Consumercidal Happenings

November 16, 2008

By Institute for Responsible Technology

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

Advocates Call for Immediate Ban of All GM Foods and GM Crops

IMMEDIATE RELEASE (November 13, 2008)

(Los Angeles, CA.) - A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna, confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice. Non-GMO advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.

Feeding mice with genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to the study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Lead author of the study Professor Zentek said, there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet, and that mice fed with non-GE corn reproduced more efficiently.

In the study, Austrian scientists performed several long-term feeding trials over 20 weeks with laboratory mice fed a diet containing 33% of a GM variety (NK 603 x MON 810), or a closely related non-GE variety used in many countries. Statistically significant litter size and pup weight decreases were found in the third and fourth litters in the GM-fed mice, compared to the control group.

The corn is genetically modified with genes that produce a pesticidal toxin, as well as genes that allow it to survive applications of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.

A book by author Jeffrey M. Smith, Genetic Roulette, distributed to members of congress last year, documents 65 serious health risks of GM products, including similar fertility problems with GM soy and GM corn: Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce. Male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells. The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning. Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed on GM corn varieties. Additionally, over the last two months, investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products.

The principle GM crops are soy, corn, cottonseed and canola. GM sugar from sugar beets will also be introduced before year’s end.

Mr. Smith, who is also the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology says, “GM foods are likely responsible for several negative health trends in the US. The government must impose an immediate ban on these dangerous crops.” He says, “Consumers don’t need to wait for governmental action. They can download a free Non-GMO Shopping Guide at www.HealthierEating.org.”

Monsanto press offices in the UK and USA were unable to provide a comment on the findings for journalists yesterday.

The Institute for Responsible Technology’s Campaign for Healthier Eating in America mobilizes citizens, organizations, businesses, and the media, to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically modified foods.

The Institute educates people about the documented health risks of GMOs and provides them with healthier non-GMO product choices.

The Institute also informs policy makers and the public around the world about the impacts of GMOs on health, environment, the economy, and agriculture, and the problems associated with current research, regulation, corporate practices, and reporting.

###

Institute For Responsible Technology
Media Contact: NJ Jaeger
Expert Contact: Jeffrey M. Smith
Email: njmail@cox.net
Phone: +1-310-377-0915

Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
Corporate Communication: Univ.-Doz. Ingrid Kiefer
Tel: +43 50 555-25000; E-Mail: ingrid.kiefer@ages.at

Links

Austrian Study:
Institute for Responsible Technology

By Dr. James Howenstine, MD.
November 3, 2008

NewsWithViews.com

For several years the pharmaceutical firm has made aggressive efforts to market the Gardasil human papilloma virus vaccine as a prevention for cervical cancer. The governor of the state of Texas made the administration of this vaccine to young girls mandatory.

What is the truth about this vaccine?

Natural News reporter Mike Adams has uncovered some interesting facts about this vaccine. The FDA has been aware since 2003 that Human Papillloma Virus [1] does not cause cervical cancer. The Gardasil vaccine is unable to eradicate HPV virus from women who have been exposed to HPV(nearly all sexually active women). This makes vaccinating all young women in Texas against HPV virus a very questionable decision.

To make matters even worse it has now been learned that vaccinating women with Gardasil may actually increase the risk that those women harboring a benign cervical HPV viral infection have a 44.6 percent increased risk of having their benign HPV infection converted into a precancerous state by the HPV vaccine administration. Thus women vaccinated with Gardasil not only receive no benefit those who were sexually active before the vaccine administration have become at increased risk for developing cervical cancer.

To summarize some of the facts about HPV and this vaccine:

• HPV vaccine increases the risk of developing a precancerous cervical lesion by 44.6% in women .previously infected with a HPV viral type found in the vaccine.
• HPV virus does not cause cervical cancer.
• HPV viral infections are self limiting and are not a health threat to healthy females.
• This valuable information about the etiology of HPV viral infections has been suppressed from public knowledge.
• Allowing untruths about Gardasil to be disseminated in public hearings and planting fear have been used to promote sales of this worthless vaccine.

The Evidence for the Gardasil Fraud

=> Read more!

Tue Nov 11 2008 15:34:50 ET

GOOGLE will launch a new tool that will help federal officials "track sickness".

"Flu Trends" uses search terms that people put into the web giant to figure out where influenza is heating up, and will notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in real time!

GOOGLE, continuing to work closely with government, claims it would keep individual user data confidential: "GOOGLE FLU TRENDS can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week."

Engineers will capture keywords and phrases related to the flu, including thermometer, flu symptoms, muscle aches, chest congestion and others.

Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at CDC: "One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data. The data are really, really timely. They were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of flu activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used... as early warning signal for flu activity."

Thomas Malone, professor at M.I.T.: "I think we are just scratching the surface of what's possible with collective intelligence."

Eric Schmidt, GOOGLE's chief executive vows: "From a technological perspective, it is the beginning."

Developing...

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Given To Baby Boys!?!

According to VAERS ID number 273751, a three month old baby boy was
vaccinated with Gardasil and had fever, rash and vomiting as a result.

There were 15 other VAERS reports for male patients.
Male Adults Also Given Cervical Cancer Vaccine

Here are some more cases:

VAERS ID 263231: 18 year old male experienced joint pain and fever
after the shot.

VAERS ID 278506: 18 year old male experienced dizziness, nausea,
vomiting and fatique after the shot.

VAERS ID 279599: 45 year old male got a rash over his entire body
after the shot.

VAERS ID 271136: 53 year old male experienced nausea, dizziness and
weakness which lasted in excess of six weeks after the shot.

Editor's Comment: Baby boys and men vaccinated for cervical cancer
when they don't even have a cervix? It's hard to take
the 'immunisation' programme seriously or to believe that these
people are supposed to be an 'authority' on our health!

What Does The Inventor of HPV Vaccine Have To Say?

Professor Ian Frazer, inventor of the vaccine, had this advice to
give to parents:

"Everybody has the right to say no, that is their right but they also
have the right to get cervical cancer and they also have the right to
die, it goes with the territory.'

Julie-Anne Davies | November 01, 2008
Article from: The Australian

THE Therapeutic Goods Administration is investigating the adverse effects of SSRI anti-depressants, a widely prescribed group of drugs that includes the well-known brands Prozac and Zoloft.

The TGA confirmed in a statement to The Weekend Australian that it had established a special expert panel of psychiatrists and epidemiologists to review a number of cases involving patients who had had adverse reactions to these drugs. It is believed hundreds of cases will be reviewed.

"Although there has not been a jump in adverse events from SSRIs, there has been community concern about potential overuse," the TGA said.

Medicare figures show that, since 1990, when Prozac first appeared on pharmacy shelves, there have been almost 10,000 reports of suspected adverse reactions to SSRIs received by the TGA's Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee.

More than 12 million SSRI antidepressant scripts were subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme last year.

Sydney psychiatrist Yolande Lucire, who has reported between 300 and 400 cases to the TGA in which she claims patients have had serious reactions to the anti-depressants, including some who had committed suicide, said the inquiry must be made public.

"This is being done in secret," Dr Lucire said. "We have no terms of reference, no opportunity for people to make submissions; it's a scandal."

Federal Health Department secretary Jane Halton wrote to Dr Lucire recently, informing her the inquiry was under way and the panel would report back at the end of this year.

"This only happened after," Dr Lucire said. "In frustration at being fobbed off by the TGA, I personally sent the head of the department 100 cases detailing what had actually happened to people who went from being fully functioning members of the community to patients with serious mental health problems and some who in fact killed themselves after being put on these drugs for stress-related disorders."

The TGA has also asked all drug companies that market SSRI anti-depressants in Australia to update the wording of their suicide warnings concerning children and young people under 24 years in the information provided to patients.

"The TGA is working with other sponsors to ensure that the wording in the CMIs clearly reflects the issues contained in the product information for their products," it said.

The move comes after an investigation by The Weekend Australian revealed several hundred thousand scripts for anti-depressants such as Zoloft and Prozac were last year prescribed to children and subsidised through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, despite the TGA and Pfizer, the company that markets Zoloft in Australia, recommending they not be prescribed to anyone under the age of 24 for the treatment of depression.

Significant discrepancies in the information given to parents about the potential dangers of the drugs to children were also uncovered.

Two weeks ago, Melbourne mother Nicola Mulcahey reached a confidential court settlement with her 16-year-old daughter's GP, who she had sued for prescribing Zoloft to the teenager for depression.

Ms Mulcahey claimed the drug made her daughter suicidal and said she was not advised of the risks associated with the drug.

In another case detailed in The Australian and now being followed up by Pfizer, a 14-year-old girl became suicidal after taking Zoloft. Her parents said they were not warned this might happen nor told to monitor her for symptoms of suicidal thoughts or self-harm.

David Kitching, from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, said his organisation was unaware of the inquiry and had not been approached by the TGA to contribute.

"But in the general setting I would say that nothing new in the literature suggests we need to be any more vigilant than we already have been when it comes to documenting the side effects of this class of drug," Dr Kitching said.

Net censorship plan backlash

Asher Moses
November 11, 2008 - 4:59PM
Latest related coverage

As opposition grows against the Government's controversial plan to censor the internet, the head of one of Australia's largest ISPs has labelled the Communications Minister the worst we've had in the past 15 years.

Separately, in Senate question time today, Greens senator Scott Ludlam accused the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, of misleading the public by falsely claiming his mandatory censorship plan was similar to that already in place in Sweden, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

Despite significant opposition from internet providers, consumers, engineers, network administrators and online rights activists, the Government is pressing ahead with its election promise of protecting people from unwanted material, this week calling for expressions of interests from ISPs keen to participate in live trials of the proposed internet filtering system.

Michael Malone, managing director iiNet, said he would sign up to be involved in the "ridiculous" trials, which are scheduled to commence by December 24 this year.

Optus and Telstra both said they were reviewing the Government's documentation and would then decide whether to take part.

But Malone's main purpose was to provide the Government with "hard numbers" demonstrating "how stupid it is" - specifically that the filtering system would not work, would be patently simple to bypass, would not filter peer-to-peer traffic and would significantly degrade network speeds.

"They're not listening to the experts, they're not listening to the industry, they're not listening to consumers, so perhaps some hard numbers will actually help," he said.

"Every time a kid manages to get through this filter, we'll be publicising it and every time it blocks legitimate content, we'll be publicising it."

Malone concluded: "This is the worst Communications Minister we've had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed."

=> Read more!

November 5, 2008 at 12:09:09

Monsanto's attempt at global food control... Dr. Frankenstein at work again.

by DrTruth

source http://www.opednews.com

Big business greed, selfishness, power lust, and total disregard for human life and all life in the natural world continues on with its diabolical schemes to control all food production in the world. Monsanto's attempts to patent pig genes, and subsequently, many other life forms through genetically modified organisms (GMO) is as criminal as they come.

It is bad enough that Monsanto's total vanity and ego could believe they own any aspect of the natural world, regardless of what they might do to it, for them to do this for money and control is insult to injury. This is a purely evil agenda and they are a clear example of domestic terrorists at work to subjugate others.

Imagine this: You have a field of corn you are raising cleanly... without GMO corn seed. Your neighboring fields have those GMO seeds and crops. The pollen from those fields cross with your clean corn plants, carrying the genetic material Monsanto's perverted corn contains. Now, your corn crop can be claimed as their property because of their patented gene found in your crop and they can either demand a fee from you for having this gene, or put you out of business with a lawsuit.

Sound like science fiction? There's much more. GMO foods are completely untested. Here we have human intervention into the natural system, almost instantaneously, as time goes, and there is no way to know what results will come of this. In the natural world, there are two belief systems; 1. That all life evolved over millions of years to arrive at what we see today. 2. That a creator God designed and created all life, which includes all genetic material. In either belief system, we have the exact same threat... the natural world is being subjected to things nowhere found in the natural world in the way of new gene sequences and life forms.

There is a clear design in the natural world. It functions according to established laws and parameters. Subjecting life forms, cells, tissues, organs, plants... to something never before encountered within the natural world is a disaster waiting to happen. There is no time for natural adaptation to occur, and where laws are being violated, harmful affects WILL occur. (This isn't even touching on the 10's of thousands of chemicals in the environment and food supply that people are being exposed to that are bringing disease and death to millions on the installment plan). Doing all this to control and manipulate food, and therefore people and nations, is unconscionable. Forcing farmers to purchase this perverted seed or go out of business simply adds more evidence to these sycophant delusions of grandeur.

This is a national security threat of the first caliber, not to mention a survival threat for life itself. Sound farfetched? You need to look at just a taste of the evidence by viewing the following video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1669587865067156619&hl=en. Then do some research into GMO foods, and realize that Monsanto, and any others following in their sick footsteps are threatening the very genetic foundation of life and ability to even grow or raise food.

Unless this madness is stopped soon, we will have permanently altered the genetic makeup of a variety of life forms, and these life forms will be "owned" and controlled by big businesses.

More Information:

1. The World According to Monsanto - http://meanmore.com/market/product.php?productid=120&cat=0&page=1

2. Hijacking Humanity - http://meanmore.com/market/product.php?productid=76&cat=0&page=1

3. Seeds of Deception - http://meanmore.com/market/catalog/Seeds-of-Deception-Exposing-Industry-and-Government-Lies-About--p-121.html

Jeff Maehr is a health and wellness professional dedicated to truth and Constitutional law, and educating our people in true health, personal freedom, personal responsibility in maintaining freedom, and resisting tyranny and lawlessness on every level. Dr. Maehr has been in natural health for 35 years, and is dedicated to educating people about the natural health system and how it can change your health and life. Websites include purehealthsystems.com, thematrixhasyou.org, thecountyguard.org, FoundationforTruthinLaw.org and GodKind.org!

Internet "black boxes" could be used to record every email and website visit made by computer users in Britain, it has been reported.

By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 4:07PM GMT 06 Nov 2008

Under Government plans to monitor internet traffic, raw data would be collected and stored by the black boxes before being transferred to a giant central database.

The vision was outlined at a meeting between officials from the Home Office and Internet Service Providers earlier this week.

It is further evidence of the Government's desire to have the capability to vet every telephone call, email and internet visit made in the UK, which has already provoked an outcry.

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has described it as a "step too far".

The proposal is expected to be put out to consultation as part of the new Communications Data Bill early next year.

=> Read more!

ANOTHER BRIGHT IDEA
1 broken bulb pushes contamination to 300 times EPA limits
Poisonous vapor so bad, researchers recommend families no longer use CFLs
Posted: August 11, 2008
9:55 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Compact fluorescent light bulbs have long been known to contain poisonous liquid mercury, but a study released earlier this year shows the level of mercury vapor released from broken bulbs skyrockets past accepted safety levels.

Following a story reported by WND last year about a Maine woman quoted $2,000 for cleaning up a broken fluorescent bulb, or CFL, in her home, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection studied the dangers of broken CFLs and the adequacy of recommended cleanup procedures.

The results were stunning: Breaking a single compact fluorescent bulb on the floor can spike mercury vapor levels in a room – particularly at a child's height – to over 300 times the EPA's standard accepted safety level.

Furthermore, for days after a CFL has been broken, vacuuming or simply crawling across a carpeted floor where the bulb was broken can cause mercury vapor levels to shoot back upwards of 100 times the accepted level of safety.

Following the study, the Maine DEP made eight new recommendations for usage and cleanup of CFLs, including the recommendation to not even use the bulbs in carpeted rooms where children, infants or pregnant women live. The likelihood of breakage, near impossibility of cleanup and risk of prolonged exposure, the study concluded, are just too great.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website acknowledges that Brown University published a similar study last month confirming the Maine results: Breaking a fluorescent bulb sends mercury vapor levels to unsafe levels for the elderly, pregnant and young – and those levels remain elevated for days.

The NIEHS website states, "Today’s CFLs underscore mercury's volatile vapor form, which is still a significant health concern – ventilation reduces but does not eliminate this toxicant. Mercury vapor inhalation can cause significant neural damage in developing fetuses and children."

According to a Mercury Policy Project overview paper, unpolluted air contains one to two nanograms, or billionths of a gram, of mercury vapor per cubic meter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a level of 300 ng/m3 as the safety threshold for prolonged exposure to the poisonous gas.

Some states, though not the federal government, have also established a safety threshold for a one-time, acute exposure to mercury vapor. California, for example, has established that any level of exposure over 1,800 ng/m3 has potentially harmful health effects.

The Maine study, however, discovered that upon breakage of a CFL, mercury vapors can rise "with short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes over 50,000 ng/m3, and possibly over 100,000 ng/m3 from the breakage of a single compact fluorescent lamp."

In other words, the study found breaking a single bulb can send mercury vapor levels in a room to over 50 times the level that California considers dangerous and to over 300 times what the EPA has established as a safe level for prolonged exposure.

Researchers in the study broke 45 bulbs in a variety of flooring surfaces and then studied lingering gas levels after a variety of cleanup techniques. The results contradicted a number of commonly held thoughts on CFLs, for example:

• Though proponents of CFLs often argue a single bulb only contains 5 mg of mercury, the study found it was an average. The bulbs actually range from 0.9 to 18 mg of mercury.

• Though the EPA's Energy Star program recommends placing a broken bulb "in a glass jar with a metal lid or in a sealed plastic bag," the study discovered mercury vapor leaches right through plastic bags. "Of the 12 different types of containers tested during the 23 different tests, the plastic bag was found to be the worst choice for containing mercury emissions," researchers stated. "Based upon this study, the DEP now suggests that a glass container with metal screw lid with a gum seal be used to contain debris."

• Though the Energy Star guidelines suggest ventilating a room for 15 minutes before attempting cleanup, the study found that in every case – even in well-ventilated rooms – it took over an hour to drop mercury vapor levels below the EPA safety standard.

• And for cleanup on carpets, the Energy Star guidelines suggest vacuuming and disposing of the dust bag. The Maine study, however, discovered that vacuuming served to simply stir the vapor into the air and "irreversibly contaminate the vacuum". The researchers, acknowledging it was inconvenient, recommended only one course of action for broken bulbs on carpet: remove the carpet.

The Maine study also discovered, however, that carpets aren't the only problem with broken bulbs.

"All three flooring surfaces in this study (pre-finished hardwood, short nap carpet, and shag carpet) were able to be cleaned up with pre-study cleanup guidance so that they looked clean. However, mercury vapors emanating from all three surface types were detected, especially when agitated, for weeks after the cleanup of a break. … Flooring surfaces, once visibly clean, can emit mercury immediately at the source that can be greater than 50,000 ng/m3."

"Flooring surfaces that still contain mercury sources emit more mercury when agitated than when not agitated. This mercury source in the carpeting has particular significance for children rolling around on a floor, babies crawling, or non mobile infants placed on the floor."

As WND has reported, several countries, including the U.S., have signed laws that will eventually phase out typical incandescent light bulbs and dictate their replacement with CFLs.

Even the U.S. EPA, however, has recognized that recent studies show CFLs aren't safe for all circumstances.

The Maine study may prove the most condemning of the use of fluorescent bulbs yet.

Part of the study detailed the potential hazards posed by mercury vapor:

"There are a number of studies documenting neurotoxicity as a consequence of inhalation of elemental mercury in adults. … Studies documented changes in EEG, deficits in peripheral nerve function, autonomic effects, psychological and sleep changes, and deficits in fine motor performance, visuomotor coordination, visual reaction time, visual scanning, memory, concentration, and executive function."

In children, and especially unborn children, the results can be far worse:

"It is well established that the developing organism may be much more sensitive than the adult to neurotoxic agents. For example, methylmercury exposure can produce devastating effects in the fetus, including cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, and even death, while producing no or minimal effects in the mother."

Children are also more susceptible to mercury vapor exposure from broken CFLs:

"Infants and toddlers also have a much higher rate of respiration than adults. Therefore they have a higher exposure to similar concentrations. They also are lower to the floor and therefore closer to the source of the exposure and presumably more apt to obtain a concentrated dose of mercury."

The study, however, didn't leave out the elderly:

"Elderly and unhealthy individuals may already be at comprised health and be more susceptible to mercury effects than a healthy individual. For example, mercury does kidney damage which could exacerbate an already existing kidney disease."

Unlike many poisons that can be flushed out of the body, mercury bioaccumulates, which means the various tissues store the toxin in increasing amounts, a particular concern as the use of CFLs increases.

The Mercury Policy Project summary paper quotes an estimate that the U.S. currently releases two tons of mercury vapor into the environment each year from broken fluorescent bulbs alone. Two tons contrasts startlingly with the level the EPA has established as dangerous to human health: a mere 300 billionths of a gram.

www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-26 18:18:41

JINAN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- A four-month-old baby died after receiving a pneumonia and meningitis vaccine in east China's Shandong Province, an official with the local health bureau said on Sunday.

The baby was vaccinated against Haemophilus influenza type B, or Hib, on Oct. 19 at the Chinese Medicine Hospital in Liaocheng City.

"His mouth turned blue and his face turned pale several minutes after we left the hospital," said the baby's father, Yu Jingkuan. "He also had diarrhea. Then that afternoon, the baby looked normal."

However, Yu said his child suffered the same symptoms the next day.

"Doctors suggested the infant be transferred to another hospital for treatment, but my child died on the way." he said.

The vaccine was produced by Wosen Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in Yuxi City of the southwestern Yunnan Province. The company has sent staff to Liaocheng to investigate the death.

In the meantime, Liaocheng's health bureau ordered all hospitals in the city to suspend use of the vaccines.

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) website, Hib is a bacteria that causes meningitis or pneumonia. It is estimated to be responsible for some three million serious illnesses and about 386,000 deaths per year. Almost all victims are children under the age of five,

WHO recommends the Hib vaccine as part of regular immunizations.
Editor: Du

by Julian Edney

Digging through piles of data, John Lynch and his co-workers analyzed 282 US cities. They found if you add the ravages of poverty to the life-shortening effect of social inequality, the combination is “comparable to the combined loss of life from lung cancer, diabetes, motor vehicle crashes, HIV infections, suicides and homicides.”

Most of us don’t read the scientific health journals, so we’ve missed this news. Research has appeared in the United States and Britain, over the last ten years, saying more than any physical cause of death like cigarettes, obesity, accidents, alcohol or pollution, a more potent killer is the shape of the society we live in.

Most of this comes from epidemiologists and public health researchers. The articles, dry and overlooked, are gray with columns of statistics. The earliest ones, buried in the stacks at the university, show these scientists hardly believing their own findings. It was only because George Kaplan (1) and John Lynch (2) and their associates at the University of Michigan, for example, and Richard Wilkinson (3) at the University of Sussex all made discoveries pointing in the same odd direction that this topic wasn’t dismissed as a quirk.

We’ve always known poverty is correlated with poor health. But separately, if you measure the inequality of any society—its shape, hierarchical or egalitarian—and if you correlate that with infant mortality, or death from violence, or life expectancy, the correlation number jumps off the page.

Now a whole book of collected reports has been published, showing the same patterns (4). Whether researchers compare different countries, different cities or different states, steeply unequal societies show more breakdown. Violence is up, health is down, infant mortality is up, life expectancy is shorter—and this affects all levels of society. Egalitarian societies are simply healthier.

=> Read more!