Pandemic Prophesy?

 

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is surely the worst in recent memory, but prehistory is full of records of plagues and pandemics.

In more modern history, we’ve seen the Asian flu pandemic of 1957, the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968 and the AIDS pandemic of 1981.

Then, a decade ago, along came H1N1, a novel flu virus hosted by pigs. H1N1 was followed in 1997 by H5N1, a bird flu virus that first surfaced in Hong Kong.

What's different about these more recent pandemics?

They're directly linked to the “intensive confinement of animals” in factory farms, according to the Journal of Public Health Policy.

Since the onset of COVID-19—which clearly did not originate on an industrial factory farm—experts have rightly pointed out that our industrial meat and poultry production systems are breeding grounds for future pandemics.

But what most of them have haven't done, is connect the dots between Big Pharma's animal vaccines and the increased risk of pandemics.

Read ‘Connecting the Dots: Big Meat, Big Pharma, Big Vaccines and Big Pandemics'

TAKE ACTION to ban factory farms! Tell Congress to pass the Farm System Reform Act of 2019

TAKE ACTION: Nominate Tyson for the Corporate Accountability Hall of Shame

Great Debate

 

To eat meat, or not to eat meat: It’s probably one of the hottest debates around the dinner table.

But can vegans and vegetarians find some common ground with their omnivore friends and family members?

Join us Tuesday, August 25, 7 p.m. CDT for a 1-hour panel discussion about veganism, vegetarianism and the #BoycottBigMeat campaign.

Our “Vegans and Vegetarians for Organic Regenerative Agriculture” panel will feature well-known vegans and vegetarians who will share their views on the industrial meat industry and the alternatives. Panelists include:

• David Bronner, Dr. Bronner’s

• Ocean Robbins, Food Revolution Network

• Elizabeth Kucinich, organic regenerative food/farming advocate and producer of two food-related documentaries

• Sherri Dugger, executive director of the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP), and co-chair of the national coalition of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal

If you’re curious about how it’s possible to support a transition to regenerative meat production while staying true to your choice to be vegan or vegetarian, this is your panel!

Register here to join via Zoom

Sign up here to join via Facebook

Can’t join live? Register here anyway, and we’ll send you a link you can watch anytime

Risky Business

 

“Mouse Bites Man,” isn’t much of a headline. Unless the man is a researcher in a “biosafety” lab—and the mouse is one that was injected with a genetically engineered, potentially deadly virus.

An article published this week in Independent Science News reports that, according to recently obtained minutes of the Institutional Biosafety Committee of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, sometime between April 1 and May 6 this year, a coronavirus researcher at a high-security BSL-3 lab was bitten by a mouse infected with a “mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain.”

Why does that matter? The article quotes Richard Ebright, an epidemiologist from Rutgers University:

“There has been an explosion of research involving fully infectious SARS-CoV-2 over the last six months. Research with infectious SARS-CoV-2 now is occurring in every, or almost every, BSL-3 facility in the US and overseas.”

Independent Science news also quotes Edward Hammond of Prickly Research, Austin, Texas, former director of the Sunshine Project, an NGO that tracked the post 9/11 expansion of the U.S. Biodefense program:

“It is evident that swarms of academic researchers with little prior experience with coronaviruses have leapt into the field in recent months.”

And that creates huge risks, Hammond says:

“We need to be clear headed about the risk. The first SARS virus was a notorious source of laboratory-acquired infections and there is a very real risk that modified forms of SARS-CoV-2 could infect researchers, especially inexperienced researchers, with unpredictable and potentially quite dangerous results. The biggest risk is the creation and accidental release of a novel form of SARS-CoV-2—a variant whose altered characteristics might undermine global efforts to stop the pandemic by evading the approaches being taken to find COVID vaccines and treatments.”

Worth the risks? Especially given that none of this research has ever led to the creation of a vaccine that works against any strain of the coronavirus?

Read ‘Engineered COVID-19-Infected Mouse Bites Researcher Amid ‘Explosion’ of Risky Coronavirus Research’

MORE ON COVID-19

Protect yourself from COVID-19: Visit StopCovidCold.com

'Zero Chance' Coronavirus Is Natural: Chinese Virologist

DARPA's Man in Wuhan

Visit our Gain-of-Function Hall of Shame

SIGN THE PETITION: Stop the Genetic Engineering of Viruses! Shut Down All Biowarfare Labs Now!

Calling All Lawyers!

 

Did COVID-19 originate in a lab?

Are scientists using your tax dollars to conduct dangerous gain-of-function experiments that could lead to future pandemics?

Our allies at U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) have filed many Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests in an attempt to uncover what is already known about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2—including whether the virus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan.

USRTK is also investigating the dangers of gain-of-function experiments, which aim to increase the transmissibility or deadliness of potential pandemic pathogens, and the use of our tax dollars to finance this potentially dangerous work.

The USRTK investigation is crucial. But some federal agencies and state universities are stonewalling, despite being legally required to turn over the requested documents.

Are you a lawyer? You can help.

TAKE ACTION: If you’re a lawyer who can litigate FOIA cases against federal agencies and state universities, and are able to do so pro bono, please email Gary Ruskin at: [email protected]

Henry’s Farm

 

It started out as a short video. About how food gets from the farm, to the farmer’s market, to your table.

But then it turned into something bigger.

For 25 years, Henry Brockman grew organic vegetables on his farm in the midwest. It was hard work. 24/7. As Brockman says:

“You cannot flit along the surface of farming and be successful at it. It is a full-immersion profession.”

Brockman finally takes a year off, to travel with his wife to her native Japan. He leaves the farm in the capable hands of his apprentices.

But things don’t go as planned. Thanks to Mother Nature—and global warming.

It’s a timely tale of farming in the midst of accelerating climate change, especially in light of the violent storms that recently hit Iowa farmers.

Watch the trailer for ‘Seasons of Change on Henry’s Farm’

Watch this interview director Ines Sommer and Henry Brockman

Purchase the livestream for the full film

Ducking the Truth

 

There’s nothing humane about force-feeding ducks.

Yet that hasn’t stopped D’Artagnan, the largest distributor of foie gras in the U.S., from making a host of false animal welfare claims about its products.

This week, we sued D’Artagnan for falsely claiming that the ducks used in its products are “free-range,” “never caged,” have “space to roam,” eat a “natural diet” and are fed through “hand-feeding.”

In our lawsuit, we cite investigations into D’Artagnan’s practices revealing that the ducks are force-fed using methods that result in bruising, bleeding, lesions, pain, stress and suffering. In some cases, the ducks develop brittle and broken bones, thermoregulatory disorders, respiratory disorders, liver disease, lameness and difficulty walking.

Last year, we wrote about D’Artagnan’s foie gras, pointing out that if you eat the product, you’re eating a diseased liver. That alone should give consumers pause.

But if you’re among the nearly 95 percent of consumers who care about animal welfare, you should be outraged that not only do the ducks used by D’Artagnan suffer, but the company goes out of its way to convince consumers otherwise.

Read our press release

Read the full lawsuit

‘Read ‘Tests Confirm: If You’re Eating This So-Called ‘Delicacy,’ You’re Eating a Diseased Liver’

More on our ‘Myth of Natural’ Campaign

Essential Reading

 

Diseased Chicken for Dinner? The USDA Is Considering It

The Scary Hidden Ingredient in Protein Powder You Need to Know About

Strangulation Wire Sent To Organic Farmers Meant To 'Put the Fear of the Devil' in Them Over Opposition To Hog Confinement

From Farm to Factory: The Unstoppable Rise of American Chicken

Lawsuit Claims 'All Natural' Salmon 'From Maine' Is Neither of These Things

As Pandemic Drags On, Consumers Seeking Health Drive Record Natural & Organic Sales as Retailers Adapt to Change

Microplastic Particles Now Discoverable in Human Organs