."

I would like you to explain to me how my community can follow your advice and what exactly you envisage can happen over the next (now) 4-9 years to make that difference.

If laboratories cannot reproduce symptoms experienced by EHS individuals then £7.5m is being wasted at Essex University - and the only answer is to put funding into epidemiological studies in villages like Essington, and many other communities around Britain, where those symptoms are in evidence. These studies need not span several years - all that is required is to monitor what physiological changes take place in the body in areas of high emissions (also easily monitored).

I would appreciate your comments please.

Thank you for your enquiry. I enclose a copy of our press release and the report that more accurately reflects our conclusions than the press reports. There are a couple of things with noting, firstly we were somewhat surprised to find that most of the scientific studies of Electrical Sensitivity (ES) have looked at people who attribute symptoms to power frequency appliances. The area of radio frequency exposures is less well researched and certainly deserves more attention, hence the studies funded by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR) at Essex and elsewhere. There is no theoretical reason why microwave (radio frequency) radiation should have the same effect on the body as power frequency fields, even though they are part of the same electromagnetic spectrum (as are visible light, ultraviolet and nuclear radiation) so it is unwise merely to extrapolate studies from these different exposures. The MTHR programme is funding epidemiological studies but these are fraught with difficulty in measuring exposures. Most people do not stay in the same place all day and exposures away from home may overwhelm those experienced at home. We have also found that in about half of sites, the largest exposure to people in an area is NOT from the local mast but from one further away. These factors are very difficult to control for in observational studies. Some of the MTHR funding is being used to develop a body-worn exposure meter that may help to make epidemiological studies more useful on the future. I hope this is helpful

Thank you for your reply to my e-mail and for attaching the full report from the HPA on EHS.

I note your comments on epidemiological studies being undertaken and wonder if you could give me more details of where these studies were conducted and the results so far. I would welcome such studies in my village and feel that we would be an excellent subject because of the high number of phone masts and the high incidence of illness and death.

I understand that you need to take care in conducting epidemiological studies on subjects who are electrosensitive, but I still feel that, with todays technology, it is perfectly possible to collect data on the pulsed microwave emissions while monitoring changes in the functioning of the body of the subject. It is irrelevant whether the effects are from a source close by or remote - the main object should be to measure the emissions in the environment where the subject is situated.

I would welcome your further comments on this very serious and urgent matter.


All the MTHR studies are described on the website http://www.mthr.org.uk . The epidemiological study is described as "currently underway" wh ich suggests there are no results yet. As I said in my last E-mail, we are working on a personal exposure device that would allow detection of microwave fields in the environment where people are as they move around.


Could I ask you to let me know if such a device is available as and when this happens. Could you also confirm whether volunteer communities will be sought.

Here is the weblink to the research on the personal exposure meter. As far as I am aware it is not available commercially. You will note that certain problems were found with the test device that need to be addressed. http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/hpa_rpd_reports/2005/hpa_rpd_008.htm

I do not know if volunteers are being sought for the MTHR epidemiological studies, you would be best to make direct contact through MTHR. I have copied this to Nigel Cridland the MTHR administrator here who knows a lot more than I about all the projects.


Thank you for passing on my e-mail to Nigel Cridland. I have looked at the details for the PEM meter, but am more interested in the "body suit" that you spoke of in your previous e-mail.


I think I said "body worn" (i.e. clipped to the belt). I did not mean "body suit. Sorry if I confused you.


Nevertheless, this is the device I am more interested in if you have more details.

I only know of one meter, the PEM.


Then you are right, I have misunderstood. I think what is needed is a device to monitor, perhaps, blood circulation, muscle activity (or lack of), nerve impulses, etc., in order to determine what is happening in the body of the subject. Surely, this is the only way. The present practice of asking the person to describe what they are feeling is leading to the unhelpful diagnosis of "all in the mind".


Not our area of expertise I'm afraid. The nearest I can think of is the physiological monitoring that anaesthetists do while people are under anaesthetic.


If epidemiological studies are being done, I would think this type of device is essential. Otherwise results of such studies are always going to be "inconclusive".

--------

Which shows just how much she is missing the point.

a) there are no epidemiological studies

b) MTHR is exhausted, some research appears not to have been done at all, and hardly any other has been published, except the DSTL on Ca++ which was published before being peer reviewed, the obscure driving and mobiles and one or two other bits. None is particularly accessible and the MTHR website is woefully out of date.

c) the dosimeter testing has been at least partly published by HPA, but tells us nothing other than the capacity to check some features of incident radiation on the wearer as they go about their lives. Undoubtedly of interest it monitors the radiation, not the body response. This must not be used to "prove low levels", because the complaint is already that extremely low levels do have a chronic effect, but that we don't know if the cause lies in the MW frequency, the modulation characteristics, or the power levels, or the combined effects of multiple carriers.

d) The RPD is clearly not the place to pronounce on safety, since they self-confessedly do not have the medical expertise. But since they are part of the HPA it is high time they passed it on to others or undertook meaningful collaboration.

Andy

--------

And this from Nigel Cridland.

Sylvia


RE: Electrosensitivity Von: "Nigel Cridland"
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 16:50:29 -0000
to: "Jill Meara"


Dear Mrs Wright,

The MTHR Programme Management Committee considers that whilst the availability of a personal exposure meter is an interesting development, further trials would need to be undertaken before it could be used in a full epidemiological study. The Committee has identified a need for work in this area as part of the proposed second phase of the MTHR Programme, for which funds are currently being sought. We are also keeping in contact with European researchers who have work in progress to further evaluate the potential of the personal exposure meter for epidemiological investigations. Progress towards a full epidemiological study will obviously depend on the outcome of this work and the work proposed by MTHR. Any new developments will be published on the Programme web site at http://www.mthr.org.uk

Regards,

Nigel Cridland
MTHR Scientific Co-ordinator.

--------

From: Eileen O'Connor
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 18:09:37 -0000
Subject: FW: Check out Press Complaints Commission

From Catherine

Press Complaints http://www.pcc.org.uk/index2.html

Commission: The telegraph and the Times ran articles in which they used so called experts to contradict Dr Meara on electrosensativity. 1 SIR COLIN BERRY had no knowledge of the subject. From the quote from him he admits total ignorance of the subject. John Hunt professor of GEOGRAPHY was not even medically or scientifically qualified to send out health advice contradicting a medical Doctor. Making out that people are mentally ill on his advice is very dangerous, as someone recently won a case in European law, who was wrongly committed as insane due to similar ignorance. The use of his Title Professor was misleading as this has no bearing on the subject, as GEOGRAPHY IS NOT THE QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED, OR RELEVANT for this. The papers did not make his Title of Professor clear. As people were misled by this, a complaint should be submitted, so that this can be corrected in the newspapers. I will also see if a similar thing exists for Academic complaints so this also can be done. I would ask everyone to complain to stop the cover up as the news today about the rise in mouth cancer is very worrying and I fear nothing to do with alcohol.

--------

Dear Jill Meara

Thank you very much for your fast response to my email queries and thank you for your comments.

Please will you expand your kind explanation of research that has to be published in a peer reviewed journal further for me? For instance, is the paper titled 'Increased Incidence of Cancer Near a Cell-Phone Transmitter Station' by Ronni Wolf MD and Danny Wolf MD, published in the Internal Journal of Cancer Prevention Volume 1, Number 2, April 2004, eligible to be considered by the HPA?

As I am just an ordinary concerned person who becomes ill in the vicinity of mobile phone masts, I really do need to know how much protection the HPA is affording myself and the great numbers of other people like me. Please will you let me know what journals the HPA continually scours and uses for information on the adverse health effects from mobile phone masts?

Finally, as the methods used in the Austrian research on electro-sensitivity mentioned in my earlier email do not appear to be expensive or complicated, please can you tell me if similar research is currently being carried out in Britain?

In the meantime, thank you once again for your kind assistance so far.

Best wishes

Mrs Jane Lee

--------

Dr Neil Irvine, CDSC NI, coordination epidemiology, Tel: 028 90263765, Tel: 028 90263765

He is regional epidemiologist of HPA Belfast.

I found also dr. Helene Irvine, Public Health Consultant to the Glasgow Health Board, about GSM phones and masts in 2000,
http://www.feb.se/EMFguru/EMF/cell-health/cellphone-health.html
but I really do not know if she is related to Neil Irvine. There are a lot of people called Irvine.

Mike Clark, Mike.Clark@hpa-rp.org.uk answers the questions to Neil Irvine.

Neil Irvine has written about sexually transmitted infections

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2005/050203.asp and

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=cache:UXC26P4Jr9UJ:www.aidsmap.com/en/news/B46322FF-ED9A-4FC4-B471-8292356165F3.asp%3Ftype%3Dpreview+%22irvine+n.%22+hpa&hl=en&lr=&strip=1

It is not clear why NRPB has asked Neil Irvine to do the investigation.

Michael Clark of the NRPB says: "There is no evidence for this effect but lots of people report it. They are affected by something, they go a bit strange and all sorts of symptoms appear."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,,1398868,00.html

I think what happens in U.K. now is what happened before in Sweden. Not only the WHO, also Michael Clark of NRPB says many people report EHS/ES.

Still, they act as if it can not be caused by environmental radiation/fields, though the people involved report real physical symptoms and the relationship with more or less radiation/fields.

Dr Neil Irvine, EHSSB Eastern Health and Social Services Board, is mentioned here on page 62 (about physically disabled and sensory impaired people)

http://www.ehssb.n-i.nhs.uk/EBWEB.NSF/0/f374826006e4c54b80256f540041ccd1/$FILE/PDConsultation.pdf
EHSSB is in Belfast.

Neil Irvine has advise about meningococcal disease

http://www.ehssb.n-i.nhs.uk/ebweb.nsf/4cdbab0966e6c2f880256c1d00408939/eafc48183b6e706f80256e6a005171c1?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,irvine

Neil Irvine was one of the authors of a report for HPA before:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/injectingdrugusers/Shooting_Up_2004_data.pdf

He has also co-worked on this:

http://www.cdscni.org.uk/publications/MonthlyReports/Volume_13_2004/No%2011.pdf#search='neil%20irvine%20hpa'

I have no idea why Neil Irvine was asked or proposed to write the HPA/RPD 010 report.

Interesting question, just ask him or the HPA.

Frans

--------

Dr Neil Irvine is described on the title page of the report as: Regional Epidemiologist, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Northern Ireland, HPA Belfast.

Now more evident on Google for this latest report, he does have a history with streptococcal infections, HIV and STDs (for example) and his email is neil.irvine@hpa.org.uk . His final report as published may reveal a poor appreciation of EHS and presentation of the issues, but we really should not assume he is a poor epidemiologist.

I'm afraid that knee-jerk reactions that people are either faithfully represented by the press, or that they are necessarily mad, bad or sad just because they don't say what we want, will just not do. It doesn't mean they are good and faithful scientists either, but the basis of dialogue is respect.

Bear with the frustration in this game, it's a long one, and there is a lot of real communication still to do. We must ask direct pointed questions politely, not criticise people we do not know. (There is highly contrasting recent communication with Jill Meara that can be quite instructive here.)

Andy

--------

Response from Jill Meara

Dear Mrs Lee

Firstly, sorry that I called you Mr Lee in the last E-mail, slip of the finger I'm afraid. In general the HPA looks at evidence from all sources but would give especial weight to high quality reports in the peer reviewed scientific literature. However, even these journals can publish reports that do not have the best methodology or that report "chance" findings that are not backed up by their own results or replicated in later studies. Therefore we would always review the detailed methods of any study for possible sources of bias and confounding. The International Journal of Cancer Prevention is a peer reviewed journal but we would still subject any papers in to a quality review. We do not have a list of "publications that we scan", but would take information from any source, but examine it carefully for quality. The problem with epidemiology is that "cheap and cheerful" methods, whilst attractive to researchers who have limited resources, may not end up with a study that is rigorous enough to trust the conclusions drawn. In many ways epidemiological studies are much more difficult to design than laboratory studies precisely because there is no "control" over the lives of real people. Another point is that not all authors draw conclusions that are supported by their data. If you want to know more about the epidemiological studies going on in the UK at the moment, look on the MTHR website at mthr.org.uk. If you want to know more about the design of epidemiological studies, definitions of bias and confounding etc why not try to get hold of an epidemiology textbook such as "Essential Pubic Health Medicine" which is co-written by the Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson and his late father who was also a legend in Public Health. You could also look at the website of CASP, which is a programme based in Oxford that trains both Health Service staff and patients how to critically appraise the scientific literature. http://www.phru.nhs.uk/casp/casp.htm

I hope these observations are helpful.

Dr Jill Meara
FFPH Deputy Director/Public Health Physician

--------

Er, yes?

What epidemiological studies?

Please, anyone, help me find them here! As far as I have ever been able to tell, there are no MTHR epidemiological studies, just one or two papers discussing the nature of such studies.

See my earlier summary here:
http://www.tetrawatch.net/science/mthr.php

Andy


From Mast Sanity

--------

HPA-RPD-010: Definition, Epidemiology and Management of Electrical Sensitivity
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1115204/

50% increase in cancer in teenagers - Oral cancer cases increase
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1160454/

An open letter to Rod Read, director of Electrosensitivity-UK
http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000654.php



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=electrosensitivity
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=HPA-RPD-010
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Brian+Stein
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Jill+Meara
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Rod+Read
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Nic+Fleming

Todd Gitlin: Not so fast. George W. Bush's season of defeats does offer the appearance of deliverance for Democrats. While Harry Reid's move Tuesday to throw the Senate into closed session to demand answers on Iraq intelligence was a good start, Democrats need a lot more of such fighting spirit to prevail, despite all Bush's troubles. It's going to take a lot more than indictments to defeat the GOP. The only way the Democrats can win back at least one house of Congress is to look and sound like fighters. And the only way to look like fighters and sound like fighters is to be fighters.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305F.shtml

Rep. Tom DeLay's staff tried to help lobbyist Jack Abramoff win access to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, an effort that succeeded after Abramoff's Indian tribe clients began funneling a quarter of a million dollars to an environmental group founded by Norton.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305D.shtml

The White House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President Bush's use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305C.shtml

Bob Herbert: The reporter, Dana Priest, gave us the best glimpse yet of the extent of the secret network of prisons in which the CIA has been hiding and interrogating terror suspects. Worse stories are still to come - stories of murder, torture and abuse. We'll watch them unfold the way people watch the aftermath of terrible accidents. And then we'll ask, "How could this have happened?" Ultimately the whole truth will come out and historians will have their say, and Americans will look in the mirror and be ashamed.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305B.shtml

Bush may find himself besieged by charges of cronyism, but that doesn't seem to have affected his picks for a panel assessing intelligence matters.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110305A.shtml

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on Thursday for access to all foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States after a report of a covert CIA prison system for al Qaeda captives.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10869.htm



International Committee of the Red Cross Seeks Access to CIA Prison
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1103-01.htm

The inside story of how the Bush administration pushed disinformation and bogus intelligence and led the nation to war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10871.htm

The United States risks losing sight of some key foreign policy issues, including relations with China and the Muslim world, because of its "single-minded focus" on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a former senior Pentagon official said.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10864.htm