nexus 0802 - new times magazine

FEBRUARY – MARCH 2001 NEXUS • 1

N E X U SNEW TIMES MAGAZINE

Volume 8, Number 2 FEBRUARY – MARCH 2001

PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560, Australia Website: www.nexusmagazine.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.............................................4

GLOBAL NEWS.............................................................6

News you may have missed, including a plan byBritain's intelligence services to record all phone,e-mail and website communications, and a vote byUS toxicologists to put oestrogen on the cancer list.

THE BUSH–CHENEY DRUG EMPIRE..........................11

By Michael C. Ruppert. The Bush family'sinvolvement in drug-running is no secret, but DickCheney's direct link to a global drug pipeline via aUS construction company is not so well known.

FOOD IRRADIATION: THE GLOBAL AGENDA........19

By Susan Bryce. Transnationals, UN organisationsand government authorities are foisting irradiatedfood onto unsuspecting consumers, but foodtreated this way has never been proved safe to eat.

THE HUMAN COST OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS.......27By Katrina Fox. There is overwhelming scientificevidence that animal-based testing is grosslyinaccurate in evaluating whether a drug or productwill affect humans, and apart from being harmfulfor animals it is ultimately dangerous for humans.

THE MEDICAL BENEFITS OF BETA-1,3D-GLUCAN....33

By Peter Olson. Beta-glucan, a naturally occurringchemical common to medicinal mushrooms, oatsand seaweed, has enormous potential as animmune system enhancer, wound healer, cancerand AIDS fighter and even radiation neutraliser.

EFFECTS OF VACCINE ADJUVANTS—Part 2..............41

By Viera Scheibner, PhD. Vaccines containadjuvants, chemical substances meant to boost theimmune response, but to understand their action itis important to return to immunology principles.

SCIENCE NEWS..........................................................47

This issue, paranormal science researcher AlbertBudden describes the success of electrical engineersKenneth Corum and James Corum in creating balllightning in the lab after reinterpreting Tesla's notes.

A GALACTIC SUPERWAVE HAZARD ALERT...............51

By Paul LaViolette, PhD. According to thisscientist's astrometric calculations, every 10,000 to26,000 years the Milky Way's core explodes and theresultant superwave radiates out through the galaxy,causing cosmic catastrophes in its wake.

THE DEEP DWELLERS—Part 1....................................59

By Wm Michael Mott. Ancient mythologies andreligions are rich with tales of inhabitants fromsubterranean realms, and they have commonalitieswhether they be from the East, West or New World.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE................................................67

Richard Boylan, PhD, interviews "Z", a former NSAconsultant who makes startling revelations about theUS shadow government, the Americans' fleet ofantigravity craft, a "doomsday" asteroid due to hitEarth in 2030, and the return of the tenth planet.

R E V I E W S — B o o k s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1"The Lynch-Mob Syndrome" by Ken Norman"Unexplained Phenomena" by Bob Rickard and John Michell"The Vast Enquiring Soul" by Ronald Russell"Cosmic Wonder" by Laurelle Russell-Atkinson"The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD"The Aztec Virgin" by John Mini"Take Control of Your Health" by Elaine Hollingsworth"Tachyon Energy" by David Wagner and Gabriel Cousens, MD"Mysteries of the Sacred Universe" by Richard L. Thompson"The Tesla Papers" edited by David Hatcher Childress"The PK Man" by Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD"Eve of the Apocalypse" by Michael Bond"AIDS: An Explosion of the Biological Time-bomb?" by Robert E. Lee"The Fertile Earth" & "The Energy Evolution" edited by Callum Coats"The Talk of the Galaxy: An ET Message for Us?" by Paul LaViolette

R E V I E W S — A u d i o t a p e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8"Children of the Rainbow" by Gordon-Michael Scallion & C. Keyes

R E V I E W S — M u s i c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9"Music from the Tea Lands" by various artists"Shiatsu" by Llewellyn"Parikrama" by David Parsons"The Believer" by Remember Shakti"Postcards from Bundanon" by Riley Lee

NEXUS BOOKS, VIDEOS, ADS, SUBS...................88–95

NEXUS MAGAZINEVolume 8, Number 2

FEBRUARY – MARCH 2001

PUBLISHED BYNEXUS Magazine Pty Ltd, ABN 80 003 611 434

EDITORDuncan M. Roads

CO-EDITORCatherine Simons

ASSISTANT EDITOR/SUB-EDITORRuth Parnell

EDITORS' ASSISTANTRichard Giles

OFFICE ADMINISTRATORJanine Carmichael

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUEMichael C. Ruppert; Susan Bryce; Katrina Fox;

Peter Olson; Viera Scheibner, PhD; Albert Budden; Paul A. LaViolette, PhD; Wm Michael Mott; Richard Boylan, PhD

CARTOONSPhil Somerville

COVER GRAPHICJohn Cook, [email protected]

PRINTINGWarwick Daily News, Queensland, Australia

AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTIONNewsagents Direct Distribution

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STATEMENT OF PURPOSENEXUS recognises that humanity is undergoing amassive transformation. With this in mind, NEXUSseeks to provide 'hard-to-get' information so as toassist people through these changes. NEXUS is notlinked to any religious, philosophical or politicalideology or organisation.

PERMISSION-TO-REPRODUCE POLICYWhile reproduction and dissemination of the infor-mation in NEXUS is actively encouraged, anyonecaught making a buck out of it, without our expresspermission, will be in trouble when we catch them!

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Advertisers upon and by lodging material with the Publisher for publication or authorising or approving of the publication of any material INDEMNIFY thePublisher and its servants and agents against all liability claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from the publication and without limiting the generality of theforegoing to indemnify each of them in relation to defamation, slander of title, breach of copyright, infringement of trademarks or names of publication titles, unfaircompetition or trade practices, royalties or violation of rights or privacy AND WARRANT that the material complies with all relevant laws and regulations and thatits publication will not give rise to any rights against or liabilities in the Publisher, its servants or agents and in particular that nothing therein is capable of beingmisleading or deceptive or otherwise in breach of the Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974. All expressions of opinion are published on the basis that they arenot to be regarded as expressing the opinion of the Publisher or its servants or agents. Editorial advice is not specific and readers are advised to seek professionalhelp for individual problems. © NEXUS New Times 2001

Editorial

Conspiracies and conspiracy theories are subjects which the mainstream media stillquickly dismiss as nonsensical, associating them with right-wing extremists as much

as possible. But conspiracies, by their very definition, seem to be part of human nature,let alone human history. Brothers and sisters conspire against each other and their par-ents; businesses conspire against other businesses; politicians conspire against other politi-cians; and countries conspire against other countries. To believe otherwise is to live infantasyland. At school we are taught that history is full of conspiring individuals, tribesand nations, but somehow we are led to believe that all significant conspiracies vanishedafter World War II.

One glaring conspiracy is the cover-up on UFOs. I am convinced that key elements ofthe military/intelligence community in all industrialised nations are withholding importantinformation on the nature of UFOs. Given the fact that elected (and puppet) governmentsare fairly transient, I doubt that many politicians are 'in the 'loop' on the subject. I suspectthat the key executive-level public servants of many governments are privy to it, as arekey executive officers of most major defence-industry-related companies. Then, ofcourse, there are the UFO witnesses and experiencers who are rapidly growing in number.

The big question in many NEXUS readers' minds is, "Why the silence?" Ironically, thelack of 'official' explanation or even interest in UFOs creates an information vacuumwherein conspiracy theories find nourishment. Opinion polls show that the majority ofthe world's Western populations now believe that UFOs are likely to be real, and, impor-tantly, that information about them is being suppressed by 'the government'. It is just amatter of time before the number of videotaped encounters increases to the point where anofficial 'statement' is warranted. I wonder what the 'spin' on that moment will be? AreUFOs just secret government experiments, or do we really have cosmic neighbours? Onething is for sure: the world will change forever on that day. I suspect that the globalisa-tion agenda is of more immediate importance to those who are in the position to decidewhat UFO information is released and when. I'll wager that soon after we arrive at a glob-alised, cashless economy with harmonised trading blocks, that is the time when there'll bea major release of UFO information.

In the meantime, we are pleased to present another two months' worth of food for yourbrain. The Bush-Cheney Drug Empire article will not surprise regular readers. Now thatthe Bush family, its associates and backers have consolidated their hold in the UnitedStates, you can expect some rapid action. Read the article to see what I mean.

We cover several important health-related subjects this issue. One article exposes theglobal agenda to put irradiated food on our plates, and another discusses beta-glucan, anatural extract which can boost the immune system. The article on animal experimenta-tion shows that, apart from the moral and ethical concerns, there is just no scientific basisfor using animals to test drugs and products for human use. It is fatally clear that testingon animals ultimately kills thousands of humans. The practice is purely money-drivennow, so read the article and then tell companies which test on animals that you will nolonger buy their products! Consumers do have power—if they use it!

A phenomenon which has teased and tantalised people for centuries is ball lightning.Recently, some US researchers reinterpreted some of Dr Nikola Tesla's notes and workedout how to make their own ball lightning. The details are in Science News this issue.

We are also pleased to give attention to Dr Paul Violette's excellent work—in particu-lar, his research on the periodic explosions at the centres of galaxies. If you think we arenot affected by these events, read the article and think again. Scientists and prophecy-watchers alike will find themselves shifting uncomfortably in their seats after reading this.

Readers interested in ancient mysteries and the unexplained will appreciate our newseries, starting this issue, on mysterious civilisations and races inside the Earth. Why doso many cultures have legends of subterranean beings, and why are they so alike?

Finally, I must mention the "Garlic is Bad for You" items. Having been alerted to com-ments made by Dr Bob Beck (of "Beck Zapper" fame), we are now looking around formore on this subject. Read Letters to the Editor first, then the item in Global News, andcontact me if you have comments or information to pass on. Till next time...

Duncan

2 • NEXUS FEBRUARY – MARCH 2001


Diet Soda Aspartame DangersDear Editor: I have been ill with

unexplained seizures since 6/99.My seizures are not convulsivebut, rather, I suffer serious dizzi-ness and vertigo sometimes forhours at a time. The neurologist isbaffled, as none of my symptomsis classic for "seizure" or for"migraines".

Firstly, the doctors attributed itto a hormonal imbalance after amiscarriage in 6/99. Then theyeven wanted to label me as having"panic attacks". Being the patientfrom hell, I refused the panicattack angle and said, "There issomething seriously wrong—sostart looking elsewhere, pal!"

We decided to try an antiseizuremedication, and my episodesseemed to lessen in frequency.Coincidence, or was the seizurediagnosis wrong in the first place?

I decided to do some moreresearch myself, and realised eventhe first "petit mal–like seizure"occurred after ingesting multipledaily servings of diet soda.Whenever I would have a "break-through" seizure on the meds, inreflection it was after consump-tion of multiple diet sodas. Mycuriosity wondered if it was caf-feine or the artificial sweetener.

When reading your article "TheBitter Truth about ArtificialSweeteners" [NEXUS 2/28, 3/01or website], I wanted to throw up!I began to shake at the simplicityof everything that's beenhappening to me. This seemed toexplain the "unexplainable, non-classic" symptoms the doctorswere all baffled with. Didn't theyread about this in med school or intheir continuing educationseminars?

Thank you, thank you, thankyou...! This patient from hell isnow taking things into her ownhands. I have already discontin-ued drinking my much-loved dietsodas (as they were also causingdaily heartburn) and am drinkingmore water and juices from frozenconcentrate. In less than threedays, I am already feelingimmensely better. I'm going tocontinue with this, as well as scru-tinise other things in my dietaryintake. I can't believe the answercould possibly be this simple. Ido understand I may be wrong,but cutting this out isn't going tohurt me. I will continue with my

antiseizure med for a whilelonger, just in case I'm off themark. The antiseizure med hasleft me with shaky, weak hands,still some dizziness and unable towork on patients. I am very anx-ious to discontinue it, instead ofincreasing the dosage when I havea seizure. (I am a dental hygien-ist, now doing office administra-tion.) My memory and concentra-tion abilities have been affected.

After reading your article, I haveno doubt that my symptoms willimprove dramatically. I wouldlike to sue the pants off the FDAfor allowing this to be marketedwithout warning labels. I'd haveliked to have had the choice ofputting my health and career injeopardy. Thank you again foryour very insightful article. Youhave put the light on at the end ofmy very long, frustrating tunnel!

Sincerely, K. Quigley, Maine,USA, [email protected]

Conspiracy of Science?In NEXUS 8/01 there is an inter-

esting article, titled "Introductionto Applied Aether EnergyScience", by Dr Robert Adams.The article is not easy to read, butI got the idea that Dr Adams wasforced to give up any attempt todescribe his ideas by the use ofconventional, highly reconditemathematics, as required by mod-ern theoretical scientists, particu-larly theoretical physicists.

Finally resorting to his ownempirical findings, Dr Adams wasable to invent his Adams Thermo-Motor-Generator, which can onlybe explained, he says, by the useof Tesla technology ("the skineffect"). In other words, accord-ing to Dr Adams, "one must elimi-nate the notion that electrons arethe working gremlins of electro-static energies". Cheers to DrAdams. Someone finally has theguts to come out and say in print(thanks to NEXUS New Times)that modern theoretical physicshas more holes in it than myscreen door.

In my many attempts to find aprofessional physicist who mightbe interested in reading my alter-native theories about the structureand behaviour of atoms, I gotrejection after rejection from uni-versity professors who would noteven take the time to look at mywork. One professor responded in

a telephone conversation: "Weget a lot of calls and mail frompeople who claim to have a newtheory. Who do you think you areto question the experts, and whydo you think there is a need toquestion quantum mechanics?"

One answered in a letter that healso had some reservations aboutquantum mechanics, but that hesimply did not have the time toread my manuscript. Anotherresponded that he did not have thetime to read my manuscript andthat he did not think that currentphysics needed any revisions,even though "there are obviouslyopen problems". Still anothersaid: "No one has time to exam-ine new theories. They are all toobusy writing grant proposals."Then he offered a quote, saying:"For every crackpot who turns outto be a genius, there are a thou-sand crackpots who will foreverremain crackpots."

What they are saying to memight very well be true, but howcan they know whether or not mytheories are worthless unless theytake a moment of their busy timeto read my work? I would like toknow if any of your readers hasalso experienced this problem andif anyone else thinks that theremight be a professional conspira-cy to keep outsiders outside.

Sincerely, Cecil Ross [author ofLogical Physics , ISBN 0-9649888-1-X], Austin, Texas,USA, [email protected]

Homing in on HormonesDear Duncan: It has been

almost two years since I departedAustralia for the US to continuemy lecture tour for my book,Hormone Heresy . Here's anupdate on my progress this year.

Hormone Heresy became a best-selling book in Canada and is inits second printing. It has alsobeen translated into Italian.(Unfortunately, it is presently outof print in Australia.) I have beentraversing North America as apopular keynote speaker as well asradio and TV guest, lecturingabout the many myths and dangersof hormone treatments for women.It's been quite an exciting time.

More than ever, my message isvital—as the natural cycles of allwomen continue to be medicalisedand pathologised. For instance,PMS is now labelled a medical

condition to be treated withProzac, and women's menstrualcycles are deemed dangerous andunnecessary (Time, September 18,2000). The cure is simple: justuse a continuous low-dose Pill andreduce menstruation to only threeor four times a year!

I can be contacted [email protected] or www.ssellman.com, or at PO Box690416, Tulsa, OK 74169, USA.

Best wishes, Sherrill Sellman

Whooping Cough Cover-upI would like to reply to Donna

who is concerned about her soncontracting whooping cough.

My two-year-old daughtercontracted whooping cough froma child I was babysitting at thetime. This other girl, Lindsey, hadjust recently been vaccinated forwhooping cough. In addition,Justine, my cousin's child, aboutfour years of age, had also beenvaccinated shortly before shecontracted whooping cough.Lindsey and Justine do not knoweach other and contractedwhooping cough from theirrespective vaccines.

My daughter, who has neverbeen vaccinated, had a milder caseand recovered sooner than eitherof the other girls. Both other girlswere on antibiotics (several differ-ent types), which did not help atall. That tells me several things:

1) The vaccine does not protectyour child.

2) Your child's natural immuni-ty is better able to fight off thedisease without antibiotics.

3) The milder, shorter versionof whooping cough, which mydaughter had, was preferable tothe longer, harsher cases the othergirls had.

4) Had I taken my child to thedoctor (which I did not), she mostlikely would have been diagnosedas having "whooping cough"because she was not vaccinated.The other girls were officiallydiagnosed as having "croup",since they had been vaccinated.Just another way to cover up actu-al statistics, and fool the averageperson into believing that vaccinesare safe.

By the way, when my two-year-old had whooping cough, herthree-week-old sister never con-tracted it. There is a lot to be saidfor breastfeeding and the natural

Letters to the Editor ...


immunity it gives. I believe thatmy second daughter has a lifetimeimmunity to whooping coughnow, because of her exposure asan infant.

Sincerely, Tammy Mokma,[email protected] ([email protected])

Jehovah's Witnesses SpyingDuncan: Where do I start—

apart from giving well-deservedpraise for your nuggets of info inNEXUS? The varieties of sub-jects covered in your magazine areso thought-provoking, I neverknow which article to read first.

Here is my situation. For 18years I was raised as a Jehovah'sWitness and my family was afocal point in the southernEngland JW family. I was des-tined to follow my brothers' foot-steps to missionaryhood...but Isaw things going on that reallymade my hair stand on end.

It was almost like the JWs hadtheir own covert ops. The 10–12elders in each congregation actu-ally carry out surveillance, catch-ing out their own and others'spouses/partners in unbiblicalactions. My father actually car-ried out some of these "snoops",as we call them (let me just addthat they don't just knock ondoors).

So I left this hub and went into abig, unknown, unexplained, scaryworld (I was taught at home andwas in a total bubble for 18 years).After several years of letting myyoung wild heart and body looseon this "world", I was introducedto two friends of yours, one aReiki master, and then your maga-zine came into my life...

What is beautiful about yourmag is the non-commercialism ofit (the black & white adds to thiseffect); it's down to Earth and notjust full of the usual W.H. Smithmagazine crap. For instance, thePromis article in 8/01: out of theblue to me, but now indeliblymarked on my mind...

I'd just like to say thank you.You have touched my life, andnow a lot of my young friends areordering NEXUS from their localstore as it has become top readingmaterial in my house.

Thanks again, and lie low butshout loud!

Simon S., [email protected]

Garlic is Bad for You!First, I'd like to compliment you

on your excellent publication. I'veread most of your magazine arti-cles and have supported many ofyour advertisers.

What I'd like to bring to yourattention is an excerpt from anaudiocassette tape which Ireceived from Sota Instruments,Canada, when I ordered a"Magnetic Pulser" from them.The reason I'd like you to followup on this information is this: Ihave scoured the Internet for moreinformation on the hazards of gar-lic and have come up withn o t h i n g! What I've done for youis transcribe (to the best of myability) about four minutes of BobBeck speaking about his researchand findings on the subject of gar-lic and how bad it is for you.

My friends and I have given upgarlic since we heard this tape acouple of years ago. I think thisinformation is extremely valuableand that your magazine is theideal forum. It is controversial,but very similar to the informationyou have presented onmicrowaved food, margarine, soyproducts, etc.

Sincerely, Len Fuller,Washington, USA, [email protected]

[Dear Len: Intriguing, especial -ly given the respect that Dr BobBeck holds. We have put yourtranscript into this issue's GlobalNews, and I'll be most interestedin feedback from readers. Ed.]

Weather Control over Serbia?During the NATO military oper-

ations in Serbia in 1998, witnessesreported weird phenomena.

Weather during the last and theworst bombing campaign aroundSerbia was very strange. Hugeblack clouds materialised out ofthe blue sky, and stayed there untilthe end of the campaign, whichwas a couple of weeks. There wasno rain falling from the clouds.What did fall on Belgrade washailstone the size of eggs. Youcan still see the marks it left onhouses.

During that time, witnessesdescribe strange "lightning" in thesky which lasted for hours butdidn't look like anything anybodyhad seen before. The "thunder"that accompanied the strange"lightning" was equally strange. It

was hundreds of times strongerthan any thunder anybody remem-bers. It was so loud, louder thenthe sound of bomb explosions. Acouple of days before the capitula-tion of the Serbian Army wassigned, a very strong earthquakestruck Belgrade.

The weather cleared very soonafter the bombing campaign wasover. Since then, the climate inSerbia has changed considerably.

Serbia has experienced one ofthe worst droughts in its history.For the last two years, it's lookedas if the rain and snow have beenmissing Serbia on purpose.Everywhere else around Serbia,the climate is still the same as itever was. So we cannot talk aboutglobal warming or natural climaticchanges, because the neighbour-ing countries to the west, east,north and south are not affected.

Last year, Serbia had eightmonths without a drop of rain.This continues even as we speak,as Serbia didn't get any snow thisyear. Even worse, the temperatureat the moment is 19°C [66.2°F].

Last week [the first week ofJanuary], scientists in Serbiareleased a report which states thatthe electromagnetic field overSerbia has been punctured. Thehole is almost the size of Serbia.It starts at the border betweenKosovo and Albania in the south,and ends near the Yugoslav-Hungarian border in the north.

The reason for conducting themeasuring was the strange behav-iour of the cloud masses whichtwice a year come to the Balkansfrom Libya. Normally they wouldunload their cargo of water overthe Balkans. In the last two years,however, they have hit the south-ern border of Kosovo and—as ariver current flows around anisland—the cloud masses havesplit and completely missed theSerbian territory, leaving anempty hole visible in the satellitepictures.

The first time the scientistsnoticed this phenomenon was on28 December 2000. The cloudmasses divided into a strongereastern and weaker western streamand went around the Serbian terri-tory. The same happened on 31December, when the rain whichwould usually fall on Serbia wenteast and caused over 200 ml ofrain per square metre to fall on theterritories east of Kosovo.

All of this is about to cause pos-sibly the worst drought ever to hitSerbia, and potentially a famine,as the crops will be destroyed ifrain or snow doesn't fall in Serbiasoon.

Could somebody help me findout if there was anything unusualhappening in the electromagneticworld during the final days of thebombing of Serbia, which was inthe [northern] summer of 1999?Also, does anybody have any indi-cation that anything unusual hap-pened with the Earth's electromag-netic field on 28 or 31 December2000?

Yours, Goran Pavlovic, [email protected]

Crop Circles & US Military?Hello, Duncan: The crop circle

photos in 7/06 are certainlythought-provoking, and the croppatterns unable to be done by anyground-bound human, much lessin the short time they take tobecome apparent.

Discounting the attempts at com-munication by the inhabitants ofthe UFO phenomenon, it seems tome that a human agency based inthe United States is the probableorigin. We know that the USAhas had many orbital launch mis-sions concealed by a militarysecrecy ban in the past, and itwould be quite easy for a boredground station operator to use aseries of paper-based geometricpatterns in his transmitter to thestationary satellite above Europeand, with the particle beam type ofweapon up there, turned to lowerpower and focused on the fields ofEngland and Europe, it would bequite an easy thing to level cropsin the fields.

Previous articles in NEXUS, inconnection with the levelling ofthe government building in[Oklahoma City] not too manyyears ago, pointed the way to theuse then of a type of particle beamused to shatter the building underthe guise of an ammonium nitrateutility load being detonated by anex-soldier of the army.

The continuing pattern of a cir-cular layout, not square or rectan-gular, indicates a satellite trans-mitter with a circular beam, muchlike a domestic torch.

Keep up the good work.Neil Hart, Queensland, Australia

... more Letters to the EditorNB: Please keep letters toapprox. 200 to 250 words

in length. Ed.


GARLIC: TOXIC SHOCK!

[I am as surprised and shocked asyou will be to hear such a respectedscientist as Bob Beck telling us thatgarlic is highly toxic. See Lettersthis issue for background. Editor]

The reason garlic is so toxic, thesulphone hydroxyl ion pene-

trates the blood-brain barrier, justlike DMSO, and is a specific poi-son for higher life-forms and braincells. We discovered this, much toour horror, when I was the world'slargest manufacturer of ethical EEGbiofeedback equipment.

We'd have people come backfrom lunch that looked clinicallydead on an encephalograph, whichwe used to calibrate their progress."Well, what happened?" "Well, Iwent to an Italian restaurant andthere was some garlic in my salad dress-ing!" So we had 'em sign things that theywouldn't touch garlic before classes or wewere wasting their time, their money andmy time.

I guess those of you who are pilots orhave been in flight tests ... I was in flighttest engineering in Doc Hallan's group inthe 1950s. The flight surgeon would comearound every month and remind all of us:"Don't you dare touch any garlic 72 hoursbefore you fly one of our airplanes,because it'll double or triple your reactiontime. You're three times slower than you

would be if you'd [not] had a few drops ofgarlic."

Well, we didn't know why for 20 yearslater, until I owned the Alpha-MetricsCorporation. We were building biofeed-back equipment and found out that garlictotally desynchronises your brain waves.

So I funded a study at Stanford and, sureenough, they found that it's a poison. Youcan rub a clove of garlic on your foot—onthe sole of your foot—and you can smell itshortly later on your wrists. So itpenetrates the body. This is why DMSOsmells a lot like garlic: that sulphone

hydroxyl ion penetrates all thebarriers including the corpuscallosum in the brain.

Any of you who are organic gar-deners know that if you don't want touse DDT, garlic will kill anything inthe way of insects.

Now, most people have heard mostof their lives that garlic is good foryou, and we put those people in thesame class of ignorance as the moth-ers who at the turn of the centurywould buy morphine sulphate in thedrugstore and give it to their babies toput 'em to sleep.

If you have any patients who havelow-grade headaches or attentiondeficit [disorder], they can't quitefocus on the computer in the after-noon, just do an experiment—youowe it to yourselves. Take those peo-

ple off garlic and see how much better theyget, very very shortly. And then let themeat a little garlic after about three weeks.They'll say: "My God, I had no idea thatthis was the cause of our problems." Andthis includes the de-skunked garlics,Kyolic, some of the other products.

Very unpopular, but I've got to tell youthe truth.(Source: From a lecture by Dr Robert [Bob]C. Beck, DSc., given at the Whole Life Expo,

Seattle, WA, USA, in March 1996)

US SCIENTISTS PUT OESTROGEN& ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION

ONTO CARCINOGEN LIST

The US National Toxicology Programadvisory committee recently voted 8–1

that steroidal oestrogen—a type used inpostmenopausal treatments and birth con-trol pills—should be listed as a carcinogenbecause of its associations with endometri-al cancer and breast cancer.

Another type of postmenopausal estro-gen, conjugated oestrogen, is already onthe federal carcinogen list.

Doctors already know about the cancerlink, and that's the reason why post-menopausal oestrogen is given togetherwith another synthetic hormone, progestin;the combination lowers the risk ofendometrial cancer.

The committee of scientists advises theNTP, a branch of the National Institutes ofHealth, which every two years updates thefederal list of proven and suspected can-cer-causing substances.

The panel also voted to add ultraviolet


... GL BAL NEWS ...radiation to the official carcinogen list.

UV radiation can damage the eyes andskin. It comes in three forms, rangingfrom the relatively long-wavelength UVAto the shortest wavelength UVC. UVAaccounts for most of the solar UV radia-tion because it is not absorbed by theatmosphere. UVB is mostly absorbed bythe ozone layer and UVC is totallyabsorbed.(Source: Associated Press, Washington, DC,

18 December 2000)

POWER OF PRAYER TO FIGHTPOWER OF THE CHURCH?

It is likely that the residents of Cesano, anorthern suburb of Rome, have been

praying for divine intervention in the faceof increased cases of cancer.

It is reported that they are experiencingan incidence of tumours 30 per cent abovethe national average. This has resulted in7,500 deaths over six years, leading to anofficial investigation.

It would appear that the culprit is theVatican, which broadcasts all over theworld from a forest of antennae at SantaMaria di Galera, near Cesano.

Vatican Radio's electromagnetic pollu-tion, according to a separate enquiry by theLazio region, is almost three times thelegal limit. But reducing the radio emis-sions will not be easy. The Vatican's legalrepresentatives argue that those who exer-cise Vatican activities are not punishableby Italian law, and the 1951 accord recog-nises the extra-territoriality of the radiotransmitting complex.

It remains to be seen whether the prayersof local people will prove to be more pow-erful than the legal might of the RomanCatholic Church.(Source: Life & Soul magazine, UK, no. 19,

Summer 2000, www.lifeandsoul.com)

A THIRD-WORLD VIEW OFFIRST-WORLD DEMOCRACY

Imagine that we read of an electionoccurring anywhere in the Third World,

in which the self-declared winner is theson of the former prime minister [or presi-dent] ,and that former prime minister [orpresident] is himself the former head ofthat nation's secret police (CIA).

• Imagine that the self-declared winnerlost the popular vote but won based onsome old colonial holdover (ElectoralCollege) from the nation's pre-democracypast.

• Imagine that the self-declared winner's"victory" turned on disputed votes cast in aprovince governed by his brother.

• Imagine that the poorly drafted ballotsof one district, a district heavily favouringthe self-declared winner's opponent, ledthousands of voters to vote for the wrongcandidate.

• Imagine that members of that nation'smost despised caste, fearing for their livesand livelihoods, turned out in record num-bers to vote in near-universal opposition tothe self-declared winner's candidacy.

• Imagine that hundreds of members ofthat most-despised caste were interceptedon their way to the polls by state policeoperating under the authority of the self-declared winner's brother.

• Imagine that six million people votedin the disputed province and that the self-declared winner's "lead" was only 327votes—fewer, certainly, than the vote-counting machines' margin of error.

• Imagine that the self-declared winnerand his political party opposed a morecareful by-hand inspection and re-countingof the ballots in the disputed province or inits most hotly disputed district.

• Imagine that the self-declared winner,himself a governor of a major province,had the worst human rights record of anyprovince in his nation and actually led thenation in executions.

• Imagine that a major campaignpromise of the self-declared winner was toappoint like-minded human rights violatorsto lifetime positions on the High Court ofthat nation.

None of us would deem such an electionto be representative of anything other thanthe self-declared winner's will-to-power.All of us, I imagine, would wearily turnthe page, thinking that it was another sadtale of pitiful pre- or anti-democracy peo-ples in some strange country elsewhere.

(Source: Via Conspiracy-Theory@egroups. com, from an article circulating onthe Internet, in which a Zimbabwe politician

is quoted as saying that children shouldclosely study events surrounding the recent

US election, for they show that election fraudis not only a Third World phenomenon.)

SINGAPORE TO PHASE-INCASHLESS ECONOMY

It could prove to be the death-knell ofnotes and coins. Singapore is to phase-

in e-money and force all its businesses toaccept it as legal tender by 2008.

Financial transactions will be madeusing money stored on computer chips.Cash will be superseded as money willchange hands electronically via digitalpulses transferred through mobile phones,hand-held computers and even watches.

A shopper will be able to point a mobilephone at an item to register the price. Thephone would check the shopper's bank bal-ance on the Internet and deduct the moneyfrom the account if it were told to buy theitem. Singapore's government says themove will save a small fortune on thelabour, security and transportation costsinvolved in making and moving notes andcoins.

"The physical notes and coins will be a


... GL BAL NEWS ...thing of the past," said Low Siang Kok,currency director at Singapore's Board ofCommissioners of Currency. "There's nopoint in fighting technology."

"If you want to give your kids pocketmoney, you pass it to them by phone. Theycan use it for bus fares, in the school cafe-teria, or whatever. E-money will differfrom credit or debit cards, which are com-mercial products issued by banks," he said,arguing that it would also be safer to carryaround and could be protected by pass-words, codes and other security features.

Singapore's government is a strongbeliever in e-commerce and is setting up ahigh-speed broadband Internet network tolink all homes, schools, businesses andgovernment offices electronically.

(Source: Metro, UK, 20 December 2000)

DOCTOR'S GROUP OPPOSESMANDATORY VACCINATIONS

Members of the Association ofAmerican Physicians and Surgeons

(AAPS) passed a resolution at their 57thAnnual Meeting in St Louis, calling for anend to government-mandated childhoodvaccinations. It was passed without a sin-gle "no" vote. (The fact sheet outlining theresolution on mandated vaccines is postedat www.aapsonline.org.)

"Our children face the possibility of deathor serious long-term adverse effects frommandated vaccines that aren't necessary or

that have very limited benefits," said JaneM. Orient, MD, the Executive Director ofAAPS.

"This is not a vote against vaccines," saidDr Orient. "This resolution only attemptsto halt blanket vaccine mandates by gov-ernment agencies and school districts thatgive no consideration for the rights of theparents or the individual medical conditionof the child."

Forty-two US states have mandatoryvaccine policies, and many children arerequired to have 22 shots before first grade.On top of that, as a condition for schoolattendance, many school districts requirevaccination for diseases such as hepatitis B,primarily an adult disease, yet childrenunder 14 are three times more likely to suf-fer adverse effects (including death) fol-lowing the hepatitis B vaccine than to catchthe disease itself.

In late October, students in Utica, NewYork, were sent home from school and toldthey could not return until they'd receivedhepatitis B vaccinations. Further, parentswere threatened by Child ProtectiveServices with possible seizure of their chil-dren, based on "education neglect".

"It's obscene to threaten to seize a childjust because his parents refuse medicaltreatment that is obviously unnecessary andperhaps even dangerous," said Dr Orient."AAPS believes that parents, with theadvice of their doctors, should make deci-

sions about their children's medical care—not government bureaucrats. This resolu-tion affirms that position."

(Source: www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm, 2 November 2000)

VIRTUALLY REAL 3D IMAGING

Surgeons and designers could soon bemanipulating 3D moving images float-

ing in mid-air rather than on computerscreens, say engineers at DERA, Britain'ssoon-to-be-privatised defence research lab-oratory. They say designers will be able toextend a car's bodywork just by waving astylus, and almost instantly see what itlooks like; or surgeons could twist a brain-scan around to locate an injury.

"We can create a real image floating in3D space," says Chris Slinger, head ofholography at the Defence Evaluation andResearch Agency in Malvern,Worcestershire.

Working in a joint venture with the FordMotor Company, DERA says it plans tohave its first products based on advancedcomputer-generated holography (CGH) onthe market in 2003.

Unlike other techniques, such as stereog-raphy or virtual reality, CGH doesn'trequire people to wear cumbersome head-gear to see the image, and prolonged usedoesn't lead to any ill effects. Users manip-ulate images using tools which exist partlyas real objects and partly as virtual tools. Itis like nothing else we have seen before,claims Slinger.

(Source: New Scientist, 16 December 2000,www.newscientist.com)

DNA-POWERED COMPUTERS TOREVOLUTIONISE INTERNET

Bell Laboratories says that artificialDNA, operating tiny computer proces-

sors 100,000 times smaller than the head ofa pin, could revolutionise the Internet ande-commerce. The technology, still in itsinfancy, has the potential to speed upInternet processing and offer encryptiondevices so complex that they cannot bepenetrated by hackers.

Speaking at Gitex, Hari Haran, vice-pres-ident and chief technical officer for Europe,the Middle East and Africa at LucentTechnologies and Bell Labs Innovations,said the new research had the potential torevolutionise computer technology.

"The artificial DNA is chemically creat-ed in a lab to mirror human DNA. Theidea is to make the processors work more


... GL BAL NEWS ...like a brain, which operates chemically.Because the processors' functions arecaused by chemical rather than mechanicalreactions, they can be far smaller than anyother technology, which means we can usemore of them and make them more power-ful. The Internet we have today is nothingcompared to the system we will havetomorrow," Mr Haran said.

(Source: Gulf News, Dubai, UAE,31 October 2000, www.gulf-news.com)

RISK OF vCJD FROM BSE-INFECTED VACCINES

Questionable cattle products have goneinto baby food, pet food, beauty prepa-

rations, health supplements and vaccines.Only last November, British health authori-ties withdrew supplies of polio vaccineafter discovering they were cultivated fromBritish bovine serum produced when BSE,or mad cow disease, was at its height.Eleven million children and travellers havereceived the oral vaccine. Vaccines againstmeasles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria andwhooping cough also were made fromBritish-sourced bovine material until atleast 1993.

The government said that the risk of con-tracting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseasefrom vaccine was "incalculably small", butthis is not what was said by Sir RichardSouthwood, author of the first majorBritish mad cow investigation. He warnedin an internal memorandum that the dangerof infection from vaccines was "moderatelyhigh", and recommended that the removalof bovine material from vaccines should bea priority area for action.

Estimates of eventual deaths fromCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease range from "sev-eral dozen", according to the French healthsecretary Dominique Gillot, to 250,000, asin a recent British Government study.

"We might be seeing an epidemic thatinvolves hundreds of thousands of people,"said John Collinge of the UK's advisorycommittee on spongiform encephalo-pathies. "Let's hope that is not the case,but it's still possible."

John Kent, a professor of statistics atLeeds University who has tried to quantifythe crisis, said that the mathematical mod-els were not to be trusted because scientistsdo not know how to determine what is aninfectious dose and do not know how manypeople have eaten infected meat. (Source: The International Herald Tribune,

UK, 7 December 2000, www.iht.com)

SECRET PLAN TO SPY ON ALL BRITISH PHONE CALLS & E-MAILS

Britain's intelligence services are seeking powers to seize all records of telephonecalls, e-mails and Internet connections made by every person living in the UK. The

document, circulated to Home Office officials and obtained by The Observer, reveals thatMI5, MI6 and the police are demanding new legislation to log every phone call made in thiscountry and store the information for seven years at a vast government-run "data warehouse"with a supercomputer that will hold the information.

The secret moves, which are expected to cost millions of pounds, have been condemned bypoliticians and campaigners as a sinister expansion of "Big Brother" state powers and a fun-damental attack on the public's right to privacy.

"We are sympathetic to the need for greater powers to fight modern types of crime. Butvast banks of information on every member of the public can quickly slip into the world ofBig Brother," said Lord Cope, the Conservative peer and a leading expert on privacy issues.

Maurice Frankel, a leading campaigner on personal data issues, called the powers "sweep-ing" and a cause for worry.

The document, which is classified "Restricted", says new laws are needed to allow theintelligence services, Customs and Excise and the police access to telephone and computerrecords of every member of the public. It suggests that the Home Office is sympathetic tothe new powers, which would be used to tackle the growing problems of cybercrime, the useof computers by paedophiles to run child pornography rings, as well as terrorism and interna-tional drug trafficking. When contacted by The Observer, the Home Office admitted that itwas giving the plans serious consideration.

Every telephone call made and received by a member of the public, all e-mails sent andreceived and every web page looked at would be recorded. Calls made on mobile phones canalready be pinpointed geographically, as can those made from land lines. The police wouldbe able to use "trawling" computer techniques to look through millions of telephone and e-mail records. Campaigners say innocent people could have highly personal informationaccessed.

The document admits the moves are controversial and could clash with the Human RightsAct which gives people the right to privacy, with European Union law, and with the DataProtection Act which protects the public against official intrusion into private lives.

"A clear legislative framework needs to be agreed as a matter of urgency," says the docu-ment, which is dated 10 August 2000 and is thought to have been sent to Home OfficeMinister Charles Clarke.

"Why should data be retained?" it asks. "In the interests of justice, to preserve and protectdata for use as evidence to establish proof of innocence or guilt. For intelligence- and evi-dence-gathering purposes, to maintain the effectiveness of UK law enforcement, intelligenceand security agencies to protect society."

The document is written by Roger Gaspar, the Deputy Director-General of the NationalCriminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), the government agency which oversees criminal intel-ligence in the United Kingdom. Gaspar, as head of intelligence for NCIS, is one of the mostpowerful and influential men in the field. The report says it is written "on behalf of ACPO[the Association of Chief Police Officers], HM Customs and Excise, Security Service, SecretIntelligence Service and GCHQ [the Government's secret listening centre based atCheltenham]".

Gaspar argues telephone companies should be ordered to retain all records of phone callsand Internet access. At the moment, many telephone and Internet service providers keep datafor as little as 24 hours.

"In the interests of verifying the accuracy of data specifically provided for either intelli-gence or evidential purposes, CSPs [communication service providers such as telephone andInternet companies] should be under an obligation to retain the original data supplied for aperiod of seven years or for as long as the prosecuting authority directs," the document says.

"Informal discussions have taken place with the Office of the Data ProtectionCommissioner. Whilst they acknowledge that such communications data may be of value tothe work of the agencies and the interests of justice, they have grave reservations aboutlonger-term data retention."

The document says that the new data warehouse would be run along similar lines to theNational DNA Database of profiles of known criminals.

A spokesman for NCIS refused to be drawn on the report. "I am not going to comment ona classified document that is in unauthorised hands," he said.

(Source: The Observer, London, 3 December 2000, www.observer.co.uk)


FROM MEDELLIN TO MOSCOW WITH BROWN & ROOT

Halliburton Corporation's Brown & Root is one of the major components of theBush-Cheney Drug Empire. The success of Bush Vice-Presidential runningmate Richard Cheney at leading Halliburton, Inc. to a five-year, US$3.8 billion"pig-out" on federal contracts and taxpayer-insured loans is only a partial indi-

cator of what may happen, now that the Bush ticket has won the US presidential election. A closer look at available research, including an August 2, 2000 report by the Center

for Public Integrity (CPI) (www.public-i.org), suggests that drug money has played a rolein the successes achieved by Halliburton under Cheney's tenure as CEO from 1995 to2000. This is especially true for Halliburton's most famous subsidiary, heavy constructionand oil giant Brown & Root. A deeper look into history reveals that Brown & Root'spast—as well as the past of Dick Cheney himself—connects to the international drugtrade on more than one occasion and in more than one way.

Last June, the lead Washington, DC, attorney for a major Russian oil company connect-ed in law enforcement reports to heroin smuggling, and also a beneficiary of US-backedloans to pay for Brown & Root contracts in Russia, held a $2.2 million fundraiser to fillthe already bulging coffers of presidential candidate George W. Bush. This is not the firsttime that Brown & Root has been connected to illegal drugs, and the fact is that this"poster child" of American industry may also be a key player in Wall Street's efforts tomaintain domination of the half-trillion-dollar-a-year global drug trade and its profits.And Dick Cheney, who has also come closer to illegal drugs than most suspect and who isalso Halliburton's largest individual shareholder ($45.5 million), has a vested interest inseeing to it that Brown & Root's successes continue.

Of all the American companies dealing directly with the US military and providingcover for CIA operations, few firms can match the global presence of this giant construc-tion powerhouse which employs 20,000 people in more than 100 countries. Through itssister companies or joint ventures, Brown & Root can build offshore oil rigs, drill wellsand construct and operate everything from harbours and pipelines to highways andnuclear reactors. It can train and arm security forces and it can now also feed, supply andhouse armies. One key beacon of Brown & Root's overwhelming appeal to agencies likethe CIA is that, as it proudly announces from its own corporate web page, it has receivedthe contract to dismantle ageing Russian nuclear-tipped ICBMs in their silos.Furthermore, the relationships between key institutions, players and the Bushes them-selves suggest that under a George "W" Administration the Bush family and its allies,using Brown & Root as the operational interface, may well be able to control the drugtrade all the way from Medellín to Moscow.

Originally formed as a heavy construction company to build dams, Brown & Root grewits operations via shrewd political contributions to Senate candidate Lyndon Johnson in1948. Expanding into the building of oil platforms, military bases, ports, nuclear facili-ties, harbours and tunnels, Brown & Root virtually underwrote LBJ's political career. Itprospered as a result, making billions on US Government contracts during the VietnamWar. The Austin Chronicle, in an August 28, 2000 Op-Ed piece entitled "The Candidatefrom Brown & Root", labels Republican Cheney as the political dispenser of Brown &Root's largesse. According to political campaign records, during Cheney's five-yeartenure at Halliburton the company's political contributions more than doubled to $1.2 mil-lion. Not surprisingly, most of that money went to Republican candidates.

Independent news service Newsmakingnews also describes how in 1998, with Cheneyas Chairman, Halliburton spent $8.1 billion to purchase oil industry equipment and

The Bush family'sinvolvement in

drug-running is anopen secret, butDick Cheney'sdirect link to a

global drugpipeline through aUS constructioncompany is less

well known.

by Michael C. Ruppert © 2000–2001

Publisher/EditorFrom The Wilderness

PO Box 6061-350Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, USAE-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.copvcia.com


drilling supplier Dresser Industries. This made Halliburton a cor-poration that will have a presence in almost any future oil drillingoperation anywhere in the world. And it also brought back intothe family fold the company which had once (also in 1948) sent aplane to fetch the new Yale graduate George H.W. Bush to beginhis career in the Texas oil business. Bush the elder's father,Prescott, served as a managing director for the firm that onceowned Dresser: Brown Brothers Harriman.

BROWN & ROOT'S SPECIAL OPERATIONSIt is clear that everywhere there is oil there is Brown & Root.

But increasingly, everywhere there is war or insurrection there isBrown & Root also. From Bosnia and Kosovo to Chechnya,Rwanda, Burma, Pakistan, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Iran, Libya,Mexico and Colombia, Brown & Root's traditional operationshave expanded from heavy construction to include the provisionof logistical support for the US military.Now, instead of US Army quartermasters,the world is likely to see Brown & Rootwarehouses storing and managing every-thing from uniforms and rations to vehicles.

Dramatic expansion of Brown & Root'soperations in Colombia also suggests Bushpreparations for a war-inspired feeding fren-zy as a part of "Plan Colombia". This isconsistent with moves by former BushTreasury Secretary Nicholas Brady to open ajoint Colombian–American investment part-nership called Corfinsura for the financingof major construction projects with theColombian Antioquia Syndicate, headquar-tered in Medellín (see F T W, June2000).

And expectations of a ground war inColombia may explain why Brown &Root, in a 2000 Securities ExchangeCommission (SEC) filing, reported thatin addition to owning more than800,000 square feet of warehousespace in Colombia, it also leases anoth-er 122,000 square feet. According tothe Brown & Root Energy ServicesGroup filing, the only other placeswhere the company maintains ware-house space are in Mexico (525,000square feet) and the United States(38,000 square feet).

According to the website of Colombia's Foreign InvestmentPromotion Agency, Brown & Root had no presence in the countryuntil 1997. What does Brown & Root—which according toAssociated Press (AP) has made more than $2 billion supportingand supplying US troops—know about Colombia that the UnitedStates public does not? Why the need for almost a million squarefeet of warehouse space which can be transferred from one Brown& Root operation (energy services) to another (military support)with the stroke of a pen?

As described by AP, during the "Iran-Contra" era CongressmanDick Cheney of the House Intelligence Committee was a rabidsupporter of Marine Lt Col. Oliver North. This was in spite of thefact that North had lied to Cheney in a private 1986 White Housebriefing. Oliver North's own diaries and subsequent investiga-tions by the CIA Inspector-General have irrevocably tied himdirectly to cocaine smuggling during the 1980s and the opening of

bank accounts for one firm moving four tons of cocaine a month.This, however, did not stop Cheney from actively supportingNorth's (unsuccessful) 1994 run for the US Senate fromVirginia—just a year before he took over the reins at Brown &Root's parent company, Dallas-based Halliburton, Inc., in 1995.

As the Bush Secretary of Defense during Desert Shield/DesertStorm (1990–91), Cheney also directed special operations involv-ing Kurdish rebels in northern Iran. The Kurds' primary source ofincome for more than 50 years has been heroin smuggling fromAfghanistan and Pakistan through Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

Having had some personal experience with Brown & Root, Inoted carefully when the Los Angeles Times observed that onMarch 22, 1991 a group of gunmen burst into the Ankara, Turkey,offices of joint venture Vinnell, Brown & Root and assassinatedretired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant John Gandy.

In March 1991, tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees, long-time assets of the CIA, were being massa-cred by Saddam Hussein in the wake of theGulf War. Saddam, seeking to destroy anyhopes of a successful Kurdish revolt, foundit easy to kill thousands of the unwantedKurds who had fled to the Turkish borderseeking sanctuary. There, Turkish securityforces—trained in part by the Vinnell,Brown & Root partnership—turned thou-sands of Kurds back into certain death.

Today, the Vinnell Corporation (a TRWcompany) is one of the three pre-eminentprivate mercenary corporations in the world,along with the firms MPRI and DynCorp(see FTW, June 2000). It is also the domi-

nant entity for the training of securityforces throughout the Middle East.

Not surprisingly, the Turkish borderregions in question were the primarytransshipment points for heroin pro-duced in Afghanistan and Pakistan,destined for the markets of Europe.

A confidential source with intelli-gence experience in the region subse-quently told me that the Kurds "gotsome payback against the folks thatused to help them move their drugs".He openly acknowledged that Brown &Root and the Vinnell Corporation bothroutinely provided NOC (non-officialcover) for CIA officers. But I already

knew that.From 1994 to 1999, during US military intervention in the

Balkans—where, according to The Christian Science Monitor andJane's Intelligence Review, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)controls 70 per cent of the heroin entering Western Europe—Cheney's Brown & Root made billions of dollars supplying UStroops from vast facilities in the region. Brown & Root supportoperations continue in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia to this day.

Dick Cheney's footprints have come closer to drugs than onemight suspect. The Center for Public Integrity's August 2000report brought them even closer. It would be correct to say thatthere is a direct linkage of Brown & Root facilities—often set upin remote, hazardous regions—with every drug-producing regionand every drug-consuming region in the world. These coinci-dences, in and of themselves, do not prove complicity in the trade.Other facts, however, lead inescapably in that direction.

It would be correct to say that there is a

direct linkage of Brown & Root

facilities—often set up in remote, hazardousregions—with every

drug-producing region and every drug-consuming

region in the world.


A DIRECT DRUG LINK TO DICK CHENEYThe CPI report entitled "Cheney Led Halliburton to Feast at

Federal Trough", written by veteran journalists Knut Royce andNathaniel Heller, describes how, under five years of Cheney'sleadership, Halliburton, largely through subsidiary Brown &Root, enjoyed $3.8 billion in federal contracts and taxpayer-insured loans. The loans had been granted by the Export–ImportBank (EXIM) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation(OPIC). According to Ralph McGehee's CIA Base, both institu-tions are heavily infiltrated by the CIA and routinely provideNOC to its officers.

One of those loans, to Russian financial/banking conglomerateThe Alfa Group of Companies,contained $292 million to pay forBrown & Root's contract to refurbisha Siberian oil field owned by theRussian Tyumen Oil Company. TheAlfa Group completed its 51 per centacquisition of Tyumen Oil in whatwas allegedly a rigged biddingprocess in 1998. An official RussianGovernment report claims that TheAlfa Group's top executives, oligarchsMikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven,"allegedly participated in the transit ofdrugs from Southeast Asia throughRussia and into Europe". These sameexecutives, Fridman and Aven, whoreportedly smuggled the heroin in connection with Russia'sSolntsevo mob family, were the same ones who applied for theEXIM loans that Halliburton's lobbying later safely secured. As aresult, Brown & Root's work in Alfa Tyumen oil fields couldcontinue—and expand.

After describing how organised criminal interests in The AlfaGroup had allegedly stolen the oil field by fraud, the CPI story—using official reports from the FSB (the Russian equivalent of theFBI), oil companies such as BP–Amoco, former CIA and KGBofficers and press accounts—then established a solid link to AlfaTyumen and the transportation of heroin. In 1995, sacks of heroindisguised as sugar had been stolen from a rail container leased byAlfa Eko and sold in the Siberian town ofKhabarovsk. A problem arose when manyresidents of the town became "intoxicated" or"poisoned".

The CPI story also stated: "The FSBreport said that within days of the incident,Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) agentsconducted raids of Alfa Eko buildings andfound 'drugs and other compromising docu-mentation'.

"Both reports claim that Alfa Bank haslaundered drug funds from Russian andColombian drug cartels.

"The FSB document claims that at the endof 1993, a top Alfa official met with GilbertoRodriguez Orejuela, the now imprisonedfinancial mastermind of Colombia's notoriousCali cartel, 'to conclude an agreement aboutthe transfer of money into the Alfa Bankfrom offshore zones such as the Bahamas,Gibraltar and others'. The plan was to insertit back into the Russian economy through thepurchase of stock in Russian companies.

"...He [the former KGB agent] reported that there was evidence'regarding [Alfa Bank's] involvement with the money launderingof...Latin American drug cartels'."

It then becomes harder for Cheney and Halliburton to assertmere coincidence in all of this, as CPI reported that Tyumen's leadWashington attorney, James C. Langdon, Jr, at the firm of AikinGump, "...helped coordinate a $2.2 million fundraiser for Bushthis June. He then agreed to help recruit 100 lawyers and lobby-ists in the capital to raise $25,000 each for W's campaign."

The heroin mentioned in the CPI story originated in Laos,where longtime Bush allies and covert warriors Richard Armitageand retired CIA ADDO (Associate Deputy Director of

Operations) Ted Shackley have beenrepeatedly linked to the drug trade.It then made its way across SoutheastAsia to Vietnam, probably the portof Haiphong. Then the heroin wasshipped to Russia's Pacific port ofVladivostok, from where it was sub-sequently bounced across Siberia byrail and then by truck or rail toEurope, passing through the hands ofRussian Mafia leaders in Chechnyaand Azerbaijan. Chechnya andAzerbaijan are hotbeds of botharmed conflict and oil exploration,and Brown & Root has operations allalong this route.

As described in previous issues of F T W, this long, expensiveand tortuous path was hastily established after President GeorgeBush's personal envoy Richard Armitage, holding the rank ofAmbassador, had travelled to the former Soviet Union to assist itwith its "economic development" in 1989. The obstacles, then, toa more direct, profitable and efficient route from Afghanistan andPakistan through Turkey into Europe were a cohesiveYugoslavian/Serbian Government controlling the Balkans andcontinuing instability in the Golden Crescent of Pakistan/Afghanistan. Also, there was no other way, using heroin from theGolden Triangle (Burma, Laos and Thailand), to deal with Chinaand India but to go around them.

Under five years of Cheney'sleadership, Halliburton,

largely through subsidiary Brown & Root, enjoyed

$3.8 billion in federal contractsand taxpayer-insured loans.


It is perhaps not by coincidence again that Cheney andArmitage share membership in the prestigious Aspen Institute, anexclusive bi-partisan research think-tank, and also in the US–Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. In November 1999, in whatmay be a portent of things to come, Armitage played the role ofSecretary of Defense in a practical exercise at the Council onForeign Relations, of which he and Cheney are both members.

Many of the longest-serving and best Bush apparatchiks likeRichard Armitage and CIA veteran Ted Shackley have heavypolitical baggage. Since governmental power is so evenly splitafter the long election as to appear contrived, it is unlikely thatcontroversial nominees for cabinet positions like Armitage orShackley will be placed before a 50–50 Senate which is unlikelyto confirm them. Armitage is more likely to appear as a quasi-official adviser in troubled European regions. This is similar tothe roles he performed for George Bush in 1989 in Russia and in1992 in Albania. Armitage's travelspresaged both the Chechen andKosovar conflicts and the rampantexpansion of the drug trade throughthose regions.

DRUG PIPELINE STREAMLINED The Clinton Administration took care

of all that wasted travel for heroin withthe 1999 destruction of Serbia andKosovo and the installation of the KLAas a regional power. That opened adirect line from Afghanistan to WesternEurope—and Brown & Root was rightin the middle of that, too.

The Clinton skill at streamlining drug operations was describedin detail in the April 2000 issue of FTW in a story entitled "TheDemocratic Party's Presidential Drug Money Pipeline". That arti-cle has since been reprinted in three countries. The essence of thedrug economic lesson was that by growing opium in Colombiaand by smuggling both cocaine and heroin from Colombia to NewYork City through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (avirtual straight line), traditional smuggling routes could be short-ened or even eliminated. This reduced both risk and cost,increased profits and eliminated competition.

F T W suspects the hand of Medellín cartel co-founder CarlosLehder in this process, and it is interesting to note that Lehder,released from prison under Clinton in 1995, is now active in both

the Bahamas and South America. Lehder was known during the1980s as "the genius of transportation". I can well imagine DickCheney, having witnessed the complete restructuring of the globaldrug trade in the last eight years, going to George W. and saying,"Look, I know how we can make it even better".

One thing is for certain. As quoted in the CPI article, oneHalliburton vice-president noted that if the Bush–Cheney ticketwere elected, "the company's government contracts would obvi-ously go through the roof".

THE DARK PASTIn July 1977, this writer, then a Los Angeles Police officer,

struggled to make sense of a world gone haywire. In a last-ditcheffort to salvage a relationship with my fiancée, NordicaTheodora D'Orsay (Teddy), a CIA contract agent, I had travelledto New Orleans to find her. On a hastily arranged vacation,

secured with the blessing of my com-manding officer, Captain Jesse Brewerof LAPD, I had gone on my own, unof-ficially, to avoid the scrutiny of LAPD'sOrganized Crime Intelligence Division(OCID).

Teddy had wanted me to join heroperations from within the ranks ofLAPD, starting in the late spring of1976. I had refused to get involvedwith drugs in any way, and everythingshe mentioned seemed to involve eitherheroin or cocaine, along with the gunswhich she was always moving out ofthe country. The Director of the CIA

then was George Herbert Walker Bush.Although officially on staff at the LAPD Academy at the time, I

had been unofficially lent to OCID since January when Teddy,announcing the start of a new operation planned in the fall of1976, suddenly disappeared. She left many people, including me,baffled and twisting in the breeze. The OCID detectives had beenpressuring me hard for information about her and what I knew ofher activities. It was information I could not give them. Hopingagainst hope that I would find some way to understand herinvolvement with CIA, LAPD, the royal family of Iran, the Mafiaand drugs, I set out alone into eight days of Dantean revelationswhich have determined the course of my life from that day to this.

Arriving in New Orleans in early July 1977, I found Teddy liv-ing in an apartment acrossthe river in Gretna.Equipped with scramblerphones and night visiondevices, and workingfrom sealed communiquésdelivered by navy and airforce personnel from near-by Belle Chasse Naval AirStation, she was involvedin something truly ugly.Teddy was arranging forlarge quantities ofweapons to be loaded ontoships leaving for Iran. Atthe same time, she wasworking with Mafia asso-ciates of New OrleansMafia boss Carlos

Armitage's travels presagedboth the Chechen and Kosovar

conflicts and the rampantexpansion of the drug trade

through those regions.


Marcello to coordinate the movement of service boats which werebringing large quantities of heroin into the city. The boats arrivedat Marcello-controlled docks, unmolested by even the NewOrleans police she introduced me to, along with divers, militarymen, former Green Berets and CIA personnel. The service boatswere retrieving the heroin from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, ininternational waters—oil rigs built and serviced by Brown &Root.

The guns which Teddy monitored, apparently Vietnam-era sur-plus AK47s and M16s, were being loaded onto ships also ownedor leased by Brown & Root. And more than once during the eightdays I spent in New Orleans, I met and ate at restaurants withBrown & Root employees who were boarding those ships andleaving for Iran within days. Once, while leaving a bar and appar-ently having asked the wrong question, I was shot at in an attemptto scare me off.

Disgusted and heartbroken at witnessing my fiancée and mygovernment smuggling drugs, I ended the relationship. Returninghome to LA, I made a clean breast andreported all the activity I had seen, includingthe connections to Brown & Root, to LAPDintelligence officers. They promptly told methat I was crazy.

Forced out of LAPD under threat of deathat the end of 1978, I made complaints toLAPD's Internal Affairs Division and to theLA office of the FBI under the command ofFBI SAC Ted Gunderson. I and my attorneywrote to the politicians, the Department ofJustice and the CIA, and contacted the L o sAngeles Times. The FBI and the LAPD saidthat I was crazy.

A 1981 two-part news story in the L o sAngeles Herald Examiner revealed thatthe FBI had taken Teddy into custodyand then released her before classifyingtheir investigation without furtheraction. Former New Orleans CrimeCommissioner Aaron Cohen toldreporter Randall Sullivan that he foundmy description of events perfectlyplausible after his 30 years of studyingLouisiana's organised crime operations.

To this day, a CIA report prepared asa result of my complaint remains clas-sified and exempt from release, pur-suant to executive order of thePresident, in the interests of nationalsecurity and because it would reveal the identities of CIA agents.

On October 26, 1981, in the basement of the West Wing of theWhite House, I reported on what I had seen in New Orleans to myfriend and UCLA classmate, Craig Fuller. Fuller went on tobecome Chief of Staff to Vice- President Bush from 1981 to 1985.

In 1982, then UCLA political science professor Paul Jabberfilled in many of the pieces in my quest to understand what I hadseen in New Orleans. He was qualified to do so because he hadserved as a CIA and State Department consultant to the CarterAdministration.

Paul explained that, after a 1975 treaty between the Shah ofIran and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the Shah had cut off all overtmilitary support for Kurdish rebels fighting Saddam from thenorth of Iraq. In exchange, the Shah had gained access to theShatt al'Arab waterway so that he could multiply his oil exports

and income. Not wanting to lose a valuable long-term asset in theKurds, the CIA had then used Brown & Root—which operated inboth countries and maintained port facilities in the Persian Gulfand near Shatt al'Arab—to rearm the Kurds. The whole operationhad been financed with heroin. Paul was matter-of-fact about it.

In 1983, Paul Jabber left UCLA to become a Vice-President ofBanker's Trust and Chairman of the Middle East Department ofthe Council on Foreign Relations.

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FREE ENTERPRISEIf one is courageous enough to seek an "operating system"

which theoretically explains what FTW has just described for you,one need look no further than a fabulous two-part article pub-lished in Le Monde Diplomatique in April 2000. The stories,focusing heavily on drug capital, are titled "Crime, The World'sBiggest Free Enterprise". The brilliant and penetrating words ofauthors Christian de Brie and Jean de Maillard do a better job ofexplaining the actual world economic and political situation than

anything I have ever read.De Brie writes: "By allowing capital to

flow unchecked from one end of the world tothe other, globalisation and abandonment ofsovereignty have together fostered the explo-sive growth of an outlaw financial market...

"It is a coherent system closely linked tothe expansion of modern capitalism andbased on an association of three partners:governments, transnational corporations andmafias. Business is business: financialcrime is first and foremost a market, thrivingand structured, ruled by supply and demand.

"Big business complicity and politicallaissez faire is the only way that large-scale

organised crime can launder andrecycle the fabulous proceeds of itsactivities. And the transnationals needthe support of governments and theneutrality of regulatory authorities inorder to consolidate their positions,increase their profits, withstand andcrush the competition, pull off the 'dealof the century' and finance their illicitoperations. Politicians are directlyinvolved and their ability to intervenedepends on the backing and the fundingthat keep them in power. Thiscollusion of interests is an essential partof the world economy, the oil that

keeps the wheels of capitalism turning."After confronting CIA Director John Deutch on world televi-

sion on November 15, 1996, I was interviewed by the staff of boththe Senate and House Intelligence Committees. I prepared writtentestimony for Senate Intelligence which I submitted, although Iwas never called to testify. In every one of those interviews andin my written testimony and every lecture since that time, I havetold the story of Brown & Root.

IN GOD (GOLD, OIL, DRUGS) WE TRUSTMake no mistake about it. The United States is preparing for

war. Events immediately following the 2000 US election debacleare ominous predictors for the Bush–Cheney Administration.While not all of the cabinet posts are yet filled, the key posts ofTreasury, Defense, Justice and National Security Advisor point to

"By allowing capital to flow unchecked

from one end of theworld to the other,globalisation andabandonment ofsovereignty have

together fostered theexplosive growth of an outlaw financial

market..."

the most militarised oil-and-big-business-friendly administrationin 35 years.

So thorough is the plan for control of the government that theson of Secretary of State (Designate) Colin Powell, in an appoint-ment which has yet to receive much notice, has been appointedthe new Commissioner of the Federal CommunicationsCommission. This is the body which monitors and polices allcommercial broadcasting in the United States.

With Colin Powell as Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld asSecretary of Defense and Dick Cheney as Vice-President, thehighest levels of the US Government now house two formerSecretaries of Defense and the for-mer Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff. The new National SecurityAdvisor, Condoleeza Rice, whileAfrican-American, has a long trackrecord of service to Republicanadministrations and also sits on theboard of directors of Chevron Oil,which has recently named an oiltanker after her. Her lacklustre oper-ational credentials indicate that shewill probably serve as the designatedmessenger between Bush, Powell,Rumsfeld and Cheney and as theAfrican-American poster girl forcoming military adventurism.

Of special interest as this story goesto press is the strongest rumour among my sources that currentCIA Director George Tenet, appointed to the post by PresidentClinton in 1997, will remain in the new Bush Administration.Based upon this writer's study of CIA operations and history, thisstrongly suggests two things. Firstly, it implies that the CIA, as anon-partisan servant of Wall Street, feels that its interests havebeen—and will continue to be—well served by Tenet, who is wellliked at Langley. Most importantly, however, it suggests that thereare operations, both covert and otherwise, in motion under CIAcontrol which are moving at a speed and with a force that will notaccept a break in rhythm for a change in directors. Most criticalamong these would be the start of the planned conflict inColombia.

Since the advent of the atomic bomb, the United States hasalways needed two kinds of enemies. On one level, it has neededa tactical enemy that it can go out and fight in the field in a shoot-ing war. Since 1945, these enemies have been created andappeared as North Korea, North Vietnam, Grenada, El Salvador,Panama, Iraq and now Colombia. On another level, however, theUS needs a strategic enemy that will justify outrageous expendi-tures of capital for strategic weapon systems like ICBMs, Tridentsubmarines and "Star Wars" missile defence systems.

With the new Bush Administration already contemplating apolicy change that would make Colombian rebels (as opposed to

drug traffickers) the targets of US mili-tary aid, as has been reported by AP,there is no doubt where the nextshooting war is going to be. Andwith the militarised Bush cabinetmaking a missile defence shield a pri-ority, it looks as though either Chinaor Russia will become the next bigenemy of choice. In the end, prof-itability will decide. For the moment,the less-than-credible paper threat isfrom unspecified "rogue nations".We can be certain, however, that theshifting economic pressure platesaround the world will reveal our nextdemon soon enough. Halliburton isuniquely placed to profit from either

eventuality.As it was in Vietnam, Central America and Kosovo, drugs con-

tinue to be a huge part of the financial plan for prolonged groundwars. As one cynic put it, "GOD" stands for "Gold, Oil andDrugs". We can be assured that an empire (as opposed to a repub-lic) is emerging in the United States more quickly than many haveexpected. And the Bush Administration is already acting in a"godlike" manner. It is an empire that may have little need ofeven the pretence of democracy as American corporate fascismremoves its mask in the wake of our election circus, the prostitu-tion of our Supreme Court and the virtual destruction of Americangovernment as a servant of anything other than money, greed andpower. ∞

As it was in Vietnam, CentralAmerica and Kosovo, drugs

continue to be a huge part of thefinancial plan for prolonged

ground wars.

As one cynic put it, "GOD"stands for "Gold, Oil and Drugs".


Sources• Aspen Institute, www.aspeninst.org.• Associated Press, "Study: US Could SaveCost in Balkans", October 10, 2000. • Associated Press, "Cheney, NorthRelationship Probed", August 11, 2000. • Austin Chronicle, August 28, 2000. • "CIA Base" © 1992, Ralph McGehee. • CIA Inspector-General, "Report ofInvestigation: Allegations of ConnectionsBetween CIA and the Contras in CocaineTrafficking to the United States. Volume II:The Contra Story", Report 96-0143-IG. • Christian Science Monitor, October 20,1994. • Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org. • De Brie, Christian and Jean de Maillard,"Crime, The World's Biggest FreeEnterprise", Le Monde Diplomatique, April2000. • Halliburton/Brown & Root,www.Halliburton.com/brs. • Jane's Intelligence Review, February 1,

1995. • Los Angeles Herald Examiner, October 11& 18, 1981. • Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1991. • Newsmakingnews, "The Dick Cheney DataDump", August 27, 2000,www.newsmakingnews.com. • New York Press, January 8, 2000. • New York Times Index, www.nytimes.com. • Royce, Knut and Nathaniel Heller, "CheneyLed Halliburton to Feast at Federal Trough",Center for Public Integrity, August 2, 2000,www.public-i.org/story_01_080200.htm. • Ruppert, Michael C., written testimony forthe Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,dated October 1, 1997; seewww.copvcia.com/ssci.htm, and From TheWilderness 4/99, 4/00, 6/00.• Securities and Exchange Commission,"Edgar" Database, www.sec.gov. • Tarpley, Webster Griffin and AntonChaitkin, George Bush: The UnauthorizedBiography, Executive Intelligence Review,

Washington, DC, 1992.• US–Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce,www.usacc.com.• Vinnell Corporation, www.Vinnell.com.

Editor's Note:This article is reprinted with permissionfrom author Mike Ruppert, Editor/Publisherof From The Wilderness newsletter. It firstappeared in the October 2000 issue (vol.III, no. 8).

From The Wilderness describes itself as"a nonpartisan, non-sectarian map from thehere that is, into the tomorrow of our ownmaking" . It s website postings(www.copvcia.com) are at least 30 daysold. Subscriptions (12 issues): US$35.00for USA and Canada; $47.00 for Europe,Asia, Australia and New Zealand. F r o mThe Wilderness Publications, POB 6061-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, USA,telephone +1 (818) 788 8791, fax +1 (818)981 2847, e-mail [email protected].

WHAT'S ON THE MENU?

Time to eat breakfast, brought to you by the New World Order Food Company inthe year 2005. First up, a bowl of Perkie Pops™, a sugar-laden cereal "fresh"from the cardboard box. The primary ingredients are genetically engineeredcorn, wheat and rice, with a few chemical additives thrown in to stop the oxida-

tion of fats. The TV commercial says that Perkie Pops™ really is the best breakfast cere-al, because the box is emblazoned with the Radura—the international symbol for radia-tion-treated food.

Top the Perkie Pops™ with some sliced, radiation-treated Sanitary Strawberries™ thathave been sitting in the fruit bowl for three weeks. Pour on some cold-pasteurised ElectroMoo Milk™. Still hungry? Then splash out with a glass of X-ray–treated Neutron PowerOrange Juice™ while you sizzle that 21-day-old Triple T-bone™ with three times themeat and half the fat, thanks to some growth hormones and genetic manipulation. Makeyourself a cup of tea, safe in the knowledge that it is free from any nasty bacteria becausethe tea leaves were bombarded with ionising radiation. And as for the water, rest easy! Itwas X-ray sterilised at the local water treatment plant.

For lunch, it's a Big Rad™, the convenient, ready-to-eat hamburger—the one with thefreshness sealed in when it was made at the hamburger factory 24 months ago. It's beentreated with radiation, too, and will last indefinitely on the pantry shelf. Just pop it in themicrowave oven, nuke for 30 seconds and enjoy!

Don't forget to make a note to buy a kilo of Gray's Gourmet Chook Patties™ for dinner.They've been exposed to a radioactive source at Gamma Fire Power, the local food irradi-ator at the industrial estate just down the road, 200 metres from your children's school.Radiation-treated for 20 minutes, the Chook Patties are sure to be completely sterile andsafe to eat. And don't forget Poppa's Perfect Round-up Potatoes™. They've been in thepotato sack now for six months and still haven't sprouted! They're on the menu tonight,along with the Chook Patties. At the end of the day, indulge yourself with a glass of NewClear™, a fine wine made from radiation-treated grapes, bottled in a radiation-treated bot-tle and corked with a radiation-treated cork.

Does this sound unpalatable? Enough to make you sick? It's just a taste of what thenuclear industry, international organisations, government regulators and transnationalfood companies have in store for us.

Food irradiation is on the global agenda and, very soon, nations will be powerless toturn irradiated food away from their shores. Sovereign nations will be compelled toirradiate food to conform with international "standards" dictated by the organs of globalgovernance.

This article investigates the global push to irradiate our food. The key questionsaddressed are: What is food irradiation? Who wants it and why? What are the effects ofirradiation on our food? The article also examines what we, as concerned consumers, cando to say no to the nuclear massacre of our food.

WHAT HAPPENS IN AN IRRADIATION PLANTFood irradiation is a technology which uses radioactive isotopes (nuclear waste) or a

linear accelerator to create an amount of radiation equivalent to 10 million to 70 millionchest X-rays. When the food item is zapped, the radiation initiates a complex sequence ofreactions that literally rip apart the molecular structure of the food. This process createsnew—and in some cases, unidentified—chemicals which have not been proved safe.

Irradiated food hasnever been provedsafe to eat, so weshould wise-upwhen UN andgovernment

organisations,health authoritiesand transnationalfood corporationstell us that it is.

by Susan Bryce © 2000–2001

Publisher/EditorAustralian Freedom & Survival Guide

PO Box 66Kenilworth, Qld 4574, Australia E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.squirrel.com.au/~sbryce/



Vitamins and enzymes are destroyed, and fresh food becomesdead food. 1 Irradiated food has been described as "the food thatwould last forever", because the process is used to prolong shelf-life or to kill bacteria and insects.

Two of the most toxic and deadly substances known to humani-ty are used in the process of food irradiation. They are cobalt-60(the more widely used) and caesium-137. Disposal of radioactivecobalt and caesium currently presents a considerable problem forthe nuclear industry because of the quantities produced as wastesin nuclear power stations and the length of time they take todecay.2

The push for food irradiation has always come from the nuclearestablishment, with the aim of extending the nuclear fuel cycle.The idea is to spread nuclear waste widely in many glorifiednuclear dumps such as food irradiators, instead of a few largenuclear dumps that are running out of space. Start-up is alwaysdone with radioactive cobalt, with the real intention being toswitch over to radioactive caesium.

At the heart of a food irradiation plant is a shiny rack of about400 gamma-ray-emitting cobalt-60 rodsabout 18 inches (45.7 cm) long and the sizeof a fat crayon. This highly radioactivesource is housed in a chamber surroundedby a concrete wall, six feet (1.83 m) thick.When not in use, the rack of cobalt-60 rodsis submerged in a pool of cooled water, 15feet (4.57 m) deep, which absorbs thegamma rays.

At the push of a button, hydraulic armslift the cobalt rack out of its protectivepool. Then tall metal boxes, packed withfood destined for consumption, slide intothe irradiation chamber on an overheadmonorail. Boxes move in a zigzag patternaround the radioactive rack, ensuringgamma rays thoroughly penetrate the food.3

Treatment times vary: fresh strawberriestake 5 to 8 minutes; frozen chicken takes as long as 20 minutes.

In modern food irradiators, food can be loaded into the irradia-tor on standard pallets. Once inside the irradiator, food receivesthe requisite radiation dose—the amount of radiation energy thatis absorbed by the food inside the irradiation cell. The dose isnow generally measured by a unit called the gray (Gy), but in ear-lier work the unit was called the rad (1 Gy = 100 rads).4

THE PROPONENTS OF FOOD IRRADIATION Research into food irradiation started in the early years of the

20th century, and really took off after the Second World Warwhen the US Army began to conduct intensive inquiries as part ofPresident Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program. The objec-tive was to preserve food so that frontline troops could receive"fresh" food at all times. Most of the developed countriesthroughout the world conducted their own scientific research pro-grams into the effects of radiation on food.

In the 1970s, a well organised and financed campaign emergedto press for food irradiation as an acceptable food manufacturingprocess.

The main players who have been shaping the agenda for foodirradiation are members of the United Nations system of organisa-tions, the transnational food companies and government regula-tors. Four key members of the UN "family" are spearheading thedrive for food irradiation: the International Atomic EnergyAgency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World

Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization(WTO).5

The FAO and the WHO argue that food irradiation is necessaryto deal with the problems of world hunger and to reduce the inci-dence of food-borne diseases. The FAO says irradiation willreduce losses in storage by killing off pests and micro-organismsand thus help increase the year-round supply of "wholesome"food. The evidence for this claim is weak, and it can equally beargued that far more could be achieved by improving manufactur-ing practices and providing storage plants secure against the entryof rodents and pests than by using irradiation to kill those presentin harvested foods.

WHO has been an enthusiastic supporter of food irradiation as ameans of reducing food-borne disease. Many parts of the foodchain have become completely contaminated with organisms suchas salmonella, and the cost of decontaminating the whole processwould be enormous. This is particularly true for poultry, forexample. Through inaction, many countries have allowed thepoultry production system to become contaminated with salmo-

nella. This organism is endemic in thefarm environment; it is present in thefeedstocks and in the housing and trans-port systems used. Rather than attemptto introduce good manufacturing prac-tices and ensure that the flocks are sal-monella-free and kept that way, itappears to be easier to allow high levelsof contamination to persist and then toirradiate the poultry to kill it all off.6

The 1970s saw the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hijackglobal food policy by joining forces withthe FAO and the WHO. These threeorganisations formed the Joint ExpertCommittee on Food Irradiation (JECFI).Composed of scientists, JECFI wascharged with investigating the "whole-

someness of irradiated food". The USA, Australia and India wereamong the countries represented on the committee.

In 1976 and again in 1980, JECFI concluded that the irradiationof any food commodity up to an overall average dose of up to 10kilograys presents no toxicological hazard and no special nutri-tional or microbiological problems.7 This conclusion was reacheddespite the fact that there have never been comprehensive studiesconducted on the long-term impacts of a diet of irradiated food.

In 1983, the JECFI conclusion was adopted as an international"standard" by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint bodyof the FAO and WHO. The Codex is the vehicle for harmonisinginternational rules for trade in food, making it easy for countriesand companies to import and export food. By definition, theCodex opposes national and local restrictions, labelling and pref-erences.

Typically, consultants from transnational food companies andmembers from industry representative bodies are appointed to thenational Codex committees. The Codex is currently headed byTom Billy, Chief of the US Department of Agriculture's FoodSafety and Inspection Service, the man in charge of deregulatingthe meat industry in the United States.8

The International Atomic Energy Agency coordinates the activ-ities of the International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation(ICGFI), which currently has 39 members from governmentsusing or interested in food irradiation.9 ICGFI promotes the useof irradiation through literature and by hosting seminars, holding

The Radura symbol


meetings and scheduling press conferences around the worldwhich set out the purported advantages of irradiation.10

In 1997, the World Health Organization released a landmarkmedia statement on food irradiation, declaring that "no ceilingshould be set for food irradiated with doses greater than the cur-rently recommended upper level of 10 kGy by the CodexAlimentarius Commission". According to the statement: "...theactual amount of ionising radiation applied is of secondary con-sideration ... one can go as high as 75 kGy, as has already beendone in some countries, and the result is the same—food is safeand wholesome and nutri-tionally adequate … giventhese reassuring conclu-sions, the World HealthOrganization hopes thatfood irradiation will nowbecome more acceptable asa means for the improve-ment of food safety."11

WHAT HAPPENS TOIRRADIATED FOOD

For all those worriedsouls who think they shouldreplace their calorie coun-ters with Geiger counters,forget it! The experts sayirradiated food doesn'tbecome radioactive, andirradiation is a completelysafe process. Their conclu-sions about food irradiationare always expressed interms of the benefits andsafety of irradiated food.The uncertainties aboutsafety never appear in thereports of internationalorganisations advocatingirradiation. If chemicalchanges are referred to atall, they are said to be "notsignificant" or similar tothose produced in otherfood-processing techniques.

While many of the chem-ical changes are similar tothose produced by otherfood-processing technologies, the quantities of chemicals pro-duced are very different. When radiation strikes food or othermaterial, it transfers its energy. This energy transfer can causeheating, as with microwave cooking. At a certain level, the radia-tion has sufficient energy to knock the electrons out of the atomsof the material being bombarded. The molecular structure of foodis broken up when irradiated, and free radicals are formed. Thefree radicals can react with the food to create new chemical sub-stances called radiolytic products . Some are known carcinogens,such as benzene in irradiated beef. Others are unique to the irradi-ation process.

Although irradiation can kill bacteria, it will not remove thetoxins created by the bacteria in the first place. Increased produc-tion of aflatoxins following irradiation was first found in 1973 1 2

and confirmed in 1976 and 1978. Aflatoxins are powerful agents

for causing liver cancer. Vitamins A, C, D, E and K and some ofthe B vitamins, particularly B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12, are damagedby irradiation. The extent of vitamin loss depends upon the foodand dose given. Fruit juices suffer more than fresh fruits, andthese more than vegetables, grains and meat products.13

Irradiation converts nitrate to nitrite in a dose-dependent man-ner. Mutagenesis is directly proportional to nitrite concentration.Nitrite is a reactive molecule and reacts with nucleic acids andvarious amino acids in protein to form the known family of car-cinogens referred to as the n i t r o s a m i n e s. These have been

demonstrated to be potentcarcinogens in humans.

The proponents of irradi-ation say that the processreduces the need for harm-ful food additives.(Interestingly, we havealways been told that foodadditives are harmless.)However, the process ofirradiation actually requiresthe use of extra food addi-tives in order to controlundesirable effects.Additives which may beused include sodium nitrite,sodium sulphite, ascorbicacid, BHA, BHT, potassi-um bromate, sodiumtripolyphosphate, sodiumchloride and glutathione.

Some foods, particularlymilk and other dairy prod-ucts, do not take well toirradiation. Terms such as"chalky", "scorched", "can-dle-like" and "burnt wool"have been used to describethe flavour and smell ofirradiated milk, while irra-diated meat is said to havea "wet dog smell".Irradiated fats have beendescribed as "musty" or"nutty".14

The use of additives isnot restricted to high-doseapplications where obnox-

ious radiation flavours become pronounced, but can be used forlow-dose uses to prevent discolouration and other undesirableeffects such as bleeding and breakdown of fats in meat.

Other forms of radiation treatment for food are being devel-oped. Consumers should be alerted to the treatment called coldpasteurisation, which uses electron beam technology to pasteurisemilk and fruit juices. 1 5 The use of X-rays instead of electronbeams is also being investigated, and new accelerator technolo-gies are being introduced commercially which allow electronbeams to be converted to X-rays for greater penetration intofoods.16

QUESTIONS OVER IRRADIATED FOOD SAFETYThe safety of a long-term diet of irradiated food has never been

established. One study, often quoted in pro-irradiation literature

FOOD TREATED WITH RADIATION Provided that irradiation is properly controlled, foodshould not become radioactive. However, ionisingradiation with high energy can cause radioactivity to becreated in the material that is bombarded. It isimportant, therefore, that only lower-energy ionisingradiations are used in irradiation of food. If theradioactive source were damaged, food could becomecontaminated with radioactivity. Great care needs tobe taken to prevent accidents at irradiation plants.

The following effects are produced when food isirradiated: Radurisation – Low doses below 1 kGy: Sprouting ofvegetables such as potatoes and onions can beinhibited so that they keep longer. Ripening of fruitscan be delayed so that they keep longer and can betransported longer distances. Insect pests in grains,wheat, rice and spices can be killed.Radicidation – Medium doses between 1 kGy and 10kGy: The number of micro-organisms, such as yeasts,moulds and bacteria that lead to food spoilage, can bereduced so as to extend the life of foods and reduce therisk of food poisoning.Radappertisation – High doses above 10 kGy. At theseextremely large doses above 10 kGy, food can becomecompletely sterilised of all bacteria and viruses. Thiscan be used mainly for meat products, allowing themto be kept indefinitely.

(Source: T. Webb and T. Lang [London Food Commission], Food Irradiation: The Facts,

Thorsons Publishing Group, UK, 1987)


but never sourced or referenced, was conducted in the early1980s. The study, quoted by the IAEA in its brochure, "FactsAbout Food Irradiation",1 7 involved more than 400 "volunteers"who ate irradiated food for 7 to 15 weeks as part of eight separatestudies in China. The volunteers reportedly showed "no morechromosomal abnormalities"—an early warning sign of cancer-causing activity—than those who ate non-irradiated foods.

Another study is quoted in the expert testimony to the US con-gressional hearings into food irradiation in June 1987.18 Cited byGeorge L. Tritsch, PhD, cancer research scientist at Roswell ParkMemorial Institute, New York State Department of Health, thestudy was conducted in 1975 and was originally documented inthe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.19 Indian researcherswere concerned with the effects of irradiated food on malnour-ished people. They researched this with 10 children sufferingfrom kwashiorkor, a severe lack of protein. The 10 children weredivided into two groups of five. Before the trial started, bloodsamples were taken and examined as the starting point for eachchild. One group of five children was the control group, the otherthe experimental group. Diets were identical, except for the factthat wheat for the experimental group had been freshly irradiatedwith a dose of 0.75 kGy, the doserecommended for grain disinfes-tation. After four weeks, bloodsamples were taken and four ofthe five children eating irradiatedwheat showed gross chromoso-mal polyploidy with other abnor-mal cells also present.20 After sixweeks, blood samples were takenfrom the experimental group anda sharp increase in polyploidlymph cells was found comparedto the level at four weeks. Thecontrol children showed noabnormal cells in their blood dur-ing the trial.

To protect the experimentalgroup children from eventualharm, the researchers decided to halt the trial at this stage. Theyrealised that freshly irradiated wheat could be problematic.Instead of the wheat being fed within two to three weeks of irradi-ation, it was first stored for 12 weeks before it was used in the dietof a new group of five children. This time, the polyploid cellsshowed up for the first time after six weeks. After the irradiatedwheat had been withdrawn, it took 24 weeks before the blood ofthe children fed irradiated wheat reverted to normal and all abnor-mal cells had completely disappeared. Proponents of food irradia-tion have attempted to dismiss this study, since only a small num-ber of individuals was involved.

Different doses of radiation produce different amounts of radi-olytes and different kinds of chemical products. A vast number ofnew molecules can be formed from the irradiation of a single mol-ecular species, to say nothing of a complicated mixture of food.Theory cannot predict the nature or number or quantity of the newcompounds, which vary depending on the kind of food, the seasonand location in which it was produced.

In the 1970s, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)questioned the safety of radiolytic products and reviewed over250 studies evaluating substances formed in irradiated foods,using data from a US Army research program. About 65 volatilesubstances were identified in irradiated foods (the FDA focusedon volatile substances because they would likely be more toxic

than non-volatile substances). Twenty-three of the substanceswere also found in thermally processed (or cooked) foods and 36in other non-irradiated foods. Only six could not be confirmed inthe scientific literature as identical to substances found in foods,although they were similar to natural food constituents.Collectively, these six substances would be present in foods in theamount of three milligrams per kilogram—"like three drops ofwater in a swimming pool", according to the FDA, dismissing theproblems in one fell swoop.21

WHAT'S IN STORE FOR US ALLThe pro-irradiation literature does not address the unknowns of

food irradiation. Just as chemicals can cause cancer or geneticeffects and it is best to assume there is no safe level of exposure tothem, so too for radiation. Any exposure to chemicals or radia-tion can cause the initial damage that develops into a cancer.

Many and varied foods are being irradiated and marketed com-mercially in developed and developing countries. The ICGFI hasbeen particularly active in promoting irradiation to developingcountries. Bangladesh is irradiating dried fish, frozen fish andsome cereal products. China has more than 60 irradiation facili-

ties treating a wide variety of foodsincluding garlic, rice, spices andcondiments, packaged foods,Sichuan sauce, fruits and meat. Thequantities of irradiated products arein thousands of tonnes. Indonesia isirradiating dried spices, tuber androot crops, grains, dried fish andfrozen foods both for test marketingand commercial purposes. In 1996,total quantities of irradiated productsexceeded 6,000 tonnes. TheRepublic of Korea commerciallyirradiates spices, dried vegetableseasonings and ginseng products.An irradiation facility in Thailandirradiates nahm (fermented porksausage), spices, seasonings, herbs

and crude enzymes for commercial purposes. Vietnam irradiatescommercial quantities of tobacco for insect disinfestation, in addi-tion to some food such as onions and dried fish. India irradiatesspices for commercial purposes. More commercial irradiationfacilities are either planned or under construction in China, India,the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.22

In the United States, the FDA gave approval for the irradiationof red meat on 23 February 2000. The FDA has also approvedirradiation for a variety of other foods, including fresh fruits andvegetables and spices. An FDA brochure, "Food Irradiation—ASafe Measure", published in January 2000, says the agency deter-mined that the process is safe and effective in decreasing or elimi-nating harmful bacteria and states that irradiation also reducesspoilage bacteria, insects and parasites, and in certain fruits andvegetables it inhibits sprouting and delays ripening. For example,irradiated strawberries stay unspoiled for up to three weeks, ver-sus three to five days for untreated berries.

The organisations which contributed to the content and printingof the FDA brochure were the American Meat Institute, theDepartment of Health and Human Services (US FDA), FoodMarketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers of America, NationalCattlemen's Beef Association, National Food ProcessorsAssociation and The American Dietetic Association.

Herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings are among the first

After four weeks, blood sampleswere taken and four of the fivechildren eating irradiated wheat

showed gross chromosomalpolyploidy with other abnormal

cells also present.


foods to be targeted for irradiation. Canada quickly approvedthem for irradiation, 2 3 and now Europe and countries such asAustralia are waging similar pro-irradiation campaigns.

After a decade of debate, the European Parliament has issued adirective to create a legal framework for the single market forfoodstuffs treated with ionising radiation. The implementingdirective at this stage includes only one group of products—namely, dried aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings.The final list of foods to be irradiated is expected to be consideredby the European Parliament this year.24

In Australia, the company Steritech Pty Ltd has applied to theAustralia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) to irradiateherbs (fresh and dried, including garlic, onions and ginger), teas(including herbal teas), nuts and spices.25 Australia had a morato-rium on food irradiation in place until August 1999 when, togeth-er with decisions about genetically modified foods, the AustraliaNew Zealand Food Standards Council slipped through theremoval of the ban with no public debate whatsoever. ANZFAissued a detailed information package on irradiation to the mediaand placed it on its website on 6 August 1999, but little mediareporting has ensued on the topic. ANZFA has invited publicsubmissions regarding the Steritech's application, and, althoughthe initial round of public "consultation" has already been held, asecond round and consideration of a draft report will take place inFebruary/March 2001 and a decision regarding Steritech's appli-cation will then be made. To make a submission, visitwww.anzfa.gov.au or write to ANZFA, PO Box 7186, CanberraMail Centre, ACT 2610.

Transnational food companies see the dollar signs before theireyes when it comes to irradiation. The extension of shelf-life andstorage periods which food irradiation allows is attractive to thetransnationals because it enables them to increase their profits byreducing wastage and to deliver products to the shops when it iseconomically advantageous to do so. It also enables them totransport exotic foods around the world more easily.

Leading representatives from transnational food companies andgrocery manufacturing associations have stated their intention touse food irradiation as the process becomes more widely accept-ed. The Grocery Manufacturers of America website26 quotes thePresident and ChiefExecutive Officer ofConAgra Inc., BruceRhode: "ConAgrastands ready to use irra-diation technology oncepublic acceptance ofirradiation becomesstronger and when irra-diation is commerciallyavailable." On the samewebsite, Manly Molpus,President and ChiefExecutive Officer ofGrocery Manufacturersof America, tells read-ers: "Irradiation is like-ly to be generallyaccepted by Americansand be as useful to theirhealth and safety as pas-teurisation was for milka decade ago."

Getting consumers to

"generally accept" irradiation may be difficult. However, much ofthis "acceptance" will be forced upon sovereign nations under theprovisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on theApplication of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPM). Thisagreement is a global standard for food sanitation and sterilisa-tion, and includes food irradiation as an acceptable treatmentprocess. At present, governments can deny entry of any productsinto their country. However, under the terms of the SPM agree-ment, governments will be required to justify, on scientificgrounds, why a particular product should be denied entry. Withthese considerations and with irradiation endorsed by regionalplant protection organisations and international organisations suchas the WHO and the FAO as a quarantine treatment for fresh agri-cultural produce, governments will find it extremely difficult, ifnot impossible, to deny the entry of food treated by irradiation.

The international symbol for radiation-treated food is theRadura—a round flower with two petals pictured inside a brokencircle. The Radura is marketed as an emblem of quality. It wasfirst used for South African and Dutch irradiated foods. Thecolour of the Radura emblem is green, which consumers mayunconsciously associate with fresh, clean and environmentallysafe produce. In reality, irradiated food may be old and stale, andirradiation facilities are far from environmentally friendly.

Although food may be marked "treated with irradiation" orshow the Radura emblem, at present there is no way of knowingwhether unlabelled food has been radiation-treated. Even the bestregulations on labelling are of limited value unless they can beenforced.

Until a single test for detecting irradiated food is developed,and monitoring agencies are trained to use it, consumers will be atthe mercy of food processors who are responsible for the labellingof irradiated food. None of the labelling presently requires thedose of radiation to be indicated, nor the number of times theproduct has been irradiated.

IRRADIATION ACCIDENTSDecisions to irradiate food extend beyond the concerns of con-

sumers. An irradiation facility in the local community means thepresence of large quantities of radioactive material as well as

Diagram of a cobalt-60 irradiation facility (Source: Steritech Pty Ltd brochure)


transport of the radioactive material to and from the facility. Since 1974, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has

recorded 54 accidents at 132 irradiation facilities worldwide. 2 7

The IAEA has dismissed many of the accidents as "operationalincidents". Some of the major accidents in the United Statesinclude:

• In 1991, a worker at a Maryland facility suffered criticalinjuries when exposed to ionising radiation from an electron-beamaccelerator. The victim developed sores and blisters on his feet,face and scalp, and lost fingers on both hands.

• In 1988, Radiation Sterilizers, Inc. (RSI) in Decatur, Georgia,reported a leak of caesium-137 capsules into the water storagepool, which endangered workers and contaminated the facility.Workers then carried the radioactivity into their homes and cars.Seventy thousand medical supply containers and milk cartonswere recalled because they had been contaminated by radiation.28

Clean-up costs exceeded $30 million, and taxpayers had to footthe bill.

• In 1986, the NRC revoked the licenceof a Radiation Technology, Inc. (RTI)facility in New Jersey for 32 worker-safe-ty violations, including throwing radioac-tive waste out with the garbage andbypassing a key safety device. As aresult of this negligence, one workerreceived a near lethal dose of radiation.

• In 1982, an accident at InternationalNutronics in Dover, New Jersey, contam-inated the plant and forced its closure.Radiation baths were being used to purifygems, chemicals, and medical and foodsupplies.

• In 1974, an Isomedix facility in New Jersey flushed radioac-tive water down toilets and contaminated pipes leading to sewers.Also that year, a worker received a dose of radiation consideredlethal for 70 per cent of the population. Prompt hospital treatmentsaved his life.29

A GLOWING FUTURE?Irradiation of food is only part of the glowing future that inter-

national agencies, governments, corporations and the nuclearindustry are investigating. There are many plans for the use ofirradiation in other areas, such as soil sterilisation to eliminateweed seeds, insects and fungi.

Fortunately at present, existing technology cannot be applied toin-field agriculture, but it is now possible to irradiate bagged pot-ting soils and similar products. The irradiation sanitisation of re-usable greenhouse materials (pots, growing substrates, etc.) is cur-rently done on contract for the greenhouse industry by irradiationcompanies in The Netherlands. Also, in several countries, variousimported products are irradiated to control weed seeds that mightinadvertently be present (such as in wild bird seed).

Many products which we use in our daily lives have been irra-diated. Medical disposable supplies, cotton balls, contact lenssolution, make-up, wine corks and wine cask bladders, bottles andplastic containers, feminine hygiene products, beehives (minusthe bees) and packaging materials are just some of the productsroutinely irradiated for sanitation purposes. As there are nolabelling requirements for non-food items, consumers are left inthe dark as to which products have been radiation-treated andwhat dose has been used.

There are several steps we can all take to avoid irradiated foods.Try to buy locally grown produce and avoid imported foods

which may have been irradiated. In some countries, wheat,potatoes, onions and seafood may have been irradiated on acommercial scale, but processed foods manufactured from theseingredients are not labelled with regard to the irradiatedi n g r e d i e n t s .3 0 Support organic farming producers and buytraditionally prepared foods rather than mass-produced foods.Lobby governments to ensure that irradiated food components andfood packaging are also declared on food labels.31 Write to or e-mail supermarkets, food corporations and food manufacturers totell them you will not buy irradiated food. Write letters to theeditor of your local and national newspapers and phone talkbackradio shows about food irradiation. Convene public meetings anddiscussion groups. Grow a food garden in your own backyard. Ifyou grow it, you know it!

In its brochure, "Facts about Food Irradiation", the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency says: "The view that consumers areopposed to buying irradiated food cannot be substantiated."32 Thisoutrageous statement must be challenged. We must become vocal

opponents of the pro-irradiation lobby andits powerful propaganda. The public needsmore information than just to be told thatirradiated food is "safe". The public needs toknow the scientific uncertainty that underliesstatements from so-called expertorganisations.

Homes without kitchens, houses withoutgardens, grocery shopping via theInternet...every day we become furtherremoved from our food and more dependentupon others to provide this basic require-ment. Unless we reclaim responsibility for

our own food and work towards food self-sufficiency as opposedto food security, our future is in their hands. ∞

Endnotes1. See www.dkp-ml.dk/netactivist/ food_E5.htm.2. Cobalt-60 is the most widely used radiation source for food irradiation.However, US company GrayStar is developing a prototype irradiator which willgenerate gamma rays using caesium-137, which GrayStar would chemically sep-arate from high-level nuclear waste. The prototype machine, 10 feet wide by 8feet long and 28 feet high (3 x 2.4 x 8.5 metres), is designed to be installedalongside a meat packaging or food processing line. 3. Skerrett, P.J., "Food Irradiation: Will It Keep the Doctor Away?",Technology Review, www.techreview.com/articles/nd97/skerrett.html.4. Webb, T. and Lang, T. (London Food Commission), Food Irradiation: TheFacts, Thorsons Publishing Group, UK, 1987.5. The UN lists the WTO and also the IMF and World Bank as members of theUnited Nations System of Organizations.6. For an in-depth exposé of America's meat industry, read Gail Eisnitz's book,Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and InhumaneTreatment inside the US Meat Industry (Prometheus Books, 1997).Slaughterhouse documents the meat industry's heavy use of toxic chemicals,drugs, steroids, hormones and rendered animal protein (animal cannibalism).Problems of toxic sewage and industrial sludge, genetic engineering, rawmanure (as low-cost feed for animals), and other questionable practices are alsocovered in the book. For details, see www.hfa.org/slaughterhouse.htm. 7. World Health Organization, "The Wholesomeness of Irradiated Food",Report of the Joint FAO/IAEA/WHO Expert Committee, Geneva, 1977 and1981, WHO Technical Report Series, Nos 604 and 659.8. For further details on the Codex, see www.purefood.org/irrad/codexfaq.cfm.9. ICGFI members are: Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil,Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire,Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana,Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Republic of Korea,Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru,The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Syrian Arab Republic,Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America,Vietnam and Yugoslavia.

Continued on page 81

None of the labelling presently requires the dose of radiation to be indicated, nor the number of times theproduct has been irradiated.


THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE AGAINST VIVISECTION

Graphic pictures of cats with electrodes clamped to their heads, or monkeysstrapped to chairs with their brains cut open, their eyes filled with pain and ter-ror, are enough to upset momentarily even the most hardened person. But mostof us put these images out of our mind and accept the situation, because we're

told by the government and medical establishment that such experiments are for our owngood. They insist that without these procedures there will never be cures for the world'sdiseases, and that those who oppose animal experiments are extremists holding back"progress".

Yet, despite the supposed stringency of animal tests on drugs deemed safe for humanconsumption and released onto the market, two million Americans become seriously illand approximately 100,000 people die every year because of reactions to medicines theywere prescribed. 1 This figure exceeds the number of deaths from all illegal drugs com-bined, at an annual cost to the public of more than US$136 billion in health careexpenses.2 In England, an estimated 70,000 deaths and cases of severe disability occureach year because of adverse reactions to prescription drugs, making this the third mostcommon cause of death (after heart attack and stroke).3

The drug company Ciba-Geigy has estimated that only five per cent of chemicals foundsafe and effective in animal tests actually reach the market as prescription drugs.4 Evenso, during 1976 to 1985 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 209 newcompounds—102 of which were either withdrawn or relabelled because of severe unpre-dicted side-effects including heart attacks, kidney failure, liver failure and stroke.5

The animal rights movement has lobbied for years against animal experimentation onmoral and ethical grounds, but the scientific evidence against vivisection is far stronger.Researchers who put their careers on the line and publicly admit that animal-based modelsare inaccurate for evaluating the effects of drugs in humans are encouraged or forced to besilent in a billion-dollar industry.

Two such researchers are Dr Ray Greek, an American anaesthesiologist, and his wife,Jean Swingle Greek, a veterinary dermatologist. Both are ex-vivisectors who have stud-ied medical and scientific literature which is largely unavailable and inscrutable to thepublic. Using the industry's own data, they expose in their new book, Sacred Cows andGolden Geese: The Human Cost of Animal Experimentation, how we are kept in the darkabout the dangers to our health from animal experiments.

WHY ANIMAL MODELS ARE NOT PREDICTIVE

Open up a rat, a dog, a pig and a human and you will find much the same terrain, butwith differences. But it is precisely these differences which have an impact when it

comes to assimilating drugs. For example, rats, the species most commonly used in vivi-section, have no gall bladder and excrete bile very effectively.

"Many drugs are excreted via bile, so this affects the half-life of the drug," explain Rayand Jean Greek. "Drugs bind to rat plasma much less efficiently. Rats always breathethrough the nose. Because some chemicals are absorbed in the nose, some are filtered.So rats get a different mix of substances entering their systems. Also, they are nocturnal.Their gut flora are in a different location. Their skin has different absorptive propertiesthan that of humans. Any one of these discrepancies will alter drug metabolism."

These differences are only on a gross level. Medications act on a microscopic level,initiating or interrupting chemical reactions that are far too small for the human eye toobserve.

There is strongscientific evidencethat animal-basedtesting is grossly

inaccurate inevaluating how adrug or product

will affect humans,and is a grave riskto the health and

safety of people andanimals alike.

by Katrina Fox © 2000

E-mail: [email protected]: www.katrinafox.com


"We differ on the cellular level and mol-ecular level and, importantly, that is wheredisease occurs," the authors explain. "Thecells of chimps are very similar to [thecells of] humans, but the spatial organisa-tion of the cells is vastly different."

Even those who favour the animal modeladmit its unpredictability among theirpeers.

Dr Ralph Heywood, director ofHuntingdon Research Center in the UnitedStates, says: "The best guess for the corre-lation of adverse reactions in man and ani-mal toxicity data is somewhere betweenfive and 25 per cent."6

Dr Herbert Hensel, Director of theInstitute of Physiology at MarburgUniversity, goes further: "In the opinion ofleading biostatisticians, it is not possible totransfer the probability predictions fromanimals to humans… At present, there-fore, there exists no possibility at all of ascientifically based prediction. In thisrespect, the situation is even lessfavourable than a game of chance."7

Even the most widely respected textbookon animal experimentation states:"Uncritical reliance on the results of animaltests can be dangerously misleading andhas cost the health and lives of tens ofthousands of humans."8

The best-known example of this isthalidomide. Mothers who took this drugto ameliorate morning sickness gave birthto children with shocking deformities, withmost lacking developed limbs. Animaltests had not predicted this. The firstrecorded case of side effects occurred onChristmas Day 1956, but in 1957 the drugwas released anyway.9

QUESTIONABLE ACCURACY OFTOXICITY TESTS

One of the reasons why so many drugscause adverse reactions in humans—

reactions which were not predicted inanimals—is because of the inaccuracy ofthe toxicity tests carried out.

The most notorious of these is the LD50Draize test ("LD50" stands for "LethalDose 50 per cent"), where animals—usual-ly dogs and rats—are force-fed, forced toinhale or are injected with a chemical until50 per cent of them die. That dosage isthen designated as the LD50. Its unrelia-bility is obvious when we consider thehuge variables such as the age, weight andgender of the animals, not to mention theenvironmental conditions under which thetest takes place. These variables render theresults invalid even for the species tested,let alone for humans.

The LD50 test was still part of almost all

UNSAFE FOR HUMANS

The following, taken from Dr Ray and Jean Greek's book, are just some examples ofpharmaceutical drugs which have been deemed safe for human use after extensive

animal testing, but which were later found to cause serious side effects.

• Amrinone: Use of this drug for treating heart failure led to 20 per cent of patientsdeveloping thrombocytopenia (a lack of blood cells needed for clotting), despite acomprehensive program of animal studies in mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, dogsand rhesus monkeys. Some of these patients died.• Birth control pills: These are known to cause life-threatening blood clots in somewomen, yet scientists have still not been able to reproduce this finding in animals. Infact, dog testing predicted that the pill would decrease the likelihood of clotting.• C h l o r a m p h e n i c o l : This antibiotic caused life-threatening anaemia in humans.Chloramphenicol is an example of a drug whose effects vary from species to species:dogs do well with it, cats die from it, cows tolerate it but horses do not. It is so toxic tosusceptible humans that its use has been outlawed in animals used for food. The tinyamount consumed from ingesting a hamburger made from a treated cow will causedeath in such a person unless they receive a bone marrow transplant.• Clioquinol: This anti-diarrhoeal passed tests in rats, cats, dogs and rabbits. It waspulled off the shelves all over the world in 1982 after it was found to cause blindnessand paralysis in humans.• Diethylstilbestrol : This synthetic oestrogen was designed to prevent miscarriage, butit did just the opposite by increasing the rate of spontaneous abortions, prematurebirths and neo-natal deaths. No human trials were done; all the safety data were col-lected from animals.• Eraldin: This heart drug was withdrawn in 1975 after causing serious side effects inan estimated 7,000 victims, 23 of whom died. It had been tested for six years in mice,rats, dogs and monkeys and when introduced on the market was "particularly notablefor the thoroughness with which its toxicity was studied in animals, to the satisfactionof the authorities".10 Even long after the drug was withdrawn, scientists failed to repro-duce these results in animals.• Floxin: This antibiotic progressed through animal testing, only to cause seizures andpsychosis when used by humans.• Isuprel: A medication used to treat asthma, it proved devastatingly toxic to humansin the amounts recommended based on animal studies. In Great Britain alone, 3,500asthmatics died from using the medication.• Manoplax: This heart drug, which had been tested on rats, mice, rabbits, cats andguinea-pigs, was withdrawn worldwide in 1993 after analysis of patients showed thatthose taking it were at increased risk of hospitalisation and/or death.• Methysergide: This treatment for migraine led to severe scarring of the heart, kid-neys and blood vessels in the abdomen, although scientists have been unable to repro-duce these effects in animals.• O p r e n : This treatment for rheumatism and arthritis killed 61 people and caused3,500 adverse reactions. Withdrawn in 1982, the drug had been tested on monkeysand other animals for nine years with no adverse side effects.• Phenylpropanolamine (PPA): This drug, found in many common cold and flu reme-dies, was banned by the FDA in the US after it was linked to causing between 200 and500 strokes in young women a year. • P r i m a c o r : This medication, given when the heart is not pumping enough blood,worked well in rats but increased deaths in humans by 30 per cent.• R i t o d r i n e : This drug, prescribed to avert premature labour, induced pulmonaryoedema (fluid in the lungs, causing breathing difficulties and possibly death).• Suprofen: This arthritis drug was withdrawn from the market when patients sufferedkidney toxicity. Prior to its release, researchers said this about the animal tests:"...excellent safety profile. No…cardiac, renal [kidney] or central nervous system [sideeffects] in any species."11

• Tamoxifen: This drug, used to treat and prevent breast cancer in women, causedliver tumours in rats but not in mice or hamsters.12 The drug has been shown to beharmless to the developing foetus of rabbits and monkeys, but to cause bone abnor-malities in rat foetuses.13 One of the side effects is nausea and vomiting, but this wasnot predicted in animal studies, even though high doses were tested in dogs—thespecies considered most predictive of vomiting in humans.14 The drug has also beenimplicated in uterine cancer, blood clots, memory loss, absence of periods, and eyedamage such as cataracts.15

• Zomax: This arthritis drug killed 14 people and caused many more to suffer.


regulatory guidelines for the safety assessment of chemicalsworldwide until 10 years ago. In the United States, although theFDA no longer requires the test and will accept in vitro and othernon-animal-based alternatives, it still accepts the LD50—so thetesting continues.

In November 2000, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), which comprises 29 mem-ber countries, agreed to abolish the LD50 test and phase it outduring 2001.16 But the alternatives which will take its place aremerely a refinement of the original; they still involve the use ofanimals and therefore are still wholly unreliable indicators forhuman health.

In the United States, the Voluntary Children's Health ChemicalTesting Program is being developed by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), and it involves extensive animal testingto determine the "safe" amount of toxic poi-sons to which children can be exposed.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK FORANIMALS MAY WORK FOR HUMANS

As well as animal tests allowing unsafedrugs onto the market, the flip side is

that human health is also compromised whendrugs which may be beneficial to humans areprevented from being released. Most drugshave side effects, some of which are moreacute than others, but many useful medica-tions used to save lives would not havereached clinical trials if they had first beentested on animals.

We only have to look in our ownmedicine cabinets for examples. Today,around 29 billion aspirin per year aresold in the United States and twice thatnumber worldwide, yet aspirin causesbirth defects in mice and rats and resultsin such extensive blood abnormalities incats that they can only take 20 per centof the human dosage every third day.2 0

Another painkiller, ibuprofen, causeskidney failure in dogs, even at lowdoses.

Other prescription drugs were initial-ly unavailable to people because animalstudies predicted side effects not found in humans. They include:

• Corticosteroids: These have been shown to cause cancer insome rodents, despite their being used safely by humans for years.

• Depo-Provera: This contraceptive was barred from release inthe US in 1973 because it caused cancer in dogs and baboons.

• FK506: This anti-rejection drug was almost shelved before itproceeded to clinical trials. After experimenting on dogs,researchers said animal toxicity was too severe to proceed to theclinical trial stage.

• F u r o s e m i d e : Mice, rats and hamsters suffer liver damagefrom this diuretic, but humans do not. It is widely prescribed forthe treatment of high blood pressure and heart disease.

• I s o n i a z i d : This medication, commonly used for treatingtuberculosis, caused cancer in animals.

• Penicillin: The release of penicillin was delayed when its dis-coverer, Alexander Fleming, put it to one side because it did notwork in rabbits. This is because rabbits excrete penicillin in theirurine. Only when Fleming had a sick human patient and nothingelse to try, did he administer penicillin—with excellent results.

• Prilosec: The release of this gastrointestinal medication wasdelayed for 12 years because of an effect in animals which did notoccur in humans.

• S t r e p t o m y c i n : This popular antibiotic caused birth defectssuch as limb malformations in the offspring of rats.

THE CANCER WAR

According to Dr Ray and Jean Swingle Greek, 40 per cent ofus will have a diagnosis of cancer at some time in our lives.

It is the one disease which most of us will have had someencounter with, whether personally or through contact withfriends or family. But despite billions of dollars poured into "can-cer research", the medical establishment is not winning its waragainst the Big C. Deaths from the disease are increasing; forexample, from 1973 to 1992 they went up by 6.3 per cent in the

United States.The Greeks reveal in their book that

despite thousands of substances being fedto, painted on and injected into hundreds ofmillions of animals, we are no closer to sav-ing lives. "In many cases, it [animal experi-mentation] has actually led to more life lossand introduced new dangers," they argue.

There are more than 200 different formsof human cancer. Some of these have coun-terparts in animals, although even these dif-fer greatly from those in humans in terms ofcause, effect, treatment and prognosis. Anhistiocytoma is fatal in humans but benign

in dogs, as all cancers have species-specific effects.

Ironically, in the 1950s the onlyknown carcinogens were those foundby studying humans epidemiological-ly, the authors explain. "A study ofdyeworkers showed a high incidenceof bladder cancer," they write."Droves of dyed lab animals failed toprove the rule. Chromium was foundto be carcinogenic in humans but notin animals. The link between radiationand cancer was also reported fromclinical studies by that time. In 1956,British doctors warned of carcinogenic

effects of X-rays given during pregnancy, resulting in childhoodcancers. But no amount of irradiated pregnant quadrupeds neces-sarily produced the same effect.

"In these instances and many others, the inability to validatecarcinogenicity in animals kept cancer-causing agents legal for amuch longer time."

Asbestos is another example. The link between cancer andasbestos was made as long ago as 1907; but, after scientists failedto induce the disease in animals, it took more than 30 years beforethe human-model evidence became irrefutable.

Ray and Jean Greek point out that, between 1970 and 1985,researchers subjected an estimated 300 to 400 million animals tomore than half a million compounds to check for anticancereffects. Based on these animal experiments, only 80 compoundsprogressed to clinical trials. Just 24 proved to have any anticanceractivity in humans, and, of these, 12 went on to have a substantialrole in chemotherapy. But, all 12 of these compounds werechemical variations of previously known chemotherapeuticagents. The fact that these chemicals could be used to fight

Even the most widelyrespected textbook on

animal experimentation states:

"Uncritical reliance on the results of animaltests can be dangerouslymisleading and has costthe health and lives oftens of thousands of

humans."


cancer had already been predicted by their chemical structure.21 Inother words, for 15 years, billions of dollars of investment moneywas ploughed into subjecting millions of animals to the mostpainful, cruel and barbaric procedures and then killing them, all ofwhich proved nothing new.

Even the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has admitted itsfailures. In the Los Angeles Times of 6 May 1998, NCI DirectorDr Richard Klausner was quoted as saying: "The history of can-cer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. Wehave cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn't work inhumans."

In the United States in the 1990s, scientists came up with theidea of genetically engineering rats to accept human cancers. Butin 63 per cent of cases, according to the Greeks, the humantumours in the rats did not respond to chemotherapies which are"currently and effectively" used in humans, because the way can-cers grow in animals is different from how they grow in humans.It begs the question as to how many anticancer drugs which couldbe successful in treating human cancers have been missed becausethey did not work in mice or rats. Chemotherapeutic agentswhich have been successful in humans have all come from non-animal means, according to the Greeks.

The next time any of us is temptedto put money into a tin shaken bycancer research charities which fundresearch using animal models, wewould do well to remember thewords of Dr Irwin Bross, formerly ofthe Roswell Park Memorial Institutefor Cancer Research, in testimonybefore the US Congress in 1981:"While conflicting animal resultshave often delayed and hamperedadvances in the war on cancer, theyhave never produced a single sub-stantial advance in either the preven-tion or treatment of human cancer."

WHY ANIMAL-BASEDRESEARCH CONTINUES, DESPITE THE EVIDENCE

If even the proponents of the vivisection lobby admit that animalstudies are inaccurate and produce little reliable data for human

extrapolation, why on earth do they continue to employ thesemethods?

Dr Werner Hartinger, a German surgeon, surmised in 1989:"There are, in fact, only two categories of doctors and scientistswho are not opposed to vivisection: those who don't knowenough about it, and those who make money from it."

The latter in particular, according to Ray and Jean Greek, is themain reason. "Scientists are just like the rest of us, materialisticand opportunistic. They, too, struggle to survive and excel in acompetitive world," they argue.

Dr Irwin Bross agrees. In 1986 he was quoted in C a n c e rResearch on Animals as saying: "They [scientists] may claim tolove truth; but when it is a matter of truth versus dollars, they lovethe dollars more."

To get grants for research and stay employed, you must churnout papers with the utmost regularity. And the fastest and easiestway to get papers published is to use animal experimentation.

"Animal experimentation is tidy," the Greeks explain. "Thelovely thing about rats is that you can go home on Friday nightand rest assured that they will still be in their cages when you getback on Monday. On the other hand, clinical research on humans

can be tricky. Clinicians have no control over patients who maynot return for follow-up appointments. Human subjects may evenbe dishonest about their lifestyles. You can addict monkeys tocrack cocaine or heroin in your nice, clean lab. If you want tostudy human crack or heroin addicts, you may have to interactwith potentially nasty people."

Time is also of the essence. "A rat's generation time is weeks,not decades. By the time a clinician publishes one good paper, ananimal experimenter can publish at least five. The easiest way topublish is to take a concept already published and change some-thing, the type of animal used, the dose of the drug, the method ofassessing the results or some other variable." It is the number, asopposed to the value of research, that is important to those wish-ing to get on in their scientific career.

Acceptance of the status quo, not rocking the boat, is also a keyfactor. The pressure on students and young doctors to publishshould not be underestimated. It has led to a proliferation of sci-entific journals which are often edited by researchers using animalexperiments. This means that vivisectionists are able to put for-ward their work, but those who are against animal studies can findno place to publish—despite there being an estimated 100,000 sci-entific journals in print today. Many of these journals rely on

advertising revenue from pharmaceu-tical companies and others who makeproducts for animal experimenters.

Mainstream media also collude tokeep anti-vivisectionists' work out ofthe public eye. At the UK press con-ference of the Greeks' new book, notone journalist from a national newspa-per attended, despite novelist JillyCooper being there to promote it.

Reporters and editors soon realisethat if they want to hang onto theirjobs and maintain a steady flow ofbreaking news, they must keep theircontacts happy. Most of these scien-tific contacts will be part of the ani-mal experimentation lobby who will

not take too kindly to the prospect of having their industryexposed as a money-making fraud.

This money, by the way, is yours. The US Government spendsaround $10 billion of taxpayers' money each year on animal-basedresearch, according to the Greeks. The largest single provider offunds to medical research institutions in the United States is theNational Institutes of Health (NIH). But only one-third of NIHcompeting research grant applications includes human subjects.22

So it is not hard to see why animal studies are the preferred optionof researchers with career ambitions and mortgages to pay.

Then there is the grip of corporations to contend with. The ani-mal experimentation industry grosses between an estimated 100billion and one trillion dollars a year worldwide. This figureincludes the employment of hundreds of thousands of people,including those who manufacture and sell jackets for immobilis-ing animals and pumps for force-feeding them, needles, cages,scalpels and equipment used to kill animals in a specific way, notto mention the sales of animals themselves. Take Cedar RiverLaboratories, for example, which specialises in selling cats; itsprice is usually $225 for animals less than 16 weeks old.

Pharmaceutical firms benefit from the industry, too. Accordingto its 1999 annual report, Merck's sales for the year came in at$32,714 million.

"The history of cancer researchhas been a history of curing

cancer in the mouse. We havecured mice of cancer for decades

and it simply didn't work inhumans."

— NCI Director Dr Richard Klausner, 1998


Animal experimentation is the quickest way of getting a newdrug onto the market. Researchers given grant money by pharma-ceutical companies are far more likely to come out with a positivereview of the drug than those who are not receiving financial sup-port. The Journal of the American Medical Association reportedthat 43 per cent of more than 2,000 researchers surveyed at thetop 50 research universities said they had received gifts, includingcash, even when the giver required prior approval of the results ofthe research being conducted.23

Even charities are not exempt from the profit-making loop.Many of them—such as the American Institute for CancerResearch, the American Diabetes Association and the AmericanHeart Association, and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund andthe British Heart Foundation (BHF) in the UK—fund or carry outanimal-based research. Out of a total income of £56 million in1998, the BHF spent £34.9 million on research, with only £5.1million going into educational programs. In one test, dogs' chestswere cut open and their blood was circulated out of their bodiesand back again in order to allow blood pressure to change quicklyin the neck arteries. The experimenters then came to the conclu-sion that a person bending down and suddenly standing up couldexperience dizziness and fainting.24

Animal testing also provides pharmaceutical firms with aweapon to protect themselves frombeing sued by people who have beendamaged by their products. InEurope, all medications when theyreach the final product stage arelegally required to be tested on ani-mals for carcinogenicity and birthdefects. But, explains WendyHiggins, campaigns director of theBritish Union for the Abolition ofVivisection, this is not the case in thedevelopmental stages of a drug,which is where most animal testinggoes on.

The situation in the United Statesis similar. According to Dr RayGreek: "Most pharmaceutical firms do more testing than the gov-ernment requires, so they can say in court that they saw no effectslike the one that killed the plaintiff's wife. Officials will tell youoff the record that they rely on animal testing and think that it is abig factor in protection from lawsuits." Or, the companies canturn around and dismiss the animal tests as being unreliable inhumans. Either way, it is extremely hard for victims to take legalaction against them.

ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMAL-BASED RESEARCH

Real developments always arise from a human-modelled foun-dation, Ray and Jean Greek assert. The potent painkiller

morphine, for example, is extracted from poppy flowers.Quinine, used to treat malaria, comes from cinchona bark.Aspirin, the most widely used medication in the world, was firstprescribed by Hippocrates in the form of willow bark. None ofthese owes anything to animal experiments.

Clinical studies of patients and good old-fashioned observationhave led to the successful treatment of childhood leukaemia andthyroid disease. Our present HIV and AIDS therapies and a num-ber of heart drugs have also been developed in this way.

In vitro or test-tube study has revolutionised medical research.Cell and tissue preservation technology is now so advanced thatmany different types of cells can be kept alive almost indefinitely,

giving far more accurate results when studying disease on themicroscopic level at which it occurs.

Autopsies and epidemiology are other key areas of research,with technology today allowing thousands of patients at multipleinstitutions to be tracked. Ray and Jean Greek point out that epi-demiological studies discovered the link between folic acid defi-ciency and spina bifida. Epidemiological studies also showed thecause/effect relationship between smoking and cancer, cancer anddiet, heart disease and cholesterol, coal dust and black lung dis-ease, smoking and heart disease, among many other diseases. Itwas epidemiology that proved the link between smoking and lungdisease, despite the tobacco industry arguing for years that thiswas not the case because animal-based models said so.Experimenters had tried unsuccessfully for more than half a cen-tury to give animals cancer with tobacco smoke. They reasonedthat since animals do not get cancer from tobacco, there is noproof that it causes cancer. The tobacco industry even paid doc-tors in the 1950s and 1960s to advertise cigarettes.

Breast cancer is an area that has benefited from mathematicalmodelling where computers simulate parts of the human body.This is a relatively new area of research, as is computer-assistedresearch where molecules can be studied on screen using comput-er graphics which mimic the body's systems.

The Dr Hadwen Trust is a UK-based charity established to come upwith alternative research techniques.It funded the development of a newbrain-scanning technique for studyingvision, which replaced the need forinvasive experiments on cats and ledto a revolution in the understanding ofthe human brain with untold potential.The Trust also funded a pioneering3D computer model of human teethwhich is used to predict the results ofcorrective dental procedures such asbraces.

These alternatives are not prohibi-tively expensive, either. Many are in

fact cheaper than using animals. An initial cost of implementingnew procedures would have to be incurred, but the long-term sav-ings would justify the investment.

MORAL, ETHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC CONCERNS

The moral and ethical objections to vivisection will continue torage on. If you are not interested in "animal rights", the use of

animals in experiments will probably not bother you. But the sci-entific evidence against this practice should worry every singleone of us who cares about our health.

Anyone who is yet to be convinced should take note of the sec-tion in Ray and Jean Greeks' book which outlines the results of a1998 survey conducted by the Public Citizens' Health ResearchGroup (PCHRG) in the United States. In the survey, 19 medicalofficers at the FDA said that 27 new drugs approved by theagency in the past three years should not have been. "Dr SidneyWolfe, Director of the PCHRG, said that standards are goingdown because the agency has been under pressure from Congressto approve products more quickly. Of 172 officers interviewed,eight said there were 14 instances in the past three years wherethey had been told n o t to present their opinion to an advisorycommittee if it would reduce the likelihood of a drug's

Animal experimentation is the quickest way of getting

a new drug onto the market.



[Editor's Note: This article refers to research studies involving animals. We wish toadvise readers that we at NEXUS do not condone or support the validity, efficacy ormorality of animal experimentation or vivisection.]

Western medicine usually treats patients with antibiotics and patented drugs.Many such drugs have harmful side effects and can weaken our naturalimmune system. This paper explores the role of Beta-1,3D-Glucan inboosting the immune system as an alternative to conventional medication,

and in acting as an adjuvant by enhancing the effectiveness of conventional medication.Our immune system is our only natural defence against invading disease pathogens, yet

it sometimes fails to cope with disease. This is because our immune system is not some-thing that is always activated; rather, it modulates between an active state and an inactivestate. When the immune system is fully activated, then virucidal and tumoricidal chemi-cals made by the body to fight diseases are at high levels. When the immune system isinactive, these same chemicals exist only at very low levels, allowing invading organismsto multiply. Pollution of our environment results in our immune system being increasinglyharmed and deactivated; for example, every Western person's body now contains dioxinwhich can deactivate the immune system.

The immune system always requires stimulation in order to switch from an inactive ornormal state to the activated state. A typical stimulus might be the detection by the bodyof some part of a germ. However, sometimes a disease can progress significantly and theperson might get quite sick before the immune system becomes aware of the presence ofdisease microbes.

There are two types of immune responses: specific and non-specific. If one is vaccinat-ed against a particular disease, say smallpox, then the subsequent change in the immunesystem reflects a specific immune response targeted only against smallpox. Alternatively,one can have a non-specific immune response whereby the changes in the immune systemare more generalised in nature and not aimed at any single specific disease threat. Such anon-specific immune response is capable of enhancing the body's natural protectionagainst a wide variety of diseases rather than giving protection only against a particularsingle organism.

In the 1940s, Louis Pillmer, PhD, and his associates discovered that a yeast cell wallextract was capable of producing this kind of non-specific immune response. In the1960s, Nicholas DiLuzio, PhD, at Tulane University identified the active ingredient of theyeast cell wall extract as beta-1,3D-glucan.

Then in the 1980s, Joyce Czop, PhD, and colleagues from Harvard Medical Schoolwent further and described exactly how beta-glucan was able to stimulate the immune sys-tem. They found that a key immune cell, called a macrophage, contained specific recep-tor sites which could be activated by the presence of beta-1,3D-glucan. They wrote that"studies indicate that beta-glucans with 1,3 and/or 1,6 linkages are active pharmacologicagents that rapidly confer protection to a normal host against a variety of biologicinsults".1

So it was that the non-specific immune stimulant beta-1,3D-glucan was discovered. Itsprotection is brought about through the triggering of biological switches— r e c e p t o rsites—on the macrophage. These receptors are only activated when a particle has exactlythe right shape to fit the receptor site—and beta-1,3D-glucan has that particular shape, justas a lock can only be opened by a particular key. After discovering this, Czop et al. wrote

Beta-glucan, anatural chemicalextracted from

yeast and plant cellwalls, is an immunesystem booster withenormous potential

in combattingcancer and AIDS,surgical infection

and even the effectsof radiation.

by Peter Olson, BA, DipEd © August, December 2000

PO Box 393Byron Bay, NSW 2480, Australia

Fax: +61 (0)2 6684 9143E-mail: [email protected]

that "the beta-glucan receptors provide a mechanism by which aheightened state of host responsiveness is initiated".2 The result-ing higher levels of cytokines in the blood and enhanced intercel-lular communication from immune activation messengers meanthat the immune system is in a better position to be able to defendthe body from invading organisms.

It will be shown that such protection can benefit the body in itsdefence against viruses, bacteria and cancer, and also to help pro-mote rapid wound healing. A Medline Internet search for beta-glucan will typically find over 6,000 published scientific journalarticles on this topic, so this is a well-researched subject.

BETA-GLUCAN AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEMBeta-1,3D-glucan is a naturally occurring polysaccharide that

can be found in a variety of sources in nature, and not only fromyeast cell walls. Various kinds of beta-glucan can be extractedfrom medicinal mushrooms, oats, seaweed and even from insidethe cell walls of bacteria. Common starches are types of alpha-glucans. Beta-glucan is merely a common polysaccharidebuilding block found in a number of species of plants, fungi andbacteria. It is the active ingredient inoriental medicinal mushrooms, asused in China and Japan for manycenturies.

Glucans are strings of glucose mol-ecules joined together. Differentarrangements of the glucose mole-cules form different glucan structureswith different molecular weights andresult in varying degrees of immune-enhancing potencies. 3 From all thesedifferent types of glucan, it is beta-1,3D-glucan that has been shown tohave the best immune-stimulatingproperties. Some types of beta-glu-can are destroyed by stomach acidsand so are not orally active, but beta-1,3D-glucan derived from baker's yeast is unaffected by stomachacid and is completely intact when taken into the bloodstream.Although beta-1,3D-glucan is extracted from baker's yeast, it isonly a tiny particle from within the yeast cell wall and contains noyeast proteins, so does not adversely affect those who are allergicto yeast.

The fact that the immune system macrophage cell has receptorsites for beta-1,3D-glucan 4 suggests the possibility that theimmune system associates detection of beta-1,3D-glucan with thepresence of a disease organism. Doctors sometimes test for thepresence of beta-glucan in order to detect deep bacterialinfection,5 so scientists also associate the presence of beta-glucanas being indicative of possible bacterial infection. This is becausebeta-glucan is an inert building block from inside the cell wall ofa wide variety of bacteria—just like bricks are used to make abrick wall. So because the immune system associates detection ofbeta-1,3D-glucan as representing a possible undefined bacterialinfection, the immune system macrophage cell will produce ageneralised, non-specific immune activation once it detects thepresence of beta-1,3D-glucan.6, 7

In producing such a non-specific immune response, amacrophage needs to go through several stages of activation: res-ident, primed, activated and, finally, cytotoxic. Normally themacrophage may be "asleep", so to speak, in its resident state, inwhich case it is smooth, inactive and producing few chemicalssuch as cytokines. As the macrophage goes through the various

stages of activation, its phagocytic ability, cytokine excretion andkilling ability increases. Hydrogen peroxide, superoxide andnitric oxide are some of the virucidal and tumoricidal chemicalsthat are produced once the macrophage has reached the fully acti-vated cytotoxic state. 8 Only then is the fully activatedmacrophage able to use these chemical weapons to kill bacteria,viruses and cancer cells. A normal person with an inactiveimmune system may have macrophages that are still "asleep";these macrophages, not realising that a disease is occurring, fail torespond appropriately and to produce these biological defencechemicals.

Once activated, the macrophage also helps to organise anddirect some of the other types of immune system cells. One wayit does this is through excreting chemicals called c y t o k i n e s i n t othe blood—chemicals such as interleukins, interferons, tumournecrosis factor, colony stimulating factor and others. 9, 10 T h e s echemicals are in turn detected by other types of immune systemcells such as B-cells, T-cells and natural killer cells, and leads tothe activation of these other types of immune cells around thebody. This process is referred to as the immune cascade, whereby

the triggering into activation of themacrophage and its release of chemi-cal messengers subsequently triggersinto activation other types of immunesystem cells around the body.

Unlike normal medical drugs,chemotherapeutic agents and antibi-otics, beta-1,3D-glucan produces acompletely natural cell-mediatedimmune response. The therapeuticeffect comes about through the body'sown natural defence system and notthrough consuming some toxic sub-stance that might leave the bodyweakened as a result. On the con-trary, one's natural defences areincreased.

ANTI-CANCER EFFECTThe macrophage is one part of the immune system that is capa-

ble of killing cancer cells. In addition to organising other immunecells, another function of the macrophage cell is p h a g o c y t o s i s:engulfing and then digesting foreign cells and particles.

The macrophage is an extremely large cell compared to allother immune cells, and it has a series of long tentacles resem-bling those of an octopus. The macrophage tentacles can grabforeign cells, such as cancer cells, and drag them in, engulf them,then digest them using the natural toxic chemicals that themacrophage can produce, such as nitric oxide and hydrogen per-oxide.

The ability of the macrophage to digest foreign particlesphagocytically varies proportionately with the state of activationof the macrophage. When the macrophage is in its dormant orresting stage, its surface is smooth and its ability to engulf cells isimpaired. As the macrophage becomes more activated, its surfacebecomes progressively more wrinkled, which greatly enhances itsphagocytic ability. So macrophage activation increasesphagocytosis.

In a study by J. Bogwald et al., the authors showed that glucan-activated macrophages are capable of killing different types ofcancer cells such as melanoma and mastocytoma. The authorssaid that "macrophages stimulated by an insoluble beta-1,3D-glucan from yeast cell walls were able to destroy tumour cells, as


Beta-1,3D-glucan is a naturally occurring

polysaccharide that can be found in a variety of sources in nature, and not only from

yeast cell walls.


measured by the release of radioactive label from prelabelled14C-thymidine cells".11

Other authors have found similar results. Di Luzio et al. foundthat glucan was capable of producing a "significant reduction inthe growth of mammary carcinoma and melanoma B16", and con-cluded that "glucan initiates significant antitumor activity".12 In aseparate study, Di Luzio et al. found that glucan produced "inhibi-tion of tumor growth and enhancement of survival in a variety oftransplantable tumors".13

In Japan, extracts containing various types of beta-glucan havebeen used successfully to assist in the treatment of cancer patientsfor the last 20 years.14

Additional evidence of the antitumour effects is given by R.Seljelid, who stated that "when water-soluble aminated beta-1,3D-glucan was injected intravenously or intraperitoneally on dayseven of tumor growth, the tumors under-went complete regression".15

Similar injections of beta-glucan intotumours, performed by Mansell et al., alsoshowed positive results. The authors inject-ed beta-1,3D-glucan directly into patientswith a variety of tumours, including breastcancer and melanoma. Although the numberof patients was small (nine patients), theyfound in every case that "the size of thelesion was strikingly reduced in as short aperiod as five days" and "the amount of glu-can injected and the quantity of residualtumor appeared to be related",16 suggesting adose-response correlation.

Scientists are well aware thatsometimes our immune system simplyfails to recognise and hence kill cancercells, resulting in the uncontrolledgrowth of the cancer. Researchers atthe University of Louisville, USA,showed that beta-1,3D-glucan couldhelp the immune system to target andthen kill cancers that otherwise wouldhave gone unrecognised and henceunaffected by the immune system. Theauthors wrote: "Despite exhibitingmembrane-bound C3, breast tumor celllines were not killed by CR3-bearingnatural killer cells. Priming of naturalkiller cell CR3 with small, solubleyeast beta-glucan polysaccharides enabled CR3-dependent killingof these same C3-bearing tumor cell lines".17 So beta-1,3D-glucanassists the immune system in recognising cancer cells from normalcells.

Beta-glucan exhibits not only a direct anti-tumour effect viamacrophage activation and enhanced cancer cell recognition, butalso shows a synergistic effect when used in combination withconventional anti-cancer drugs. K. Gomaa et al. state that whenused alone, "glucan exhibited a strong inhibition of tumourgrowth of the allogeneic sarcoma-180". However, they wrote thatin testing the synergistic effect of glucan with anti-cancer drugs,"against the hormone-sensitive Noble-Nb-R prostate carcinomathe glucan alone showed a moderate antitumour effect, whereas incombination with diethylstilbestrol an almost complete regressionof the tumour could be achieved". 1 8 This is just one of manyexamples where glucan has been shown to have a synergisticeffect when combined with other medications.

Obviously every large, lethal, solid tumour began life as a sin-gle cancer cell. It would seem possible that everyone mightdevelop a single cancer cell somewhere in their body during theirlifetime, yet not everyone dies of cancer or even develops anoticeable cancer. It would seem possible that people with anactive immune system may have macrophages in an activatedstate which can easily overcome and phagotise isolated singlecancer cells in the body. On the other hand, if the naturaldefences are weakened through exposure to environmental conta-minants and a single cancer cell develops, then that single cancercell may go unrecognised and unchallenged by the body's weak-ened natural defences. It would multiply and eventually wouldbecome millions of cancer cells and a much bigger problem forthe body to deal with.

The concept of an ingredient working synergistically with adrug is called the adjuvant principle. TheMerriam-Webster Medical Dictionarydefines a d j u v a n t as "assisting in the pre-vention, amelioration or cure of disease".19

Not only does beta-glucan have a directeffect as a biological response modifierwhen used alone, but it frequently demon-strates an adjuvant effect by working syn-ergistically with other drugs.

SYNERGY WITH ANTIBIOTICSJust as beta-1,3D-glucan works syner-

gistically with anti-cancer drugs, it alsoworks synergistically when used in combi-nation with antibiotics. Doctors from

Harvard Medical School conductedrandomised, double-blind, phase 1/2clinical trials of a modified beta-glu-can, called PGG-glucan, to test itseffectiveness in infection control inhigh-risk surgical patients. Theresults of the clinical trials were veryclear and statistically significant:beta-glucan greatly reduced the rateof infection in these patients. TheHarvard researchers stated: "Patientswho received PGG-glucan had sig-nificantly fewer infectious complica-tions (3.4 infections per infectedpatient vs 1.4 infections per infectedpatient, p = 0.05), decreased intra-

venous antibiotic requirement (10.3 days vs 0.4 days, p = 0.04)and shorter intensive care unit length of stay (3.3 days vs 0.1days, p = 0.03)." They concluded that "glucan is safe and appearsto be effective in the further reduction of the morbidity and cost ofmajor surgery" and, further, that "there were no adverse drugexperiences associated with PGG-glucan".20

Another Harvard Medical School study of glucan found similarpositive results. The authors found "a dose-response trend withregard to infection incidence" among patients who receivedglucan—meaning that the higher the dose of glucan, the smallerwas the resulting incidence of patient infection.21

In 1999, doctors from the University of Washington School ofMedicine conducted a multicentre, prospective, randomised,double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a type of beta-1,3D-glucan on patients scheduled for gastrointestinal operations.Thirty-nine medical centres throughout the United States wereinvolved. All patients received standardised antibiotic

Scientists are well aware that sometimes our immune system

simply fails to recognise and hence

kill cancer cells, resulting in the

uncontrolled growth of the cancer.


prophylaxis. In the noncolorectal group (391 patients), "glucanadministration was associated with a statistically significantrelative reduction (39%) in serious infections and death". Inmalnourished patients having these operations, infections anddeath were 44% of 70 patients in the placebo group, 24% of 68patients in the low-dose glucan group, and 17% of 72 patients inthe higher-dose glucan group. This represents a 61% reduction inthe rate of infection between the controls and the higher-doseglucan group of malnourished surgical patients. That would seemto be a remarkable finding for a long studied, yet little usednatural product. The authors predicted that "glucan wouldbecome an important product in infectious disease management".22

Doctors in Brazil have also conducted double-blind clinicaltrials which demonstrate the ability of beta-1,3D-glucan to reduceinfections in hospital patients and preventdeath. The authors wrote that "Pneumoniaoccurred in 11 of 20 patients in the controlgroup and in two of 21 recipients of glucan(p < 0.01)" and that "The mortality raterelated to infection was 30.0 per cent inpatients in the control group and 4.8 percent in the group treated with glucan (p <0 . 0 5 ) " .2 3 It is easy to see that glucan, anatural polysaccharide molecule, savedpeople's lives during these hospital-basedclinical trials by working synergisticallywith conventional antibiotic medication.

Researchers from Tulane University,USA, conducted randomised, double-blindclinical trials of beta-glucan to assess mor-tality rates in patients due to infectioncaused by trauma. Browder et. al.found that "the total mortality ratewas significantly less in the glucangroup (0% versus 29%)" compared tocontrols, and that "Glucan therapysignificantly decreased septic mor-bidity 9.5% versus 49%". They stat-ed that these beneficial effects areattributable to enhanced macrophagefunction produced by glucan.2 4 T h i sparticular study, demonstrating theeffectiveness of beta-glucan at mor-tality reduction by enhanced infectioncontrol, is over 10 years old, yet fewif any general practitioners have everheard of this natural product, beta-1,3D-glucan.

DISEASE RECOGNITION Activated macrophages can aid in the immune system's identifi-

cation of bacterial or viral invaders. If an activated macrophageencounters a virus and phagocytically digests it, the macrophagewill then display part of that virus, called an a n t i g e n, on themacrophage surface. If an immune system T-cell comes along, itwill be able to recognise the antigen being displayed by themacrophage and elicit a specific T-cell response aimed at that par-ticular virus. 25 The T-cell cannot recognise the virus and initiatethat response until after the virus is broken down and its viral anti-gen is displayed on the macrophage surface.

In an animal study, researchers concluded that "glucan is capa-ble of increasing survival, inhibiting hepatic necrosis, and main-taining an activated state of phagocytic activity in mice chal-lenged with mouse hepatitis virus".26

RADIOPROTECTIVE EFFECTSA search of the National Library of Medicine found 31 journal

articles discussing the radioprotective effects of beta-1,3D-glucan. The US Army is amongst those who have reported positive

findings on the radioprotective properties of glucan. Some of theeffects of nuclear radiation are damage to the bone marrow,colony-forming cells and haematopoietic progenitor cells thatmanufacture blood cells. Researchers found that glucan exhibiteda radioprotective effect because of its ability to stimulate recoveryof the bone marrow cells after radiation damage and subsequentlythe haematopoietic regeneration of new blood cells.27, 28

These results have been confirmed by many researchers. Forexample, M. Hofer et al. described beta-1,3D-glucan extractedfrom baker's yeast as "a broad spectrum enhancer of host defence

mechanisms stimulating humoral andcell-mediated immunity". They conclud-ed from their research into the effects ofgamma radiation on animals that "resultshave demonstrated the ability of glucan toinfluence positively the course of theacute radiation disease". 2 9 If a nucleardisaster were to occur, then glucan couldmean the difference between life anddeath.

Patchen et al. state that "glucans signif-icantly enhanced survival in otherwiselethally irradiated mice". None of thecontrol mice survived the lethal gammaradiation, whereas the majority of micegiven beta-1,3D-glucan did survive the

lethal radiation. 3 0 Many of thesestudies were carried out by the USmilitary at Bethesda, Maryland,USA.

Additionally, another radiopro-tective effect was discovered,whereby enhanced recovery wasattributed to the free-radical scav-enging ability of glucan. MyraPatchen, PhD, was the first to dis-cover the free-radical scavengingabilities of beta-1,3D-glucan and toshow that macrophages were pro-tected from free radical attack dur-ing and after radiation, while con-ducting radiation experiments on

animals at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute,Bethesda, Maryland, USA.31

Beta-1,3D-glucan has been shown to work synergistically withother radioprotective agents. Patchen et al. stated that "it wasdemonstrated that the postirradiation administration of glucan, animmunomodulator and haematopoietic stimulant, enhances theradioprotective effects of WR-2721".32

CHOLESTEROL REDUCTIONBeta-1,3D-glucan lowers cholesterol levels. Researchers from

the University of Massachusetts, USA, studied the effect of yeast-derived beta-1,3D-glucan on serum lipid levels in obese, hyper-cholesterolaemic men. They concluded that "yeast-derived beta-glucan fiber significantly lowered total cholesterol concentrationsand was well tolerated".33

Clinical trials of oat-derived beta-glucan and cholesterol wereconducted by researchers from the University of Göteborg,

A search of the NationalLibrary of Medicine

found 31 journal articlesdiscussing the

radioprotective effects of beta-1,3D-glucan.

The US Army is amongstthose who have reported

positive findings on the radioprotective

properties of glucan.

Sweden. The found that "beta-glucan mediates an increase in bileacid excretion, which most probably explains the effect of oatfibre in lowering serum lipids".34

Researchers from the University of Ottawa, Canada, went fur-ther and designed a randomised clinical trial to determine whetherit was the presence beta-1,3D-glucan in oat bran that was respon-sible for oat bran's cholesterol-lowering effect. The results of theclinical trials were quite clear, that "the main component of the sol-uble fibre of oats, beta-glucan, significantly reduced the total andLDL cholesterol levels of hyperc-holesterolaemic adults withoutchanging HDL cholesterol".3 5

This means that beta-1,3D-glucanlowered the "bad" type of choles-terol without lowering levels ofthe "good" cholesterol.

Lipid levels in the blood are ofcritical importance to those withdiabetes, so researchers inSwitzerland investigated theeffect of beta-1,3D-glucan ondiabetic patients. They conclud-ed that "Diabetic individuals canbenefit from diets that are high inbeta-glucan".36

WOUND HEALINGBeta-1,3D-glucan has been

investigated for its effect on accelerating wound healing in ani-mals. Researchers made identical cuts on each of the rear legs ofanimals. Beta-glucan was applied to one leg and a saline treat-ment was applied to the other leg. They wrote that "During thedays when the differences were most obvious, 60% to 80% of theanimals showed more advanced healing in the glucan-treatedwound" and concluded that "the average time for complete woundhealing was reduced by about 18% as a result of glucan treat-ment". Histological analysis showed that "the acceleration ofwound healing was mediated by early arrival of macrophages tothe wound area in the glucan-treated wounds".37

Further evidence of rapid wound healing was shown byBrowder et al. on wounds made in rats. The authors stated thatwound "breaking strength was significantly increased by intra-venous glucan and topical glucan on the fourth day after incision,compared with controls".38

Similarly, Portera et al. state that "immunomodulators thatenhance macrophage function have been shown to be beneficial ina number of wound-healing models in humans".39

AIDS THERAPYAs mentioned, the simple

carbohydrate beta-1,3D-glucan can be extractedfrom a variety of naturalsources. Lentinan is a beta-1,3D-glucan isolated fromthe shiitake mushroom,Lentinus edodes.

Early-stage clinical trialshave been carried out at SanFrancisco General Hospital,USA. Gordon et al. wrotethat "patients in the studyhave shown a trend towardincreases in CD4 cells and,in some patients, neutrophilactivity"; however, becauseof the small number of

patients, these values do not have statistical significance. Yet intheir conclusion they noted that "a trial of lentinan in combinationwith didanosine (ddI) showed a mean increase of 142 CD4cells/mm3 over a twelve-month period, in contrast to a decrease inCD4 cells in patients on ddI alone".40

According to G. Chihara from Teikyo University, Kawasaki,Japan, beta-1,3D-glucans derived from lentinan "increased hostresistance to various kinds of bacterial, viral and parasitic infec-tions including AIDS" and "are the most appropriate drugs to pre-vent cancer recurrence or the manifestation of AIDS symptoms inHIV carriers".41

...the simple carbohydrate beta-1,3D-glucan can be extracted from a variety of natural sources.

Lentinan is a beta-1,3D-glucan isolated from the shiitake mushroom,

Lentinus edodes.


Endnotes1. Czop, J.K., Valiante, N.M. and Janusz, M.J.(Harvard Medical School, Boston,Massachusetts). Phagocytosis of particulateactivators of the human alternative comple-ment pathway through monocyte beta-glucanreceptors. Prog. Clin. Biol. Res. 1989;297:287-96.2. op. cit. 3. Inai et al. Activation of the AlternativeComplement Pathway by Water-InsolubleGlucans of Streptococcus mutans: theRelation between their Chemical Structuresand Activating Potencies. Journal ofImmunology 1976; 117:1256-1260. 4. Goldman, R. Characteristics of the B-glu-can Receptor of Murine Macrophages. Exp.Cel. Res. 1988; 174:481-490. 5. Sakai, T., Ikegami, K., Yoshinaga, E.,Uesugi-Hayakawa, R. and Wakizaka, A.Rapid, sensitive and simple detection of candi-da deep mycosis by amplification of 18S ribo-somal RNA gene; comparison with assay ofserum beta-D-glucan level in clinical samples.Tohoku J. Exp. Med. Feb 2000; 190(2):119-28.

6. Carrow, D.J. Beta-1,3-glucan as a PrimaryImmune Activator. US Patent No. 5,504,079,1996. 7. Spiros, J. Method for immune system acti-vation by administration of beta (1-3) glucanwhich is produced by Saccharomyces v ere-visiae strain R4. Townsend Letter for Doctors,June 1996.8. Morikawa, K., Takeda, M., Yamazaki, M.and Mizuno, D. Induction of tumoricidalactivity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes by alinear ß-1,3-D-glucan and other immunomodu-lators in murine cells. Cancer Res. 45:1496-1501. 9. Olson, E.J., Standing, J.E., Griego-Harper,N., Hoffman, O.A. and Limper, A.H. Fungalbeta-glucan interacts with vitronectin andstimulates tumor necrosis factor alpha releasefrom macrophages. Infect. Immun. Sept 1996;64(9):3548-54.10. Yadomae, T. (Laboratory forImmunopharmacology of Microbial Products,School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University ofPharmacy and Life Science, Japan), YakugakuZasshi May 2000; 120(5):413-31.

11. Bogwald, J., Johnson, E. and Seljelid, R.The cytotoxic effect of mouse macrophagesstimulated in vitro by a beta-1,3-D-glucanfrom yeast cell walls. Scand. J. Immunol.March 1982; 15(3):297-304. 12. Di Luzio, N.R., Williams, D.L.,McNamee, R.B. and Malshet, V.G.Comparative evaluation of the tumor inhibito-ry and antibacterial activity of solubilized andparticulate glucan. Recent Results. CancerRes. 1980; 75:165-72. 13. Di Luzio, N.R., McNamee, R.B.,Williams, D.L., Gilbert, K.M. and Spanjers,M.A. Induced inhibition of tumor growth andenhancement of survival in a variety of trans-plantable and spontaneous murine tumormodels. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 1980;121(A):269-90. 14. Aoki, T. Lentinan. Chapter 4 inModulation Agents and their Mechanism(Richard L. Fenichel, ed.), Marcel Dekker,Inc., New York and Basel, 1984, pp. 63-77.15. Seljelid, R.A. Water-soluble aminatedbeta-1,3D-glucan derivative causes regression



of solid tumors in mice. Biosci. Rep. Sept1986; 6(9):845-851. 16. Mansell, P., Ichinose, H., Reed, R.J.,Krementz., E.T., McNamee, R. and Di Luzio,N.R. Macrophage-mediated destruction ofhuman malignant cells in vivo. J. Natl CancerInst. Mar 1975; 54(3):571-80.17. Vetvicka, V., Thornton, B.P., Wieman,T.J. and Ross, G.D. Targeting of natural killercells to mammary carcinoma via naturallyoccurring tumor cell-bound iC3b and beta-glu-can-primed CR3 (CD11b/CD18). J.Immunology 15 July 1997; 159(2):599-605.18. Gomaa, K., Kraus, J., Rosskopf, F.,Röper, H. and Franz, G. Antitumour andimmunological activity of a beta 1-3/1-6 glu-can from Glomerella cingulata. J. CancerRes. Clin. Oncol. 1992; 118(2):136-40.19. See http://www.edenet.com/dictionary.asp.20. Babineau, T.J., Marcello, P., Swails, W.,Kenler, A., Bistrian, B. and Forse, R.A.(Harvard Medical School, Boston,Massachusetts). Randomized phase I/II trialof a macrophage-specific immunomodulator(PGG-glucan) in high-risk surgical patients.Ann. Surg. Nov 1994; 220(5):601-9.

21. Babineau, T.J., Hackford, A., Kenler, A.,Bistrian, B., Forse, R.A., Fairchild, P.G.,Heard, S., Keroack, M., Caushaj, P. andBenotti, P. (Harvard Medical School, Boston,Massachusetts). A phase II multicenter, dou-ble-blind, randomized, placebo-controlledstudy of three dosages of an immunomodula-tor (PGG-glucan) in high-risk surgicalpatients. Arch. Surg. Nov 1994;129(11):1204-10. 22. Dellinger, E.P., Babineau, T.J., Bleicher,P., Kaiser, A.B., Seibert, G.B., Postier, R.G.,Vogel, S.B., Norman, J., Kaufman, D.,Galandiuk, S. and Condon, R.E. (University ofWashington School of Medicine). Effect ofPGG-glucan on the rate of serious postopera-tive infection or death observed after high-riskgastrointestinal operations. Arch. Surg. Sept1999; 134(9):977-83. 23. De Felippe, Jr, J., da Rocha e Silva, Jr,M., Maciel, F.M., Soares, A. de M. andMendes, N.F. (Hospital Arthur Ribeiro deSaboya, São Paulo, Brazil). Infection preven-tion in patients with severe multiple traumawith the immunomodulator beta 1-3-polyglu-cose (glucan). Surg. Gynecol. Obstet. Oct1993; 177(4):383-8.

24. Browder, W., Williams, D., Pretus, H.,Olivero, G., Enrichens, F., Mao, P. andFranchello, A. (Tulane University, NewOrleans, USA). Beneficial effect of enhancedmacrophage function in the trauma patient.Ann. Surg. May 1990; 211(5):605-12, discus-sion 612-3.25. Thornton, B.P., Vetvicka, V. and Ross,G.D. Natural antibody and complement-mediated antigen processing and presentationby B-lymphocytes. J. Immunology 1994;152:1727-1737.26. Williams, D.L. and Di Luzio, N.R.Glucan-induced modification of murine viralhepatitis. Science 4 April 1980; 208(4439):67-9.27. Patchen, M.L., MacVittie, T.J. and Weiss,J.F. Combined modality radioprotection: theuse of glucan and selenium with WR-2721.Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. May 1990;18(5):1069-75.28. Patchen, M.L., MacVittie, T.J. andJackson, W.E. Postirradiation glucan adminis-tration enhances the radioprotective effects ofWR-2721. Radiat. Res. Jan 1989; 117(1):59-69.

THE VITAMIN C CONNECTIONSometimes it is useful to compare the activity of a macrophage

with the activity of a motor car. In order to activate the car, onefirst needs the car key to switch on the car. This is analogous tothe way beta-1,3D-glucan can activate the macrophage cell. Inorder for the car to be used a lot, it obviously needs a constantsupply of fuel; so, similarly, a macrophage also needs a regularsupply of fuel, especially when it is activated. This is the functionof vitamin C.

It has been shown that the concentration of ascorbic acid (vita-min C) in a mature macrophage can reach 1,000 times the concen-tration of ascorbic acid in the blood.42

Yet it has also been shown that whenmacrophages are activated with beta-1,3D-glucan, they exhibit a signifi-cant drop in their vitamin C content. 43

This is because they are burning fuel. Vitamin C is a kind of fuel that is

necessary for an activatedmacrophage to function properly.When macrophages are not activated,then the body does not use up muchvitamin C; but once macrophages areactivated, the body uses up its supplyof vitamin C at a very fast rate. Ithas been shown that it is the colonystimulating factor, produced by anactivated macrophage, that causes our macrophages to uptake thisextra vitamin C.4 4 In fact, if the activated macrophage does notget an adequate supply of vitamin C, it is unable to functionproperly.

Studies have shown that animals fed vitamin C–deficient dietsdevelop much fewer and smaller macrophages, and thosemacrophages have an impaired ability to move around the body towhere they are needed.45

Additionally, vitamin C–deficient macrophages show adecreased ability to generate anti-cancer and bacteria-killingchemicals such as superoxide, even if they are activated.46

So, macrophages activated by beta-1,3D-glucan performstrongly for a short while until they use up all their available vita-min C; then, due to lack of vitamin C, their performance may beimpaired.

So vitamin C supplementation would seem to be a necessaryadjunct to beta-1,3D-glucan therapy.

The synergistic relationship between beta-1,3D-glucan and vita-min C is clearly demonstrated by in vitro studies on prostate can-cer. Researchers achieved a greater than 95 per cent prostate can-cer cell death by using a certain level of mushroom-derived beta-glucan. Yet they later found that by adding vitamin C, the same

level of cancer cell death could beachieved using only one-eighthof the amount of beta-glucan. 4 7

The addition of vitamin C multi-plied the effectiveness of thebeta-glucan.

There is much evidence tosupport the various beneficialeffects of beta-1,3D-glucan.However, Western medicine isan evidence-based medicine.With so many conventionalWestern medicines havingimmunosuppressive effects, is itnot time for the medical profes-sion to look for an immune-

booster which can enhance the effects of conventional medicinesand improve patient outcomes?

People are looking for natural healing, and such natural healingcan be stimulated through the use of the immune systemenhancer, beta-1,3D-glucan. ∞

About the Author:Peter Olson, BA, DipEd, has formal training in psychologyand schoolteaching. As a result of friends and a family mem-ber developing cancer, he has spent the last six years con-ducting health research.

The addition of vitamin C multiplied the effectiveness

of the beta-glucan.



[Editor's Note: This article refers to research studies involving animals. We wish toadvise readers that we at NEXUS do not condone or support the validity, efficacy ormorality of animal experimentation or vivisection.]

IMMUNOLOGY PRINCIPLES: ANTIBODY RESPONSE

To explain the action of adjuvants, we should look into immunology. The theoryof vaccine efficacy is based on the ability of vaccines to evoke the formation ofantibodies. This is of varying efficacy, depending on the nature of the antigen(s)and the amount of antigenic substance administered.

However, the mechanisms for the diversity of immune reactions are complex, and tothis day are not quite known and understood. There are numerous theories, the favouredone being antibody response as the sign of immunisation (acquiring immunity).

Specific immunity to a particular disease is generally considered to be the result of twokinds of activity: the humoral antibody and the cellular sensitivity.

The ability to form antibodies develops partly in utero and partly after birth in theneonatal period. In either case, immunological competence—the ability to respondimmunologically to an antigenic stimulus—appears to originate with the thymic activity.

The thymus initially consists largely of primitive cellular elements which becomeperipheralised to the lymph nodes and spleen. These cells give rise to lymphoid cells,resulting in the development of immunological competence. The thymus may also exert asecond activity in producing a hormone-like substance which is essential for the matura-tion of immunological competence in lymphoid cells. Such maturation also takes place bycontact with thymus cells in the thymus.

Stimulation of the organism by antigen results in proliferation of cells of the lymphoidseries accompanied by the formation of immunocytes, and this leads to the antibody pro-duction. Certain lymphocytes and possibly reticulum cells may be transformed intoimmunoblasts, which develop into immunologically active ("sensitised") lymphocytes andplasmocytes (plasma cells). Antibody formation is connected with plasma cells, whilecellular immunity reactions are mainly lymphocytic.

None of the theories for antibody formation comprehends all the biological and chemi-cal data now available. However, several principal theories have been considered atlength.

The so-called instructive theory holds that the antigen is brought to the locus of anti-body synthesis and there imposes in some way the synthesis of the specific antibody withreactive sites which are complementary to the antigen.

The clonal selection theory, evolved by Burnett (1960), presupposes that the informa-tion requisite to the synthesis of the antibody is part of the genetics. While the bodydevelops a wide range of clones of cells necessary to cover all antigenic determinants byrandom mutation during early embryonic life, those clones which are capable of reactingwith antigens of the body ("self") are destroyed, leaving only those cells which are not ori-ented to self ("non-self"). Upon stimulation by a foreign antigen, the clones of the cellscorresponding to the particular foreign antigen are stimulated to proliferate and to producethe antibody.

Other researchers demonstrated that there are at least four different antigens formed bydescendants of a single cloned cell. By this mechanism, the information for antibody syn-thesis is contained in the genetic material of each cell (DNA) but is normally repressed.The antigen then assumes the role of a de-repressor and initiates (provokes) the RNA syn-thesis for a particular messenger, resulting in the corresponding antibody production. The

Adjuvants arechemical

substances whichare added to

vaccines to boostimmune response,but they can also

cause a widerange of adverse

side effects.

Part 2 of 2

by Viera Scheibner, PhD © 2000

178 Govetts Leap RoadBlackheath, NSW 2785

AustraliaTelephone: +61 (0)2 4787 8203

Fax: +61 (0)2 4787 8988


antigen would instruct the genetically predisposed capability ofmultipotential cells as to which antibody to produce and mightalso command the cells to proliferate, resulting in clones of prop-erly instructed cells.

There are two possible mechanisms for the elimination of anti-bodies against self: immunological nonresponsiveness a n dimmunological paralysis. There are several states of immunologi-cal nonresponsiveness; one is illustrated by the exposure of a foe-tus or newborn to an antigen prior to the development of its abilityto recognise the antigen as non-self (i m m u n o l o g i c a li n c o m p e t e n c e). Immunological paralysis results from the injec-tion of a very large amount of antigen into immunologically com-petent individuals. Nonspecific immunological suppression bycortisone, ACTH, nitrogen mustards and irradiation is also wellknown.

Cellular sensitivity, also known as d e l a y e d or cellular hyper -sensitivity, depends on the development of immunologically reac-tive or "sensitive" lymphocytes and possibly other cells whichreact with the corresponding antigen to give a typical delayed-type reaction after a period of several hours, days or even weeks.

Cellular hypersensitivity depends on the original antigenic stim-ulation and a latent period, and isspecific in its response. Delayed-type hypersensitivity is characteristicof the body's response to variousinfectious agents such as viruses,bacteria, fungi, spirochetes and para-sites. It is also characteristic of thebody's response to various chemi-cals, such as mercury, endotoxins,antibiotics, various drugs and manyother substances foreign to the body.

The induction of a hypersensitivityreaction requires the presence in thetissues of the whole organism or cer-tain derivatives of it, in addition tothe specific antigen such as a lipid, inaddition to tubercle bacillus protein. Sensitisation to a non-infec-tious substance must be mediated through the skin or mucuousmembranes which probably provide further necessary co-factors.

A delayed hypersensitivity reaction may be enhanced experi-mentally by the employment of the antigen in a mineral oil adju-vant with added Mycobacterium tuberculosis or by injection ofthe antigen directly into the lymphatics. The delayed hypersensi-tivity response is accompanied by mild to severe inflammationwhich may cause cell injury and necrosis. The inflammatoryresponse which occurs in delayed-type hypersensitivity may notbe protective, and in many instances may even be harmful (e.g.,rejection of grafts is directly linked to delayed hypersensitivity).

IMMUNOPATHOLOGY OF HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS: Immediate Hypersensitivity

This is the antibody-type reaction that is a secondary conse-quence to the beneficial effect of the combination of an antibodywith its antigen.

Arthus-type ReactionThis reaction results from the precipitative union of a large

amount of antigen with a highly reactive antibody in the bloodvessels, and leads to vascular damage. The cascade of eventsincludes spastic contraction of the arterioles, endothelial damage,formation of leukocyte thrombi, exudation of fluid and blood cells

into the tissues, and sometimes ischemic necrosis. Periarteritisnodosa results from a similar antigen-antibody reaction and ischaracterised by inflammation of the smaller arteries and periarte-rial structures. It is accompanied by proliferation of the intimaand two types of occlusion: (a) by proliferation or thrombosis; or(b) by the formation of nodules containing neutrophils andeosinophils.

AnaphylaxisInjection of antigen and its combination with antibody may

cause release from the cells (especially mast-cell fixed basophils)of physiologically active substances such as histamine, serotonin,acetylcholine, slow-reacting substances (SRS) and heparin. Theyact on smooth muscle and blood vessels and cause anaphylactic(hypersensitivity) shock, asthma attack, allergic oedema, rhinitisor hay fever, and accumulation of fluid in the joints.

AtopyAtopy is caused by the union of antigen—usually pollens, dust,

milk, wheat and animal danders—with a peculiar type of antibody(reagin). This reaction is relatively heat-labile and cannot be

demonstrated by in vitro procedure. Ithas a special affinity for the skin andfor familial predisposition to the dis-ease. The reaction is neverthelesssimilar to other immediate-type sensi-tivities, with the release of histamineand its manifestation principally asasthma (breathing paralysis), hayfever, urticaria, angioedema andinfantile eczema.

Delayed HypersensitivityThe typical pathology of delayed

hypersensitivity due to infectiousagents involves perivascular infiltra-tion of lymphocytes and histiocytes

with the destruction of the antigen-containing parenchyma in theinfiltrated area. The visual manifestations may vary from slighterythema and oedema to a violent reaction with progressive tissuedestruction and necrosis. Local reactions include papular rosespots of typhoid fever, meningitis and a variety of infectious dis-eases, and contact sensitivities to plant and chemical substancesmanifesting as erythema, followed by papule and vesicle forma-tion with resultant tissue damage and desquamation. Systemicreactions may accompany severe local reactions or may resultfrom inhalation of the allergenic substances.

Humoral antibodies do not seem to play a role in delayedhypersensitivity reaction. The reactivity is transferred only bycells, presumably sensitised lymphocytes, and it is unlikely thathistamine or other physiologically active substances play a role inthe reaction. The reaction extends to any or all tissues where theoffending antigen may occur.

Isoimmunological DiseaseThis is the result of an immunological reaction of a member of

the same species to the tissue of another member of the samespecies. A blood transfusion reaction in a person given an incom-patible blood type is a typical example. Another example is ery-throblastosis fetalis, which results from the transfer of antibodiesagainst the red blood cells of the foetus to the foetal circulation.Homograft rejection of tissues or organs between nonisologousmembers of a species is also immunologically based.

The inflammatory response which occurs in delayed-typehypersensitivity may not be

protective, and in many instances may even be

harmful.


Immunological Disease Resulting from Adsorption ofForeign Substances

Under certain circumstances, foreign substances such as med-ications may combine with cells to render them antigenic.Subsequent exposure to such a foreign substance results in lytic,agglutinative or other types of cell-destructive activity. Such areaction may involve red blood cells (drug-induced anaemias),platelets (drug-induced thrombocytopenic purpura), and leukocy-tosis (drug-induced agranulocytosis).

Bacteria or viruses may also alter cell surfaces by coating or byunmasking antigens through enzymatic activity which may renderthem vulnerable to immunological destruction.

Autoimmune DiseaseUnder certain circumstances, the body may respond immuno-

logically to its own components or to intrinsic substances whichare related antigenically to the host's own tis-sues. The circulating antibody or sensitisedcells which are produced are then active incausing cellular injury to the tissues ororgans of the body which bear the corre-sponding antigen.

Waksman (1962) proposed several mecha-nisms of autoimmunisation, such as:

1. Vaccination with organ-specific anti-gens which are isolated from the lymphaticchannels and bloodstream and are not recog-nised as self when brought into contact withthe immunologic process. They are repre-sented in the central and peripheral nervoussystems, lens, uvea, testes, thyroid (thy-roglobulin), kidneys and other organs.

2. Vaccination against constituents oftissues which have been altered antige-netically by various factors. Theseinclude myocardial infarction, X-irradi-ation, enzymatic or other chemicalalteration, and changes induced byinfectious disease agents or by drugs.Erythrocytes, platelets and leucocytesare the most affected cells. Variousorgans may also be affected.

3. Vaccination with heterologousantigens which are sufficiently differentto permit an immunological responsebut sufficiently alike to react with autol-ogous antigens.

4. Alteration of the immunological apparatus so as to result inthe failure of recognition of self. This occurs in neoplasia of thelymphatic system and in experimental grafting of immunological-ly competent heterologous lymphatic tissues under conditionswhich suppress the host's response to the graft and give rise to thewasting "runt disease" or "homologous disease".

5. Possible hereditary or other immunological abnormality.This is represented by a hyper-reactivity to antigens or other aber-rations without apparent antigenic stimulation. Such mechanismsmight be related to certain forms of the "collagen diseases", suchas systemic lupus erythematosus in which there is an antibodyagainst a diversity of antigens.

6. Experimentally, Freund's mineral oil adjuvant (usually withadded mycobacteria) and certain bacteria or bacterial toxins mayso alter the host as to bring about a ready response to unalterednormal homologous tissue. These "experimental autoallergies"

include a wide variety of organs and tissues, and are now beingemployed as model systems for investigation of autoimmunephenomena.

Both humoral antibody and sensitised cells may function inautoimmune disease. Auto-antibodies seem to be involved inreactions with cells which are easily accessible, such as theformed elements of the blood (in haemolytic anaemia, leucopenia,thrombocytopenia), vascular endothelium, vascular basementmembrane including the glomerulus (in acute glomerulonephritis)and ascites cells (neoplastic immunity).

Production of lesions in the solid vascularised tissues appears todepend on delayed hypersensitivity reactions with sensitised lym-phoid cells (such as in allergic encephalomyelitis, thyroiditis, sub-acute and chronic glomerulonephritis, orchitis, adrenalitis andmany other diseases).

It is quite obvious now that the same autoimmune mechanismsare responsible for the same diseases inhuman beings and that the extent of suchdamage is enormous and keeps increasing,with more and more vaccines added to the"recommended" schedule.

Indeed, vaccines such as the pertussisvaccine are actually used to induce autoim-mune diseases in laboratory animals, thebest and most publicised example being theso-called experimental allergicencephalomyelitis (EAE). When, as expect-ed, these unfortunate animals develop EAEfrom the pertussis vaccine, the causal link isnever disputed; yet when babies after vacci-nation with the same vaccines develop the

same symptoms of EAE as the labora-tory animals, the causal link to theadministered vaccine is always disput-ed and usually considered "coinciden-tal". Lately, innocent parents andother carers have been accused ofcausing the symptoms of vaccine dam-age by allegedly shaking their babies.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is oneof the innumerable recognised side-effects of a number of vaccinations.One of the best papers (if not the best)on this is by Ayvazian and Badger(1948), and it has not lost any of itspunch and relevance since it was pub-

lished. They describe three cases of nurses who were literallyvaccinated to death. The authors surveyed a group of 750 nurseswho trained at a large municipal hospital between 1932 and 1946,and detailed the cases of three nurses who were vaccinated with amultitude of vaccines over a period of time and developed andsuccumbed to disseminated lupus erythematosus.

Typically, these nurses were given the following tests and vac-cines in short succession: the Schick test; three days later, theDick test; seven days later, typhoid-paratyphoid vaccine; sevendays later, another typhoid-paratyphoid vaccine (a double dose);seven days later, the third typhoid-paratyphoid vaccine; and sevendays later, the fourth typhoid-paratyphoid vaccine. Every time,the recipient developed local erythema and/or fever and malaise,but it did not deter the doctor from administering yet anotherseries of vaccines, starting only 14 days after the first lot of testsand typhoid-paratyphoid vaccines.

This time, after all these injections, one of the trainee nurses

Lately, innocent parents and other carers have been

accused of causing the symptoms of vaccine damage

by allegedly shaking their babies.


was given her first injection of scarlet fever streptococcus toxinwith "no ill results". One week later, she was given the secondinjection of streptococcus toxin, after which she developed jointpains and fever. She did not report these reactions to the healthoffice. Nine days later, she returned and received the third injec-tion of a fourfold dose of streptococcus, after which she devel-oped severe arthralgia in the fingers and knees and a sore throat.She was hospitalised for five days and discharged with the diag-nosis "Dick-toxin reaction". Only five days later her inoculationswere continued, first in lower and then in gradually increasingdoses so that the series included a total of 10 instead of the usualseven injections. Epinephrine was administered with each ofthese injections of streptococcus toxin and toxin-antitoxin.

Two months after the last lot, the trainee nurse was re-admittedto the hospital with swelling and pain of the ankles and toes andtenderness of the joints of both hands, which had been constantsince the first Dick test five months earlier. The diagnosis was"rheumatic arthritis". She was given aspirin,but two weeks later the pain came back andshe developed chills and fever, sore throatand cough. One month later, the traineenurse was re-admitted to hospital for twoweeks, and during this admission a strepto-coccus vaccine was started in small doses,but because of her severe reaction "furthervaccines were refused". The diagnosis afterthis admission was "rheumatoid arthritis andinfectious mononucleosis". Four monthslater, the trainee nurse noticed skin eruptionsover her nose and both cheeks, and her salivabecame foul. The skin and cheeks, upperlips and the bridge of the nose werecovered with purplish red, mottled andindurated rash eruptions. Two monthslater, the eruptions spread over much ofthe body. A year later, the traineenurse died, but not before developingsevere symptoms of high fever, tachy-cardia, diarrhoea and showing abnor-mal blood tests.

It was not enough that this unfortu-nate trainee nurse died; there wereanother two cases reported, almostidentical to the first case. We shallnever know how many of the remain-ing 747 trainee nurses developed lesslethal, but still health-incapacitating, reactions.

If someone said that this type of "medical treatment" had beengiven to the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps, I would notbe surprised. However, this type of "medical treatment" was andi s being given with impunity to millions of babies, children,teenagers and adults in so-called free and democratic countries aswell as in the Third World. Meanwhile, the health authoritiesrefuse to accept that vaccines cause such reactions and evendeaths.

VACCINATION: A SAFETY WARNINGThe conclusions which follow the study of relevant medical and

immunological literature dealing with vaccines and the adjuvantsused in vaccines is that the absolute safety of these substances cannever be guaranteed. According to Gupta et al. (1993), the toxici-ty of adjuvants can be ascribed in part to the unintended stimula-tion of various mechanisms of the immune response. That's why

the safety and adjuvancy must be balanced to get the maximumimmune stimulation with minimum side effects.

My conclusion is that such balance is impossible to achieve,even if we fully understood the immune system and the full spec-trum of deleterious effects of foreign antigens and other toxic sub-stances such as vaccine and drug adjuvants and medications onthe immune system of humans, and particularly on the immatureimmune system of babies and small children. Injecting any for-eign substance straight into the bloodstream will only cause ana-phylactic (sensitisation) reactions. Nature, over thousands andthousands of years, has developed effective immune responses;yet man, without respect for nature, demonstrably causes moreharm than good.

Vaccination procedures are a highly politically motivated non-science, whose practitioners are only interested in injecting multi-tudes of vaccines without much interest or care as to their effects.Data collection on reactions to vaccines is only paid lip service,

and the obvious ineffectiveness of vaccinesto prevent diseases is glossed over.

The fact that natural infectious diseaseshave a beneficial effect on the maturationand development of the immune system isignored or deliberately suppressed.

Consequently, parents of small childrenand any potential recipients of vaccines andany orthodox medications should be wary ofany member of the medical establishment(which is little more than a highly politicisedbusiness system) extolling the non-existentvirtues of vaccination. Even thoughAustralian law requires doctors to warn

patients about all side-effects of allmedications and procedures of a mater-ial nature, whether the patient asks ornot, doctors as a rule do not uphold thisimportant law. ∞

References (in alphabetical order)• Aprile, M.A. and Wardlaw, A.C., 1966.Aluminium compounds as adjuvants forvaccines and toxoids in man: A review.Can. J. Public Health 57:343.• Asa, P.B., Cao, Y. and Garry, R.F., 2000.Antibodies to Squalene in Gulf WarSyndrome. Experimental MolecularPathology 68:55–64.• Ayvazian, L.F. and Badger, T.L., 1948.Disseminated lupus erythematosus occur-

ring among student nurses. New England Journal of Medicine239(16):565–570.• Bizzini, B., Carlotti, M. and Fattal-German, M., 1992. Induction of vari-ous cytokines in mice and activation of the complement system in rats asa part of the mechanism of action of the Corynebacteriumgranulosum–derived P40 immunomodulator. FEMS Microbiol. Immunol.105:171.• Burnett, F.M., 1960. Theories of immunity. Persp. Biol. Med.III:447–458.• Butler, N.R., Wilson, B.D.R., Benson, P.F., Dudgeon, J.A. et al., 1962.Response of infants to pertussis vaccine at one week and to poliomyelitis,diphtheria and tetanus vaccine at six months. Lancet ii:112.• Chedid, L., 1985. Adjuvants of immunity. Ann. Immunol. (Inst.Pasteur) 136D:283.• Coursaget, P., Yvonnet, B., Relyveld, E.H., Barres, J.L. et al., 1986.Simultaneous administration of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-polio andhepatitis B vaccines in a simplified immunisation programme:


Nature, over thousands and

thousands of years, hasdeveloped effective

immune responses; yetman, without respect for

nature, demonstrablycauses more harm

than good.

The fact is that naturalinfectious diseases have

a beneficial effect on the maturation anddevelopment of the

immune system.


MAKING BALL LIGHTNING TO ORDER

by Albert Budden © November 2000

The phenomenon of ball lightning hasbeen a fascination over the centuriesbut remains a mysterious riddle to

scientists, partly due to its transient andelusive nature.

Typically although not exclusivelyoccurring during thundery weather, thiselectrical artefact can take various forms—most commonly appearing as a globe oflight, about the size of a grapefruit, whichfades out harmlessly after a few minutes.However, historical records also reportmetre-wide fireballs which exploded like abomb, wrecking houses and tearing offlimbs from those caught in the blast.

Consider, for example, the following19th-century report from France, whicharchaically refers to the phenomenon as a"thunderbolt":

"On 11 July 1809, at Châteauneuf-les-Moustiers at about eleven o'clock in themorning, a thunderbolt entered the churchjust as the bell was ringing and a large con-gregation had taken their seats. The thun-derbolt exploded with great force, wound-ing eighty-two people and killing nine out-right... There were several dogs in thechurch at the time of the explosion, and allof them were killed."

Another 19th-century case providesexamples of the weird effects that canoccur during close encounters with balllightning:

"On 24 August 1895, about ten o'clock inthe morning, several people saw a whitishglobe of about one-and-a-half inches indiameter descend out of a violent rainstormand, on touching the ground, break up intotwo smaller globes. These 'lightning beads'immediately rose to the height of the chim-neys on the nearby houses. One wentdown a chimney and exploded in thekitchen, causing great damage. The otherball descended another chimney, passedthrough a room in which were a man and achild, without harming either of them, andwent through the floor, perforating a brickwith a clean round hole about half an inchin diameter."

Speculations abound as to the true natureof ball lightning, and over the past 156years a remarkable family of theoreticalmodels for these mysterious electric fire-balls has appeared in the scientific litera-ture. Some of these have been quitebizarre, such as the proposal that ball light-ning is the result of nuclear fission, theactive process of atomic bombs. However,the number of actual experiments in thelaboratory has been minimal, and armchairtheorising based on second- and third-handreports has been the most common way oftackling the enigma of ball lightning.

THE CORUMS' BREAKTHROUGHAttempts at reproducing ball lightning

have been disappointing and have eludedphysicists worldwide, although success inthis would of course be a giant step for-

ward, as ball lightning could then be madeto order and experimented upon in the lab.

It is then of the greatest significance thattwo electrical engineers, Kenneth Corumand James Corum, in Ohio, USA, haverecently succeeded in producing, to order,such electric fireballs in many beautifulcolours.

However, just as startling is their revela-tion that the instructions to accomplish thishave been publicly available for over ahundred years, tucked away in the note-books of the legendary turn-of-the-centuryphysicist, Dr Nikola Tesla. It is theCorums' unique reinterpretation of Tesla's1899 Colorado Springs notes that hasbrought what amounts to a long-overlookedsecret back into the public domain.

As if this weren't enough, another sur-prise is the Corum brothers' revelation that

S C I E N C E

Diagram showing details of apparatus used to make ball lightning. Note that both the high andlow frequency secondary resonators are excited by the same primary. The system was tunedso that after the primary spark broke, the low frequency resonator gave a maximum voltage of2.4 MV at 66.6 kHz and the high frequency resonator attained 200 kV at 156 kHz.


ball lightning is actually fairly simple andeasy to produce and that the inexpensiveapparatus needed already exists in manyamateur enthusiasts' workshops and count-less college science departments around theworld. Predictably, perhaps, this is theTesla coil.

James Corum really put this previously-thought-of technological impasse into per-spective when he commented that makingball lightning in the laboratory would makean interesting high-school science project!

Whilst such fireball production would bebeyond the layperson, students and amateurphysicists who have specialised in explor-ing the intriguing inventions of the leg-endary Nikola Tesla should certainly haveenough technical information to put therequired hardware together, given averageelectrical workshop resources. The appara-tus used—the Tesla coil, many of whichhave been built at home by electrical hob-byists in their garage workshops—is acommon feature of the physics departmentsof many colleges and universities.

TESLA COIL BASICSFor even the uninitiated, a basic descrip-

tion of what the Tesla coil is and does isfairly easy to comprehend, and provides

enough information to appreciate what isinvolved in the laboratory production ofball lightning.

A glance at the accompanying illustra-tion shows that the Tesla coil consists oftwo coils of copper wire wound aroundcylinders—one wide squat one, called theprimary, and a taller narrow one which sitsinside it, called the secondary. At the topof the secondary is a brass or copper balljoined to the coil; and as can be seen fromthe drawing, this is also the terminal fromwhich spectacular high-frequency electricalstreamers are emitted when the device is inoperation.

In fact, the Tesla coil was specificallyconstructed to produce such high-voltagedischarges of microwaves, and it is withinthese long streamers that the electric fire -balls appear—and remain when the powerhas been switched off.

These primary and secondary coils,which are not physically connected to eachother, are set within circuitry whichincludes various electrical units (termed aspark gap and a c a p a c i t o r) designed topump up the power output to very high lev-els extremely quickly. For those with tech-nical knowledge, peak power of 100 kW in10 microseconds is typical.

A popular demonstration is depicted inthe drawing, where a vacuum tube or a flu-orescent strip light glows by itself whenheld near the terminal due to the high lev-els of free electricity discharged in the airaround it.

REINTERPRETING TESLA'S NOTESSo if the Tesla coil has been so freely

available around the world since it waspatented by Tesla in 1897, why has nobodyused it to produce ball lightning beforenow?

This issue is even more puzzling when itis realised that Tesla himself frequentlyinduced fireballs during his experiments.He is quoted as stating: "I succeeded indetermining the mode of their formationand producing them artificially." In fact,the way he described them, they justseemed to bubble readily from his coilapparatus.

The answer to this puzzle lies in theincredible fact that Tesla's published notes,despite being studied by countless highlyqualified physicists over the past hundredyears, have simply been misunderstood!Physicists have tried to copy Tesla's resultsand failed, putting such failures down tohis ambiguous notation style.

The Corums relate that after taking partin an International Tesla Symposium atColorado Springs, where Tesla's laboratoryremains, they were on the plane flyinghome to Cleveland:

"It was a puzzle to us ... we continued tocompare chapter 34 with the photographs inTesla's published notes. And then it struckus. We just weren't using the circuit con-figuration which Tesla shows us. When wegot back, we rearranged our apparatus..."

THE CORUMS' RECONSTRUCTIONIntriguingly, the Corums then go on to

describe what happened:"Small points of light seemed to appear

from nowhere, then several of the floatinglights were struck by high-voltage stream-ers emanating from the terminal of the sec-ondary coil.

"Suddenly we observed multitudes offireballs with diameters ranging up to sev-eral centimetres which were 'born' withinthe streamers emitted by the coils ... life-times typically ranged from one-and-a-halfto several seconds...

"A wide range of colours [was] produced... in a manner similar to the presence offlare compounds in pyrotechnics. Thedemise of some fireballs [was] often

N E W S C I E N C E N E W S C I E N C E N E W S C I E N C E


accompanied by loud reports, while othersappeared to just fade out...

"We were able to produce other interest-ing features. Often we had pulsating fire-balls. These would appear and then shrink.When they were hit by the RF streamers[from the Tesla coils], they would grow insize and shrink again. This would occur anumber of times and then they would fadeaway. In one sequence, a ball [was] struckby six separate streamer discharges, grow-ing in size each time. One fireball grewfrom an initial 6-mm sphere into a 5-cm-diameter fiery red globule within a one-second time interval. The streamers oftenappear to have bright fluid matter beingvisibly ejected and moving along theirlength, this matter apparently adding to thesize of the fireball.

"Another feature was that some hadthe appearance of a doughnut: brightcircles with darkened centres. Othersappeared as deep red, bright white,green, yellow, blue-white and purple.Some fireballs can be seen to spin,with moving dark patches likesunspots.

"Some appear to be transparent,with electrical discharges dartingthrough them. Several are observedto change colour as they evolve andeventually explode like astronomicalnovae. Sometimes the streamers actu-ally jump from fireball to fireball in adazzling display, changing their appearanceon contact.

"Some fireballs start out as red dwarves,then pass through various colours and sizesto a bluish-white giant stage. Some ofthese seemed to explode as 'novae', whileothers seemed to cool back as red giants.In one particular case, a fireball actuallyappeared to be surrounded by a glowingshell."

THE DUAL TESLA COIL SET-UPIn fact, two simultaneously operating

Tesla coils are involved here, where anelectromagnetic wave of extremely highfrequency from one coil apparatus isimposed upon another at a lowerfrequency.

This set-up acts as a trigger, where thetotal energy produced is discharged in aninfinitely small interval of time and at atremendously great rate of energymovement—which cannot confine itself tothe metal circuitry of the coil, so it isreleased into the air with inconceivableviolence. It is this electrical violence,

which mimics that of natural lightningstrikes, which vapourises nearby availablecarbon and metal sources which form abubble around super-heated air productssuch as ozone.

In this laboratory set-up, it is theblackened copper terminal that isprogressively eroded and actually providesthis material, and it is this electrothermallyproduced, charged bubble that is the basicsphere of the ball lightning. It is withinthis bubble that a variety of highly dynamicchemical and electrical activities takeplace, providing "fuel" during the life ofthe phenomenon.

The process could be visualised as aninterrupted explosion where the outgoingexpelled particles of copper and carbon,

instead of being thrown out in all direc-tions, are held in place by surface tensionto form a container bubble, inside whichthe explosion slowly continues as unstable,smouldering, electrochemical discharges.

Eventually, after this electric fireballmay have floated several feet through theair, its internal energies reach a criticalinstability and the initial explosion contin-ues, resulting in either a harmless burnoutor a destructive force, depending upon atwhich stage in its energy release it was cur-tailed as the ball lightning form.

RECORDING VISUAL EFFECTSRecording the fireballs on photographic

film was somewhat difficult; in some casesthe Corums found videotape to be superior,as time durations could be estimated fromthe video frame rate.

However, in a remarkable sequence ofphotographs, the Corums were able torecord the apparent effect of fireballs pass-ing through a glass window pane—some-thing which has often been observed withnatural ball lightning. That is to say, the

reports of ball lightning passing throughwindow-glass during a storm are reallydescriptions of an illusion!

From a close analysis of video footage,the Corums realised that what had reallyhappened was that electrical streamers hitthe glass first, carrying a fireball along withit. As the sphere approached the glass sur-face it would fade out, during which theelectric lines of force which propelled itplayed upon the glass, causing it to becomeheated and its substance to be broken downenough to become slightly conducting.This spot would then act like an electrode,as an extension of the copper terminal ontop of the coil, as it was still connected to itelectrically by the streamer. As more andmore electricity was fed into the glass from

the coil's terminal via the streamer, anew fireball appeared on the otherside of the pane.

The Corums relate: "The fireballs would then travel

slowly, horizontally, 35 cm or so, andflare up. Some would travel out a bitfarther and either explode or burn outlike cinders..."

This sequence was only evidentthrough stop-frame analysis of thevideo recording, and viewing it in realtime gives the impression that thefireball passes through the glass pane.

It is fitting to end this description ofthe Corums' work by quoting them

referring to Tesla:"At long last, today, the fireballs can be

closely studied in a controlled laboratoryenvironment. We believe that the workthat Tesla left undone may now beresumed. And, with the advanced tech-niques and concepts available to scientiststoday, rapid progress will surely be made."

∞

About the Author:Albert Budden, BEd is an investigator spe-cialising in the scientific study of the para-normal as well as electromagnetics andhealth. He is a member of theEnvironmental Medical Foundation and theauthor of several books including A l l e r g i e sand Aliens: The Visi tat ion Experience(Discovery Times Press, 1994), U F O s :Psychic Close Encounters (Blandford, 1995),The Poltergeist Machine: The HutchisonE f f e c t (DTP, 1996). His article on JohnHutchison's "Poltergeist Machine" and relat-ed research was published in NEXUS 4/01.

For further information, contact AlbertBudden at 17 Brook Road South, Brentwood,Middlesex TW8 0NN, England, UK, tel +44(0)208 560 9497.

N E W S C I E N C E N E W S C I E N C E N E W S C I E N C E

One fireball grew from an initial 6-mm sphere into

a 5-cm-diameter fiery red globule within a one-second time interval.


Comets and asteroids are not the only space hazards that threaten the Earth. Thereis another phenomenon that occurs far more frequently, but has only recentlybeen discovered: the arrival of an intense volley of galactic cosmic rays, or whathas been termed a galactic superwave.1–4 The most recent superwave affected

the Earth and the entire solar system during the period from about 16,000 to 11,000 yearsago and, through its ultimate effect on the Sun, was responsible for bringing an abrupt endto the last ice age.

Through these solar effects, the superwave was also responsible for the mass extinctionwhich occurred 12,750 years ago, wiping out 95 per cent of the large mammal species onthe North American continent. Palaeontologists agree that this was the worst mass extinc-tion since the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, but its cause had long been amystery. Excessive hunting by Palaeolithic tribes cannot account for the 22 genera ofbirds which also became extinct at that time. Nor can hunting explain why atmosphericradiocarbon coincidentally rose to unprecedented levels, and why Moon rocks registersolar flare activity over 50 times higher than present levels. Nor can it explain the wide-spread slaughter of large and small mammals, not only to the south of the North Americanice sheet but also in the Arctic (Alaska and Siberia), in Europe and even in SouthAmerica, their remains being found entombed in deposits left by the passage of cata-strophic glacial meltwater floods.

Gazing out at the night sky, we easily assume that what we see is the way things havebeen for millions of years: the star-studded heavens, a beautiful Moon, and a Sun that inthe morning will rise in its full glory. Unfortunately this has not always been the case—and will not always be so. Overnight, this peaceful scene could be transformed into agrotesque display that could best be described as "all hell breaking loose". Our galaxy'shibernating, dust-shrouded core—which has long remained hidden from view, nestledbetween the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius—will be seen on that fateful day tohave awakened to shine forth a strange, brilliant, blue-white light. It will appear as aguest star, far brighter than the planet Venus at full phase, signalling the galactic super-wave's arrival. The cosmic ray particle volley which had been relentlessly travellingtowards us for 23,000 years, inconspicuously crossing the void separating us from thegalactic centre, will now have become a visible spectacle for all to see.

These cosmic rays are ultra-relativistic, meaning that they travel so close to the speed oflight that they give rise to superluminal visual effects. The synchrotron radiation emittedin the course of their 23,000-year trek will appear to unfold towards us in a matter of days,showering us with everything from low-frequency radiowaves and visible light to ultravi-olet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays, not to mention the penetrating particle volleyitself. What we will be witnessing is what astronomers call a galactic core explosion. It'sa phenomenon they have seen going on in distant galaxies. Now, with the arrival of thesuperwave, they and the whole world will be experiencing first-hand the same phenome-non happening in our own Milky Way Galaxy.

OVERVIEW OF THE CORE EXPLOSION PHENOMENONThe core explosion phenomenon first became known to astronomy in the 1960s with

the discovery of the Seyfert galaxies with their luminous cores, radio galaxies and, at themore extreme end of the energetic spectrum, objects called q u a s a r s and b l a z a r s.Observations indicated that a galactic core during its explosive phase can release a totalenergy equivalent at least to that coming from hundreds of thousands of supernova explo-sions. In some cases, their output can reach up to that of even billions of supernovae.5, 6

Our solar system issubjected to anintense volley of

cosmic rays from agalactic core

explosion every10,000 to 26,000

years, and the nextcatastrophic eventis already overdue.

by Paul A. LaViolette, PhD © October 2000 – January 2001

The Starburst Foundation6369 Beryl Road #104

Alexandria VA 22312 USAE-mail: [email protected]: www.etheric.com/


By the 1970s, astronomers realised that our galactic core is notimmune to this phenomenon.7 Although gas motions in the imme-diate vicinity of our galaxy's core suggested that the core hadbecome active as recently as 15,000 years ago, astronomers werereluctant at that time to consider that this was evidence of a fullyfledged core explosion. In their minds, they pictured the MilkyWay as a peaceful place. They assumed that the core has been inits present, seemingly inactive, state for millions of years and thatit would continue to be quiescent for many more millions of yearsto come. But even if the core were to explode—not to worry.They supposed that no harm would come to us, since our solarsystem is well outside the galaxy's nuclear bulge and on the outerfringes of one of the spiral arms of the galaxy. They imaginedthat magnetic fields filling thegalaxy's core region would trapthe outward-flying cosmic rays,bringing the barrage to a slowcrawl within just a few hundredlight years.8

The four years of PhDresearch I conducted on thissubject proved to me that theiridyllic assumptions were deadwrong. My 1983 PhD disserta-tion, "Galactic Core Explosions,Cosmic Dust Invasions, andClimatic Change", presentedevidence suggesting that ourgalaxy's core explodes 10,000times more frequently than hadbeen thought—about every10,000 years, rather than every100 million years.1

Moreover, my dissertationshowed that magnetic fieldswould not stop this outburst.Instead, just the opposite wouldhappen: the cosmic ray volleywould overpower any magneticfields it encountered in its pathand align these with its ownradial flight. The result wouldbe an expanding shell of cosmicrays travelling radially outwardfrom the centre of our galaxy atvery close to the speed of lightand penetrating through theentire extent of the galaxy. Itshowed that the superwave sce-nario also explained many ofthe features characteristic ofdistant exploding galaxies.

These findings were subsequently presented at scientific confer-ences and published in refereed scientific journals. 2–4, 9–10

Numerous predictions made in this PhD study were later verified(see www.etheric.com/LaViolette/Predict.html). In 1997, mybook on this subject, entitled Earth Under Fire, was published(see www.etheric.com/LaVioletteBooks/Book-EUF.html). Itreceived rave reviews and a five-star rating by readers. In 1999, adocumentary video about this galactic phenomenon was producedand shown on nationally syndicated cable network television.

Even so, mainstream media have been slow to cover this impor-tant issue. As a result, average citizens, trusting that they have

been well informed by the news media, continue to view the nightsky as a serene and secure place as they continue their daily rou-tines in their wakeful dreams.

One of the primary objectives of the Starburst Foundation is toawaken as many as possible to the new and very different aware-ness that galactic superwaves d o exist and can come upon ourworld with little warning.

THE EMP SHOCKFRONTShould a superwave arrive, our most immediate worry would

be the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which it would carry at itsforefront. This high-intensity electromagnetic shockfront wouldsend high voltages coursing along any electrically conductive

o b j e c t .1 Upon arrival, itwould:

• create high-voltage surgeson the powerline grid, shortingout powerline transformers andtripping line circuit-breakers,resulting in global powerblackouts;

• fry satellites and destroyall nonhardened electronicequipment connected to theelectric power grid, resultingin loss of electronic communi-cations (TV, telephone, GPSsystem, etc.); airplane crasheswould be inevitable;

• electrocute people whohappened to be touching alarge metal surface;

• ionise the Earth's atmos-phere and consequentlydestroy the ozone layer, there-by increasing the Earth's expo-sure to harmful UV rays andionising radiation. The atmos-pheric electron shower pro-duced by the superwave cos-mic rays, along with theincreased penetration of solarUV, would raise the incidenceof skin cancer as well as therate of genetic mutation.

On August 27, 1998, scien-tists awoke to the rude realitythat a cosmic ray event couldupset life on our planet when astrong gamma ray burst unex-pectedly arrived after journey-

ing 20,000 light years from a distant point in the constellation ofAquila. The event, which lasted five minutes, was strong enoughto ionise the upper atmosphere and seriously disrupt satellites andspacecraft. It triggered a defensive instrument shutdown on atleast two spacecraft. Fifteen years earlier, in 1983, a much briefergamma ray burst, lasting just four seconds, had a measurableeffect on radio transmissions used for global navigation and com-munication.11

There is the strong possibility that the EMP shockfront preced-ing a superwave would also be accompanied by a gravity wave.The tidal force exerted on the Earth as it passed could triggerearthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Figure 1: Global climate and ice acidity, plotted versus depth (or time) for the ByrdStation, Antarctica, deep ice core. Profile (A) shows the oxygen-18 isotope ratioplotted in 2-metre averages (after Johnsen et al., 1972). More negative isotope ratios(upward) indicate cooler climate and ice age glacial coverage. Profile (B) shows iceacidity levels plotted for a consecutive series of ice core increments, each spanning10 metres of core depth (after Hammer et al., 1997).

Years B.P. (x 1000)

10 15 20 30 40 50

1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

- 1 0

- 3 5

Depth (m)

1000 2 0 0 0


ABRUPT CLIMATIC CHANGE The worst would be yet to come. The superwave cosmic ray

wind would vaporise frozen cometary debris that surrounds oursolar system and blow this dust and gas inward. Analysis ofGreenland ice cores has shown that the solar system was filledwith large concentrations of cosmic dust during the last ice age.10

As this nebular material entered the inner solar system, it wouldscatter sunlight so that a portion of the Earth's radiation wouldcome from a uniform glow filling both the daytime and night-timesky. It would also redden the solar radiation spectrum. Since ouratmosphere is opaque to infrared radiation, these changes wouldtend to warm the upper atmosphere and cool the ground, produc-ing inversion conditions that would induce severe storm activityand rapid precipitation of sleet and ice. Moreover, as this materialcrashed onto the Sun's surface it would energise the Sun, increas-ing its luminosity and its cosmic ray output.

All of these effects together would dramatically affect theEarth's climate. 1–4, 9–10 On some occa-sions, it would produce a prolongedcold spell or even initiate an ice age ifone were not already in progress; atother times, it could produce a periodof excessive warmth which could ter-minate an existing ice age or produce abrief interstadial. The geologic recordreveals that our planet has beenplagued by ice ages for most of the pastseveral million years. The warm cli-mate that we have been enjoying dur-ing the current 11,600-year-long inter-glacial has been acccompanied by anequally long respite between super-waves. However, interglacials, andrespites between major superwaveonslaughts, have rarely been as pro-longed as the one we are fortunateenough to be experiencing. The nextsuperwave, which appears to be over-due, could throw us headlong into anew ice age.

The Earth's polar ice record containsevidence that the Sun was in fact very active at the end of the lastice age. Glaciologists, for example, have studied the acidityrecord at Byrd Station, Antarctica, going back 50,000 years andfound one section, dating from near the end of the last ice age, inwhich ice acidity levels rose far higher than in any other part ofthe ice record (see figure 1).12, 13 These levels exceed by 20-foldthe amount of acid fallout deposited by the largest known vol-canic eruption. This discovery confounded scientists, not onlybecause of its magnitude but because it lasted an entire centurywith the acidity fallout waxing and waning in regular cycles. Novolcanic eruption has been known to do this. Nevertheless, theyrealised that this event must have had a substantial climaticimpact, for it occurred at the beginning of a major global warm -ing trend that ultimately ended the ice age.

However, upon examining these acidity findings, I noticedsomething that apparently had been overlooked. When the icerecord is properly dated, it shows that these acidity peaks recur onthe average every 11 years, matching the period of the sunspotcycle. This indicates that these high acidity concentrations mostprobably originate from the Sun rather than from volcanic erup-tions.14 But, to make such a pronounced and singular solar cycleimprint in the ice record, the Sun would have to have been far

more active than it is at present. The solar wind outflow at thattime would have to have been at least an order of magnitude moreintense than it has been in historic times, with solar flare activitycomparably elevated and the Sun somewhat more luminous thanthe Sun of the current interglacial.

This evidence of an active Sun heralding the deglacial warmingtrend confirmed a scenario that I had proposed back in 1983;namely, that our Sun had become significantly energised byincoming cosmic dust and as a result caused a global warmingthat ended the last ice age. By cross-referencing the Byrd ice coreglacial record with the accurately dated Summit, Greenland, icecore record, I was able to determine that this event spanned a peri-od of 95 years stretching from about 13,880 to 13,785 BC. Thefinding also underlines the importance of the 13,860 years BCdate encoded in ancient constellation lore (see box headed"Message in the Sky").

This discovery that the Sun was highly energised at the end ofthe last ice age confirms an earlier dis-covery made by NASA scientistHerbert Zook and his team. 1 5 B a s e don the record of solar flare tracksetched in the surface of Moon rocks,they concluded that 16,000 years agosolar flare activity was up to 50-foldhigher and that it rapidly declined inthe following millennia. I have sug-gested that solar activity had reached apeak around 12,200 BC, when globalwarming was at a maximum, and alsobriefly around 10,700 BC at the timeof the Late Pleistocene mass extinc-tion—an event that appears to havebeen solar-induced. 4 The period ofseveral thousand years between thetime of the solar wind event and thesedates would have been a time whensolar activity was building up to its cli-max.

Concerned about the potential cli-matic hazards associated with galacticsuperwaves, the chairman of the

United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science andTransportation voiced interest in my proposal to carry out a thor-ough investigation into the climatic implications of the galacticsuperwave phenomenon. In September 1984, he wrote the fol-lowing letter to the Director of the National Science Foundation:

Dr LaViolette has presented to the Committee extremely inter -esting research results and scientific papers written on experi -ments conducted at Portland State. His research addresses theabrupt changes that have occurred over geological time. Hehypothesizes that such changes are the result of sudden incur -sions of cosmic dust into our solar system, causing dramatictemperature changes.

I am interested to know if research in major climatic shifts ispresently being funded by NSF and, if so, are the investigatorsaware of Dr LaViolette's hypothesis. Needless to say, the phe -nomenon of sudden climatic shifts has enormous import to all ofus, and all reasonable hypotheses should be carefully examined.

The NSF and other government science institutions, however,have failed to fund research into this important phenomenon.Academia, with its uniformitarian bias, also has done nothing topick up the ball.

Figure 2: The lower graph plots cosmic ray intensity variations atthe Earth's surface during the past 145,000 years; see The Talk ofthe Galaxy.2 1 These values were derived from beryllium-10 isotopeconcentrations found in the Vostok (East Antarctica) ice core22, 23

which were adjusted to correct for variations in ice accumulationrate and solar activity. The upper graph plots global climate. Thenumbered climatic zones include: the present interglacial (1), thelast ice age (2, 3, 4), a semiglaciated interval (5a–5d), the last inter-glacial (5e), and the previous glaciation (6).

Years Before Present (x 1000)0 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Ice Core Depth (metres)

0 500 1000 1500 2000

1

2

2

0

- 2

- 4

- 6

- 8

- 1 0


MESSAGE IN THE SKY

The discovery of this 13,880 BC century-long solar event validates the significance of a date encoded in prehistoricconstellation lore. In 1976, I discovered that zodiac constellation lore used cryptographic techniques to conveymetaphorically the notion of explosive matter-energy creation.16 Later, in 1979, I discovered that the constellations

of Sagittarius and Scorpius used pointers—Sagittarius's arrow and Scorpio's stinger—to designate the centre of our galaxy,indicating it as the site of this explosive outburst. In particular, the Sagittarius arrow pointer encoded a prehistoric date.4

Ancient myth specifies that Sagittarius is shooting at the heart of the Scorpion, represented by the star Antares (AlphaScorpius). But the arrow shaft presently is not properly directed at Antares, since the stars outlining the shaft have movedconsiderably over the millennia. By specifying this sighting trajectory, the Sagittarius myth would be challenging futurescientists with knowledge of the slow movements of the stars (so-called stellar proper motion) to determine the importantpast date when this arrow pointer was correctly aimed.

As I discovered, this date turns out to be about 13,860 BC. Since this same arrow indicator is pointing out the locationof the centre of our galaxy (to within 0.3 degrees of arc) and is also a key part of an encoded message referring to anexplosive outburst, I naturally concluded at that time that the astrological zodiac is attempting to tell us that a galactic coreexplosion began to bombard our solar system around the time of that past date.

This ancient zodiac cipher provided me with the initial impetus to investigate the superwave phenomenon as the subjectfor my PhD thesis. Understand that, in 1979, the idea that a galactic core explosion may have affected our planet in suchgeologically recent times was the furthest thing from the minds of astronomers or geologists. So, were it not for this zodiacmessage, I would have had no clue that this phenomenon might have occurred. Because of this uncertainty, I was carry-ing out my PhD research partly to see if there was any truth to the galactic explosion message that the zodiac cipherseemed to portray so clearly.

The other reason for my investigation was that if the message were valid and evidence showed that our planet hadindeed recently experienced a superwave, and that these bombardments occurred relatively frequently, then this discoverywould be exceedingly important for human survival. For sure, it would be one of the most important discoveries ofmodern science.

I do not stand alone in my interpretation of the zodiac cipher. Many have checked my conclusions. Also, some havethemselves tried their hand at decipher-ing the zodiac cryptogram and have suc-ceeded. The first part of the cipher ispresented at the Sphinx Stargate website(www.etheric.com) in the form of a puz-zle which has become a popular chal-lenge for websurfers to decode. It helpsto have a familiarity with general systemstheory concepts.

Of course, there will always be scep-tics who will be unable to see that thezodiac signs do in fact present a sophisti-cated astronomical warning message.But, the superwave theory has mademany a priori predictions which laterwere validated by me and others.Considering also that the theory has beensuccessful at accounting for observationsin over seven scientific disciplines, theidea that I hit upon this theory just byluck seems a bit far-fetched.

Moreover, while a sceptic might argueabout the interpretation of the zodiac'ssymbolism, the date indicated by theSagit tarius arrow trajectory is quiteunequivocal, being based on simpleastrometry. Certainly, it is not just luckthat 21 years later we discovered t h a tthis arrow indicator date coincideswith the time of a major astronomicalevent—an immense solar expulsion,unprecedented in the past 50,000years, which heralded the beginning ofthe global warming which eventuallyended the last ice age.


AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT In 1983, when I first proposed the idea that cosmic ray volleys

are able to propagate to the Earth at close to the speed of light, mysuggestion mostly fell on deaf ears. But it was not long beforeevidence came forward to support my hypothesis.

In 1985, astronomers discovered that Cygnus X-3, a strong cos-mic ray source lying about as far away as the galactic centre(25,000 to 30,000 light years), was showering the Earth withhigh-energy particles. They found that despite the galaxy's mag-netic fields, these particles were able to reach the Earth at thespeed of light fol-lowing arrow-straight paths.17

Several yearslater, scientistsfound that the Earthwas also beingshowered by parti-cles from anotherhigh-energy source,the X-ray pulsarHercules X-1. 18, 19 The particles were found to come in burstsspaced by 1.2357 seconds, closely matching the pulsar's intrinsicperiod. Even though this source was 12,000 light years away, theintervening interstellar medium had such a minor effect on thebursts that their pulsation period was constant to within 300microseconds.

Additional supporting evidence for my superwave theory camein January 2000 at the 195th meeting of the AmericanAstronomical Society, held in Atlanta, Georgia. A group ofradioastronomers presented findings indicating that the synchro-tron radio emission coming from galactic centre is circularlypolarised.20 The speaker said hefound this result to be "mysteri-ous", since all other galacticcosmic ray sources emit syn-chrotron radiation that is insteadlinearly polarised. During thequestion period following theirlecture, I pointed out that theirfindings of circular polarisationcould be easily explained if thecosmic rays producing this radi-ation were streaming radiallytowards us over a long flightpath. Linearly polarised radia-tion observed from most galacticsources is instead produced bycosmic rays which are magneti-cally captured into relatively sta-tionary spiral orbits. Otherastronomers present at the meet-ing agreed with this radial tra-jectory interpretation.

These findings are reason tobe gravely concerned about theeffects of a galactic core explosion. They imply that thegenerated cosmic rays can impact our planet, virtually withoutwarning, preceded only by the wave-flash from the initialexplosion.1, 3 Because they travel at the speed of light, superwavecosmic rays remain cloaked and hidden from our view until thevery moment they strike.1-4 Their long journey towards us, as theycross the 23,000-light-year distance that separates us from the

galactic centre, would go entirely undetected. In effect, we liveon the edge of a "galactic volcano", knowing not the time,magnitude or severity of the next eruption or what impact it willhave on our environment. We stand unprepared to deal with suchan event, much less anticipate its arrival. Whether a superwavemay strike several hundred years from now, some time in thecoming decade or during this year, there is really no way to tell.

We can get an idea of the frequency of these events by investi-gating the Earth's polar ice core record which registers the arrivalof previous superwaves through elevations in the concentration of

the beryllium-10isotope found in theice (see figure 2).

Several yearsbefore this databecame available,my 1983 disserta-tion had venturedthat superwavesrecur about every10,000 years and

that a major event had passed the solar system beginning about14,200 years ago and lasting about 2,000 to 3,000 years. Theberyllium-10 data indicates that this estimate was not far offstrike. The record indicates that major superwave events arriveon the average every 26,000 ±3,000 years, but sometimes canrecur after as little as 10,000 to 13,000 years.4 Also, it shows thatthe last major superwave climaxed between 14,500 and 11,500years ago. Gas motions at the centre of our galaxy24, 25 as well asother astronomical evidence1, 3 indicate that the cosmic ray barrageending the last ice age indeed originated from a major explosionat our galaxy's core. Given that superwaves have recurred after

lapses of as little as 10,000years, it is prudent to concludethat we are currently due for thearrival of another event.

The polar ice record data pre-sented in figure 2 also show thatglacial periods correlate withintervals of high cosmic rayactivity, with cosmic ray peakspreferentially coinciding withclimatic boundaries. This estab-lishes that there must be a causalconnection between superwavesand climate, and suggests thatsuperwaves are active in bothinitiating and terminating iceages. Also, if the solitary elevat-ed beryllium-10 data can betrusted, there may be evidencethat a very brief low-intensitysuperwave passed us around3300 BC. Interestingly, thisfalls at the close of the Neolithicperiod and precedes the rise of

civilisation with Old Kingdom Egypt, beginning circa 3100 BC.26

LESSER GALACTIC SUPERWAVES The galactic centre may also flare up frequently between major

superwave events. Astronomical observation indicates that duringthe past 5,300 years the galactic centre has expelled 14 clouds ofionised gas.27 The dates estimated for these expulsions are shown

Figure 3: History of minor galactic centre explosions during the past 6,000 years. Dates approximate timeswhen radiation pulses arrived from the galactic centre. (These age estimates, taken from Lacy et al.,27 havebeen decreased by ~70% to correct for the smaller value of 23,000 light years adopted here for the dis-tance to the centre of the galaxy.4)

Figure 4: Amount of time between successive gas expulsions from thegalactic centre, plotted as a frequency histogram.


on the timeline in figure 3. Such minor superwaves would be notbe sufficiently strong to generate beryllium-10 peaks visibleabove background levels. Their associated EMP, however, couldbe so strong that if one such event occurred today it would pose ahazard to modern electronics and communications unlike any-thing we have witnessed thus far.

About 80 per cent of these emis-sions took place within 500 years ofone another (see figure 4). Yet, it hasbeen 700 years since the last event, sothere is a high probability of anotherone occurring in the near future.

TAKING ACTION We must seek ways to anticipate

the arrival of the next superwave. Wemust also begin developing technolo-gies for creating a force-field shield inspace, capable of deflecting the tra-jectories of approaching cosmic rays.The technology of phase-conjugatemicrowave beam interferometry, which today is being pursued inblack-budget defence projects for missile defence applications,might one day be used to create such shields.21

Meanwhile, perhaps we should be doing all that we can torecruit the assistance of other civilisations in our galaxy. Galacticsuperwaves should be a hazard known to them as well. As Idemonstrate in my book, The Talk of the Galaxy, ETI signals arein fact being beamed towards us, but astronomers have mistakenthese pulsating beacons as natural objects.21, 28 What is the topicthey have picked to discuss? The answer should not surprise us.Through their symbolic sky positions and encoded pulse period

relations, they appear to be warning us about the superwave phe-nomenon—or, more specifically, about the event that passed us atthe end of the last ice age. But, this is a whole other story. ∞

About the Author:Paul A. LaViolette, PhD, has had manyoriginal papers published in physics,astronomy, climatology, systems theoryand psychology. He is the author of TheTalk of the Galaxy: An ET Message forUs? [see review this issue], Earth UnderFire [reviewed in 6/02], Beyond the BigBang and Subquantum Kinetics, and theeditor of A Systems View of Man.

Apart from being the first to identifythe galactic centre superwave phenome-non, Dr LaViolette has made predictionsabout galaxy evolution which have beenverified since by the Hubble space tele-scope. He discovered the planetary/stel-lar mass luminosity relation whichshows that the Sun, stars and planetsmay be powered by energy sponta-neously c reated through photon

blueshifting. He developed a subquantum theory of gravity thatreplaces general relativity and a theory which links past geomagneticflips to immense solar flare storm outbursts. He also holds two patentson an improved life-support rebreather apparatus. Dr LaViolette has anongoing interest in metaphysics, music and mysticism, and has identi-fied an advanced cosmogenetic science encoded in certain ancient cre-ation myths.

Dr LaViolette is Founder and President of the Starburst Foundation,an interdisciplinary scientific research institute. This is a 501(c)3 non-profit institute supported by charitable donations. For additional infor-mation on his work and how to support the Foundation, and to orderbooks and videos, visit the website www.etheric.com or phone +1 (703)256 7337 or 1800 715 9993 (ordering line, toll free in North America).

Endnotes1. LaViolette, P.A. Galactic Explosions, CosmicDust Invasions, and Climatic Change. PhD disserta-tion, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon,August 1983.2. LaViolette, P.A. The terminal Pleistocene cos-mic event: Evidence of recent incursion of nebularmaterial into the solar system. Eos (1983) 64:286.American Geophysical Union paper, Baltimore,Maryland.3. LaViolette, P.A. Cosmic ray volleys from thegalactic centre and their recent impact on the Earthenvironment. Earth, Moon, and Planets (1987)37:241. 4. LaViolette, P.A. Earth Under Fire: Humanity'sSurvival of the Apocalypse. Starlane Publications,Alexandria, VA, USA, 1997.5. Burbidge, G.R. et al. Evidence for the occur-rence of violent events in the nuclei of galaxies.Reviews of Modern Physics (1963) 35:947. 6. Burbidge, G.R. et al. Physics of compact non-thermal sources: III. Energetic considerations.Astrophysical Journal (1974) 193:43. 7. Oort, J.H. The Galactic Centre. Annual Reviewsof Astronomy & Astrophysics (1977) 15:295. 8. Ginzburg, V.L. and Syrovatskii, S.I. The Originof Cosmic Rays. Pergamon Press, New York, 1964,p. 207. 9. LaViolette, P.A. Elevated concentrations of cos-mic dust in Wisconsin-stage polar ice. Meteoritics(1983) 18:336. Meteoritical Society paper, Mainz. 10. LaViolette, P.A. Evidence of high cosmic dustconcentrations in Late Pleistocene polar ice.Meteoritics (1985) 20:545. 11. Fishman, G.J. and Inan, U.S. Observation of anionospheric disturbance caused by a gamma-ray

burst. Nature (1988) 331:418. 12. Hammer, C.U., Clausen, H.B. and Langway, Jr,C.C. 50,000 years of recorded global vulcanism.Climatic Change (1997) 35:1. 13. Johnsen, S.J., Dansgaard, W., Clausen, H.B.and Langway, Jr., C.C. Oxygen isotope profilesthrough the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.Nature (1972) 235:429–435.14. LaViolette, P.A. Evidence in Antarctic Ice of aProlonged Enhanced Solar Wind Outflow at the Endof the Last Ice Age. Submitted for publication(2000). 15. Zook, H.A., Hartung, J.B. and Storzer, D. Solarflare activity: evidence for large-scale changes inthe past. Icarus (1977) 32:106. 16. LaViolette, P.A. Beyond the Big Bang:Ancient Myth and the Science of ContinuousCreation. Park Street Press, Rochester, VT, USA,1995. See www.etheric.com/LaVioletteBooks/Book-BBB.html.17. Marshak et al. Evidence for muon productionby particles from Cygnus X-3. Physical ReviewLetters (1985) 54:2079. 18. Dingus, B.L. et al. High-energy pulsed emis-sion from Hercules X-1 with anomalous air-showermuon production. PhysicaI Review Letters (1988)61:1906. 19. Schwarzschild, B. Are the ultra-energetic cos-mic gammas really photons? Physics Today,November 1988, p. 17. 2 0 . Bower, G.C., Falcke, H. and Backer, D.C.Circular Polarization in Sagittarius A* (abs.).Session 62, 195th American Astronomical SocietyMeeting, Atlanta, January 12, 2000. See Session 62at website www.aas.org/meetings/aas195/program/index.html.21. LaViolette, P.A. The Talk of the Galaxy: An

ET Message for Us?. Starlane Publications,Alexandria, VA, USA, 2000, p. 55. 22. Raisbeck, G.M. et al. Evidence for two inter-vals of enhanced 10Be deposition in Antarctic iceduring the last glacial period. Nature (1987)326:273. 23. Raisbeck, G.M. et al. 10Be deposition atVostok, Antarctica, during the last 50,000 years andits relationship to possible cosmogenic productionvariations during this period. In The LastDeglaciation: Absolute and RadiocarbonChronologies (E. Bard and W. Broecker, eds).Proc. NATO ASI Series 12:127-139, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1992.24. Brown, R.L. and Johnston, K.J. The gas densi-ty and distribution within 2 parsecs of the galacticcentre. AstrophysicaI Journal (1983) 268:L85. 25. Lo, K.Y. and Claussen, M.J. High-resolutionobservations of ionised gas in central 3 parsecs ofthe galaxy: possible evidence for infall. Nature(1983) 306:647. 26. Labeyrie, J. Sea level variations and the birthof the Egyptian civilization. In Radiocarbon Dating(R. Berger and H.E. Suess, editors), University ofCalifornia Press, Berkeley, 1979, p. 33.27. Lacy, J.H. et al. Observations of the motionand distribution of the ionised gas in the central par-sec of the galaxy. II. Astrophysical Journal (1980)241:132.28. LaViolette, P.A. Evidence that radio pulsarsmay be artificial beacons of ETI origin (abs.).Session 33, 195th American Astronomical SocietyMeeting, Atlanta, January 12, 2000. See Session 58at website www.aas.org/meetings/aas195/program/index.html.

Meanwhile, perhaps we should be doing all that we can to

recruit the assistance of othercivilisations in our galaxy.

Galactic superwaves should be a hazard known to them as well.


SUBSURFACE INHABITANTS IN FOLKLORE, MYTH AND LITERATURE

The legends, myths and literature of mankind have always been filled with fancifulor terrifying accounts of underground lands and races, hidden from surface sight.Rumours of a largely unseen reality, of cavern worlds, hidden tunnel systemswhich criss-cross the globe, and the occasional accidental discovery of a large

geode structure within the Earth, have migrated from the realms of folklore and early sci-entific speculation into literature—and perhaps back into folklore again.

When reading and studying the available fiction which touches upon the topic of a sub-terranean world, many similarities come to light. This is interesting insofar as the variouswriters were not necessarily familiar with one another's works. It is obvious that many ofthem drew upon folktales and mythology as well as the latest scientific findings and theo-ries of the day; indeed, they had a huge matrix of archetypes and forms with which towork.

Religious traditions have also been a major influence on the development of fictionabout subterranean worlds and inhabitants, and some brave souls have shared accounts ofwhat they believed to be their own encounters with the denizens that dwell within theEarth's crust.

In this work, all of these aspects of underworld studies, and more, will come under care-ful examination, but this is not so much an examination of the underworlds as it is of theirinhabitants.

MYTHICAL (ANCIENT RELIGIOUS) ACCOUNTS1. The East

One of the earliest examples of subterranean stories is to be found in the Gilgameshcycle of stories, which some would say is not so much fictitious as it is a distorted accountof ancient events.

Gilgamesh was an actual king who ruled Uruk (also called Unug) about 2600 BC, andhe was supposedly of half-divine origin. Like other heroes of ancient mythic cycles whowere demigods, or semi-divine, Gilgamesh longed for an immortality which he saw as hisbirthright, much the same as Heracles of the Greeks. In one tale from his cycle, hebefriends a physically powerful, hairy, subhuman character named Enkidu and teacheshim the customs of humanity. In a later tale, Enkidu, on behalf of his friend and king,agrees to venture into the underworld of ancient Mesopotamia to search for someone whohas the secret of immortality.

Other Sumerian accounts leave little doubt that the Kur or Ki-Gal ("the Great Below")was a place of immense size and great terror. This realm was ruled by the goddessEreshkigal and her consort Nergal, a warlike god who had entered her queendom withplans of conquest—only to be seduced by the enemy, who became his wife. The Ki-Galwas said to be filled with a wide range of beings, including spirits and the undead, reani-mated bodies of human beings as well as savage guardians called "scorpion men".

Other residents were described as sexless and robotic "artificial" beings called Galaturor Gala, who were used by the rulers of the underworld for missions of kidnapping humanbeings from the surface world or for other errands. Also present in the underworld werethe Utukku, "eagle-headed" reptilian humanoids who are probably the original Djinn andIfrits of the ancient Middle East. The latter beings were usually depicted with wings, rep-resenting their ability to fly when dispatched on the errands of the rulers of the under-world. Another strange race was the Pazuzu, a canine-faced humanoid monstrosity withreptilian scales and tail.

The subterraneandwellers of variousancient religious

and mythicaltraditions have

parallels with theunderworld beings

of modern-dayaccounts.

Part 1

by Wm Michael Mott © 2000

E-mail: [email protected]:

http://mpi.mpi-softtech.com/~mott/DeepDwellersRevis2.htm

All of these are motifs which in one form or another have beenfound to permeate nearly every ancient underworld tradition andalso have found their way into folklore and literature.

The Asian region, particularly the Indian subcontinent, Tibet,Nepal, China and Japan, has very similar traditions about subter-ranean inhabitants.

In India, there is still a strong belief in the reality of theNagas—a race of "serpent people" or "lizard men" who havemade their homes in two major undergroundcities (or civilisations), Bhogavati and Patala.

Bhogavati is believed to be underneath theHimalayas, and it is said that from there theNagas wage war on other human subter-raneans from the subsurface kingdoms ofAgharta and Shambala.

Patala is believed by millions of Hindus tothis day to have an entrance in the Wellof Sheshna in Benares. According toherpetologist and author Sherman A.Minton in his book, Venomous Reptiles,this entrance is very real, having 40steps which descend into a circulardepression and then terminate at aclosed stone door covered in bas-reliefcobras. In Tibet, there is a major mysti-cal shrine, also called Patala, which issaid by the people there to sit atop anancient cavern and tunnel system whichreaches throughout the Asian continentand possibly beyond.

The Nagas are believed to have anaffinity with water, and the entrances to theirunderground palaces are said to be hiddenoften at the bottom of wells, deep lakes andrivers. They are described as a veryadvanced race or species with a highly devel-oped technology. Among their many devices are "death rays" andv i m a n a—flying, disc-shaped aerial craft which are described atlength in many ancient Vedic texts including the B h a g a v a d - g i t aand the Ramayana. The Nagas are also believed to harbour a dis-dain for human beings, whom they are said to abduct, torture,interbreed with and even eat. The interbreeding has supposedlyled to a wide variety of forms, ranging from completely reptilian

to nearly human in appearance. The Naga race is related to anoth-er underworld race: the Hindu demons, or Rakshasas.

The Nagas are also said to possess, as individuals, a "magicalstone" or "third eye" in the middle of their brow. This is knownto students of eastern mysticism as the focal point of one of thehigher chakras (energy channel points) of the human(oid) nervoussystem, and is the chakra associated with inner visions, intuitionand other esoteric concepts.

In China, the Lung Wang (Dragon Kings)closely resemble the Nagas in manyrespects. The Lung were said to dwell eitherin the "celestial realm", i.e., the stars andplanets, or beneath the surface of the Earth.They, too, were said to possess a "magicalpearl" in their forehead—a "mystical" ordivine eye or source of power. Like the

Nagas, some of the entrances to theirpalaces or kingdoms could be foundbeneath lakes and rivers or behindwaterfalls. Almost always, suchentrances were well hidden from theintrusive eyes or feet of mortal menand women. One such entrance to theChinese underworld was said to be inthe "Eastern Mountain" of Taishan,near Qufu province. This entrance tothe Chinese Hell was guarded by sav-age demons called Men Shen, oftendepicted as warriors wearing fierce,animalistic masks or faces.

There was also interaction betweenthe Lords of Hell, as they were known, andthe Dragon Kings. The four Hell Kings,called Yan Luo or Yen Wang (possiblyderived from the Hindu death god, Yama),ruled over a vast region consisting of 18

levels or locales. In one tale, a Dragon King is robbed by anextremely clever and human-like Monkey, who is similar in manyrespects to the Hindu Hanuman (who in turn came into conflictwith the Rakshasas of the underworld in the Ramayana). Enkidualso comes to mind in this tale. The Dragon King calls on thehelp of the Yan Luo, who are in turn bested by Monkey as well.The 18 regions of the Chinese netherworld are bureaucratic,

tedious systems or civilisations and anapparent mixture of Taoist and Buddhistideas, with a strong influence from thelatter.

The Japanese Hell is even more of anamalgam of different traditions, as it incor-porates Chinese, Hindu and Buddhist char-acteristics into an earlier, animistic Shintosystem. Emma-Hoo (perhaps from Yama-Raja) is the king of Jigoku, an eight-levelledregion of fire and ice. Jigoku is filled withOni, or demons, which have the heads ofoxen or horses but humanoid bodies.

Japan also has other cavern-dwellers whocome out upon occasion. The bird-headedreptilian goblins, the Tengu, dwell in moun-tainous regions and mostly come out bynight. They are experts in the use of theweapons which are in modern times associ-ated with ninjitsu. According to legend, the


The Nagas are believed to have

an affinity with water, and the entrances to their underground

palaces are said to behidden often at the

bottom of wells, deeplakes and rivers.

They are described as a very advanced race

or species with a highly developed

technology.

A reptilian humanoid in the underworld

Tengu trained Minamoto Yoshitsune, a famed Samurai swords-man of the late 12th century, when he was an exiled boy on therun from his enemies. The Tengu are almost identical in descrip-tion to the Utukku of Sumerian myth.

Other beings are the Kappa, a semi-aquatic and totally reptilian-lookinghumanoid dwarf, the "ugly girls ofhell" and sundry other shapeshiftingentities who dwell underground orunder houses. The "fox people" areamong the latter, often taking humanform and delighting in abduction andseduction of mortals.

The underworld of ancient Egypthas many things in common with itsMesopotamian counterpart. Calledthe Tuat or Duat, it was ruled by thegod of the dead, Osiris, the counter-part of Sumer's Nergal. It is the ser-vants of Osiris, however, who are ofconcern here. There was the jackal-headed god Khentimentiu andalso Anubis, both gods of arcane knowledge, embalming andother sciences. The god of knowledge, Thoth, was also a regularin the Tuat; he had a humanoid form with the head of a baboon(but very canine in appearance). All three of these deities bear astrong resemblance to the Sumerian Pazuzu.

There is also a parallel in the Ushabtiu, originally conceived asartificial, animated and robotic servants who were very similar tothe Gala, or Galatur, of the Sumerian underworld. Like the Gala,the Ushabtiu could be dispatched to punish or abduct anordinary mortal or even the Pharaoh himself. These beingswere represented in Egyptian burials by small statues of thesame name, mimicking the supernatural servants of Osirisand hopefully providing a retinue of retainers and slaves forthe deceased.

Another being with familiar characteristics was Ammut,a blend of crocodile, lion and dog. But possibly the mostfeared being to haunt the underworld was the god of chaosand strife, Set or Seth, who attempted to mount a c o u pd'état against his brother, Osiris. Set is often considered tobe the Egyptian counterpart of the Judaeo-Christianpersonality known as Satan, his appearance both canine andreptilian with a human form but animalistic head, long-snouted and/or muzzled. The hugest dragon of the Tuat,however, was the gigantic serpent Apophis, very similar toNidhoggr or Jormungand from the Norse underworlds—amonstrous serpent which brought fear even to the gods.

2. The West Moving into Europe and Scandinavia, the mythical sub-

terraneans became less distant and more immediate, inter-acting with the common folk on a much more regular basis.

Scandinavians had their trolls and giants or Jotuns, alsocalled Etins, who were great granitic beings of immensephysical power and sometimes hairy of form. More myste-rious were the dwarves, a race (or races) of stunted, power-ful craftsmen and weapons-smiths. One race of dwarveswas from Svartalfheim, the Land of the Dark Elves, a cav-ern world in its own right. Some of the Svartalf dwarf-kindlived in Nifleheim, the Land of the Dead. Along with thesavage and man-eating trolls, the dwarves would turn tostone, into toads or otherwise die if struck by the direct raysof the Sun. More often than not, the entrances to their

homes were hidden in inaccessible mountainsides and otherremote locations.

The Scandinavian and Germanic peoples also believed in theHuldre, the "hidden folk", or Elves. The Huldre domain was a

luminous cavern realm calledAlfheim. From Alfheim they wouldventure forth to cajole, abduct orseduce human beings. Other beingswere the Kobolds, or mine dwarves,perhaps a variant of the NorseSvartalf. Another type was theTusse, a variant of elf who livedclose to humans, usually beneath orclose to a farmstead.

The primary interest of the Huldreelf-folk, which could be said to applyto all the Germanic types, seems tohave been procreation with humanbeings for the purpose ofmaintaining genetic diversity. Like

the trolls and dwarves, the elves seemed to dislike bright sunlight,but may have had more tolerance than their troll and dwarfcousins as they were sometimes seen at dawn, twilight or dusk, orby day in deeply shadowed valleys or mountain chasms. Huldreelves in particular are said to have dwelt beneath mounds and hillswhich were in closer proximity to human habitations, as trolls didmore rarely. The elves took a regular interest in human affairs—weddings, births and deaths (bloodlines?), the success of cropsand livestock and so forth—but only for their own selfish


More mysterious were thedwarves, a race (or races) ofstunted, powerful craftsmen

and weapons-smiths.

A hero fighting a scaled humanoid creature similar to a Greek gorgon. Note the creature's "third eye".

interests. They seemed to be overly concerned with genetic andbiological diversity, and they pilfered livestock, crops and humangenes via theft or cross-species liaison whenever they saw fit todo so. The elves are generally depicted as extremely fair-hairedand fair-skinned.

Dragons were also said to live deep in the Earth, as recounted inthe Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) saga of Beowulf. The monsterGrendel was a hairy, scaled fiend, a Nagatroll which later British traditions would calla "goblin" and modern cryptozoologistswould term a "hairy humanoid". The termPazuzu would probably have been just asappropriate for Grendel. Dragons were thespecial guardians of "buried treasure"; thatis, buried knowledge or technology,much of it often made by the powers ofthe subterranean dwarves. TheEuropean dragon had a nastier disposi-tion than his oriental counterpart, orperhaps he came into conflict with agroup of people who entertained differ-ent philosophical ideals when it cameto living in fear of man-eating entities;but whatever the case, like his Easterncousins he had a relationship with bothunderground caverns and deep bodiesof water.

England, Scotland, Wales andIreland have rich traditions of under-earthdwellers, with many similarities or evencommon origins between them. Like theNorse/Germanic variants, the "fairies"—goblins, trows, knockers, brownies, lep-rechauns, Sidhe (shee), Tylwyth teg (terlooeth teig), and numer-ous other categories of humanoid beings—were fair or foul,malevolent or kind (actually, indifferent), making their homesalmost without exception beneath the ground. Mounds, hills,ruins, ancient raths and hill-forts, mountains, cliffs and even citiesof great age were said to serve as the rooftops of their palaces.

Like the Nagas and dragons, some had the entrances to their sub-terranean homes at the bottom of lakes. To remove all doubt as totheir relationship with Norse hidden-folk and Indian Nagas alike,they shunned the sunlight and often seemed interested in cross-breeding their own bloodlines with those of human beings, oreven in crossbreeding their "livestock" or fairy cattle, horses,hounds and so forth with the surface species which were most

compatible. The goblin-dwarfRumpelstiltskin, in his lust to have thehuman baby and its genetic bounty, is anoth-er example of this in German folklore.

Of particular interest are the Tuatha deDanaan of Ireland, the People of the GoddessDanu, also called the Sidhe. Originally an

aristocratic warrior race of heroic pro-portion, they dwindled in size afterretreating underground to become theDaoine Sidhe (Theena Shee) or diminu-tive faeries of Irish folklore. Most ofthe "gentry" or aristocratic troopingfaeries are said to be of this type. Likethe Scandinavian elves, they are depict-ed as particularly fair of complexionand hair. According to Lady Wilde inAncient Legends of Ireland (Ward &Downey, London, 1887), "they are cat-egorised as 'cave fairies'". In additionto their now familiar practice of abduc-

tion of and hybridisation with surfacehumans, their name Tuatha ("tribe" or "peo-ple") de Danaan holds a strong resemblanceto the Egyptian name for the underworld:the Tuat. It is generally thought that the term

"fairy" or "faerie" has its origin in the earlier French term fay orthe Latin fatae, but the possibility of an older origin, as hinted atby the Tuat/Tuatha connection, may in fact bear further examina-tion—for did not the "Pharaohs" believe that they would journeythrough the Tuat on the way to their places in eternity?

The hills and glens of Ireland are also said to hide the remnantsof at least three vanquished races: the Firbolgs, theFomorians and the Nemedians. All are ancient ene-mies of the Tuatha de Danaan and were driven under-ground by the latter in the distant past, where theythen dwindled in size (lack of genetic diversity?) at aneven earlier time than did their conquerors. TheFomors and the Firbolgs are probably the origin-raceof many of the bogeys and pookas (bucas), goblinsand hobgoblins, Scottish trows and other malevolent,sometimes shapeshifting beings which seem to bearstrong resemblance to the Scandinavian trolls, beingperhaps a smaller variant. The etymological connec-tion between "trows" and "trolls" is obvious, andreflects the sequence of both legendary and historicalmigrations to the British Isles as well as the warsbetween each newcomer group and the then-ensconced one.

Each group of faeries and goblins can be viewed asthe dethroned exiled gods of an earlier defeatedhuman culture. The question is, what or who werethese "gods" which still exist in the popular imagina-tion today? Were they symbolic pantheons or arche-types, or living beings who pre-dated man on thisplanet?


Two examples of Utukku (Djinn or Genii), dispatched from the Ki-Gal to the surface world.

Dragons were the special guardians of"buried treasure";

that is, buried knowledge ortechnology,

much of it often made by the powers of the subterranean

dwarves.

3. The New World Native American cultures have similar beliefs in an extensive,

layered realm of caverns which is hidden beneath their feet. Thismurky world is believed to be inhabited by both human andhumanoid beings and by a variety of monsters and demons.

Most tribes or nations have their own traditions of subterranean"little people", as well as other motifsincluding reptilian or serpent-like humanoidbeings. In addition to this, many tribesbelieve that they themselves emerged from amythical underworld ages before.

The Mescalero Apache have many ofthese beliefs. One of their oldest sacred tra-ditions states that they came from theOld Red Fire Land before the GreatFlood. This land is said to have been inthe distant eastern (Atlantic) sea butwas destroyed by a combination of del-uge and volcanic cataclysms. Escapingthrough "great caverns" and tunnel sys-tems, the ancestors of the Apache cameto high mountain lands far to the south,where they built new cities. A series ofmisfortunes there, however, eventuallydrove them northward.

This legend is nearly identical to theorigin story as related in the C h i l a mB i l a a m of the Maya, and brings tomind both Mayan and Aztec origin myths.The Aztecs say that they originated in a landcalled Aztlan, obviously synonymous withAtlan or Atlantis, the destruction of whichthey also escaped. After this, they ended upin a cavern world called Chicomoztoc, or theSeven Cavern Cities of Gold, where they lived for some timebefore emerging again into the surface world.

In addition to believing in a vast, nine-layered underworld filledwith strange beings, the chief god of the Maya, called Itzamna(meaning "iguana house"), was depicted as an anthropomorphiclizard, snake, cayman or dragon. The underworld dwellers were amixture of human, reptilian and other animal characteristics, andthe rain-god Chac was a long-nosed, fanged, humanoid creaturevery similar to the Egyptian god Set.

The underworld, called Xibalba, is the location of most of theaction in the Popol Vuh, a priestly epic of the Maya. In the PopolVuh, two semi-divine brothers, Hunapuh and Xbalanque, have tojourney into a realm of horrors beneath the earth in order to defeatthose who are the enemies of their father and his family and whothreaten their own ascendancy to power. In Xibalba, they comeinto conflict with Zipacna (a crocodile-headed monster), SevenMacaw (a bird-headed creature), the maker of earthquakes, andother familiar forms. An interesting event occurs when thevengeance-seeking brothers devise a way to pick out the 12 lordsof Xibalba from identical "mannikins" or robotic Ushabti-like fig-ures, so as to destroy the lords of the underworld. The twinseventually defeat their rivals and take over the rulership them-selves, bringing an end to human sacrifice as part of the deal.These events preceded and made possible the "modern" epoch oftime.

The Hopi of the southwest desert, descendants of the mysteri-ous Anasazi people, have an equally strange tradition. Theybelieve that as a people they migrated from a series of previouslyextant "worlds"—usually interpreted as "ages" or "epochs", but

they also see these as subsequent cavern worlds, each one lowerthan the next and each one eventually abandoned and destroyed inturn. While still in the murky "third world", the Hopi ancestorscame into contact with the mysterious "ant people", an ectomor-phic race or species which greatly resembles the Gala of Sumerianmyth, and at some point they also came into conflict with the "ser-

pent people". Like other tribes, their under-world mythos is filled with cataclysms andfloods. At least one of their previous worldswas said to have been "in the east".Combined with the flood element, this leg-end is very similar to Apache and Aztec tra-ditions.

The Choctaw (Cha'ta) people ofMississippi also have a myth of under-ground origins. They believe that theirancestors emerged from the NanihWaiya cave mound, a 50-foot-tall nat-ural geological formation which is hid-den in a swampy forest area, approxi-mately one-and-a-half miles east of abetter-known artificial mound andtourist site. The hill has several naturalopenings, some of which have been"sealed up" (the Park Service seems tohave no good explanation for this), andit is said by the Choctaw to be theentrance to a vast underground realm.

One legend has it that in ancient times theChoctaw were invaded by a race of red- andblond-haired, white-skinned giants who bore"sharp clubs" (swords?) and axes and worean extra, thick skin (chain or leather mail?)which made them impervious to arrow, spear

and warclub. Add the touch that some of these Nahullo, or giants,had "horns", and these white invaders sound suspiciously likewandering Norsemen. Whatever their origin or identity mighthave been, these invaders drove the Choctaw into hiding.

The world beneath the cave mound where the Choctaw hid wasa large series of caverns through which a river or rivers ran (the


The underworld dwellers were a

mixture of human,reptilian and other

animal characteristics, and the rain-god Chac

was a long-nosed, fanged, humanoid

creature very similar to the Egyptian

god Set.

Tengu, Japanese bird-headed (reptilian) humanoids


Nanih Waiya cave mound sits squarely at the headwaters of thePearl River). Some traditions indicate that it went on to connectto other "worlds" or underground places. Staying undergroundfor many generations, the Choctaw emerged to wage a form ofguerrilla warfare on their enemies, eventually winning by usingdarts coated with a poison made from mushrooms found in thecaverns. Victorious, they emerged again into the sunlit world.

One tradition holds that this emergence of a generation of peo-ple born underground is the basis for the mound origin myth, andthat the Choctaw had in fact arrived centuriesearlier after leaving a "sunken land" whichhad foundered in a distant western ocean.After many wanderings and travails, theyarrived in the southeast where they found thenatural cavern mound which would laterserve as a place of refuge. But otherChoctaw beliefs dispute this, claimingthat not just the Choctaw but theMuskogee, Cherokee and Chickasawpeoples emerged from the mound aswell, having all been one people in theunderworld.

Today the Choctaw still believe that avariety of strange supernatural beingseither inhabit the cave mound or dwellin the wooded hills that surround it.One of these is the Shampe, a hair-cov-ered, manlike giant who has a terribleodour and stays underground during theday. The Shampe is a sort ofSasquatch, but the underworld connection isthere. Also present are the Kawana-kasha(Kowi Anukasha), also called Bohpoli("stone-thrower"), a type of supernatural andmercurial dwarf living within not just thewoods of Mississippi but within the cave mound itself. Like theNorse dwarves, they are hoarders of vast knowledge.

The mound is also the home of "giant serpents" and perhaps ahost of other beings. Among the latter is the Nalusa Falaya, or"long black being", who is humanoid yet slides on his stomach"like a snake". His pointed ears only accentuate his reptilianappearance.

Another variant is the Nalusa Chito, or "big black being", whoemerges from underground dens to capture women and childrenpresumably for supper. This abduction scenario is by now afamiliar one and is very similar to the abduction and changelingaccounts of Celtic and Scandinavian traditions which oftendescribe abductions for the purposes of maintaining genetic diver-sity. The goblin Ho'koklonote'she is a shapeshifting creaturebelieved to haunt the region, and is very similar to the Pooka orBuca of the British Isles. So are the Nalusa twins, for that matter.

As has been demonstrated, many similari-ties or perhaps identical descriptions existfor the underworld inhabitants of myth andfolklore.

This underlying cohesion may have result-ed from an "archetypal stew" which longsimmered in the imaginations of men and

women; and as will be demonstrated inthe next section, this has resulted insome very interesting and imaginativeworks of fiction.

Continued in the next issue ofNEXUS...

About the Author:Wm Michael Mott is the Creat iveDirector for a high-performance USsoftware company. He is also a free-lance artist and writer of both fictionand non-fiction. He has worked as anartist/designer for Fortune 500 compa-

nies and for a variety of book and magazinepublishers. His artwork has appeared in pub-lications such as Computer Graphics WorldMagazine, Computer Artist, IEEE ComputerGraphics and Applicat ions, D r a g o nMagazine, UFO Magazine and others. He's

created award-winning artwork and graphic design for mass-mar-ket book covers, posters, brochures, packaging, CD-ROM coversand art collections as well as for digital/web-based media. His art-work has been featured in the exhibition In Dreams Awake: Art ofF a n t a s y at the Olympia and York Gallery in 1988, at the 1987World Fantasy Con and in other exhibits.

Mott's satirical fantasy novels, Pulsifer: A Fable and Land of Ice,A Velvet Knife, are published in electronicform by SoftBook Press/Gemstar, (www.soft-book.com) and will soon also be availablefrom the author in a deluxe illustrated ver-sion on CD-ROM. The first of a series ofil lustrated short stor ies appeared inSeptember 2000 as a chapbook fromUndaunted Press (www.undauntedpress.com).

Mott has been researching Fortean andparanormal topics for over 20 years and hasonly recently decided to put the results ofthis research into written form, the resultbeing the graphically rich book and CD-ROM, Caverns, Cauldrons, and ConcealedC r e a t u r e s (available f rom websi tehttp://www.hiddenmysteries.com). WmMichael Mott can be contacted by e-mail [email protected].

Editor's Note:The bibliography accompanying this articlewill be published in a subsequent issue ofNEXUS. Examples of Egyptian underworld deities, the jackal-headed Anubis and Ammut

One tradition holds that this emergence of a generation of peopleborn underground is

the basis for the mound origin myth...

REVELATIONS FROM A FORMER NSA CONSULTANT

by Richard Boylan, PhD © November 2000 – January 2001

The following items from Dr RichardBoylan summarise recent disclosures by aformer US National Security Agencyconsultant whom he refers to as "Z" (seeTZ 8/01). We have received independentconfirmation that "Z" has held a high-level national security position. As aresult, we feel readers should be aware ofthese disclosures so they may decide forthemselves whether they ring true orwhether they are part of a governmentdisinformation campaign. — Editor

He emerged from his vehicle in theparking lot of a fancy hotel near theshoreline, attired in dress-casual

clothes with sunglasses, thrust out his handand said, "Hi, I'm [Z]" (name withheld inthis dispatch). With that, I met face-to-facewith one of the highest-level informants inthe US national security network. Whatfollows are extracts from our three-hour-long conversation.

Z was deeply concerned about currentevents in the Middle East. He said that thenational security community considers thatthis is the place where war could soonbreak out, which would engulf not only theMiddle East but draw in Syria, Iraq, Jordan

and possibly Egypt, Turkey and Iran, andalso draw in larger powerful states such asRussia and India. Then, with India's atten-tion diverted, China could march into areasof India it considers within its sphere ofinfluence. The Western powers wouldhave to respond, and global war wouldbecome a reality.

THE TERRORIST THREAT & FEMAZ said that the intelligence community

expects a major terrorist strike within theUnited States this [northern] winter—mostlikely a biological warfare agent dispersedacross a city of note, oreven a nuclear weapon det-onated. He noted grimlythat 18 Soviet nuclear war-heads have gone missingand are most likely in ter-rorist hands now. He con-sidered anthrax the mostlikely biowarfare agent tobe used, but added thatthere are other killermicrobes also available toterrorists. He said terroristgroups are within the USnow.

Z stated that the US isquietly on ThreatCon Delta,the equivalent of thePentagon's wartime DefCon4 (active war) alert status.

ThreatCon Delta, the highest level of civil-ian threat alert condition, has been enactedbecause biological or nuclear incidents areconsidered likely to occur at any time now.Because of ThreatCon Delta, classified sec-tions of the National Security Act (amend-ed) and secret presidential national securitydirectives have been activated. "Did youknow," Z asked me, "that the President isnot in charge now? FEMA [the FederalEmergency Management Agency] is!" Isaid that this is unconstitutional, and Zreplied that the classified laws and nationalsecurity directives make it legal.



We discussed the various huge, under-ground, city-like installations which are allstocked, staffed and prepared to take in acertain portion of the population in theevent of a disaster or terrorist strike hap-pening. Such installations include oneunder the Kansas City stadium with acapacity to take care of one million select-ed persons. Many such installations existand are ready to go.

There is also a "shadow government", Ztold me, with substitute President, Vice-President, Cabinet officers, heads of Senateand Congress, Supreme Court Justices andother top governmental officials ready tofunction if disaster strikes "topside". Thushe confirmed earlier leaked reports about asecret Continuity of Government plan. Healso confirmed that the "REX exercise"authorised by President Reagan was a dry-run dress rehearsal of the taking over ofcommand of the government, legislatureand courts by the unelected shadow gov-ernment—to be implemented, if necessary,by federalised FEMA troops.

THE US ANTIGRAVITY FLEETZ then got down to the more exotic areas

of mutual interest. He confirmed the previ-ously anecdotal story about PresidentNixon's having taken then-famous televi-sion star Jackie Gleason to Homestead AirForce Base, Florida, to show him thecorpses of Zeta Reticulan (Grey) crewmenretrieved from a UFO crash. Z said that he,too, had viewed those bodies.

Z also confirmed what defence industryblack projects insider Edgar Rothschild

Fouche wrote about in his recent book,Alien Rapture: the existence of the TR3-B,a large triangular antigravity craft withinthe US antigravity fleet. This fleet alsoincludes: the B-2 Stealth bomber, made byNorthrop; the Lockheed X-22A two-manantigravity disc; the large spacefaringN a u t i l u s, manufactured by Boeing andEU's Airbus Industries; Northrop's discoidcraft; and the XH-75D or XH S h a r k a n t i-gravity helicopter, made by Teledyne RyanAeronautical Corporation of San Diego.

Here is what Z had to say about the TR3-B triangular antigravity craft:

"TR3-B. This is the code-name for whateveryone on Earth has seen. It is a verylarge triangular-shaped re-entry vehiclewith antigravity. It is what the November[2000] issue of Popular Mechanics identi-fied as the Lenticular Reentry Vehicle—anuclear-powered flying saucer, the firstversion of which went operational in 1962[the version which Popular Mechanicsillustrated].

"It was used in [the] Gulf War's earlyhours with electromagnetic-pulse/laser can-non. It literally sat mid-air, firing long-,medium- and short-range to take out anten-nas, towers, communications, air trafficcontrol towers, TV dishes and centres, etc.For three hours, these three triangles [TR3-Bs] just sat there blowing up everything insight. Then the Stealth fighters had fun forthe rest of the day into the early eveningnext night. Then [followed] carpet bomb-ings from high altitude B-52 S t r a t o -Fortresses. They dumped all the old, aged,Vietnam-era crap [munitions]; a third blew

up and the rest [were] duds. "Anyways, the TR3B has been in testing

since the '60s. B u t, it has only been per-fected for the last eight years [since 1992].It is a good remake of what Truman firstsaw [the Roswell semicircular craft]. It iscompartmentalised, built by the SkunkWorks [Lockheed–Martin's classified plantat Palmdale, CA] and Boeing. It is housedin Utah. Remember Utah?"

Z was reminding me of his earlier revela-tion that the US Space Command has locat-ed its primary headquarters and antigravityspace-launch fleet facility beneath thetallest mountain in the Wasatch Range, eastof Salt Lake City, Utah.

"This is the end of that story. This iswhat people have seen, which I could safe-ly estimate more than 90 per cent of thetimes. The other 10 per cent is what youseek—the real [extraterrestrial UFOs]!"

I politely disagreed with Z's estimate,since I doubted that the US antigravity fleetwas numerous enough to account for thehundreds of daily sightings. But I thankedhim for all his information and for so gra-ciously driving a distance to rendezvouswith me.

I certainly hope that the destructive inci-dents that the current ThreatCon Delta alertis set for do not happen. But I also believethat the American public has a right toknow what I have learned. Thus you havethis report.

— Richard J. Boylan, PhD26 November 2000

"DOOMSDAY" ASTEROID IN 2030?

Many will recall the uproarin the newspapers and on

television several months agowhen NASA reported thatastronomers had spotted a hugeasteroid out in deep space on atrajectory to strike the Earth in2030. This story generatedmuch press attention and inter-views. Then suddenly, NASAdid a follow-up news release,this one saying that astronomershad made an error and that,according to rechecked calcula-tions, the asteroid would missEarth by thousands of miles.Great sighs of editorial relieftook place all over the world.But Z says there is more.

Actually, the first newsrelease was the accurate one!

THE TWILIGHT ZONE


NASA released it to allow the authoritiesto gauge what public reaction would be tothe doomsday announcement. Actually,the world took the news without extraordi-nary, immediate panic and hysteria. ButNASA then retracted the story to avoid thelong-term corrosive effect of such news onsociety, so that life could go on as normaland people would not begin to questionwhy they were going to their boring jobsand paying the mortgage when massivedestruction was coming anyway. And sothe stockmarket would not crash, nor otherinstitutions lose allegiance from the public.

Z added some details on the"Doomsday" asteroid. It is indeed huge—larger than five miles by 10 miles (8 x 16km), the size of a small county. NASA hasalso calculated the impact zone: the NorthAtlantic, somewhere between Europe andthe United States and Canada. It will havedevastating impact.

As it comes through the atmosphere, itwill create the loudest sound humans haveever heard in history—a noise which willbe heard around the world. The pressurewaves caused by its impact will fracturethe immediate tectonic plate it strikes andcreate great earthquakes everywhere.

Its impact will create tremendous tidalwaves which will tower well above onemile (1.6 km) high. Scientists have calcu-lated, for example, that everything on theUS eastern seaboard below 5,000 feet(1,524 m) facing the wave will be inun-dated. Similarly, monstrous waves will begenerated eastward towards Europe'sAtlantic coast and elsewhere.

Z revealed that emergency plans havealready been drafted. One such plan callsfor important designated persons to beplaced aboard the largest airliners and goairborne to ride out the earthquakes andtidal waves from a safe altitude.

Z said that government and militaryplanners currently are desperately figuringout strategies to prevent the disaster; forexample, whether to try to deflect the aster-oid by explosions from rockets withnuclear warheads sent out into space tomeet the asteroid.

But even such a plan has downside risks.What if the nukes do not nudge the asteroidout of its current course but, instead, frag-ment it—so that instead of one big object,several enormous pieces are created whichstill continue on course and strike Earthwith a wider shotgun pattern of destruc-tion?

The planners and scientists continue towrestle with choices and decisions, fever-ishly working despite the huge rock's beinga little over 29 years away.

RETURN OF THE TENTH PLANETThere is a second large incoming object

expected, but it is of quite a different kind,Z stated, and it is due much sooner—around 2011–2012. Naval observers havealready spotted it, coming from a directionvisible from the southern hemisphere.

Z confirmed that this is the 10th planetof our solar system, which takes anextremely elliptical orbit. He said it is theone which orientalist scholar ZechariaSitchin wrote about in his books decodingthe Sumerian tablets. These tablets alsospoke of a 10th planet with a 3,600-yearorbit cycle. That planet, which they calledNibiru, is inhabited by the extraterrestrialswho told the Sumerians that they bioengi-neered humans using Earth primate stockand extraterrestrial genes.

I commented to Z that perhaps, then, wewill meet our makers in 2012 before welater meet our Maker in 2030 (if a solutionto the asteroid threat is not worked outbeforehand)! I thanked Z for sharing thenews, although it is weighty indeed.

After he'd finished, I understood betterthe momentous concerns that some whoare high in government wrestle with, andwhy some of them feel that the people arebetter off not knowing. Nevertheless, Ibelieve that information is our public right.And knowledge is power.

— Richard J. Boylan, PhD29 November 2000

UFO DISCLOSURE DATE REVISED

Ihave been in recent dialogue with thisex-NSA consultant, and he has been reli-

able in the past. He stated that the officialplan now is for the announcement ofextraterrestrial contact to be made in 2006.

The announcement would first be madeby a world-renowned religious figure.Shortly thereafter, it would be confirmedby the then-sitting United States President.

I reminded my informant that the time-line has therefore been pushed back from2002 (Dr Michael Wolf revealed that 2002had been the earlier official governmenttimetable). Who's to say that it won't bepushed back again, and again? I'm afraidthat our friends "upstairs" are going tohave to take this matter by the horns.

— Richard J. Boylan, PhD1 January 2001

About the Author: Richard Boylan, PhD, LLC, is a behav-ioural scientist, certified clinical hyp-notherapist and researcher into extrater-restrial/human encounters. He can becontacted at: PO Box 22310,Sacramento, CA 95822, USA, telephone(916) 422 7479 (PDT), e-mail drboy-lan@ jps.net, website www.jps.net/drboylan/.

You are invited to join the UFOTruthInternet reports and ET/UFO/Experiencers communications list, mod-erated by Dr Boylan (subscribe athttp://UFOTruth.listbot.com/); or jointhe DrRichBoylanReports list (his reportsonly!) at http://DrRichBoylanReports.listbot.com/.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE


THE LYNCH-MOB SYNDROME by Ken NormanThe Portia Campaign, UK, 2000ISBN 0-932813-86-0 (224pp tpb)Price: £6.00 + p&hAvailable: UK—The Portia Campaign, The Croft, West Common, Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria CA7 5AG, tel/fax016973 51820, e-mail [email protected], website www.portia.org

Retired journalist Ken Norman foundedThe Portia Campaign 30-odd years ago

in the UK as a national charity to helpwomen in particular who may be wronglyconvicted or in trouble with the law becauseof emotional or mental breakdown orthrough injustice. Many of the womenwhose cases are summarised in Norman'sbook, The Lynch-Mob Syndrome, have beenfound guilty of murdering their children—crimes they swear they did not commit.

It's a shocking indictment on our societywhen judges, scientific and medical witness-es, police prosecutors and jurors in effectconspire in a gradual, joint deterioriation ofjudgement to convict innocent people. ToNorman, it's lynching in a new guise.

Mothers have been wrongfully imprisonedbecause of an unidentified genetic disposi-tion or because their children died of toxicpoisoning from a plastic swimming pool.Various tragic deaths were deemed to be dueto unusual cot death circumstances, shakenbaby syndrome (SBS) or other trauma, againresulting in a conviction for the mother orcarer (the Louise Woodward case is a high-profile example).

Yet, one significant but overlooked factorwhich Viera Scheibner, PhD, and MaureenHickman have been exposing via NEXUS isthe vaccination link in instances of both cotdeath (SIDS) and SBS (2/05, 5/05, 7/06).Another is the SIDS link with bacterial out-gassings (identified by Dr Jim Sprott in6/06). These compelling connections mightbe overlooked in this book, but they areignored by "experts" in the medical and judi-cial systems around the world. It is impera-tive that the "authorities", not only the pub-lic, become better informed before moreneedless deaths and convictions occur.

UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA: A "Rough Guide" Special by Bob Rickard and John MichellRough Guides Ltd, UK, 2000ISBN 1-85828-589-5 (394pp tpb)Price: A$30.00; NZ$39.95; £12.99;US$27.99; C$19.95Available: Australia/UK/USA/Canada—Penguin Books; New Zealand—NEXUSOffice, tel (09) 405 1963

If an anomalous event cannot be explained,this doesn't mean it should be discounted.

And while authors John Michell and BobRickard are all for investigating strange phe-nomena, they warn that explanations aremerely "temporary products, coming andgoing in response to fashions".

This Rough Guide special edition,Unexplained Phenomena, is a compilationbased on new material and updates of twoearlier works from these authors:Phenomena: A Book of Wonders (1977) andLiving Wonders (1982). Michell is a veteranresearcher/author on subjects such asarchaeology, ancient science, sacred geome-try, landscape energies and so forth, while

Rickard is the founder/co-editor of ForteanTimes, the UK-based magazine which cov-ers all sorts of anomalous phenomena, oftenwith a humorous bent. Such humour flowsthrough this book as a matter of necessity—for there's "nothing to be gained by worryingabout or wilfully rejecting aspects of ourhuman experience which can never beexplained". Yet we want to know the truth!

Carrying on in the tradition begun by pio-neering "Fortean" researcher Charles Fort(1874–1932), the authors analyse strangephenomena as diverse as teleportation,falling fish and frogs, stigmata, levitation,crowd madness, fairy folk, alien encounters,spontaneous combustion, subterraneanrealms, crop circles, spectral ships, simu-lacra, weeping statues, anomalous creatures,psychic animals and more, and they makelively use of illustrations and photos. Theyalso provide useful Fortean-type Internetsources at the back of the book. There'smore than enough here to convince you thatthis is a very weird world indeed.

REVIEWSReviewed by Ruth Parnell

THE VAST ENQUIRING SOUL by Ronald RussellHampton Roads, USA, 2000ISBN 1-57174-153-4 (280pp tpb)Price: A$33.95; NZ$46.95; £n/a;NLGƒn/a; US$13.95Available: Australia—Gemcraft, tel (03)9888 0111; NZ—NEXUS Office, tel (09)405 1963; UK—Airlift Book Company, tel020 8804 0400; Europe—NEXUS office,tel +31 321 380558; USA—HamptonRoads Publishing, tel (804) 296 2772,website www.hrpub.com

Consciousness is little understood, yet toignore its fundamental pervasiveness as

some scientists do is to decry the reality ofthe human soul and spirit. So says RonaldRussell, the founder of the Russell Centre inNew Galloway, Scotland, which conductsresearch and workshops into exploring men-tal realms. Through The Vast EnquiringSoul, he aims to show scientists that theirworldview will always remain incompleteunless they take the soul into account.

The problem as he sees it is that scientistsare oriented towards objective analysis, andconsciousness research has such a subjectiveelement to it, thus scientists reject somethingthat can't be quantified and repeated in labo-ratory situations. However, a great deal ofresearch has been conducted since the early1970s which proves that consciousness isnot limited by the confines of the brain, andmuch of this has been conducted accordingto scientific method. Russell refers to find-ings by Fritjof Capra, Ken Wilber, RayMoody, Kenneth Ring, Michael Talbot,

Abraham Maslow, Bob Monroe and othersand explains their breakthroughs and occa-sional shortcomings.

Russell describes the evidence for multidi-mensional consciousness by analysis of phe-nomena including ESP, remote viewing, dis-tant healing, channelling, and experiences ofthe near-death, out-of-body and transcen-dental variety. The scientific study of con-sciousness needs to make more use of expe-rience rather than laboratory analysis, hesays. Above all, scientists must realise theycannot separate their own consciousnessfrom the consciousness they are studying.Russell may not be the first one to espousethis viewpoint, but he puts an interestingspin on his metaphysical enquiries.

COSMIC WONDERby Laurelle Russell-AtkinsonXlibris, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2000ISBN 0-7388-2862-9 (344pp tpb)Price: US$8.00 (online); US$16.00 + p&hAvailable: USA—Xlibris Corporation, 436Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106, tel(215) 923 4686, 1888 795 4274 x273 (tollfree in Nth America), e-mail orders@xlib-ris. com, website www.xlibris.com

At NEXUS we regularly receive papersand books on alternative cosmological

theories, and we tremble to think that wemay have overlooked something that pro-vides the answer to life, the universe andeverything. But it's not every day that wereceive an original and creative cosmologi-cal thesis (produced through Xlibris onlinebook publishers) by an "unknown 45-year-old woman living in the Tasmanian wilder-ness", as author Laurelle Russell-Atkinsondescribes herself. University-educated inphilosophy and political science, she has no

qualifications in cosmology—but no ortho-doxy stifling her thinking processes, either.

In Cosmic Wonder, Laurelle doesn't letmathematical equations and graphs get inthe way of her theory that superluminalspeed is possible on the premise that the uni-verse is infinite and eternal. But havingdone her homework, she questions the lawsof nuclear and interstellar physics, offers anew conceptual basis for understandingspacetime and motion, considers the forma-tion of forces and the rotational, cyclical andspiral dynamics in the cosmos, and howsuperluminal travel might be achieved.

Laurelle conveys her thought-provokingarguments in a delightfully conversationaland often humorous way, allowing the read-er to become immersed in and flow with heresoteric stream of consciousness. This is aparadigm-expanding book to inspire profes-sional cosmologists and anyone who wantsto get out of the "Hubble bubble" to contem-plate a cosmos unrestricted by speed-of-lightbarriers and without end.


REVIEWS


THE CHOLESTEROL MYTHSby Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhDNew Trends Publishing, USA, 2000ISBN 0-9670897-0-0 (305pp tpb)Price: US$20.00 + p&h Available: USA—New Trends Publishing,tel (202) 333 4801, (877) 707 1776 (toll-free in Nth America), fax (202) 333 0002,website www.NewTrendsPublishing.com

Regular readers will already be familiarwith research exposing the fallacy that

saturated fats and cholesterol cause heartdisease (see 6/01-2, 4/02). Here, SwedishGP Dr Uffe Ravnskov dispels the mythspoint by point, taking us through the historyof the "diet-heart idea" and revealing the badscience and poor use of statistics. He backsup his stance with ample evidence frompeer-reviewed literature, much of which hasbeen ignored or overlooked by medicalresearchers, practitioners and health authori-ties who either do not question the prevail-ing dogma or have vested interests.

Dr Ravnskov saw this scandalous state ofaffairs first hand when the "cholesterol cam-paign" was introduced into Sweden in 1989,supported by major and influential US insti-tutions such as the National Heart, Lung andBlood Institute and the American HeartAssociation. Having followed the scientificliterature for many years, he could recall nostudy showing that high cholesterol wasdangerous to the heart or blood vessels.

The first editions of his exposé, TheCholesterol Myths, fell on deaf ears inSweden and Finland in the early 1990s, butthis new edition must be spared the samefate. In it, Dr Ravnskov explains the errors

of nine specific myths, including that high-fat foods and cholesterol cause heart disease,that high-fat foods raise blood cholesterol,that cholesterol blocks arteries, thatpolyunsaturated oils are any good, and thatanimal studies have any relevance. Hiswell-reasoned scientific analysis exposes thefallacies which we must face up to if we'reseriously interested in sensible eating.

THE AZTEC VIRGIN: The SecretMystical Tradition of Our Lady ofGuadalupeby John MiniTHIS Publishing, CA, USA, 2000ISBN 0-9657825-0-6 (347pp tpb)Price: US$14.95 + US$4.50 p&h in USA/Canada; elsewhere add US$10.00 p&hAvailable: USA—Trans-HyperboreanInstitute of Science, PO Box 2344,Sausalito, CA 94966, tel (415) 331 0230,fax (415) 331 0231, e-mail [email protected], website www.t-hyp.com

In 1531, ten years after Cortez "conquered"Mexico and slaughtered 23 million Aztecs

in the name of Spain and the CatholicChurch, there appeared to one humble man,Juan Diego, a radiant vision of a "noble-woman" who provided miraculous proof toconvince a local bishop of her reality as theGreat Mother. Soon, word spread and a"new" spiritual movement sprang up aroundthe so-called Virgin of Guadalupe, whoserequest for a temple to be built on the placeof the miracles, at Tepeyacac near MexicoCity, was granted. Within a few months ofthe apparition, most Aztecs had converted toCatholicism, though they had rejected it forthe previous 10 years.

But the Virgin of Guadalupe is really a dis-

guise for her Aztec predecessor: the god-dess Tonantzin, an emanation of the multi-faceted Earth goddess and Mother of AllCreation, Coatlique. No wonder the Aztecsresponded to the sign of her appearance in1531 with overnight conversion to theMother! In The Aztec Virgin, John Mini(author of August 13, 1999) intertwines fas-cinating and moving histories with revela-tions concerning a mystical Aztec codexhidden in the Sacred Image which was man-ifested for Juan Diego and his bishop.

Through his own connections with Aztecmystics, Mini has been able to access a spir-itual path to self-knowledge which traversesancient Toltec dreaming techniques, Aztecsexual alchemical practices, and divineintentions regarding the anticipated birth ofa new solar age—the Sixth Sun, the Sun ofFlowers, wherein the emphasis is to be onexploring and refining relationships. Mini'skey message is that the great Aztec dream ofglobal mutual respect and harmony is beingreborn at Tepeyacac and in us all.

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TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH& ESCAPE THE SICKNESS INDUSTRYby Elaine HollingsworthEmpowerment Press, Qld, Australia, 2000ISBN 0-646402-97-8 (174pp l/f tpb)Price: A$26.00 inc. p&h in Aust; A$33.00to NZ/Asia/Pac; A$39.00 to UK/Eur/USAAvailable: Australia—Hippocrates HealthCentre, Mudgeeraba, Qld 4213, tel +61(0)7 5530 2939, fax +61 (0)7 5569 0884

Good health is everything, and it's usuallynot until we have a health crisis that we

realise how precious it is. This book by US-born Elaine Hollingsworth, the researchdirector of the Hippocrates Health Centre inQueensland, Australia, is aimed especially atthe ageing reader, with chapters coveringhow to avoid bone demineralisation andbuild bone and how to cope withmenopausal symptoms and hormonal havoc(male and female). Elaine, at 72, is a pictureof radiant health and lives by the advicewhich she dispenses.

Included among her list of things to avoidare sugar and artificial sweeteners, caffeineand soft drinks, chocolate and alcohol,excessive protein and soy products. Shelists the early warning signs of osteoporosisas well as the essential vitamins, minerals,raw food and oils essential to combat it. Indiscussing menopausal symptoms, Elainelooks at the adverse side-effects of syntheticprogesterone and oestrogen as well as thebenefits of natural progesterone and the"miracle" Peruvian root vegetable, maca,which can relieve hot flushes and a host ofhormonal problems in both men and women.

Another chapter she devotes to the poisonswhich permeate our daily lives—from exci-totoxic food additives and fluoridated waterto second-hand smoke, toxic sunblock andmobile/cordless telephone emissions—andhow to overcome them. Her chapter on sim-ple, natural remedies for common ailmentsfrom colds and migraines to allergies andasthma is basic but immediately actionable.

Elaine's emphasis is on dispelling healthmyths and promoting the life-enhancingoptions which she's seen work time and timeagain in her years of clinical experience.

TACHYON ENERGY by David Wagner & Gabriel CousensNorth Atlantic Books, CA, USA, 1999ISBN 1-55643-310-7 (147pp tpb)Price: A$40 + GST + $5 p&h in Aust;A$48 inc. p&h to NZ; US$14.95 + p&hAvailable: Aust—Advanced TachyonTechnologies (Aus), tel (02) 9540 2679,www.tachyon-australia.com; USA—Advanced Tachyon Technologies, tel (707)573 5800, www.planet-tachyon.com

This book is not only about the physics oftachyon energy, but an integrated

approach to healing which amounts literallyto a major paradigm shift away from a hori-zontal, fragmented energy alignment to avertically aligned system connected to theSource—which in turn provides a constantflow of energy to feed the physical, emo-tional, mental and spiritual bodies.

The authors, David Wagner and Dr GabrielCousens, have a collective background in anarray of fields including engineering, tradi-tional medicine and holistic health, kundali-ni science and world peace work. Here theybridge the gap between science and spiritu-ality by explaining how zero-point energy,

"the unbounded totality of perfect order",condenses into faster-than-light tachyonenergy, which is then converted into fre-quencies by slower-than-light SOEFs (subtleorganising energy fields) to create theworlds of form.

Apart from this having implications forresearchers into zero-point energy, antigrav-ity and vacuum energy, these findings haverevolutionary potential for our understand-ing of human energetic systems and how toachieve our perfect state of health. Variousbiological and clinical experiments lead theauthors to conclude that we can optimise ourhealth by better attuning our energetic sys-tems to this tachyon energy. And if personalattunement is tricky to achieve, one canalways utilise some of the materials, includ-ing water, which have been "tachyonised" toconcentrate the healing energies.

In Tachyon Energy, the authors enlightenus to the dance of life and lead us to realisethat we can experience it to the full.

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MYSTERIES OF THE SACRED UNIVERSE by Richard L. ThompsonGovardhan Hill Publishing, FL, USA, 2000ISBN 0-96353-093-3 (375pp tpb)Price: Euro 18.85 + 3.35 p&h; US$15.95,foreign orders, add US$9.50 p&hAvailable: Europe—Bhaktivedanta LibraryServices, Belgium, tel +32 86 323280, e-mail [email protected], websitewww.BLServices.com; USA—GovardhanHill, tel (904) 462 0466, e-mail [email protected], www.sacreduniverse.com

The essence of Hindu cosmology can befound in ancient Sanskrit religious texts,

most specifically in the Bhagavata Purana,or Srimad Bhagavatam as it is also called.Richard L. Thompson, PhD, has carried outextensive analysis of the Bhagavatam aswell as several other Great Puranas whichdescribe aspects of the Hindu understandingof astronomy and put humanity in a mean-ingful position in relation to the universe.

Dr Thompson is a mathematician who haswritten over 25 academic papers and severalbooks on science and philosophy includingVedic Cosmography and Astronomy, AlienIdentities, and (with Michael Cremo)Forbidden Archeology and the HiddenHistory of the Human Race.

Central to the ancient Indian idea of thecosmos, as described in the Bhagavatam, isan Earth-centred system of universes con-tained in a spherical shell, with internal lay-ers marking the boundary between mundaneand transcendental realms. The Earth is rep-resented on a disc (the Bhu-mandala) within

the shell, but this 2D array can be interpret-ed as a 3D planisphere which allows com-plex astronomical, geographical and mytho-logical information to be conveyed.Thompson says that a deeper study of thecosmology of the Bhagavatam shows it tobe a sophisticated system with correlationsto astronomical findings such as geocentricplanetary orbits and precessional cycles.

While other Sanskrit texts may be morerecent and reflect Babylonian and Greekcosmological influences, the Bhagavatamprecedes these, thus supporting the notionthat it describes an original paradigm uniqueto ancient India. Dr Thompson's insightfulanalysis is an important contribution to ourunderstanding of this ancient world-view.

THE TESLA PAPERS edited by David Hatcher ChildressAdventures Unlimited Press, USA, 2000ISBN 0-932813-86-0 (224pp l/f tpb)Price: A$40 including GST + p&h;NZ$49.00; £n/a; US$16.95 + p&hAvailable: Aust/NZ/UK/Europe— NEXUSoffices; USA—AUP, tel (815) 253 6300,website www.adventuresunlimited.co.nz

Just over a hundred years ago in June1900, Dr Nikola Tesla had his landmark

article, "The Problem of Increasing HumanEnergy", published in Century IllustratedMonthly. In it, he outlined a blueprint for abetter world which includes wireless poweravailable for all, antigravity and free energydevices, robotic systems and even common-sense advice about good diet and clean liv-ing. This article is republished in this latestcompilation, The Tesla Papers, edited by theindefatigable David Hatcher Childress.

Little of what's reprinted here is actuallyby Tesla; most of the material is provided by

frontier sci/tech researchers such as JerryDecker of KeelyNet, Toby Grotz, Wizardauthor Marc Seifer and other luminariesinvolved with the Tesla Society in ColoradoSprings. There's discussion on Tesla coils,the little-known Tesla electric- (or aether-)powered car, the infamous "death ray" and"shield", a "lost" solar-electric panel andTesla's contributions to electrotherapy.

Also featured in these papers is an anony-mous summary of an FOIA request for anyTesla files held by the FBI. This has beencirculating on the Internet and, thoughunverifiable, makes for interesting reading.And then there's the transcript of the 1943lawsuit by Marconi Wireless Co. against theUS Government regarding a dispute overTesla's wireless radio patent (though this iskept in the original upper case, making read-ing difficult to sustain over its 40 pages).

This volume provides some missing linksfor up-and-coming Tesla-philes who maynot yet have accessed some of this back-ground information and commentary.

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THE PK MANby Jeffrey Mishlove, PhDHampton Roads, USA, 2000ISBN 1-57174-183-6 (308pp tpb)Price: A$37.35; NZ$49.95; £n/a;NLGƒn/a; US$14.95Available: Aust—Gemcraft, tel (03) 98880111; NZ/Europe— NEXUS offices; UK—Airlift Book Company, tel 020 8804 0400;USA—Hampton Roads, www.hrpub.com

This is the extraordinary story of one ofthe most famous and powerful psychics

of our time, Ted Owens (1920–1987). US-born Owens, the self-titled "PK Man",claimed his amazing psychokinetic abilitieswere conferred on him by "space intelli-gences" (SIs), enabling him (with their help)to control the weather, cause power black-outs and create UFO sightings on demand.

However, Owens's personality was suchthat he often used his powers in unethical,reckless and vengeful ways, announcing hisintention to cause lightning strikes and out-of-season hurricanes, heatwaves or floodsjust ahead of the events actually happen-ing—and usually causing death and destruc-tion. Such events include the ending of adrought in California in 1967, as well as thedowning of a jet airliner in 1975 and theeruption of Mt St Helens in 1980, heclaimed. What sort of causal involvementhe had in these events is still subject to con-jecture, according to Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD,but it's well worth discussing openly.

The author of Roots of Consciousness, DrMishlove has a doctorate in parapsychologyand has hosted a public TV talk show,Thinking Allowed, since 1986. He met TedOwens in 1976 and followed his careerclosely, assessing his talents, documentinghundreds of PK events and keeping in regu-

lar contact until his death in 1987, thoughnot publishing his book until now. Heattended one of Owens's training sessions inhow to contact SIs, and herein reprints themain pointers (they worked for him!).

In The PK Man, Dr Mishlove examinesOwens's achievements from the perspectivesof sociology, psychology, anthropology,physics and ufology. He also seriously cau-tions that it's one thing to connect with thepower that's innate within us, but another toknow how to use it responsibly and wisely.

EVE OF THE APOCALYPSEby Michael BondOracle Press, Qld, Australia, 2000ISBN 1-876494-41-7 (412pp tpb)Price: A$32.00 in Aust; A$41.00 o/s p&h Available: Australia—POB 340, Swansea,NSW 2281, tel 0438 710412 (Aust only),e-mail [email protected],www.eveoftheapoc.com.au

The human race, Westerners in particular,is largely in denial of the reality that

Nature is the source of all life on this planet.Behind it all, argues Michael Bond in Eve ofthe Apocalypse, is a rationalistic way ofthinking that goes back to Plato—whosevision of the ideal Republic could ultimatelybe our demise if we continue to divorce our-selves from Nature and reality. By insistingthat reality can only be properly understoodin logical, rational terms, Plato created amindset that permeates today in the trendtowards global economic rationalism.

Such a mindset, Bond maintains, is split ina no-man's-land between our mental andemotional states. Instead of mental knowl-edge and intuitional feelings fusing in asense of being or knowing, the rationalthrust creates a conflict between head andheart, where the rational faculty forces theheart to repress its feelings. Such inner con-fusion, Bond says, produces a state of psy-chic terror which is an unnatural state ofbeing. No wonder modern Western cultureis in such a bind!

Thus this flawed way of looking at theworld permeates all our affairs, whether ineconomics, politics, justice, science, medi-cine, religion, education, the media and soon. It creates a society where proponents ofthe letter of the law usurp truth and fairness.Ultimately, rationalism creates a tuned-outsociety of tuned-out individuals. And thetuned-out aren't awake to the great lies per-petrated by government, the military, sci-ence and corporate culture...

So what to do about it? Michael Bond'sanswer is to adopt a policy of honesty andself-responsibility, open our mind and heartto the Universe and trust our intuition. Wehave nothing to lose and this just may help.


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THE FERTILE EARTH (Vol. Three) +THE ENERGY EVOLUTION (Vol. Four)by Viktor Schaubergertranslated & edited by Callum CoatsGateway/Gill & Macmillan, Ireland, 2000ISBN 1-85860-060-X (211pp tpb Vol. 3); 1-85860-061-8 (261pp tpb Vol. 4)Price: A$37.50 (Vol. 3), A$36.50 (Vol. 4);NZ$39.95 (Vol. 3), NZ$49.95 (Vol. 4);£n/a (Vol. 3), £n/a (Vol. 4)Available: Aust—Banyan Tree, tel (08)8363 4244; NZ—NEXUS Office, tel (09)405 1963; UK—Gill & Macmillan,www.gillmacmillan.ie

These two volumes complete the four-partEco-Technology series which focuses on

the ideas and inventions of Austrian forestcustodian and inventor Viktor Schauberger(1885–1958). Again, these have beenexpertly and sensitively translated, com-piled, edited and introduced by CallumCoats, who has spent decades researchingSchauberger's work. They follow on fromThe Water Wizard and Nature as Teacher.

Schauberger's writings collected in thethird volume, The Fertile Earth, emphasisenature's subtle energies and their correct usein agriculture, soil fertilisation and forestry.By observing nature's forces and energies inaction, Schauberger learned her secrets andcome to understand what happens when thedelicate balance is overstepped by unen-lightened human interference. He appliedhis knowledge to improving soil fertility andincreasing productivity in harmony with theEarth, and his practical advice is applicablein farm and forestry management today.

Volume Four, The Energy Evolution,draws together Schauberger's writings onharnessing energy from nature. Havingobserved how nature produces energy by aslow, cool, implosive means (an efficient,centripetal, inward motion), he set upon

designing machines based on this principle.Presented here are his theories and observa-tions on the biological vacuum, the life-current in air and water, electromagnetismand implosion/explosion, as well as a num-ber of inventions including an air turbine, ahome energy generator, a cooling/ heatingmachine, a device for producing springwater and even an antigravity craft.

Schauberger urges us to care about natureby working with it rather than against it.These volumes speak reams about what weshould be doing to improve our world.

AIDS: An Explosion of the BiologicalTime-bomb? by Robert E. LeeBiographical Publishing Co., USA, 2000ISBN 1-929882-03-3 (502pp tpb)Price: US$22.75 + $4.50 p&h to Canada,US$7.20 to UK/Eur, US$9.00 to Aust/NZAvailable: USA—Biographical PublishingCo., Prospect, CT, tel (203) 758 3661, fax(603) 853 5420, [email protected]; Ingram

The controversy over the origin of AIDSstill rages, while AIDS has reached epi-

demic "biological time-bomb" proportions."It is time to wake up!" declares Robert E.Lee, an Illinois-based academic specialisingin psychology and social sciences and theauthor of two previous books on AIDS. Hehas made an objective assessment of peer-reviewed studies in the US, UK and Francesince the early 20th century which reveal anextensive history of research into acquireddiseases and immunodeficiency—indeed,research with a view to initiating suchimmunologic disturbances.

Pointing out that AIDS had no historicalprecedent, came without warning and couldnot have had an African green monkey orchimpanzee origin, Lee refutes any connec-tion with rare AIDS-like cases going back tothe 1930s. He thus concludes it is highlylikely that AIDS, or at least HIV-1, was bio-engineered and deliberately introduced intospecific target groups. It is probably theresult of research into animal retroviruses,where viruses were forced to "jumpspecies", and, more specifically, into molec-ular biology and virus-based biologicalweapons. His conclusion supports theresearch of others who lean towards theman-made AIDS hypothesis, such as DrAlan Cantwell (who wrote the preface tothis book), Dr Leonard Horowitz (who pro-poses a link to cancer and biowarfare pro-grams), and Dr Robert Strecker.

A US Department of Defense appropria-tion hearing in 1970 discussed a fundingrequest for "new viral agents refractory tothe immune system" which could be devel-oped within 5–10 years. According to Lee'sdisturbing book, it appears they succeeded.

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also seem to be beacons to draw the atten-tion of intelligent life not just in our solarsystem from our perspective, but in otherparts of the galaxy from other viewpoints, tothe source of a regular cosmic event: thecore explosion from galactic centre and sub-sequent superwave emission affecting theentire galaxy across the light-years (see DrLaViolette's article in this issue).

Ancient astronomers who mapped thenight sky must have known of the source ofthis regular galactic superwave, LaViolettebelieves, for it is encoded in the zodiac atthe point where Sagittarius's arrow crossesthe galactic equator en route to the heart ofScorpius (though, over the millennia theangles have changed with stellar motion).

Dr LaViolette re-examines our understand-ing of pulsars and proposes how advancedintelligences could utilise stars for beamingthese pulses using Tesla-based force fieldtechnology. This remarkable thesis shouldhave major impact in cosmology circles.

CHILDREN OF THE RAINBOW by Gordon-Michael Scallion andCynthia KeyesMatrix Institute, 2000 (60mins, 2 cass.) Price: US$25.00 + $4.95 p&h; else-where, add US$8.95Distributor: USA—Matrix Institute, POBox 336, Chesterfield, NH 03443-0336,tel +1.603.363.4164, 1800 628 7493(toll-free in Nth America), websitewww.matrixinstitute.com

Earth changes and spiritual evolution havebeen futurist Gordon-Michael Scallion's

public focus for over a decade. In the early 1990s, Scallion released a

taped talk on the Children of the Blue Ray—about the newly evolved children being bornonto the planet in recent times. The topicfascinated millions. This two-cassette set isa follow-up to that one, and expands on thefull-spectrum of colour rays which defineand direct our roles on Earth.

Our individual colour ray is the clue to ourdestiny. Being part of a colour ray group isnot fixed, and we can move from one toanother in life and from lifetime to lifetime.This taped explanation goes into detail oneach ray and colour, covering food, socialactivities, career, intuitive abilities, plane-tary influences, spirituality and everythingrelated to one's role in life. After hearingthese tapes, you'll be able to identify yourown unique colour ray group.

This is essential listening for evolvingsouls; in fact, for anyone interested in thedevelopment of human consciousness.

REVIEWSTHE TALK OF THE GALAXY: AN ET MESSAGE FOR US?by Paul LaViolette, PhDStarlane Publications, USA, 2000ISBN 0-9642025-3-0 (192pp tpb)Price: US$16.00 + US$6 p&h in USA/Canada; elsewhere add US$9 p&h; £n/aAvailable: USA—Starlane Publications,6369 Beryl Rd #104, Alexandria, VA22312, tel/fax (703) 256 7337, 1800 7159993 (toll-free in Nth America), [email protected], website www.etheric.com; Ingram; New Leaf; UK—Gazelle Book Service, tel 01524 68765

When the first pulsar was discovered in1967, Cambridge graduate student

Jocelyn Bell and her astronomy professorAnthony Hewish wondered whether the pre-cisely pulsating broadband radio signal wasfrom an alien intelligence. They evennamed the source LGM 1, short for "LittleGreen Men". When the time came to pub-lish their findings, however, they decidedtheir ETI hypothesis would not be takenseriously, so they posed an explanation

based on the emission being from anexpanding/contracting, dimming/brighteningwhite dwarf or neutron star. So their origi-nal hypothesis did not receive much airing.

Now, Paul LaViolette, PhD, author ofEarth Under Fire, takes the ETI hypothesisfurther in leaps and bound in this aptly titledbook, The Talk of the Galaxy. Dr LaViolettehas analysed the position, distribution andperiodicity of pulsars in our Milky WayGalaxy and has come to the startling conclu-sion that they are artificial signals, set up asaids to interstellar navigation and communi-cation presumably by highly advanced ETIs.

According to his detailed astrometricanalysis, there are too many coincidences inthe pulsar positionings and timings for thesesignals to be natural. The very positions

Reviewed by Richard Giles

MUSIC FROM THE TEA LANDS by various artistsPutumayo, USA, 2000 (39mins)Distributors: Australia—MRAEntertainment, tel (07) 3849 6020;USA—Putumayo World Music, tel (212)625 1400, website www.putumayo.com

This new release is a compilation of musicfrom the world's tea-producing lands

including China, where tea has been culti-vated for 5,000 years, Japan, India, andother countries. Featured are: Ghulam Aliof Pakistan; India's Sanjay Mishra on guitarand tabla; Okan Murat Öztürk from Turkey,playing the saz (a folk lute instrument); HilaHambala from Sumatra on guitar and game-lan; Ancient Future, a fusion group usingJapanese, Indian and Chinese musical styles;and more. An inspiring collection.

SHIATSU by LlewellynNew World Music, UK, 1999 (58mins) Distributors: Aust—New World Music,tel (02) 9565 4522; UK—New WorldMusic, tel 0198 678 1682; USA—NewWorld Music, tel (303) 415 1040, web-site, www.newworldmusic.com

This is one of several albums in the MindBody Soul series and is designed for

therapists to use to support their techniques.Ian Welch, a shiatsu healer, is the adviser onthis album of relaxation, assisting listenersto use the sounds for enhancing treatmentsand massage. Shiatsu is a form of bodyworkcombining Chinese and Japanese medicinefor healing through touch. NEXUS has sev-eral CDs of the Mind Body Spirit series togive away, including Shiatsu, Tai Chi andFeng Shui. Write your name and address onthe back of an envelope and post it to"NEXUS Music Giveaway" by 1 March2001 (offer valid in Australia only).

PARIKRAMA by David ParsonsCelestial Harmonies, USA, 2000(122mins, 2CDs) Distributors: Aust—Arts Distribution, tel(02) 9905 9435; USA—CelestialHarmonies, tel (520) 326 4400, websitewww.harmonies.com

Mt Kailas is the holiest mountain for theHindus, Buddhists and Bons and is sit-

uated in a remote part of western Tibet nearthe Indian border. It's a natural pyramidshape, covered with snow year-round.Many pilgrims make a circumambulation (a

parikrama) to pay homage to Mt Kailas.David Parsons, a prolific composer andmusician, takes us on a sonic odysseyaround the holy mountain and immerses usin his soundscapes. A fascinating creation.

THE BELIEVERby Remember Shakti Universal Music, France, 2000 (77mins)Distributors: Aust/UK/France/USA—Universal Music, www.universal.com

Do you remember the band Shakti from1975 to 1977? Not old enough? Well, I

still do! They and their late 1970s succes-sor, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, pioneered afusion of Eastern and Western musical styles(see review, NEXUS 6/05). Shakti re-formed in 1997, making this live albumwhile touring Europe, the line-up again fea-turing the celebrated John McLaughlin andZakir Hussain. It contains six tracks, onlyone under 10 minutes, with some excitingrhythmic, improvised treasures of music.This version comes with a CD-ROM of a30-minute live performance at the MontreuxJazz Festival. Stunning, in a word!

POSTCARDS FROM BUNDANON by Riley LeeNew World Music, Aust, 2000 (66mins) Distributors: Aust/UK/USA— NewWorld, www.newworldmusic.com

In 1993 the Bundanon Trust was estab-lished by Arthur Boyd, one of Australia's

greatest artists, to protect his property andensure its use as a living arts centre. Whenmaster shakuhachi player Riley Lee wasstaying and performing at Bundanon in1996, he asked Boyd if he could create apainting for a cover of one of his CDs.Postcards From Bundanon features thatpainting. Boyd's death in April 1999prompted Lee to compile this wonderfulselection of some of his favourite and mostmoving performances over the years.

Reviewed by Richard Giles


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10. The brochure, "Catching the Wave", publishedon the IAEA website www.iaea.org, is an outstand-ing example of the type of public relations (propa-ganda) campaign which will target consumers overthe next few years.1 1 . See www.who.org for the full text of the statement.12. Bullerman et al., "Use of Gamma Irradiation toPrevent Aflatoxin Production in Bread", Journal ofFood Science 1973:1238.13. Webb and Lang, op. cit.14. Josephson, Edward S. and Peterson, Martin S.(eds), Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation,CRC Press, Florida, USA, 3 volumes (vol. 1, 1982;vols 2 & 3, 1983).15. Electron beam technology was initially devel-oped as part of the US Strategic Defense Initiative,popularly known as "Star Wars". After the initiativelost funding, scientists continued to develop acceler-ator technologies and devise new uses for them.16. US Food and Drug Administration Center forFood Safety and Applied Nutrition, "Kinetics ofmicrobal inactivation for alternative food processingtechnologies – pulsed X-rays", June 2, 2000,www.mv.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/itf-xray.html.17. International Atomic Energy Agency, "FactsAbout Food Irradiation", www.iaea.org.18. Verbatim testimony, US Congressional Hearingsinto Food Irradiation, House Committee onCommerce and Energy, Sub-Committee on Healthand Environment, June 19, 1987. For more details,see Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility,"Potential Hazards of Food Irradiation",www.ccnr.org/food_irradiation.html.19. Bhaskaram, C., "Effects of feeding irradiated

wheat to malnourished children", American Journalof Clinical Nutrition February 1975; 28:130–135.20. Polyploidy or endoreduplication is caused by ablocking of the last stage of a cell division. Thechromosomes have reduplicated themselves, but thecell does not split into two parts, each with a normalset of chromosomes, so the result is one large cellwith a double set of chromosomes.21. See www.food-irradiation.com/you_asked.htm#.22. Market Development for Irradiated Food in theAsia-Pacific. FAO/IAEA Coordinated ResearchProjects, www.iaea.or.at/programmes/nafa/d5/crp/d6_2006.html.23. Canadian regulations have remained unchangedsince 1989, when food irradiation was reclassified asa process rather than an ingredient. Canadian clear-ances in effect today include: potatoes and onionsfor sprout inhibition; wheat, flour and whole wheatflour for insect de-infestation; and spices and dehy-drated seasonings for microbial reduction. Seewww.foodincanada.com/Content/03-96/F7_Features. html.24. European Parliament, Joint Text for a EuropeanParliament and Council Directive concerning Foodsand Food Ingredients Treated with IonisingRadiation, 27 January 1999, www.dainet.de/bfe/Bfe-Englisch/Information/Lebensmittel.htm.25. Steritech's application can be downloaded fromthe ANZFA website, www.anzfa.gov.au.26. See www.gmabrands.com/pubpolicy/irradiation/index.cfm. 27. More than 170 companies throughout the worldare irradiating food. The US irradiation companieslisted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association are:Accelerator Technology Corporation; Alpha OmegaTechnology, Inc.; APA Inc./Titan Corporation; FoodTechnology Service, Inc.; Iotron Technologies, Inc.;

and Isomedix.28. See www.ratical.com/radiation/inetSeries/partialAccLs.html.29. See www.sustainable-city.org/articles/irradiat.htm.30. Ashton, J. and Laura, R., The Perils of Progress:Health and Environment Hazards of ModernTechnology and What You Can Do About Them,UNSW Press, Australia, 1998, p. 166.31. Irradiation of food packaging materials isincreasing, and this is an area in which there may bepotential health risks from packaging-radiation inter-actions.32. IAEA, "Facts About Food Irradiation", ibid.

About the Author:Susan Bryce is an Australian journalist and authorof more than 70 published research articles.Susan publishes the Aust ralian Freedom &Survival Guide, which aims to undermine thepervading myths surrounding the corporateconsumer culture, globalisation and the NewWorld Order. AF&SG encourages public debateand questioning of issues which are fundamentalto our future freedom and survival. These issuesinclude genetic engineering, food irradiation andrelated issues, Big Brother and the internationalsurveillance regime, corporate power and globalgovernance, and self-sufficiency in the 21stcentury.

Australian Freedom & Survival Guide is avail -able by subscription (6 issues per year, A$45.00,US$37.00, £25.00). Send cheque payable toSusan Bryce, POBox 66, Kenilworth, Qld 4574,Aus tralia. For more details, vis it websitewww.squirrel.com.au/~sbryce/.

Food Irradiation: The Global Agenda

Continued from page 24


approval."25, 26

So, contrary to the propaganda putforward by the medical establishment tojustify its work, animal experimentationdoes not save human lives. As theindustry's own evidence proves, it does justthe opposite. ∞

Author's Note:This article is based on information containedin Sacred Cows and Golden Geese: TheHuman Cost of Animal Experimentation, by C.Ray Greek, MD, and Jean Swingle Greek(Continuum Publishing, London and NewYork, 2000, www.continuumbooks.com).

Endnotes1. Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA), April 1998; 279:1200.2. JAMA 1997; 277:301-6; andPharmacoEconomics 1994; 5:482-504.3. Nature Medicine 2000; 6:502-503.4. Medical World News 1965; 6:168.5. GAO/PEMD-90-15 FDA Drug Review:Postapproval Risks 1976-1985.6. Lumley, C.E. and S.R. Walker (eds), AnimalToxicity Studies: Their Relevance for Man,Quay Publishing, 1989; Clinical Pharmacology& Therapeutics 1962; 3:665-672.7. In the supplement to the Neue Juristische

Wochenschrift (New Legal Weekly), in Zeitschriffür Rechtspolitik, issue 2, 1975.8. Svendsen, Per, "Laboratory AnimalAnaesthesia", in Handbook of LaboratoryAnimal Science (P. Svendsen and J. Hau, edi-tors), CRCPress, vol. 1, p. 4. 9. Teratology 1988; 28:221-226.10. Nature 1 April 1982, pp. 387-90.11. Spriet-Pourra, C. and M. Auriche, DrugWithdrawal from Sale, PJB Publications (ScripReport), 1988, 2nd edition.12. Lancet 1992; 340:1145-1147.13. International Agency for Research onCancer (IARC), Monographs on Evaluation ofCarcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans,1996, pp. 253-635.14. Weatherall, M., Safety Testing of NewDrugs: Laboratory Predictions and ClinicalPerformance, Academic Press, 1984, pp. 157-158.15. See Breast Cancer Action website,www.bcaction.org; also Christiane Northrup'sbook, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom,Piatkus, UK, 1998.16. OECD press release, 29 November 2000,www.oecd.org/media.19. Visit website www.stopeuchemicaltests.com.20. Lancet 1962; 599-600.21. PPO, Updates of Cancer, 10 October 1989.22. Clinical Research 1991; 39:145-156.23. JAMA 1998; 279:995.24. Britishheartlessfoundation.com (affiliate

website of People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals), 2000.25. Reuters News Service, 3 December 1998.26. Reuters Health, "FDA Reviewers Say DrugApproval Standards Too Low", 3 December1998, www.reuters.com.

Resources• Americans for Medical Advancement (websiteof Ray and Jean Greek): www.curedisease.com.• British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection:www.buav.org.• Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research:www.drhadwentrust.org.uk.• For more information on the EU's chemicaltesting program, see www.stopeuchemicaltests.com. • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA): www.peta-online.org, for a full list ofcharities which fund and do not fund animal-based research and for more information onchemicals testing programs in the US.

About the Author:Katrina Fox is a freelance journalist whosespecialist subjects include alternativehealth, hypnosis and direct action. She isalso the author and editor of three books,the latest of which is Self-Hypnosis for Life:Mind, Body & Spiritual Excellence. Formore information, visit website www.katri-nafox.com or e-mail [email protected].

The Human Cost of Animal Experiments




29. Hofer, M. and Pospisil, M. Glucan asstimulator of hematopoiesis in normal andgamma-irradiated mice. Int. J. ofImmunopharmacology Sept-Oct 1997; 19(9-10):607-9.30. Patchen, M.L. and MacVittie, T.J.Comparative effects of soluble and particulateglucans on survival in irradiated mice. J. Biol.Response Mod. Feb 1986; 5(1):45-60. 31. Patchen, M.L., D'Alesandro, M.M., Brook,I., Blakely, W.F. and MacVittie, T.J. Glucan:mechanisms involved in its "radioprotective"effect. J. Leukoc. Biol. Aug 1987; 42(2):95-105. 32. Patchen, MacVittie and Jackson, op. cit.(see endnote 28).33. Nicolosi, R., Bell, S.J., Bistrian, B.R.,Greenberg, I., Forse, R.A. and Blackburn, G.L.(University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA).Plasma lipid changes after supplementationwith beta-glucan fiber from yeast. Am. J. Clin.Nutr. Aug 1999; 70(2):208-12. 34. Lia, A., Hallmans, G., Sandberg, A.S.,Sundberg, B., Aman, P. and Andersson, H.(University of Göteborg, Sweden). Oat beta-glucan increases bile acid excretion and a fiber-rich barley fraction increases cholesterol excre-tion in ileostomy subjects. Am. J. Clin. Nutr.Dec 1995; 62(6):1245-51.35. Braaten, J.T., Wood, P.J., Scott, F.W.,

Wolynetz, M.S., Lowe, M.K., Bradley-White,P. and Collins, M.W. (University of Ottawa,Canada). Oat beta-glucan reduces blood cho-lesterol concentration in hypercholesterolaemicsubjects. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. July 1994;48(7):465-74. 36. Wursch, P. and Pi-Sunyer, F.X. (NestléResearch Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland). Therole of viscous soluble fibre in the metaboliccontrol of diabetes. A review with specialemphasis on cereals rich in beta-glucan.Diabetes Care November 1997; 20(11):1774-80.37. Wolk, M. and Danon, D. Promotion ofwound healing by yeast glucan evaluated onsingle animals. Med. Biol. 1985; 63(2):73-80. 38. Browder, W., Williams, D., Lucore, P.,Pretus, H., Jones, E. and McNamee, R.(Department of Surgery, Tulane UniversitySchool of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA).Effect of enhanced macrophage function onearly wound healing. Surgery Aug 1988;104(2):224-30.39. Portera, C.A., Love, E.J., Memore, L.,Zhang, L., Muller, A., Browder, W. andWilliams, D.W. (Department of Surgery, EastTennessee State University, TN, USA). Effectof macrophage stimulation on collagen biosyn-thesis in the healing wound. Am. Surg. Feb1997; 63(2):125-31.40. Gordon, M., Bihari, B., Goosby, E.,Gorter, R., Greco, M., Guralnik, M., Mimura,

T., Rudinicki, V., Wong, R. and Kaneko, Y.(AIDS Activities Division, San FranciscoGeneral Hospital, CA, USA). A placebo-con-trolled trial of the immune modulator, lentinan,in HIV-positive patients: a phase 0 - I/II trial.J. Med. 1998; 29(5-6):305-30. 41. Chihara, G. (Teikyo University, Kawasaki,Japan). Recent progress in immunopharmacol-ogy and therapeutic effects of polysaccharides.Dev. Biol. Stand. 1992; 77:191-7. 42. Vera, J.C., Rivas, C.I. and Zhang, R.H.Colony stimulating factors signal for increasedtransport of vitamin C in human host defensecells. Blood 1 April 1998; 91(7):2536-46. 43. Ber, Leonid, MD. Yeast Derived Beta-1,3-D-Glucan: An Adjuvant Concept. AmericanJournal of Natural Medicine Nov 1997; 4(9). 44. Vera, Rivas and Zhang, op. cit. . 45. Ganguly, R., Durieux, M.F. and Waldman,R.H. Macrophage function in vitamin C–defi-cient guinea pigs. Am. J. Clinical NutritionJuly 1976; 29(7):762-5. 46. Ganguly, R. and Waldman, R.H.Macrophage functions in aging: effects of vita-min C deficiency. Allergic Immunol. (Leipz.)1985; 31(1)37-43. 47. Fullerton, S.A., Samadi, A.A., Tortorelis,D.G., Choudhury, M.S., Mallouh, C. andTazaki, H. Induction of apoptosis in humanprostatic cancer cells with beta-glucan. Mol.Urol. Spring 2000; 4(1):7-14.

The Medical Benefits of Beta-1,3D-Glucan


immune response to diphtheria toxoid, tetanustoxoid, pertussis and hepatitis B surface anti-gens. Infect. Immunity 51:784. • DeVries, P., Van Binnendijk, R.S., Van derMarel, P., Van Wezel, A.L. et al., 1988.Measles virus fusion protein presented in animmune-stimulating complex (ISCOM) induceshemolysis-inhibiting and fusion-inhibiting anti-bodies, virus-specific T-cells and protection inmice. J. Gen. Virol. 69:549.• Dolin, P.J., Faal, H., Johnson, G.J., Minassian,D. et al., 1997. Reduction of trachoma in a sub-Saharan village in absence of a disease controlprogramme. Lancet 349:1511–1512.• Friedwald, W.F., 1944. Adjuvants in immu-nization with influenza virus vaccines. J. Exp.Med. 80:477–491.• Glenny, A.T., Buttle, G.A.H. and Stevens,M.F., 1926. Rate of disappearance of diphtheriatoxoid injected into rabbits and guinea pigs: tox-oid precipitated with alum. J. Pathol. Bacteriol.34:267.• Grayston, J.T., Wang, S.P., Woolridge, R.L.and Alexander, E.R., 1964. Prevention of tra-choma with vaccine. Arch. Environ. Health8:518–526.• Gregoriadis, G., 1976. The carrier potential ofliposomes in biology and medicine (first of twoparts). New Eng. J. Med. 295:765.• Gupta, R.K., Relyved, E.H., Lindblad, E.B.,Bizzini, B. et al., 1993. Adjuvants – a balance

between toxicity and adjuvanticity.Vaccine 11(4). • Henle, W. and Henle, G., 1945. Effect of adju-vants on vaccination of human beings againstinfluenza. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol., NY59:179–181.• Hilleman, M.R., 1966. Critical appraisal ofemulsified oil adjuvants applied to viral vaccine.Prog. in Med. Virology 8:131-182. • Lovgren, K. and Morein, B., 1990. TheISCOM: An antigen delivery system with built-in adjuvant. Mol. Immunol. 28:285.• McLaughlin, C.A., Schwartzman, S.M.,Horner, B.L., Jones, G.H. et al., 1980.Regression of tumors in guinea pigs after treat-ment with synthetic muramyl dipeptides and tre-halose dimycolate. Science 208:415. • Miller, L.F., Peckinpaugh, R.O., Arlander,T.R., Pierce, W.E. et al., 1965. Epidemiology ofprevention of acute respiratory respiratory dis-ease in naval recruits: II. Efficacy of adjuvantand aqueous adenovirus vaccines in preventionof naval recruits respiratory disease. Am. J.Public Health 55:47–59.• Morein, B., Fossum, C., Lovgren, K. andHoglund, S., 1990. The ISCOM: a modernapproach to vaccines. Semin. Virol. 1:49.• Pittman, M., 1984. The concept of pertussis asa toxin-mediated disease. Pediatric InfectiousDiseases 3(5):467–486.• Salk, J.E., 1951. Use of adjuvants in studies oninfluenza vaccination. 3. Degree of persistenceof antibody in human subjects two years after

vaccination. JAMA 151:1169–1175.• Salk, J.E., Lewis, L.J., Younger, J.S. andBennett, B.L., 1953. The use of adjuvants tofacilitate studies on the immunologic classifica-tion of poliomyelitis viruses. Am. J. Hyg.54:157–173.• Waksman, B.H., 1962. Auto-immunizationand the lesions of auto-immunity. Medicine41:93–141.

About the Author: Viera Scheibner, PhD, is a retired principalresearch scientist with a doctorate in naturalsciences. During her distinguished career, shepublished three books and some 90 scientificpapers in refereed scientific journals.

Since the mid-1980s when she helpeddevelop the Cotwatch breathing monitor forbabies at risk of cot death (sudden infant deathsyndrome, or SIDS), Dr Scheibner has doneextensive research into vaccines and vaccina-tions. In 1993 she publ ished her book,Vaccination: The Medical Assault on theImmune System, and in mid-2000 followed upwith Behavioural Problems in Childhood:Link to Vaccination (see review, 7/05).

Dr Scheibner regularly conducts lectures,attends conferences and debates, and is oftenasked by lawyers to provide expert testimonyfor vaccine-damage court cases. Her previousarticles for NEXUS covered the SIDS/vaccineslink (2/05), the brain-eating bugs/vaccinesconnection (3/03), and the shaken baby syn-drome/vaccination link (5/05).

Adverse Effects of Adjuvants in Vaccines



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