(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Dong Peng, a Falun Gong practitioner from Zhaodong City, Heilongjiang Province, was illegally sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is incarcerated in Hulan Prison in Harbin City and has been tortured. The prison guards ordered the inmates to monitor him around the clock. He was frequently beaten, threatened, and forced to do a lot of physical labor. His chest is badly bruised and abraded. He is in critical condition.

On February 13, 2009, his family was told to visit him the next day. They were told to encourage him to "cooperate with the prison guards." To see his family oblige the guards in this way was another form of torture for Mr. Dong.

During the visit on February 14, Mr. Dong's parents, child, and other relatives saw that he was extremely weak. His hair had turned completely white even though he is only in his thirties. He was very thin and could not even get off the bed. His hands were shaking and his face was pale. He had difficulty breathing. He kept vomiting bile, and they saw many black and purple scars on his body.

His family asked the guards, "Mr. Dong was a very healthy person a short while ago, why does he look like this?" The guards said that he did not cooperate with them, so he was given shots. It would take four or five guards to hold him down to give him a shot. After the shots he suffered a lot as he was allergic to the "penicillin." His family asked to see an X-ray or CT scan. The guards refused the request, claiming that they didn't have permission from the warden. His family said that Mr. Dong's pain was more severe than it appeared. They asked if they could take him home and help him recover, but the guards said that all they could do was ask Mr. Dong to be more cooperative.

Dong Peng's wife, Ms. Yu Libo is also a practitioner. When the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong, officers from the Red Flag Police Station, Zhaodong City, hung a big board with her name on it around her neck, paraded her around, and put her on public display. Mr. Dong Peng's older brother, Dong Gang, and his wife were forced to accompany Mrs. Yu while she was paraded around. Then Ms. Yu was taken back to her hometown, a county in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. She was pregnant at the time.

Less than ten months after giving birth to her baby, Ms. Yu Libo was persecuted again for writing a letter to then-Major Sun Gang of Zhaodong City. In her letter, she described the physical and spiritual benefits she experienced from cultivating Falun Gong and said that she wished the government would realize the truth and stop persecuting Falun Gong. When she was detained in the Zhaodong City Detention Center, she was beaten, electrically shocked, and tortured with many torture implements including the Tiger Bench (please see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html for a detailed explanation of this torture). Her eyebrows and underarms were burned. She went on a hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment she was being subjected to.

Ms. Yu has been imprisoned in the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison for more than eight years.

Mr. Dong Peng's parents are getting old, but they are still taking care of Mr. Dong's child.

Under coercion from the Red Flag Police Station, Mr. Dong Peng's brother, Dong Gang, had to sever all contact with his father, who is also a practitioner.

 

(Clearwisdom.net) On January 13, 2009, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Jiagong, a senior engineer from the Machinery and Electronics Institute of Handan City, Hebei Province, died after having endured long-term persecution and harassment by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). His only son was not able to attend his funeral because he is being held in prison for a seventh year.

Mr. Li started to practice Falun Gong in 1995. Soon after, the hypertension that had made him suffer for many years disappeared. This "Falun Gong miracle" motivated his family members to practice Falun Gong as well, and the family was leading a happy life. After the persecution of Falun Gong started nationwide on July 20, 1999, the secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Mr. Li's workplace, Ma Ruchang, and another person named Song repeatedly went to his home to harass and intimidate him. They ransacked his home many times with help from the local police and 610 Office of Handan City. Later, in an attempt to force him into giving up his belief, they arrested him and sent him to a brainwashing center.

In July 2001, Mr. Li's son Li Mingtao was arrested when he was distributing "truth- clarification" materials about Falun Gong. In November 2002, he was sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment. He is now held in the Fourth Prison of Hebei Province, also known as the Beijiao Prison of Shijiazhuang City, and has been brutally mistreated. His family members attempted to see him but were turned away by prison officers. Mr. Li Mingtao has been subjected to the some of the most ruthless torture in the prison. At the end of 2003, guard Zhao Jun from the Reeducation Section of the brainwashing center hammered nails into the area between the fingers and fingernails of his left hand.

During the 16^th Congress of the CCP in 2002, Mr. Li Jiagong was arrested because he mailed out truth-clarification letters. He was sent to Sucao Police Station and was prevented from sleeping for many days. He was later released after the police extorted 3,000 yuan from him. At the same time, Mr. Li's older daughter was sentenced to two years of forced labor and the police extorted 8,000 yuan from his younger daughter.

Over the past nine years, officials from the local residence committee, Mr. Li's workplace, the local police station and the 610 Office relentlessly intimidated and harassed Mr. Li, to the point that he developed illnesses from the great mental pressure. He died on January 13, 2009.

99-Year-Old Dies After CCP Officials Arrest Her Daughter

Ms. Wang Xiaocun, a Falun Gong practitioner from Taijiazhuang Village of Xinji City, Hebei Province, was doing well at the age of 99. She lived with her 50-year-old daughter

Ms. Tai Shuzheng, on Nanjie Street of Xincheng Town and depended on her for survival. Ms. Wang started to practice Falun Gong in 1998 and was in good health from then on.

At 10.30 p.m. on July 24, 2008, some officials from the Xincheng government climbed over the fence of Ms. Tai Shuzheng's property and broke into and ransacked her home. They took away some truth-clarification materials about Falun Gong and arrested Ms. Tai. She was later sentenced to 15 months of forced labor and sent to the notorious Women's Forced Labor Camp of Hebei Province.

Ms. Wang was greatly impacted by her daughter's arrest, both mentally and physically. Being unable to endure all her suffering, she died on January 16, 2009.

The Czech Republic President said the EU was undemocratic, elitist and reminiscent of Soviet-era Communist dictatorships in an attack which provoked an angry response from EU legislators.

Vaclav Klaus, who holds the rotating EU presidency, also won applause from nationalists and other anti-EU legislators during his first address to the EU chamber. Mr Klaus is known for his deep scepticism of the EU and has refused to fly its flag over his official seat in Prague during the Czech presidency, saying the country is not an EU province.

He told the chamber that EU practices smacked of communist times when the Soviet Union controlled much of eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, and when dissent or even discussions were not tolerated.

"Not so long ago, in our part of Europe we lived in a political system that permitted no alternatives and therefore also no parliamentary opposition," he said. "We learned the bitter lesson that with no opposition, there is no freedom."

The 27-nation bloc should concentrate on offering prosperity to Europeans, rather than closer political union, and scrap a stalled EU reform treaty that Irish voters have already rejected. Questioning deeper integration had become an "uncriticisable assumption that there is only one possible and correct future of the European integration", Mr Klaus said.

"The enforcement of these notions... is unacceptable. Those who dare thinking about a different option are labelled as enemies." Observers had been expecting Mr Klaus to deliver a critical address to the chamber.

 

 

 

Almost every star similar to the Sun probably has a life-harbouring planet like the Earth in orbit around it, a leading astronomer said yesterday.

The discovery of hundreds of planets around distant stars in our galaxy suggests that most solar systems have a world like ours that is capable of supporting life, and many of them are likely to have evolved it, according to Alan Boss, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington.

Nasa’s Kepler spacecraft, which will be launched next month to seek Earth-like worlds, is expected to find thousands of rocky planets in the patch of sky it surveys, Dr Boss told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago.

“We’re on the verge of finding out convincingly how frequently habitable planets occur in the Universe,” he said. “A little over 20 years ago we knew of no other planetary system other than our own. We now know of well over 300. I suspect that virtually every star when you look up at the night sky has an Earth-like planet around it.” These “exoplanets” are mainly gas giants like Jupiter, but they do include some “super-Earths” that are a few times larger than our planet. While smaller worlds like ours are invisible to existing telescopes, Kepler will be capable of finding them.

“The estimates are that super-Earths probably occur in one third of solar-like stars, and I would say that those oddball planets are the tip of the iceberg,” Dr Boss said. “About three or four years from now there’ll be a press conference announcing how frequently Earths occur. It’s quite an exciting time to be alive.”

His expectation was that 85 per cent of Sun-like stars had one Earth-like planet, and that some could have many more. Given that there are 100 billion Sun-like stars in the galaxy, and 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, there may be 10 billion trillion planets that are good candidates for life. That is a one followed by 22 noughts.

With a habitable world sitting for five or ten billion years around another star, it was inevitable that some sort of life would form, Dr Boss said. If you had a planet with the right temperature and water for billions of years, you were bound to get life. Comets carrying the organic building blocks of life regularly bombard planets, he said.

If Kepler, and a European planet-finder called Corot, do find Earth-like worlds, the next step will be to launch space-based telescopes to study them. “If we find the signature of oxygen, that would be pretty strong proof that not only are they habitable, but they are inhabited,” Dr Boss said.

“You probably also want to fire off a little spacecraft, to get there in a couple of thousand years if we can speed it up a bit, and wait for it to send back some pictures. Someone’ll be sitting at a laptop a thousand years later and it’ll be: OK here it comes, we have got an e-mail.”

It was likely that some planets had produced intelligent organisms and civilisations, though our chances of locating one were very remote, Dr Boss said. “Maybe we haven’t found them yet because we haven’t looked long and hard enough in the galaxy, and maybe there are intelligent civilisations which could have formed and lasted 100,000 years, but maybe they happened 100 million years ago, and so we’re just out of phase with them.”

The possibility of an interplanetary visit to Earth “is essentially ruled out unless you believe in science fiction. The speed of light is so far away from the fastest our fastest rockets can go that it would take us hundreds of thousands of years to get to the closest star. We don’t have to worry about anyone coming to visit us.”

 

(Clearwisdom.net) On February 9, 2009, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will review the human rights conditions in China based on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a new and unique process that involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN member states once every four years. Those that trample on human rights receive the most attention from the media and the public. The upcoming review is an opportunity to expose the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and help the people and governments around the world find out the facts about the persecution.

The CCP launched a brutal and large-scale persecution against millions of Falun Gong practitioners ten years ago. The level of cruelty has been unprecedented, and the international community must not allow this persecution to continue. The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group has submitted a strongly worded report to the United Nations on the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. The reported has been published on the official website of UPR.

http://www.upr-info.org/Documents-for-the-review,459.html

(Search Keyword The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group)

The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group states that the CCP's severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners violates every article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and all international human rights treaties and laws that are based on the UDHR. The submission focused on the following aspects of the persecution:

1. Deprivation of Dignity and Personal Freedom and All Basic Rights

2. Deprivation of the Right to Life, Liberty, and Personal Security

3. Slavery

4. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

5. Deprivation of Protection of Law, Access to Legal Help, and a Fair Trial

6. Arbitrary Detention

7. Destruction of Families

8. Deprivation of Freedom of Movement, Right to Nationality, and Right to Asylum

9. Deprivation of Fundamental Civil and Political Rights

10. Deprivation of Basic Social and Cultural Rights, and the Right to Personal Development

Information from Falun Gong practitioners and their sympathizers from China indicate that millions have been subjected to arbitrary detention; hundreds of thousands have been sent to labor camps; and thousands have been sent to psychiatric hospitals and injected with harmful chemicals. Almost all who have been arrested were tortured, and most women who have been arrested have suffered violence, including sexual abuse. Thousands have been tortured to death, while large numbers of living Falun Gong practitioners have systematically had their vital organs harvested, leading to their deaths. Information from other sources, including inquiries and interventions by Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), also point to a severe and extensive persecution. Given the information blackout by the PRC government, the real situation is believed to be much worse. The long duration of this persecution and the number of people affected makes the PRC government's persecution of Falun Gong the most severe human rights violation in the world.

The PRC government's severe and extensive violations against Falun Gong practitioners are precisely what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) calls "barbarous acts that have outraged the conscience of mankind." Such acts go against the letter and spirit of the UN Charter and violate every article of the UDHR and all international human rights treaties and laws that are based on the UDHR. The PRC's membership in the UNHRC taints the image of the UNHRC.

While this submission focuses on China's human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, it is important to note that Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Christians, dissidents, and other groups have suffered similar human rights violations.

The Chinese and English versions of the Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review of China are available at

http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1738&Itemid=0

http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1737&Itemid=0

 

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney

 

Vitamin B and folate supplements could be the key to fighting the debilitating symptoms of migraines, according to new research.

 

They "significantly" reduced the frequency and severity of attacks in a clinical trial involving 50 migraine sufferers.Professor Lyn Griffiths, director of the Genomics Research Centre (GRC) at Griffith University in Australia, said the results of the six-month study were very positive.The findings showed "a drastic improvement in headache frequency, pain severity and associated disability for those treated," she said.

Migraines cause severe headaches and can also trigger nausea, vomiting, pins and needles and increased sensitivity to bright light, sound or smell. A typical attack can last from four to 72 hours and can be so debilitating that the sufferer is unable to work, and in some cases, even to leave a darkened room.Approximately nine million people in the UK suffer from migraines, which is by far the most common neurological condition. About 80 per cent of those - some 7.2 million - have an attack at least once a month.

Migraines are often treated with powerful painkillers such as codeine or anti sickness medication. Preventative treatment includes anti depressants and drugs commonly used to control blood pressure such as betablockers.Previous studies by the GRC identified a gene, known as MTHFR, which makes people susceptible to migraine attacks when it mutates or disfunctions.This results in higher levels of the amino acid homocysteine, which is linked to an increased risk of stroke and other coronary diseases.

"The recent trial was founded on the theory that vitamin B supplements and folic acid will reduce the homocysteine and in turn, improve migraine symptoms," Prof Griffiths said.The success of the trial proved that "safe, inexpensive" supplements - rather than expensive medication that can have adverse side effects - could treat migraine patients, she said.The team is now preparing to conduct a larger trial to determine the best dosage for individual patients, depending on their genetic profile.

 

 

 

A University of Rochester Medical Center study challenges the assumption that Bisphenol A, the chemical found in food packaging, is rapidly metabolized in the human body and claims that exposure may come from non-food sources.

 

(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Guo Ling, 52, a practitioner from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, disappeared after leaving her mother's home on the morning of January 15, 2009. After an unsuccessful search, her family learned that she had been arrested and was being held in the Wuhua Detention Center in Kunming. This is the third time that Ms. Guo has been detained in the past few years.

Ms. Guo had polio when she was a year old, and as a result, she had difficulty walking. But after she began practicing Falun Gong in 1997, she experienced great improvements in both her physical and mental health. She became calmer and more considerate of others. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, officers from the Wuhua District Police Department repeatedly threatened her and ransacked her home, trying to pressure her into giving up her belief in Falun Gong and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They forced her to attend "transformation" sessions several times.

Because she refused to renounce her faith, the Wuhua police searched her home again in June 2001. They seized all her Falun Gong books, cassette player, and exercise tapes. They arrested her and illegally jailed her for three months. She was then sentenced to two years of forced labor in the Yunnan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp. Because of her disability, the camp refused to admit her, and she had to serve her sentence outside the camp.

In April 2002, the Guandu District Police Department arrested her. An officer slapped her violently during the arrest, leaving her with a bruised face and a black eye. She was released that same night. In July, officers from the district police departments in both Panlong and Guandu ransacked her home. They arrested her and put her in the Second Jail in Kunming City. After she had been jailed for eight months, the Songming County Court tried her and sentenced her to seven years in the Yunnan Second Provincial Prison.

Ms. Guo was persecuted severely in prison. Despite the severe disability in her legs, they forced her to walk several miles each day to perform forced labor. During the years she spent in prison, the guards appointed inmates to monitor her around the clock. She was not permitted to speak to anyone, and someone had to watch her even when she used the restroom. She was put in solitary confinement many times and brutally persecuted. When she went on a hunger strike for 56 days to protest her inhumane treatment, the guards directed inmates to tie her up and force-feed her.

Ms. Guo's mother, who was in her seventies, cried every day. After almost six years had passed, her daughter finally came home, and she thought that they could be together for the Chinese New Year. But Ms. Guo was arrested yet again, allegedly for using currency with a message about Falun Dafa written on it. In the week following her disappearance, her family members queried the police but learned nothing of her whereabouts. The police finally informed them that Ms. Guo had been arrested by the Daguan Police in Kunming City.

Ms. Guo's mother has suffered several heart attacks. While the entire country was joyfully celebrating the New Year, Ms. Guo's family was in deep sorrow.

 

 

 

Miami, FL (AHN) - Mercury was found in nine of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup tested by a Food and Drug Administration researcher, and a separate study by a public health group found mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand named food and beverages where the sweetener was listed as the first or second ingredient.

High fructose corn syrup has replaced sugar in many processed foods, including beverages, breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of high fructose corn syrup. Consumption by teenagers and other high consumers can be up to 80 percent above average levels, according to the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy -- the group responsible for the second report.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms," the IATP's Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author in both studies, said in a statement. "Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply."

The original FDA study was conducted in 2005, and Wallinga is accusing the agency of not informing the public of the mercury findings.

In making high fructose corn syrup, caustic soda is used, among other things, to separate corn starch from the corn kernel, Wallinga said. For decades, the sweetener has been made using mercury-grade caustic soda produced in industrial chlorine plants, according to Wallinga. The use of mercury cells to produce caustic soda can contaminate caustic soda, and ultimately high fructose corn syrup, with mercury.

"The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury," Wallinga said. "The good news is that mercury-free [high fructose corn syrup] ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients."

 

(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Huang Yanqing. On the afternoon of June 25, 2008, I was abducted by two policemen who forced me into a squad car and then took me to the Haikou Brainwashing Center in Haikou City, Hainan Province.

There I met the collaborators that I had known when I was in the forced labor camp the first time. They said that they had been looking for me for many years. The place was very dark and gloomy. The windows were all shut, incense was burning, and Buddhist songs were playing. As soon as I entered, they all gathered around me and called me names. They badmouthed Dafa and Teacher, and my practicing Falun Gong. One person was muttering things next to me and had a strange expression when I turned around to look at her. Because my own righteous thoughts were not strong enough, I immediately heard things roaring in my ears and my head felt like I was wearing a hat. They said that it was animal possession, and they had to get rid of it for me. Some of them hit my back violently. I knew they were playing tricks on me.

I had been "transformed" against my will when I was previously in the forced labor camp and under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution. I did not want to be "transformed" again. To try and force me to give up my cultivation, they burned incense that filled the room with dark smoke, they yelled in my ear through a megaphone, and they hit my head with Dafa books. They asked a "transformed" person from my hometown to try and persuade me to renounce Dafa. The person said that I would not be able to get out if I did not give up my belief, and that they would beat me to death and I had no chance of winning the fight.

I privately told the fellow that he should not practice the false Buddhist stuff there and should give it up as soon as possible. "They do not let you sleep and they beat you every day and bruise your whole body. They hit you when they ask you questions and beat you whether you respond to them or not. It is extremely evil. How can this be the true Buddhism. Could true Buddhism be like this?"

Besides this pressure, I was handcuffed to the window in the restroom overnight many times. The worst thing was that after 10:00 p.m. when I got tired, they would beat me as soon as I closed my eyes to stop me from falling asleep. They forced me to circle around the Buddha statue in the room, while also chanting "Ah_Mi_Tuo_Fo" ("Buddha Amitabha"), to try and force me to "transform". When I refused to comply, they called in a newly "transformed", thirty-year-old man to hit me. Several times he used his hands to choke me and hit my head against the wall. Sometimes I was forced to stand all night with my hands and legs stretched straight and I was not allowed to move. When I made the slightest move due to a mosquito bite, he would punch me on my body, head, or back.

They forced me to first stand straight, then with one hand holding the ear on the opposite side, I had to bend at the waist and have the other hand touch the ground on the opposite side. I then had to keep turning in circles while holding this position. It was unbearable -- as time went on, my hands and legs would get tired and they began to tremble. I would eventually fall when I was unable to hold the position any longer.

Because the persecution was too hard to stand, I thought I might as well be put in prison. I did not think of removing the evil substance behind the persecutors. They said that I had to be trained for a few days there. I wanted to go to the prison. That night, two forty-year-old men came in. They forced me to sit on a bench, and hit me on my head, ears, and eyes with Dafa books. They broke six to seven Dafa books while beating me, and left paper shredded all over the floor. My nose, eyes, and head all hurt. I lost my hearing and my head was dizzy. They violently hit the back of my hands and caused them to swell and hurt for many days. They also stepped on me while I was on the floor.

A couple of days later, five to six people surrounded me, some holding my head, some hitting my back, to force me to "transform". I was beaten so hard that I truly could not stand any more and I finally complied. This was how the CCP forced me to "transform". They also wrote articles defaming Dafa and Teacher, and held my head down to force me to read them. They forced me to copy the articles three times. When I finished copying them the second time, with my head being held, I had a headache. I enlightened that I should not have copied the articles, but I truly could not stand the beatings.

The next day, they said that I had "transformed" voluntarily, although I was forced to do so by the CCP. Because I could not stand their continued torture and persecution, I was forced to write the three statements. Afterwards, I was very angry with myself. At the lunch break I had a dream, in which I saw that I was holding a very pretty lotus flower, but I had broken it myself. When I woke up, I tore up the draft that I had written. When they found out, they tortured me for another week using all sorts of means, in order to force me to write another one. They deprived me of sleep for a week and forced me to badmouth Dafa and Teacher, and tore the pictures of Teacher from Dafa books to force me step on them. They often trampled on Teacher's pictures, and claimed that they were not afraid of karmic retribution. They all carried Buddhist talismans, and used quilts with Buddhist seals. On the wall next to the bed they hung Buddhist pictures. They said that they were not afraid to die.

They kept intensifying their persecution of me. They forced me to turn in circles in the room from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. and listen to Buddhist songs from a tape. They forced me to follow the tape and sing along while circling, and would hit me if I stopped singing or walking. After two days my feet were swollen and I could not walk any more. Some said that they wanted to drive me crazy. Some applied the torture methods that they learned in the past on me. They used all sorts of derogatory language. Every day, they would come to my room to recite incantations that made me uncomfortable. Both my ears and head were so painful that I could not bear it. My whole body was weak and I would collapse. I rushed to the hallway to ask Teacher to save me and cleanse my body. Were it not for our great Teacher, I would have died.

They also tempted me with all sorts of interests. They played unsightly DVDs to disturb me so that I would not succeed in my cultivation. I was persecuted by them for over two months this time. The last time I was tortured in the forced labor camp, they handcuffed me, used electric batons to shock me, and my health was severely damaged. This time they tortured me and injured me again. My injuries and hearing loss did not recover until long after I was released from the brainwashing center.

 

http://nosydenhamwindfarm.wordpress.com

Picton, Ontario, January 15, 2009

200 Picton area residents braved frigid temperatures Thursday night to hear about the serious health risks associated with Industrial Wind Turbines.

Dr. Magda Havas Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental and Resource Studies at Peterborough’s Trent University and one of the world’s leading research experts in the areas of electromagnetic pollution, radio frequency radiation, ground current and dirty electricity delivered alarming warnings about the dangers to human and animal health, posed by Industrial Wind Turbines.

Dr. Havas was the featured speaker in Picton. Havas identified two significant problem areas that pose substantive threats to the health of those living or working in proximity to wind turbine developments – Infrasound or Low Frequency Sound emitted by the turbines themselves and both Dirty Electricity and stray voltage related to the electricity produced by turbines.

The human body feels and reacts to sound waves that we cannot hear. These waves, in the low end of the sound spectrum (under 20 Hz), are well documented to cause nausea, joint pain, insomnia, depression, agitation, increased blood pressure and possible heart problems. It is also a major cause of Vibroacoustic Disease which can lead to vision problems, digestive problems, cardiovascular problems, and circulatory difficulties.

Since infrasound can carry over very long distances, Dr. Havas says that the jury is still out on how far away from people Industrial Wind Turbines should be located. She quoted the French Academy of Medicine guidelines which call for a minimum setback of 1.5 kilometers and Dr. Nina Pierpont of New York State, who has done comprehensive research into turbine related illnesses, who calls for a minimum of 2 kilometers.

But Dr. Havas was quick to point out that infrasound is not the only danger to local residents posed by wind turbines. She is particularly concerned about the impacts of “Dirty Electricity” also a byproduct of Wind Turbines in Ontario, “… the worst part of it is that it could all be eliminated with proper design and care”, Havas said. “However, there is a cost involved….do you think that they will spend the money necessary to correct a problem that they refuse to admit even exists?”

Some of the symptoms created by Dirty Electricity in the home resemble those caused by infrasound. They include nausea, sleep disorders, headaches, dizziness, tinnitus and irregular heart beat. Havas has done important research into this area and studies have identified substantially increased rates of cancers, increased blood sugar among some diabetics, skin sensitivities, and other equally disturbing conditions.

Havas’ presentation followed that of Bill Palmer a Professional Engineer with experience in risk assessment and public safety. Palmer identified the fact that Hydro One has setback guidelines to protect their critical Hydro lines from possible turbine damage but the Ontario Government has put no setbacks in place to protect people. “Hydro requires a setback of 500 meters from their most important lines – to protect against mechanical damage from a turbine collapse or blade failure”, Palmer said. “Unfortunately, no such guidelines are in place for public safety to protect people traveling on roadways, in their fields adjacent to a turbine, or in their homes…..There are no guidelines in place to protect citizens from these same mechanical risks that Hydro One has setbacks for. He went on to show how the calculation of the setback required for noise from wind turbines needed to take into consideration the change in wind profile at night, the cyclic nature of wind turbine noise, and the low frequency component of wind turbine noise.”.

Moderator, Dr. Robert McMurtry, founding Assistant Deputy Minister of the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada and special advisor to Roy Romanow during the Romanow Commission, expressed concern about the lack of public protection in place. He agreed with Palmer and Havas that Industrial Wind Turbine developments must be controlled and that the current Public Health Guidelines concerning setback distances must be reassessed. Even the recommended setback distances of 2km may not be appropriate – epidemiological studies are necessary to set the record straight.

In addition, government has a responsibility to ensure public protection from dirty electricity by establishing guidelines prohibiting ground current from Industrial Wind Turbines.

For more information contact:
Beth Harrington
Media Relations
Wind Concerns Ontario
647 588-8647
416 481-6424

 

By Liangxinhua, once imprisoned at the Wuhan City Women's Prison

(Clearwisdom.net) I was a regular inmate in the Women's Prison of Wuhan City. At the end of 2003, another Falun Gong practitioner named Ms. Sun Xiuqin entered the prison ward where I was being held. There are many methods of torture used in the Wuhan Women's Prison. Inmates are never respected, guards will treat inmates really nicely only if the inmates are wealthy or powerful. They are really cruel to Falun Gong practitioners. They would try to force them to give up their belief, make them watch slanderous videotapes, and force them to do hard labor, day and night. If they didn't cooperate, they would be strung up to a metal door.

The guards arranged for two or three inmates to monitor Ms. Sun 24 hours a day. If they saw her do the exercises or recite Falun Dafa teachings, they immediately reported it to the guards and she was punished right away. The guards authorized other inmates to beat or curse her at anytime. According to the rules in prison, inmates were not allowed to use violence against each other. If anyone did, they would have to write a statement to confess their mistake. They would have marks deducted in their personal evaluations or be locked up in a small cell. However, inmates were allowed to beat Falun Gong practitioners. If any other inmate tried to stop it, he or she would be threatened by the guards. They could get marks deducted or get a longer term.

Among the inmates watching over Ms. Sun Xiuqin, there were three that were the most vicious. Their names were Zhao Benyu, Wang Lanyin and Zhang Yulian. I will refer to them as Wang, Zhao, and Zhang.

During a discussion, Ms. Sun did not want to read the material that tries to convince practitioners to give up Falun Gong. She was cursed at and beaten by Wang and Zhang in the cell for three to four hours. Some inmates immediately reported this to the guards, but they were criticized by the prison's instructor, Zhang Wenxia, and small section warden Jiang Ying.

The following day, Zhao severely beat Ms. Sun in another small cell. I saw her having trouble walking after that. She was dragging one of her legs, and there was blood on her face and lips. When inmates Li Jizhi and Gao Yuzhi and practitioner Lu Lixian wrote a letter to the guards to report this incident, the guards cross examined the three inmates accused of abusing Ms. Sun. Zhao said the abuse never occurred. Wang and Zhang also claimed they did not abuse her. Jiang Ying announced that he would file an investigation, but the true purpose was to cover it up and protect the perpetrators.

Zhao was very proud of herself and showed off by saying to me, "The guards allowed this, and no one saw it happen, so of course I don't have to admit it." Instructor Zhang Wenxia said it all happened because Ms. Sun did not renounce her belief, so she deserved it! As for the two kind inmates who reported the incident, Zhang Wenxia threw a cup of water at them and claimed that she would deduct marks from them. I asked Zhao, "Did Ms. Sun fight back?" She said, "I have never seen someone so stupid. She didn't curse or fight back when I beat her."

After a while, I was transferred to a different ward. I met a total of ten Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan Women's Prison. They are truly innocent people. They were locked up like us, but we are criminals who committed crimes. In jail, only Falun Gong practitioners never used bad language and never cursed at people. They even told us to do good deeds, and they were really kind to us. When we didn't have daily necessities and clothing, they gave theirs to us. They are really the best people in the world.

 

 

 

Multiple sclerosis could be prevented through daily vitamin D supplements, scientists told The Times last night.

The first causal link has been established between the “sunshine vitamin” and a gene that increases the risk of MS, raising the possibility that the debilitating auto-immune disease could be eradicated. George Ebers, Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, claimed that there was hard evidence directly relating both genes and the environment to the origins of MS.

His work suggests that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and childhood may increase the risk of a child developing the disease. He has also established the possibility that genetic vulnerability to MS, apparently initiated by lack of vitamin D, may be passed through families. These risks might plausibly be reduced by giving vitamin D supplements to pregnant woman and young children.

“I think it offers the potential for treatment which might prevent MS in the future,” Professor Ebers said. “Our research has married two key pieces of the puzzle. The interaction of vitamin D with the gene is very specific and it seems most unlikely to be a coincidence of any kind.”

Warnings over sun exposure could now also be called into question – sunlight allows the body to produce the vitamin. Professor Ebers said: “Serious questions now arise over the wisdom of current advice to limit sun exposure and avoid sunbathing. We also need to give better advice and help to the public on vitamin D supplements, particularly pregnant and nursing mothers.”

The news has momentous implications for Scotland and other northern countries, where the incidence of multiple sclerosis is the highest in the world. It will give added urgency to recent moves by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer to consider recommending vitamin D supplements. Deficiency in vitamin D, caused by lack of exposure to sunshine, has been increasingly linked to the cloudier climate in Scotland and other northern latitudes. The deficiency is twice as common among the Scots as it is amongst the English – and Orkney and Shetland have among the highest rates.

Studies have also shown that fewer people with MS are born in November and more in May, implicating a lack of sunshine during pregnancy.

The breakthrough comes after a groundswell of expert belief in the importance of vitamin D. Last November, at a conference organised by the Scottish Government, international experts urged vitamin D supplements for Scots to be tested “sooner rather than later” to find whether they could improve the nation’s health. Researchers for the World Health Organisation said there should be large, randomised trials as there was strong evidence that increased daily intake of vitamin D could significantly improve health.

The seminar followed evidence, revealed in The Times, that Scotland’s poor health record has close links to vitamin D deficiency. Last September this newspaper reported evidence from scientists in Canada that children with early symptoms of multiple sclerosis have low levels of vitamin D. Until now there has been no scientific proof of the links. However, Professor Ebers and his team have shown that vitamin D affects a particular genetic variant, identified as the one that increases the risk of developing MS threefold.

They suggest that a shortage of the vitamin alters this variant, thus preventing the immune system from functioning normally.

Professor Ebers said: “Whether it’s at the core of MS is going to take some further work, but it does look like a reasonably good chance.” Last October Professor Ebers, in an article in The Times, backed the idea of distributing vitamin D supplements in Scotland to guard against conditions that may be linked to a deficiency, including MS. “It is plausible that some 200 cases a year of MS might be prevented in Scotland alone by giving vitamin D to mothers and children,” he wrote. “Over a trial duration of 25 years, 5,000 cases of this disease might be otherwise prevented.

“The economic impact of each person with MS is at least an extra million pounds during a lifetime.

“Over 25 years £5 billion is at issue in this disease without factoring in the human cost, the increasing rate of MS or inflation. A large-scale programme providing vitamin D could provide scientific evidence.”

Disease of the North: MS rates per 100,000 of the population

Canada 240

Scotland 150 - 200

Norway 110

England and Wales 90 - 110

Australia 78

Spain 59

Brazil 18

Sources: Atlas of Multiple Sclerosis; bandolier.com