(Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)

“…… Should I use Doctors and Drugs to Heal Me or Spiritual Methods?

"Dear Kryon, I have heard that you should stay natural and not use the science on the planet for healing. It does not honor God to go to a doctor. After all, don't you say that we can heal with our minds? So why should we ever go to a doctor if we can do it ourselves? Not only that, my doctor isn't enlightened, so he has no idea about my innate or my spiritual body needs. What should I do?"

First, Human Being, why do you wish to put so many things in boxes? You continue to want a yes and no answer for complex situations due to your 3D, linear outlook on almost everything. Learn to think out of the 3D box! Look at the heading of this section [above]. It asks which one should you do. It already assumes you can't do both because they seem dichotomous.

Let's use some spiritual logic: Here is a hypothetical answer, "Don't go to a doctor, for you can heal everything with your mind." So now I will ask: How many of you can do that in this room right now? How many readers can do that with efficiency right now? All of you are old souls, but are you really ready to do that? Do you know how? Do you have really good results with it? Can you rid disease and chemical imbalance with your mind right now?

I'm going to give you a truth, whether you choose to see it or not. You're not ready for that! You are not yet prepared to take on the task of full healing using your spiritual tools. Lemurians could do that, because Pleiadians taught them how! It's one of the promises of God, that there'll come a day when your DNA works that efficiently and you will be able to walk away from drug chemistry and the medical industry forever, for you'll have the creator's energy working at 100 percent, something you saw within the great masters who walked the earth.

This will be possible within the ascended earth that you are looking forward to, dear one. Have you seen the news lately? Look out the window. Is that where you are now? We are telling you that the energy is going in that direction, but you are not there yet.

Let those who feel that they can heal themselves begin the process of learning how. Many will be appreciative of the fact that you have some of the gifts for this now. Let the process begin, but don't think for a moment that you have arrived at a place where every health issue can be healed with your own power. You are students of a grand process that eventually will be yours if you wish to begin the quantum process of talking to your cells. Some will be good at this, and some will just be planting the seeds of it.

Now, I would like to tell you how Spirit works and the potentials of what's going to happen in the next few years. We're going to give the doctors of the planet new inventions and new science. These will be major discoveries about the Human body and of the quantum attributes therein.

Look at what has already happened, for some of this science has already been given to you and you are actually using it. Imagine a science that would allow the heart to be transplanted because the one you have is failing. Of course! It's an operation done many times a month on this planet. That information came from the creator, did you realize that? It didn't drop off the shelf of some dark energy library to be used in evil ways.

So, if you need a new heart, Lightworker, should you go to the doctor or create one with your mind? Until you feel comfortable that you can replace your heart with a new one by yourself, then you might consider using the God-given information that is in the hands of the surgeon. For it will save your life, and create a situation where you stay and continue to send your light to the earth! Do you see what we're saying?

You can also alter that which is medicine [drugs] and begin a process that is spectacular in its design, but not very 3D. I challenge you to begin to use what I would call the homeopathic principle with major drugs. If some of you are taking major drugs in order to alter your chemistry so that you can live better and longer, you might feel you have no choice. "Well, this is keeping me alive," you might say. "I don't yet have the ability to do this with my consciousness, so I take the drugs."

In this new energy, there is something else that you can try if you are in this category. Do the following with safety, intelligence, common sense and logic. Here is the challenge: The principle of homeopathy is that an almost invisible tincture of a substance is ingested and is seen by your innate. Innate "sees" what you are trying to do and then adjusts the body's chemistry in response. Therefore, you might say that you are sending the body a "signal for balance." The actual tincture is not large enough to affect anything chemically - yet it works!

The body [innate] sees what you're trying to do and then cooperates. In a sense, you might say the body is healing itself because you were able to give it instructions through the homeopathic substance of what to do. So, why not do it with a major drug? Start reducing the dosage and start talking to your cells, and see what happens. If you're not successful, then stop the reduction. However, to your own amazement, you may often be successful over time.

You might be able to take the dosage that you're used to and cut it to at least a quarter of what it was. It is the homeopathy principle and it allows you to keep the purpose of the drug, but reduce it to a fraction of a common 3D dosage. You're still taking it internally, but now it's also signaling in addition to working chemically. The signal is sent, the body cooperates, and you reduce the chance of side effects.

You can't put things in boxes of yes or no when it comes to the grand system of Spirit. You can instead use spiritual logic and see the things that God has given you on the planet within the inventions and processes. Have an operation, save your life, and stand and say, "Thank you, God, for this and for my being born where these things are possible." It's a complicated subject, is it not? Each of you is so different! You'll know what to do, dear one. Never stress over that decision, because your innate will tell you what is appropriate for you if you're willing to listen. ….”

Monsanto / GMO - Global Health


(Subjects: Big pharma [the drug companies of America] are going to have to change very soon or collapse. When you have an industry that keeps people sick for money, it cannot survive in the new consciousness., Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Pedal 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)
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS" – Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: ... I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. ....) - (Text Version)

Pharmaceutical Fraud / Corruption cases

Health Care

Health Care
Happy birthday to Percy Julian, a pioneer in plant-drug synthesis. His research produced steroids like cortisone. (11 April 2014)

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Pfizer strikes global licensing deal for Covid pill

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 16, 2021 

Pfizer's Covid pill showed an 89 percent reduction in hospitalisation and
death in clinical trials. (AFP/Don EMMERT)

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Tuesday announced a deal to make its prospective antiviral Covid-19 pill available more cheaply in the world's least wealthy countries. 

Pfizer will sub-licence production of its promising Paxlovid pill to generic drug manufacturers for supply in 95 low- and middle-income nations covering around 53 percent of the world's population. 

Under the deal struck with the global Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Pfizer -- which also produces one of the most widely-used Covid vaccines with German lab BioNTech -- will not receive royalties from the generic manufacturers, making the treatment cheaper. 

The agreement is subject to the oral antiviral medication passing ongoing trials and regulatory approval. 

The Pfizer drug is to be taken with the HIV medicine ritonavir. 

Interim data from ongoing trials demonstrated an 89 percent reduction in the risk of Covid-19-related hospitalisation or death compared to a placebo, in non-hospitalised high-risk adults with Covid-19 within three days of symptom onset, said Pfizer. 

Similar results were seen within five days of symptom onset, it added. 

The Geneva-based MPP is a United Nations-backed international organisation that works to facilitate the development of medicines for low- and middle-income nations. 

If approved, the pill could be on the market in "a matter of months", MPP policy chief Esteban Burrone told AFP. 

HIV drug mix

Pfizer will forego royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while Covid-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. 

Last month, the WHO maintained the highest level of alert over the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. 

Paxlovid, or PF-07321332, is an investigational antiviral therapy designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2-3CL protease -- an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate. 

Taking it together with a low dose of ritonavir helps slow the breakdown of PF-07321332. It therefore remains active in the body for a longer period at a high concentration, to help combat the virus. 

The pill could potentially help patients avoid severe illness, which can lead to hospitalisation and death, Pfizer said. 

"We believe oral antiviral treatments can play a vital role in reducing the severity of Covid-19 infections, decreasing the strain on our healthcare systems and saving lives," said Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla. 

While a multitude of vaccines have been rolled out in the pandemic, the hunt for treatments for those who have already caught the disease has not been as fruitful. 

Agreement follows Merck deal 

The MPP was founded by Unitaid, which works on innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases in poorer countries. 

"During a pandemic, saving time means saving lives. This agreement could help us to reach more people more quickly as soon as the medicine is approved," said Unitaid executive director Philippe Duneton. 

Potential sublicensees have until December 6 to register an expression of interest. 

The announcement comes after the MPP signed a similar voluntary licensing deal with Pfizer's US rivals Merck & Co last month for its investigational oral antiviral medicine molnupiravir. 

Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will help create broad access to molnupiravir in 105 low- and middle-income countries. 

Pills are easier to make than vaccines, do not require a cold chain for delivery and can be self-administered by the patient. 

In terms of relieving health systems by preventing hospitalisations, "it's a game changer", said Burrone. 

He said pricing for the Pfizer pill had not yet been set, but said that "in a competitive environment... the prices tend to come down" to a low level. 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) meanwhile suggested it might cost around $700 per Pfizer treatment course, in line with molnupiravir. 

The medical charity said it was disheartened by the deal, saying restrictive voluntary licences were no substitute for guaranteed global access to Covid tools to bring the pandemic under control.

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

New rules for tattoo artists create confusion ahead of EU pigment ban

DutchNews, November 1, 2021

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Tattoo artists in the Netherlands will have to abide by new rules from January, in line with both Dutch and EU legislation, but with two months before the switch, much remains unclear, tattoo shop owners have told broadcaster NOS

The biggest changes involve new regulations for inks which contain substances which can cause cancer and genetic mutations, or irritate the skin. 

This means thousands of hazardous chemicals found in tattoo inks and permanent make-up will be restricted from 2022, the European ChemicalsAgency has said

Two colours – Pigment Blue 15:3 and Pigment Green 7 – do not yet have safer and technically adequate alternatives and will not be banned until 2023, the agency said. 

Tattoo artist Amanda Remmington told NOS she understands little of the European rules. ‘My colleagues and I have never had a complaint,’ she said. ‘The only colour that causes irritation is red.’ 

The ink ban will also have an impact on larger tattoos which take time to complete and may not now be finished, said tattoo artist Timen from Assen. 

Chaos 

The Netherlands’ most famous tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, told the AD in September, he is furious about the new rules. 

‘This is the work of an overzealous civil servant and will create chaos,’ Schiffmacher said. ‘I’ve been doing it for 45 years and now you are telling me I am doing it wrong?…The people in charge don’t know a thing about tattooing, but are being influenced by all kinds of lobbyists when making their decisions.’ 

Coloured ink is only an health risk when it starts to move to other parts of the body, as it does when a tattoo is being removed. 

Hygiene 

The new Dutch rules involve stricter hygiene measures, and also state that the area where tattoos are placed must be separate from the rest of the shop. 

In the longer term, the Netherlands may also raise the minimum age to get a tattoo from 16, or 12 with a parent’s permission and increase training requirements, NOS said. 

Monitoring compliance with the new rules will be up to the Dutch food and product safety board and will start from January, the health ministry has said.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

“Coming Discoveries” – (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon.com, August 25, 2021 

Live Kryon Channelling. Healing Wednesday livestream 

Lee Carroll
Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service 

This is the fourth channel of the month regarding change. The past three weeks, we’ve discussed several attributes of change that are beginning to happen on this planet. The changes are mostly consciousness, and we have given you some examples which show that many of these were expected, and they coordinate with the messages of the indigenous. They revolve around the cycle of our time, the precession of the equinox, and the 2012 shift. 

So, here you sit in a time of expected change, and the first thing that happens is COVID. You have to ask, “Is it related?” And we’ve given the answer now many times. Indeed (it is related)! More than related, it is the catalyst to what follows next. This virus has almost stopped the normal operational attributes of this planet, and I told you that this is like stopping a large factory so that it can retool. 

We have discussed the metaphor of a factory that cannot stop. After some time, it starts to be dysfunctional, and those operating it start a process of greed and lack of integrity. It becomes so bad that it becomes badly inefficient, yet, nobody can stop it. It’s too big. However, COVID stopped it! This gives a space, does it not? It’s a space that no one expected, given in order to see the inefficiencies of the factory (the systems of Earth). It’s a time to retool and clearly see the dark things that have grown in the dark corners where you never were able to look before. It’s a chance to see more light than ever and identify those who are keeping you from seeing it. 

Dear ones, that’s just the beginning of what we discussed. We’ve given you some messages of change in the past and said, “watch for this,” or “look for that.” These things are coming. There are some things coming that would surprise you, that are truly sensational and filled with great things, and when I tell you about some of these things, you may ask, “How soon, Kryon, how soon?” Every single one of these things that I’m going to give you now actually already exists. They already exist in some form or are being developed. Let me be clear: Some of these things lay on humanity, waiting for the aha experience. “Kryon, what are you talking about?” 

Inventions are Given when They are Needed 

Let me go back and revisit some messages you may have heard before: Major inventions that have changed the culture of this planet often seem to happen all at once, all over the globe, almost like they were delivered to consciousness all at once from somewhere else. 

Seldom do you have just one individual with an idea that then changes the planet. That may be the story they tell you in history, but these profound inventions and discoveries usually happen simultaneously, and the first individual to manifest it is the one who gets the credit. 

Electricity: Some of the inventions that manifest themselves on the planet seem odd in their timing. You might look back and ask, “Why did it take so long? How is this possible?” If you start looking at the facts, the discovery of electricity is one. How long has this energy been obvious to mankind in so many ways? Whether it’s static (electricity), like the sparks you make when you move your feet on certain substances, or whether it’s lightning in the sky … why did it take until only a couple of hundred years ago for it really to be looked at, or the question asked: “I wonder if this is energy we could use?” As to who actually invented it, you knew it was Michael Faraday, right (or did you get another story)? And – that it wasn’t actually electricity – but rather, electromagnetic induction (magnetics)? 

Flight is another one. The Chinese have been flying kites and have known about wind currents for 3,000 years. Why weren’t there men in the sky, using kites and updrafts with the profound understanding that humanity already had of these things? What took so long? Even today, you see those who leap off mountain tops without powered flight – with a kite strapped to them. Where was that? It should have been intuitive and should have occurred a thousand years ago. You had watched the birds, you flew kites, yet, for thousands of years, nobody did it. Does this make sense? It took until the Wright brothers gave it to you using powered engines. That wasn’t that long ago, dear ones, and they only beat the French with their famous first flight by two weeks! Do you see what I’m saying? This invention was “delivered to the Field” when it was ready – and all over the Earth at the same time. 

Inventions that change the Earth profoundly in this way happen when it’s time. You may disagree. You may say, “Oh, we can think of these things any time we want.” This is not true or many inventions that were completely “there and ready and intuitive” would have happened even sooner than they did. 

There are some things coming that are already here, dear ones, in certain ways. They are already in the Field, waiting to be plucked out. I want to tell you about them. Some have heard this before. 

The Best Coming Inventions Will Not Be High Technology 

Don’t be surprised if the most advanced discoveries that you’re going to make, which are going to change this planet profoundly, have nothing to do with artificial intelligence or massive amounts of computing. You might say, it’s “back to basics” because some of the best inventions will be using patterns and basic physics that were always there, but which you just haven’t thought of yet. 

“Kryon, what are you talking about?” 

THE END OF BATTERIES – AND THE GRID 

Let me talk about the magnetic energy wheel. It might be two, or even three wheels, but there is a simple pattern, an array of magnets that, when placed correctly, can keep a wheel spinning – forever. 

Using the simple push/pull energy of small or large magnets together in a specific array, you can keep this wheel going forever. You’re aware, are you not, that natural magnets are very powerful, and they push and they pull with a great deal of force, with no rest or refresh time, and no side effects, and no fuel. This is a huge secret! Why have you not seen this before? Put them together in an array where they will push and pull against each other and spin whatever size wheel you wish – until the end of time! All you have to do is oil the bearings occasionally. Have you thought of that? Dear ones, listen: If you can make something spin, you can connect it to an electric generator. Electricity, in any quantity, forever! 

I want you to think of what this means. Imagine: No batteries. “Kryon, what are you talking about. You’ve got to have batteries.” Dear ones, that statement is soooo yesterday! Imagine your favorite device. A phone, perhaps? What if, instead of a battery, it had a tiny, miniature, spinning magnetic motor that powered the device in real-time – forever! Not only are there no batteries in the future, but no charging anything. Every electronic thing you have has its own tiny, spinning generator built-in. 

“Kryon, how big can this wheel be?” Well, let’s think: Everything I have said can be enlarged. So, instead of a battery in an electric car, there is a larger spinning electric engine underneath, always supplying electricity to what we will now call super capacitance (something we have only briefly discussed). You will always have enough electricity to go for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles without ever stopping. And even while you sleep, electricity is still being generated to the “super cap.” It never stops. 

“Kryon, I still don’t understand how all this is going to change the entire planet.” 

Dear ones, I’m talking about individual power for every single building that exists on the planet – without being connected to any grid. NO WIRES AND NO OUTSIDE SOURCE. No weather pattern will ever shut down a city again or cause those to die because they can’t get electricity – because it’s right outside in a little spinning motor that never stops and always is running, to power whatever is needed. Magnetics is the answer. It’s free, instant, and mobile electricity for all. 

Every continent on this planet could have as much electricity as they wanted or needed to instantly power villages, hospitals, communications, teaching through the internet, and more. The internet would work, no matter what. Can you imagine when everybody could talk to everybody? Cultures and continents would start healing themselves and would finally start to be educated. 

All of this can happen from one undiscovered pattern – a magnetic array. Putting those magnets together so they will push and pull in a way that they will spin forever, can be customizable to any size – miniaturized or massive. They can power ships and cars – and they go forever. There is no resource that is easier and safer to use to power this planet than magnetics. No natural resources are burned, no pollution, and entirely safe. 

Kryon – This Can’t Work 

“Kryon: If I had this invention, there are forces out there who would never let it be developed. I would be afraid to have it! The power companies of the planet will buy it and pocket it because they want to sell what they’ve got. They will never let this happen.” 

Let’s stop for a moment. Dear ones, this is not your father’s world. What have I told you about change for the past 30 years? DO NOT POSTULATE THE FUTURE ON WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST. The shift is changing the consciousness of the planet. 

Right now, the power companies all over your land are in trouble. Fossil fuel is in trouble, if you haven’t noticed. Nuclear power, the former Holy Grail of power, has shown itself clearly to be exceptionally dangerous! Every one of the accepted mass power generation systems is failing. 

I will tell you that the power companies of this land (USA), even if they are using steam or wind or sunlight, are all anxious for this invention! It’s simple, efficient, no huge investment needed, and (ready?) THEY will then be the ones to manufacture and sell the units, improving them and finding more and more uses to free all of you from any kind of power grid. So I’m telling you, it’s a new world, and those in the “power business” will be the first to want to use this. 

The Highest and Most Powerful Force of Humanity 

Let me give you my favorite one: There are things that this body of yours does, which has only to do with consciousness, nothing else. In the last twenty years, there has been a revelation of proof. Consciousness is energy. It can alter physics. 

This realization was not always thought to be the case. In the past, consciousness was something esoteric, not well definable, and it didn’t belong in physics. Now it does. There is now a slow awareness that consciousness absolutely must be considered energy. 

Think: If consciousness is energy, then, like all other physical energies, there must be rules or axioms. It becomes predictive science. When you start to figure that out and you understand what those are, you will have some profound answers to some of the greatest mysteries of health: The energy of consciousness is the reason for the placebo effect! Someone takes a sugar-coated pill, and they are told that the pill is going to create a cure – and then it does! What is the process? How is that possible? 

Someone takes a homeopathic tincture, a chemistry that is too small to create a chemical reaction. Yet, it cures! What is happening? How does that work? The answer is the energy and the physics of consciousness combined with something called mirror neurons: What the body sees and expects, it often creates by itself. Perhaps, you see someone else eating a meal and you salivate. That’s consciousness over chemistry, dear ones. 

Have you ever wondered if mirror neurons could play a powerful and larger part in a coming system of healing? What if you could convince your body that it was healing? Mirror neurons can’t tell the difference between what you believe or what is happening chemically. Therefore, consciousness instructs the body to heal itself, and it does! Now you understand how spontaneous remission may work. When you convince the body that a healing is occurring, it believes it so completely that it heals itself. This will be a new healing process. It will be the best of any that ever existed – using the energy of consciousness in new, measurable, scientific ways. 

No artificial intelligence – no super hi-tech advancements 

Instead, this becomes the revelation of what you as Humans have always had. Powerful! 

I want you to ponder these changes because they are in the Field. Do you think when science discovered that consciousness is energy, they just left that alone? No. They wanted to find out more about what it is. The first thing they realized is that they are dealing with a multidimensional energy. Indeed, science may not think immediately about the self-healing potentials that exist, but eventually, they will 

How long will it take? That’s up to you. How many of you believe these things? For the belief itself, you might say, is a transmitter of reality, because when you believe something, you can make it happen. 

Changes are coming to this planet, dear ones, and I have told you this. We continue to tell you about the ones that will enhance humanity, and there will come a time when the last thing you will ever want to do to each other is to kill one another. There is precedent for this in other places that I have talked about, so I have seen it. I have seen it. 

I am Kryon, in love with humanity. 

And so it is 

KRYON

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Want to live forever? Theoretically, you could, study says

Yahoo – AFP, Sara HUSSEIN, September 29, 2021

Kane Tanaka is currently the oldest living person in the world, at 118 (AFP/JIJI PRESS)

Humans can probably live to at least 130, and possibly well beyond, though the chances of reaching such super old age remain vanishingly small, according to new research. 

The outer limit of the human lifespan has long been hotly debated, with recent studies making the case we could live up to 150 years, or arguing that there is no maximum theoretical age for humans. 

The new research, published Wednesday in the Royal Society Open Science journal, wades into the debate by analysing new data on supercentenarians -- people aged 110 or more -- and semi-supercentenarians, aged 105 or more. 

While the risk of death generally increases throughout our lifetime, the researchers' analysis shows that risk eventually plateaus and remains constant at approximately 50-50. 

"Beyond age 110 one can think of living another year as being almost like flipping a fair coin," said Anthony Davison, a professor of statistics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), who led the research. 

"If it comes up heads, then you live to your next birthday, and if not, then you will die at some point within the next year," he told AFP. 

Based on the data available so far, it seems likely that humans can live until at least 130, but extrapolating from the findings "would imply that there is no limit to the human lifespan," the research concludes. 

The conclusions match similar statistical analyses done on datasets of the very elderly. 

"But this study strengthens those conclusions and makes them more precise because more data are now available," Davison said. 

The first dataset the team studied is newly released material from the International Database on Longevity, which covers more than 1,100 supercentenarians from 13 countries. 

The second is from Italy on every person who was at least 105 between January 2009 and December 2015. 

'One in a million' 

The work involves extrapolating from existing data, but Davison said that was a logical approach. 

"Any study of extreme old age, whether statistical or biological, will involve extrapolation," he said. 

"We were able to show that if a limit below 130 years exists, we should have been able to detect it by now using the data now available," he added. 

Still, just because humans can theoretically reach 130 or beyond, doesn't mean we're likely to see it anytime soon. 

For a start, the analysis is based on people who have already achieved the relatively rare feat of making it to well over 100. 

And even at age 110, your chances of making it to 130 are "about one in a million... not impossible but very unlikely," said Davison. 

He thinks we could see people reaching 130 within the century, as more people make it to supercentenarian status, increasing the chances of one becoming that one in a million. 

"But in the absence of major medical and social advances, ages much over this are highly unlikely ever to be observed," he added. 

For now, the oldest person on record is Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the confirmed age of 122. 

Her true age was the subject of some controversy, with claims of a possible fraud, but in 2019 several experts said a review of the evidence confirmed her age. 

Other pretenders to the throne of oldest person ever have a long way to go. The oldest verified living person in the world is Japan's Kane Tanaka, a comparatively youthful 118.

Related Article:

“McCloud-3 Linear Reflections Part 1”, McCloud, California, US(5), June 28 – July 1, 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) – (Old Souls can become on average 150 years old in the new – multidimensional - energy in the future - > 40 min)

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Pope rails against vaccine 'denier' cardinals

Yahoo – AFP, September 15, 2021 

The pope is a strong advocate of coronavirus vaccines and has previously
expressed his incomprehension with those who refuse to take it (AFP/Tiziana FABI)

Pope Francis on Wednesday spoke out against "denier" cardinals who refused the coronavirus vaccine, in an apparent swipe at his main opponent who recently contracted Covid-19. 

"In the College of Cardinals, there are a few deniers. One of them, the poor man, contracted the virus," the pontiff told reporters as he flew home from a trip to Slovakia. 

The 84-year-old did not name the man he was referring to, but conservative US Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of Francis' fiercest and most vocal critics in the Catholic Church, was recently admitted to hospital in the United States with Covid-19. 

The pope said that in the heart of the Vatican, "everyone is vaccinated, with the exception of a small group". 

"We are studying how to help them," he said during a press conference onboard the papal plane. 

The pope is a strong advocate of coronavirus vaccines and has previously expressed his incomprehension with those who refuse to take it. 

"It's a bit strange because humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines," Francis said, highlighting the jabs that have for decades protected children against measles or polio. 

"We should clarify things and speak calmly," he advised, while also conceding that the debates over the different anti-coronavirus vaccines could create uncertainty or fear. 

The pope made a brief stopover in Budapest on Sunday before visiting Slovakia, and held a private meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

He is at odds with the populist leader's hardline stance on migration, but said Wednesday they did not discuss the issue. 

Hungarian President Janos Ader did most of the talking during the three-way meeting, the pope said, and they focused on ecology as well as Hungary's support for couples hoping to have children. 

For his part, Orban -- who has claimed Europe is threatened by a Muslim "invasion" -- said on Facebook that he had asked the pope in their meeting "not to let Christian Hungary perish". 

During his press conference, the pope repeated his call for Europe to return to the principles of solidarity on which it was founded, warning of "the danger that it has become just a managerial office. And that is not good."

Thursday, July 1, 2021

112-year-old Puerto Rican becomes world’s oldest living man

Khaleejt Times – AFP, June 30, 2021 

'My dad raised me with love and taught me to love everyone'

Emilio Flores Marquez from Puerto Rico has become the world’s oldest living man at an age of 112 years and 326 days old, Guinness World Records announced on Wednesday. 

Marquez, who was born in Carolina, east of the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan in 1908, was recognised by Guinness and awarded a certificate at his home just a few miles (kilometres) from his birthplace. 

Asked about his longevity, Marquez — known as “Don Milo” to his friends — said the secret to his advanced years lay in compassion. 

“My dad raised me with love and taught me to love everyone. He always told me and my brothers and sisters to do good, to share everything with others. Besides, Christ lives in me,” Guinness quoted him as saying. 

The second oldest child of 11 siblings and his parents’ first-born son, Marquez worked on the family’s sugarcane farm and received only three years of formal schooling. 

He wife of 75 years Andrea Pérez De Flores, with whom he had four children, died in 2010. 

The previous oldest living man was recognised by Guinness World Records as Romania’s Dumitru Comanescu, who died on June 27, 2020, at the age of 111 years 219 days.

After Comanescu’s death, the record-breaking authority received evidence Marquez had been born three months earlier than the previous record holder. 

“It’s always an honour to celebrate these remarkable human beings, and this year we’ve processed applications from not one but two contenders for the title of oldest living man,” Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief at Guinness World Records, said.

Monday, May 31, 2021

Why scientists are concerned about leaks at biolabs

Yahoo – AFP, Issam Ahmed, Lucie Aubourg and Paul Handley, May 30, 2021

This general view shows the Wuhan Institute of Virplogy in Wuhan,
in China's central Hubei province

The theory that Covid-19 might be the result of scientific experiments has thrown a spotlight on the work of the world's most secure biolabs. 

While the evidence linking SARS-CoV-2 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China is strictly circumstantial, a number of experts want tougher controls on such facilities over fears that accidental leaks could touch off the next pandemic. 

Here's what you should know. 

59 top facilities 

The Wuhan lab belongs to the most secure class, commonly referred to as biosafety level 4, or BSL4. 

These are built to work safely and securely with the most dangerous bacteria and viruses that can cause serious diseases for which there are no known treatment or vaccines. 

"There are HVAC filtration systems, so that the virus can't escape through exhaust; any waste water that leaves the facility is treated with either chemicals or high temperatures to make sure that there's nothing alive," Gregory Koblentz, director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University, told AFP. 

The researchers themselves are highly trained and wear hazmat suits. 

There are 59 such facilities across the world, according to a report Koblentz co-authored that was released this week. 

"There are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens," the report, called Mapping Maximum Biological Containment Labs Globally, said. 

Accidents do happen 

Accidents can happen, sometimes at the top tier facilities, and much more frequently at lower rung labs of which there are thousands. 

Human H1N1 virus -- the same flu that caused the 1918 pandemic -- leaked in 1977 in the Soviet Union and China and spread worldwide. 

In 2001, a mentally disturbed employee at a US biolab mailed out anthrax spores across the country, killing five people. 

Two Chinese researchers exposed to SARS in 2004 spread the disease to others, killing one. 

In 2014, a handful of smallpox vials were uncovered during an Food and Drug Administration office move. 

Lynn Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, has been sounding the alarm for many years about the public safety threats posed by such facilities. 

"Human errors constitute over 70 percent of the errors in laboratories," he told AFP, adding that US researchers have to rely on data from Freedom of Information requests to learn of these incidents. 

'Gain of function' controversy 

There is disagreement between the US government, which funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan, and some independent scientists, about whether this work was controversial "gain of function" (GOF) research. 

GOF research entails modifying pathogens to make them more transmissible, deadlier, or better able to evade treatment and vaccines -- all to learn how to fight them better. 

This field has long been contentious. Debate reached a fever pitch when two research teams in 2011 showed they could make bird flu transmissible between mammals. 

Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch told AFP he was concerned "that it would create a strain of virus that if it infected a laboratory worker could not just kill that laboratory worker... but also cause a pandemic." 

"The research is not required and does not contribute to the development of drugs or vaccines," added molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, one of the staunchest opponents of this kind of research. 

In 2014 the US government announced a pause in federal funding for such work, which gave way in 2017 to a framework that would consider each application on a case-by-case basis. 

But the process has been criticized as lacking transparency and credibility. 

As late as last year, a nonprofit received funding from the US on research to "predict spillover potential" of bat coronavirus to humans in Wuhan. 

Questioned by Congress this week, Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health denied this amounted to gain of function research, but Ebright said it clearly does. 

The path ahead 

None of this means that Covid-19 definitely leaked from a lab -- in fact there is no hard scientific evidence in favor of natural origin or lab accident scenario, said Ebright. 

But there are certain lines of circumstantial evidence in favor of the latter. For instance, Wuhan is around 1,000 miles north of bat caves that harbor the ancestor virus, well out of the animals' flight range. 

Scientists from Wuhan were however known to be carrying out routine trips to those caves to take samples. 

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist from the Broad Institute, said there were no signs of risky pathogen research dying down in the wake of the pandemic -- in fact "it's possibly expanded." 

Last year, Chan published research showing that, unlike SARS, SARS-CoV-2 was not evolving fast when it was first detected in humans -- another piece of circumstantial evidence that could point to lab origin. 

Chan considers herself a "fence-sitter" on the competing hypotheses, but does not favor banning risky research, fearing it would then go underground. 

One solution "might just be as simple as moving these research institutes out into extremely remote areas...where you have to quarantine for two weeks before we re-enter in human society," she said.

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Friday, May 28, 2021

Facebook reverses course, won't ban lab virus theory

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, May 27, 2021 

Facebook reversal of a ban on suggesting Covid-19 was man-made comes amid
renewed debate on the origins of the virus

Facebook has reversed its policy banning posts suggesting Covid-19 emerged from a laboratory amid renewed debate over the origins of the virus, raising fresh questions about social media's role in policing misinformation. 

The latest move by Facebook, announced late Wednesday on its website, highlights the challenge for the world's largest social network of rooting out false and potentially harmful content while remaining open for discourse. 

"In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps," the statement said. 

"We're continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge." 

The new statement updates guidance from Facebook in February when it said it would remove false or debunked claims about the novel coronavirus which created a global pandemic killing more than three million. 

The move followed President Joe Biden's directive to US intelligence agencies to investigate competing theories on how the virus first emerged -- through animal contact at a market in Wuhan, China, or through accidental release from a research laboratory in the same city. 

Biden's order signals an escalation in mounting controversy over the origins of the virus. 

The natural origin hypothesis holds that it emerged in bats then passed to humans, likely via an intermediary species. 

This theory was widely accepted at the start of the pandemic, but as time has worn on, scientists have not found a virus in either bats or another animal that matches the genetic signature of SARS-CoV-2. 

The lab-leak theory, meanwhile, is gaining increasing traction in the United States, where it was initially fueled by former president Donald Trump and his aides and dismissed by many as a political talking point. 

A recent Wall Street Journal report, citing US intelligence findings, said three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick in November 2019, a month before Beijing disclosed the existence of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak. 

Facebook has updated previous guidance on removing false or debunked claims
about the novel coronavirus -- saying it will no longer remove the claim that
Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured.

Pushback from the right 

Facebook's move, which could impact what some three billion users of its family of apps see, highlights the controversy over social media's aggressive efforts to root out misinformation on topics where facts may be evolving. 

The reversal may be "another exhibit for the possibility that there will be a swing back against the more heavy-handed moderation," tweeted Evelyn Douek, a Harvard University lecturer and researcher of online speech regulation. 

"When the pandemic started, there were many arguments that 'what platforms are doing for health misinfo, they should do for all misinfo all the time.' It was over-simplified then, and strikes me as untenable now." 

Facebook uses independent third-party fact checkers, including AFP, to debunk misinformation. Although the origins of the virus remain unproven, the lab leak theory has been subject to fact-checking. 

One fact checking organization, PolitiFact, reported last September that public health authorities had "repeatedly said the coronavirus was not derived from a lab" but earlier this month revised its guidance, noting: "that assertion is now more widely disputed," and saying it would continue to review the matter. 

The abrupt Facebook reversal prompted angry responses from conservatives and Trump supporters. 

"Wow! But they did suppress the story for a year, defaming Trump and Republicans for a 'conspiracy theory' blacklisting conservative press and banning us," tweeted Kelly Sadler, a blogger and former Trump aide. 

But Rebekah Tromble, director of Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics at George Washington University, said Facebook "is doing the right thing" by updating its guidance. 

"Information changes over time, and responsible organizations -- social media outlets and fact-checkers alike -- make decisions based on the best information available but remain open and willing to change their evaluations as new information arises," Tromble told AFP. 

"Facebook will undoubtedly receive blowback for this decision, as will fact-checkers. But that blowback will come from the same people and groups that have always been critical." 

Facebook in a separate statement said it was stepping up its efforts to curb misinformation by limiting the reach of users who "repeatedly" share false content. 

Until now, Facebook had only taken this action on individual posts, but now will clamp down on the users who are the largest spreaders of false content.


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