US McDonald's to stop buying chickens treated with human antibiotics

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-07

A McDonald's outlet in Beijing, July 29, 2014. (File photo/Xinhua)

The US chain of McDonald's fast food restaurants announced on March 4 that they will gradually stop purchasing chickens raised with antibiotics that are commonly used to treat humans. The ban will be implemented in 14,000 restaurants in the United States but will not be applied to the chain's 20,000 restaurants in the rest of the world.

On March 4, McDonald's China released a statement saying that it has always required its suppliers to abide by China's laws and regulations with regard to the use of antibiotics and has been following a policy enforced by McDonald's in 2003, according to the Beijing News.

The company also said it will discuss the matter with the relevant government agencies, experts and suppliers, with a view to gradually adopting the same measure as the US restaurants.

McDonald's China said its suppliers use antibiotics to treat poultry only when necessary and under the supervision of veterinarians.

Regarding the kinds of drugs used and the doses administered, McDonald's China said it has complied strictly with the legal requirements.

In addition, the company said, it is a requirement that its chickens be tested for antibiotic residues at a third-party laboratory.

Sun Zhongshi, an expert with China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, told the paper that veterinary drug standards are established by the Ministry of Agriculture and implemented by the China Food and Drug Administration.

He said that the consumption of chicken raised with human antibiotics can lead to drug resistance in humans.

Lawyer You Yunting, meanwhile, said the adoption of different standards by McDonald's in the US and China does not constitute regional discrimination.

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Obesity Is Weighing on the US Economy

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Victoria Stilwell,  Mar 06, 2015

The rise of obesity in the United States has led to an additional $315.8 billion
spending on health care in 2010, according to one study. (Reuters Photo/
Fred Prouser)

As a panel of scientists considers ways to help Americans trim down, unpublished research shows medical expenses linked to being extremely overweight have skyrocketed. Experts say the damage is augmented by reduced productivity, wider gender and income inequality and even higher transportation costs.

While the biggest consequence is still on an individual’s well-being, “there are some significant economic costs associated with obesity,” said Ross Hammond, a

senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“Unfortunately, it’s not an outcome that’s rare anymore.”

Some 35.7 percent of Americans 20 to 74 years old were obese in the period from 2009 to 2012, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

That’s up from 31.1 percent a decade earlier and 13.3 percent in 1960 to 1962. The CDC considers adults obese when their body mass index, which takes into account weight and height, is 30 or higher.

As a result, there is growing urgency to come up with plans to check the trend. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the panel of scientists that counsels government agencies, last month recommended that sugary drinks and foods be taxed to reduce their consumption.

The report, released on Feb. 19, went on to advise that the revenue generated could be used to promote healthier behavior or subsidize the cost of fruits and vegetables.

“This really is a situation that’s beyond business as usual,” said Walter Willett, a professor and chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

“We have to think about serious interventions that go beyond the norm.”

Unaddressed, the costs could continue to mount, with health-care expenses being the most direct economic consequence.

Widespread obesity raised medical-care costs by $315.8 billion in 2010, according to John Cawley, an economics professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

That amounted to about $3,508 a year for each obese person, the latest available data showed.

The expenses, which include doctors’ appointments, hospital stays, prescription drugs and home health care, were up 48 percent from 2005’s $213 billion after adjusting for inflation, the researchers found.

The findings, to be published later this year in the journal PharmacoEconomics, represent the combined work of fellow researchers Chad Meyerhoefer, Adam Biener, Mette Hammer and Neil Wintfeld.

Chronic illnesses linked to obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as stroke and cancer, are expensive to treat, Cawley said.

Subsidizing

Moreover, the costs are usually paid by private and public health insurance, meaning that leaner people are subsidizing those with less healthy diets, he said. “All of us are paying these costs.”

While such spending doesn’t directly reduce economic growth, it does represent a shift in priorities toward health care and away from things such as business investment in other industries that could boost output down the road. Obesity also poses problems in less direct ways.

Excessive fat is correlated with an increase in absenteeism from work because of health issues, said Tatiana Andreyeva, director of economic initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut in Hartford.

That costs the nation about $8.65 billion a year, Andreyeva found with fellow researchers Joerg Luedicke and Y. Claire Wang.

Obese employees miss an extra 1.1 to 1.7 days of work a year compared to their normal-weight counterparts.

“The employee is most likely getting paid for it, but there was no work done on it, and there was a cost to the employer,” Andreyeva said.

Diminished productivity is a major source of drag on the economy as it leads to higher production costs and a less competitive workforce, she said.

That could worsen a recent slowing in efficiency as the 18-month economic slump that ended in June 2009 prompted companies to curb spending on more sophisticated machinery and time-saving devices such as faster computers that help boost productivity.

Output per hour has climbed by an average 1.3 percent a quarter since the recession ended, compared with 3 percent in the decade through 2005.

On an individual level, obesity also can limit how much workers earn and what types of occupations they take on, research shows.

Morbidly obese women, or those with a body mass index greater than 40, in occupations that involve interacting with other people will earn about 5 percent less than their normal-weight counterparts, according to a study by Jennifer Shinall, an assistant professor at the Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee.

That more than offsets a wage premium that generally exists in such fields, Shinall found. Furthermore, obesity’s effects may fall disproportionately on those who can least afford it, Shinall said.

Minority and less-educated workers are more likely to be overweight, compounding the wage difference that already exists for those groups in the workforce, she said.

Black workers — almost 1.5 times as likely to be obese as white employees — in full-time jobs reported median earnings of $263 a week in the fourth quarter, according to data from the Labor Department. That compares with $349 for whites.

The costs of obesity also manifest themselves in less obvious ways.

Fuel costs

Heavier people use more gasoline and jet fuel to move from place to place and require the support of stronger infrastructure.

As many as one billion additional gallons of gasoline are consumed each year transporting overweight and obese Americans, according to research from Sheldon Jacobson and Douglas King at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

That would amount to about $2.5 billion, according to the average cost of regular gasoline as of March 3.

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture will host a public meeting this month on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendations, and will accept comments though April 8.

The resulting policy document — the eighth edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans — is expected to be published by the agencies toward the end of 2015.

The taxation lever isn’t a cure-all for the obesity problem, Cornell’s Cawley said, since consumers may just substitute one unhealthy product for another.

And some early efforts to curb consumption, such as the 16-ounce limit on soft drinks sold in restaurants and movie theaters backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg, have failed at ballot boxes or in courtrooms.

“It’s a misreading of the evidence to think that a modest tax on a narrow category of food or drinks would have a substantial impact on calories or weight,” Cawley said.

“It would probably have to be a broader and bigger tax to really change people’s behavior, and I don’t know whether that’s politically feasible.”

Nonetheless, in combination with other policies such as increasing physical activity and improving access to quality food, a multifaceted approach that includes a

financial lever could make a difference, Harvard’s Willett said.

An obesity rate of less than 5 percent would be ideal, while one around 10 percent would be more realistic, he said. A genetic predisposition to being overweight afflicts only about 1 percent to 2 percent of the population, he said.

“It looks like we are starting to make a little dent in the problem, but we have a huge way to go,” Willett said.

Obesity is “massively affecting our children and our future, shortening our lives, and the consequences are not trivial.”

Bloomberg

Ex-Navy Man Nabbed in C. Jakarta Drugs, Arms Bust

Jakarta Globe, Priska Sari Pratiwi, Mar 06, 2015

Methamphetamine in crystalline form, seized by police in an unrelated
bust in 2012. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Jakarta. A retired Navy officer was among those suspected to be part of an international syndicate to smuggle drugs and firearms into the country, police revealed on Friday.

Bahtiar, 52, who police identified as a retired lieutenant, was on Wednesday caught with 2.8 grams of methamphetamine, three rifles, 19 handguns and 248 rounds of ammunition at an apartment he rented in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Police also confiscated several knives, a bulletproof vest and a forged Indonesian Navy stamp believed to have been used during his many drug runs.

Brig. Gen. Anjan Pramuka Putra, chief of the National Police’s anti-narcotics directorate, said Bahtiar’s arrest came after a month-long probe into the syndicate.

Officers first arrested a woman nicknamed “Bunda,” or mother, who is believed to be the ringleader of the operation.

“From [Bunda] we confiscated about five kilograms of meth,” Anjan said.

Police are now pursuing a third suspect identified as Jack who may be hiding in Surabaya, East Java.

Bahtiar has told investigators that since retiring from the military, he had been working as a private security officer on a fuel tanker.  Armed with a forged letter from the Navy, Bahtiar was able to avoid scrutiny from police and customs.

Investigators believe the drugs may have originated from China and were to be distributed in Jakarta as well as several other major cities across the country.

“We are still investigating the weapons [belonging to Bahtiar],” Anjan said.

Bahtiar admitted to have obtained one gun while serving in the Navy; the rest were bought on the black market, he said.

Police are now looking into Bahtiar’s possible clients — if the weapons were intended for criminals or terrorists, and whether he had sold firearms in the past.

Should he be found guilty of the drug charges, he could face the death penalty, although this is unlikely.

Agency Terminates Buvanest Drug Permit After Deaths

Jakarta Globe, Investor Daily, Mar 06, 2015

Workers of Kalbe Farma factory sort out medicine tablets in Cikarang,
Indonesia West Java province August 5, 2013. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, known as BPOM, has terminated the distribution permit for the drug Buvanest Spinal by state-controlled pharmaceutical firm Kalbe Farma due to non-compliance with good manufacturing practices.

“[Kalbe Farma’s] investigation report did not adequately depict the problem roots, that there can be a potential mix-up,” said Togi Junice Hutadjulu, director of therapeutic products monitoring at the agency, on Thursday.

Preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation suggest Kalbe Farma incorrectly labelled tranexamic acid as Buvanest Spinal, which resulted in the deaths of two women undergoing Caesarian section and cystoscopy procedures at Siloam Hospital in Tangerang last month.

Investor Daily

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Investigation Into Deadly Drug Mix-Up Continues

University installs prototype 'pee power' toilet

Urinal at University of the West of England can generate electricity to power indoor lighting, which Oxfam says show potential for use in refugee camps

The Guardian, Rebecca Smithers, Thursday 5 March 2015

A toilet at the University of the West of England is proving urine can
generate electricity. Photograph: UWE Bristol

A prototype toilet has been launched on a UK university campus to prove that urine can generate electricity, and show its potential for helping to light cubicles in international refugee camps.

Students and staff at the Bristol-based University of the West of England are being asked to use the working urinal to feed microbial fuel cell (MFC) stacks that generate electricity to power indoor lighting.

The project is the result of a partnership between researchers at the university and Oxfam, who hope the technology can be developed by aid agencies on a larger scale to bring light to refugee camp toilets in disaster zones.

“We have already proved that this way of generating electricity works,” said research lead Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, which in 2013 demonstrated MCF stacks generating enough electricity to power a phone. “The project with Oxfam could have a huge impact in refugee camps.”

The technology uses microbes which feed on urine for their own growth and maintenance. “The MFC is in effect a system which taps a portion of that biochemical energy used for microbial growth, and converts that directly into electricity - what we are calling urine-tricity or pee power. This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to utilise fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply,” said Ieropoulos.

The urinal - conveniently located near the Student Union bar - resembles toilets used in refugee camps to make the trial as realistic as possible. The equipment that converts the urine into power sits underneath the urinal and can be viewed through a clear screen.

Andy Bastable, Head of Water and Sanitation at Oxfam, commented: “Oxfam is an expert at providing sanitation in disaster zones, and it is always a challenge to light inaccessible areas far from a power supply. This technology is a huge step forward. Living in a refugee camp is hard enough without the added threat of being assaulted in dark places at night. The potential of this invention is huge.”

An estimated 6.4tn litres of urine is produced by humans across the globe every year, so researchers believe it has great potential as a cheap and readily available source of energy. Ieropoulos said the unit installed at the university would cost around £600 to set up.

A solar powered toilet designed by the California Institute of Technology for
 the Reinvent the Toilet challenge. Photograph: Michael Hanson/Gates Foundation 

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World's Oldest Person Misao Okawa Turns 117 — What's Her Secret?

Yahoo, Laura Kenney, Managing Editor, Yahoo Health, March 4, 2015

The world’s oldest living person, Misao Okawa, blows out her
birthday candles to celebrate her 117 birthday. (Photo: Getty Images)

Happy Birthday to Japan’s Misao Okawa, who turns 117 on Thursday, March 5th. She currently holds the Guiness World Records title of the world’s oldest living person, and is one of five people born in the 1800s who is still alive today — she was born on March 5, 1898!

Okawa donned a pink kimono and tucked a flower in her hair to celebrate her birthday with friends and family. (Longevity runs in the family: Okawa’s two surviving children are 94 and 92 years old!)

When Okawa was asked about the secret to being a supercentenarian she said nonchalantly, “I wonder about that too,” The Associated Press reports. In past interviews she’s credited her long life to sushi and deep sleep — at least 8 hours nightly. “You also have to learn to relax,” she’s said.

But we’re on to her other secret. It’s her way of life.

Much has been written about the long lives of Japanese people, who seem to enjoy full, active lives without rampant disease well into their 90s and even 100s. Japan has the most centenarians in the world with more than 58,000 living today — Sakari Momoi, who at 112 currently holds the title of the world’s oldest living man, is also from Japan.

In the 2002 book “The Okinawa Program,” authors explain how the residents of this Japanese island chain avoid obesity, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and other “elderly” diseases that Western societies take for granted as unavoidable.

The secrets seem to be three-fold: First, Japanese people eat low-sugar, plant-based diets without processed foods and junk. This dramatically lowers their risk for inflammatory diseases and cancer. Younger generations who are now adopting more Western diets are seeing sharp increases in obesity and heart disease.

Related: The Sneaky Cause Of Your Sugar Cravings

The pace of life is often slower in Japan, especially among older residents who didn’t grow up surrounded by advanced technology. (Younger Japanese people, however, are increasingly experiencing extreme amounts of stress thanks to globalization.) Meditation and practices such as tai chi, part of many Japanese elders’ way of life, have been shown in studies to thicken the brain (this is a good thing) and increase cognitive function. Staying active through activities such as gardening and walking also seems to play a big role in Japanese longevity. With all the research coming out about how being sedentary all day long is terrible for health, this only makes sense.

And finally, a solid network of friends and family is also a factor. Social support reduces stress, loneliness and isolation—all breeding grounds for disease.

Momoi reportedly still participates in activities that keep his body and mind working, such as throwing a ball and calligraphy. It’s a great reminder for Americans to put down the smart phones, get up from their desks and pick up a stimulating hobby.

You might just live longer because of it.

- Additional reporting by Courtney Dunlop and The Associated Press

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Kryon Q&A

(13) Question: Dear Kryon, I’m very concerned about the obesity epidemic, particularly in the U.S. Around me I see people getting bigger and more unhealthy, all for the sake of convenience and saving time. You mentioned at one point a famine, and I suspect the famine won’t be from a lack of food, but from an abundance of food that has no nutritional value.

I wonder how we can honor the Earth by eating nothing that comes straight from it? Of course this involves caring for the lands and oceans as part of a bigger issue and making that connection, too. Is this what it will finally take for people to switch to a healthier way of living?

Its amazing how detached people are from the food they eat. We don’t even honor our digestive processes, the way we combine foods. Whatever happened to nutrition? Atkins is no solution; there is no balance in it. Gastric bypass is all about quantity reduction, not quality increase. When will people make the direct connection between what/how they eat and their health? Is a change in diet and lifestyle part of the upcoming shift?

Answer: The shift has little to do with it. It’s a culture-specific problem and has to do with consciousness of health. Go study the cultures on your planet that have very few overweight Humans. Start with the Japanese. They have some of the same western work ethics and live in very sophisticated industrial-based environments. Yet they aren’t overweight. It’s about the core food groups and the combination of them.

"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.….”

Georgia halts executions after lethal drug problem

Yahoo – AFP, 3 March 2015

Opponents of the death penalty hold signs in front of the Supreme
Court in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Washington (AFP) - The US state of Georgia temporarily halted executions Tuesday after the drug used for lethal injections appeared faulty, authorities said.

The decision came a day after Georgia delayed for the second time the execution of Kelly Gissendaner, convicted of conspiring to murder her husband, when the execution team found that the lethal pentobarbital dose appeared cloudy.

Gissendaner's execution had already been delayed for several days because of wintry weather in the southern state.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the scheduled executions of Kelly Renee Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell, have been postponed while an analysis is conducted of the drugs planned for use in last night's scheduled execution of inmate Gissendaner," Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan said.

"The sentencing courts will issue new execution orders when the department is prepared to proceed," she added in a statement.

Georgia houses one of the country's biggest prison systems, supervising nearly 55,000 state prisoners and more than 160,000 people on probation.

Gissandaner would have become the 16th female prisoner to be executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976, compared with 1,387 men who have been put to death during that period, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Georgia has executed 57 prisoners since 1976, including two so far this year.

Prisoner complaints from the southern state had led to the 1972 moratorium on the death penalty, before it was re-established four years later.

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Chile president meets 14-year-old girl asking for permission to die

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has met with 14-year-old Valentina Maureira who has pleaded to let doctors euthanize her. The teenager was suffering from cystic fibrosis.

Deutsche Welle, 1 March 2015

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet visiting Valentina Maureira, a 14-year girl who
suffers cystic fibrosis and asked the Government for permission to die through a
YouTube video

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet went to a hospital on Saturday to visit 14-year-old Valentina Maureira who became a national sensation after she asked to be euthanized by her doctors.

The teenager, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, released a recorded plea on Youtube earlier this week, which went viral. The Chile government denied her the request soon after the video was released.

A visit from the president

The government tweeted about Bachelet's visit and her hour-long conversation with Valentina and her father at the Catholic University hospital in the capital, Santiago.

Valentina came to public attention on Thursday when she posted a video on Youtube, begging the president to allow doctors to take her life.

"I urgently request to speak to the president because I am tired of living with this illness…She can authorize an injection to put me to sleep forever," the teenager said in her video, which went viral on social media sites.

Pdta. Bachelet visitó a Valentina Maureira durante esta mañana. Fue acompañada por la Min. de Salud, Carmen Castillo pic.twitter.com/F59pWrINP0
— Gobierno de Chile (@GobiernodeChile) February 28, 2015

Valentina suffers from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that attacks the lungs and vital organs, making it difficult to breathe and causing recurrent infections. The 14-year-old said she was tired of lack of options for treatment and her low quality of life.

Government refuses plea

Valentina's video triggered a debate on legalizing euthanasia in Chile and although the government expressed sympathy with her plight, officials refused to give in to her request.

"It is impossible to not be overcome by emotion with the girl's request," presidential spokesman Alvaro Elizade said, but he said it was "impossible to grant her wish."

Valentina's father said he was very sad after he heard of his daughter's wish to die, but he understood she was going through a tough time.

"It's very tough. I don't want to be going through this, but I have to respect my daughter's decision. She wants to be at rest," Fredy Maureira said.

mg/bk (AP, AFP)

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"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... The Ethics of Life

You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.

It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.

It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.

But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"

And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?

Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.

When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!

You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.

"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.

There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.

Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Toilets to be upgraded at tourist sites in China

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-01

A renovated bathroom at Guilin Central Square, Guangxi,
Feb. 26. (File photo/Xinhua)

China will build 13,000 new toilets and renovate another 9,000 in 2015 at tourist sites to upgrade the notorious facilities, tourism authorities announced on Thursday.

The campaign is part of China's three-year "toilet revolution" aimed at building a total of 33,000 restrooms and renovating 24,000 by 2017, said Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration.

Li released the target at a national kick-off meeting, adding that insufficient and unhygienic toilets have damaged China's national image and left tourists unhappy.

The official urged local tourism authorities to consider the special needs of the elderly, women, children and disabled when building and renovating toilets.

Over 3.7 billion trips were made to China's tourist sites last year, and some 128 million were from overseas visitors.

A cleaner at work at a toilet in Xujiahui Park in Shanghai, Oct. 21, 2014.
(File photo/Xinhua)

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Ebola survivors commend Chinese medical team

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-03-01

China's medical team at a treatment center in Freetown, Sierra Leone,
Feb. 21. (Photo/Xinhua)

"But for the treatment I received from the Chinese, I should not be alive today," said Memunatu Fofanah when recalling the experience at a Chinese treatment center in Sierra Leone after testing positive for Ebola.

Fofanah, a community health nurse in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, was one of the Ebola survivors thanks to China's aid in consonance with the government and other development partners.

Fofanah said she contracted the Ebola virus through her father, who was very ill when he was brought from the northern part of the country. As a nurse she decided to receive some medical care and was later taken to her health clinic at Upper Allen about 30 km from the city where her father passed away.

A few days later she started feeling sick and developed a high fever, then decided to consult medical attention but was advised to call 117, the Ebola Emergency Response Center.

"I listened to the advice and promptly the command center dispatched an ambulance that conveyed me to the Chinese treatment center at Jui on the outskirts of the city, where I was diagnosed with the Ebola virus," said Fofanah.

"My first week in the hospital was not easy. I lost hope because I had lost considerable weight, was vomiting and could hardly walk. The Chinese started to give me intravenous fluids as well as treatment for the high fever, coupled with words of consolation that I would not die, that 'I would survive," she said.

Fofanah recalled that within two weeks "I must say that I owe my survival to the care and treatment I got at the center, for which I am very grateful."

Like Memunatu Fofanah, all the survivors that spoke to Xinhua had similar stories of harrowing experiences with the dreaded disease and the support from the Chinese treatment center.

Maseray Kamara, Another Ebola survivor who lost her five-month-old child, said it was through this confused state of mind that she probably might have contracted the disease.

Like her compatriots, Kamara got her healing through support and treatment from the Chinese medical team. She explained that she manifested the symptoms a week afterher child's death and was rushed to the Jui treatment center where she was handled with care, noting that they were visited at least two times a day by the Chinese doctors and nurses to administer medicines and psychosocial support.

According to the figures available from the Chinese embassy, the center has treated about 671 patients, among which there are 151 Ebola-positive.

Since the Ebola outbreak, about 8,000 Sierra Leoneans have been infected, of which some 2,000 have survived whilst some 2,859 have succumbed to the dreaded disease, including hundreds of medical personnel.

When the president of the west African state of Sierra Leone reported the first case of the Ebola virus about nine months ago, China was one of the first countries to respond to the call of the west African state by dispatching a plane load of medical supplies including personal protective equipment, medical personnel as well as drugs.

The equipment was also supplemented with two mobile laboratories. The Sierra Leone-Chinese Friendship hospital was immediately transformed into a holding center and later to a treatment center, especially when the disease became endemic.

Duan Xuezhang, a Chinese expert at the treatment center, explained that though Ebola has no known cure, early diagnosis at the treatment center will increase the chances of a patient's survival.

According to him the main problem is "dehydration and infection." Duan noted that when a person is very weak "he or she is susceptible to infection." In this case "the main therapy is fluid resuscitation with supportive treatment."

The Chinese medical team comprises 41 staff members, including 8 doctors, 16 nurses and other supporting staff. They visit the patients two times a day to administer drugs as well as give them psychological and social support for their hope and confidence.

As the country is now recording single digit figures, he advised that "we should not be complacent and ensure all suspected cases are isolated to prevent further spread and ensure that those with the virus are taken to the treatment centers as soon as possible".

He maintained that "the Chinese will be here until Ebola is kicked out of Sierra Leone."