Manipulation: How Financial Markets Really Work


by Stephen Lendman

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Global Research, May 29, 2009







Wall Street's mantra is that markets move randomly and reflect the collective wisdom of investors. The truth is quite opposite. The government's visible hand and insiders control markets and manipulate them up or down for profit - all of them, including stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies.

It's financial fraud or what former high-level Wall Street insider and former Assistant HUD Secretary Catherine Austin Fitts calls "pump and dump," defined as "artificially inflating the price of a stock or other security through promotion, in order to sell at the inflated price," then profit more on the downside by short-selling. "This practice is illegal under securities law, yet it is particularly common," and in today's volatile markets likely ongoing daily.

Why? Because the profits are enormous, in good and bad times, and when carried to extremes like now, Fitts calls it "pump(ing) and dump(ing) of the entire American economy," duping the public, fleecing trillions from them, and it's more than just "a process designed to wipe out the middle class. This is genocide (by other means) - a much more subtle and lethal version than ever before perpetrated by the scoundrels of our history texts."

Fitts explains that much more than market manipulation goes on. She describes a "financial coup d'etat, including fraudulent housing (and other bubbles), pump and dump schemes, naked short selling, precious metals price suppression, and active intervention in the markets by the government and central bank" along with insiders. It's a government-business partnership for enormous profits through "legislation, contracts, regulation (or lack of it), financing, (and) subsidies." More still overall by rigging the game for the powerful, while at the same time harming the public so cleverly that few understand what's happening.

Market Rigging Mechanisms - The Plunge Protection Team

On March 18, 1989, Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 12631 created the Working Group on Financial Markets (WGFM) commonly known as the Plunge Protection Team (PPT). It consisted of the following officials or their designees:

-- the President;

-- the Treasury Secretary as chairman;

-- the Fed chairman;

-- the SEC chairman; and

-- the Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman.

Under Sec. 2, its "Purposes and Functions" were stated as follows:

(2) "Recognizing the goals of enhancing the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of our Nation's financial markets and maintaining investor confidence, the Working Group shall identify and consider:

(1) the major issues raised by the numerous studies on the events (pertaining to the) October 19, 1987 (market crash and consider) recommendations that have the potential to achieve the goals noted above; and

(2)....governmental (and other) actions under existing laws and regulations....that are appropriate to carry out these recommendations."

In August 2005, Canada-based Sprott Asset Management (SAM) principals John Embry and Andrew Hepburn headlined their report on the US government's "surreptitious" market interventions: "Move Over, Adam Smith - The Visible Hand of Uncle Sam" to prevent "destabilizing stock market declines. Comprising key government agencies, stock exchanges and large Wall Street firms," this group "is significant because the government has never admitted to private-sector membership in the Working Group," nor is it hinting that manipulation works both ways - to stop or create panic.

"Current mythology holds that (equity) prices rise and fall on the basis of market forces alone. Such sentiments appear to be seriously mistaken....And as official rhetoric continues to toe the free market line, manipulation has become increasingly apparent....with the active participation of selected investment banks and brokerage houses" - the Wall Street giants.

In 2004, Texas Hedge Report principals Steven McIntyre and Todd Stein said "Almost every floor trader on the NYSE, NYMEX, CBOT and CME will admit to having seen the PPT in action in one form or another over the years" - violating the traditional notion that markets move randomly and reflect popular sentiment.

Worse still, according to SAM principals Embry and Hepburn, "the government's unwillingness to disclose its activities has rendered it very difficult to have a debate on the merits of such a policy," if there are any.

Further, "virtually no one ever mentions government intervention publicly....Our primary concern is that what apparently started as a stopgap measure may have morphed into a serious moral hazard situation."

Worst of all, if government and Wall Street collude to pump and dump markets, individuals and small investment firms can get trampled, and that's exactly what happened in late 2008 and early 2009, with much more to come as the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression plays out over many more months.

That said, the PPT might more aptly be called the PPDT - The Plunge Protection/Destruction Team, depending on which way it moves markets at any time. Investors beware.

Manipulating markets is commonplace and as old as investing. Only the tools are more sophisticated and amounts involved greater. In her book, "Morgan: American Financier," Jean Strouse explained his role in the Panic of 1907, the result of stock market and real estate speculation that caused a market crash, bank runs, and hysteria. To restore confidence, JP Morgan and the Treasury Secretary organized a group of financiers to transfer funds to troubled banks and buy stocks. At the time, rumors were rampant that they orchestrated the panic for speculative profits and their main goals:

-- the 1908 National Monetary Commission to stabilize financial markets as a precursor to the Federal Reserve; and

-- the 1910 Jekyll Island meeting where powerful financial figures met in secret for nine days and created the private banking cartel Federal Reserve System, later congressionally established on December 23, 1913 and signed into law by Woodrow Wilson.

Morgan died early that year but profited hugely from the 1907 Panic. It let him expand his steel empire by buying the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company for about $45 million, an asset thought to be worth around $700 million. Today, similar schemes are more than ever common in the wake of the global economic crisis creating opportunities to buy assets cheap by bankers flush with bailout cash. Aided by PPT market rigging, it's simpler than ever.

Wharton Professor Itay Goldstein and Said Business School and Lincoln College, Oxford University Professor Alexander Guembel discussed price manipulation in their paper titled "Manipulation and the Allocational Role of Prices." They showed how traders effect prices on the downside through "bear raids," and concluded:

"We basically describe a theory of how bear raid manipulation works....What we show here is that by selling (a stock or more effectively short-selling it), you have a real effect on the firm. The connection with real value is the new thing....This is the crucial element," but they claim the process only works on the downside, not driving shares up.

In fact, high-volume program trading, analyst recommendations, positive or negative media reports, and other devices do it both ways.

Also key is that a company's stock price and true worth can be highly divergent. In other words, healthy or sick firms may be way-over or under-valued depending on market and economic conditions and how manipulative traders wish to price them, short or longer term.

The idea that equity prices reflect true value or that markets move randomly (up or down) is rubbish. They never have and more than ever don't now.

The Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF)

The 1934 Gold Reserve Act created the US Treasury's ESF. Section 7 of the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreements made its operations permanent. As originally established, the Treasury ran the Fund outside of congressional oversight "to keep sharp swings in the dollar's exchange rate from (disrupting) financial markets" through manipulation. Its operations now include stabilizing foreign currencies, extending credit lines to foreign governments, and last September to guaranteeing money market funds against losses for up to $50 billion.

In 1995, the Clinton administration used the fund to provide Mexico a $20 billion credit line to stabilize the peso at a time of economic crisis, and earlier administrations extended loans or credit lines to China, Brazil, Ecuador, Iceland and Liberia. The Treasury's web site also states that:

"By law, the Secretary has considerable discretion in the use of ESF resources. The legal basis of the ESF is the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. As amended in the late 1970s....the Secretary (per) approval of the President, may deal in gold, foreign exchange, and other instruments of credit and securities."

In other words, ESF is a slush fund for whatever purposes the Treasury wishes, including ones it may not wish to disclose, such as manipulating markets, directing funds to the IMF and providing them with strings to borrowers as the Treasury's site explains:

"....Treasury has often linked the availability of ESF financing to a borrower's use of the credit facilities of the IMF, both to support the IMF's role and to strengthen assurances that there will be timely repayment of ESF financing."

The Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group (CRMPG)

Established in 1999 in the wake of the Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) crisis, it manipulates markets to benefit giant Wall Street firms and high-level insiders. According to one account, it was to curb future crises by:

-- letting giant financial institutions collude through large-scale program trading to move markets up or down as they wish;

-- bailing out its members in financial trouble; and

-- manipulating markets short or longer-term with government approval at the expense of small investors none the wiser and often getting trampled.

In August 2008, CRMPG III issued a report titled "Containing Systemic Risk: The Road to Reform." It was deceptive on its face in stating that CRMPG "was designed to focus its primary attention on the steps that must be taken by the private sector to reduce the frequency and/or severity of future financial shocks while recognizing that such future shocks are inevitable, in part because it is literally impossible to anticipate the specific timing and triggers of such events."

In fact, the "private sector" creates "financial shocks" to open markets, remove competition, and consolidate for greater power by buying damaged assets cheap. Financial history has numerous examples of preying on the weak, crushing competition, socializing risks, privatizing profits, redistributing wealth upward to a financial oligarchy, creating "tollbooth economies" in debt bondage according to Michael Hudson, and overall getting a "free lunch" at the public's expense.

CRMPG explains financial excesses and crises this way:

"At the end of the day, (their) root cause....on both the upside and the downside of the cycle is collective human behavior: unbridled optimism on the upside and fear on the downside, all in a setting in which it is literally impossible to anticipate when optimism gives rise to fear or fear gives rise to optimism...."

"What is needed, therefore, is a form of private initiative that will complement official oversight in encouraging industry-wide practices that will help mitigate systemic risk. The recommendations of the Report have been framed with that objective in mind."

In other words, let foxes guard the henhouse to keep inventing new ways to extract gains (a "free lunch") in increasingly larger amounts - "in the interest of helping to contain systemic risk factors and promote greater stability."

Or as Orwell might have said: instability is stability, creating systemic risk is containing it, sloping playing fields are level ones, extracting the greatest profit is sharing it, and what benefits the few helps everyone.

Michel Chossudovsky explains that: "triggering market collapse(s) can be a very profitable undertaking. (Evidence suggests) that the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulators have created an environment which supports speculative transactions (through) futures, options, index funds, derivative securities (and short-selling), etc. (that) make money when the stock market crumbles....foreknowledge and inside information (create golden profit opportunities for) powerful speculators" able to move markets up or down with the public none the wiser.

As a result, concentrated wealth and "financial power resulting from market manipulation is unprecedented" with small investors' savings, IRAs, pensions, 401ks, and futures being decimated from it.

Deconstructing So-Called "Green Shoots"

Daily the corporate media trumpet them to lull the unwary into believing the global economic crisis is ebbing and recovery is on the way. Not according to longtime market analyst Bob Chapman who calls green shoots "Poison Ivy" and economist Nouriel Roubini saying they're "yellow weeds" at a time there's lots more pain ahead.

For many months and in a recent commentary he refers to "the worst financial crisis, economic crisis and recession since the Great Depression....the consensus is now becoming optimistic again and says that we are going to go from minus 6 percent growth to positive growth in the second half of the year....my views are much more bearish....The problems of the financial system are severe. Many banks are still insolvent."

We're "piling public debt on top of private debt to socialize the losses; and at some point the back of (the) government('s) balance sheet is going to break, and if that happens, it's going to be a disaster." Short of that, he, Chapman, and others see the risks going forward as daunting. As for the recent stock market rise, they both call it a "sucker's rally" that will reverse as the US economy keeps contracting and the financial system suffers unexpected or manipulated shocks.

Highly respected market analyst Louise Yamada agrees. As Randall Forsyth reported in the May 25 issue of Barron's Up and Down Wall Street column:

"It is almost uncanny the degree to which 2002-08 has tracked 1932-38, 'Yamada writes in her latest note to clients.' " Her "Alternate Hypothesis" compares this structural bear market to 1929-42:

-- "the dot-com collapse parallels the Great Crash and its aftermath," followed by the 2003-07 recovery, similar to 1933-37;

-- then the late 2008 - early March 2009 collapse tracks a similar 1937-38 trajectory, after which a strong rally followed much like today;

-- then in November 1938, the market dropped 22% followed by a 26% rise and a series of further ups and downs - down 28%, up 23%, down 16%, up 13%, and a final 29% decline ending in 1942;

-- from the 1938 high ("analogous to where we are now," she says), stock prices fell 41% to a final bottom.

Are we at one today as market touts claim? No according to Yamada - top-ranked among her peers in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 when she worked at Citigroup's Smith Barney division. Since 2005, she's headed her own independent research company.

She says structural bear markets typically last 13 - 16 years so this one has a long way to go before "complet(ing) the repair process." She calls the current rebound "a bungee jump," very typical of bear markets. Numerous ones occurred during the Great Depression, 8 alone from 1929 - 1932, some deceptively strong.

Expect market manipulators today to produce similar price action going forward - to enrich themselves while trampling on the unwary, well-advised to protect their dollars from becoming quarters or dimes.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.


Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman

Prince Charles says world in 'last chance saloon' to stop climate change
The Prince of Wales has warned the world is in the "last chance saloon" in its attempts to prevent catastrophic climate change, with most people failing to appreciate the urgency.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:27AM BST 28 May 2009

Prince Charles said world leaders must not hesitate in reducing carbon emissions Photo: AP
Prince Charles, a long-term environmentalist, said that while global warming is set to cause "the extinction of millions of species and organisms", the majority of people are not willing to take action to prevent temperatures rising.

Addressing the Nobel Laureates Symposium at St James's Palace in London, he said: "I don't know about your own experience, but it seems to me that whilst there is now only a mercifully small (if vociferous) number of people who do not accept the science of climate change and who should know better, there are still a great many who fail to recognise the real urgency of the situation.


Related Articles
World 'unlikely to stop global warming reaching critical levels'
Obama's green guru calls for white roofs
Nobel Laureates and big business unite against climate change
Species to be relocated as rivers dry up
RSPB calls for increase in windfarms"Even in the last few weeks there has been further evidence from scientists at the Potsdam Institute Climate Impact Research and the University of Oxford that it will take much longer for the climate to recover from excessive warming than previously thought. In so many ways we already are in the last chance saloon."

The three-day meeting will end in a memorandum that is likely to influence any international agreement on climate change made in Copenhagen in December.

Prince Charles said world leaders must not hesitate in reducing carbon emissions. He has already suggested paying poorer countries not to cut down rainforests after research showed more than a fifth of carbon emissions are caused by deforestation.

"It seems to me that in many ways we already have some of the answers to hand," he said.

"We know about energy efficiency, renewable energy, and how to reduce deforestation, to name but a few, but we seem strangely reluctant to apply them. I fear that this hesitation will have catastrophic consequences."

Rain forests also produced much of the world's rainfall, and saving them was not an option, it was an absolute necessity, he said.

The Prince said that 18 months ago he had set up his Rainforests Project in response to deep concern at the situation.

"Several proposals have been put forward," he said. "One that emerged from my Rainforests Project involves the issuance of new government-backed rainforest bonds.

"These would be offered to the investment community and could provide companies in, for example, the pensions and insurance sectors with guaranteed returns while, at the same time, making available some of the significant resources needed to help slow down deforestation."

Lord Stern, who first advised the Government on the threat of climate change, also addressed the meeting on the economics of tackling global warming. He supports using financial mechanisms, such as investment bonds, to raise money to prevent deforestation.

Prof Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, who is attending the talks, has already called for all the roofs in the world to be painted white in order to reflect the sun's rays and decrease global warming.

Green-glowing monkeys have green-glowing babies

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Reuters – This composite photograph, released by Nature Magazine on May 27, 2009, shows newborn transgenic marmoset … By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor – Wed May 27, 7:28 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japanese researchers have genetically engineered monkeys whose hair roots, skin and blood glow green under a special light, and who have passed on their traits to their offspring, the first time this has been achieved in a primate.

They spliced a jellyfish gene into common marmosets, and said on Wednesday they hope to use their colony of glowing animals to study human Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.

Erika Sasaki and Hideyuki Okano of the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan used a virus to carry the gene for green fluorescent protein into monkey embryos, which were implanted into a female monkey, and four out of five were born with the gene throughout their bodies.

One fathered a healthy baby that also carried the new genes, they reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

"The birth of this transgenic marmoset baby is undoubtedly a milestone," stem cell expert Dr. Gerald Schatten, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of Oregon Health and Sciences University, wrote in a commentary in Nature.

"Transgenic marmosets are potentially useful models for research into infectious diseases, immunology and neurological disorders, for example," they wrote.

INCURABLE DISEASES

"I am most interested in Parkinson's disease and ALS," Okano told reporters in a telephone briefing. Both are incurable nerve diseases. But Okano said animals could be created to study a range of diseases.

The researchers used marmosets because they reproduce quickly, reaching sexual maturity in about a year.

"At the moment we use mice with mutant genes that are associated with Parkinson's to search for new drugs to treat the condition," Dr. Kieran Breen, director of Research and Development at Britain's Parkinson's Disease Society, said in a statement.

"Because non-human primates are much closer to humans than mice genetically, the successful creation of transgenic marmosets means that we will have a new animal model to work with."

Last year, the discoverers of the green fluorescent protein won the Nobel Prize in chemistry -- Japanese-born Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Martin Chalfie of Columbia University in New York and Roger Tsien of the University of California, San Diego.

The protein glows under blue and ultraviolet light, allowing researchers to illuminate tumor cells, trace toxins and to monitor genes as they turn on and off.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

BUT GOVERNOR, YOU CAN CREATE MONEY JUST FORM YOUR OWN BANK.

BUT GOVERNOR, YOU CAN CREATE MONEY!
JUST FORM YOUR OWN BANK.
Ellen Brown, May 26th, 2009
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/but_governor.php


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“I understand that these cuts are very painful and they affect real lives. This is the harsh reality and the reality that we face. Sacramento is not Washington – we cannot print our own money. We can only spend what we have.”
– Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger quoted in Time, May 22, 2009

Christmas comes early, Governor. You CAN print your own money. Fiscally solvent North Dakota is doing it . . . and so can California. Now!!!

In a May 22 article in Time titled “Billions in the Red: Fiscal Reckoning in CA,” Juliet Williams reports that since California voters have now vetoed higher taxes and further state government borrowing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has indicated that he intends to close the budget gap almost entirely through drastic spending cuts. The cutbacks could include laying off thousands of state workers and teachers, ending the state’s main welfare program for the poor, eliminating health coverage for about 1.5 million poor children, halting cash grants for about 77,000 college students, slashing money for state parks, and releasing thousands of prisoners before their sentences are finished. Schwarzenegger bemoaned the fact that the state could not print its own money but said it could only spend what it had.

But the state can create its own money. After all, banks do this every day. Certified, card-carrying bankers are allowed to do something nobody else can do: they can create “credit” with accounting entries on their books. As the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas explains on its website:

“Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here’s how it works: Most of a bank’s loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank . . . holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money-creation process many times.”

President Obama has also acknowledged that banks create money, through what he calls the “multiplier effect.” In a speech at Georgetown University on April 14, he said:

The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy

The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy

by Andrew G. Marshall

.
Global Research, May 26, 2009









From May 14-17, the global elite met in secret in Greece for the yearly Bilderberg conference, amid scattered and limited global media attention. Roughly 130 of the world’s most powerful individuals came together to discuss the pressing issues of today, and to chart a course for the next year. The main topic of discussion at this years meeting was the global financial crisis, which is no surprise, considering the list of conference attendees includes many of the primary architects of the crisis, as well as those poised to “solve” it.

FLU SHOTS AND THE NEW ADJUVANTS: BEWARE

FLU SHOTS AND THE NEW ADJUVANTS: BEWARE!










Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO
May 1, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Vaccination of “every man, woman and child” has been in the planning for at least the last several years. The current concept, originated by former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Tommy Thompson,[1] is being advanced by his successor, Mike Leavitt.[2] Of course, Thompson envisioned mass vaccination using the smallpox vaccine. But times have changed, and the flu shot now appears to be the instrument of choice for those pursuing the universal vaccination agenda.

The fact that the flu shots are ineffective in every age group hardly seems to matter to those who continually promote their use. Multiple studies published in highly reputable publications have documented that flu shots are ineffective in all ages. For example, The Cochrane Collaboration produced a series of articles in 2005 reviewing the published literature to determine the effectiveness of the flu shot. Nothing substantiating its usefulness was found.

Susan Boyle's Semi Finale Performance

Susan Boyle "Memory"

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to new research that will be presented on May 19, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

Pandemics: good hygiene is not enough

Commentary
Nature 459, 322-323 (21 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/459322a; Published online 20 May 2009


Pandemics: good hygiene is not enough
Peter M. Sandman1

After Major Florida Bank Fails, Carlyle Swoops In as a Buyer

BankUnited's failure is the biggest this year. Carlyle and other investors agreed to recapitalize the bank.

By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 22, 2009

Florida-based BankUnited collapsed yesterday, the largest bank failure so far this year, as a new federal investigation revealed that the bank's regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, allowed the firm to cover up its financial weakness.

A consortium of investors, including District-based private-equity giant Carlyle Group, agreed to buy and recapitalize BankUnited, the fourth-largest bank to fail since the onset of the financial crisis. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it expects to absorb $4.9 billion in losses.

UB Scientists Develop Novel Method to Stimulate Growth of New Neurons in Adult Brain

UB Scientists Develop Novel Method to Stimulate Growth of New Neurons in Adult Brain
UB Scientists Develop Novel Method to Stimulate Growth of New Neurons in Adult Brain
May 20th, 2009

by Insciences

BUFFALO, N.Y. — University at Buffalo researchers have identified a new mechanism that plays a central role in adult brain stem cell development and prompts brain stem cells to differentiate into neurons.

Their discovery, known as Integrative FGFR1 Signaling (INFS), has fundamentally challenged the prevailing ideas of how signals are processed in cells during neuronal development.

The INFS mechanism is considered capable of repopulating degenerated brain areas, raising possibilities for new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, and may be a promising anti-cancer therapy.

Michal Stachowiak, Ph.D., director of the Molecular and Structural Neurobiology and Gene Therapy Program at UB, lead the research team that discovered INFS.

Results of the research appear in a recent issue of Integrative Biology at http://xlink.rsc.org/?doi=B902617G.

The approach uses gene engineering and nanoparticles for gene delivery to activate the INFS mechanism directly and promote neuronal development. The INFS-targeting gene can prompt these stem cells to differentiate into neurons.

Stachowiak, UB associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said the research team set out to see if it is possible to generate a wave of new neurons from stem cells and direct them to the affected areas using a mouse model.

“In this way, targeting the INFS potentially could be used to cure certain brain diseases, particularly in the case of a stroke or injuries that happen as a single episode and are not continuously attacking the brain,” he said.

“This study provides proof of concept for a novel approach to the treatment of neuronal loss by means of therapeutic gene transfer. This is a particularly attractive alternative to viral-mediated gene transfer.

“The health risks associated with using viruses to carry genes in this type of gene transfer have led to the search for safer means of gene delivery,” noted Stachowiak. “Nanotechnology offers an unprecedented advantage in enhancing the efficacy of non-viral gene delivery.”

Stachowiak and his wife, Ewa K. Stachowiak, Ph.D., research assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, along with their postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, have spent more than 15 years studying the mechanisms controlling natural neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons.

Brain injuries, stroke and progressive chronic diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease result in an extensive loss of neurons, accompanied by functional deterioration in the affected brain tissue. Such neurodegenerative diseases are a major health concern, given the rising aging population worldwide.

In addition, neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, diminish the production of neurons and disrupt the brain’s cellular structure.

“Manipulation of pre-existing adult stem cells to repopulate diseased areas of the brain holds the key towards the treatment of these neurodegenerative and, possibly, neurodevelopmental disorders,” said Michal Stachowiak.

“However, after birth, the ability of the brain’s stem cells to form the necessary new neurons normally is greatly diminished, and the mechanisms controlling natural neurogenesis are not well understood.”

The neurogenic potential of targeting INFS was described initially in cultured stem cells in vitro by the Stachowiak team. Following these initial studies, together with a team of UB chemists that included Indrajit Roy, Ph.D., Dhruba Bharali, Ph.D., and Paras N. Prasad, Ph.D., Stachowiak’s group investigated the use of organically modified silica nanoparticles as gene delivery vehicles into the stem cells of the brain in vivo.

Prasad is executive director of the UB Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Medicine. Roy is an assistant research professor in the institute; Bharali was a research associate.

Injae Shin, Ph.D., an expert in genetics at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in an online article on the Chemical Biology Web site, called the work “exciting.” He noted that it has the potential to treat neurological diseases, but pointed out the need for further development of gene delivery methods for the treatment of neuronal loss.

Stachowiak and colleagues currently are working on such approaches.

“Targeting the INFS mechanisms by small molecules could potentially replace the need for gene transfers and create a classical drug therapy for the neuronal loss,” said Ewa Stachowiak. “Now that we know the mechanism, we can search effectively for the means to control it.”

Source: http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=5159

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M:F ratio is reduced with increasing paternal age consistent with de novo genetic or genomic anomalies arising more frequently as men age

J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 May 19. [Epub ahead of print] Links
Brief Report: Parental Age and the Sex Ratio in Autism.Anello A, Reichenberg A, Luo X, Schmeidler J, Hollander E, Smith CJ, Puleo CM, Kryzak LA, Silverman JM.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

The male-to-female (M:F) ratio for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), typically about 4:1, appears to decrease with increasing paternal age, but this relationship has not been systematically tested. With 393 ASD cases from families with two or more ASD cases, we categorized paternal age into five age groups (<30, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45+) and found that the M:F ratio was significantly decreased with increasing paternal age groups and remained so after also adjusting for maternal age. No significant relationship between maternal age group and the M:F ratio was observed. This study suggests that the M:F ratio is reduced with increasing paternal age consistent with de novo genetic or genomic anomalies arising more frequently as men age and then conceive children.

Tyranny Watch 2: 'Hate crimes' against the American people are in full play
Obama Steps up Attacks against American People






By Sher Zieve Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Under Supreme Leader Obama’s directive of ‘I’m in power now, I’ve seized your country to destroy it as I choose and none of you can do anything about it’, new attacks (which could logically be called “hate crimes”) against the American people are in full play. Laughing almost as gleefully during his daily television appearance on Tuesday 19 May—as he probably did while he watched his TV showing the masses in New York running from his flyover 747 and two fighter jets—the US Dictator Obama smiled while delivering the news that essentially said that US citizens will probably no longer be able to afford electricity. With his and the Democrats’ “Cap and Trade” legislation—which will result in a minimum additional $3,100/year/household—Obama is planning to tax it out of existence.

Note: Now is the time to stock up on HUGE caches of wood and fans. And as the burning of wood should create a great deal more pollution, Obama is likely planning to tax it in the future. Prepare to be taxed on the wood and the fans.

As liberals and leftists—liberal Republican included—continue to tell us “man made global warming is more dangerous than Islamist terrorists,” the also continue to pilfer our personal resources. Even though this hoax has been fully exposed, the liberals continue to use the bogus argument as a way to continue to pilfer and steal from We-the-People. And We-the-People have yet to really fight back against the tyrants who now rule—not work for—us. Even Obama’s VP Joe Biden ranked terrorist attacks behind air pollution and corn syrup when he said “air that has too much coal in it, corn syrup next, then a terrorist attack.” It may sound as if liberals are truly insane. The masses of liberals and leftists may just be. However, their leaders are not. They know that the lies the populations have been taught since they were children in government-run schools have made them compliant to these rulers’ eventual theft of everything the people used to own. Or as every good liberal and leftist (AKA Socialist and/or Fascist) worth his or her salt says: “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine” and “the State will provide for our needs.” Those who belong to the mind-numbed classes don’t ever seem to realize that “the State” is pillaging all of their wealth and doling out smaller and smaller portions back to them. Note: This stance is even stronger in their leaders.

What can we do? At this juncture, FLOOD the US Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask for your representatives and senators and tell them to stop their thievery and oppression of the American citizen. Tell them to vote “NO” on Obama’s cap, trade and theft bill. If they do not, the cooking fires and creeks for washing will soon replace our appliances. But, that is—after all—the usurper Obama’s plan. A poor population is a more compliant one.

By the way, these leaders are ostensibly working to stop CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) emissions. We and all other mammals breathe out Carbon Dioxide. Plants need CO2 to manufacture Oxygen. In other words, they are attempting to implement a plan that will ultimately end lives—not save them. I’m reminded of the recent animated film “The Tale of Despereaux.” One of the lines in the film is “What happens when you make something that is a natural part of the world illegal?” Even a mouse knows the answer.

Gardasil Linked To Deaths Of 32 Young Girls

Gardasil Linked To
Deaths Of 32 Young Girls
By MaryEllen Tribby
CEO & Publisher - Early to Rise
5-20-9

32 Girls Have Died

11,916 adverse events already reported to the CDC... and counting.

Pain and swelling. Life-threatening muscle weakness. Blood clots in the heart and lungs.

And the deaths of 32 innocent girls and young women.

You might think I'm talking about a deadly new disease or a global epidemic...

I'm not.

Sadly, it's more sinister than that. The health threats listed above have all been linked with Gardasil, the so-called "cervical cancer vaccine." And thanks to Pharma giant Merck, desperate parents and naive young women believe this vaccine saves lives... they couldn't be more wrong.

That's why HSI's Jenny Thompson has released a new video in which she exposes the deception for what it is...and reveals some truly shocking information no one else is talking about.

And you are the very first to see it.

Please, if you have daughters, granddaughters or friends who might be considering this terrible vaccine, you must watch this video. And please forward it to anyone you think would benefit from the vital information it contains.

If you think you know the whole story on Gardasil, I think you'll be shocked by what you're about to see. Just click here to start watching the video. It's just a few minutes long... and those few minutes might just save a young girl's life.

--MaryEllen Tribby


CEO & Publisher, Early to Rise

Silk, SoyDream, Pacific Natural Foods and Vitasoy all Rebuked in New Soy Scorecard Ratings

The soy companies scorecard
5-star rating
• Eden Foods - 100% of their soybeans are grown in the U.S. and Canada.

• Vermont Soy (Vermont) - 100% of soybeans also grown in U.S. and Canada (mostly in Vermont). Low-heat pasteurization helps preserve soybean nutrients.

• Small Planet Tofu (Washington) - Buys solely from American farmers.

• FarmSoy (Tennessee) - Real tofu made from soybeans bought from American farmers.

• TwinOats (Virginia) - Buys soybeans from an organic family farm in Virginia.

• Unisoya / Green Cuisine (Canada) - They grown their own organic soybeans on 400 acres.

May 18, 2009 at 13:22:46

Promoted to Headline (H4) on 5/18/09:
Tamiflu developer: Swine flu possibly man-made

by Fred Burks Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

Bilderberg 2009 Guest list

Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List
Dutch Queen Beatrix,

Queen Sofia of Spain

Prince Constantijn Belgian Prince

Philip Ntavinion Etienne, Belgium

Joseph Akerman, Germany

Friends Alexander, United States (NSA)

Roger Altman, United States

Arapoglou, Greece (National Bank of Greece governor)

Ali Bampatzan, Turkey (Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economy)

Francisco Balsemao bidet, Portugal

Nicholas Bavarez, France

Franco Bernampe, Italy (Telecom Italia)

Xavie Bertran, France

Carl Bildt, Sweden (Secretary)

January Bgiorklount, Norway

Christoph Blocher, Switzerland

Alexander Bompar, France,

Boten Anna, Spain

Henri de Kastios, France

Juan-Luis Themprian, Spain

Clark Edmunds, Canada

Kenneth Clarke, Great Britain (TD Bank Financial Group)

Luc Cohen, Belgium

George David, Greece

Richard Ntiarlav, Great Britain

Mario Dragan, Italy (Italia VANCA d)

Elntroup Anders, Denmark

John Elkan, Italy (Fiat SRA)

Thomas Enders, Germany (Airbus SAS)

Jose Entrekanales, Spain

Isintro phenomena casket, Spain

Naial Fergkiouson, United States (Harvard University)

Timothy Gaitner, United States (Minister of Finance)

Ntermot convergence, Ireland (AIV Group)

Donald Graham, United States (Washington Post Company)

Victor Chalmperstant, Netherlands (Leiden University)

Ernst hirsh Ballin, Netherlands

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. (Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Netherlands (CC NATO)

James Jones, the U.S. (National Security Advisor to the White House)

Vernon Jordan, United States

Robert Keigkan, United States

Girki Katainen, Finland

John profit Britain (Royal Dutch Shell)

Mustafa Kots, Turkey (Group Kots)

Roland GT, Germany

Sami Cohen, Turkey (Journalist)

Henry Kissinger, United States

Marie Zose Ktavis, United States (Iudson Institute)

Neli Kroes, the Netherlands (European Commissioner for Competition)

Odysseas Kyriakopoulos, Greece (Group S & B)

Manuela Fereira mode, Portugal (PSD)

Bernarntino Leon, Spain

Jessica Matthews, United States

Philip Meis Tant (EIB)

Frank MakKena, Canada (TD Bank Financial Group)

John Mikelthgoueit, Great Britain (journalists, The Economist)

Tieri Montmprian de France (Franse Instituut) Tieri Montmprian de France (French Institute)

Mario Monti, Italy (University Louitzi Bokoni)

Angela Miguel Moratinos, Spain (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Craig dirty, U.S. (Microsoft)

Egkil Miklempast, Norway

Mathias A, Germany

Olive Denis, France (Le Nouvel Observateur)

Frederick Ountea, France (Societe Generale)

Avg Ozntemir, Germany (Green Party)

Tomazo Pantoa-Siopa, Italy

Papalexopoulos Dimitris, Greece (Titan)

Richard Pearl, United States (Αmerican Enterprise Institute)

David Petreous, United States (head of the Central Administration of the U.S. Armed Forces)

Pint Manuel, Minister of Finance of Portugal

Robert Pritsarnt, Canada (Totstar Corporation)

Romano Prodi, Italy (former Italian Prime Minister)

Heather Raisman, Canada (Indigo Vooks & Music Inc.).

Eivint Reitan, Norway

Michael Rintzier, Czech Republic

David Rockefeller, U.S.

Dennis Ross, United States

Ruby Barnet, United States

Alberto Rouith-Gkalarthon, Spain

Susan Sampantzi Ntintzer, Turkey

Ιntira Samarasekera, Canada

Rountol Solten, Austria

Jürgen Stemp, Germany

Pedro Solbes Mira, Spain (Ministry of Finance)

Sampatzi Saraz, Turkey (banker)

Sanata Seketa, Canada (University of Canada)

Samer Lawrence, United States

Peter Sutherland, Ireland

Martin Taylor, UK

Peter Thiel, USA

Agan Ourgkout, Turkey

Eye Vanchanen, Finland, (Prime Minister)

Daniel Vazela, Switzerland,

Jeroen van der Veer, Netherlands

Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium (ex-Prime Minister)

Paul Volker, the U.S.

Jacob Valenmpergk, Sweden

Marcus Valenmpergk, Sweden

Nout Wellink, the Netherlands

Viser Hans, Netherlands

Martin Wolf, Great Britain (Financial Times Journalist)

James Goulfenson, United States (the former World Bank President)

Paul Goulfovits, United States

Farint Zakaria, United States (Analyst Journalist, Newsweek)

Robert Zoellick, United States (President World Bank)

Dora Bakoyannis, Greece (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Anna Diamantopoulou, Greece (PASOK MP)

Papathanasiou, Greece (Minister of Finance)

Alogoskoufis, Greece (former Minister)

David, Greece (businessman, president of Coca-Cola 3E)

Our Nobel Prize Moron




By Alan Caruba Monday, May 18, 2009
I know you’re thinking the title refers to Al Gore, but no, it belongs to Paul Krugman, an economist best known as a New York Times columnist, and winner in 2008 of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. He is widely regarded as an expert in international economics and has very impressive curriculum vitae. By all the standards of our times, the man is a genius.

Anyone who has worked for an institution of higher learning as I once did soon loses his awe of PhDs. Their expertise is usually very narrow. The intellectual hot house which they share also includes immense pressure to demonstrate through research and publication that they are productive. There is a herd mentality and some vicious politics that goes on as well.

Krugman may know about economics, otherwise known as the “dismal science” because I suspect the capacity to be very wrong is equal to or greater than the chance of getting things right. Most certainly, his May 15 column, based on a trip to China demonstrated he knows nothing about meteorology, climatology, the science of the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Nobel Prize winner demonstrated what a moron he is when he strayed into the usual discredited blather associated with “global warming.” He spouts the nonsense about greenhouse gas emissions like some Red Guard reading from Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book.

“The scientific consensus on prospect for global warming,” wrote Klugman, “has become much more pessimistic over the last few years.” Firstly, the Greens have been predicting global warming since the 1980s, always concluding it was due to arrive ten, fifteen, twenty or fifty years from now. This is usually a good indicator of how flawed and false such predictions actually are.

H1N1 Swine Flu Likely Already Infecting 100,000 Americans, Admits CDC

H1N1 Swine Flu Likely Already Infecting 100,000 Americans, Admits CDC
Monday, May 18, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Key concepts: Swine flu, H1N1 and Winter



Articles Related to This Article:
• Florida Hospital Caught in Swine Flu Cover-Up?

• Thirty-Six Thousand People Do Not Die Each Year from "Regular Flu" (Confirmed)

• As Swine Flu Spreads, Conspiracy Theories of Laboratory Origins Abound







(NaturalNews) H1N1 influenza (swine flu) has spread beyond the ability of the CDC to track it, leading one of its health authorities (Daniel Jernigan) to admit that 100,000 Americans are likely already infected by the swine flu.

The CDC has only "confirmed" 4,714 cases of the flu so far, but by its own admission, the CDC's testing lab is so hopelessly overloaded that it has all but abandoned trying to identify every case of swine flu. All it can do now is estimate the likely number of infections through statistical modeling.

That modeling essentially says that swine flu is already at a pandemic stage, and it will eventually infect anywhere from one-third to one-half of the world population, depending on whose figures you believe.

So if swine flu is infecting so many people, why aren't more people dying?

Some people are dying from it, of course. The latest is an assistant principal of a NYC school, who just passed away yesterday (http://www.nypost.com/seven/0516200...).



Beware of the "influenza winter of 2009"

Swine flu: Baxter to make vaccine for British government

Swine flu: Baxter to make vaccine for British government
Deerfield-based drugmaker also says 2 patient deaths not related to heparin blood thinner
By Bruce Japsen | Tribune reporter
May 16, 2009

A Lethal Mixture: Swine and Bird Flu. Can We Trust Baxter, GSK and the WHO?

May 17, 2009
A Lethal Mixture: Swine and Bird Flu. Can We Trust Baxter, GSK and the WHO?
By John Stone

The most recent paroxysm in the swine flu saga begs some interesting questions which scarcely ought to be swept aside. Last week veteran Australian scientist, Adrian Gibbs, author of 250 peer review studies raised the issue whether H1N1 virus could have been created in a lab error. Of course, denials were rapid. ABC News reported (HERE.)

GlaxoSmithKline gets order for 60m swine flu vaccines from the UK

GlaxoSmithKline gets order for 60m swine flu vaccines from the UK
GlaxoSmithKline, the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company, has received an order for 60m swine flu vaccines from the UK Government.

Bilderberg meetings remain a mystery

Bilderberg meetings remain a mystery
By Marcus Klöckner, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, May 17, 2009
Ever hear of Bilderberg? If not, that’s the idea.

According to various Web sites, the Bilderberg is an “unofficial, annual, invitation-only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are persons of influence in the fields of politics, business and banking.”

The names of alleged past participants of this secretive group include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and even former President Bill Clinton.

The Bilderberg group is currently holding its 57th annual conference at a hotel outside Athens, Greece. And while the list of the some 120 influential people is highly protected, Internet bloggers contend this year’s attendees include Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who supposedly will be “taking orders from the Global Elite,” according to one Web site.

The circle got its name from the Bilderberg hotel in the Netherlands, where the first meeting took place in 1954. The group is a “broad cross section of leading citizens that are assembled for nearly three days of informal and off-the-record discussions about topics of current concern especially in the fields of foreign affairs and the international economy,” according to a brochure the group provides to interested parties.

The booklet also mentions the topics that the Bilderbergs have discussed in the past.

In 1988, one year before German re-unification, one of the topics was “The German question revisited.” At the 2007 conference in Istanbul, Turkey, the power elites talked about “The new world order: uni-polar or non-polar?”

At last year’s conference in Virginia, “Cyber-terrorism” and “After Bush: The future of U.S.-EU relations” was on the agenda.

The agendas make it clear: The Bilderbergs do not come together for a vacation. It is big-world politics that are discussed at the meetings.

But how can a group that sends out a booklet with its agenda be so secretive? For starters, the group does not have an official headquarters, and no telephone operator will be able to provide you a phone number for the group.

However, some journalists who have dealt with the group for decades claim to have inside sources. These journalists publicized the phone number of the group on the Internet. The number is consistent with telephone numbers at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. If you dial the number, Maya Banks-Poldermann, the executive secretary of Bilderberg, will pick up the phone but she will not mention the group’s name. Only after asking if you have reached the Bilderberg office, will she confirm. The secretary will offer to send out the group’s booklet, but will not answer any questions.

In addition, the members will not talk about the meetings.

Does this group of power elites accomplish anything? It depends on whom you ask.

According to the Bilderberg brochure, “at the meetings, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements issued.”

But George McGhee, a former U.S. ambassador to West Germany, reportedly told Mike Peters, a sociologist from Leeds University, that the “The Treaty of Rome … which brought the Common Market into being, was nurtured at Bilderberg meetings.”

What will come out of this year’s meeting, which ends Sunday?

It will be hard to find out. Britain’s Guardian newspaper carried a story from a reporter who was arrested for taking photos of the meeting site, so it is clear the group takes its secrecy seriously. However, that will not stop the meeting from being a hot topic on the Internet or from fueling bloggers’ speculation.

http://greenhellblog.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/al-gore-1984/

Al Gore 1984

Bilderberg 2009 Agenda

Bilderberg Wants Global Department Of Health, Global Treasury

Veteran investigative journalist Jim Tucker unveils Bilderberg’s 2009 agenda

Paternal Age May Also Affect ICSI Outcome in Oligozoospermic Patients

Paternal Age May Also Affect ICSI Outcome in Oligozoospermic Patients
May 15, 2009
Maternal age has been identified as a key determining factor in the success rates of IVF/ICSI procedures; however, relatively few studies have investigated the effect of advanced paternal age on ICSI outcome. Now, a recent retrospective observational study, published in the journal, Fertility and Sterility, suggests the negative effect of increased paternal age of oligozoospermic patients on implantation rate after ICSI. The study reports a 5% decrease in the chances of pregnancy for such couples with each year of increase in paternal age.

Renata Cristina Ferreira, from the Sapientiae Institute, Educational and Research Center in Assisted Reproduction, São Paulo, Brazil, and coworkers, analyzed the effect of age on ICSI outcome in both oligospermic and normospermic patients. The study subjects comprised of 1,024 couples treated with ICSI, using fresh spermatozoa. The results of linear logistic regression analyses demonstrated that paternal age in patients with abnormal sperm concentrations had a negative effect on the rates of implantation (regression coefficient value=−0.7009) and pregnancy [odds ratio (OR)=0.95]. However, no such effects on implantation (regression coefficient value=0.0566) and pregnancy rates (OR=1.00) were noted with normal sperm concentrations.

Contrary to the recent study findings, Aboulghar and coworkers (Reproductive Biomedicine Online, 2007) compared the ICSI treatment outcome in couples with male partners aged ≥50 years (mean age of 53±5 years) and younger age group male partners (mean age of 38.4±5.8 years). Although a higher fertilization rate was noted in the younger age group, pregnancy rate was not affected (37.9 versus 36.6%). Based on the study results, the researchers reported that paternal age may not affect the rate of pregnancy during ICSI. However, the study validated the need for further investigation to explore the long-term outcomes of such pregnancies.

Several previous studies have suggested the association of advanced paternal age with the increased risk for schizophrenia, certain cancers, birth defects, and neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism in the offspring. Plastira et al. (International Journal of Andrology, 2007) reported that paternal age may not be a factor that influences the incidence rate of aneuploidy in spermatozoa and ICSI outcome. The 25 oligoasthenozoospermia subjects involved in their study were divided based on their age into two groups: group A involved men aged between 20 and 34 years (n=10), and group B comprised of men 35-50 years of age (n=15). On data analysis of the three semen parameters (volume, concentration and progressive motility) the researchers did not find any statistically significant variation between the two groups. Using the dual and triple color fluorescence in situ hybridization, the researchers analyzed around 50,883 decondensed spermatozoa to determine the incidence of aneuploidy for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y, in the two groups.

In both the groups, the researchers noted a substantially higher incidence of disomy for chromosome 21, when compared to autosomal chromosomes, 13 and 18. In contrast to the older subjects (0.05%), the disomy rate of sex chromosomes was found to be significantly increased in the younger group (0.1%). The study results did not show a statistically significant variation in the mean number of clinical pregnancies and abortions between the two age groups. Also, the rates of aneuploidy for all the studied chromosomes were found to be similar both between and within the groups.

In the developed nations, there is a growing trend towards delaying parenthood till late thirties or older. An earlier study conducted in England and Wales reported an increase in the average paternal age from 29.2 years in 1980 to 32.1 in 2002. In view of enhanced prevalence of DNA damages in the sperm of older men, the Practice Committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) recommended the upper age limit of sperm donors to be less than 40.

Confirmation of the recent study results through larger studies may aid physicians in counseling patients regarding the detrimental effect of advanced paternal age on the success rates of ICSI.

References

1. Ferreira RC, Braga DP, Bonetti TC, Pasqualotto FF, Iaconelli A Jr, Borges E Jr. Negative influence of paternal age on clinical intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle outcomes in oligozoospermic patients. Fertil Steril. 2009 Apr 29. [Epub ahead of print].

2. Aboulghar M, Mansour R, Al-Inany H, et al. Paternal age and outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Reprod Biomed Online. 2007 May;14(5):588-92.

3. Plastira K, Angelopoulou R, Mantas D, et al. The effects of age on the incidence of aneuploidy rates in spermatozoa of oligoasthenozoospermic patients and its relationship with ICSI outcome. Int J Androl. 2007 Apr;30(2):65-72.

Our man at Bilderberg

Our man at Bilderberg: I'm ready to lose control, but they're notCharlie Skelton feels a sudden need to apologise for the trouble he's caused, swiftly followed by a rush of revolutionary rage against the powers that be being so, well, powerful
• Charlie Skelton guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 May 2009 17.22 BST Article historyI want to talk about Bilderberg 2009. But beyond a simple "yes, it's happening, it's real, the leaders of the world are hanging out here for the weekend", what can I say? It's a private meeting.

I don't know if they're discussing global financial unification or the season finale of Grey's Anatomy over their prawn cocktails. I don't even know what the vegetarian option is for starters. Butternut squash?

You're going to have to forgive me for speculating, but that's all I can do. I'm not a proper reporter. I don't have the foggiest of my rights (if any) to stand on public footpaths and point cameras. I don't even have a proper camera. But what I do have is this: a sense of something rotten in the state of Greece. To my nose, there's not a healthy smell wafting down from the Astir Palace. Or maybe that was the egg and pepper roll I had for breakfast.

Sorry if some of these speculations are wrongheaded, but I'm doing a lot of this thinking for the first time and I've only just shaken off my police escort. Sorry if I sound shrill or petulant, self-righteous or precious, sorry if my perceptions have been tilted by anger … sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry for bothering you Mr Bilderberg. I've spent the last three days apologising to everyone. Sorry to the staff at my hotel for having plainclothes officers loafing around in their lobby. Sorry to the plainclothes officers themselves for having to drag them around Vougliameni on a wild goose chase (I bought them some chilled water, and took it to them while they shuffled awkwardly behind a tree). Sorry then to the desk sergeant for bothering her with my predicament: "I'm being followed around like a criminal, I wonder if you wouldn't mind asking them to stop? I'm not doing anything wrong, and it's getting … well … a bit annoying."

I'

Spinach Knocks Out Cancer and Boosts Brain Power
Friday, May 15, 2009 by: Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor
See all articles by this author
Email this author

Key concepts: Spinach, Cancer and Food




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(NaturalNews) Popeye was the poster boy for spinach, at least in the cartoons. He could swallow down a can and be able to knock out Bluto who was twice his size. Popeye was probably pretty healthy too, avoiding the pitfalls of aging and disease that come from a diet lacking in flavonoids and other nutrients found in spinach. Recent research has highlighted how well these nutrients work to safeguard health.

Spinach gives a knock out punch to cancer

Scientists in Japan recently studied some of the glyconutrients from spinach and found they inhibited destruction of DNA, cancer cell growth, and tumor growth. They used the nutrients to suppress the growth of colon adenocarcinoma in mice. After a two week period of ingesting the nutrients, a 56.1% decrease in solid tumor volume occurred without any side effects. And the nutrients reduced the ability of tumors to supply themselves with blood which they need to fuel their growth. Markers of cell proliferation were drastically reduced. (Lipids, August, 2008)

Spinach is good for combating ovarian cancer too. A newly released study from the Harvard Medical School evaluated the association between dietary flavonoid intake and ovarian cancer risk. Of all the flavonoids they tested, apigenin found in spinach as well as parsley, showed the highest correlation. (International Journal of Cancer, April)

In another study, Harvard researchers calculated flavonoid intake in 66,940 women participating in the Nurses Health Study that ended in 2002. Their work revealed that women eating diets rich in the flavonoid kaempferol had a 40% reduction in ovarian cancer risk compared to women who ate the least amount of food containing the flavonoid. In addition to spinach, foods high in kaempferol include kale, tea, and blueberries. (Journal of Cancer, November 15, 2007)

Prostate cancer responds to a carotenoid found in spinach and other green leafy vegetables. Researchers have found that this carotenoid, neoxanthin, induces death in prostate cancer cells. Then it converts to a different compound in the intestinal tract. In that state, it lulls prostate cancer cells into a state of rest, preventing their replication. (Journal of Nutrition, September, 2004)

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences studied the correlation between breast cancer risk and diets high in beta carotene and vitamin A. They found that eating spinach and carrots more than twice weekly compared to not eating them at all was associated with an odds ratio of .56. This means that the risk of having breast cancer was reduced by 44% in the women who consumed spinach and carrots. (Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, November, 1997)

Spinach is great brain food

All those flavonoids that help prevent cancer also act as potent antioxidants that slow the effects of aging on the brain. Researchers have found that spinach helps protect the brain from free radical damage and slow age-related declines in brain power. Feeding spinach to aging laboratory animals significantly improved their learning capacity and their motor skills.

Diets rich in spinach, as well as spirulina and blueberries have been shown to reduce neurodegenerative changes in aged animals. To study whether these diets have neuroprotective ability when blood supply to the brain is limited, animals were fed one of the three dietary components and studied for the effects. Animals receiving each of the supplements had significant reductions in the volume of infarction in the cerebral cortex and an increase in post-stroke locomotor activity. (Experimental Neurology, May, 2005)

The Chicago Health and Aging Project, reported by World's Healthiest Foods, suggested that eating just three servings of green leafy, yellow, and cruciferous vegetables each day could slow down cognitive decline by 40%. This equates to about five years of younger age, according to researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

This cohort study used 3,718 participants. Their mental functions were assessed on several tests at the beginning of the study, after three years, and again after six years. Researchers found that consuming an average of 2.8 servings of vegetables each day was what it took to produce the 40% decrease in cognitive decline. Of the different type of vegetables, green leafy ones such as spinach had the strongest association. There was no relationship found between fruit consumption and cognitive decline, perhaps because vegetables contain high amounts of vitamin E. Since they are often eaten with fats such as olive oil or dressing, the body's ability to absorb fat soluble vitamin E is increased.

Spinach improves and protects eyesight

Another important carotenoid from spinach, lutein, is a major fighter against eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts. Spinach is loaded with lutein as are blueberries. Although egg yolks do not contain nearly as much lutein as spinach, the absorption of the amount they do have is intensified by cholesterol and choline. Since lutein is fat soluble like vitamin E, it should be eaten with fat. This makes a spinach salad dressed with olive oil a great idea. Spinach added to quiche or omelets is another winner.

Spinach is an excellent source of the iron often needed by women. Iron is an integral part of hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to all body cells. When cells are well oxygenated there can be no cancer. Iron is a key part of an enzyme necessary for energy production and metabolism.

Spinach is packed with high quality nutrition

Spinach is one of the best sources of Vitamin K, which functions in retaining calcium in the bone matrix where it promotes bone mineralization. Other minerals in spinach include manganese, copper, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus. This combination makes spinach a great fighter of osteoporosis. It's an excellent source of Vitamin B1, B2, and B6, and a good source of B3. Spinach is also rich in mood relaxing tryptophan, and cancer fighting fiber. One cup of boiled spinach contains over 5 grams of protein, and a decent amount of omega 3 fatty acids. And of course a load of Vitamin A.

What else you need to know about spinach

Spinach is among the 12 foods on which pesticides have been most frequently found. If you want to avoid the health risks posed by pesticides, buy only organic spinach.

Spinach contains goitrogens which are naturally occurring substances in some foods that can interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland. Cooking helps to inactivate the goitrogenic compounds, but the risk to those with thyroid problems is not fully known.

Spinach contains another naturally occurring substance, purine. Excessive consumption of spinach can lead to excessive accumulation of uric acid in the body. Gout and kidney stones from uric acid are two examples of problems related to excessive consumption of purine-containing foods.

Spinach contains measurable amounts of naturally occurring oxalates. When oxalates become overly concentrated in body fluids, they can crystallize and cause problems with kidneys and gall bladder.

This all means that spinach should be a part of a diet that is composed of a wide variety of foods.

Using spinach

There are three widely available types of spinach. Savoy is a kind of spinach that has curly leaves that are springy to the touch. The smooth, flat leaf variety is great for eating or using in a juicer. Baby spinach is usually found in salads because it is the most delicately flavored.

Even if your spinach comes in a bag, it should be washed. Sand and soil tend to cling to the leaves making washing spinach a bit of a chore. Serve with stems on or off.

There's a reason Popeye's girl friend was named Olive Oyl

Spinach and olive oil belong together. The fat in the oil releases the nutrients in the spinach and makes them more bioavailable, and the two create a terrific taste when used together.

Saute spinach leaves in olive oil, and top with fresh pressed garlic, lemon juice and sea salt. Or saute in olive oil and add pine nuts and dried cranberries.

Chemtrails

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Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus
By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: 27th February 2009, 3:26pm
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Facebook Digg Del.icio.us Google Stumble Upon Newsvine Reddit Technorati Feed Me Yahoo Simpy Squidoo Spurl Blogmarks Netvouz Scuttle Sitejot + What are these? The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.

And an official of the World Health Organization’s European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International’s research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria.

“At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present,” medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.

“But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.”

The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.

The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn’t die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses.

Public health authorities concerned about what has been described as a “serious error” on Baxter’s part have assumed the death of the ferrets meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of information it has released about the event.

On Friday, the company’s director of global bioscience communications confirmed what scientists have suspected.

“It was live,” Christopher Bona said in an email.

The contaminated product, which Baxter calls “experimental virus material,” was made at the Orth-Donau research facility. Baxter makes its flu vaccine — including a human H5N1 vaccine for which a licence is expected shortly — at a facility in the Czech Republic.

People familiar with biosecurity rules are dismayed by evidence that human H3N2 and avian H5N1 viruses somehow co-mingled in the Orth-Donau facility. That is a dangerous practice that should not be allowed to happen, a number of experts insisted.

Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences.

While H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people.

That mixing process, called reassortment, is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created.

There is no suggestion that happened because of this accident, however.

“We have no evidence of any reassortment, that any reassortment may have occurred,” said Andraghetti.

“And we have no evidence of any increased transmissibility of the viruses that were involved in the experiment with the ferrets in the Czech Republic.”

Baxter hasn’t shed much light — at least not publicly — on how the accident happened. Earlier this week Bona called the mistake the result of a combination of “just the process itself, (and) technical and human error in this procedure.”

He said he couldn’t reveal more information because it would give away proprietary information about Baxter’s production process.

Andraghetti said Friday the four investigating governments are co-operating closely with the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Control in Stockholm, Sweden.

“We are in very close contact with Austrian authorities to understand what the circumstances of the incident in their laboratory were,” she said.

“And the reason for us wishing to know what has happened is to prevent similar events in the future and to share lessons that can be learned from this event with others to prevent similar events. ... This is very important.”

Flu Might Be Lab Made

Police State Study Ranks US As 6th Worst In The World

Police State Study Ranks US As 6th Worst In The World
UK in 5th, behind only the most ardent dictatorships

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A study designed to rank countries in terms of how aggressively they monitor their populations electronically, has placed the US as 6th and the UK as 5th on a global index.

The two countries lag behind only China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia in terms of governmental surveillance.

The report, titled The Electronic Police State, (PDF link) was compiled from information available from different organizations such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation.

52 countries were rated on 17 criteria with regard to how far down the line they are toward a total electronic police state.

The study was undertaken by a private company called “CryptoHippie“, which specializes in privacy technologies.

“In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every e-mail you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping… are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time,” the report states.

“Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it – the evidence is already in their database,” the report continues. “Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman?”

“If some leader behaves badly, will you really stand up to oppose him or her? Would you still do it if he had all the e-mails you sent when you were depressed? Or if she has records of every porn site you’ve ever surfed? Or if he knows every phone call you’ve ever made? Or if she knows everyone you’ve ever sent money to?” the report asks.

“This system hasn’t yet reached its full shape, but all of the basics are in place and it is not far from complete in some places,”.

(Article continues below)



The report contains a colour coded world map, with red representing the most advanced electronic police states, orange for strongly developing electronic police states and yellow for nations that are further behind in terms of surveillance:



It is no surprise to see the UK ranking higher than the US, with it’s estimated 4.5 million CCTV cameras, it’s active DNA database, and given that the British government has openly announced the fact that it wants the authority to monitor and store all phone calls, text messages and emails, a practice already strongly rumoured to be in operation.

The 17 criteria that were used to define an electronic police state are listed below:

Daily documents: How much is required day-to-day for residents to present state-issued identity documents or registration.
Border issues: What is demanded for a border entry.
Financial tracking: The state’s ability to search and record financial transactions.
Gag orders: The penalties for revealing to someone else the state is searching their records.
Anti-crypto laws: Bans on cryptography.
Constitutional protections: Either a lack of protections or someone overriding them.
Data storage: The state’s ability to record and keep what it uncovers.
Data search: The processes to search through data.
ISP data retention: The demand for ISPs to save customers’ records.
Telephone data retention: States’ requirements for communications companies to record and save records.
Cell phone records: The saving and using of cell phone users’ records.
Medical records: Demands from states that medical records retain information.
Enforcement: The state’s ability to use force (SWAT teams) to seize someone.
Habeus corpus: Either an absence of such rights or someone overriding them.
Police-Intel barrier: the absence of a barrier between police and intelligence organizations.
Covert hacking: State operatives meddling in data on private computers covertly.
Loose warrants: Warrants that are being issued without careful review of police claims by a truly independent judge.
The countries making up the top ten in the rankings are Singapore, Israel, France and Germany.

Following the top ten the rankings are: 11. Malaysia, 12. Ireland, 13. United Kingdom, Scotland, 14. Netherlands, 15. South Korea, 16. Ukraine, 17. Belgium, 18. Australia, 19. Japan, 20. New Zealand, 21. Austria, 22. Norway, 23. India, 24. Italy, 25. Taiwan, 26. Denmark, 27. Hungary, 28. Greece, 29. Canada, 30. Switzerland, 31. Slovenia, 32. Poland, 33. Finland, 34. Sweden, 35. Latvia, 36. Lithuania, 37. Cyprus, 38. Malta, 39. Estonia, 40. Czech Republic, 41. Iceland, 42. South Africa, 43. Spain, 44. Portugal, 45. Luxembourg, 46. Argentina, 47. Romania, 48. Thailand, 49. Bulgaria, 50. Brazil, 51. Mexico, 52. Philippines.

1940's Secret "Corporate" Tactic By Which Government Took All!

1940's Secret "Corporate" Tactic By Which Government Took All!
By Walter Burien

Mystery group in the driving seat Bilderberg

Saturday May 09 2009

If the Finance Minister really wants to know the depth of this "global economic firestorm", all he has to do is to ask the people who created it.

About 150 of the world's most influential powerbrokers in government, industry, banking, media and academia are meeting from May 14 to 17 at the Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece.

This group is called the Bilderberg Group and operates under the Chatham House rules -- meaning that no details of whatever has been discussed can ever be leaked to the media.

It seems, however, that top of their agenda this year is whether to have a prolonged depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation and poverty or an intense short depression that eventually leads the way to a sustainable economic world order.

Bilderberg could also be fostering a false picture of economic recovery, encouraging people to invest in stocks and shares again only for them to lose their money as another massive downturn is created by an economic false flag operation.

It is frightening that decisions made by this non-elected cabal can affect every citizen in the world today.

John Finegan
Bailieborough, Co Cavan

Swine Flu outbreak brings out vaccination fears

Swine Flu outbreak brings out vaccination fears
Some say vaccines with mercury linked to autism, CSUF health director says evidence is "weak"
Renee An

For the Daily Titan

Print this article
Share this article Published: Monday, May 11, 2009

Updated: Monday, May 11, 2009

Because of the recent swine flu outbreak, the debate over vaccinations has been a topic of discussion.

There are two sides to this debate.

Carbon is not causing global warming or climate change

Carbon is not causing global warming or climate change
All life on planet depends on CO2

The Report From Iron Mountain Revisited by Richard C. Cook

The Report From Iron
Mountain Revisited
By Richard C. Cook
5-10-9

What impresses me in the current financial crisis is the near-total failure of so-called progressives to appreciate the magnitude of what is going on or the level of intelligence behind it. How many will say, for instance, that the crash was deliberately engineered by the creation, then destruction, of the investment bubbles of the last decade?

When the financial system creates bubbles it drives up the cost of assets far beyond their true value in producing or storing wealth. When the bubbles burst the value of the assets plummets. Those with ready cash then buy them up on the cheap. When the dust settles more wealth has been concentrated in fewer hands. The rich get richer, and ordinary people are left in a deeper condition of indebtedness, poverty, and pressure to perform to the liking of the financial masters.

Progressives think the system needs to be "reformed." Maybe the banking system needs to be re-regulated or even nationalized. Maybe it should be possible for families facing loss of their homes to get a lower monthly payment from a bankruptcy court. Maybe the government instead of the private sector should administer student loans.

What we fail to acknowledge is that the system itself is totalitarian. This means that it is designed to exert total control over the lives of individuals. We are accustomed to use this label when thinking of anachronisms of history like communism or fascism. We do not understand that globalist finance capitalism and the government which protects, enables, or even regulates it are also totalitarian.

What has happened in the last year as the financial system has seemingly gone belly-up, and is coming back only through massive government bailouts, is part of a pattern that has been around for decades if not centuries. How the controllers work was laid out in 1967 when Dial Press published a leaked copy of The Report from Iron Mountain. This was a study put together by a team of academics and analysts who met at the underground facility in New York that was home to the Hudson Institute.

The report began by identifying war as the central organizing principle of society. It stated, "War itself is the basic social system, within which other secondary modes of social organization conflict or conspire. It is the system which has governed most human societies of record, as it is today."

The report said that, "The basic authority of a modern state over its people resides in its war powers." It said that any failure of will by the ruling class could lead to "actual disestablishment of military institutions." The effect on the system would be, the report said, "catastrophic."
The appearance of the report caused a sensation when it came out at the onset of the Vietnam War. Officials within the government had no comment, and the report faded into history. But certain of its sections fit the situation in 2009 precisely.

This is because the report outlined the ways the civilian population of a developed nation could be controlled even in the absence of a large-scale war that disrupted their daily lives. One of these ways was defined as follows: "Apossible surrogate for the control of potential enemies of society is the reintroduction, in some form consistent with modern technology and political process, of slavery.The development of a sophisticated form of slavery may be an absolute prerequisite for social control." (Cited in Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs, 2000.)

We see the development of such a "sophisticated form of slavery" today. What else can a system be called that subjects the population to skyrocketing personal and household debt, a widening gap between the rich and everyone else, constant warfare justified as necessary to fight "terrorism," erosion of personal freedoms, constantly expanding power allocated to the military and police, pervasive electronic eavesdropping, complete lack of accountability by politicians for their dishonesty and crimes, a mass media devoted solely to establishment propaganda, etc.

None of this seems to be diminishing under the Barack Obama administration. Even the economic recovery Obama is attempting to engineer through massive Keynesian deficit spending is expected by economists to be another "jobless" one like that of 2002-2005. Of course the unemployed or those who fear unemployment are easy to control. And the permanent series of Asian land wars George W. Bush instigated for control of resources and geopolitical leverage against Russia and China continue unabated.

None of this is accidental. As The Report from Iron Mountain made clear four decades ago, it's what has been planned all along.

Richard C. Cook is a former federal analyst who writes on public policy issues. His book "We Hold These Truths: the Hope of Monetary Reform" is now available at www.tendrilpress.com. His website is www.richardccook.com.

" Web of Debt": The Inner Workings of the Monetary System
A review of Ellen Brown's book


by Stephen Lendman

Adult Stem Cell Therapy

The Secret Financial Network Behind "Wizard" George Soros

The Secret Financial Network Behind "Wizard" George Soros
by William Engdahl

EIR Investigation Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), November 1, 1996

The dossier that follows is based upon a report released on Oct. 1 by EIR's bureau in Wiesbaden, Germany, titled "A Profile of Mega-Speculator George Soros." Research was contributed by Mark Burdman, Elisabeth Hellenbroich, Paolo Raimondi, and Scott Thompson.

............................................................................

Time magazine has characterized financier George Soros as a "modern-day Robin Hood," who robs from the rich to give to the poor countries of eastern Europe and Russia. It claimed that Soros makes huge financial gains by speculating against western central banks, in order to use his profits to help the emerging post-communist economies of eastern Europe and former Soviet Union, to assist them to create what he calls an "Open Society." The Time statement is entirely accurate in the first part, and entirely inaccurate in the second. He robs from rich western countries, and uses his profits to rob even more savagely from the East, under the cloak of "philanthropy." His goal is to loot wherever and however he can. Soros has been called the master manipulator of "hit-and-run capitalism."

Decision on Flu Vaccine Looms

Decision on Flu Vaccine Looms
Steering Resources to Fight New Strain Raises Public-Health, Financial Questions

By CAM SIMPSON
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is weeks away from a critical decision on whether to trigger mass production of swine-flu vaccine, which could affect the bottom lines of big vaccine makers as well as public health.

Besides determining whether a vaccine would be effective and safe, government officials and private laboratories will need to answer practical and financial questions: Does it make sense to order hundreds of millions of doses and organize a mass vaccination campaign for a virus that, so far, isn't widespread and doesn't seem particularly lethal?

Swine Avian Flu

"This particular virus seems to have this unique ability to pick up other genes," said leading virologist Dr. Robert Webster, whose team discovered an ancestor of the current flu virus at a North Carolina pig farm in 1998.

Water Heist

U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen

U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen

Audio
Talk of a Swine Flu Vaccine
The Washington Post's Ceci Connolly calls washingtonpost.com's Sarah Lovenheim from CDC headquarters in Atlanta to discuss the possibility of a swine flu vaccine.
» LAUNCH AUDIO PLAYER


By Kimberly Kindy and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Obama administration is considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.

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If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.

Another option, said Dale Morse, chairman of the advisory committee on immunization practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is adding to the seasonal flu shot an ingredient targeted at the new virus.

Experts in and out of the administration are evaluating a raft of complicated issues, including who ought to receive an inoculation against the swine flu and whether private vaccine makers can simultaneously manufacture the standard 180 million doses as well as up to 600 million rounds of a new vaccine.

"We are moving forward with making a vaccine," said Robin Robinson, a director with the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic response programs. Robinson said that although a formal decision about the swine flu vaccine has not been made, if the government goes ahead, it would probably produce two doses for all Americans. If the threat diminishes, he said, health officials could decide to produce doses for only a portion of the population.

Vaccine and pandemic experts are working with the administration to determine how to produce, test, track and educate the public about two different influenza vaccines in the same flu season.


"They have never tried this before, and there is going to be a great deal of confusion," said William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Memories of the nation's earlier experience with a swine flu vaccine present another challenge. In 1976, hundreds of Americans developed neurological disorders after they were vaccinated for a swine flu strain. The public was asked to receive one of two vaccines developed to combat the strain.

Health officials have asked manufacturers to ramp up production of the seasonal vaccine scheduled for rollout this fall to make way for the possible mass production of a swine flu vaccine.

A decision on whether to produce such a vaccine will have to be made soon, because it typically takes five months to produce a new vaccine and authorities would want it available for the next flu season.

Some medical experts said rolling out two vaccines would present additional challenges in terms of testing and tracking adverse reactions. Health officials and manufacturers will need to know what the negative reactions might be for each vaccine on its own and in combination with the other. Initial tests would be done on animals, and then clinical trials would be conducted with people to determine side effects before either vaccine is rolled out.

Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, said officials will have to weigh the risks of the time spent on testing.

"All this takes time, money and organization," said Fineberg, who led an investigation into the government's handling of the 1976 swine flu vaccinations.

The greater challenge will be tracking any adverse reactions as millions of Americans get multiple vaccinations in a matter of months this fall and winter.

"There will be adverse effects to any vaccine. That's just science," said Michael Hattwick, who ran the CDC's vaccine-tracking system during the last swine flu scare.

Hattwick said a "real-time" tracking system would need to be established to provide constant updates to the CDC about adverse reactions. That information, he said, should include lot numbers for the vaccines so health officials can trace each side effect to the manufacturer and the date of production. Routine flu vaccinations are not traced with such precision because reporting is voluntary and often delayed, Hattwick said.

Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he does not expect additional adverse reactions with two vaccinations. The traditional flu vaccine is designed to attack the three flu strains health officials believe to be the greatest threats in a regular season, he said.

"In a regular seasonal flu, you get three vaccines. Adding an additional one should not present a problem," Fauci said.

A record-keeping system would also need to be devised to track which doses patients have received, health experts said.

Without such a system, patients could lose track of which of the three shots they have received or could fail to get the second swine flu inoculation at the proper time.

"We will have to keep them straight and separate," Vanderbilt's Schaffner said. "This will be an enormous challenge, and we haven't figured out how to do it yet. That's one of the things we are trying to sort out."

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.