The Kevin Trudeau Show: 1-31-11
Today, Kevin broadcasts his second ever LIVE radio broadcast in front of an audience on another jam packed Caribbean cruise ship! Find out what the government is doing now to take even more money out of your pocket and what you can do to change the way you think and make all of your dreams come true!
Self Help:
Weight Loss Cure
Dreams Can Come True
Maximize Your Downline
Cleanse The Toxins Out
Stay Healthy During Winter
Organic Hair Dye
Health:
Drinking Beer May Help Prevent Weak Bones
Taco Bell Fights Back In Meat Lawsuit
Education:
Serious Errors Found In Virginia History Textbook
Government:
Protests & Riots Create Chaos In Egypt
Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
Become Kevin’s Friend on Facebook
Kevin’s Film Club
Kevin’s Book Club
Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!
Click Below to Watch the Kevin Trudeau Show LIVE!
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 1-28-11
Today, Kevin gives you the natural cures for high blood pressure and explains why now is the time to stand up and take action!
Self Help:
Tap The Stress Away
Change Your Thought Process
Create Multiple Streams
Invest In Gold
Emergency Preparedness
Health:
Deadly Medicine
Top Blood Pressure Drug Receives Low Marks
Government:
Constitution Is Void
Just 1% of Wikileaks’ Files Released
Harry Reid Meets With Dictator, Reporters Told To Keep Mum
Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
Become Kevin’s Friend on Facebook
Kevin’s Film Club
Kevin’s Book Club
Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!
Click Below to Watch the Kevin Trudeau Show LIVE!
My Tips For Cleansing
January 28, 2011 by KT
Filed under Kevin's Blog
On Tuesday, I gave you a list of my favorite cleanses. Here are some tips to get the best results…
Detoxifying Baths
Add 4-6 cups of Epsom Salt to your bath. Essential oils such as lemon and geranium may enhance your experience.
Bodywork
Make an appointment for massage, chiropractic adjustment or other form of bodywork. This is a wonderful time to tune into your body and all its sensations.
Go for a Stroll
If you are feeling agitated or restless, walk it off. Stirred up toxins are being eliminated and moving around helps ease the discomfort.
Do pH Testing
Juice It!
If you don’t feel like eating, juice can replace meals during the cleanse.
Hot-Cold Therapy
Do this simple hydrotherapy treatment right before getting out of the shower: Gradually turn the water temperature to cold for a ten second invigorating rinse. Go back and forth between hot and cold water 2-4 times. Dry off with a brisk rub down.
Keep a Journal
Write your goals, thoughts and dreams. Increased energy may inspire you with new ideas. Capture the moment with your written word.
Keep in mind that cleansing is different for each person
Some people enjoy more energy during a cleanse, while others may feel lethargic or experience flu-like symptoms often referred to as a “cleansing reaction”. Stay strong.
Constipation
If you are having trouble moving your bowels more than once a day during the cleanse, drink more water and increase the natural herbal laxatives by one capsule each evening.
Get sufficient sleep and rest
Go outside for plenty of sunshine and fresh air. Listen to your intuition and keep your stress levels at a bare minimum. A great way to keep stress levels down during this time is by listening to Dr. Coldwell’s Stress Reduction CD’s.
Clean House
During a cleanse you may feel like cleaning clutter in your cupboards and closets. This is a great time to eliminate and reorganize, but remember to always use organic cleaning products. This is very important because you do not want to be inhaling the hazardous toxins that are in commercial products.
Good luck and remember to email me at support@ktradionetwork.com with your results!
Yours in health…
KT
Taco Bell Fights Back in Meat Lawsuit
January 28th, 2011
AOL SlashFood
When a lawsuit filed last week claimed that Taco Bell meat was pretty light on the actual meat (and heavy on the fillers), those were fighting words to the company that stakes its reputation on meaty burritos, tacos, and chalupas. According to an ABC News report, Taco Bell is now running defense.
Taco Bell President Greg Creed called the lawsuit “bogus and filled with completely inaccurate facts,” says ABC. “There is no basis in fact or reality for this suit, and we will vigorously defend the quality of our products from frivolous and misleading claims such as this.”
How much beef is “in fact” in Taco Bell’s “seaoned beef recipe?” According to Creed, it contains 88 percent USDA-inspected beef, along with ingredients that provide “taste and moisture.” And don’t forget those “extenders” that pump up the meat’s volume. To be continued, folks. And may the best meat evidence win.
Check out all the ingredients, listed at Taco Bell’s website.
Click here for the full report from AOL SlashFood
LA Officer Accused of Shooting Himself, Filing False Report
January 28, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
January 28th, 2011
AOL News
By: Tori Richards
A school police officer who reported getting shot in the chest — prompting the lock-down of 9,000 students during a dragnet — shot himself and has been arrested for filing a false report, authorities said.
During a hastily called news conference, LA Police Chief Charlie Beck said investigators processed more than 350 clues and talked to hundreds of people before concluding that the purported gunman who shot officer Jeffrey Stenroos was fictitious.
“The current state of the investigation refutes Stenroos’ initial account of the incident, and we are now certain that there is no outstanding suspect in this shooting,” Beck said. “We go where our investigations take us — if it is to a suspect that is named in a crime or is to a law enforcement officer of another agency.”
Stenroos claimed that he was on patrol Jan. 19 outside El Camino Real High School in the wealthy Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills when he confronted a man who had been breaking into cars. He said the suspect tried to kill him.
The shooting prompted the largest area lock-down in history. Hundreds of officers from local, state and federal agencies vainly combed a seven-mile area looking for an armed gunman in his 40s with a long, gray pony tail. Helicopters, SWAT teams and K9 units were deployed.
Children from nine schools remained locked in their classrooms for seven hours, unable to get access to restrooms or food out of fears that the suspect would enter a campus and create a hostage situation.
“I’m flabbergasted. I don’t know what to say,” City Councilman Dennis Zine told AOL News. “To do something like this is unconscionable, stupid and asinine. To stage something like this puts a very negative mark on himself and law enforcement.”
Zine said that the incident caused panic and hysteria in the community and that investigators spent hundreds of hours looking for a suspect in the following days.
“If this is true, we need to go after him to repay the taxpayers,” said Zine, a former LAPD officer. “I would press for a civil claim against him. I’ve spent 43 years in law enforcement, and I can’t fathom coming up with this story.”
After the shooting, Stenroos, 30, was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he was treated and released for a bruised chest caused by his bulletproof vest. The bullet hit him squarely in the center, and authorities praised the device for saving his life. He worked with a sketch artist that evening, and on the following day a composite drawing of the alleged suspect was widely disseminated.
At least two men who fit the description of the suspect were detained and later released.
Beck refused to give further details on how the shooting occurred, saying the investigation is ongoing. However, CBS2-TV cited an unidentified source as saying Stenroos was mishandling his gun when he was shot.
Los Angeles’ KFI640 radio reported that no neighbors in the vicinity of the shooting heard a gunshot and that investigators soon began to doubt Stenroos’ story.
The school district’s superintendent, John Deasy, dismissed any negative claims in the following days, telling ABC7-TV that Stenroos — an eight-year veteran of the Los Angeles School Police Department — has “an impeccable record and should not be questioned.”
Apparently, Stenroos’ chief was taken by surprise as well, because his department’s website on Thursday night still had a notification on its home page wishing Stenroos a speedy recovery and saying, “We expect him to be back with the team soon.”
In a tersely worded statement titled “An Embarrassment to Law Enforcement,” Paul Weber, the head of the LAPD’s officers’ union, apologized to the community on behalf of the police and said Stenroos deserves to be in jail if the allegations are true.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
Donald Trump: How to Hear ‘You’re Hired!’
January 28th, 2011
AOL Jobs
By: Lisa Johnson Mandell
Donald Trump could well be the most famous boss in the world. Not only does he employ thousands, but he also fires hundreds and hires a handful on national television. Each week on NBC’s ‘The Apprentice,’ be it staffed with celebrities or regular folk, he doles out employment information that is heard and heeded by millions.
And he had to work his way to the top. Just because Trump’s father was a New York real estate developer doesn’t mean he reached his current position in life and business by nepotism. He was the fourth of five children, and paid his dues by graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, then gradually ascended from the basement of his father’s business before branching out and starting his own.
Regardless of the privilege and power he can bestow on his progeny, Trump insists that his children get degrees as well, and earn his respect, as well as the respect of world business leaders. He does not cavalierly hand out positions in the empire he’s worked so diligently to create.
Recently, “The Donald” descended from his throne atop real estate, hospitality, media and retail empires to chat with AOL Jobs about the secrets of his success, and to share tips on how us little people can hear those golden words: “You’re hired!”
Q. How did you get started?
A. I worked with my father, Fred C. Trump, who was a real estate developer in the suburbs of Manhattan. I learned about the business from an early age and continued working with him for a while after graduating college and before starting out on my own in Manhattan.
Q. To what do you attribute your success?
A. I had a great mentor and example: my father. I learned a great deal from him and I watched him work for many years. I also loved what I was doing. I had a passion for real estate, and I believe that is the most important thing. You have to love what you’re doing.
Q. What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning?
A. The importance of focus. When I had a financial turnaround in the early ’90s, I realized I had lost my focus. (Editor’s note: 1989-1997 were tough years for Trump. Atlantic City Casino, the Taj Mahal, the Trump Plaza Hotel and the Trump Shuttle all failed in one way or another. Trump filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and at one time was in debt to the tune of $3.5 billion. It took amazingly savvy negotiating, and a giant helping of faith and trust in him by his creditors, for him to rebound.)
Q. What was one of the biggest obstacles you had to overcome in your career and how did you handle it?
A. When I had troubles in the ’90s, I decided to deal with the situation by seeing it as a blip and not a catastrophe. I also focused on the solution, and not the problem. I refused to give in to difficult circumstances.
Click here for the full report from AOL Jobs
The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?
January 28, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
January 28th, 2011
Organic Consumers Association
By: Ronnie Cummins
“The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must.” – Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and “seed purity,” gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the “conditional deregulation” of Monsanto’s genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of “conditional deregulation,” this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto’s premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants “compensation.” In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers’ and rural residents’ risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil’s crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay “compensation” (i.e. hush money) to farmers “for any losses related to the contamination of his crop.”
In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for “public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry,” even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government “oversight” of Frankencrops such as Monsanto’s sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: “The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must.”
Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?
According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack’s previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as “Governor of the Year” in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.’s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it’s time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called “coexistence” between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto’s unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.
WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called “natural” foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI’s sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.
From their “business as usual” perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto’s GMOs.
Whole Food’s Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called “Natural” Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs
The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called “natural” processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called “natural” products (no doubt WFM’s lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they’re all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.
Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as “natural.”
Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called “natural” food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.
Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating “Natural” Fraud
Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as “natural,” and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are “certified organic.”
Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed “natural” foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a “natural” supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).
A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called “natural” ingredients. With the exception of the “grass-fed and grass-finished” meat sector, most “natural” meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.
Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to “natural” imposters. It’s no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and “natural” purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.
The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called “Natural” GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market
There can be no such thing as “coexistence” with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world’s 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.”
The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don’t want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont – the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.
Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don’t hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers’ right to know what’s in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called “Citizens United” case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the “Revolving Door” between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.
With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We’ve got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.
The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.
Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to voluntarily implement “truth-in-labeling” practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances – similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you’re interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here: http://organicconsumers.org/oca-volunteer/
To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation’s largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22309.cfm
And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.
Click here for the full report from the Organic Consumers Association
Bill Gates, Abu Dhabi Prince Pledge Vaccine Funds
January 28th, 2011
Associated Press
Bill Gates’ foundation and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince are donating $50 million each to vaccinate children in Afghanistan and Pakistan against polio and other diseases.
Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation say two-thirds of the funds will go toward a pair of vaccines against pneumonia, diphtheria, whooping cough and other ailments afflicting young children in Afghanistan. The rest will be given to the World Health Organization and UNICEF to provide polio vaccines in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gates recently told The Associated Press eradicating polio is his top priority, and that he’s planning to announce a major donation to the effort in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.
Click here for the full report from the Associated Press
Egypt: Internet Down, Police Counterterror Unit Up
January 28, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
January 28th, 2011
AP
By: Hamza Hendawi and Sarah El Deeb
Internet service in Egypt was disrupted and the government deployed an elite special operations force in Cairo on Friday, hours before an anticipated new wave of anti-government protests.
The developments were a sign that President Hosni Mubarak’s regime was toughening its crackdown following the biggest protests in years against his nearly 30-year rule.
The counter-terror force, rarely seen on the streets, took up positions in strategic locations, including central Tahrir Square, site of the biggest demonstrations this week.
Facebook and Twitter have helped drive this week’s protests. But by Thursday evening, those sites were disrupted, along with cell phone text messaging and BlackBerry Messenger services. Then the Internet went down.
Earlier, the grass-roots movement got a double boost – the return of Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and the backing of the biggest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
After midnight, security forces arrested at least five Brotherhood leaders and five former Members of Parliament, according to the group’s lawyer, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, and spokesman, Walid Shalaby. They said security forces had also taken a large number of Brotherhood members in a sweep in Cairo and elsewhere.
The real test for the protest movement will be whether Egypt’s fragmented opposition can come together, with Friday’s rallies expected to be some of the biggest so far.
Social networking sites were abuzz that the gatherings called after Friday prayers could attract huge numbers of protesters demanding the ouster of Mubarak. Millions gather at mosques across the city on Fridays, giving organizers a vast pool of people to tap into.
The 82-year-old Mubarak has not been seen in public or heard from since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities. While he may still have a chance to ride out this latest challenge, his choices are limited, and all are likely to lead to a loosening of his grip on power.
Violence escalated on Thursday at protests outside the capital. In the flashpoint city of Suez, along the strategic Suez Canal, protesters torched a fire station and looted weapons that they then turned on police. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that more than 90 police officers were injured in those clashes. There were no immediate figures on the number of injured protesters.
In the northern Sinai area of Sheik Zuweid, several hundred Bedouins and police exchanged gunfire, killing a 17-year-old. About 300 protesters surrounded a police station from rooftops of nearby buildings and fired two rocket-propelled grenades at it, damaging the walls.
Video of the shooting of the teenager, Mohamed Attef, was supplied to a local journalist and obtained by AP Television News. Attef crumpled to the ground after being shot on the street. He was alive as fellow protesters carried him away but later died.
Click here for the full report from the Associated Press
Deadly Medicine
January 27th, 2011
Vanity Fair
By: Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele
You wouldn’t think the cities had much in common. Iaşi, with a population of 320,000, lies in the Moldavian region of Romania. Mégrine is a town of 24,000 in northern Tunisia, on the Mediterranean Sea. Tartu, Estonia, with a population of 100,000, is the oldest city in the Baltic States; it is sometimes called “the Athens on the Emajõgi.” Shenyang, in northeastern China, is a major industrial center and transportation hub with a population of 7.2 million.
These places are not on anyone’s Top 10 list of travel destinations. But the advance scouts of the pharmaceutical industry have visited all of them, and scores of similar cities and towns, large and small, in far-flung corners of the planet. They have gone there to find people willing to undergo clinical trials for new drugs, and thereby help persuade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to declare the drugs safe and effective for Americans. It’s the next big step in globalization, and there’s good reason to wish that it weren’t.
Once upon a time, the drugs Americans took to treat chronic diseases, clear up infections, improve their state of mind, and enhance their sexual vitality were tested primarily either in the United States (the vast majority of cases) or in Europe. No longer. As recently as 1990, according to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, a mere 271 trials were being conducted in foreign countries of drugs intended for American use. By 2008, the number had risen to 6,485—an increase of more than 2,000 percent. A database being compiled by the National Institutes of Health has identified 58,788 such trials in 173 countries outside the United States since 2000. In 2008 alone, according to the inspector general’s report, 80 percent of the applications submitted to the F.D.A. for new drugs contained data from foreign clinical trials. Increasingly, companies are doing 100 percent of their testing offshore. The inspector general found that the 20 largest U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies now conducted “one-third of their clinical trials exclusively at foreign sites.” All of this is taking place when more drugs than ever—some 2,900 different drugs for some 4,600 different conditions—are undergoing clinical testing and vying to come to market.
Some medical researchers question whether the results of clinical trials conducted in certain other countries are relevant to Americans in the first place. They point out that people in impoverished parts of the world, for a variety of reasons, may metabolize drugs differently from the way Americans do. They note that the prevailing diseases in other countries, such as malaria and tuberculosis, can skew the outcome of clinical trials. But from the point of view of the drug companies, it’s easy to see why moving clinical trials overseas is so appealing. For one thing, it’s cheaper to run trials in places where the local population survives on only a few dollars a day. It’s also easier to recruit patients, who often believe they are being treated for a disease rather than, as may be the case, just getting a placebo as part of an experiment. And it’s easier to find what the industry calls “drug-naïve” patients: people who are not being treated for any disease and are not currently taking any drugs, and indeed may never have taken any—the sort of people who will almost certainly yield better test results. (For some subjects overseas, participation in a clinical trial may be their first significant exposure to a doctor.) Regulations in many foreign countries are also less stringent, if there are any regulations at all. The risk of litigation is negligible, in some places nonexistent. Ethical concerns are a figure of speech. Finally—a significant plus for the drug companies—the F.D.A. does so little monitoring that the companies can pretty much do and say what they want.
Click here for the full report from Vanity Fair
