Sunday, November 11, 2007

Mono-Sodium Glutamate

The food additive MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) is a slow poison. MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as "Natural Flavoring."

MSG is even in your favourite coffee from Tim Horton's and other brand-name coffee shops!

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the
University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America.

In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born.
The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats."

When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything -- the
Campbell 's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the "healthy low-fat" ones.

The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called "Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein," which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.

It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG are "Accent", "Ajinomoto", "Natural Meat Tenderizer", etc.)

But it didn't stop there.

When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG.

But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere.

Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant -- even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, and Denny's -- use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing. and gravy.

MSG IN MOST COFFEE

So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?

Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.

Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.

A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?

"Betcha can't eat just one," takes on a whole new meaning - overweight! The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.

Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an
addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.

The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it's safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:

"The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity." Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT,
Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.

"Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats." Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.

"Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors." Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K,
Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.

"Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity." Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.

No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978. Both the "medical research community" and "food manufacturers" have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.

Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb's book
link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer's.

So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?

Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in
Canada. While he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, "Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn't touch the stuff." But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.

The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.

But what can I do about it? I'm just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?

This message is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won't tell you.

The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us.

The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on nicotine?

If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine at
www.pubmed.com.

Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.

We the public do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening disorders.

With your help we can put an end to this poison.

Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this "Slow Poisoning of Mankind" by the packaged food industry.

Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out.

Do your own investigation.

Friday, November 9, 2007

GMA LOVES MAYNILAD AND MANILA WATER

15 October 2001 | Manila, Philippines

GMA LOVES MAYNILAD AND MANILA WATER

Starting October 15, Maynilad will implement a P4.21 increase in the price of water per cubic water. Plus 10% environment tax and 10% VAT, the total increase will amount to more than P5. THIS IS JUST THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF INCREASES UNTIL 2005. It undersocres the greed of Maynilad and represents all that is unjust about the privatization policy of the Arroyo government.

Last June, Maynilad tried to foist a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on the consuming public. The MOC contained many onerous provisions, among them, the permission for Maynilad to recover its foreign exhange losses within 18 months instead of 22 years (as stated in the original Concession Agreement). AKBAYAN and other groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition opposed the MOC because it violated the original bid and the regulatory process.

President Arroyo stopped the implementation of the MOC, probably to avoid negative publicity before her SONA last July. In the interim, a Special Study Team of the Cabinet Cluster on Public Services (Cluster G) was formed, composed of representatives of the NEDA, DSWD and the Dept. of Finance. The purpose of the team was to study the MOC, the water privatization set-up and thresh out a “compromise agreement”. Public hearings were held, counter-proposals were presented, etc. Nothing came out of these discussions. The counter-proposals were not even studied nor considered. THE ARROYO GOVERNMENT GRANTED MAYNILAD ALL IT ASKED FOR AND MORE. Through the MWSS Board, it has even agreed to include the onerous MOC provisions in amendments to the orginal contract!

Included in GMA’s gift package for Maynilad:

1. Maynilad’s right to recover its forex losses (1997-2000) within 18 months instead of 22 years.

2. Maynilad’s right to recover FUTURE forex losses starting January 2002 via the Foreign Currency Differential Adjustment (FCDA), another fancy name for the Auto-CERA. This means that every time the peso dips against the dollar, it will be reflected in a price hike.

3. Rate rebasing starting January 2001. This means another round of increases apart from the forex-related increases.

4. Unclear service targets. The amendments state that Maynilad will, in the next 3 months, draw up an “action plan” to detail its planned expansion targets. In effect, all previously set service targets can be changed, most likely lowered. Therefore, the price increases do not automatically translate into better service.

5. Flexible terms for the payment of Maynilad’s debts to MWSS (concession fee). Maynilad unilaterally decided to stop paying the concession fee. As of July 2001, its debt was at P1.2 billion. The new contract allows Maynilad to resume payment in February 2002.

6. Bridge funding. Maynilad is puportedly so financially unsound that govenrment financial institutions such as the Development Bank of the Philippines will have to lend it money. The government is shoring up the resources of a private investor!

This bonanza of favors was granted by the MWSS Board with the approval of the Special Cluster (mentioned above), the NEDA and by extension, the President. Director Dante Canlas, Secretaries Vicky Garchitorena, Datumanong and Soliman and President Arroyo should explain why they are bending over backwards for the Lopezes at the expense of consumers. Evidently, they have chosen to bail out Maynilad instead of ensure the integrity of the privatization program and look after the welfare of consumers at this time of economic crisis.

As for Manila Water, it has likewise set to impose a P1.20 increase in its areas, as well as its own set of amendments to its contract—without any public hearings, or any measure of transparency at all. NEDA has likewise approved the amendments.

As AKBAYAN has said time and time agains, amending the Concession Agreement is a bad precedent which negates the objectives of privatization. It allows corporate entities to bid low to acquire public utilities, then allows then to tamper with the set parameters later on. How sure are we that these are the last amendments? What if Maynilad pushes for further amendments in the next five years? What about the Regulatory Office? If price increases can be clinched through contract amendments, then the RO loses its mandate to validate if petitions for price hikes are justified. The MWSS Board, by the way, will serve termination notices to the Regulators today.

If Maynilad, the traitorous MWSS Board and President Arroyo’s duplicitous economic handlers think that we will take the price increases and the amendments as done deals, they are wrong. AKBAYAN will press for a full Congressional investigation of the anomalous processes that led to these. We have likewise filed a complaint against retired Chief Regulator Rex Tantiongco and other members of the MWSS Board for colluding with concessionaires, corrupting the regulatory process, thereby prejudicing consumer interest. We urge Maynilad and Manila Water consumers to resist the abuses of these greedy firms and assert our right to decent and affordable water services.

MARIE VICTA LABAJO
Secretary General
AKBAYAN Citizens’ Action Party

Sources: http://www.ipd.ph/Bantay%20Tubig/web-content/statements/4Q_2003/gma_loves_mayniladandmanilawater.html


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