Report covers how a research company covertly gathered and attempted to sell personal data to the London Met, while in the United States it has emerged that the FBI has warrantless access to electronic communications.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Why Do Kids Vitamins Contain Aspartame, GMOs, Trans Fats & Hazardous Chemicals?
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The #1 Children's Vitamin Brand in the US contains ingredients that most parents would never intentionally expose their children to, so why aren't more opting for healthier alternatives?
Kids vitamins are supposed to be healthy, right? Well then, what's going on with Flintstones Vitamins, which proudly claims to be "Pediatricians' #1 Choice"? Produced by the global pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this wildly success brand features a shocking list of unhealthy ingredients, including:
- AspartameCupric Oxide
- Coal tar artificial coloring agents (FD&C Blue #2, Red #40, Yellow #6)
- Zinc Oxide
- Sorbitol
- Ferrous Fumarate
- Hydrogenated Oil (Soybean)
- GMO Corn starch
82% of kids aren't eating all of their veggies1. Without enough vegetables, kids may not be getting all of the nutrients they need.
References: 1. Lorson BA, Melgar-Quinonez HR, Taylor CA. Correlates of fruit and vegetable intakes in US children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(3):474-478.The implication? That Flintstones vitamins somehow fill this nutritional void. But let's look a little closer at some of these presumably healthy ingredients....
ASPARTAME
Aspartame is a synthetic combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine, and is known to convert into highly toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Aspartame has been linked to over 40 adverse health effects in the biomedical literature, and has been shown to exhibit both neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity [1] What business does a chemical like this have doing in a children's vitamin, especially when non-toxic, non-synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia already exist?
CUPRIC OXIDE
Next, let's look closer at Cupric Oxide, 2mg of which is included in each serving of Flinstone's Complete chewable vitamins as a presumably 'nutritional' source of 'copper,' supplying "100% of the Daily Value (Ages 4+), according to Flintstones Vitamins Web site's Nutritional Info.[2]
But what is Cupric Oxide? A nutrient or a chemical?
According to the European Union's Dangerous Substance Directive, one of the main EU laws concerning chemical safety, Cupric Oxide is listed as a Hazardous substance, classified as both "Harmful (XN)" and "Dangerous for the environment" (N). Consider that it has industrial applications as a pigment in ceramics, and as a chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. In may be technically correct to call it a mineral, but should it be listed as a nutrient in a children's vitamin? We think not.
COAL TAR ARTIFICIAL COLORING AGENTS
A well-known side effect of using synthetic dyes is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. For direct access to study abstracts on this topic view our Food Coloring research page. There is also indication that the neurotoxicity of artificial food coloring agents increase when combined with aspartame,[3] making the combination of ingredients in Flintstones even more concerning.
ZINC OXIDE
Each serving of Flinstones Complete Chewable vitamins contain 12 mg of zinc oxide, which the manufacturer claims delivers 75% of the Daily Value to children 2 & 3 years of age. Widely used as a sun protection factor (SPF) in sunscreens, The EU's Dangerous Substance Directive classifies it as an environmental Hazard, "Dangerous for the environment (N)." How it can be dangerous to the environment, but not for humans ingesting it, escapes me. One thing is for sure, if one is to ingest supplemental zinc, or market it for use by children, it makes much more sense using a form that is organically bound (i.e. 'chelated') to an amino acid like glycine, as it will be more bioavailable and less toxic.
SORBITOL
Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar substitute which is classified as a sugar alcohol. It can be argued that it has no place in the human diet, much less in a child's. The ingestion of higher amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.[4]
FERROUS FUMARATE
The one clear warning on the Flinstone's Web site concerns this chemical. While it is impossible to die from consuming iron from food, e.g. spinach, ferrous fumarate is an industrial mineral and not found in nature as food. In fact, ferrous fumarate is so toxic that accidental overdose of products containing this form is "a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6." The manufacturer further warns:
Keep this product out of reach of children. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor or poison control center immediately.HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
Finding hydrogenated oil in anything marketed to children is absolutely unacceptable. These semi-synthetic fatty acids incorporate into our tissues and have been linked to over a dozen adverse health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer, violent behavior to fatty liver disease.[5]
GMO CORN STARCH
While it can be argued that the amount of GMO corn starch in this product is negligible, even irrelevant, we disagree. It is important to hold accountable brands that refuse to label their products honestly, especially when they contain ingredients that have been produced through genetic modification. The 'vitamin C' listed as ascorbic acid in Flintstones is likely also produced from GMO corn. Let's remember that Bayer's Ag-biotech division, Bayer CropScience, poured $381,600 of cash into defeating the proposition 37 GMO labeling bill in California. Parents have a right to protect their children against the well-known dangers of genetically modified foods and the agrichemicals that contaminate them, don't they? GMO corn starch is GMO, plain and simple. We'd appreciate it if Bayer would label their "vitamins" accordingly.
In summary, Bayer's Flintstone's vitamin brand is far from a natural product, and the consumer should be aware of the unintended, adverse health effects that may occur as a result of using it.
Source: Activist Post
Database Your Face: Drones to Employ Facial Recognition, Ending Anonymity
In a matter of just a few years, we have gone from drones in American skies being a conspiracy theory, to drones being openly debated by Congress for full deployment over the U.S. by 2015. However, you know things have gone to a new level when establishment media begins covering the full range of privacy-ending capabilities employed by drones matched with biometric databases ... inside America.
A recent Associated Press article, reposted at major corporate media sites such as Business Insider, surprisingly grasps the near totality of what is being planned in much the same way as we have been covering in the alternative media for some time.
Entitled, "Drones With Facial Recognition Technology Will End Anonymity, Everywhere," we are presented with this news as a statement, not a question.
The AP is in fact a bit behind the curve to suggest that the capabilities they highlight, are "to be sure ... in its infancy" when we have documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) which reveal that the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection is already operating drones in the United States capable of recognizing a person on the ground. Or how about the fact that drones can already see inside your bedroom? Wired's Danger Room reported back in 2011 that not only were drones with facial recognition in development, but also algorithms that could predict behavior.
Rather, what we are witnessing with this news from AP is the mainstream rollout and conditioning of the public to what is already here and what is about to become even more pervasive. Once that is accomplished, we can expect the spin machine to go into overdrive and justify the wonders of constant surveillance, as they attempted to do in the Chris Dorner manhunt.
However, the AP certainly offers a correct summary of how the databases that already exist, where we thought our personal information was protected, will be opened and utilized any time necessary.
From seeing just the image of a face, computers will find its match in a database of millions of driver's license portraits and photos on social media sites. From there, the computer will link to the person's name and details such as their Social Security number, preferences, hobbies, family and friends.
Adding that capability to drones that can fly into spaces where planes cannot — machines that can track a person moving about and can stay aloft for days — means that people will give up privacy as well as the concept of anonymity.Naturally, the AP peddles this softly as it recounts these "new" developments in a tale of researchers with Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Biometrics Center attempting to assist in sharpening FBI images of Boston bombing suspects, the Tsarnaev brothers. This is reminiscent of the above-mentioned Chris Dorner manhunt where we heard calls for how nice it would have been to have a drone at the ready for quicker identification and possible assassination.
In a real-time experiment, the scientists digitally mapped the face of "Suspect 2," turned it toward the camera and enhanced it so it could be matched against a database. The researchers did not know how well they had done until authorities identified the suspect as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger, surviving brother and a student at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
"I was like, 'Holy shish kabobs!' " Marios Savvides, director of the CMU Cylab, told the Tribune-Review. "It's not exactly him, but it's also not a random face. It does fit him."This astonishment is somewhat absurd considering that drones have already been developed that are equipped with cameras systems like DARPA's Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS) seen in the video below. This sensor system can instantly see an area roughly the "size of a small city" with an "all-seeing" eye according to retired Lieutenant, David A. Deptula. The next generation of surveillance tech sees the landscape through a 1.8 billion pixels camera, the highest resolution yet created.
Using a touchscreen interface that can produce up to 65 windows for analysis, military observers can see down to the individual object level to track the movements of vehicles and people. Beyond the real-time surveillance, the system can store everything for future review right down to the minutes and seconds.
Other programs such as Mind's Eye and Gorgon Stare have already been admitted by the military to be able to "see everything."
The only thing truly new about this AP story is the announcement that what most people thought to be limited to overseas theaters of war will now definitely be used across Battlefield USA. And researchers are breathless with excitement about how facial recognition technology will be used to "decode the face."
Students working with Savvides are figuring out how to break up appearance into landmarks as unique as a fingerprint and to build a 3-D image from a single picture so it can be matched from different angles.
"The things we can do are endless," said Savvides. "We're basically decoding the face."
For now, the database holds only the images of lab workers and visitors who agree to participate. Savvides said he can envision a day when images collected by tiny cameras embedded in police cruisers and attached to officers' uniforms are matched against a database of wanted criminals. As soon as a driver looks into a rear-view mirror to see an officer pulling up, the person's face could be matched.
That technology does not exist, but the students have built a camera that collects facial identifiers from as far as 60 feet away.Perhaps that specific technology is not used militarily or for police work in America, but the use of biometrics overseas to identify and match among a database has been used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq. And with the biometric push in America surrounding everything from immigration to trendy new apps, our anonymity is a hair's breadth from becoming a myth as it is.
Does anyone really believe that the full capabilities posited as "in development" by the establishment media aren't currently on the shelf for full rollout when the right crisis arises inside the United States?
The AP reminds us about what is being envisioned by Department of Defense's Biometrics Identity Management Agency:
Taken steps further using tiny drones that can fly over public areas and link to databases from social media sites, the technology might sweep down any American street and identify almost anyone instantly. Facebook users upload 2.5 billion images a month, but the company limits public access.
A separate research team at CMU has conducted experiments that matched photos of students on campus with their Facebook profiles — and then predicted their interests and Social Security numbers.An off-handed dismissal/conclusion to all of this is offered by the AP to anyone who might be worried that this tech could get out of hand . . . as if it hasn't already:
Not to worry, said Nita Farahany, a Duke University law professor who specializes in digital privacy. The U.S. Constitution will keep the government from peering into homes, and state laws block Peeping Toms.Unless states get serious about banning drones from their skies, as well as protecting each person's biometrics as private property, the entire U.S. will start to look like Bloomberg's New York, where pervasive databasing and surveillance of citizens becomes something that we'll "just have to get used to."
Add the potential for autonomous drones and insect-sized drone swarms that can stay aloft nearly indefinitely, surveiling, and even killing targets, and we are just about at the endgame where humanity has completely lost its mind by deferring to computerized machines with weapons to keep them safe.
To see the future of pervasive surveillance and detection right down to the nano-level, please read, How Close Are We to a Nano-based Surveillance State? Imagine this type of surveillance linked to all known databases. This is a crucial issue that we must speak out about immediately. Contact your local police department and educate them about what is coming. Remind them that they and their families, too, will be put under this digital nightmare surveillance state. Urge them not to cooperate with federal directives to make this become a reality. Also contact your state officials and tell them not to succumb to the economic incentives to become a drone testing site, as states like South Carolina and others have done.
Source: Activist Post
Google developing high-altitude blimps to bring WiFi to Africa
Google plans to bring WiFi to remote parts of Africa and Asia using low frequency white space television airwaves.
Google has been pushing the idea of using white space television airwaves for Internet transmission since 2008, and they’re finally making some headway in remote parts of Africa. Since white space channels allow for transmission of WiFi data on a low frequency band, they can provide Internet access over long distances and not worry about thick walls degrading signal strength (like what we generally experience with more traditional WiFi routers).
Using a series of high-altitude balloons or blimps, they will float around the Cape Town area providing Internet access to 10 schools as part of the trial. There are also reports that Google is developing a low-cost Android cellphone that will also use the white space spectrum to act as a long-range WiFi broadcasting device.
White space bands are traditionally used for international communication, with some bands not being used to maintain separation from each other as to prevent transmission interference. They’ve actually been pushing for usage of these bands in the US since 2010 and are working on an extensive database on available white space bands.
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