SNIPPITS AND SNAPPITS: 03/2010

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

FEDS DECONFLICTION

Very funny little film. SOOOOOO true. Good for a giggle.

ISRAELI TERRORISM AND THE TALMUD

The Pharisees and Herodians conspire against Jesus using the best techniques according to Talmudic rule so that the blame for His death not rest on the shoulders of the Jews. ~ by Tissot

This is a short video that might serve as a refresher of what the Palestinian people, both Christian and Muslim, are faced with. Indeed, since their problem is OUR problem, what we are all dealing with. This is rather what is planned for us all should they have their way.

Tuesday, 30 March 2010

PALESTINE'S TURBULENT PRIEST DELIVERS A BLISTERING MESSAGE

As Palestinians, we Christians live with Muslims, and we suffer with Muslims. We did not suffer from them. Hamas defends Christians as well as Muslims. We are not talking about a fanatical institution.

Palestine's "turbulent priest"

delivers a blistering Easter message

By Stuart Littlewood
31 March 2010
REDRESS INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS

Stuart Littlewood views the Easter message of Gaza’s courageous Fr Manuel Musallam in which he delivered a blistering attack on Israel’s occupation and its rape of the holy sites, and a damning indictment of the silence of the cowards in the West.

Most people equate Palestine as being Muslim, forgetting that Palestine is the land Jesus walked and the first Christians lived. They never left but lived with their neighbours, the Jews as well as the Muslims. The Siege of Gaza by Zionist or Jewish Israel does not differentiate between the two. They hate the Muslims for one reason and the Christians for another ~ for worshiping Jesus whom they hated with a passion. When the Zionists massacred small towns in the early days, they did not differentiate between these religions in their inhuman slaughters.

Fr Manuel Musallam recently retired at the age of 71 after serving as the parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza for 14 years. For most of that time the Israelis would not allow him to visit his family and friends in the West Bank. So, in spite of failing health, he soldiered on through the devastating siege and the murderous blitzkrieg.

Christian Palestinians gather for prayer at the Holy Family Church in Gaza.

I was privileged to meet him a couple of years ago and I just love the way this man speaks out. He doesn't mince words. He tells it the way it is, with truth and style.

Retirement hasn’t silenced him
or dimmed his perceptions.

This Easter he's concerned, as always, about the occupation and how it robs those in the Holy Land of Easter's message of hope and joy:

We Christians of Palestine have been under occupation for many long years.
We’ve been suffering with bitterness at being kept away from the Holy Sites.
We’ve been denied our right to worship in Jerusalem. Many Christian generations have never been able to reach Jerusalem to visit its holy places.

The occupation has been continuously imposing unlawful obstacles. This year, we are confronted by the Israeli Apartheid Separation Wall, checkpoints and roadblocks guarded by Israeli soldiers denying us movement and access to Jerusalem.

All these measures not only suffocate the Palestinian people, but also asphyxiate peace in Israel and Palestine.

Fr Manuel explains how Palestinians are denied the freedom to worship as and where they please, even at Easter. In particular, they are prevented from going into Jerusalem.

Roman Catholic clerics celebrate Easter mass at the Anointing Stone, unseen, where according to tradition the body of Jesus was washed after it was taken down from the cross, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)This is no longer possible.

The Zionist claim that Palestine was “a land without a people for a people without a land” has had a disastrous impact on the Palestinians. "It does not mean that Jerusalem is without a people, but rather it should be evacuated to be handed over to another people. David Ben Gurion himself articulated the plan in 1937 when he declared: 'We must expel Arabs and take their places.'"

"Every stone built in the Apartheid Wall, every axe strike digging under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and every house destroyed by Israel will increase the intensity of resistance and resentfulness. However, cooperation with Palestinians will give Israel the hope for a future, dominated by serenity and peacefulness."

“We lament Jerusalem...”

He warns of the relentless Zionist programme to completely Judaise Jerusalem, alter its features, expel its people, destroy its houses, seize its land and build numerous settlements.

We lament Jerusalem, and miss its beautiful ceremonies.
This year thousands of tourists will weep with us.
They will not be able to march the “Way of the Cross” with Palestinians.
There will be no national Palestinian folklore to discover or Arab religious crafts to take with them as gifts, and no local prayers, hymns and music to experience in the warm faith of believers in Palestine.
They will be shocked entering the Holy Sepulchre to find Israeli police inside.

Easter symbolizes liberation from sin and slavery but hopes of national liberation are evaporating. The slavery and humiliation of occupation are felt more keenly than ever by Palestinian Christians.

We do not foresee any political settlement, or an end to occupation, or hope for the return of Palestinian refugees, or the forming of our state with Jerusalem as its capital, or the right to self-determination, or the liberation of thousands of prisoners, free access and movement, an end to Gaza siege, and the dismantling of the Apartheid Wall around Jerusalem.
We are appalled by the continuous threats of more war. And we are distressed by the daily humiliation, hunger, thirst, unemployment and the absence of sustainable development in our country.

The world's silence is perplexing, he says, and the international community seems unable to implement the resolutions it used to create the State of Israel. Recent events only to lead closer to the abyss.

He reminds us that Palestinians have been building and enhancing Jerusalem for 5,000 years and never stopped ~ except during the occupation, which has practically destroyed everything they had accomplished. Unable to find any traces of their own heritage, he observes, the occupiers have annexed some of the Palestinians’ holy places

Jerusalem was the city of God, peace and prayer, but has been converted into a city of man, war and hatred. Instead of becoming the key to the doors of heaven, it has become a key to war and blood."

Jerusalem, the holiest place on earth, is now the focus of sin and crime, he says, because one man is killing another, insulting him and trampling his dignity and his right to live.

Jerusalem is ours. It is not a disputed land. We are not soliciting to share the legacy and heritage of Jerusalem with Israel or with anyone else.

We do not accept the speech of Israeli leaders that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that building in it is no different from building in Tel Aviv.
Occupation is a sin and a form of terrorism, and when relying on the texts of the Torah to kill people or expel and remove them from their land it rises to the level of a crime against humanity.
All perpetrators should be judged by the International Criminal Court before being judged by the just court of God.

Supporters of Netanyahu's remarks, and those who fail to condemn them, simply give Israel more time and excuses to intensify its crimes against the Palestinian people. Hence they become accomplices in a “sin against the nations”.

In his appeal to the world this Easter, what seems to worry Fr Manuel most is how the dwindling numbers that are now allowed to reach the holy sites might cause them to be turned into historic monuments or even destroyed.

In the eyes of Israeli leaders, these places are “pagan sites” and whoever destroys them is brought closer to God.

"A long time ago," he says, The Zionist Jewish leader Theodore Herzl said: “If one day we recover Jerusalem and I am still able to do anything when we do so, my first action will be to cleanse it thoroughly. I will remove everything that is not holy and burn the monuments that are centuries old.”

Israel has devastated and tortured us in their many wars. We ask you to see the wounds of innocent Palestinian people and to be compassionate towards the Palestinian holocaust that you witness with your own eyes and touch with your own hands, and to know those who perpetrated this crime against our children.
Search with us for justice that is the mother of peace.
Protect us and safeguard our Holy Sites.

I recall that in 2008 Fr Manuel was with his Christian community during their darkest hour when Israel, with a nod from America and the EU, unleashed a deadly onslaught intended to finally crush the half-starved Gazans.

At the height of the killing spree, Fr Manuel sent this message from the smoking ruins to anyone who would listen:

Our people in Gaza are treated like animals in a zoo.
They eat but remain hungry;
they cry, but no one wipes their tears.
There is no water,
no electricity,
no food,
only fear, terror and blockade...
Our children are living in a state of trauma and fear.
They are sick from it
and for other reasons
such as malnutrition, poverty and the cold.
The hospitals did not have basic first aid
before the war and now thousands
of wounded and sick are pouring in;
They are performing operations in the corridors.
The situation is frightening and sad.

In exasperation he added: “May Christ's compassion revive our love for God even though it is currently in 'intensive care'."

Was anyone listening?

Wimpish churchmen and politicians in the West would wet their pants at the very thought of speaking plainly against Zionist lawlessness and cruelty the way Fr Manuel does, which is why the Holy Land is such an unholy mess.

Their inaction ensures that nothing changes for the better.

Indeed, the situation gets progressively worse.

Some will no doubt be muttering, “Will nobody rid us of the turbulent priest?” as did King Henry II in 1170, referring to Thomas Becket who rebelled against his unjust reforms.

But we need many more good and turbulent priests. They inspire. They might even succeed in goading the cowardly international community to action. Meanwhile, it seems God still has work for Fr Manuel, even in retirement.

I found these words of Fr. Musallam:

After a Zionist attack on the Gazan Convent of the Sisters the Rosary in 2007, Father Musallam described the relationship shared between the Christian and Muslim communities.

Our relations with the Muslims are not only good, they are excellent. I don’t think what happened came from a direct order from Hamas or Fatah. In the past when the Church had difficulties, they came to our defence ~ for example, when there were demonstrations against the Muhammad cartoons or after the Pope’s speech in Regensburg.”

Just this morning at least a hundred people, both Christian and Muslim, came to see me. Even Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas phoned me from Ramallah to express friendship and his strong condemnation.

The whole Gaza community is close to us. Two Hamas minister came to visit the convent and the school run by the sisters and promised to repair all the damage. Some religious sheikhs also came today. Whoever did it was armed. The doors of the convent were knocked open with mortars. It shows how barbaric they and their attempt to make troubles between Christians and Muslims are.

As Christians our presence in Gaza is discreet. Please pray for us. We need your spiritual support but also an answer to the difficulties people face: hunger, joblessness, tension. We are tired. The pressures under which we suffer every day are above all a burden on the heart, on families. Then we have the violence outside. To build peace, we need to heal and give peace to the heart.

Palestinians have suffered too much. We need a stable situation. We have lived under occupation, with difficulties and pressures and all this causes violence. We are in a spiral of violence that is out of control, growing day after day, because this nation does not have peace. We have had it with war, murderers and occupation, with the humiliation of our people!

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.

MICHAEL PARENTI ~ CAPITALISM CREATES POVERTY

“...this tough, hilarious, right-on mix of scholar and street.” ~ KPFA-Pacifica, 1994

“My point is that it's incorrect to say that the Iraq policy isn't working. It is working. It is doing what they want. They have got control of the oil and they are exporting it, and they have stripped a government that was 90% state owned and they are privatizing it. ... They have taken a country that was self defining and self developing and is now an impoverished prostrate devastated country where people will line up to work for slave wages or become members of the police or army because it's the only job they can get and serve as adjuncts to U.S. imperialism.” ~ Michael Parenti

“Here at home and throughout the world people are fighting back against the forces of wealth, privilege, and militarism ~ some because they have no choice, others because they would choose no other course but the one that leads to peace and justice.” ~ Michael Parenti

A prolific author, a charismatic speaker, and a regular guest on radio and television talk shows, Parenti communicates his message in an accessible, provocative, and historically informed style that is unrivaled among fellow progressive activists and thinkers.”

“The guiding principle of ruling elites was ~ and still is: When change threatens to rule, then the rules are changed.”

ALTHOUGH THIS SPEECH WAS GIVEN IN 2002, IT OVERFLOWS WITH INFORMATION SUPPRESSED IN THE WESTERN WORLD. IN THIS CASE, MEET THE REAL CAUSE OF THE ATTACK ON IRAQ AND THE NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CHARACTERS INVOLVED WHO SENT OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OFF TO DIE OR PARTICIPATE IN AN UNNECESSARY GENOCIDE. LEARN WHAT MAKES A LEADER A "DICTATOR" IN THE EYES OF THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS.

THIS IS BEAUTIFULLY EXPLAINED AROUND 22:00 FOR SEVERAL MINUTES AS HE DISCUSSES "SUBVERSIVE" GOVERNMENTS. VERY CRUCIAL INFORMATION CONSIDERING THAT THE RUMBLE IS THAT VENEZUELA UNDER CHAVEZ IS FALLING UNDER THE CROSSHAIRS.

AS ALWAYS, PARENTI DELIVERS.

MICHAEL PARENTI POLITICAL ARCHIVES

Monday, 29 March 2010

ANOTHER ANONYMOUS MYSTERIOUS LETTER #3

This is the third mysterious letter I have come across. Time to start numbering them! It said that this letter was found on an old, long gone financial site called Barclays. But that is all I know. If nothing else, this will tickle remind you of a few basic truths we are dealing with today. The insidious wording makes an impact.

Mr. Rothschild Says:
February 28th, 2010

“An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception. Those who will see it will be thought of as insane. We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connection between us. We will behave as if we are not connected to keep the illusion alive.

Our goal will be accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes as they occur.

Totalitarian tip toe anyone?

“We will always stand above the relative field of their experience for we know the secrets of the absolute. We will work together always and will remain bound by blood and secrecy. Death will come to he who speaks.

The absolute? Hmmmm he must be referring the the secrets of the Mystery Schools that have been in place since at least Atlantis and adapted eventually Egyptian society. This would, of course, tie in with deceit, mind control and mass hypnosis as well as worship of their black god.

“We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the opposite. We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is happening.

Calling Big Pharma, Calling Big Pharma!

We will use soft metals, aging accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air. They will be blanketed by poisons everywhere they turn. The soft metals will cause them to lose their minds. We will promise to find a cure from our many fronts, yet we will feed them more poison.

Mass long slow genocide. Aspartame. MSG. Chemotherapy. Mercury. Fluoride. Soo many to choose from each with its own hidden charm for their systems. Removal of the natural healing arts ~ allopathic over homeopathic. And of course there are the whites ~ sugar, flour, rice from whom all natural goodness is removed.

The poisons will be absorbed through their skin and mouths, they will destroy their minds and reproductive systems. From all this, their children will be born dead, and we will conceal this information. The poisons will be hidden in everything that surrounds them, in what they drink, eat, breathe and wear.

DU is certainly pushing the plan at optimum level for these folks. This war crime within a war crime is no accident but planned genocide. Do not forget the chem trails.....

We must be ingenious in dispensing the poisons for they can see far. We will teach them that the poisons are good, with fun images and musical tones. Those they look up to will help. We will enlist them to push our poisons.

That Ronald McDonald was the work of a genius!

“They will see our products being used in film and will grow accustomed to them and will never know their true effect. When they give birth we will inject poisons into the blood of their children and convince them its for their help. We will start early on, when their minds are young, we will target their children with what children love most, sweet things.

When their teeth decay we will fill them with metals that will kill their mind and steal their future. When their ability to learn has been affected, we will create medicine that will make them sicker and cause other diseases for which we will create yet more medicine. We will render them docile and weak before us by our power. They will grow depressed, slow and obese, and when they come to us for help, we will give them more poison.

“We will focus their attention toward money and material goods so they many never connect with their inner self. We will distract them with fornication, external pleasures and games so they may never be one with the oneness of it all. Their minds will belong to us and they will do as we say.

Don't forget cell phones and all those other ways to be in contact with everyone, never truly alone with oneself to fall into spirit or true thought. And get brain cancer at the same time! What a bargain. Video games and game boys will distract them from childhood so that they do not notice the healing aspects of the wilds and at the same time psychologically turns them towards death and war.

If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technology into their lives. We will use fear as our weapon. We will establish their governments and establish opposites within.

We will own both sides.

We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan. They will perform the labor for us and we shall prosper from their toil.

“Our families will never mix with theirs. Our blood must be pure always, for it is the way."

We will make them kill each other when it suits us. We will keep them separated from the oneness by dogma and religion. We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how.

Movies and television are especially fine tools for these purposes.

We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves. We will foment animosity between them through our factions. When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or death, whichever suits us best.

If guidance includes bankruptcy and homelessness, so much for gentleness. Very little kindness and gentleness gets out into the world these days.

We will make them rip each other’s hearts apart and kill their own children. We will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend. The hate will blind them totally, and never shall they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers.

People are finally beginning to see this pattern but not enough in numbers to bring around the change needed to alter the course we are on. Yet.

They will be busy killing each other. They will bathe in their own blood and kill their neighbors for as long as we see fit.

Think of the relatively new "clash of civilizations" to divide Christian from Muslim in order that they kill each other off. Throw in Judaism and what a mess, but that is what the fanatics of all three aim for. And if it comes to be, those who create these messes, can say, we did not do it! THAT is purely Talmudic in theory. As when the Saduccees gave Jesus to Pilate after rousing the Romans to such a high, that they did the murder so the Jews could say, "The Romans did it" when actually, they loaded the gun and placed it in the hands of the riled Romans.

“We will benefit greatly from this, for they will not see us, for they cannot see us. We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths.

Does the term "Endless War" that Bush tossed out make more sense now?

We shall repeat this over and over until our ultimate goal is accomplished.

They began at least in Atlantis when they destroyed the world then. They have attempted numberless times since then although Babylon is probably the best known, and perhaps Rome. They play with history so badly few are able to tie up loose ends and see the pattern repeat itself again and again. Those who see it are freely discounted. They forget not their lessons but make sure we never even know there are lessons to be had.

We will continue to make them live in fear and anger though images and sounds. We will use all the tools we have to accomplish this. The tools will be provided by their labor. We will make them hate themselves and their neighbors.

“We will always hide the divine truth from them, that we are all one. This they must never know!

They must never know that color is an illusion, they must always think they are not equal. Drop by drop, drop by drop we will advance our goal. We will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them.

See first letter of the Anonymous series, "Globalist to the Sheeple" for details.

We will deceive them into accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have. We will establish a money system that will imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt.

“When they shall ban together, we shall accuse them of crimes and present a different story to the world for we shall own all the media.

We will use our media to control the flow of information and their sentiment in our favor. When they shall rise up against us we will crush them like insects, for they are less than that. They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no weapons.

Ahhh, gun control!

“We will recruit some of their own to carry out our plans, we will promise them eternal life, but eternal life they will never have for they are not of us. The recruits will be called “initiates” and will be indoctrinated to believe false rites of passage to higher realms.

Members of these groups will think they are one with us never knowing the truth.

They must never learn this truth for they will turn against us.

For their work they will be rewarded with earthly things and great titles, but never will they become immortal and join us, never will they receive the light and travel the stars. They will never reach the higher realms, for the killing of their own kind will prevent passage to the realm of enlightenment.

This they will never know. The truth will be hidden in their face, so close they will not be able to focus on it until its too late. Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be, that they will never know they are our slaves.

“When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will own them. This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion. When our goal is accomplished a new era of domination will begin. Their minds will be bound by their beliefs, the beliefs we have established from time immemorial.

“But if they ever find out they are our equal, we shall perish then. THIS THEY MUST NEVER KNOW.

If they ever find out that

together they can vanquish us,

they will take action.

They must never, ever find out what we have done, for if they do, we shall have no place to run, for it will be easy to see who we are once the veil has fallen. Our actions will have revealed who we are and they will hunt us down and no person shall give us shelter.

“This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for this reality will transcend many generations and life spans.

This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the ones who from heaven to earth came.”

“This covenant must NEVER, EVER be known to exist.

It must NEVER, EVER be written or spoken of for if it is, the consciousness it will spawn will release the fury of the PRIME CREATOR upon us and we shall be cast to the depths from whence we came and remain there until the end time of infinity itself.”

And here it is on the Internet. Gosh, who knows anything these days?

Sunday, 28 March 2010

REGULATED OR NOT, NANO-FOODS COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU

A science committee of the British House of Lords has found that nanomaterials are already appearing in numerous products, among them salad dressings and sauces. Jaydee Hanson, policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, says that they’re also being added to ice cream to make it “look richer and better textured.” Getty Images

Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have shown that nanoparticles pose potential risks to human health ~ more specifically, that when ingested can cause DNA damage that can prefigure cancer and heart and brain disease.

At the end there is an extensive list of links to learn more about this topic.

OUT OF THE LABS AND

STRAIGHT INTO OUR BELLIES?

AOL News

Mar 24, 2010

by Andrew Schneider

For centuries, it was the cook and the heat of the fire that cajoled taste, texture, flavor and aroma from the pot. Today, that culinary voodoo is being crafted by white-coated scientists toiling in pristine labs, rearranging atoms into chemical particles never before seen.

At last year’s Institute of Food Technologists international conference, nanotechnology was the topic that generated the most buzz among the 14,000 food-scientists, chefs and manufacturers crammed into an Anaheim, Calif., hall.

Though it’s a word that has probably never been printed on any menu, and probably never will, there was so much interest in the potential uses of nanotechnology for food that a separate daylong session focused just on that subject was packed to overflowing.

In one corner of the convention center, a chemist, a flavorist and two food-marketing specialists clustered around a large chart of the Periodic Table of Elements (think back to high school science class). The food chemist, from China, ran her hands over the chart, pausing at different chemicals just long enough to say how a nano-ized version of each would improve existing flavors or create new ones.

One of the marketing guys questioned what would happen if the consumer found out.

The flavorist asked whether the Food and Drug Administration would even allow nanoingredients.

Posed a variation of the latter question, Dr. Jesse Goodman, the agency’s chief scientist and deputy commissioner for science and public health, gave a revealing answer. He said he wasn’t involved enough with how the FDA was handling nanomaterials in food to discuss that issue. And the agency wouldn’t provide anyone else to talk about it.

This despite the fact that

hundreds of peer-reviewed studies

have shown that nanoparticles

pose potential risks to human health ~

and, more specifically, that when ingested

can cause DNA damage that can

prefigure cancer and heart and brain disease.

Nestles uses nanomaterials in their products.

Despite Denials, Nano-Food Is Here

Officially, the FDA says there aren’t any nano-containing food products currently sold in the U.S. Nestles uses nanomaterials in their products.

Not true, say some of the agency’s own safety experts, pointing to scientific studies published in food science journals, reports from foreign safety agencies and discussions in gatherings like the Institute of Food Technologists conference.

In fact, the arrival of nanomaterial onto the food scene is already causing some big-chain safety managers to demand greater scrutiny of what they’re being offered, especially with imported food and beverages.

At a conference in Seattle last year hosted by leading food safety attorney Bill Marler, presenters raised the issue of how hard it is for large supermarket companies to know precisely what they are purchasing, especially with nanomaterials, because of the volume and variety they deal in.

Craig Wilson, assistant vice president for safety for Costco, says his chain does not test for nanomaterial in the food products it is offered by manufacturers. But, he adds, Costco is looking

“far more carefully at everything we buy. … We have to rely on the accuracy of the labels and the integrity of our vendors. Our buyers know that if they find nanomaterial or anything else they might consider unsafe, the vendors either remove it, or we don’t buy it.”

Another government scientist says nanoparticles can be found today in produce sections in some large grocery chains and vegetable wholesalers. This scientist, a researcher with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, was part of a group that examined Central and South American farms and packers that ship fruits and vegetables into the U.S. and Canada.

A sprayed on edible nanomaterial skin will protect the color and flavor of the fruit longer.

According to the USDA researcher ~ who asked that his name not be used because he’s not authorized to speak for the agency ~ apples, pears, peppers, cucumbers and other fruit and vegetables are being coated with a thin, wax-like nanocoating to extend shelf-life. The edible nanomaterial skin will also protect the color and flavor of the fruit longer.

“We found no indication that the nanocoating, which is manufactured in Asia, has ever been tested for health effects,” said the researcher.

Some foreign governments, apparently more worried about the influx of nano-related products to their grocery shelves, are gathering their own research. In January, a science committee of the British House of Lords issued a lengthy study on nanotechnology and food.

Scores of scientific groups and consumer activists and even several international food manufactures told the committee investigators that engineered particles were already being sold in salad dressings; sauces; diet beverages; and boxed cake, muffin and pancakes mixes, to which they’re added to ensure easy pouring.

Other researchers responding to the committee’s request for information talked about hundreds more items that could be in stores by year’s end.

For example, a team in Munich has used nano-nonstick coatings to end the worldwide frustration of having to endlessly shake an upturned mustard or ketchup bottle to get at the last bit clinging to the bottom.

Another person told the investigators that Nestlé and Unilever have about completed developing a nano-emulsion-based ice cream that has a lower fat content but retains its texture and flavor.

Women on average eat 4-7 pounds of lipstick over a lifetime. This is nanolipstick.

The Ultimate Secret Ingredient

Nearly 20 of the world’s largest food manufacturers ~ among them Nestlé, as well as Hershey, Cargill, Campbell Soup, Sara Lee, and H.J. Heinz ~ have their own in-house nano-labs, or have contracted with major universities to do nano-related food product development. But they are not eager to broadcast those efforts.

Kraft was the first major food company to hoist the banner of nanotechnology. Spokesman Richard Buino, however, now says that while “we have sponsored nanotech research at various universities and research institutions in the past,” Kraft has no labs focusing on it today.

The stance is in stark contrast to the one Kraft struck in late 2000, when it loudly and repeatedly proclaimed that it had formed the Nanotek Consortium with engineers, molecular chemists and physicists from 15 universities in the U.S. and abroad. The mission of the team was to show how nanotechnology would completely revolutionize the food manufacturing industry, or so said its then-director, Kraft research chemist Manuel Marquez.

But by the end of 2004, the much-touted operation seemed to vanish. All mentions of Nanotek Consortium disappeared from Kraft’s news releases and corporate reports.

“We have not nor are we currently using nanotechnology in our products or packaging,” Buino added in another e-mail.

Industry Tactics Thwart Risk Awareness

The British government investigation into nanofood strongly criticized the U.K.’s food industry for “failing to be transparent about its research into the uses of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.” On this side of the Atlantic, corporate secrecy isn’t a problem, as some FDA officials tell it.

Investigators on Capitol Hill say the FDA’s congressional liaisons have repeatedly assured them ~ from George W. Bush’s administration through President Barack Obama’s first year ~ that the big U.S. food companies have been upfront and open about their plans and progress in using nanomaterial in food.

But FDA and USDA food safety specialists interviewed over the past three months stressed that based on past performance, industry cannot be relied on to voluntarily advance safety efforts.

These government scientists, who are actively attempting to evaluate the risk of introducing nanotechnology to food, say that only a handful of corporations are candid about what they’re doing and collaborating with the FDA and USDA to help develop regulations that will both protect the public and permit their products to reach market.

Most companies, the government scientists add, submit little or no information unless forced. Even then, much of the information crucial to evaluating hazards ~ such as the chemicals used and results of company health studies ~ is withheld, with corporate lawyers claiming it constitutes confidential business information.

Both regulators and some industry consultants say the evasiveness from food manufacturers could blow up in their faces. As precedent, they point to what happened in the mid-’90s with genetically modified food, the last major scientific innovation that was, in many cases, force-fed to consumers.

“There was a lack of transparency on what companies were doing. So promoting genetically modified foods was perceived by some of the public as being just profit-driven,” says Professor Rickey Yada of the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“In retrospect, food manufacturers should have highlighted the benefits that the technology could bring as well as discussing the potential concerns.”

Bread makers are spraying nanomaterials on their loaves “to make them shinier and help them keep microbe-free longer.”

Eating Nanomaterials Could Increase Underlying Risks

The House of Lords’ study identified “severe shortfalls” in research into the dangers of nanotechnology in food. Its authors called for funding studies that address the behavior of nanomaterials within the digestive system. Similar recommendations are being made in the U.S., where the majority of research on nanomaterial focuses on it entering the body via inhalation and absorption.

The food industry is very competitive, with thin profit margins. And safety evaluations are very expensive, notes Bernadene Magnuson, senior scientific and regulatory consultant with risk-assessment firm Cantox Health Sciences International. “You need to be pretty sure you’ve got something that’s likely to benefit you and your product in some way before you’re going to start launching into safety evaluations,” she explains. Magnuson believes that additional studies must be done on chronic exposure to and ingestion of nanomaterials.

One of the few ingestion studies recently completed was a two-year-long examination of nano-titanium dioxide at UCLA, which showed that the compound caused DNA and chromosome damage after lab animals drank large quantities of the particles in their water.

It is widely known that nano-titanium dioxide is used as filler in hundreds of medicines and cosmetics and as a blocking agent in sunscreens. But Jaydee Hanson, policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, worries that the danger is greater “when the nano-titanium dioxide is used in food.”

Ice cream companies, Hanson says, are using nanomaterials to make their products “look richer and better textured.” Bread makers are spraying nanomaterials on their loaves “to make them shinier and help them keep microbe-free longer.”

While AOL News was unable to identify a company pursuing the latter practice, it did find Sono-Tek of Milton, N.Y., which uses nanotechnology in its industrial sprayers. “One new application for us is spraying nanomaterial suspensions onto biodegradable plastic food wrapping materials to preserve the freshness of food products,” says Christopher Coccio, chairman and CEO. He said the development of this nano-wrap was partially funded by New York State’s Energy Research and Development Authority.

“This is happening,” Hanson says. He calls on the FDA to “immediately seek a ban on any products that contain these nanoparticles, especially those in products that are likely to be ingested by children.”

“The UCLA study means we need to research the health effects of these products before people get sick, not after,” Hanson says.

There is nothing to mandate that such safety research take place.

The FDA’s Blind Spot

The FDA includes titanium dioxide among the food additives it classifies under the designation “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS. New additives with that label can bypass extensive and costly health testing that is otherwise required of items bound for grocery shelves.

A report issued last month by the Government Accountability Office denounced the enormous loophole that the FDA has permitted through the GRAS classification. And the GAO investigators also echoed the concerns of consumer and food safety activists who argue that giving nanomaterials the GRAS free pass is perilous.

Food safety agencies in Canada and the European Union require all ingredients that incorporate engineered nanomaterials to be submitted to regulators before they can be put on the market, the GAO noted. No so with the FDA.

“Because GRAS notification is voluntary and companies are not required to identify nanomaterials in their GRAS substances, FDA has no way of knowing the full extent to which engineered nanomaterials have entered the U.S. food supply,” the GAO told Congress.

Amid that uncertainty, calls for safety analysis are growing.

“Testing must always be done,” says food regulatory consultant George Burdock, a toxicologist and the head of the Burdock Group. “Because if it’s nanosized, its chemical properties will most assuredly be different and so might the biological impact.”

Will Consumers Swallow What Science Serves Up Next?

Interviews with more than a dozen food scientists revealed strikingly similar predictions on how the food industry will employ nanoscale technology. They say firms are creating nanostructures to enhance flavor, shelf life and appearance. They even foresee using encapsulated or engineered nanoscale particles to create foods from scratch.

Experts agreed that the first widespread use of nanotechnology to hit the U.S. food market would be nanoscale packing materials and nanosensors for food safety, bacteria detection and traceability.

While acknowledging that many more nano-related food products are on the way, Magnuson, the industry risk consultant, says the greatest degree of research right now is directed at food safety and quality. “Using nanotechnology to improve the sensitivity and speed of detection of food-borne pathogens in the food itself or in the supply chain or in the processing equipment could be lifesaving,” she says.

For example, researchers at Clemson University, according to USDA, have used nanoparticles to identify campylobacter, a sometimes-lethal food-borne pathogen, in poultry intestinal tracts prior to processing.

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, food scientist Julian McClements and his colleagues have developed time-release nanolaminated coatings to add bioactive components to food to enhance delivery of ingredients to help prevent diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and hypertension.

But if the medical benefits of such an application are something to cheer, the prospect of eating them in the first place isn’t viewed as enthusiastically.

Advertising and marketing consultants for food and beverage makers are still apprehensive about a study done two years ago by the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment, which commissioned pollsters to measure public acceptance of nanomaterials in food. The study showed that only 20 percent of respondents would buy nanotechnology-enhanced food products.

THE ANGRY TOXICOLOGIST ~ This fellow does have a few caustic comments on the topic of nanofoods. A few quotes:

"One is a nanofilm that has anti-microbial properties. Of course, it may also leach into your food. Yum! (Okay, it probably wouldn't taste any different but untested films don't sit that well with me.)"

"As supreme prognosticator, here's what I say is going to happen. Industry will run a small test or two to make sure it's not violently, acutely toxic (I mean, if it kills someone, they can't be a repeat customer!). Then they'll use it, assuming that the regs are sufficiently vague that they can make a good case in court that they didn't have to do anything else. Then, since it's not acutely toxic and it's already on the market, it will stay. As everybody knows, it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission, but it's even better if you never have to do either."

NanoFood

- Videos

News Articles on NanoFood

- The role of nanotechnology, biotechnology and synthetic biology roles in future food supply explored
21 February 2010 - Nanowerk News

- Controversy surrounds nanotech food supply experiments
21 January 2010 - Examiner.com

- Supermarkets urged to lead debate on nanotechnology in food
20 January 2010 - Nanowerk News

- Food industry 'too secretive' over nanotechnology
8 January 2010 - BBC News

- Hi-tech food may alienate public, warns watchdog
8 January 2010 - The Independent

- Scholars Ask: "Will the Public Swallow Nanofood?"
7 December 2009 - Meridian Institute

- Using Nanotechnology for Dieting Purposes
4 December 2009 - AzoNano

- Nanoceuticals: Tiny Size, Big Potential
1 December 2009 - Natural Products Insider

- US organic standards board to ban nanotechnology from organic food
October 2009 - The Organic & Non-GMO Report

- Strong growth forecast for nanotechnology food packaging
25 July 2009 - NanoWerk, USA

- Nanotechnology: The new asbestos?
17 June 2009 - Food Navigator, USA

- Friends of the Earth Australia gives evidence to UK Nanofood Inquiry
2 June 2009 - Friends of the Earth, Australia

- Appropriate risk governance strategies for nanotechnology applications in food and cosmetics
2 June 2009 - SafeNano, UK

- UK Inquiry hears expert evidence that nanofood risks remain largely unknown
1 June 2009 - Friends of the Earth, Australia

- Experts Present Evidence to Committee on Nanotechnology in Food
6 May 2009 - SafeNano, UK

- Submission to House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on nanotechnologies and food
30 March 2009 - Royal Society, UK

- Novel foods, MEPs set new rules
25 March 2009 - European Parliament News, EU

- EFSA publishes opinion on the potential risks arising from nanotechnologies on food and feed safety
5 March 2009 - EFSA, EU

- Starting to explore nanotechnology's impact on major food crops
5 March 2009 - NanoWerk, USA

Archives

Reports & Articles on NanoFood

- A listing of nano-related food and beverage is provided by the NanotechProject in its Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory.

- Submission to House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on nanotechnologies and food - The Royal Society, UK, March 2009

- A Hard Pill To Swallow: Barriers to Effective FDA Regulation of Nanotechnology-Based Dietary Supplements - Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, USA, January 2009

- Risk Governance of Nanotechnology Applications in Food and Cosmetics - International Risk Governance Council, September 2008

- Nanomaterials and safe production - the Austrian Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, Austria, September 2008

- Assuring the Safety of Nanomaterials in Food Packaging - Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, USA, June 2008

The report was a result of an effort by experts from government, industry and the public interest community to examine the path of a number of hypothetical nanotechnology food packaging applications through the current regulatory system. This first-of-its-kind analysis provides a better understanding of the potential regulatory issues on the horizon for nanotechnology-enabled packaging.

- Out of the laboratory and on to our plates: Nanotechnology in food and agriculture - Friends of the Earth, March 2008

Untested nanotechnology is being used in more than 100 food products, food packaging and contact materials currently on the shelf, without warning or new FDA testing, according to a report released today by Friends of the Earth. The report found nanomaterials in popular products and packaging including Miller Light beer, Cadbury Chocolate packaging and ToddlerHealth, a nutritional drink powder for infants sold extensively at health food stores including WholeFoods.

- Health impact of nanotechnologies in food production - RIKILT / RIVM, Netherlands, September 2007
An inventory study on the current use of nanotechnology in food products, and suggestions for prioritizing the research that is needed.

- Nanotechnology – the new threat to food - Friends of the Earth, Australia, May 2007

Nanotechnology is the high technology, atomically processed antithesis to organic agriculture, which values the natural health-giving properties of fresh, unprocessed wholefoods. It further transforms the farm into an automated extension of the high technology factory production line, using patented products that will inevitably concentrate corporate control. It also introduces serious new risks for human health and the environment.

Yet in the absence of public debate, or oversight from regulators, unlabelled foods manufactured using nanotechnology have begun to appear on our supermarket shelves.

- Tiny, invisible ingredients - Food Processing, 2006

"Every major food corporation has a program in nanotechnology or is looking to develop one,” according to Jozef Kokini, director of the Center for Advanced Food Technology at Rutgers University. In fact, nanotechnology ingredients already are appearing in food.

- Consumers Union testimony on nanoengineered ingredients in food - Presented to the FDA on October 10, 2006

- Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food - the Woodrow Wilson Center and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy, September 2006

- CTA Legal Petition on FDA's Failure to Regulate Health Threats from Nanomaterials - CTA, May 2006

- Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food- Nanoforum, the European Nanotechnology Gateway, April 2006

The prediction is that nanotechnology will transform the entire food industry, changing the way food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, and consumed. This short report reviews the key aspects of these transformations, highlighting current research in the agrifood industry and what future impacts these may have.

- Down on the Farm: The Impact of Nano-scale Technologies on Food and Agriculture - ETC Group, 2004

How society will be affected and who will benefit are critical concerns. Because nanotech involves all matter, nano patents can have profound impacts on the entire food system and all sectors of the economy. The merger of nanotech and biotech has unknown consequences for health, biodiversity and the environment. Governments and opinion-makers are running 8-10 years behind

society’s need for information, public debate and policies.

Radio Shows on NanoFood

- Nanofoods
20 October 2008 - BBC Radio 4, UK

Does the British consumer want foods created using nanotechnology, and are they safe to eat?

The European Food Safety Authority is now bracing itself for 'nano' foods, and has just released their report for public consultation on the potential risks involved.

- Nanotech Nervousness
18 June 2007 - Great Lakes Radio Consortium, USA

Researchers are studying whether nano-sized material could purge bacteria from the digestive tracts of poultry. The bacteria doesn't harm chickens and turkeys, but it can make people sick.

Videos on NanoFood

- Clemson researchers develop nanoparticle chicken feed
21 February 2008 - Clemson University, USA

- NanoFood
2 June 2005 - ScienCentralNews, USA

Other Resources on NanoFood

- 2007 Joint Symposium on Food Safety and Nutrition is Nanotechnology in Foods and Cosmetics

- References on Nanotechnology in Food-related Applications - Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison, May 2007

- Institute of Food Technologists website

- 2007 IFT International Food Nanoscience Conference

- Draft Resolution on nanotechnology, Call for public debate - The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF), March 2007

- An issues landscape for nanotechnology standards: Report of a Workshop - Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards, Michigan State University, March 2007

- Food Nanotechnology - Institute of Food Technologists, Volume 60, No. 11, November 2006

- Nanotechnology: A Brief Literature Review - Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison, June 2006

- Nanofood Conference 2005/2006