In parts of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency Tuesday following a measles outbreak. The outbreak is reportedly affecting the Orthodox Jewish community. The media and public officials say the outbreak is due to a growing movement against vaccinations.

Last week, the city ordered religious schools and day care programs in the affected communities to exclude unvaccinated students or risk being shut down.

The City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is expected to check vaccination records of people who may have been in contact with infected patients. The mayor said the city would issue violations with potential fines of $1,000 for those who don’t get vaccinated.

The order applies to anyone who is working, living, or going to school in the ZIP codes of the neighborhood of the outbreak. The order requires unvaccinated people of the areas to get the vaccine. The order also applies to children more than six months old.

The city can’t legally force anyone to get vaccinated but officials say they can impose the $1,000 fine for those who choose not to vaccinate.

If people will simply cooperate quickly, nobody will have to pay a fine.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio

Dr. Oxiris Barbot is the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She blames the outbreak on “a small group of anti-vaxxers” in the targeted neighborhoods. The commissioner is empowered by law to issue such orders in cases when they might be necessary to protect against a serious public health threat.

They have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science. We stand with the majority of people in this community who have worked hard to protect their children and those at risk.”

Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot

This is the epicenter of a measles outbreak that is very, very troubling and must be dealt with immediately. The measles vaccine works. It is safe, it is effective, it is time-tested.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio

News reports say that the measles virus was introduced into the community by a person who contracted the disease in Israel, which is said to also be dealing with a measles outbreak.

There are two measles-containing vaccines used in the United States. We have the MMRII by Merek which is a live virus combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. We also have the ProQuad option also produced and distributed by Merck, which is a live virus combination measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMR-V) vaccine. Both products are produced and distributed by Merck.

Merek says both vaccines are safe to be given to children of age one year or older, but the New York order includes children six months or older to be vaccinated.

The World Health Organization says more than 110,000 people, mostly children, died of measles worldwide in 2017. The last recorded death in the United States from measles was in 2015.

We cannot find vaccine damage statistics at this time. Septics say they are grossly underreported, but the damage and death statistics are not made public. According to the CDC, from 2006 to 2017 more than 3.4 billion doses of vaccines were distributed in the U.S.  Of the petitions filed within 2006 to 2017, 6,253 petitions were adjudicated by the vaccine Courts, with 4,291 compensated.

Related:

• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• Vaccines, Retroviruses, DNA, and the Discovery That Destroyed Judy Mikovits’ Career
• The MMR Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness
• MMR Vaccine Causes Seizures in 5,700 U.S. Children Annually, Says Study
• Autism, Gut Health, Obesity, the MMR Vaccine, and Andrew Wakefield

From the National Vaccine Information Center: Can Measles Vaccine Cause Injury & Death?

Serious complications reported by Merck in the ProQuad(MMR-V) product insert during vaccine post-marketing surveillance include⁶:

• measles;
• atypical measles;
• vaccine strain varicella;
• varicella-like rash;
• herpes zoster;
• herpes simplex;
• pneumonia and respiratory infection;
• pneumonitis;
• bronchitis;
• epididymitis;
• cellulitis;
• skin infection;
• subacute sclerosing panencephalitis;
• aseptic meningitis;
• thrombocytopenia;
• aplastic anemia (anemia due to the bone marrow’s inability to produce platelets, red and white blood cells);
• lymphadenitis (inflammation of the lymph nodes);
• anaphylaxis including related symptoms of peripheral, angioneurotic and facial edema;
• agitation;
• ocular palsies;
• necrotizing retinitis (inflammation of the eye);
• nerve deafness;
• optic and retrobulbar neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve);
• Bell’s palsy (sudden but temporary weakness of one half of the face);
• cerebrovascular accident (stroke);
• acute disseminated encephalomyelitis;
• measles inclusion body encephalitis;
• transverse myelitis;
• encephalopathy;
• Guillain-Barré syndrome;
• syncope (fainting);
• tremor;
• dizziness;
• paraesthesia;
• febrile seizure;
• afebrile seizures or convulsions;
• polyneuropathy (dysfunction of numerous peripheral nerves of the body);
• Stevens-Johnson syndrome;
• Henoch-Schönlein purpura;
• acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy;
• erythema multiforme;
• panniculitis;
• arthritis;
• death

Serious complications reported by Merck in the MMRII product insert during vaccine post-marketing surveillance include⁹:

• brain inflammation (encephalitis) and encephalopathy (chronic brain dysfunction);
• panniculitis (inflammation of the fat layer under the skin);
• atypical measles;
• syncope (sudden loss of consciousness, fainting);
• vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels);
• pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas);
• diabetes mellitus;
• thrombocytopenia  purpura (blood disorder);
• Henoch-Schönlein purpura (inflammation and bleeding in the small blood vessels);
• acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (rare vasculitis of the skin’s small vessels occurring in infants);
• leukocytosis (high white blood cell count);
• anaphylaxis (shock);
• bronchial spasms;
• pneumonia;
• pneumonitis(inflammation of the lung tissues);
• arthritis and arthralgia (joint pain);
• myalgia (muscle pain);
• polyneuritis (inflammation of several nerves simultaneously);
• measles inclusion body encephalitis (a disease affecting the brain of immunocompromised persons);
• subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (a fatal progressive brain disorder caused by exposure to the measles virus);
• Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) (a disease where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves);
• acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (brief widespread inflammation of the nerve’s protective covering);
• transverse myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord);
• aseptic meningitis;
• erythema multiforme (skin disorder from an allergic reaction or infection);
• urticarial rash (hives, itching from an allergic reaction);
• measles-like rash;
• Stevens-Johnson syndrome (severe reaction causing the skin and mucous membranes to blister, die, and shed);
• nerve deafness (hearing loss from damage to the inner ear);
• otitis media (ear infection);
• retinitis (inflammation of the retina of the eye);
• optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve);
• conjunctivitis (pink eye);
• ocular palsies (dysfunction of the ocular nerve);
• epididymitis (inflammation of the epididymis);
• paresthesia (burning or prickling of the skin);
• death.

Andrew Yang is the Democratic presidential candidate best known for his Universal Basic Income (UBI) platform. Andrew is a successful entrepreneur who says that the country elected Donald Trump in large part because so many workers are being left behind due to automation, and he says it’s only going to get worse.

Andrew Yang wants to tax automation and give each and every citizen $1,000 a month, no strings attached. He says that “We need to move to a new form of capitalism – Human Capitalism – that’s geared towards maximizing human well-being and fulfillment.” His policies also include Medicare for all, reducing harm to children caused by smartphones, free marriage counseling for all, the modernization of military spending, an increase in teachers salaries, net neutrality, and he is pro-choice. He leans progressive on every issue we’ve looked into. In fact, he seems to have the most progressive platform of any candidate running. Check out his platform on his website here.

Related: Circumcision Linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

He has a child who is on the autism spectrum and he says he wants to have more research done on the causes of autism and how best to deal with the epidemic.

Yang has also recently let the public know he is an intactivist. If you’re not familiar with the term, an intactivist opposes circumcision.

I’m highly aligned with the intactivists. History will prove them even more correct.”

Daily Beast

Related: Circumcision, the Primal Cut – A Human Rights Violation

Yang said he initially planned to circumcise his sons for fear they’d be “self-conscious” if they retained their foreskins, but his wife convinced him not to.

From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky.”

Rolling Stone

Yang says he does not intend to ban circumcision, but he wants to “inform parents that it is entirely up to them whether their infant gets circumcised, and that there are costs and benefits either way.”

It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations.”

Given everything he has said about circumcision and the fact that his son is on the spectrum, we’re very curious about his stance on vaccines, but if he has any anti-vaccine sentiments it’s probably best for him to keep them to himself for now.

The more choice we give parents, and the more we diminish the possible preconceptions or misinformation various parents are receiving, then the better off we’ll be as a society.”

Facebook is being pressured to censor misleading or “fake” information.

Officials believe information discouraging people from getting vaccines may have contributed to the recent outbreaks of measles. Adam Schiff, U.S. Representative for California’s 28th congressional district, sent a letter to Facebook’s  Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, asking the companies to address the problem.

Facebook curates content based on the user’s interests. Recommended posts are displayed on the Facebook wall, based on what the Facebook algorithm deems most likely to engage the reader.

Bloomberg reports that Facebook responded to Adam Schiff’s letter by saying the company is “exploring additional measures to best combat the problem.” The company says it is considering removing anti-vaccine information from the recommendations feed, which will severely limit the post reach, “while also ensuring that higher quality and more authoritative information is available.” The company also says it may stop recommending groups with questionable content.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

YouTube is often criticized for pushing misinformation and has recently come under fire for promoting flat earth theories. Last month, Google’s YouTube algorithm adjusted how it recommends videos. The company says said it will stop recommending videos with “borderline content” that “misinforms users in harmful ways,” for example, videos that promote “a phony miracle cure for a serious illness.”

In related news, Pinterest blocked our website. When asked why this was their response:

Almond milk producers are allowed to call their product milk, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court agreed with another court dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed against Blue Diamond Growers, makers of the best selling almond milk in the United States. The lawsuit alleged that the company was misleading consumers and subsequently advocated for labeling plant-based milk as “imitation milk” due to their inferior nutritional content. This is not the first time nut milk has found itself fighting to use the term milk, as the dairy industry is using all avenues available to them to deal with a culturally, ethically, and environmentally shifting world.

Ongoing Saga

The initial lawsuit against Blue Diamond Growers was filed in January 2017. the almond thing has been in court since at least 2017. The case was dismissed with prejudice in 2017, and the case was then appealed by the plaintiff in 2018. After the second dismissal due to the lack of proof that consumers would be misled by almond milk’s nutritional claims and information, it seems unlikely that almond milk manufacturers will need to change their labeling practices based this lawsuit. They will, however, need to reconcile this issue with the Food and Drug Administration sooner rather than later.

In a statement released in September 2018, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed sentiments remarkably similar to those in the case against Blue Diamond Growers.

The wide variety of plant-based foods that are being positioned in the marketplace as substitutes for standardized dairy products has been the subject of much discussion in our initial work on the Nutrition Innovation Strategy. The rising demand for plant-based products, like soy-based alternatives to cheese and nut-based alternatives to milk, has created a growing number of new food choices in supermarket aisles. However, these products are not foods that have been standardized under names like “milk” and “cheese.” The FDA has concerns that the labeling of some plant-based products may lead consumers to believe that those products have the same key nutritional attributes as dairy products, even though these products can vary widely in their nutritional content. It is important that we better understand consumers’ expectations of these plant-based products compared to dairy products.”

It’s comforting to hear that the FDA is paying attention to and invested in the changing nutritional needs of the public. Still, recent studies have found that milk doesn’t provide nearly the health benefits either, especially if you’re unable to easily digest it. Yet the FDA references the nutritional superiority of dairy with the phrase “key nutritional attributes.” Why is the government agency acknowledging new attitudes without making room for the possibility that we might not need milk like previous generations thought we did?

Related: Homemade Vegan Nut Milk Recipes

Dairy Farmers in Crises

The growing interest in relabeling milk alternatives has a direct correlation with the fortunes of the dairy industry. The dairy industry is in a particularly rough spot and has been for decades now. Dairy consumption has dropped by 40 percent since the 1970s, and that shows no sign of stopping. The dairy industry has received two separate bailouts within the last three years, including a billion dollar allotment in a budget agreement signed by the Senate in 2018 and a USDA purchase of 11 million dollars of surplus cheese in 2016. Previous efforts at combating the downward trend include the popular got milk campaign, but the current business strategy of blaming alternative milk for declining milk sales isn’t likely to fix the issues with the dairy industry.

Nut milk appeals to the lactose intolerant, the health conscious, the environmentally conscious, and vegans. The public is also paying more attention to how their food is produced, and several dairy industry practices make consumers less likely to support the dairy industry. These practices include but are not limited to separating mothers and babies less than a week after birth, dehorning cows, and keeping cows constantly pregnant.

In addition to shifting public perceptions, the dairy industry is also dealing with a problem of their own making. While the demand for milk and other dairy products has declined, dairy producers have continued to build their surplus. In 2017, the reported milk surplus was more than four times the amount of the actual consumer demand for milk. This imbalance also negatively effects dairy farmers, who are forced to sell milk for lower prices. Many farmers are subsequently going out of business.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

Milking Nuts

All of this is good news for nut milk producers like Blue Diamond Growers, the defendant in this case. The dairy industry is losing its mojo, and this lawsuit and other stalling tactics are only increasing the whiff of desperation. The dairy industry may not like the competition from nut milk and other non-dairy alternatives, but that won’t change the fact that those products are here to stay.

Sources:

• Federal Court Rules that Almond Milk is Milk – VegNews
• Amongst FDA SOI Conversation, Ninth Circuit Agrees Consumers Are Not Misled by Plant-Based Milks – National Law Review
• Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on modernizing standards of identity and the use of dairy names for plant-based substitutes – FDA
• Dairy Organizations Applaud Congressional Letter to FDA Asking for Stricter Enforcement of Milk Labeling Standards – NMPF
• Big Dairy Is About to Flood America’s School Lunches With Milk – Bloomberg

It has been two years since the U.S. Department of Agriculture passed the regulations mandating the labeling of genetically mandated ingredients. The finalized regulations that have recently been released leave much to be desired. Just Label It, a prominent organization devoted to mandatory GMO labeling, released a statement expressing their disappointment.

Specifically, we are deeply disappointed that the final rule does not clearly require the disclosure of all genetically engineered ingredients, including highly refined sugars and oils, and new GMO techniques like CRISPR and RNAi. The rule fails to require that foods be disclosed using terms that consumers understand like ‘genetically engineered’ or ‘GMO.’ And it leaves consumers in the dark if they live in rural places with poor cell service or don’t have smart phones.”

Related: Gluten Intolerance, Wheat Allergies, and Celiac Disease – It’s More Complicated Than You Think

Labeling Options

Companies have until 2022 to implement these regulations. There are a few GMO labeling options.

Companies can use clear wording to state the presence of genetically modified ingredients on their packaging. Instead of “G.M.O.’’ and “genetically engineered,” they can say “bioengineered” or “BE.”

Companies can use an electronic digital link like a QR code that consumers can read with a cell phone app that will inform the consumer of the ingredients. Such a link must be accompanied by the statement “Scan here for more food information,” or equivalent language.

The amended Act requires that the use of an electronic or digital link to disclose BE food must be accompanied by the statement, ‘Scan here for more food information’ or equivalent language’ – deemed too hard for shoppers. Regulated entities that choose this option are required to include a statement on the package that instructs consumers on how to receive a text message.”

Companies can use a friendly-looking symbol (and the symbol can also be black and white):

Additionally, a phone number or a web address to get more information are options for smaller manufacturers or for small packages.

There is also the “text message” option:

The NPRM proposed text message as an additional disclosure option if the Secretary were to determine that shoppers would not have sufficient access to digital or electronic disclosure. Food manufacturers and retailers that commented on this option were generally supportive of this option. Thus, AMS is adopting the text message option in § 66.108. Regulated entities that choose this option are required to include a statement on the package that instructs consumers on how to receive a text message.

Related: How to Avoid GMOs in 2018 – And Everything Else You Should Know About Genetic Engineering

There are companies like Campbell’s, Mars, Danone, Kellogg’s, Coca-Cola, and Unilever that will be labeling GMOs, regardless of the lax new regulations. Many international corporations, especially those that do business in Europe, already provide those labels. But there are many corporations that haven’t made that same commitment.

Confusing Regulations With Loopholes

The new labeling system seems designed to frustrate all but the most bureaucratic-loving individuals. Companies have to sort through a myriad of expensive and time-consuming labeling conditions. Consumers aren’t offered a simple way to identify GMO ingredients. Some ingredients won’t even be labeled, including high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar beets, certain oils (like canola), and other refined products.

According to the labeling guidelines:

Thus, based on the available scientific evidence, refined beet and cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, degummed refined vegetable oils, and various other refined ingredients are unlikely to require BE food disclosure because the conditions of processing serve effectively to degrade or eliminate the DNA that was initially present in the raw agricultural commodity.”

While that may be true from a scientific standpoint, it only makes the new regulations problematic in the eyes of consumers. When corn is an ingredient it’s almost always a GMO, and informed shoppers will know that. How much faith will they have in non-organic products containing corn that are not marked BE? This also ignores the possibility of customers choosing non-GMO products for environmental reasons. The refined product may not have any engineered DNA left in the final product but the corn (or beets) will still have been grown with the increased pesticides and other environmentally harmful practices associated with genetically modified crops.

And there are other exclusions.

Incidental additives will not require labeling.

Such an item will only trigger disclosure when it is used as an ingredient that is included on the ingredient list, not when used as an incidental additive.”​

To-Go foods are exempt.

Salads, soups, and other ready-to-eat items prepared by grocery stores are exempt from the disclosure requirements.”​

Meat and dairy from animals fed GMOs are exempt.

The amended Act prohibits a food derived from an animal from being considered a bioengineered food solely because the animal consumed feed produced from, containing, or consisting of a bioengineered substance.”​

Companies will be allowed to use the same equipment on GMO and non-GMO crops.

Gene-edited foods like CRISPR will be exempt.

Businesses with annual sales are less than $2.5m are also exempt.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut

Foods like cheese or yogurt that are made with bioengineered yeasts or rennet are not exempt.

Nothing New

Sixty-four countries worldwide have managed to implement GMO labeling. But the new GMO labeling for the U.S. does the opposite of what it should do. These regulations are not convenient or clear. If anything they’ll probably make grocery shopping even harder for many people.

Sources:

• National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard – USDA
• Government lays out the rules for labeling for genetically modified foods – CNBC
• The USDA’s Final Rule for GMO Labeling Stinks – Reason
• Statement from Just Label It on USDA’s Final Rule for Nationwide Disclosures of GMO Foods – Just Label It

Most of the food safety inspections have been stopped during the federal government shutdown. FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb says he is trying to figure out what the most essential inspections are and continue those inspections. To achieve this the FDA is said to have to force furloughed workers to work without being paid.

There are important things we are not doing.” – FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb

FDA inspectors are not testing products for salmonella, E. coli, listeria, etc. If companies find contamination issues the FDA will still publically announce the recalls. The FDA is still checking foreign food, but there is virtually no inspections of domestic food production.

We’re doing everything we can to try to maintain our basic consumer protection role. That’s our focus.” – Gottlieb said in interview to NBC

THREAD: Food Safety During Shutdown: We’re taking steps to expand the scope of food safety surveillance inspections we’re doing during the shutdown to make sure we continue inspecting high risk food facilities. 31% of our inventory of domestic inspections are considered high risk

— Scott Gottlieb, M.D. (@SGottliebFDA) January 9, 2019

Some of FDA’s work, such as drug approvals, inspections of drug-producing facilities, and regulating tobacco products, are paid for by user fees. They’re not greatly affected by the shutdown. But much of the budget is specifically appropriated by Congress, and it’s on hold. About 7,000 of the agency’s 17,000 employees, or 41 percent of staff, are furloughed.” – NBC

Gottlieb plans to call in about 10% of the FDA’s inspection workforce to re-start the inspections of the “high-risk domestic facilities.” Gottlieb estimates that the FDA employs about 5,000 inspectors and normally does about 160 inspections a month.

It’s something we currently aren’t doing. I think it’s the right thing to do for public safety.”

Federal data shows a large increase in asbestos imports to the U.S. Environmental groups have called for better reporting of asbestos products by U.S. manufacturers. The petition requested the EPA to require importers and users of asbestos and asbestos-containing products to report asbestos content to the public. The EPA has this authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA. Chemical Watch reported that the EPA will not implement additional reporting of asbestos usage.

Related: Johnson And Johnson Knew Asbestos Was In Baby Powder, More Lawsuits Are Coming

In October, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, or ADAO, and EWG analyzed import data that showed asbestos imports soared by nearly 2,000 percent between July and August 2018.

“According to the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department, in August alone, the U.S. imported 272 metric tons of asbestos, compared with 13 metric tons in July. – Environmental Working Group

President Trump’s EPA not only refused to ban asbestos, which kills tens of thousands each year, it won’t even take a closer look at how much is imported and where and how it’s being used by companies. The hundreds of thousands of deaths caused from asbestos in the U.S. alone should be reason enough for the Trump administration to better inform the public about potential routes of exposure.” – ADAO President and Co-Founder Linda Reinstein