Canadian province sues opioid makers, distributors

AFP, 29 Aug 2018

Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 4,000 lives in Canada in 2017

The epicenter of Canada's opioid crisis, British Columbia province, on Wednesday sued more than 40 drug companies to recover the costs of emergency paramedic responses and hospitalizations for overdoses.

It marks the first lawsuit against opioid manufacturers by a government in Canada -- and the western province said it is in talks with other jurisdictions to join the class action.

"It's time opioid drug companies take responsibility for the human and financial toll their products have taken on so many families," said British Columbia Attorney General David Eby in a statement.

Overprescribing and illicit sales of diverted painkillers have been widely blamed for the opioid crisis sweeping North America.

However, allegations by British Columbia that the drug companies "deceived prescribers and patients about the risks and benefits of opioids" and "seriously harmed the public healthcare system" have not been proven in court.

The suit names opioid manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors as defendants -- including Purdue, whose popular OxyContin drug has been blamed for triggering the crisis -- accusing them of contributing to an "epidemic of addiction."

In the United States, Purdue was among manufacturers named by New York City in a $500 million lawsuit filed in January to recoup costs that could help battle the opioid crisis.

Canadian victims and their families reached a proposed Can$20 million settlement with the company but it was blocked in March by a judge who found the sum to be insufficient.

Purdue and others have since stopped marketing opioids in Canada at the direction of the federal government.

Ottawa has also poured tens of millions of dollars into strengthening emergency services and distributing the overdose antidote naloxone.

Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 4,000 lives in Canada last year, according to public health data. British Columbia was hardest hit, with about a third of those overdose deaths.

Factfile on opioid painkillers as the Canadian province of British Columbia sues more than 40 drug companies to recover the costs of emergency paramedic responses and hospitalizations for overdoseshttps://t.co/OTQHoTzwXv pic.twitter.com/0nfgTyeTdH

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 30, 2018

Given the right to larger families, Chinese may hold off

Yahoo – AFP, Ryan MCMORROW with Albee Zhang in Shanghai, 28 August 2018

China seems set to relax its curbs on family size but will parents respond?

China's moves to combat an ageing population by relaxing decades-old curbs on family size have hit an unexpected snag: many parents are no longer interested in having more babies.

The government has indicated it will scrap its policy which limits the number of children per family through tough fines -- and sometimes through forced abortions and sterilisations.

The world's most populous country introduced its one-child policy in 1979 and last tweaked it in early 2016, raising the limit to two children as the nation scrambled to rejuvenate a greying population of some 1.4 billion.

But the pent-up demand for more children has ebbed, experts say. Couples have increasingly delayed having even one child as they devote more time to other goals, such as building their careers.

The skyrocketing cost of raising children in booming China has also given many prospective parents pause.

"Lots of people want to have a second child, but the biggest problem is the financial burden," said a mother in the northeastern city of Dalian, who wants a second and even third child but remains hesitant to bear the financial and career costs.

The proposed policy change was included in a new civil code being discussed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress this week. The code is set to be completed in 2020.

"Cancelling the family planning policy would mean that the right to decide how many children to have rests with couples and families," said Liu Hongyan of the China Population and Development Research Centre, a think tank under the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

This is "a manifestation of human rights in the field of reproductive health".

Population trends

The official Xinhua news agency said regulations on family size were omitted from the draft law due to "changes in the country's demographic situation".

High education and other costs are deterring some Chinese families from
having extra children

China's working-age population fell by 5.5 million last year, maintaining a downward trend that began in 2012, according to the statistics bureau.

Economists fear the nation will get old before it gets rich, leaving it trapped as a middle-income country burdened with too few workers to support an ageing populace.

By 2050, the World Bank forecasts the proportion of the population aged over 60 will jump from 15 percent in 2015 to 36.5 percent, with a median age of 49.6.

To lesson the pain, Beijing wants its "high-quality" citizens to build larger families, experts say.

There is "heavy propaganda aimed at urban educated Han women" urging them to "marry early and have children early," said Leta Hong Fincher, author of "Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China", referring to the majority Han community.

From the government's perspective, Qiu Chunjuan and Xu Jinhua, who are raising two children in Shanghai, would be ideal candidates for a larger family. But the parents are not considering it.

"With the education environment in Shanghai, the economic enviroment, having two is just right," said the father, Xu.

"We're saturated now," he said. His wife Qiu said that with the cost of private school and additional classes, the pressure was already "quite big".

Hu Yanhua, a 38-year-old mother in Shanghai, said she had her hands full with just one six-year-old boy.

"I need to work and I have limited energy, so I probably won't consider it," she said.

Second child boom?

When Beijing lifted restrictions and allowed all couples a second child, officials were expecting a flood of new births.

They received a trickle, enough to steady the falling birth count, with 17.23 million births in 2017 -- but well below an official forecast of over 20 million for the year.

Surveys have shown many one-child families harbour little desire for more children.

The white-collar mother in Dalian, who asked not to be named, worried she would fall behind in the workplace if she took time off to have a second child.

"I don't want to give up my job and the feeling of self-worth it brings," she said.

The world average fertility rate, in average live births per woman, from 1950 to 2017, according to figures published in the Lancet medical journal pic.twitter.com/S0TIkjZJQr

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 12, 2018

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

S. Korea working-age population falls for first time

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2018

In the decades after the Korean War the South propelled itself from a devastated
ruin to the world's 11th-largest economy (AFP Photo/KIM JAE-HWAN)

The number of people of working age in Asia's fourth-largest economy fell for the first time ever last year, South Korea's official statistics agency said Monday.

In the decades after the Korean War the South propelled itself from a devastated ruin to the world's 11th-largest economy and a member of the OECD club of advanced nations.

But it faces looming demographic challenges with a rapidly ageing population.

The country has one of the world's lowest birth rates as people marry and have children later, amid worries over costs and as women look to focus on their careers.

In an annual census, the working-age population, defined as those aged 15 to 64, fell by 116,000 in 2017 to 36.2 million, Statistics Korea said.

It was the first time the figure had fallen, it added.

The total population rose to 51.4 million, up 0.3 percent, with 14.2 percent of people aged 65 and over.

Earlier this month figures showed births plummeting 12 percent in 2017 to 357,771, an all-time low.

The fertility rate -- the number of children a woman can be expected to have in a lifetime -- also dropped to a record low of 1.05. The rate needed to keep a population stable is 2.1.

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

Vatican rolls back on pope's remarks on psychiatric help for gay children

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2018

Pope Francis said parents should not ignore signs of homosexuality in their
children (AFP Photo/Gregorio BORGIA)

Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican on Monday rolled back on Pope Francis' recommendation that parents seek psychiatric help for children who show homosexual tendencies.

The pope made the comments to journalists as he was flying back to Rome from Ireland, but the Vatican later removed his phrase from its official account, saying he had not meant to suggest that homosexuality was a mental illness.

Francis was asked by a journalist what he would say to parents who observe homosexual traits in their children.

"When it shows itself from childhood, there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry, to see how things are. It is something else if it shows itself after 20 years," he said.

The pope added that ignoring a child who showed homosexual tendencies was an "error of fatherhood or motherhood".

However when the Vatican later published the pope's answer, the reference to psychiatry had been removed.

When asked why, a Vatican spokeswoman told AFP it had been done in order to not "change the thoughts of the Holy Father".

"When the pope referred to 'psychiatry', it is clear that he was doing it to highlight an example of 'things that can be done'. But with that word he didn't mean to say that it (homosexuality) was a 'mental illness'," she said.

Francis' trip to Ireland was fraught with controversy amid accusations that he ignored sexual abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

French tomato grower takes on Monsanto over weedkiller

Yahoo – AFP, Fanny LATTACH, 24 August 2018

Tomato farmer Jean-Claude Terlet has blamed Monsanto's flagship weedkiller
Round Up for causing his prostate cancer

Weaving through the aisles of his greenhouse in northern France, Jean-Claude Terlet, a retired farmer who grows tomatoes for local markets, seems to be brimming with energy.

"That's a beef tomato, they're delicious," he says, showing off his produce which, he stresses, is 100 percent organic.

But since he was treated for prostate cancer in 2017, the 70-year-old says he feels constantly exhausted and has to deal with a host of other problems.

"No sex life, that's over. And I am completely incontinent and have to wear pads that I change two or three times a day... On a market that's pretty uncomfortable. I feel really diminished," he said.

Convinced his illness was caused by exposure to chemicals, he asked for urine tests as soon as he was diagnosed.

Despite his hunch, the results still came as a shock.

They detected glyphosate, the chemical used in US biotech giant Monsanto's flagship weedkiller Round Up which some studies and the World Health Organization have labelled carcinogenic.

"I'm convinced that that's what caused my cancer," Terlet told AFP, saying the chemical was found at levels of 0.25 micrograms per litre of blood and that the tests showed up no other chemicals or traces of medication.

Monsanto's Round Up, the world's most widely-used herbicide, contains glyphosate 

which the World Health Organization has labelled as carcinogenic

Terlet has joined thousands of people around the world, most of them in the US, who are taking legal action against Monsanto for failing to warn users about the risks of using glyphosate.

The compensation bill could be steep.

In a landmark ruling earlier this month, a California jury awarded a dying groundskeeper damages of almost $290 million (335 million euros) after finding Round Up caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Monsanto's German parent company Bayer has vowed to appeal the ruling, saying it was "at odds with the weight of scientific evidence".

But the victory of plaintiff DeWayne Johnson, feted by Monsanto's critics as a modern-day David battling a corporate Goliath, has heartened Terlet, who is hoping for a similar finding by a French court.

The French government, which has vowed to ban glyphosate by 2021, also hailed the "historic" ruling and called on the US and other EU countries to join the "war" against dangerous chemicals.

'Miracle' chemical

Terlet, a father-of-three from the village of Celles-sur-Aisne near Reims, a city in northeast France, was a devotee of Round Up -- the world's most widely-used herbicide -- for three decades.

In early August, a California court awarded dying groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson 

almost $290 million in damages after finding Round Up weed killer caused his cancer

He used it to kill weeds pushing up through the stubble left in his fields after the harvest.

"At the time, they presented glyphosate as being a miracle product. Everyone was buying it!" he said.

While spraying his fields he wore only a cheap mask and gloves that failed to protect him from the fine mist that seeped into the cab of his tractor.

"We didn't realise the effects it could have in the medium- and long-term. And now we're seeing them," he said.

In May 2017, his lawyers filed a complaint with prosecutors in the southern city of Lyon, where Monsanto's parent company Bayer has its French headquarters, accusing it of "poisoning" the pensioner.

Next month, he will undergo tests to try establish whether his cancer is indeed linked to his use of the herbicide.

No EU ban yet

He is not the first French farmer to take on Monsanto.

In the first ruling of its kind against Monsanto anywhere in the world, a French court in 2012 found it guilty of poisoning cereal farmer Paul Francois who said he suffered neurological damage after inhaling fumes while using the now banned weedkiller Lasso.

In 2012, a French court found Monsanto guilty of poisoning farmer Paul Francois 

who suffered neurological damage after using the now banned weedkiller Lasso

But while France has announced plans to ban glyphosate and Germany wants to heavily curtail its use, the EU has so far refrained from withdrawing its licence.

Farming unions particularly have come out swinging against a ban, saying it would have a disastrous effect on agricultural yields because they have no replacement for it.

Terlet believes that all herbicides are harmful.

In his view, the only safe way to weed plants is by hand, "on condition that it costs less" so as not to harm farmers' livelihoods.

Aware that his battle against Monsanto will be long and costly, he has vowed not to back down.

"I'm stubborn, I'll fight it to the bitter end," he said.

Oxycodone overdoses in the Netherlands soar as prescriptions rise

DutchNews, August 24, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The number of people overdosing on the powerful painkiller oxycodone in the Netherlands has gone up six fold in ten years, according to figures by toxicology centre NVIC  published on Friday. 

In 2008 some 43 people overdosed on the drug, which is twice as powerful as morphine and highly addictive when used longer term. That figure jumped to 280 in 2017 and this year experts at the NVCI say they are expecting many more cases, given that 215 overdoses were registered in the first six months of 2018. 

According to the NVCI the real number of overdoses related to the drug, which has caused a health care crisis in the United States, may be higher. This is because the centre only registers cases if doctors ask for advice when a patient has taken too much of the drug. They are not under an obligation to register an overdose.

‘We are worried about this trend,’ NVIC toxicologist Antoinette van Riel told the Volkskrant. ‘What we see here is the tip of the iceberg. In the United States it started in the same way. Doctors who often give out repeat prescriptions have to be more aware of the danger of addiction and be more reticent when it comes to prescribing painkillers such as oxycodone. We think perhaps doctors are too focused on pain relief.’ 

The total number of oxycodone users in the Netherlands has tripled in the last six years to reach 439,000 in 2017. 

It is not known whether any deaths resulted from an overdosis of the drug. 

Oxycodone used to be prescribed to terminal patients only but the focus has now shifted to pain relief after breaking a bone, or a slipped disc. According to some doctors, hospitals prescribe the drug to score better when it comes to pain relief but medical care minister Bruno Bruins denied there is such an incentive, the paper said.

Related Article:

Painkiller overdose deaths up 5x among US women

Eye exam may predict Alzheimer's

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry SHERIDAN, 23 August 2018

Researchers hope that eye exams could one day help screen people in their 40s and
50s for the possibility of later developing Alzheimer's disease long before symptoms appear

Advances in eye exam technology could one day help doctors diagnose people with Alzheimer's disease long before symptoms appear, researchers said Thursday.

Using equipment similar to the kind already available at most eye doctors' offices, researchers detected signs of Alzheimer's in a small sample of 30 people, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Opthalmology.

Those enrolled in the study -- all in their mid-70s with no outward symptoms of Alzheimer's -- underwent PET scans or sampling of spinal fluid.

About half came back with elevated levels of the Alzheimer's proteins amyloid or tau, suggesting they would eventually develop dementia.

In this group, researchers also found thinning in the retina, something that experts had previously seen in autopsies of people who died from Alzheimer's disease.

"In the patients with elevated levels of amyloid or tau, we detected significant thinning in the center of the retina," said co-principal investigator Rajendra Apte, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

"All of us have a small area devoid of blood vessels in the center of our retinas that is responsible for our most precise vision. We found that this zone lacking blood vessels was significantly enlarged in people with preclinical Alzheimer's disease."

The study did not, however, reveal if the participants with thinning retinas went on to develop Alzheimer's or not.

For that reason, Doug Brown, chief policy and research Officer, Alzheimer's Society, called the area of research "fascinating" but sounded a note of caution.

"Without confirming that any of the people with preclinical Alzheimer's actually went on to develop the disease, we would need to see this carried out on a much larger group over a longer period of time to draw any firm conclusions," said Brown, who was not involved in the study.

Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, agreed.

"While the eye tests used in this research are relatively quick, inexpensive and non-invasive, as only 30 people took part in the study, we still need to see more research before we can tell how useful this method could be for highlighting early signs of Alzheimer's"

Dementia on rise

Experts say brain damage from Alzheimer's disease can begin up to two decades before signs of memory loss appear.

Close to 50 million people are living with dementia around the globe, and the toll is expected to mount in the coming decades as the population ages.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, and there is no cure. But earlier detection may make it possible for drug or lifestyle interventions that may stave off the disease.

Currently, doctors use PET scans and lumbar punctures to help diagnose Alzheimer's -- both expensive and invasive techniques.

The type of technology used in the JAMA study is called optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A).

It is commonly used to shine light into the eye so that a doctor can measure the thickness of the retina and optic nerve.

Researchers say the retina and central nervous system are interconnected, so changes in the brain can be reflected in the cells of the retina.

"This technique has great potential to become a screening tool that helps decide who should undergo more expensive and invasive testing for Alzheimer's disease prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms," said the study's first author Bliss E. O'Bryhim, a resident physician in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University.

The study authors agree that more work is needed to confirm if the technique works in larger populations, but are hopeful that it could one day help screen people in their 40s and 50s.

Senior official sacked as China's vaccine scandal mounts

Yahoo – AFP, August 16, 2018

China is regularly hit by scandals involving sub-par or toxic food, drugs and 

other products (AFP Photo)

Beijing (AFP) - China's Communist Party has sacked a senior regional official over a vaccine scandal that inflamed public fears over the safety of domestically produced drugs, state media reported Thursday.

The government has been struggling to shore up public confidence in the pharmaceutical sector following the revelation last month that a major Chinese manufacturer of rabies vaccines was found to have fabricated records and was ordered to cease production.

The government has said the suspect rabies vaccines did not enter the market but the case provoked unusually strong outrage online from consumers fed up with recurring product-safety scandals, particularly in the drug sector.

The CEO of the company in question, Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology in the northeast province of Jilin, has been arrested along with 14 other people in connection with the scandal.

On Thursday, Jilin's deputy governor Jin Yuhui became the first political casualty, the official Xinhua news agency announced.

He was in charge of monitoring the safety of food and pharmaceuticals.

The decision to sack him was made at a meeting of the ruling Communist Party's elite seven-member standing committee, led by President Xi Jinping.

"Those who break the law and jeopardise public safety, notably in the matter of vaccines and medicines, should be severely punished," Xinhua reported, citing the meeting's conclusions.

"It ia necessary to encourage officials to work well and carry out their responsibilities in a serious manner," dealing firmly with any failings, the Chinese leaders added.

Six other provincial officials were also fired on Thursday following separate meetings by party leaders, Xinhua reported.

The officials had been responsible for food and drug safety in Jilin and its capital Changchun.

China is regularly hit by scandals involving sub-par or toxic food, drugs and other products, despite repeated promises by the government to address the problem.

Since the latest case came to light, the authorities have announced a nationwide inspection of laboratories producing vaccines, but many Chinese parents say they no longer have confidence in the medicines administered to their children.

Predictions – (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon.com, June 16, 2018

This live channelling was given in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added or condensed. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message given in Nanaimo.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. The threshold that my partner just passed [Lee went into channel] is one you may feel. It's the same voice, but the energy, for those who can feel it, is vastly different. This threshold opens a door. It is a door in what you have called "the field", where there is no time, no space and not an actual "place". It just is. It's here with every single one of you, and that is where I am as well.

Some say, "The field is the other side of the veil." Some say, "The field is a magic place where your soul can go and relax for a little while before it comes back." Some say, "It's God." All of these descriptions are correct, because in this hero's journey that my partner has described today, each of you has that place in the field. So through this door that has been opened with intent, and through something that is happening in this room, a togetherness, a confluence of energy begins. It is something that can be measured - a coherence of thought and heart is starting to meld together where it's safe. It's safe for a few minutes here. This won't last long, this message. But it's a safe place to be.

Some of you have constructed a box around your belief that says, "Bring on the scientists. Get on with this!" [Lee is in a science conference] I know who you are, dear one, as you sit impatiently through this spiritual portion. Then I tell you again that there is just as much love for you as any other Human on this planet. There are as many angelic, if you want to call them that, beautiful soul energies around you as anyone. It doesn't matter how you receive this message, or even if you wanted it. Spirit respects the fact that you have the free choice to examine these things the way you want to. Some of you will say, "Well, I really don't want to go into the full esoteric at the moment." Dear one, you don't have to. But let me ask you this: What if the things I say next start to ring true? What if they are filled with logic? What would it hurt to open your box of belief for just a moment and listen and weigh and examine? Get ready, because you're going to need it, for what I am about to tell you I also told about 300 people earlier in the week [an earlier group meeting].

A few days ago, there was a handshake and that handshake was with the President of the United States and the leader of North Korea. This handshake was something that was far from expected a few months ago. In fact, it's beyond all odds - all odds - that this would ever take place! I want to tell you about this, because you are going to start to understand the mechanics of prediction. The reason? I told you years ago about the potential of the handshake.

"I am a channeller," my partner says. "I channel Kryon," my partner says. But what my partner has really learned to do is to put himself away and dip into the field with purity. This allows him to see differently and contact that who is Kryon, a friend in the field, and then to report to you what's perceived there. Predictions are not magic. Predictions are not future fortune-telling. You can't do that, dear ones; no one can do that. The reason? Because Human nature has free choice. Free choice creates trillions of free decisions daily. There is no "known" future. But there are a vast number of strong potentials based on what free choice is doing at the moment.

I want to take you back to March 2012 in Dallas, Texas. The channellings that I refer to now are documented, printed, available, and ready for you to read and find. [on this very web page] My partner documents them all and places them on his website. Some of you already know that I spoke about two strong potentials in that channeling, which would now seem to be predictions (since they happened). But they weren't. These things were potentials based upon that which was already happening in the field.

The first item: I told you that you would have a new pope soon. Thirteen months later, the planet received one. We told you that new pope would be a wild card in that he would come with unexpected energies. The old pope didn't even die, if you noticed. In fact, he's still with you! Instead, something happened that was beyond expectation, and you heard it from a chair just like the one I'm in now. That's not predicting, dear ones, because that was in the field. It was already something in progress with a potential. Did you hear that? In progress with a potential.

The second thing I told you about was this: There's a 50% chance that the new leader of North Korea, the son, would not follow in the footsteps of his father. I told you there was a 50% chance of this. Then I started itemizing the reasoning why this might make sense, especially to the Korean leader. I then told you it might take a long time if it manifested at all. I told you the problems would be within the old advisors for his father's family. He had to tread slowly and lightly to do something against all odds. This will all come out someday because of the handshake.

Here was the potential or the prediction of what might happen: Those who had the machine guns in the DM zone would drop them, because this North Korean leader would unify the two Koreas. There would be no nuclear weapons in his land and there would be the beginning of abundance for his people. His people and the world would then give him something he had always wanted and was imbued with from birth - the desire for accolades and more accolades. Like his father before him, he was the premier egotist, and this would be the unexpected way to create a world at his feet. That's what I said. Then I said, "Watch for it, but don't be anxious." I talked about that in 2013, and five more times since then. In August 2017, I itemized my advice for him, point by point. The advice that I gave followed the potentials that were there and those were the very points in the handshake this week in June of 2018.

Now, you tell me what happened. "Kryon, you're going to be famous because you predicted these things!" Dear ones, all I did was look into a field that is being shown to you today [by the scientists at the conference]. And all I did was to show you the potentials that were already there. In other words, he was thinking about these things and talking to others behind the scenes about them. No matter what his advisors told him right up to the brink of sending his missiles, he was always thinking that there might be another way that would gain him ultimate fame. Dear ones, this has been in progress since his father died! Therefore, it was in the field, but not a given, dear ones - a potential.

Next, I want to show you the bias of humanity at this time, something I have spoken of many times. This potential of the handshake is amazing, and it has started to be manifested. What should the reaction be to something that deflects the potential of war, or saves thousands lives? Instead of joy or amazement or celebration, Humans go for the reverse: It can't happen. It's a trick. It's a bad deal.

I want you to start reading the reactions of the press. I want you to read the reactions even from the South Koreans. They said, "Well, we know North Koreans, and that's never going to happen. We know who they are, and we know their nature. Because in the past, they never performed what they said they would. So it's a joke." That is a quote from a South Korean. "It's a joke."

What happened to this comment? "Isn't this a beautiful potential? Look at this amazing thing - against all odds!" Now, your free press, the reporting segment of our culture, has decided not only to report it, but to let you know it's probably not going to happen! They say: "Nay. Maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see. We expect the worse." And this continues and continues, and all it shows you is the monstrous bias of the dark side that wants to pull anything good back to what the past gave to you.

In Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, the hero always believes that they will move toward the goal. They are not steeped in the past, nor are they invested in dark things. Humanity has crossed the threshold into the unknown when it passed 2012, but carries with it the burden of an old, dark Human nature. What would the heroic old soul say about what is taking place? "Let them all spin the dark all they want to, but we got to see something against all odds and it was in the field - in the field! Send them light so they may very well do what the handshake was all about."

Dear ones, it is not naive to expect good things in the future, if you are actively sending light there and shaping a reality that you can actually visualize.

Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall.

I want you to watch Iran. It's not like the isolation of North Korea. It's hooked to a major belief system and to Middle Eastern history. It's hooked to a major person with control, and it is tied into the grand problem of the Middle East and especially Israel. Things will start to change. Watch this. It's in the field. It's being discussed and there are "wild cards" coming.

Let me close with this: I'm going to give you the same concept that I gave those few on their way to the beautiful garden a few days ago [channelling on the way to Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island]. There are things in your field for you that will save your life unless you look back and say, "Impossible!" Some of you have an old habit where you look at your life and say, "Well, for others, but not for me." Sometimes you pull on your old logic and further say, "Well, it's never happened before, so why should it happen now?" Dear ones, that exactly reflects the earlier teaching of the day. Don't let the past predict your future. If you do, then you are actually creating your own demise.

What is in the field for you? What is it you can see and imagine? Have you heard this question from the scientists this week - not a channeller, but the scientists? Did you hear that the visualization of your health from your consciousness goes inside and is seen by your own cellular structure? Does this science sound like Kryon? Did you hear that the field is there to push it forward? Do you believe in homeopathy? Do you see how it works? For example, you have a tincture that is too small to be recognized by any part of the body as a chemical change, yet the body sees the signal from the tincture and corrects the issue! Dear one, homeopathy is not something unknown on the planet. It's everywhere! So understand this: The principles of homeopathy are NOT homeopathic principles. They are Universal principles of the field.

So, how about consciousness homeopathy? What's the difference between putting a tincture together to create a signal for healing and life extension or putting strong consciousness together that does the same? This is here and already has been proven. It's just means changing the mechanics a little. With the new energy that I have told you is here, and the amount of love that is pouring to you that is greater than ever before because of what you're doing, old soul, this is doable for you. More than doable. It awaits manifestation.

What did you come here for? Perhaps there are issues - I know who's here. Perhaps there are issues that you have been working on a long time? Did you know that in the field, for you, they are already corrected and solved? Did you know that some of the situations you're in, which seem untenable, are solved? The "Woe is me, what am I going to do?" is being heard, dear ones, and is correctable. It's such an elegant solution if you want it. It assigns consciousness the role of a homeopathic remedy, like property. Premise: If you expect it, see it, and claim it, it's real. If you cognize it, it belongs to you. It's there. It has your name on it. But nothing is going to happen unless you rise above the fray of an old consciousness that says, "It can't be." Yes, it can!

With this particular group of old souls, dear ones, I tell you you're here for one reason: You're here to hear the science of consciousness. Every single process and every single chart and every single word you're going to hear supports what I just said to you. Don't even begin to separate the spiritual from the scientific. Your studies into the science of the way things work, are the studies of God, who designed it and made it work. Use your consciousness to go to places you haven't been before, whether you like channeling or not. Understand that there is room for the love of God and science as well. So we say for this weekend, until you hear from me tomorrow evening, "Let the science begin!" [Let the conference continue]

And so it is.

KRYON

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)