The search for the truth in the Jeffrey Epstein case isn’t about rich and powerful men and their appetite for sex with children. It isn’t about embarrassment and bad judgement, it’s about national security.

Of course, there are several theories floating around and plenty of disinformation. After digesting this house of cards for almost 20 years, here is my take.

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges on July 6, 2019. He was apprehended by federal agents at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after flying in from Paris. 

This arrest was part of a new federal criminal case, which came after a controversial 2008 plea deal in Florida that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges for similar crimes. He was subsequently held in jail without bail until August 10, 2019, when he supposedly committed suicide.

In my opinion, Epstein didn’t commit suicide. He was scuttled out of prison in a ventilator before his henchmen started to release photos and videos of the world’s power brokers engaged in sex acts with young boys and girls.

Allegations have been floating for years that Jeffrey Epstein was an Israeli intelligence agent who helped conjure up and coordinate a so-called honeypot scheme that entrapped the world’s leading power brokers and influencers. After flying them to his “fantasy island,” cameras and microphones were turned on and the sex crimes began. When presented with the extortion tapes and photos, these so-called leaders became assets that worked for Epstein.

If this scenario is true, it’s no wonder that Epstein was swept out of jail. Liars, cheaters and cowards like Epstein don’t commit suicide. They extort people and entire nations to accomplish their agendas. They convince the president (and chief pussy-grabber, rapist, adulterer and felon), and all of his men to laugh off such an investigation as a hoax. A witch hunt. The traitor ordered military jets to fly over a press conference on Capitol Hill that was organized by victims of these sex crimes.

Yes, this scenario could become even more embarrassing for a president, a prince and several other abusive people in power. Tough. Their bad judgement has compromised the security of the United States and other countries. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to sweep this trash under the rug.

How many times have these pedophiles screwed their countries and others over to satisfy the demands of Epstein and his handlers?

Was this honeypot scheme hatched years ago to get the world to shut up and sit down while Israel commits a well-orchestrated campaign of genocide against Paletinians? Will a few dirty photos of dirty people convince the world to watch Israel murder women, children and elderly in pursuit of its new beach-front property? 

The citizens of Israel also are victims of this fraud. They all have been given a black eye over this evil campaign of lies. The Jewish people that I know and love are honest, compassionate and intelligent. They are repulsed by the Epstein name. They also are frustrated with an Israeli government that shows more interested in genocide and land-grabs than saving hostages or innocent Palestinians.

During all of this insanity, the U.S. government is viciously defending Israel and Jewish interests while promoting hate and discrimination against people of color, LGBTQ, women and so-called liberals (anyone who stands in the way of neofascism). The disparity is stark. Fighting discrimination, while promoting discrimination, isn’t leadership. Is that a sign of insane policies or a sign of civil war?

Answers begin with the truth. We need some of these pedophiles to step forward as leaders and expose this evil cabal that entrapped them for exploitation.

If our elected leaders and influencers have been compromised and extorted, we better get to the bottom of it right now.

Public Opinion. Public Policy. Issue Management.

Tropical rainforests cover about 12 percent of Africa, but deforestation and degradation are accelerating at alarming rates.

To understand the causes and effects of deforestation in Africa today, it’s important to note that there are important differences between a rainforest and a dry forest. The rainforests are found in three distinct areas:

• The Congo Basin rainforests; 
• The ‘Upper Guinea’ forests of West Africa; and 
• Isolated forest ‘islands’ on mountains, and along the East African coast. Africa’s rainforests are not as wet as those on other continents, and have gone through phases of contraction and expansion over the millennia in response to climate change.

Dry forests cover a greater area of the continent than rainforests, stretching across the Sahel region from Senegal to Somalia, and across regions like the Miombo forest in Southern Africa. They are not as dense as rainforests.

Agriculture accounts for approximately 75 percent of deforestation in Africa. This includes both subsistence farming and industrial agriculture.

Both agriculture and charcoal-making – among several other activities conducted in and around forests such as timber extraction and collection and commercialization of non-wood timber products – remain almost entirely informal. This adds another layer of complexity. These sectors contribute to huge informal economies at the national level, which sustain local livelihoods but are extremely difficult to monitor, manage and frame into development plans and effective policies.

Millions of informal workers, while providing the engine of Africa’s economy, have almost no legal rights to their land and livelihoods. Many live under the constant uncertainty of a system which may confiscate ‘their’ land and hand it to large mining, logging and agribusiness companies as part of broader development plans.

This deters informal workers from taking a long-term, sustainable approach to their activities, instead compelling them to exploit forests as intensely as possible while they still can – chopping down trees and using the resources immediately, rather than conserving them for future generations.

Because of these threats, the UN has recommended reforesting the greater Mt. Kilimanjaro area. It represents a collection of several ecosystems across Tanzania and even Kenya. These are some of the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Millions of people and priceless biodiversity rely on these ecosystems for food, water and survival. Several local NGOs have stepped forward with action plans. Hope is on the horizon, but they need your help.

“We are working with some visionary leaders who are working to defend critical ecosystems now,” said Gary Chandler. “We are looking for volunteers, sponsors and donors who want to help. I will put you in direct contact with several grassroots organizations across East Africa.”

Read The Full Story About Forest Conservation and Deforestation In Africa.

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 reminded Americans of the importance of defending the homeland. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the EPA.

Despite trillions of dollars spent on homeland security and defense over the past two decades, most Americans and others around the world are consuming PFAS-contaminated water and/or food, using contaminated products or breathing contaminated air. At least 45 percent of America’s tap water is estimated to have one or more types of the chemicals known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, not all of which can be detected with current tests; the USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types. PFAS is just the tip of a very large and very toxic iceberg. Unstoppable neurotoxins might pose an even more formidable threat.

Mismanagement Has Weaponized Sewage Sludge

Wastewater is the largest waste stream in the world and possibly the most toxic waste stream in the world. It is largely unregulated. Wastewater treatment facilities in the United States alone process approximately 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. There was a time when human sewage was a fairly benign substance that cities and towns could disperse naturally without threatening an entire nation.

Today’s wastewater stream includes everything dumped down the drains and toilets at homes and offices, factories, hospitals, health clinics, slaughterhouses, mortuaries, auto repair shops and much more. It isn’t fertilizer.

We’re all part of the sewage problem, but misinformation, disinformation, incomplete science and more have compounded the problem. It has caused an environmental catastrophe and a public health disaster that is still unfolding.

Wastewater treatment plants are barely able to separate the liquids from the solids in this high-volume, toxic soup. Neutralizing and removing all neurotoxins, forever chemicals and radionuclides, for example, is impossible. Safe handling and disposal of this deadly waste stream is imperative, but the reality is much different. After superficial treatment, the water and the solids are pumped right back into the homeland for reuse. Just a few years ago, sewage sludge killed underwater ecosystems, when dumped at sea. Today, it is hyped as fertilizer for farms, ranches, golf courses, parks, ballparks, school grounds, cemeteries, forests and beyond. Like magic, sewage sludge became biosolids and wastewater is now drinking water. Thanks to the EPA, the waste stream is the new gold rush.

In October 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), a.k.a. the Ocean Dumping Act, to regulate the dumping of all materials that adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine environment. It took the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (an amendment to the MPRSA) to prohibit the dumping of municipal sewage sludge, industrial waste and medical waste into the ocean.

Bans were motivated by the discovery of contaminated wastes from sewage-derived microorganisms at public beaches, toxic metals in shellfish beds, and parasites in fish. Sludge can contain heavy metals like cadmium and copper, which sewage treatment plants can’t filter out. Ocean dumping can destroy marine habitats and ecosystems. 

Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pushing a different story for the past 30 years. In response to the ban on dumping sewage sludge at sea, the EPA expedited a flawed, if not fraudulent, risk assessment and concluded that the toxic waste that destroyed marine ecosystems was actually beneficial to open land, including farmland, ranches, forests, parks, golf courses, school grounds, ballparks and city parks.

“Biosolids is a glorified term for sewage sludge,” said Gary Chandler, CEO of Crossbow Communications. The EPA estimates that more than 2.4 million tons are applied to land annually as fertilizer on farms, pastures, parks, home gardens, and other lands.”

Biosolids are made from both municipal and industrial waste, and although they are treated to remove pathogens and some other materials, PFAS are not removed during treatment and EPA does not currently limit the amount of PFAS they can contain.

It calls biosolids a cheap fertilizer (they pay farmers to take this toxic waste off their hands). Now, many farms and ranches are paying the ultimate price for this cheap fertilizer.

Read The Full Story About Biosolids and The Public Health Disaster

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of several books about the intersection of health and environmental issues.

Global demand for electricity grew by 2.2 percent in 2023 after a 2.4 percent growth rate in 2022. China, India and several countries in Southeast Asia experienced rapid growth in electricity demand in 2023, while advanced economies posted significant declines.

Global electricity demand is expected to rise at a faster rate over the next three years, growing by an average of 3.4 percent annually through 2026. The gains will be driven by an improving economic outlook, which will contribute to faster electricity demand growth both in advanced and emerging economies.

Electricity demand will be supported by the ongoing electrification of the residential and transport sectors, as well as a notable expansion of the data center sector.

Data center electricity usage will double by 2026, due to power-intensive workloads such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining. Data centers consumed 460TWh in 2022, a figure that could rise to more than 1,000TWh by 2026, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan. Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10–50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building. The US is home to 33 percent of the world’s data centers, where energy consumption is expected to rise from 200TWh in 2022 to 260TWh in 2026, some six percent of all power use across the country.

In Ireland, data centers could account for 32 percent of all power consumption by 2026 due to a high number of new developments. This compares to 17 percent in 2022. Calls to limit the number of new data center projects in Ireland because of their energy use were rejected by the Irish government last year.

Electricity demand in data centers is from both computing (40 percent) and cooling (40 percent). The remaining 20 percent is consumed by related IT equipment. Market trends, including the incorporation of AI into software programming across a variety of sectors, increase the overall electricity demand of data centers.

Search tools like Google could see a tenfold increase of their electricity demand when fully implementing AI.

When comparing the average electricity demand of a typical Google search (0.3 Wh of electricity) to OpenAI’s ChatGPT (2.9 Wh per request), and considering 9 billion searches daily, this would require almost 10 TWh of additional electricity per year. Similar power demands will be required across the digital cloud. Hopefully, AI will help corporations, advocates and governments  improve measurement and increase resilience, while helping us use energy and resources more efficiently. Better data can promote better plans and better decisions.

“Updated regulations and technological improvements, including efficiency, will be crucial to moderate the surge in energy consumption from data centers,” the report’s authors said.

Meanwhile, electricity demand in China rose by 6.4 percent in 2023, driven by the services and industrial sectors. That figure is expected to slow slightly over the next few years thanks to the rapid deployment of solar electricity.

In 2023, India’s demand for electricity grew by 7 percent. We expect growth above 6 percent on average annually until 2026, supported by strong economic activity and expanding ownership of air conditioners. While renewables will meet almost half of this demand growth, one-third is expected to come from rising coal-fired power. Southeast Asia will see strong annual increases in electricity demand of 5 percent on average through 2026, due to strong economic activity.

Per capita power consumption in Africa even declined in recent years as the population grew faster than electricity supply was made available. Africa’s per capita electricity consumption in 2023 was half that of India.

“The good news is that tech companies are advancing alternative energy sources rapidly,” said Gary Chandler, CEO of Crossbow Communications. “Nuclear power and solar power are experiencing a renaissance on micro and macro scales.”

Read The Full Story About The Global Power Surge

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications

According to a brief report in the journal Neurology, two hunters in the United States died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which was likely caused by eating the meat from deer that had prion disease–also known as chronic wasting disease (CWD). The report is unconfirmed, but it does provide a chance to illustrate how badly prion disease, including CWD, is being managed. Answers begin with the truth.

What Is Prion Disease

Prion disease, including CJD and CWD, is a progressive, infectious disease, which means that it gets worse over time and that there is no cure. Prion disease is caused by a misfolded protein called a prion. Prions are infectious and vicious. They migrate, mutate and multiply. They kill with extreme efficiency.

In wildlife, prion disease affects members of the deer family (cervids) such as deer, elk, moose, and caribou.

In livestock, prion disease is often called mad cow disease. In humans, it is usually called Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and other names to help cloak the fastest-growing cause of death in the world–neurodegenerative disease.

Prions infect the entire body of victims (man or beast). Prions are in the bodily fluids and cell tissue of each victim. Blood, mucus, saliva, skin, urine, feces and organs are all infected. Prions infect everything in their path, which means that there isn’t such a thing as safe handling of an infected (dead or alive) cow, deer, elk, moose or reindeer. Caregivers for those who have neurodegenerative disease face the same risk. Prions are unstoppable and prion disease is always fatal. Infected items cannot be sterilized.

The only difference between CWD, mad cow disease or the human forms of prion disease is the species impacted. In humans, the only difference between prion diseases is the region of the brain that is under attack. If the prions start their assault in the hippocampus region of the brain, for example, the person will experience memory problems, which should generate a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. If the prions start attacking the brain in the cerebellum or the primary motor cortex, the person will have difficulty coordinating the complex muscle movements we need for smooth, controlled actions. This will likely generate a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. If prion disease is advanced and attacking several regions of the brain, it should generate a diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-jakob disease, like the hunters in the study. Yes, they are infectious.

The spread of prion disease is not fully understood, but it’s safe to say that there is no evidence of safe prion exposure. In other words: 

Prions + Pathways = Victims

Despite this basic logic, wildlife officials want misinformed hunters to be part of the problem. Hunters have been told that CWD is a serious disease for deer populations, but there is no strong evidence that it can infect humans or livestock. This is a lie. Prion disease is prion disease. There is no disagreement that mad cow disease is highly transmissible to humans from livestock. There is no species barrier to prion disease, including chronic wasting disease. Don’t trust any agency or anyone who claims otherwise.

Unfortunately, prion pathways are abundant. In the case of the hunters who died of CJD recently, they could have been infected by many pathways: 

1. Assuming they harvested and dressed the animals, they could have exposed themselves and others in several ways. The surviving family members still should take precautions. For example, when hunters harvest animals with prion disease, they contaminate their hunting knives and saws while cleaning and skinning the animals. The knives and saws can’t ever be sterilized. 
2. The hunters probably got blood on their hands and clothes and washed the last of it off at home. They probably got blood and hair from the carcass in the back of their truck, which cannot be sterilized and safely used again. 
3. If the animals were butchered at a local processing plant, the plant is permanently contaminated. The tables, knives and saws are spreading prions to every animal that comes down the line–not to mention the threat to the workers in the plant. They take prion contamination home every day. Meanwhile, the prions are migrating, mutating and multiplying.

The hunters and or their wives cooked up their meat on grills and in frying pans that are now contaminated and spreading prion disease with every meal. Forks, plates and more are now contaminated and spreading disease. The sink and dishwasher are contaminated because of washing these contaminated items. You get the picture.

Prion Disease Threatens Family, Caregivers

The patients themselves were likely mishandled. They infected their homes and communities before they died. Cups, plates, phones, door knobs, light switches, steering wheels, etc. are all infected with prions. Healthcare professionals probably protected themselves and the truth without warning the families and caregivers about prion infectivity.

Meanwhile, wastewater systems from meat processing plants, medical and dental facilities and other high-risk waste streams collect and incubate prions. Wastewater treatment can’t stop prions, which means that reclaimed wastewater and sewage sludge are still infectious waste. Despite the infectious and toxic nature of these waste streams, we are injecting prion disease into our food and water supplies. We are dumping tons of it on fields and in forests every day. We are reclaiming and reusing infectious wastewater like it’s gold. This prion loop recycles neurodegenerative disease from humans to humans, humans to wildlife and from wildlife back to humans. It’s no wonder that neurodegenerative disease is exploding around the world.

The symptoms of CJD can vary depending on the type of the disease, but they generally develop rapidly and worsen over time. Common symptoms include:

• Memory problems
• Difficulty thinking
• Changes in mood or behavior
• Problems with coordination
• Muscle weakness
• Vision problems
• Seizures
• Coma

There is no cure for CJD, and the disease is always fatal. People with CJD typically live for less than a year after symptoms begin. People with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease can degenerate to a point that resembles CJD.

Prion disease is a spectrum disease, which means that no two cases are identical and diagnosing exactly where a case falls on that spectrum is a guessing game. Neurology is not an exact science, especially when it involves neurodegenerative disease.

Prion disease has been found in wildlife in 33 states in the United States. It also has been found in Canada, Norway, Sweden and Korea, so far.

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world.

Last year was the hottest year on record. Global heating breached 1.5C for full year for first time as January sets new record. Nine of the 10 hottest years have been recorded in the past 10 years, and all 10 have happened since 2005.

January 2024 was the warmest January on record globally according to multiple sources, including the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Here are some key points to remember. January marks the 8th consecutive month with record-high temperatures, highlighting a concerning trend of global warming.

There have been recent discussions about adding a new category to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS). Some experts argue that the current five-category scale doesn’t adequately reflect the destructive potential of the strongest hurricanes. There’s no official proposal yet, but potential characteristics include:

• Sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (252 km/h);
• Storm surge exceeding 25 feet (7.6 meters); and
• Unprecedented levels of damage and potential for loss of life.

Meanwhile, it’s not too late to take action to make our world more resilient in the face of climate change. It’s not too late to try to blunt the force of climate change.

Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities. Cities are home to about 50 percent of the world’s population and they generate 80 percent of our planet’s greenhouse gases – the primary human contributor to global warming and climate change. As a result, many communities are experiencing increasing threats of fires, droughts, floods, severe weather, population displacement, and others. Community leaders and citizens around the world must be informed, motivated, coordinated and empowered to be part of the solution. Many communities and many innocent lives have already been lost.

Unfortunately, few local communities have the ability to engage their citizens to develop a common vision around sustainability and resilience. Some need guidance on a collaborative process to achieve consensus. Others need help outlining the spectrum of actions that they can take to cut pollution, save energy, conserve water and promote health and sustainability. Other communities around the world already are in contingency mode and need help mitigating the impacts of climate change on their homes and businesses. For more information, visit Greener Cities.

Sacred Seedlings is a global initiative to support forest conservation, reforestation, urban forestry, carbon capture, sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation. Deforestation generates about 20 percent of greenhouse gasses, which contribute to global warming and climate change. Deforestation also cripples our planet’s ability to filter carbon dioxide from our air. Destroying these carbon sinks threatens entire watersheds, endangered species and endangered cultures. According to the IPCC, “reducing deforestation and forest degradation rates represents one of the most effective and robust options for climate change mitigation.”

“Local stakeholders around the world are stepping up to defend vital ecosystems,” said Gary Chandler. “We are doing what we can to draw attention to their plights and plans. We have 15 projects ready to go in East Africa today.”

To learn more about our nature-based solutions that are shovel-ready, please visit Sacred Seedlings.

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world. He also is the author of the Language and Travel Guide To Indonesia.

All eyes are on Bali as it welcomes world and business leaders to Southeast Asia’s first G20 summit. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s only G20 member state, and is the first nation in the region to host the annual leadership summit.

G20 includes 19 advanced and emerging economies and the European Union. It was created in response to the Asian financial crisis in 1999. It addresses global issues related to the global economy, such as financial stability, health, climate change, and sustainable development.

Seventeen heads of state, including United States President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping, will meet in Bali on November 15-16 in Nusa Dua. Russian president Vladimir Putin will skip the summit and will be represented by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov instead. The Russian invasion of Ukraine deepened divisions within the group, reducing the chance it will find consensus on economic issues at its 2022 summit.

Friction remains within the group regarding climate change. China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia blocked an agreement on phasing out coal use and fossil fuel subsidies at a July 2021 meeting of environment ministers. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany and other G20 countries have reversed commitments to stop financing fossil fuel projects overseas.

Indonesia has sought to frame the agenda around three pillars of post-pandemic macroeconomic policy: global health architecture, digital transformation, and the sustainable energy transition. 

Aside from G20 members, like China, the US, Japan and the European Union, Indonesia has also invited others to observe the summit, including Singapore, Cambodia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates. World business leaders, including Elon Musk and Bill gates will attend to participate in the G20’s business forum, which is known as B20.

More than 18,000 security personnel will be deployed, consisting of 14,300 military staff and police officers. Fourteen warships will be docked nearby, he said. Bali airport expects to cater to 42,000 passengers during the two-day summit, while the immigration agency has vowed to deport any foreigners who interfere with the event.

Bali’s leaders are advising many of its 4.3 million residents to avoid public activities next week. Schoolchildren and workers near Nusa Dua have been told to study and work from home. They have been told to limit traditional ceremonies and other religious activities to ensure “the smooth and successful implementation of the G20 Presidency meeting for the good name of Indonesia, especially Bali,” said the island’s regional secretary Dewa Made Indra.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest nation in the world with more than 267 million people. The country has more than 17,500 islands, including Bali, Borneo, Java, Lombok, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

Read the full story about G20 in Indonesia

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world. He also is the author of the Language and Travel Guide To Indonesia.

Google has disrupted the marketing world over the past 20 years. Shotgun marketing and traditional advertising have been pushed aside by the digital revolution.

In 1998, the founders of Google offered to sell the company for $1 million. Today, Alphabet, Google’s parent company has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion thanks to the advertising empire and the industry that it founded.

Since Google’s search results are viewed by billions of people every day, its search engine is king of the hill. The company now controls approximately 90 percent of the search market and 40 percent of the digital advertising market. Digital advertisers can’t afford to ignore Google and they can’t ignore best practices that will make their campaigns more cost-effective.

One of the best-kept secrets awaiting Google advertisers is called Value Rules. It’s a simple, but sophisticated tactic that helps prioritize audiences for optimal targeting and optimal results.

Value Rules allows marketers to segment markets based on location, device or audience interests.

It’s a way to tell the algorithm which market segments are the most valuable to the advertiser, which can improve the relevance of your ads and boost the cost-effectiveness of your ad campaigns.

Don’t confuse Value Rules with conversion values or location targeting, which also are important tactics. Learn how to put Value Rules to work for your company or cause https://crossbowcommunications.com/improve-google-ads-with-value-rules/

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world. He also is the author of the Language and Travel Guide To Indonesia.

After 22 years of caution, the FDA recently determined that defending the nation’s blood supply against prion disease is no longer necessary. Instead, we will now safeguard blood banks based on the honor system. In the age of bioterrorism, what’s wrong with this picture?

Thanks to the infinite wisdom of the FDA and other health agencies around the world, global prion policies for blood banks changed overnight. Thanks to the honor system, people once deemed at a higher risk of exposure to prion disease are no longer banned from donating blood. How did the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom all reach the same conclusion at once?

Neurodegenerative disease is the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. Most forms are highly infectious. As such, protecting the blood supply and medical facilities from prion contamination is virtually impossible. Removing the few policies designed to safeguard public health is negligent at best. This policy shift comes years after the United States took prions off the list of select agents, which meant that they were extremely dangerous and highly regulated. Today, policies regulating deadly prions are virtually non-existent anywhere in the world. The prion pandemic will continue to escalate.

After the outbreak of mad cow disease in the United Kingdom, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposed a ban on blood donations from anyone who spent more than six months in Britain from 1980 to 1997 because of the possible exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Unfortunately, CJD is just the tip of the iceberg. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and ALS also are forms of prion disease. Who is warning these families and caregivers about the dangers of prion contamination? What is preventing people battling these diseases from donating blood and organs?

CJD is an infectious, incurable disease. It has been transmitted from infected humans to patients through the transplantation of the covering of the brain, use of contaminated brain electrodes, and injection of growth hormones derived from human pituitary glands. It has been transmitted through dental procedures.

There is evidence that CJD can be transmitted from donors to patients through blood transfusions. In fact, CJD and other prion diseases are readily transmitted through bodily fluids and tissue—including skin. There is no test at present that can detect blood that is infected with CJD, and no method that can completely remove abnormal prion proteins from blood. The blood transfusion and transplant services ask anyone with an increased risk of any type of CJD not to donate blood, tissues or organs.

In 1987, FDA issued its first recommendations to blood establishments for deferral of individuals who received human cadaveric pituitary growth hormone injections to reduce the possible risk of prion transmission through blood and blood products. In 1999, FDA issued the first recommendations for CJD and vCJD. FDA held several Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee (TSEAC) meetings between 1995 and 2015 to review scientific evidence. In 2016, FDA terminated TSEAC, but the prion threat isn’t going away.

Blood transfusion can be a highly efficient route of transmission for prion diseases, and show that RBCs, platelets and fresh plasma from infected individuals are all potentially infectious.

Evidence from a small number of case reports involving patients and laboratory animal studies that vCJD can be transmitted through transfusion–even if the donor shows no signs of the disease. It also has been transmitted through organ transplants, infected dental instruments and infected surgical instruments. Prion contamination is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to sterilize. After several lawsuits, hospitals now discard contaminated medical instruments to eliminate the risks of prion transmission and the associated liability. Dentists should follow that example.

Across the animal kingdom, this epidemic is called prion disease. In cattle, prion disease is commonly called mad cow disease, but the clinical term for the disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy—BSE. BSE is a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). The operative word is “transmissible.”

According to the prion hypothesis, vCJD and BSE are caused by proteinaceous infectious particles— prions. Prion disease also includes Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, chronic wasting disease and more. It impacts most, if not all, mammals including deer, elk, reindeer, moose, whales, dolphins, camels, elephants, mink, sheep and cattle.

There is no test for vCJD in humans that could be used to screen blood and organ donors. Organ and blood donation programs must take special precautions to keep vCJD out of circulation.

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world.

Thanks to a massive chemistry experiment that has gone horribly wrong, most people in the United States, and likely the world, have a harmful chemical in their bodies. A chemical cocktail designed to help housewives, firemen and others is now the focus of a massive industrial crime.

PFAS are a large group of manufactured chemicals that are used to make everyday products, including cosmetics, carpet, food packaging, Teflon and fire retardants. PFAS are used in aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, and military. PFAS is often listed on products as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane, perfluorononyl dimethicone, perfluorodecalin, and perfluorohexane. More than 9,000 different types of PFAS have been identified.

Thanks to negligence and fraud, the vast majority of Americans of all ages are now part of this chemistry experiment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found PFAS in the blood of 97 percent of Americans. PFAS is commonly found in breast milk. It’s safe to say that PFAS has contaminated most of the food and water supplies around the world. The contaminant also threatens fish, wildlife and livestock.

The problem is that PFAS molecules are composed of carbon and fluorine atoms. The carbon-fluorine bond is extremely strong, which means that these chemicals do not degrade in the environment or in our bodies. In fact, scientists are unable to estimate an environmental half-life for PFAS. The industry admits that there are several gaps in research that need to be filled.

PFAS are called forever chemicals because they remain highly toxic forever. Forever chemicals have leached into our soil and water, which means that food supplies have been contaminated.

People are most likely exposed by consuming PFAS-contaminated water or food, using products made with PFAS, or breathing air contaminated with PFAS.

Since PFAS don’t break down, they accumulate in the tissue of humans, wildlife and livestock. PFAS causes cancer, liver, thyroid, and kidney disease. They weaken the immune system, alter the metabolism, and disrupt the reproductive system. They cause infertility, miscarriage and birth defects. They cause neurological disorders. It also can blacken the teeth of those exposed. Much more research is needed to fully understand the public health and ecological impacts. Unfortunately, Pandora left the box long ago.

Thanks to one very tenacious lawyer named Robert Bilott, legal battles are gaining momentum. The movie Dark Waters summarizes Bilott’s courageous work and it documents the horrors of Dupont’s deceit. The movie is based on an article written by Nathaniel Rich, a reporter for the New York Times.

Bilott is an environmental attorney from Cincinnati. He is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from West Virginia. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of these forever chemicals.

Thanks to Bilott’s groundbreaking work, San Diego is suing more than 20 companies over water contamination caused by PFAS. The lawsuit claims that 3M, DuPont, Raytheon and others made firefighting foam that contained PFAS and alleges the companies were aware of the toxic nature of the chemicals, but concealed the environmental and public health dangers.

Read the full story about PFAS and public health

Gary Chandler is the CEO of Crossbow Communications. He is the author of 11 books about health and environmental issues from around the world. He also is the author of the Language and Travel Guide To Indonesia.