Tag: safety

Journal Retracts ‘Ghost Written’ Monsanto Study Claiming Glyphosate Is Safe

Over the past year massive scandals involving academic research have come under the microscope, after dedicated researchers uncovered rigged studies that made it through peer-review with flying colors, and are now being retracted. 

On Friday, the Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology journal announced that it has retracted a review, safety evaluation, and risk assessment of the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, after it emerged that Monsanto was heavily involved in its production. 

“This decision has been made after careful consideration of the COPE guidelines and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the authorship and content of this article and in light of no response having been provided to address the findings,” the journal said in a statement. 

“Litigation in the United States revealed correspondence from Monsanto suggesting that the authors of the article were not solely responsible for writing its content,” and contributions by Monsanto employees were not disclosed, including in the acknowledgements section of the review. 

The journal also said that the authors may have been paid by Monsanto – which was also not disclosed. 

The Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology had been frequently cited in defending glyphosate, an ingredient in Roundup, including citations on Wikipedia, researchers said in a paper published in September. Since 2017, multiple juries have concluded that Roundup exposure has resulted in non-Hodgkin lymphoma in people. Bayer took over legal cases involving the matter after it purchased Monsanto in 2018, including a case that may be adjudicated by the Supreme Court. -Epoch Times

Meanwhile the study’s lead author, Gary Williams – a former pathologist at New York Medical College, is MIA, according to an Epoch Times inquiry. 

An internal email from February 2015 presented as evidence in a 2017 court case revealed that Monsanto employees worked with the authors of the review, with one employee writing that it would be expensive to involve experts from all major areas in a review – and would be cheaper to simply involve certain experts and “we ghost-write” other sections. 

“We would be keeping the cost down by us doing the writing and they would just edit & sign their names so to speak. Recall that is how we handled Williams Kroes & Munro, 2000,” the employee wrote. 

So of course, the journal retracts the dodgy study almost 10 years later – even as other journals – including Critical Reviews in Toxicology, attached expressions of concern co-authored by Williams because they said they authors didn’t disclose the involvement of Monsanto employees and contractors in authoring their research.

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Federal Vaccine Advisory Committee Votes to End Universal Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation for Babies

A federal advisory committee voted on Friday to end the universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for newborn babies – a decision which will now go to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director for final approval.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the CDC’s vaccine advisers, determined in an 8-3 vote to narrow the recommendation. Instead of recommending the shot for all newborn babies, the advisory board is opting to recommend it only for newborns whose mothers test positive for the virus. “Women whose hepatitis B status is negative or unknown should talk with their doctors about vaccination, the recommendation says,” according to NPR.

“If you are a baby that was born to a mother that was tested negative for Hep B, you need to realize, as a parent, that your risk of infection throughout your early stage of life and probably throughout most of your childhood, is extremely low to the extent that it’s even hard to quantify how low. It is, it’s probably one in several millions [sic],” Professor Retsef Levi – a member of the ACIP – said in a clip shared by the CDC.

“And that means that, as a parent, we encourage you, in consultation with your physician, to think very carefully. Do you want to expose your child, your baby, to an intervention that could have some potential harms when the risk is so low?” he asked. “And mind you that we are talking about a very, very young baby in the first few months of their life, where they are not fully developed.”

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Hep B Shot: Not Proven Safe or Effective for Kids

I. Junk Science Clinical Trials as the Basis for FDA Licensure of Hepatitis B Vaccines in the U.S. 

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will discuss hepatitis B vaccines at their meeting on December 4 and 5. In this article I will lay out the case for removing hepatitis B vaccines from the CDC childhood schedule altogether.

As the Informed Consent Action Network has demonstrated, the hepatitis B vaccines Recombivax and Engerix — injected into the vast majority of American children at birth, one month, and six months of age — never should have been licensed by the FDA in the first place. 

The clinical trials for Recombivax and Engerix:

  • did not include a proper saline placebo control group; 
  • were too small to detect uncommon adverse events; and
  • were too short to detect the majority of harms (the Recombivax trials monitored safety for just five days, the Engerix trials monitored solicited adverse events for just four days).

II. Hepatitis B Vaccines Are Associated with Autism 

The real world data that are available on the safety of hepatitis B vaccines are horrifying. When autism rates in the US exploded in the 1990s, the CDC looked into the possible role of vaccines. They assigned one of their senior scientists, Thomas Verstraeten, at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, to do the analysis. At the time, hepatitis B vaccines had mercury (thimerosal) in them. Dr. Verstraeten found that children in the highest exposure group had an 11.35x increased relative risk of autism.

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Bovaer has been suspended in Norway and Sweden

3-Nitrooxypropanol (“3-NOP”), marketed as Bovaer, is, so it is claimed, a feed additive used to reduce methane emissions in ruminants.  UK residents will recall the suspicious product from an Arla trial of feeding it to dairy cows that began in November 2024.

Peter Imanuelsen gives an update on developments in Sweden.  It seems the Bovaer project has come to an end in Sweden, he says.

The largest dairy supplier in Norway has suspended the use of Bovaer after multiple reports from Denmark of collapsing cows.  Now, it seems like the Bovaer project has come to an end in neighbouring Sweden. 

The dairy producer Gäsene has now ended their Bovaer project, the last remaining dairy producer that still used Bovaer in the country. Earlier, the dairy producer Norrmejerier discontinued their ”climate milk.” So now there is no known dairy producers giving their cows Bovaer in Sweden anymore. This is very telling…

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There may not be a safe off-ramp for some taking GLP-1 drugs, study suggests

The popularity of GLP-1 weight-loss medications continues to soar—and their uptake is helping to push down obesity rates on a national scale—but a safe, evidence-based way off the drugs isn’t yet in clear view.

An analysis published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine found that most participants in a clinical trial who were assigned to stop taking tirzepatide (Zepbound from Eli Lilly) not only regained significant amounts of the weight they had lost on the drug, but they also saw their cardiovascular and metabolic improvements slip away. Their blood pressure went back up, as did their cholesterol, hemoglobin A1c (used to assess glucose control levels), and fasting insulin.

In an accompanying editorial, two medical experts at the University of Pittsburgh, Elizabeth Oczypok and Timothy Anderson, suggest that this new class of drugs should be rebranded from “weight loss” drugs to “weight management” drugs, which people may need to take indefinitely.

Some studies have found that about half of people who start taking a GLP-1 drug for weight loss stop taking it within a year—for various reasons—and many people think they can stop taking anti-obesity drugs once they’ve reached a desired weight, Oczypok and Anderson write. But that’s not in line with the data.

“It may be helpful to compare them to other chronic disease medications; patients do not stop their anti-hypertensive medications when their blood pressure is at goal,” they write.

In the trial, researchers—led by Eli Lilly scientists—followed 670 participants with obesity or overweight (but without diabetes) who were treated with tirzepatide for 36 weeks. Then the participants were split into either continuing with the drug for another 52 weeks (88 weeks total) or getting a placebo for that period of time. Both groups were told to continue a reduced-calorie diet and an exercise plan.

In all, 335 participants were randomized to switch to a placebo, and the researchers monitored changes in their weight and cardiovascular health metrics after the switch. Not everyone in the first phase of the trial lost significant amounts of weight on the drug. So, the researchers only closely tracked the 308 of the 335 who lost at least 10 percent of their body weight on the drug.

Of the 308 who benefited from tirzepatide, 254 (82 percent) regained at least 25 percent of the weight they had lost on the drug by week 88. Further, 177 (57 percent) regained at least 50 percent, and 74 (24 percent) regained at least 75 percent. Generally, the more weight people regained, the more their cardiovascular and metabolic health improvements reversed.

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NHS Doctors Were Paid to Knowingly Implant Deadly Heart Device

Two of the UK’s leading transplant centres continued fitting a heart device that they knew was deadlier than its rival product. Medtronic’s HeartWare HVAD was a pump surgically implanted for end-stage heart failure – and it was well documented that its mortality rate was significantly higher than other options. But top cardiologists at both hospitals were found to be paid consultants for Medtronic, the hospitals were aware of their involvement, and the NHS had already raised concerns. Were leading doctors deliberately implanting deadly devices? 

The Staggering HVAD Mortality Rate

Patients with a weakened heart can be offered a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) if they are deemed unsuitable for a transplant, or stuck waiting for one. For many people, the LVAD helping to pump blood around the body is their only chance of survival outside of a transplant.  

LVADs have saved lives for decades and the two top competitors were Medtronic, who produced the HVAD device, and Abbott, who made the Heartmate III. In 2018, an audit was conducted by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) to compare the pumps’ performance, and shocking results were published in 2019: 

  • Medtronic: 54 of 119 patients (45%) died within two years 
  • Abbott: 15 of 97 patients (15%) died within the same period 
  • The number of strokes and instances of people requiring a new pump was also significantly higher for Medtronic 

They Knew – and Kept Implanting

The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and Harefield in London continued using the pump for years, deciding to question the data rather than prioritise patient safety. Other hospitals, such as the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, made the call before the NHS analysis was even shared – they had picked up on the pattern themselves and stopped using the Medtronic device in February 2018, considering the Heartmate III to be superior. 

The Newcastle and London hospitals, however, continued to solely use the Medtronic device until 2021 when the manufacturer withdrew it from sale “in the interest of patient safety”. In the three years between the 2018 audit and 2021 withdrawal, 50% of patients with the Medtronic device died, compared to 19% of recipients of the Abbott device. 

Were They Paid to Implant It?

Until recently, the head of Freeman’s cardiothoracic department was Prof Stephan Schueler, also known as “king of the castle” by former colleagues. Public records later revealed that he had a decade-long relationship with the Medtronic manufacturer. Patients were not made aware of his financial relationship with the company, despite disclosure being a requirement of the General Medical Council (GMC) – the doctor’s regulator. 

The Freeman Hospital stated publicly that it was “aware” of the NHS data published in 2019, but felt its scientific reliability was lacking. 

At Harefield Hospital, André Simon was the director of heart and lung transplantation and ventricular assist devices. He had a similarly long-standing relationship with Medtronic, dating back to 2014. The hospital said it was “aware” of his work for Medtronic, and that it had been declared in multiple papers. They also confirmed that he was one of a number of senior people “involved” in deciding which devices are used and that there was “collective support” for the continued use of the Medtronic device until 2021.  

Dr John Dunning, who replaced André Simon at Harefield, said they continued to use the Medtronic device as “it was the preference” of his predecessor.  

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Nearly 550 truck drivers cited for not understanding English in Illinois YTD

The number of English language proficiency violations for commercial drivers in Illinois year-to-date has nearly eclipsed last year’s totals with nearly 1 in 5 having CDL’s coming from the state of Illinois.

Since guidance was incorporated into the North American Standard Out-of-Service criteria in June, Illinois State Police tell The Center Square that 221 citations were issued for violating English Language Proficiency assessments. 

A spokesperson said “every ISP officer conducting a commercial motor vehicle inspection initiates the inspection in English. If there is an indication the driver may not understand the inspector’s instructions, the inspector then conducts an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment.”

Year to date, about 550 drivers were cited for not understanding English. That’s just shy of totals for all of 2024. In 2023, there were 385. So far this year, 18% of those citations are given to in-state CDL holders. 

“The vast majority of citations are given to out-of-state CDL holders,” the ISP spokesperson said. 

State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, reacted to nearly 1 in 5 citations going to Illinois CDL holders.  

“So we need to solve the problem in the state of Illinois, the federal government, other states need to solve the problem within their states,” Niemerg told The Center Square. “But it really does scare me.”

ISP said it could not accommodate The Center Square’s request to ride along with an enforcement officer to observe the frequency of such citations.

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EPA Greenlights Second ‘Forever Chemical’ Pesticide in Two Weeks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the highly persistent pesticide isocycloseram on Thursday for golf courses, lawns and food crops such as oranges, tomatoes, almonds, peas and oats.

The pesticide is a “forever chemical” — one of a group called PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Today’s announcement marks the second approval of a PFAS pesticide since President Donald Trump took office, with the first approval coming just two weeks before. The administration plans to approve three more PFAS pesticides in the coming year.

“To approve more PFAS pesticides amid the growing awareness of the serious, long-term dangers from these forever chemicals is absurdly shortsighted,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“The undeniable reality is that the Trump administration is knowingly putting the nation’s children at greater risk of developing serious reproductive and liver harms for generations to come.”

Isocycloseram is classified as moderately persistent to persistent and is known to transform into 40 smaller PFAS chemicals, some of which are much more highly persistent.

Among the most concerning harms from isocycloseram is reduced testicle size, lower sperm count and liver toxicity.

While the agency found that people would not be exposed to enough isocycloseram in their diet to cause these harms, it opted not to implement a child-safety buffer to account for the fact that children are more sensitive to chemical pollutants than adults.

If that safety buffer were included, as it is with some other pesticides, young children would have been found to be at high risk of those effects from dietary exposure.

“For all of the rhetoric about caring about children’s health and well-being, this administration is quick to throw them under the bus whenever it suits their polluting benefactors,” said Donley.

“Instead of erring on the side of safety, we get a quick, reckless approval of a new forever chemical without any real thought given to its serious harms.”

Isocycloseram is also highly toxic to bees and other pollinators, with the EPA finding that vital pollinators could be exposed to 1,500 times the lethal level of the pesticide just by collecting nectar and pollen near treated fields.

One out of every three bites of food we eat — and nearly all nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables — come from plants that need to be pollinated by bees and other pollinating animals.

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Another Illegal Immigrant Trucker Causes Fatal Crash, Killing an American Serviceman

Over the weekend, yet another illegal immigrant with a commercial driver’s license issued by the State of New York caused a multi-car collision resulting in the death of an Indiana National Guardsman. The illegal, Georgian national Goderdzi Gujabidze, 56, has since been arrested.

Gujabidze was driving an 18-wheeler in Boone County, Indiana, when he collided with a military Humvee and another vehicle. Indiana National Guardsman Terry Frye died on the scene, and three others were hospitalized.

When authorities attempted to communicate with Gujabidze, they encountered a “language barrier” that required “a translator.”  

Officials discovered that the illegal immigrant had secured a non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License in New York after the Biden administration waved him across the border in San Luis, Arizona, in 2022.

“Another senseless and avoidable tragedy on America’s roads at the hands of an illegal alien driving a commercial vehicle. Sanctuary states are recklessly providing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens who should not be operating 18-wheeler and trucks on America’s highways,” Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Thanks to the cooperation from Boone County Sheriff’s Office, this illegal will never again be allowed to terrorize American roads again. We pray for the family of Terry Frye as they mourn the loss of their son and thank him for his service to this nation.”

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Microsoft Adds AI to Windows Despite ‘Novel Security Risks’

Microsoft’s recent introduction of Copilot Actions, an experimental AI agent integrated into Windows, has sparked criticism from security experts who question the safety of pushing new features before fully understanding and containing their potential risks

Ars Technica reports that Microsoft unveiled Copilot Actions this week, a set of “experimental agentic features” that allow AI to perform various tasks such as organizing files, scheduling meetings, and sending emails. While the company touted the AI agent as an active digital collaborator that enhances efficiency and productivity, it also issued a warning about the security implications of enabling the feature.

Microsoft’s warning reads:

As these capabilities are introduced, AI models still face functional limitations in terms of how they behave and occasionally may hallucinate and produce unexpected outputs. Additionally, agentic AI applications introduce novel security risks, such as cross-prompt injection (XPIA), where malicious content embedded in UI elements or documents can override agent instructions, leading to unintended actions like data exfiltration or malware installation.

Security concerns stem from known defects inherent in most large language models (LLMs), including Copilot. Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that LLMs can provide factually erroneous and illogical answers, a behavior known as “hallucinations.” This means users cannot fully trust the output of AI assistants like Copilot, Gemini, or Claude, and must independently verify the information.

Another significant issue with LLMs is their vulnerability to prompt injections. Hackers can exploit this flaw by planting malicious instructions in websites, resumes, and emails, which the AI eagerly follows without discerning between valid user prompts and untrusted, third-party content. These vulnerabilities can lead to data exfiltration, malicious code execution, and cryptocurrency theft.

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