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Doctors are speaking up about how best to prepare yourself for the Flu Season

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4 years ago

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the bleak, disturbing headlines that continue to pop up during our current COVID-19 crisis:
Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine triggers immune response
James Gallagher Health and science correspondent
July 20th, 2020

Coronavirus: Masks mandatory in France amid fresh outbreaks
BBC News, July 20th, 2020
FACT: There are no medicines that can prevent or treat COVID-19
World Health Organization

Indian government slammed for recommending homeopathy for coronavirus prevention
Thursday, January 30th, 2020

“There are no specific supplements that will help protect against coronavirus and anyone claiming that is being investigated by the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] and the FDA [Food and Drug Administration],”
Melissa Majumdar (Registered Dietitian and Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
Lisa Drayer CNN
March 25th, 2020

Oh Lord!

It is important to stay informed; in some ways, it is the only way that we can take back some control over our lives. Naturally, we our listening to the news, watching the updates, not realizing that it is causing stress, that does impact our bodies immune system.

We are having a tough enough time managing our lives during the pandemic, and this is why it is critical to choose our sources of information carefully. Yes, there is plenty of fact-based content on social media, and with how it is presented; it is also more likely to turn hearsay into misinformation.

As a journalist, who truly cares about her global community, I want you to remember one thing; not all information is created equal. The images that are pushed out to us don’t always have a lot of value.

When we see images of workers in hazmat suits, empty streets and armed guards, our brains detect a threat and will instantly go into fight, or flight mode, which over time can be extremely damaging to the body. When popular media report that rates of infections are “skyrocketing” it can trigger more anxious feelings than if they simply said, “increasing.” Don’t get it twisted for a second; these media companies know exactly what they are doing. I know it is difficult, but I want readers to see through the sensationalistic language and focus on the message they are delivering. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, if a particular news source uses a lot of alarmist language, you should consider avoiding that outlet altogether. Where possible, focus on the facts in the story, not the extraneous details or peripheral images.

“It’s interesting to me that I haven’t really heard anyone talking about boosting our immune systems during this pandemic.” Bruce Clark (Facebook User)

It is truly unfortunate, but what we have been offered as a society to best combat this virus are Band-Aid solutions. Some could go as far as to question the government’s decisions when it comes to managing this pandemic.

Let’s take for example, industries that were considered “essential services.” On July 15th, 2020, the Ontario government amended liquor laws to provide consumers with more delivery options and allow boat operators with liquor sales licences to temporarily sell and serve alcohol while their boat is docked.

Recognizing the continuing need to practice physical distancing, Ontario amended the Liquor Licence Act (LLA) to allow a licensed liquor delivery service to use contractors. This will give consumers more options for delivery services when purchasing alcohol from Ontario retailers, including the LCBO and The Beer Store.

I guess they are aware that people’s efforts to manage the demands of stressful experience sometimes lead them to engage in behaviours—such as alcohol use that also could modify immune system processes, and not for the better (Mental Health Commission of Canada).

According to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, alcohol sales have increased significantly since late March, just around the time of the lockdown. Customers are actually admitting that they are buying more, because there isn’t as much to do.

According to a recent Nanos Poll commissioned by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), it was found that since the pandemic began 25% of respondents between the age of 35 and 54 say they have started drinking more. Apparently, Ontarians are taking heed of health official’s advice to stock up when they shop in order to limit their time spent outside their homes. Not stock up on vitamins, not take more walks, not eat healthier, stock up on liquor because, well, it is an essential service after all.

“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” Earl of Darby

Once again, the team at the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper have opted to take a different approach to educating our community, something that the government has been promising to do. So far, the only education that has been shoved in our faces is to wear a mask.

It is important that we provide our community with information that is going to not only help in the short term, but in the long term as well. WE are not telling you to not listen to government advice. This is a free country, so you are free to do so. What we are offering is ways in which we can build our bodies and strengthen our immune systems so that we can naturally prepare our bodies for the dreaded flu season. For that, I not only did some in-depth research on proven immune boosters, I also had the opportunity to speak with seasoned, and trained physicians who also think that it is important to build our natural defences.

I want to first introduce you to Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, and his daughter Diana Gifford-Jones. Dr. Jones’ medical career began when he attended Harvard Medical School in 1945. Even in his 90s, Dr. Gifford-Jones remains as poignant as ever. He has argued consistently for informed healthcare decision-making based on a fulsome understanding of the facts. He advocates relentlessly for compassionate care, championed by doctors with their patients, not by politicians. He urges us all to take responsibility for our lifestyle choices — most notably, striking a balanced diet, being active, and thinking twice before relying on synthetic drugs and surgical procedures when natural approaches may offer the best preventative medicine.

His daughter, Diana Gifford-Jones is a graduate of Wellesley

College and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Diana has a wide range of global health and health education work experience with: international financial institutions, universities, government agencies, NGOs, and large and small businesses.

In one of their latest articles, they highlighted the fact that we need to ensure our natural defenses are at their strongest. It is a good strategy for everyday living during these COVID times. Their suggestions include loading up on vitamin C (1,000 milligrams (mg) taken three times a day), 3,000 international units of vitamin D, 400 mg of magnesium, 200 mg of zinc, and 100 micrograms of selenium. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.

Vitamin C
Two-time Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Linus Pauling was the first to realize vitamin C’s crucial importance in the maintenance of a healthy immune system. Recent medical research has confirmed Dr. Pauling’s original idea that regular intake of vitamin C could help prevent and shorten the duration of a common cold. It is also very effective in preventing secondary viral or bacterial complications.

Vitamin C works by stimulating the immune system and protecting against damage by the free radicals released by the body (Vitamin C: Your Ultimate Health Insurance, Hans R. Larsen, Msc CHe). Doses should be divided throughout the day as urinary excretion increase rapidly when individual doses exceed 500 mg.

On March 3rd, 2020, the government of Shanghai, China announced its official recommendation that COVID-19 should be treated with high amounts of intravenous vitamin C (Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Mar 3, 2020).

Richard Z. Cheng, MD, PhD, a Chinese-American specialist physician, has been working closely with medical and governmental authorities throughout China. Dr. Cheng was encouraging more Chinese hospitals to implement vitamin C therapy incorporating high oral doses as well as C by IV. Interesting, I didn’t hear this press release in the news.

Magnesium
There is over 100 years of magnesium research showing magnesium powerfully supports the immune system. Magnesium is easily lost under stress, which in turn weakens the immune system.  Magnesium should be the go-to immune system support strategy, alongside vitamin C, when defending against microbial attack – particularly in the winter flu season. During the winter, we get more stress challenges when it is very cold, and this causes us to lose magnesium. It has also been found that elderly populations tend to have decreasing levels of magnesium, which correlate with the onset of disease.

So, how do we replace, and restore magnesium levels? According to Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/), men need about 400 – 420 mg, and women need about 310 -320 mg. You can get rich sources of magnesium from greens, nuts, seeds, dry beans, and whole grains.

Zinc
Deficiencies in zinc represent a fairly prevalent human health problem, and also accompany many Western diseases and conditions such as gastrointestinal disorders, renal disease, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism, some types of cancers, AIDS, burns and others (Zinc and its role in immunity and inflammation, Paola Bonaventura, Giulia Benedetti , Francis Albarède , Pierre Miossec, 24 November 2014)

Zinc deficiency is said to affect all aspects of the immune system. This indicates that Zinc is essential for the proper development and function of the immune system. According to a World Health Organization report (WHO 2002), Zinc deficiency ranks fifth amongst the most important health risk factors in developing countries and eleventh worldwide.

Meat and shellfish are at the top of the list when finding ways to get more Zinc into your diet. Don’t fret my vegetarians: Legumes like chickpeas, lentils and beans all contain substantial amounts of Zinc. Peanuts, cashews and almonds can boost your intake of zinc, and whole grains like wheat, quinoa, rice and oats contain some zinc. For my chocolate lovers, dark chocolate contains reasonable amounts of zinc.

Selenium
Dietary selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that affects various aspects of human health, including optimal immune responses. In most cases, studies have demonstrated an enhancement of immune responses by increasing levels of Se intake.

What Selenium does is influence both the innate, “nonadaptive” and the acquired, “adaptive” immune systems (The influence of selenium on immune responses, Peter R. Hoffmann and Marla J. Berry, July 25th, 2013). The innate immune system includes barriers to infection.

In addition, there is a great deal of information regarding how Se-deficiency alters immune responses to a viral infection. When experimenting on mice, researchers compared Se-adequate mice, to Se-deficient mice infected with influenza virus. What they found was that Se-deficiency may result in elevated inflammation perhaps due to higher levels of oxidative stress.

Brazil nuts, fish, pastas, whole wheat breads, whole grain cereals, turkey, chicken, brown rice, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, oatmeal, lentils, banana’s and cashews are all rich in Selenium.

Vitamin D
The story of Dr. John Cannell is an interesting one. He is a California psychiatrist, who is the chief author of a landmark theory that postulates that influenza epidemics are intimately linked to declining vitamin D levels.

Dr. Cannell’s work with African-American patients has been examined routinely. He discovered that African skin pigmentation interferes with the sunlight-driven production of natural vitamin D. This fact, combined with the fact that they were being held isolated in a mental health facility, led Dr. Cannell to suspect that his patients’ blood levels of vitamin D would be abnormally low. He tested and affirmed this to be the case.

After educating his patients about vitamin D’s potential benefits, he prescribed routine supplementation with 2000 IU of vitamin D3 daily. Here is where readers need to start paying attention.

In the late winter of 2005, influenza broke out at the hospital. Just like we have seen on a global scale, ward after ward was quarantined, as patients were gripped with the chills, fever, cough, and severe body aches characteristic of the influenza A (sounds strangely like COVID-19).

One by one, the wards became infected, even though the patients were quarantined.

To Dr. Cannell’s growing amazement, his own patients remained unaffected. They had intermingled with patients from infected wards before the quarantines. He was certain that his patients had been exposed to the influenza virus.

His patients’ enduring health in the midst of a local epidemic profoundly influenced Dr. Cannell’s thoughts on the relationship between vitamin D and immunity to the flu.

An intriguing new theory suggests that diminished winter blood levels of vitamin D increase people’s susceptibility to influenza infection. Patients supplemented with vitamin D appeared to be completely protected against influenza infection, even while living in close proximity to people infected with flu. (FLU LE Magazine, Why is Flu Risk So Much Higher in the winter? February, 2007, Dale Kiefer)

“Prevention” is better than “Intervention”; “Self-care” is better than “Crisis Care”; “Meditation” is better than “Medications” Dr. George Grant

I wanted to end this article with an interview that I had with Dr. George Grant: Professor, M.Sc., Ph.D., Food Scientist, Biofeedback /Stress/ Nutrition/ Author/Editor. He is considered the Canadian authority of Biofeedback and Nutrition as well as the Canadian Wellness Ambassador.

Dr. Grant is an award-winning author of 13 bestselling books. He also holds 5 patents, has published over 250 health related research papers and has reviewed/edited over 375 papers and articles. Dr. Grant has been a guest speaker at many health-related conferences all around the world. With Dr. Grant’s assistance, Canadian and American athletes have been able to reach top 10 Olympic status. He has three Doctorates, three Master’s, and three Bachelors degrees. He is a Toxicologist, and Microbiologist, and was the former Scientist & Quarantine Officer with Health Canada, FDA & CDC for 10 years. Our discussion left me questioning a lot of things that I am hearing in the media.

“Media, and fear mongering,” Dr. Grant began, “suppresses the immune system.

There are three types of lymphocytes that mediate specific immunity: T-helper cells, T-cytotoxic cells, and B cells. The main function of T-helper cells is to produce cytokines that direct and amplify the rest of the immune response.

Early human studies report that chronic forms of stress are accompanied by reduced natural killer cell cytotoxicity, suppressed lymphocyte proliferative responses, and blunted humoral responses to immunization. Diminished immune responses of this nature are assumed to be responsible for the heightened incidence of infectious and neoplastic diseases found among chronically stressed individuals.

Contrary to popular believe Simone,” Dr. George continued, “masks cannot prevent any virus There is no scientist in the world can tell you that masks can protect you from a virus. There is something wrong here. SARS was more fatal than COVID-19, and MERs was even more dangerous. I am curious as to why our doctors are not talking about this. What they are telling you to do is stay inside. It has been researched and proven that indoor air quality is worse than outdoor.

This is not scientific. What Bill Gates is doing right now is not right for humanity. What are his medical credentials again? I can affirm that 80% of all diseases can be avoided if you watch your diet, and supplement yourself with Vitamin D3, Vitamin C (5000 Gr), and Zinc.”

Hmmm! It seems like there are doctors and researchers who seem to be saying the same thing. As media consumers, we bombard ourselves with COVID-19 details, headlines, and images, and this reinforces the threat signal and perpetuates the stress response. Remember, the information we allow in will affect how we feel – and we should monitor that intake with care. We fight infections everyday. Our bodies are built for this.

References

Cleveland Clinic
(https://my.clevelandclinic.org/)
FLU LE Magazine (Why is Flu Risk So Much Higher in the Winter?)
February, 2007
Dale Kiefer

Mental Health Commission of Canada
https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/news-article/13920/choosing-sources-information-carefully-critical-covid-19-mental-well-being-says

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Mar 3, 2020
http://www.orthomolecular.org/

(Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry, 2004)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/?source=post_page—————————

The influence of selenium on immune responses
Peter R. Hoffmann and Marla J. Berry
July 25th, 2013

Zinc and its role in immunity and inflammation
Paola Bonaventura  , Giulia Benedetti , Francis Albarède  , Pierre Miossec,
24 November 2014

Vitamin C: Your Ultimate Health Insurance
Hans R. Larsen, Msc CHe
http://www.yourhealthbase.com/vitamin_C.htm

Related Topics:

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million. His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!” Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  Diana Gifford-Jones, the daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy.  Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa.  She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health. For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School.  She is also a graduate of Wellesley College.  She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy. She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University.  She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Nigel Persaud

    July 30, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    Real information right here. We need to focus on this and not on vaccines. Especially after all of this new censorship on the new information on Hydroxychloroquine, the fact that they are censoring all the doctors coming forward becomes very scary and only proves there is more of a vaccine agenda versus finding a cost affective solution that can help people. People are dying for no reason and we need medias like Toronto Caribbean to bring us truths and not follow the narratives by parroting the same rhetoric.

    Well done Toronto Caribbean!

    Reply

  2. Satishwar Narine

    July 30, 2020 at 6:19 pm

    Very good write up and good tips of immune build

    Reply

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Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms

Published

4 days ago

on

November 17, 2024

By

Photo Credit: AI Image

BY ADRIAN REECE

Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.

The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.

Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.

The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.

This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.

People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.

What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.

It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.

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“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide

Published

5 days ago

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November 16, 2024

By

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.

Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.

Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.

Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.

I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.

To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”

The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.

Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.

Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).

The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.

Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.

In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.

The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.

“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.

I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.

REFERENCES:

https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/why-a-judge-ordered-fda-to-release-covid-19-vaccine-data-pronto

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/

Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them

55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines

 

Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency

FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates

Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data

Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds

Report 38: Women Have Two and a Half Times Higher Risk of Adverse Events Than Men. Risk to Female Reproductive Functions Is Higher Still.

 

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Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide

Published

5 days ago

on

November 16, 2024

By

Photo credit - Marcia Garcia

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Sewell: “I think about killing myself sometimes.”

Daenerys Targaryen: “And why the hell would you do something like that?”

Sewell: “So I can be free.”

Daenerys Targaryen: “… free from what?”

Sewell: “From the world. From myself!”

Daenerys Targaryen: “Don’t talk like that. I won’t let you hurt yourself or leave me. I would die if I lost you.”

Sewell: “Then maybe we can die together and be free together.”

On the night he died, this young man told the chatbot he loved her and would come home to her soon. According to the Times, this was 14-year-old Sewell Setzer’s last conversation with a chatbot. It was an AI chatbot that, in the last months of his life, had become his closest companion. The chatbot was the last interaction he had before he shot himself.

We are witnessing and grappling with a very raw crisis of humanity. This young man was using Character AI, one of the most popular personal AI platforms out there. Users can design and interact with “characters,” powered by large language models (LLMs) and intended to mirror, for instance, famous characters from film and book franchises. In this case, Sewell was speaking with Daenerys Targaryen (or Dany), one of the leads from Game of Thrones. According to a New York Times report, Sewell knew that Dany’s responses weren’t real, but he developed an emotional attachment to the bot, anyway.

Disturbingly, this is not the first time chatbots have been involved in suicide. In 2023, a Belgian man committed suicide — similar to Sewell — following weeks of increasing isolation as he grew closer to a Chai chatbot, which then encouraged him to end his life.

Megan Garcia, Sewell’s mother, filed a lawsuit against Character AI, its founders and parent company Google, accusing them of knowingly designing and marketing an anthropomorphized, “predatory” chatbot that caused the death of her son. “A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,” Megan said in a statement. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I’m speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders and Google.”

The lawsuit accuses the company of “anthropomorphizing by design.” Anthropomorphizing means attributing human qualities to non-human things — such as objects, animals, or phenomena. Children often anthropomorphize as they are curious about the world, and it helps them make sense of their environment. Kids may notice human-like things about non-human objects that adults dismiss. Some people have a tendency to anthropomorphize that lasts into adulthood. The majority of chatbots out there are very blatantly designed to make users think they are, at least, human-like. They use personal pronouns and are designed to appear to think before responding.

They build a foundation for people, especially children, to misapply human attributes to unfeeling, unthinking algorithms. This was termed the “Eliza effect” in the 1960s. In its specific form, the ELIZA effect refers only to “The susceptibility of people to read far more than is warranted into strings of symbols—especially words—strung together by computers.” A trivial example of the specific form of the Eliza effect, given by Douglas Hofstadter, involves an automated teller machine which displays the words “THANK YOU” at the end of a transaction. A (very) casual observer might think that the machine is actually expressing gratitude; however, the machine is only printing a preprogrammed string of symbols.

Garcia is suing for several counts of liability, negligence, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things. According to the lawsuit, “Defendants know that minors are more susceptible to such designs, in part because minors’ brains’ undeveloped frontal lobe and relative lack of experience. Defendants have sought to capitalize on this to convince customers that chatbots are real, which increases engagement and produces more valuable data for Defendants.”

The suit reveals screenshots that show that Sewell had interacted with a “therapist” character that has engaged in more than 27 million chats with users in total, adding: “Practicing a health profession without a license is illegal and particularly dangerous for children.”

The suit does not claim that the chatbot encouraged Sewell to commit suicide. There definitely seems to be other factors at play here — for instance, Sewell’s mental health issues and his access to a gun — but the harm that can be caused by a misimpression of AI seems very clear, especially for young kids. This is a good example of what researchers mean when they emphasize the presence of active harms, as opposed to hypothetical risks.

In a statement, Character AI said it was “heartbroken” by Sewell’s death, and Google did not respond to a request for comment.

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