Health freedom action alert: FDA attempting to regulate supplements, herbs and juices as "drugs"

NewsTarget.com printable article

Originally published April 11 2007

Health freedom action alert: FDA attempting to regulate supplements, herbs and juices as "drugs"

by Mike Adams



When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA's end game. A new FDA "guidance" document, published on the FDA's website, reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage rocks will be classified as "medical devices" and require FDA approval. The document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is accepting public comments on the docket until April 30th. They tried to sneak this under the radar, but word got out and now the natural health community is up in arms over this rule. If you wish to protect your access to nutritional supplements, herbs, essential oils, homeopathic medicine or any other "complementary" or "alternative" modality, it is crucial that you take action to post your comments with the FDA right now and write your representatives in Washington to put a stop to this outrageous effort to destroy natural medicine. (And be sure to really write them. Just sending an email has virtually no impact compared to writing a physical letter in your own words.)

Click here for the direct link to the FDA's comment posting page for this docket.

This move by the FDA is designed to once and for all destroy the 1994 DSHEA law that has made supplements "legal" while eliminating nutritional supplements and natural medicine from the United States, ensuring monopoly profits and control by drug companies and the FDA. It is the latest action item by the FDA / Big Pharma conspiracy that will not stop until health freedom has been abolished, drug companies rule the nation, and every citizen is diagnosied with a fictitious disease and drugged up on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals.

FDA "experts" will decide what's a drug or medical device

Under these proposed guidelines, FDA "experts" (the same corrupt officials who reapproved Vioxx after it killed over 50,000 Americans) will decide whether herbs, supplements, vitamins or simple devices like massage stones are to be regulated as drugs and medical devices. If the FDA experts, in their infinite wisdom, decide that these things are to be reclassified, they will essentially be outlawed, stripped from the shelves, and regulated out of existence. Anyone who dares to manufacture, promote or sell such products may be branded a criminal and rounded up by armed FDA agents who have a well established history of suppressing natural medicine.

I've documented much of the criminal history of the FDA in my recent book, Natural Health Solutions and the Conspiracy to Keep You From Knowing About Them, which suddenly seems even more relevant today than when I wrote it. In that book, I documented the FDA ordered book burnings, the raids on vitamin shops, the kidnapping of natural health practitioners, the threats, intimidation and oppression tactics that have been used to suppress natural medicine for nearly a hundred years now. And now, with this CAM Products Regulation effort, the FDA is about to deal a final, fatal blow to the alternative medicine industry, outlawing nutritional supplements, functional foods, homeopathy and natural therapies all at once.

This is not a drill. It really is time to be alarmed. Nothing else I've written about this year is as important as this sinister plot to destroy natural medicine and force the American population to resort to dangerous prescription medications sold at monopoly prices under a system of medical tyranny.

Your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs, and even energy medicine modalities is now directly threatened, and you have until April 30 to make your voice heard.

Action items

First, read the document yourself. Click here for the PDF version.

Take special care to notice the following text, taken directly from the FDA's own document: (italicized text is from the FDA, with my own translation following)

"...a product used in a CAM therapy or practice may be subject to regulation as a biological product, cosmetic, drug, device, or food (including food additives and dietary supplements) under the act or the PHS Act. Second, neither the act nor the PHS Act exempts CAM products from regulation."

Translation: Anything used in any system of medicine may now be regulated as a drug or medical device by the FDA. This includes a biofeedback machine, acupuncture needles, a cup of herbal tea, massage oil, a glass of vegetable juice or even a bottle of water.

"...if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for use in juice therapy to promote optimal health... [and] if the juice therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be subject to regulation as a drug under the Act."

Translation: Raw vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug and must be FDA approved as a drug if it has any health effect whatsoever. Handing a cup of raw vegetable juice to someone and telling them it's good for the detoxification of their liver will get you arrested for practicing medicine without a license and promoting an "unapproved drug."

..."biologically based practices" includes, but is not limited to, botanicals, animal-derived extracts, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, prebiotics and probiotics: whole diets, and "functional foods". ...a botanical product intended for use in treating a disease would generally be regulated as a drug." ..."functional foods" may be subject to FDA regulation as foods, dietary supplements, or drugs under the Act.

Translation: All foods, supplements, superfoods and functional foods may be reclassified as drugs by the FDA, then regulated off the market.

If... the manipulative and body-based practices involve the use of equipment (such as massage devices) or the application of a product (such as a lotion, cream, or oil) to the skin or other parts of the body, those products may be subject to regulation under the Act."

Translation: Massage oils and creams will be regulated as "drugs" and acupuncture needles as "medical devices." Taking this absurdity one step further, massage therapists who use their fingers to touch patients may have their fingers regulated as "medical devices" and be accused of practicing medicine for merely touching patients.

Things that will be regulated out of existence

It is very clear that the FDA is intending to regulate and ultimately destroy the entire CAM industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Based on the explanations in the FDA's own document, the following things are likely to occur:

• All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will be stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to empty labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.


• Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.


• Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.


• Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as "medical devices."
  
• Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be regulated as "medical devices" and require FDA approval before being sold or used.


• Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.


• Bottled water that "treats" dehydration will be regulated as a drug.


• Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy will have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It's true. The FDA will actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, "Those are medical devices!")


• Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA "review." (The only things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals, which is exactly what Big Business wants.)


• Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.


• Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for "practicing medicine without a license."


• Citizens owning personal inventories of "unapproved drugs" (vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.


• The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries may be banned.

Keep in mind that the FDA is the same agency that:

• Wants to label irradiated foods as "pasteurized."


• Voted to put the deadly drug Vioxx back on the market after tens of thousands of deaths, even after its own manufacurer pulled it from pharmacies.


• Raided a church at gunpoint, confiscating biofeedback machines and charging that they were "practicing medicine" by counseling church members on issues like depression.


• Openly allows corrupt, "on the take" experts to vote on new drug approvals, even when those experts are taking money from the same companies impacted by their votes.


• Refuses to legalize stevia, the safe, natural herbal sweetener that's used virtually everywhere else in the world. The agenda? Protect the profits of aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.


• Openly allows the mass poisoning of the public with cancer-causing food additives such as sodium nitrite.


• Refuses to enforce its own laws regarding unsafe chemical toxins in personal care products, allowing perfume and lotion companies to continue poisoning the public with cancer-causing chemicals that don't even have to be listed on the label, nor proven safe.


• Ordered the destruction of recipe books that mentioned stevia. (A campaign to keep the public ignorant of the herb.)


• Does everything in its power to protect drug company profits, including discrediting herbs, supplements and alternative medicine.

Does anyone honestly believe that this criminal organization has any capacity whatsoever to act in the public interest? Even many Senators are fed up with the FDA's unprecedented level of corruption and criminal behavior.

Action items, continued...

Read Jon Barron's comments on this rule at the JonBarron.org website

Next, lodge your complaint against the FDA by commenting on this docket through the FDA's docket comment form.

And finally, write your Senator or Congressperson about this issue and let them know, in blatant language, that you will not stand by and allow the criminals running medicine today to take away your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs and homeopathic medicine. Write the letter in your own words, even if it's just two sentences. Individual letters have a hundred times the impact of form letters.

Medical wasteland USA

Everything is at stake here. If the FDA gets its way, the United States will become a medical wasteland, dominated by corporate drug company interests, where the naturopaths are imprisoned and their products destroyed. Supplements and herbs will become contraband, and gardeners who grow their own medicinal herbs may be raided and arrested by DEA agents wielding assault rifles. Simply selling dried broccoli sprouts as being "good anti-cancer foods" may land you in prison, and running a vitamin shop could result in you being arrested for "practicing medicine."

Imagine a nation where Whole Foods stores are stripped of all herbs and supplements, where vitamin shops are emptied and abandoned, where books that promote herbs are bulldozed into large piles and burned, where natural healers are rounded up and "disappeared" into incarceration centers. This is the future that will become reality if the FDA has its way. The plan has been explained to us in plain language. Any agency that openly states "vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug" has quite simply lost its marbles. We're are now clearly being regulated by clinically insane bureaucrats.

With this desperate proposal by the FDA -- clearly designed as a last-ditch effort to save the failing conventional medical industry from a massive public shift towards natural medicine -- the war against health freedom has reached our shores, and the FDA is plotting a 9/11-style attack to bring down the towers of health freedom in one swift motion.

This is the same agency that currently represents the greatest threat to the health and safety of the American people, far outweighing the threat of real terrorism. This agency, we have seen, will do ANYTHING to protect the profits and power of drug companies. It will lie, steal, accept bribes, hide scientific evidence, distort statistics, commit scientific fraud, break federal laws, threaten its own drug safety scientists, conspire with drug company executives, intimidate American citizens and use terror-style tactics to achieve its goals of complete domination over foods, drugs and health.

Why do Americans tolerate terrorism in their own government?

It is time we put a stop to this home-grown tyranny. We have fought too hard for freedom in the United States to allow us all to be steamrolled by a criminal front group covertly working for Big Pharma. The FDA has declared war on natural medicine and the American people, and we will lose our family members, children, brothers and sisters as casualties of this war if we don't stand up now and demand radical changes. It's time to stop this terrorist organization from destroying the lives of yet more U.S. citizens.

Make your voice heard now, or forever surrender your access to supplements, herbs, superfoods and functional foods. By the time the FDA is done with this country, we'll all be eating medication for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Action reminders:

1. Lodge a complaint with the FDA by clicking here. MAKE SURE you include the docket number 2006D-0480. But don't trust this to be enough. The FDA will probably simply delete half the complaints it receives, so don't trust your complaint to actually count. It's important to continue...

2. Send a strongly-worded letter to your representatives in Washington. Be sure to cite Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Tell them you support open access to vitamins, herbs, and supplements, and you do not want CAM to be regulated by the FDA.

3. Send this story to everyone you know. Spread the word. Raise the alarm. With enough public support, the FDA will be forced to back off this insane proposal.

And stay tuned to NewsTarget for more news, analysis and action alerts on health freedom. Even though we're under constant attack by criminal organizations trying to disrupt our servers and take us off line, we're still here, beating the drum for health freedom, and hoping that we have enough sane-minded Americans remaining to save this country from its government.

Actual FDA quote is gobbledygook

Here's an actual FDA statement from the CAM Guidance report:

For example, naturopathic cranberry tablets might be labeled for use to maintain the health of the urinary tract. In this example, the cranberry tablets generally would be regulated as "dietary supplements" ...if they were labeled for use to "maintain the health of the urinary tract" rather than "prevent urinary tract infections." The cranberry tablets would be regulated as "drugs" ...if they were labeled for use to "treat urinary tract infections" even if they were labeled as dietary supplements.

Additional phone numbers as listed in the FDA document

Sheryl Lard-Whiteford at 301-827-0379
Daniel Nguyen at 301-827-8971
Ted Stevens at 301-594-1184
Wayne Amchin at 301-827-6739

---

Gypsy Caravan at the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival

This documentary about the Roma musical tradition screened Saturday at MMoCA!
Emma Lierley on Sunday 04/15/2007 09:04:26.

"Now they're still learning," a northern Indian man told to the camera in the opening scene of the documentary Gypsy Caravan.

It panned to show a group of smiley young boys, awkwardly holding instruments. Without so much as counting off, the group effortlessly creates a beautiful sound. The first chills of the film quickly followed.

Gypsy Caravan is an incredibly strong documentary -- well produced and edited -- but it is the people in the film that give it the extraordinary edge. The most amazingly adorable wrinkled old men share the stage with perfectly theatrical divas, while a troupe of chillingly talented Indian musicians makes fun of them all.

Following five bands, from four countries, for six weeks as they tour America, the documentary tells the musicians' story -- showing us their weddings as well as their funerals -- and creates a dialogue around the plight of the incredibly diverse 10 million Roma people world wide.

The musicians are not being "found" on this American tour; they are all incredibly successful in their own countries. They are, however, playing to sold-out concerts, like the film was shown to a sold-out audience, and with similar effects. Film-goers had to hold back their enthusiastic applause at the end of every concert shown in the documentary.

April 8 – International Roma Day

8 April 2007 02:00 FOCUS News Agency

The International Roma Day is marked nationwide. In the town of Stara Zagora a folk dance and song company “Avligite” held a concert.In the town of Sliven wreaths and flowers were laid in front of the monument of Sabi Dimitrov in remembrance of the Roma people who died in the Holocaust. A lot of dance and game competitions and a concert took place.All Roma leaders from the region gathered in downtown Vidin and paid tribute to Holocaust victims. After that they headed to the bank of the Danube River, with flowers and wreaths in hands. In the town of Straldzha Roma people enjoyed a football match, followed by songs and dances.

April 8th marks the International Roma Day, calling attention and respect to all innocent victims of the persecution of Roma. On April 8th 1971 London hosted the First World Romani Congress, which put the beginning of the coordinated efforts to internationally protect and promote Roma people’s rights. The aim is to unite the efforts of the international gypsy movement and turn international community’s attention to their problems: education, poverty, and segregation. The Roma anthem is called Gelem, Gelem. The flag consists of a background of dark blue and green, representing the heavens and earth, respectively. It also contains a red chakra, or spoked wheel, in the centre, representing the Indo-Aryan heritage of the Romani people.The International Roma Day is declared in 1992 by the UN and EU at the proposal of the International Organization Romano Union.Bulgaria has ratified all major international legal instruments on protecting the rights of people belonging to ethnic, religious or language minorities, including UN’s International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Sofia.
On the occasion of the International Roma (Gypsy) Day – 8th April – the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with certain civil organizations is organizing a series of events celebrating the holiday.

There will be parallel celebrations in six cities in the country – Sofia, Vidin, Vratsa, Montana, Pazardzhik and Burgas.

On this day, in the church “St. Nedelya”, there will be a mass service in memory of all the gypsies who have died during the Second World War.

Kavarna.
The International Roma Day – 8th April will be celebrated with a rich show program in the seaside Bulgarian town Kavarna. There will be a concert of the Bulgarian singer of gypsy origin – Sofi Marinova and the rapper Ustata (the Mouth).

The manager of Kaliakra FC – Velislav Vutsov and the coach of the team – Antoni Zdravkov will be proclaimed “Honorary Roma People” of “Hadzhi Dimitar” neighborhood.

The presenters of the show will be the well-known Bulgarian actors Lyubo Neikov and Hristo Garbov.

VISIT THE PET FOOD RECALL RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE LATEST INFO

Late last week, news conferences held by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Menu Foods, Inc., confirmed suspicions by the ASPCA that a contaminant other than aminopterin may be responsible for the illnesses and deaths of animals who ingested recently recalled contaminated foods. The contaminant, melamine, was found in wheat gluten samples of the recalled lots.

To add to the fast-breaking developments, Hill’s Pet Nutrition voluntarily recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food—its only product containing wheat gluten—which it believes may have been contaminated by infected wheat gluten. At this time, the ASPCA is uncertain as to whether other pet food manufacturers will issue voluntary recalls, and we advise pet parents to contact their manufacturer directly.

Although we share your concerns about keeping your companion animals safe and healthy, we also want to assure consumers that there is no need to panic or take sudden actions, such as refraining from feeding dry food altogether. “There are several dry cat and dog foods that do not include any wheat gluten in their formulas,” says the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary toxicologist, “and you can get that information from the label on your pet food or the manufacturer. Further, if your pet is used to eating a particular type of food, a sudden change in diet or diet type may upset his stomach. This may be especially problematic for pets with pre-existing illnesses.”

For additional information on the pet food recall, including answers to your most frequently asked questions, please visit the Pet Food Recall Resource Center.

Gordon's long journey for understanding and acceptance for gypsies

By Jemma Walton

WE'VE all got an opinion on gypsies – but love them or loathe them, how much do we really know about them? How many of us have actually sat and spoken to them about what they believe, and why? One Romany is dedicated to educating the settled community about his people, and runs his own museum in memory of his father, who was a Romany, born and bred. Jemma Walton met him.

IN the shadow of the Merlin Polyurethanes and Spalding Potatoes buildings of Clay Lake Industrial Estate there hides a tiny gem of a museum, the only one of its kind in the world.It is owned and run by a man who wanted to put a stop to the ignorance and prejudice that has seen his people tormented, discriminated against – and even killed – during the past 500 years.

(MORE)

An earthshaking arrival at PAWS

By Cynthia Hubert - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, April 5, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/149489.html

He's possibly the biggest elephant ever to stomp into Northern California.

At 9,500 pounds, more than 9 feet tall and growing, Nicholas is as gigantic as he is charming, says Pat Derby, founder of the Performing Animal Welfare Society in Galt, the pachyderm's home for the time being.

"Asian bull elephants are notorious for being difficult and destructive, but Nicholas is great," Derby says of her new charge, who escaped abusive conditions in Illinois and arrived at PAWS by truck this week. His smaller companion, Gypsy, joined him.

PAWS agreed to take the elephants after the USDA ruled in 2003 that they were being mistreated by their corporate owners in Illinois. Nine other pachyderms quickly found homes elsewhere, but Nicholas and Gypsy languished because of their size and the reputed aggressiveness of their breed.

In order to accept the animals, Derby and her partner Ed Stewart had to design a permanent enclosure for them at their 2,300-acre elephant sanctuary in Calaveras County. The project will cost about $1 million, Derby says. Until it is built, Nicholas and Gypsy will make their home behind reinforced fencing in Galt.

The campaign to raise money for the Calaveras enclosure is off to a rousing start, as game-show host Bob Barker has pledged $500,000 to the cause. PAWS is looking for corporate sponsors, individual supporters and construction supplies including pipe and barn materials to round out the costs of feeding and housing the pachyderms.

At maturity, bull elephants can reach 7 tons in weight and stand 10 feet high, Derby says. They consume about 325 pounds of vegetation each day.

For now, Nicholas and Gypsy seem pleased with their new surroundings, Derby says.

"We were prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, and we think we nailed it," she says. "They arrived here safely and we unloaded them safely. They're in good shape."

When Nicholas emerged from the truck that brought him to Northern California, "he gave us a look like, 'Where are we, and what's going on?'

"We fed him a watermelon and lots of other treats, and he loved that."

Then Gypsy made her first Northern California appearance.

"She ran right out to Nicholas, and started talking to him," Derby says. "We gave her a watermelon, and she took half of it and gave it to Nicholas. These two are totally devoted to each other. It's a very touching thing to see."

Give Women A Fair Pay Day

TomPaine.com

Martha Burk
April 03, 2007

Martha Burk is a political psychologist and director of the Corporate Acountability Project for the National Council of Women's Organizations.

We’re coming up on Equal Pay Day again. That’s the day in April every year—this year the 24th—when women’s earnings finally catch up with what men made by December 31 of the previous year. Women’s groups, led by the National Committee on Pay Equity, will rally on Capitol Hill to call attention to the issue.

The pay gap is still a stubborn problem, with women who work full time, year-round making 76 cents to a man’s dollar. Though it consistently polls number one with female voters in election years, politicians don’t seem motivated to do much about it.

Some people say pay disparities between women and men are an illusion—women just like to choose jobs that pay less because they’re not as risky or have shorter hours. But the data don’t back up these claims. Even when researchers take into account such factors as part-time work or time out of the work force to care for kids, the numbers show that men make more. Another problem that just won’t go away is that so-called “men’s jobs” like plumbing, pay more than “women’s jobs,” like nursing. That tells us something about what we value as a society, and it’s not women’s work.

The Fair Pay Act, a bill that would help narrow the gap, has grown old bouncing around Capitol Hill since the early 1990s, never receiving as much as a hearing. If the FPA ever passed, it would require employers rate their jobs on skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, and equalize pay for comparable jobs even if the job titles and duties are different. Employers naturally resist this, citing loss of “competitive advantage,” but women’s advocates suspect the real reason is that the numbers would be too damning. Women might even get big ideas like suing their employers for sex discrimination in pay and promotion, as female workers at Wal-Mart have done in the largest class action suit in history.

A new book released this month from The Feminist Press—Taking on the Big Boys by Ellen Bravo, long time CEO of 9 to 5 , an advocacy organization for working women—attacks the pay equity issue head on. Bravo enlightens the reader in a no-nonsense way on deep-seated workplace attitudes and practices that hinder women’s progress on the pay front. More importantly, she shows us how public policy is influenced through a variety of tactics used by opponents. One such tactic is catastrophizing, meaning predicting the downfall of capitalism as we know it if women catch up with men in earnings. Poster boy for this tactic is Chief Justice John Roberts, who dismissed the concept in the FPA as a “pernicious” redistribution of wealth, saying “Their slogan may as well be 'From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.'” Pretty scary stuff for the women of Wal-Mart, should their case, now on appeal, reach the Supremes.

Taking on the Big Boys shows us how continued monitoring and enforcement will be necessary, even for companies that want to do better. The FPA also contains a provision that would require companies to report earnings by race and gender in each job category—not anybody’s salary on a bulletin board, but just overall statistics, so women could see how they were faring compared to the guys in the company overall.

While there’s no law now that says companies have to disclose how they pay and promote their workers, there’s no law that says they can’t. Wal-Mart agreed last year under stockholder pressure to post its EEO-1 form online, showing broad job categories by race and gender (the form does not include pay data). Some disclosure is better than none, but all companies should go a step further and release pay data for women and men by job category, as Ben & Jerry’s has done for years. If pay scales are equitable, there should be nothing to hide. Women could see right up front if the company is fair. It would eliminate the need for lawsuits, and create tremendous employee loyalty and customer good will. That ought to be worth 24 extra cents in the pay envelope.

Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act

I don't know if there's anything better than walking into the office
on Monday morning to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
that the EPA has essentially ignored the problem of tailpipe CO2
emissions for too long, and that the EPA does in fact have the
authority to regulate these emissions.

What a huge victory for activists like you who've done so much to
make sure our elected officials know how crucial it is that we take
action now on global warming. But, we're not home free. Tailpipe
emissions are just one source of global warming pollution.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.

Background

Global warming is starting to change weather patterns. Scientists
predict that these changes will accelerate in the future and say that
we can expect:

* Extreme weather. Scientists expect hurricanes to become more
intense and say that the hurricanes that hit the Gulf states in 2005
may be an indication of what's to come.

* Public health risks. Scientists also expect heat waves to become
more dangerous, causing more people to suffer heat stress and stroke.
Other impacts include the spread of infectious diseases.

* Less snow, less water. Many of the rivers and streams that we rely
on for our water supply are fed by mountain snow. But warmer winters
are starting to cause less precipitation to fall as snow, which may
cause serious future water shortages.

Most global warming pollution comes from burning oil, coal, and
natural gas in our power plants, cars, SUVs, and factories. Power
plants are the single biggest source, responsible for about 40% of
U.S. global warming pollution. Because there are no federal limits on
global warming pollution, industry can pump unlimited amounts of the
pollution into our skies.

The good news is we can reduce global warming pollution by using
existing technology to make power plants and factories more
efficient, make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shift to
cleaner technologies, such as hybrids, biofuels, and wind and solar
power.

These are win-win solutions because they also will reduce our
dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, protect pristine places from
oil drilling and mining, and bring many other benefits.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.


Sincerely,

Erin Bowser
Environment Ohio State Director
ErinB@environmentohio.org
http://www.EnvironmentOhio.org

Bears of Alaska with Tom Mangelsen

Bears of Alaska with Tom Mangelsen
Dates: Aug 13 - 18, 2007

Thomas D. Mangelsen announces his inaugural photo workshop - an exciting opportunity to photograph wild brown bears, eagles, and puffins at one of the premier locations in Alaska. Intended for the experienced wildlife photographer, the workshop will be held at a remote lodge in Lake Clark National Park with access only by airplane or boat. Limited to no more than 10 participants, this workshop offers the opportunity to photograph brown bears fishing for salmon with the world's most successful wildlife photographer. Workshop participants will be the only photographic group at the lodge and have the facilities almost completely dedicated to their workshop. Offering excellent meals, guides, and a remote location, this rustic Alaskan lodge photo experience is an opportunity to spend 5 days and 4 nights learning composition, lighting, exposure and digital processing techniques from Tom and his staff.

The workshop begins in Anchorage on August 13 at dinner with Tom. The next morning you will be flown by bush plane for a landing on the shores of Cook Inlet, where the lodge staff will transport you a short distance to the lodge. Grab your gear and it's off to look for your first photo opportunity! You'll spend 5 days and 4 nights filling your viewfinder with images of the Alaskan coastal plains and Mt Illiamna rising 10,016 feet to the west in the Aleutian Range. The lodge location puts you at the mouth of two rivers on the western shores of Cook Inlet, where the bears gather to fish for salmon. There is a shallow lake behind the lodge, where you may find loons, beavers, Trumpeter swans, and possibly Sandhill cranes.

All proceeds from this workshop will benefit The Cougar Fund, a nonprofit organization based in Jackson, WY. The mission of The Cougar Fund is to protect the cougar throughout the Americas. The Cougar Fund educates the public on the value of cougars in nature and promotes the gathering and application of sound science in their management. By advocating thriving populations of cougars, The Cougar Fund ensures that these beautiful, legendary creatures may exist in ways that enjoy long-lasting public support. (www.cougarfund.org) Each participant will receive a statement for tax deduction purposes from The Cougar Fund.

Thomas D. Mangelsen operates 16 Images of Nature galleries across the western United States, showcasing his images from 40 years of photographing wildlife in North America, Africa, South America, India, and Antarctica. In 2005, Tom was named one of the 100 most important people in photography by American Photo Magazine as well as being honored with Nikon's Legend Behind the Lens recognition. He has received an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society in 2002, named North American Nature Photographer Association's (NANPA) Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year in 2000 and in 1994, Mangelsen received the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. His work has also been published in leading magazines such as Audubon, Smithsonian, Nature's Best, National Geographic, Life, Wildlife Art, American Photo and National Wildlife. He has been featured on television programs from The Today Show and Good Morning America, to CNN's World News. He has published numerous books, including Images of Nature, Polar Dance, and his most recent - The Natural World.

Polar bears need your help!

Polar bears need our help. There are only 20-25,000 of these majestic bears scattered throughout the Arctic, and rising temperatures and industrial pollution are driving them to the brink of extinction.

But there is hope! In December, officials at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced a proposal to list polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

Securing this "threatened" status will provide crucial protections that can help ensure the survival of our polar bears.

Click here to send a message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supporting increased protections for polar bears.

The deadline for public comments is Monday, April 9th -- please don't delay!

Human activities have put polar bears in danger-the future of the species is threatened both by pollution and climate change.

Toxic pollution from industrial emissions builds up in the food chain. By the time it reaches polar bears at the top of the food chain it's strong enough to cause birth defects and inhibit development.

Global warming also causes Arctic ice to melt earlier in the summer and freeze later in the winter, shortening the polar bears' hunting season. For every week lost on the ice, the bears lose about 22 pounds of fat. Thinner bears tend to give birth to fewer cubs. Rising global temperatures have caused polar bears' birth rates to decline by 15% in recent years!

Under current conditions, without additional protections, our polar bears will be extinct within the century!

Click here to help save polar bears by urging the Fish & Wildlife Service to list them as a threatened species.

For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of animals like bald eagles, grizzly bears, and manatees. We must extend these crucial protections to our polar bears before it is too late to save them.

There are only have 7 days left to support stronger protections for our polar bears. Click here to send in your comments today.

Once you've sent your comments, please take a moment to forward this message to your friends, family, and co-workers so that they can add their voices to the call for increased protections for polar bears!

Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,

Julie Waterman
Campaign Director, SaveOurEnvironment.org
info@saveourenvironment.org

PET FOOD RECALL UPDATE: CONTAMINANTS IN ADDITION TO RAT POISON MAY BE INVOLVED

Since Menu Foods, Inc. announced its massive pet food recall on March 16, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has been flooded with calls from pet parents and animal welfare professionals alike. Based on data from these calls, the ASPCA reports that clinical signs in cats affected by the contaminated foods are not fully consistent with the ingestion of rat poison containing aminopterin which, says Menu Foods, is at the “root” of the contamination issue.

Explains the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary toxicologist, “There are so many inconsistencies in the purported link between aminopterin and the animals affected that we urge veterinary toxicologists and veterinary pathologists at diagnostic laboratories to continue looking for additional contaminants.”

Pets who are being treated for kidney failure suspected to be related to contaminated food should stay on their treatment. If your pet has eaten contaminated food and shows any signs of illness, including loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, changes in water consumption and changes in urination, please consult with a veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately. In order to help with your pet’s diagnosis, you are advised to:


- retain food samples for analysis

- save all packaging and receipts, and document the product name, type of product, date codes and/or production lot numbers

- document the dates that the product was fed to your pet, how much was eaten, and the time when you first noticed symptoms

Adverse effects or deaths of pets conclusively linked to eating the contaminated foods should be reported to the FDA. Additionally, the American Veterinary Medical Association website contains helpful information for pet parents and veterinarians.

For a complete list of recalled pet food brands, please visit http://www.menufoods.com/recall.

Update, 3/30/07 10:45 A.M.: Click here to read the ASPCA's most recent information on the pet food recall.