Project Censored's Top 25 News Stories

7/29/2019 Project Censored's Top 25 News Stories

1/9

DECEMBER 2011 JANUARY 2012 www.nexusmagazine.com NEXUS 23

ach year, the Project Censored team, based at Sonoma State University,California, selects and evaluates thousands of news stories published in thenational and international mainstream media as well as in the alternative press.The team ultimately decides on the top 25 most underreported but important

stories. Following is an edited summary of Project Censored's 201011 selection. To see

the full report with sources and references, visit http://tinyurl.com/3ou5huq. The bookCensored 2012, edited by Mickey Huff and Project Censored, is now available. Editor

1. More US Soldiers Committed Suicide than Died in CombatIn 2010, for the second year in a row, more US soldiers killed themselves

(468) than died in combat (462). "If you think you know the one thing thatcauses people to commit suicide, please let us know," General Peter Chiarellitold the Army Times, "because we don't know what it is." Suicide is a tragicbut predictable human reaction to being asked to killand watch yourfriends be killedfor a war based on lies. Perhaps being forced to bag themangled flesh of fellow soldiers could be another reason why some arecommitting suicide.

Body-bagging: ever heard the term? Soldiers in the Marine Corps'Mortuary Affairs unit at Camp Al-Taqaddum, Iraq, are given this job ofcollecting and cataloguing the bodies of dead Marines. They sift through thesoldiers' remains and put them in body bags which they then place in metalboxes and, in turn, into refrigerated units. They sort through personaleffects, from lists and prom photos to suicide notes and love letters, parcelthem up and send them back to the Marines' families.

One soldier, Jess Goodell, recounts the case of a Marine brought in to theunit still breathing. She frantically called to her superiors, to which theysimply replied, "Wait". She watched while he died. When she returned tothe US, Goodell like many others, was diagnosed with deep depression,substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

2. US Military Manipulates the Social MediaThe US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate

social media sites by using fake online personas to influence Internetconversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with US CentralCommand (CENTCOM), which oversees US armed operations in the MiddleEast and Central Asia, to develop an "online persona management service"that will allow one US serviceman or servicewoman to control up to 10separate identities based all over the world. The CENTCOM contractstipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background,history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers could

operate false identities from their workstations.The multiple-persona contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a

PPROJECTROJECT CCENSOREDENSORED ssTTOPOP 25 N25 NEWSEWS SSTORIESTORIES

The ProjectCensored team has

undergone theexhaustive process

of selecting andevaluating the mostimportant American

and global newsstories of 20102011that received littleor no attention bythe mainstream

media.

Compiled by

Project Censored 2011

Sonoma State University1801 East Cotati Avenue

Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA

Email: [email protected]:

http://www.projectcensored.org

E


2/9

24 NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2011 JANUARY 2012

program called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), whichwas first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfareweapon against the online presence of al-Qaidasupporters and others resisting the US military andpolitical presence in Iraq. This effort proved successfuland is now being used elsewhere in the Middle East andbeyond, with assurances that none of these interventions

would happen at home as it would be unlawful to"address US audiences" with such technology.

3. Obama Authorises Assassination CampaignThe Obama administration has quietly put into

practice an "incomplete idea" left over from the Bush IIpresidency: creating a de facto "presidential internationalassassination program". Court documents, evidenceoffered by Human Rights Watch and a special UnitedNations report allege that US citizens suspected ofencouraging "terror" had been put on "death lists".

Reports of the "death lists"

say Obama's Director ofNational Intelligence told acongressional hearing that theprogram was within the rightsof the Executive Branch of thegovernment and did not needto be revealed.

At least two pe opl e areknown to have been murderedby Central Intelligence Agencyoperatives under the program.

Whe n the program wa s

challenged in a New York Citycourt, the judge refused to rule, saying that "there arecircumstances in which the executive's unilateraldecision to kill a US citizen overseas is 'constitutionallycommitted to the political branches' and judiciallyunreviewable".

4. Global Food Crisis ExpandsA new worldwide spike in agricultural commodity and

food prices is generating both predictable andextraordinary fallouts. The search for causes once againleads to a conjuncture of flawed policies in trade,

environment, finance and agriculture that is likely toproduce more dangerous volatility in years to come.

Over the past year, food prices around the world shotsharply upwards, surpassing the previous price surge in20072008 to set a new record, as measured by the UN'sFood and Agriculture Organization.

In February 2011, the UN's food price index rose forthe eighth consecutive month to the highest level sinceat least 1990. As a result, since 2010 began, roughlyanother 44 million people have quietly crossed thethreshold into malnutrition, joining 925 million alreadysuffering from lack of food.

If prices continue to rise, this food crisis will push theranks of the hungry towards a billion people, with

another two billion suffering from the "hiddenmalnutrition" of inadequate diets, nearly all in thedeveloping countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.That deprivation will shorten lives and stunt youngminds, hitting the most vulnerable populations such asthe urban poor of food-importing countries in cities likeCairo, Tunis and Dhaka.

5. Private Prisons Fund Anti-Immigrant LegislationOver the past four years, roughly a million immigrants

have been incarcerated in dangerous detention facilitiesin the US taxpayer-financed private prison system.Children were abused, women were raped and men diedfrom lack of basic medical attention.

Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer received substantialcampaign financing from Corrections Corporation of

America (CCA) and GEO Group, which are the nation'stwo largest companies that finance, design, build and

operate prisons. CCA, based in

Nashville, Tennessee, and GEOGroup, a global corporationbased in Boca Raton, Florida,are the principal moving forcesin the behind-the-scenesorganisation of the current waveof anti-immigrant legislativeefforts. Both CCA and GEO,which rely almost exclusively onrevenue from tax dollars at local,state and federal levels, profitedfrom the incarceration of

immigrants apprehended by USImmigration and Customs Enforcement.

CCA's top management in Tennessee contributed thelargest block of out-of-state campaign contributionsreceived by Governor Brewer. Brewer employs twoformer CCA lobbyists as aides; they assisted in signing

Arizona SB 1070 into law on 23 April 2010. CCA, whichalready has several detention facilities in Arizona and ishoping to expand its immigrant business in that state,is expected to show a huge increase in revenuesfollowing the implementation of SB 1070.

6. Google Spying via Street View?In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

investigated Internet search engine giant Google forillegally collecting personal data such as passwords,emails and information from other online activities fromunsecured Wi-Fi networks in homes and businessesacross the United States and around the world. Googlehas claimed that the data were accidentally picked up bytheir Street View cars while driving the world's streets.Clearly, this is an invasion of the public's privacy and yetthe FTC has done basically nothing about itnot even aslap on the wrist for Google.

In late October 2010, David Vladeck, Director of theFTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, sent a two-page

At least two people areknown to have beenmurdered by CentralIntelligence Agencyoperatives under the

program.


3/9


letter to Google attorney Albert Gidari, saying that theFTC has ended its inquiry into the matter, with littlemore than an assurance from Google that it will make"improvements to its internal processes" and "continueits dialogue with the FTC". Why was nothing doneabout it?

Less than a week before the FTC's decision to drop the

inquiry, President Obama attended a $30,000-a-personDemocratic Party fundraiser at the Palo Alto, California,home of Google executive Marissa Mayer. Also,Google's former head of public policy, AndrewMcLaughlin, joined the Obama administration as thedeputy chief technology officer in mid-2009. OtherObama administration officials include Eric Schmidt,Google's executive chairman, whoserves as a member of the President'sCouncil of Advisors on Science andTechnology. Katie Stanton joined theadministration as the Director of

Citizen Participation after serving as aGoogle project manager. The formerhead of Google's global development,Sonal Shah, is now the head of the

White House's Offic e of So cialInnovation. These facts suggest thatthe Obama administration may have aconflict of interest in its handling ofthe company's civil rights violations.

7. US Army and PsychologyIn the January 2011 issue of

American Psychologist, the AmericanPsychological Associationdevoted 13 articles to detailingand celebrating a US$117 millioncollaboration with the US Army,called Comprehensive SoldierFitness (CSF). It's beingmarketed as resilience training toreduce if not prevent adversepsychological consequences tosoldiers who endure combat.Because of the CSF emphasis on "positive psychology",

advocates call it "an holistic approach to warriortraining".

Criticism arose shortly after the initiative wasannounced. It included ethical questions aboutwhether soldiers should be trained to be desensitised totraumatic events, and methodological concerns aboutlarge-scale programs similar to this which have notworked or have had adverse effects in the past. Alsoproblematic is that this program is adapted primarilyfrom the Penn Resiliency Program, which had very littlesuccess with a non-military population. Now, on its firsttrial run, it is going to train 1.1 million soldiers. How

about trying it out on small groups of soldiers first?The CSF program measures soldiers' "resilience" in

five core areas: emotional, physical, family, social andspiritual. The spiritual component of the assessmentcontains questions written predominantly for soldierswho believe in God or another deity. This means thattens of thousands of non-believers will score poorly andbe forced to use religious imagery exercises that arecounter to their personal beliefsand not likely to

foster resilience.

8. The Fairytale of Clean and Safe Nuclear PowerNuclear power presents a security threat of

unprecedented proportions. It's capable of acatastrophic accident that can kill hundreds ofthousands of people with a byproduct that is toxic for

millennia. To call nuclear power"clean" is an affront to science,common sense and the Englishlanguage itself, yet industry backers,inside and outside government, are

attempting to establish a new CleanEnergy Standard to promote nuclearpower. These proposals suffer fromthree fundamental misconceptions,that:

1) pollutants other than carbondioxide are irrelevant when defining a"clean energy";

2) because radiation is invisible andodourless, it is not a toxic pollutant;

3) nuclear power is carbon-free.None of these is true.

In its most recent report,released in 2005, the US National

Academy of Sciences determinedthat no safe level of radiationexposure exists; every exposureto radiation increases the risk ofcancer, birth defects and otherdisease. The US NuclearRegulatory Commission acceptsthe linear no-threshold (LNT)hypothesis, which states that any

increase in the dose of radiation, no matter how small,

results in an incremental increase in risk, as aconservative model for estimating radiation risk.

9. Government-Sponsored Weather ModificationRising global temperatures, increasing population and

degradation of water supplies have created broadsupport for the growing field of weather modification.

The US government has conducted weathermodification experiments for over half a century, andthe militaryindustrial complex stands poised tocapitalise on these discoveries.

One of the latest programs is HAARP, the High-

frequency Active Auroral Research Program. Thistechnology can potentially trigger floods, droughts,

the American

PsychologicalAssociation

devoted 13 articlesto detailing and

celebrating aUS$117 million

collaboration withthe US Army,

calledComprehensiveSoldier Fitness

(CSF).


4/9

hurricanes and earthquakes. The scientific idea behindHAARP is to "excite" a specific area of the ionosphereand observe the physical processes in that excited areawith the intention of modifying ecological conditions.HAARP can also be used as a weapon system, capableof selectively destabilising agricultural and ecologicalsystems of entire regions.

Another EnMod (environmental mo dification)program is that of atmospheric geo-engineering orcloud seeding, which has found new life since the globalwarming scare. Cloud seeding involves creating cirrusclouds from aircraft contrails. Unlike regular contrailswhich dissolve in minutes, these artificial contrails canlast for several hours or even days. Once the artificialclouds have been created, they areused to reflect solar or man-maderadiation.

At an international symposium heldin May 2010, scientists asserted that

"manipulation of climate throughmodification of cirrus clouds isneither a hoax nor a conspiracytheory". The only conspiracysurrounding geoengineering is thatmost governments and industryrefuse to admit publicly what anyonecan see in the sky or discover in peer-reviewed research. The Belfort Grouphas been working to raise publicawareness about toxic aerialsprayingpopularly known as

"chemtrails". However, scientistsprefer the term "persistentcontrails" to describe thephenomenon, to move theinquiry away from amateurconspiracy theories.

Aerospace engineer Dr CoenVermeeren, of Delft University ofTechnology, presented the BelfortGroupcommissioned 300-pagescientific report entitled "CaseOrange Contrail Science: Its Impact on Climate and

Weather Manipulation Programs Conducted by theUnited States and its Allies". He stated clearly: "Weathermanipulation through contrail formationis in place andfully operational." Vermeeren mentioned a 1991 patentnow held by Raytheon, a private defence contractor, with"18 claims to reduce global warming throughstratospheric seeding with aluminum oxidethoriumoxideand refractory Welsbach material". Authors of thestudy expressed concern that Raytheon makes dailyflights spraying these materials in our skies, with minimalgovernment oversight. Raytheon is the same companythat holds the HAARP contract with the US government.

Other countries are also experimenting. The Chinesegovernment announced in April 2007 the creation of the

first-ever artificial snowfall over the city of Nagqu inTibet. China now conducts more cloud-seeding projectsthan any other nation.

10. Real Unemployment: One Out of Five in USAThe corporate media want America to feel secure

during a time of unemployment crisis, but people

deserve to know what is really happening. The latestunemployment rate released by the US Bureau of LaborStatistics dropped in January from 9.4 per cent to 9.0 percent, giving the illusion that the US economy isrecovering. This false unemployment decrease is partlyexplained by a "seasonal adjustment", where manypeople find temporary jobs during the holidays and

therefore are factored into theemployment rate but don't have jobsecurity. Also, after people have beenunemployed for a year, thegovernment no longer includes them

in the statistics, even though they'restill unemployed.

According to Shadowstats.com, thereal unemployment rate is 22.2 percent, which is more than double thatclaimed by the corporate media. Itseems that the government is keepingpeople in the dark about the realunemployment rate to make people

believe that the economy isimproving, so that the governmentis praised for its success in

lowering unemployment.

11. Trafficking of Iraqi WomenHuman trafficking occurs

throughout the world, yet hasbecome increasingly moreprevalent due to the instabilityproduced by the Iraq War. ManyIraqi women and girls arewidowed or orphaned by wartimecasualties. Currently, more than

50,000 Iraqi women have fled to Jordan and Syria and

are trapped in sexual servitude with no possibility ofescape. Unable to support themselves or theirhouseholds due to new government restrictions,thousands of Iraqi women have been preyed upon bysex traffickers who are taking advantage of this chaoticenvironment.

In June 2010, the US State Department released itsannual Trafficking in Persons Report, which laid out apicture of human trafficking across the globe andreaffirmed the US commitment to ending this scourge.These trafficked women have received scant attentionfrom American policymakers, who have the power to

alleviate these women's suffering and condemn thecountries that allow it to flourish.


The onlyconspiracysurrounding geo-

engineeringis that most

governments andindustry refuse

to admit publicly

what anyone cansee in the sky ordiscover in peer-

reviewed research.


5/9

The US holds the solution: it can make trafficked Iraqiwomen a priority resettlement group and put greaterpressure on the United Nations High Commissioner forRefugees (UNHCR) to follow suit. Doing this wouldfinally provide Iraqi victims of trafficking with aresettlement option that is fast and effective enough toactually help them.

12. Pacific Garbage Dump of Discarded PlasticThere is a swirling mass of plastic in the middle of the

Pacific Ocean that qualifies as the planet's largestgarbage dump. Much of the world's trash hasaccumulated in part of the Pacific Ocean (roughly 135Wto 155W and 35N to 42N), based on the movement ofocean currents. The 5 Gyres Project estimates that thereare 315 billion pounds of plastic in the ocean right now.

Not all plastic in the recycling bin gets recycled, andpeople carelessly toss plastics away. Plastic litter oftenends up in waterways, and

currents carry it out into theocean. These pieces of plastichave a dire effect on marine life.Turtles confuse plastic bags forjellyfish, and birds confusebottle caps for food. Theyingest them but can't digestthem, so their stomachs fill withplastic and they starve to death.

At th e moment th ere is noeasy way to clean up this majortrash accumulation. However,

we can stop it from gettingworse by following the Ocean Conservancy's list of 10things you can do, including living by the concept ofless is more: don't buy stuff you don't need, and chooseitems that use less packaging. Other actions are athttp://www.oceanconservancy.org.

13. State of Emergency to Supersede Constitution?A program dating back to the Eisenhower era, of

emergency measures for an America devastated in anuclear attack, has now been converted to bestow secretpowers on the President for anything he considers to be

an emergency.The National Emergency Centers Establishment Act

(HR 645), introduced into Congress in January 2009,calls for the establishment of "national emergencycenters" in major regions in the USA. The statedpurpose of these centres is to provide "temporaryhousing, medical, and humanitarian assistance toindividuals and families dislocated due to anemergency, major disaster" or to "meet otherappropriate needs" determined by the Secretary ofHomeland Security.

Recent "Continuity of Government" planning has quietly

removed time-honoured constitutional protections andincreased the militarisation of civilian law enforcement.

For the first time in US history, military troops (vs locallaw enforcement) are allowed to do police actions in UScities. Historically this has been illegal according tolongstanding Posse Comitatus statutes.

There is good reason for the constructive frictionbetween existing law enforcement agencies so thatpower is distributed in a democracy, and local law

enforcement is responsible to local citizens. It shouldconcern us all that there has been a loss of localauthority and that there are sustained preparations forthe possibility of martial law.

14. Genital Mutilation Continues in KenyaGirls as young as nine years old were threatened with

death if they tried to escape Kamunera, in the MountElgon district of Kenya, where they awaited female genitalmutilation. In December 2010, over 100 girls in this regionwere targeted for circumcision but were rescued by

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake

Organisation officials.Parents and grandparents in

this area tell the girls that theywill never get married and thatno man will want them if theydon't have the procedure. Notmany girls are left to pursueeducation beyond the standardage of eight years old.

They are told that educationis not meant for girls becausethey are supposed to get

married and take care of theirhusbands. Uncircumcised women generally are lookeddown upon and discriminated against for not having thegenital mutilation procedure. Because of this, girlsagree to go through with the surgery so they can beincluded in the rites of passage and be accepted by theircommunity.

15. Big Polluters Freed from Environmental OversightThe Obama administration has distributed billions of

dollars in stimulus money to some of the nation'sbiggest polluters and has granted exemptions from

basic environmental errors. The administration's maingoal, in Secretary of Energy Dr Steven Chu's words, is to"get the money out and spent as quickly as possible". Itis trying to boost the economy and create more jobs forthe unemployed.

The administration has awarded more than 179,000"categorical exclusions" to stimulus projects funded byfederal agencies, freeing those projects from reviewunder the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).Coal-burning utilities like Westar Energy and DukeEnergy, chemical manufacturer DuPont and ethanolmaker Didion Milling are among the firms with histories

of serious environmental violations that have wonblanket NEPA exemptions.


For the first time inUS history, military troops(vs local law enforcement)are allowed to do police

actions in US cities.


6/9


Even a project at a Texas City, Texas, refinery owned byBP (which has the oil industry's worst safety record),and the site of a deadly 2005 explosion as well as abenzene leak in early 2010, secured a waiver for thepreliminary phase of a carbon capture andsequestration experiment involving two companies withpast compliance problems. The so-called "stimulus"

funding came from the $787 billion legislation officiallyknown as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,passed in February 2009.

Documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrityshow that the administration has devised a speedyreview process that relies on voluntary disclosures bycompanies to determine whether stimulus projects poseenvironmental harm. Corporate polluters often omittedmention of health, safety and environmental violationsin their applications. Administration officials told theCenter that they chose toignore companies'

environmental compliancerecords in making grantdecisions and issuing NEPAexemptions, saying that theyconsidered such informationirrelevant.

16. Apple Workers SufferApple's suppliers in China,

such as Foxconn, Dafu and LianJian Technology, routinelyviolate China's law on the

Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases.Several manufacturers have replaced alcohol with n-hexane, which is used to clean parts. It is a chemicalthat works better than alcohol, but poisons workers. Inthese factories, the workers, often women in their teensor 20s, were forced to work with the poison inunventilated rooms.

Due to the chemical used at Lian Jian Technology'splant, 49 employees fell ill and were admitted to SuzhouNo. 5 People's Hospital. More employees were likelypoisoned, but many were pushed out before they fell illand Lian Jian forced them to sign papers saying that

they would not hold the company accountable. Theyleft with 80,00090,000 yuan ($12,000$14,000), whichthey received in exchange for their lives and health andis meant to cover fees and medical costs that theywould have to pay for the rest of their lives.

Apple stands alone, even among other IT companieswhich routinely cause problems of heavy metalpollution, in its evasiveness and refusal to work withgreen groups.

17. Resistant Superbugs are Spreading WorldwideLethal superbugs are emerging that do not respond to

any known drugs. The World Health Organization statesthat the New Delhi superbug, also known as NDM-1, was

recently found in UK patients who had medical treatmentin India and has now reached a critical point. Thesesuperbugs are resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, whichis a major concern to experts because these are used forhard-to-treat infections that evade other drugs.

Already, over 25,000 people in Europe die each yearfrom superbug infections, with many bacteria now

resistant to all drugs. That figure will increase unlessnew, more powerful antibiotics are developed.

These bacteria, which have genetic resistance toantibiotics, have contaminated Delhi's drinking watersupply. This gene spread into bacteria that causedysentery and cholera, which can be easily passed fromperson to person via sewage-contaminated water.

Scientists are calling for urgent action by healthauthorities worldwide to tackle the new strains andprevent their global spread.

The overuse and misuse ofantibiotics is at unprecedented

levels, and a lack ofdevelopment of new drugsmeans that we could seecurrent treatments becomeuseless. The problem is madeworse by drug companies thatput off developing newantibiotics because they areseen as not profitable enough.

18. Monsanto Targets HaitiIn May 2010, several months

after the 12 January earthquake that destroyed much ofHaiti, the US multinational Monsanto donated 60 tons ofcorn and vegetable hybrid seed to the country. The USInternational Development Agency (USAID) took chargeof the distribution.

On 4 June 2010, around 10,000 Haitian farmersdemonstrated against Monsanto's donation. "IfMonsanto's seed enters Haiti, farmers' seed willdisappear," said Doudou Pierre Festil, member of thePeasant Movement of Papaye and coordinator of theNational Haitian Network for Food Sovereignty andFood Security.

Haitian farmers denounce Monsanto because itrequires them to buy new seed for every sowing season.Moreover, the organisation Farmers' Route has warnedthat the entry of Monsanto's seeds could force thefarmers to depend on the company, which also producesthe fertilisers and herbicides designed to be used withthe seeds.

"The Haitian government is using the earthquake tosell the country to multinationals," declared ChavannesJean-Baptiste, coordinator of the Peasant Movement ofPapaye.

Monsanto is the world's biggest seed company,

controlling 20 per cent of the seed market and 90 percent of agricultural biotechnology patents.

Apples suppliers inChinaroutinely violate

Chinas law on thePrevention and Control of

Occupational Diseases.


7/9

19. How Aid is Used for Political PurposesAccording to its February 2010 report, Oxfam has

found that billions of dollars in international aid, whichcould have transformed the lives of many people insome of the world's poorest countries, was spent onunsustainable, expensive and dangerous aid projectswhich international donor governments used to support

their own short-term foreign policy and securityobjectives. This type of aid often bypasses the poorestpeople and dangerously distorts the line betweencivilian and military activity.

The Oxfam report also showed that even though aidflows were raised while they met wealthy donors'international aid commitmentsbetween 2001 and 2008, more than 40per cent of this aid increase was spentin just two countries, Afghanistan andIraq, with the remainder sharedamong 150 other poor countries.

The report stated that, in 2010, 225aid workers were killed, injured orkidnapped in violent attacks,compared to 85 in 2002. Thepoliticisation and militarisation of aidin some places has made it muchharder for aid agencies to provide helpto those in need.

This is especially the case inSomalia, where the UShumanitarian assistance for thecountry's desperate populations,

previously the single largestsource of aid, dropped eightfoldin 20082010 due to the USgovernment's listing some armedgroups in control of most ofcentral southern Somalia as"terrorist" under US law andending funding if aid groupscould not guarantee that no aidwould reach the proscribedgroups.

20. US to Outlaw GM LabellingThere is increasing concern over the health impact of

growing and eating genetically modified organisms(GMOs). The World Health Organization has identifiedallergenicity, antibiotic resistance, gene transfer,outcrossing, GM genes introduced into wildpopulations, gene stability, susceptibility of non-targetorganisms (insects) and loss of biodiversity as potentialissues in using GM seeds.

Currently, most health studies are done by GMcompanies which have a natural conflict of interest thatcan lead to biased research or reporting. Many

countries, such as Japan, Australia, China and theEuropean Union, recognise the possible risks and

require mandatory labelling for products made withGMOs. There is a growing call for more comprehensive,independent research.

However, the official position of the US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture(USDA) is that there is no difference between GMOs andnon-GMOs. These agencies have proposed to the Codex

Alimentarius Committee that no country should be ableto require mandatory GMO labelling of food items. TheFDA and USDA say that mandatory labelling is "false,misleading, and deceptive" because it implies that thereis a difference between GMO and non-GMO ingredients.Ultimately, the FDA and USDA want to do away with

product labelling standards overall,trusting corporations to keep to thenecessary health standards.

21. Lyme Disease: An EmergingEpidemic

The epidemic of Lyme disease isone of the most political andcontroversial epidemics of our time.Lyme disease originates from abacterium transmitted through thebite of a tick and can remain hidden,mimicking diseases such as multiplesclerosis, ALS, ADHD and other

neurological conditions. Newcases of Lyme disease occur eachyear at a rate 10 times higherthan that of AIDS and the West

Nile virus combined.Current Lyme disease

treatment guidelines weredeveloped by the InfectiousDiseases Society of America(IDSA), a group associated withpharmaceutical, insurance anduniversity interests that areprofiting from the diagnosticcriteria, vaccines and

recommended treatments for Lyme disease. Theseguidelines, endorsed by the National Institutes of

Health and the Centers for Disease Control, define thetreatment of Lyme as a two-to-four-week course ofantibiotic therapy.

Physicians who believe that Lyme disease is a morechronic condition needing long-term treatment risklosing their medical licence for treating patients outsideIDSA guidelines. Insurance companies refuse to pay forlonger treatments despite evidence that illustrates thechronic nature of the condition and the effectiveness oflong-term therapies. This leaves thousands of Lymedisease patients suffering because a commercialisedmedical community won't acknowledge the chronic

nature of their illness, and the public uneducated about agrowing epidemic.


The FDA and

USDA say thatmandatory

labelling is false,misleading, and

deceptivebecause it implies

that there is adifference

between GMOand non-GMO

ingredients.


8/9

22. Participatory Budgeting: Empowering CitizensParticipatory Budgeting (PB) is a process that allows

citizens to decide directly how to allocate all or part of apublic budget, typically through a series of meetings,work by community "delegates" or representatives andultimately a final vote. It was first implemented in thecity of Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1990, and has since spread.

PB has recently taken root in Canadian and Americansoils. Chicago's 49th Ward, for example, uses thisprocess to distribute $1.3 million of annualdiscretionary funds. The ward's residents have praisedthe opportunity to make meaningful decisions, takeownership over the budget process and win concreteimprovements for theirneighbourhood, e.g., communitygardens, sidewalk repairs, street lightsand public murals. The initiativeproved so popular that the ward'salderman, Joe Moore, credits PB with

helping to reverse his politicalfortunes. The wave is not stopping inChicago, either. Elected officials andcommunity leaders elsewhere, such asin New York and San Francisco, areconsidering launching similarinitiatives.

23. Movement to Ban Plastic BagsShoppers worldwide are using

500 billion to one trillion single-use plastic bags per year. The

average use-time of a plastic bagis 12 minutes. Plastic bagspollute our waters, smotherwetlands and entangle and killanimals. This eventually affectsour health because largeranimals eat small plastic-ladencreatures, and plastics work theirway up the food chain until weconsume animals that have eatensome form of plastic. Plastic is non-biodegradable andis made from a non-renewable resource: oil. An

estimated three million barrels of oil are needed toproduce the 19 billion plastic bags used annually inCalifornia.

Now 35 countries have already banned the use ofplastic bags, nine countries have passed levies and feeson their use, 12 countries are considering bans or fees,and 26 states in the USA have introduced a form oflegislation concerning plastic bag use.

Most plastic contains harmful chemicals likebisphenol A and phthalates, which are unsafe for humanuse. These can be avoided by substituting plasticmaterials and products with other alternative materials

like reusable cloth bags, stainless-steel water bottlesand wooden, glass and metal substitutes.

24. South Dakota: The Top Anti-Abortion StateSouth Dakota is taking extreme action against any

person who performs an abortion within the state'sborders. The South Dakota House is taking up a bill toredefine "justifiable homicide" that may "make it legal tokill doctors who perform abortions", Mother Jones reports.The bill, which is backed by the GOP in theory, could

allow a woman's father, mother, son, daughter orhusband to kill anyone who tried to provide that womanwith an abortion, even if she wanted the procedure.

In 1994, the state banned abortion providers inside itsborders. "Planned Parenthood flies a doctor in fromout-of-state once a week to see patients at a Sioux Falls

clinic. Women from the more remoteparts of the large, rural state drive upto six hours to reach this lone clinic"and must "receive counseling and wait24 hours before undergoing theprocedure".

GOP (Republican) lawmakers at thestate and federal level have come upwith four other radical abortionrestrictions to marginalise women'srights and eradicate choice. Throughsuch inflexible attachment to pro-lifepolicies, the GOP subordinates thechoices and lives of women to a

narrow-minded andimpracticable philosophy.

GOP state lawmakers in Arizonaand Ohio have unveiled so-called

"Heartbeat Bills" to "prohibitwomen from ending pregnanciesat the first detectable fetalheartbeat". The heartbeat can beheard "within 18 to 24 days ofconception" and "in almost allcases by six weeks"a period inwhich "many women don't evenknow they're pregnant".

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R)"fast-tracked" an anti-abortion bill, mandating that"pregnant women be shown an ultrasound of the fetus

at least two hours before an abortion". Physicianswould have to show the foetus's dimensions, limbs orinternal organs, and, if audible, the foetal heartbeat.

Arizo na GOP Rep. Steve Montenegro actua llyintroduced bills to criminalise abortions if they'resought because of race or sex. The bill would chargedoctors with a Class 3 felony if they "knowingly performabortions for these reasons".

On the federal level, House Republicans took the firsttwo months of 2011 to marginalise the rights of women.First, they tried to exclude certain victimsincludingwomen who are drugged, women who do not physically


GOP (Republican)lawmakers at thestate and federal

level have come upwith four otherradical abortion

restrictionsto marginalise

womens rightsand eradicatechoice.

Continued on page 81


9/9

fight off the offender, and someminorsfrom abortion coverage byredefining rape.

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) thenintroduced the "Protect Life Act", abill that would "give doctors thegreen light to let pregnant womendie if they have a life-threateningcondition and need an emergencyabortion".

25. DU Planned for Libya?President Obama's undeclared and

congressionally unauthorised waragainst Libya may be compounded

by the crime of spreading toxicuranium oxide in populated areas ofthat country.

Concern is being voiced by groups,such as the International Coalitionto Ban Uranium Weapons, whichmonitor the military use of so-calleddepleted-uranium (DU) anti-tank

and bunker-penetrating shells.As of late March 2011, the US has

not introduced its A-10Thunderbolts, known also as

Warthogs, into the Libyan campaign,

probably because these subsonicstraight-wing craft, while heavilyarmoured, are vulnerable toshoulder-fired anti-aircraft missileswhich Libyan forces are known topossess in large numbers.

Once the air-control situation isimproved by continuedbombardment, however, thesespecialised ground-attack aircraftwill probably be added to the forces.The A-10 has a particularly large

automatic cannon which fires anunusually large 30-mm shell. Theseshells are often fitted with soliduranium projectiles.

A-1 0s were heavi ly used in theBalkans conflict, and Kosovo officialswere dismayed to learn that 11 tonsof uranium weapons had been fired

there, leaving dangerous uraniumdust fallout in their wake.

The US military is fond of DUweapons because the material, madefrom uranium from which the

fissionable U-235 has been removed,is extremely heavy and, in alloy form,is also extremely hard.

Because of DU's mass, projectilesmade from the material canpenetrate even the heaviest armour.Then, in the heat caused by thecollision with an object, the uraniumbursts into flame at extreme heat,causing an explosive (and toxic)inferno inside a tank or othervehicle.

Soldiers inside a target vehicle areincinerated. The problem is that theresulting uranium oxide produced bysuch explosions, besides beinghighly toxic, is a microscopic alpha-emitter, which if inhaled or ingestedby humans is extremely carcinogenicand mutagenic.


Project Censoreds Top 25 News Stories

Continued from page 30