ANH-Intl News Alerts: Week 52, 2014

It’s a win against Monsanto for Maui!

Last month a lawsuit was filed against Maui County by Monsanto Co. and a unit of Dow Chemical Co. after Maui voters created a law banning the cultivation of GM crops on the island. The measure was to take effect after officials certified the election results, which was expected later this month. Monsanto argued that the law would harm the economy and the Maui businesses and sued, but the Maui voters have prevailed and won standing to intervene. Attorney Michael C. Carroll is representing Maui residents and the SHAKA movement and commented, “We look forward to advancing our position with the Federal Court in order to validate the Ordinance that the majority of Maui voters passed into law in November.”

Hepatitis B vaccination linked to multiple sclerosis

In a new French study that examines detailed national data around the mass vaccination of French adults in the mid 1990s, Dominique Le Houezec has established a firm link between Hepatitis B vaccinations and a sudden rise in the number of cases of multiple sclerosis (MS). 20 million French people were vaccinated between 1994 and 1997 after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended to mass vaccinate against hepatitis. In 1998, French media published articles about a sudden increase in the number of cases of MS developing in France, linking them to this mass vaccination program. Vaccination numbers rapidly fell as a result. Now 20 years later, by looking at all the data from that time, the link has been confirmed. The explanation behind the vaccination causing MS is not clear and the author describes the situation as “an involuntary very large scale experiment carried out on a third of the French population,” and suggests it would be wise to consider this information when deciding whether to vaccinate family members against hepatitis.

Exposure to fluoride linked to lowered IQ

A new pilot study of Chinese children concludes that the study “…supports the notion that fluoride in drinking water may produce developmental neurotoxicity, and that the dose-dependence underlying this relationship needs to be characterized in detail.” 51 children were used in the study and the researchers used the fluoride concentration in morning urine after an exposure-free night; fluoride in well-water source; and dental fluorosis status as indices of past fluoride exposure. They then used age-appropriate, relatively culture-independent cognitive tests. The children’s lifetime exposures to fluoride from drinking water covered the full range allowed in the US, and the results showed that even those with the mildest forms of fluorosis displayed lower performance on some neuropsychological tests. This observation runs contrary to popular wisdom that the enamel effects represent a cosmetic problem only and not a sign of toxicity.

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