For
the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out
the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
(1Timothy
5:18 ESV)
The Laborer
Dear Friends,
Greetings! This introduction will be different than other introductions we have written over the past several years as we wanted to inform our readers a little bit about what goes into the making of this web site each week.
To begin, depending upon the amount of material being processed each week it will take from twenty-five to forty hours each week by the time People of the Keys is updated each Friday or Saturday depending on which part of the world in which you are reading and downloading the material on the site.
Generally, we present between ten to twenty articles each week, sometimes more. For those who are familiar with the web site you will have noticed that we open with articles pertaining directly to, for want of a better word, religious articles, especially articles that deal with prophetic and end time events as related in the Bible.
The person who compiles these articles has studied Bible prophecy for decades and continues to stay in touch with all the latest activities of the worlds leading Bible prophecy experts, meeting with many of them personally. He has also written several original publications including the one that is the basis for the soon coming documentary about "The Coming Temple" and its original location. (Solomon's and Herod's Temples were never on the Dome of the Rock.) This documentary will include interviews with the world's foremost authorities on the topic. It is being edited in Uganda and God willing, will be completed this month, February 2016.)
Following the introductory “religious articles” we generally post articles more of a political nature, but again, normally showing how current events are related to Biblical prophecy.
A current example of this is the war in Syria involving Russia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, etc. all of which figure in end time events and the eventual battle of Armageddon.
The third general area of articles we cover each week could be human interest, or possibly lighter articles, and we generally try to end with relevant articles concerning nutrition or health matters.
For every news article that is picked to put on the site at least ten other articles have been viewed or scanned. That would mean for every ten articles you see on the site one hundred have been viewed and scanned.
Also for every ten articles you see on the site approximately twenty have been downloaded.
These twenty are then read and scrutinized to see how they hold up against the Word of God.
The so called ten articles are then taken from the original web site where they are found and made into individual word based documents. Each article in document form is then cleared of its original formatting and edited.
By editing we mostly mean advertisements removed, links to other articles, any remaining html, etc.
Photos from the articles are also downloaded as well as any video's the articles may contain. The videos contain embedding, this is an example of the embedding for the John Cleese video below:
Toward the end of the week, generally on Thursday, a list of the individual articles is made and put into the order we would like them to appear on People of the Keys.
Once all the articles are assembled into a single document they are saved, and then saved again in the html format.
This is how the heading to the John Cleese article below looks in html:
Once the document in html is completed and checked for errors we then look at the photos to accompany the articles. Many times the photos will need to be resized, cropped, combined with another photo, etc.
On Friday, we upload the completed document, and add any relevant articles from the morning of Friday. We put the document in html format to the site and upload the photos, and occasionally music to a web site we use for this purpose.
The photos are then inserted into the article from which they were originally taken. We try to make every article appear exactly as it did in it original format.
All the articles, photos, videos, and music are then proof read two more times for errors. Occasionally, an error still gets through but then again we have had to correct misspelling in newspapers such as the Guardian and other major newspapers! Ha! We do the best we can.
We then set the time for the new material to appear online. We have at this point still not given the weeks presentation a name, because the introduction, (what you are reading at this very moment) has not yet been completed and proof read. We then pray for an appropriate introductory verse that will represent the weeks introduction and take the title from the verse.
The title and closing is then inserted into the document, given its name and we all breathe a sigh of relief because it is finished for another week.
We
also make sure a new Activated magazine each month is added and
continue to maintain the “Studies” and “Letters”
sections.
Through the week we respond to questions and prayer
requests we get from people who write in, many times regarding
personal problems. Every email is answered as soon as we are able.
The web site itself is maintained by an individual who lives hundreds of miles from the editor of People of the Keys. He has a full time secular job as a top programmer with a large printing firm and donates his time to maintain the People of the Keys web site.
Why are we relating all this to you?
If you value this web site and find it useful to you and others we need your help to continue on. It is very much our burden and desire to continue to bring you People of the Keys. Everyone involved with People of the Keys is a volunteer who donates the time they put into its production.
Up until two years ago we had a patron, a medical doctor, who helped support People of the Keys. She passed away two years ago this coming March and the past two years have been difficult for us in maintaining the web site.
To encourage you to support this we wanted to give you some idea of the fruit statistically of the site. In 2014 and 2015 each month averaged 2,297 unique visitors. Total visitors were much higher, that is people who returned each week for the new posting or maybe multiple visits each week.
We should mention here that we are very thankful for those of you who have helped in the past, some we know to their own hurt. God bless you!
What we need to continue are people who will pledge on a regular monthly basis. We understand completely that some are in situations or countries that make this difficult.
Our budget is very low for all that is involved.
We could make it work with an additional $1000 to $1200 a month.
If we averaged 2,297 visitors each month for 2014 and 2015 we would only need 1/10 of each months unique visitors to pledge just $5 a month or $60 a year.
Will you help us?
We have a Paypal account on People of the Keys web site but if you would like to recommend some other method that would be easier for you we would be happy to look at alternative methods of receiving donations.
Thanks for taking the time to read this introduction and explanation of all that we do here. Keep us in your prayers ...we need them. God bless you.
Robert for People of the Keys
PS: Just a few more stats...this past January 2016 we went over our three millionth hit and we are close to hiting one million pages downloaded. We have also had hits and pages downloaded in 193 countries, almost every country in the world, and 25 territories and provinces.
+++
William Blake
“Behold,
we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of
Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full
of compassion and mercy.”
(James 5:11)
Patience
Of Job
Here is a little something you may not have seen before. The “patience of Job” is a well known catch phrase even amongst those who have never read the Bible let alone the book of Job. The word patience is also sometimes interpreted as “endurance”.
The book Job has forty-two chapters and ends with the following:
“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found [so] fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, [even] four generations. So Job died, [being] old and full of days.” Job 42:12-17
So, who was Job and did the book really end at Job 42:17? If you have the King James Version of the Bible or virtually any other English version of the Bible this is where the book of Job ends.
As we have pointed out on this site in the past, virtually every English version of the Bible was translated from a Masoretic translation of the Old Testament.
“The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE.” Wikipedia
As we have also pointed out there were certain omissions and changes made to the Masoretic translation of the Old Testament from what was known as The Apostles Bible or the Septuagint or the LXX.
One glaring example of this is the omission of the word “Christ” which appears six times in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. See: 1Kings 2:10, 1Kings 2:24, Psalm 2:2, Psalm 20:6, Daniel 9:25, and Amos 4:13.
"This is a very big issue folks! You cannot simply delete the name 'Christ' without completely changing this text and Christ's importance in the original Hebrew Old Testament.
But, was Job 42:17 really the end of the book of Job and Job's story?
Not according to Job 42 in the Septuagint. Job 42 in the Septuagint has additional information:
Verse 17 “And Job died, an old man and full of days: and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.
This man is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia: and his name before was Jobab; and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraam.”
Why would the Jewish Masoretes omit this from the Masoretic translation from which the English versions of the Old Testament are translated including the King James Version?
If you recall when Rebecca of Isaac was pregnant it was with twins Jacob and Esau.
“Abraam begot Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebecca, daughter of Bathuel the Syrian, out of Syrian Mesopotamia, sister of Laban the Syrian. And Isaac prayed the Lord concerning Rebecca his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord heard him, and his wife Rebecca conceived in her womb. And the babes leaped within her; and she said, If it will be so with me, why is this to me? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, There are two nations in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy belly, and one people shall excel the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. And the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered, and she had twins in her womb. And the first came out red, hairy all over like a skin; and she called his name Esau. And after this came forth his brother, and his hand took hold of the heel of Esau; and she called his name Jacob.” Genesis 25:20-26
Did you notice that Rebecca was the daughter of a Syrian not a Hebrew? You'll also recall that Esau being the elder sold his birthright to his brother Jacob and lost his blessing through a deception initiated by his mother Rebecca.
“And Jacob cooked pottage, and Esau came from the plain, fainting. And Esau said to Jacob, Let me taste of that red pottage, because I am fainting; therefore his name was called Edom. And Jacob said to Esau, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die, and for what good does this birthright belong to me? And Jacob said to him, Swear to me this day; and he swore to him; and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.” Genesis 25:29-33
The Deception
“And Isaac said to Jacob, Draw nigh to me, and I will feel thee, son, if thou art my son Esau or not. And Jacob drew night to his father Isaac, and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, for his hands were as the hands of his brother Esau, hairy; and he blessed him, and he said, Art thou my son Esau? and he said, I am. And he said, Bring hither, and I will eat of thy venison, son, that my soul may bless thee; and he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. And Isaac his father said to him, Draw nigh to me, and kiss me, son. And he drew nigh and kissed him, and smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of an abundant field, which the Lord has blessed. And may God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine. And let nations serve thee, and princes bow down to thee, and be thou lord of thy brother, and the sons of thy father shall do thee reverence; accursed is he that curses thee, and blessed is he that blesses thee.” Genesis 27:21-29
Once again, why would the Masoretes leave out this section of the book of Job?
We know that Jacob later had his name changed to Israel and fathered the different tribes which became the nation of Israel and “God's chosen people”.
Now here is a man, Job, who has nothing to do with the nation of Israel and in fact is an Edomite, the offspring of Esau, whom the Israelis basically abhor, but nevertheless is the fifth from Abraham.
Jewish Tradition:
“Jewish commentaries have shed a
negative view on Esau because of his rivalry with Jacob. He is
considered to be a rebellious son who kept a double life until he was
15, when he sold his birthright to Jacob. According to the Talmud,
the sale of the birthright took place immediately after Abraham
died.[25] The Talmudic
dating would give both Esau and Jacob an age of 15 at the time. The
lentils Jacob was cooking were meant for his father Isaac, because
lentils are the traditional mourner's meal for Jews. On that day
before returning, in a rage over the death of Abraham, Esau committed
five sins; he raped a betrothed young woman, he committed murder
(Nimrod), he denied God, he denied the resurrection of the dead, and
he spurned his birthright.”[26][27]
^ Bava Batra 16b.
^ "Babylonian Talmud, Volume - Bava
Basra, page 16b". e-daf.com.
^ "Babylonian Talmud, Volume
- Bava Basra, page 16b (Soncino English translation)" Wikipedia
More of what the Bible says about Esau:
“And these are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom in the mount Seir. This is Esau, the father of Edom.” Genesis 36:9,43
Moses when repeating the law the Israelites were to live by when entering the Promised Land in Deuteronomy chapters twelve through twenty six said of the Edomites:
Ch.23:7 “Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, because he is thy brother.”
The Septuagint version of of the Old Testament clearly states: “It is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.”
What this does is cut out the exclusivity of salvation only belonging to a certain ethnic group of people.
Abraham and Isaac were never Jews or Israelis, they did not exist at the time. They were Hebrews. Esau was the off spring of a Hebrew.
Had Esau not sold his birthright and lost his blessing through Jacob and Rebecca's subterfuge the world would be a very different place.
Could all this also help to explain the verse in Hebrews 11:18; “Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
Jesus
answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.
(John 14:6)
***
CNN
London (CNN)It's a meeting nearly a millennium in the making.
By Richard Greene and Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Pope Francis, head of Russian Orthodox Church to have historic meeting
Updated 7:38 AM ET, Fri February 5, 2016
Pope Francis will meet the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kyril, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, announced Friday.
It will be the first meeting between the heads of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches in history, since the split between Eastern and Western Christianity nearly 1,000 years ago.
Lombardi called the meeting "beautiful news." It will take place on February 12 in Cuba, as the Pope heads for Mexico, he said Friday.
The meeting will come less than a year after Francis' first visit to Cuba as Pope. He played a key role in the recent thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba, which reestablished diplomatic ties last year.
The Russian patriarch was set to visit Cuba this year, according to Russia's state-run Tass news agency.
The press for greater unity between the two sides of Christianity has been going on for more than 100 years, CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen said.
"This was the apple of John Paul's eye, this was his dream," Allen said, referring to Pope John Paul II. "He wanted to go to Moscow and meet the Patriarch of Moscow."
A joint news release from the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow said Francis and Kyril will have a "personal conversation" at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana and will conclude their meeting by signing a "joint declaration."
It's yet another foray into diplomacy and global affairs for the Pope.
Francis used his papal encyclical last year to issue a sweeping critique of economic injustice and environmental exploitation.
***
theguardian
Genetic editing is like playing God – and what’s wrong with that?
British scientists are getting permission to alter embryos’ DNA.
Johnjoe McFadden
‘Gene editing of human embryos to eliminate disease should be considered to be ethically the same as using laser surgery to correct eye defects.’ Photograph: Tetra Images/Getty Images
Tuesday 2 February 2016 08.29 EST
Last modified on Tuesday 2 February 2016 08.51 EST
The announcement that scientists are to be allowed to edit the DNA of human embryos will no doubt provoke an avalanche of warnings from opponents of genetic modification (GM) technology, who will warn that we are “playing God” with our genes.
The opponents are right. We are indeed playing God with our genes. But it is a good thing because God, nature or whatever we want to call the agencies that have made us, often get it wrong and it’s up to us to correct those mistakes.
Sadly, of the half a million or so babies that will be born in the UK this year, about 4% will carry a genetic or major birth defect that could result in an early death, or a debilitating disease that will cause misery for the child and their family. This research will eventually lead to technologies that could edit DNA in the same way that we can edit text – to correct the mistakes before the child’s development goes to its final draft. Its successful implementation could reduce, and eventually eliminate, the birth of babies with severe genetic diseases.
But surely our DNA cannot be compared to the patterns of printer ink on page? Our DNA is considered to be so special that the phrase “it’s in his/her DNA” is said with the same sense of fatalism that our ancestors would have spoken of their fate or their soul. Anti-GM activists, many of whom are devout atheists, often insist that our DNA is somehow special, something donated to us by an all-powerful, wise and benevolent nature, which has taken God’s place as our creator. But nature is just blind chance – mutation – combined with the survival of the fittest. There’s no grand plan and no reason why nature shouldn’t, like the rest of us, occasionally make terrible mistakes. When those errors could lead to terrible human suffering, it is our duty to try to correct them.
Our DNA is just a chemical. Schoolchildren isolate it from cells in the class laboratory and it can be spooled out on a glass rod looking like slimy cotton wool. When dried, it looks like fibrous paper. You can eat it or burn it and it will return to those simple atoms and molecules from which it is made. There is no special magical ingredient between the atoms, no soul, just atoms and space. DNA is the most amazing chemical in the known universe, but it’s just a chemical – made of the same atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen you can find in the air. It is no more spiritual than your fingernails or hair. And we don’t mind clipping those when we need to.
Gene editing of human embryos to eliminate disease should be considered to be ethically the same as using laser surgery to correct eye defects, or a surgeon operating on a baby to repair a congenital heart defect. DNA is just another bit of our body that might go wrong.
Yet gene editing could provide revolutionary benefits to our children. A team based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London recently used gene editing to treat a one-year-old girl with leukaemia, who is now in remission. More technology is in the pipeline. A team based at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported in this week’s Nature Biotechnology that they were able to correct a genetic liver disease in newborn mice. Taking this technology into human embryos could correct devastating genetic diseases in the womb.
But isn’t this a slippery slope to designer babies genetically engineered to be healthier, cleverer or more beautiful than they would otherwise be? Wouldn’t it provide a technology that would only be available to the super-wealthy, potentially creating the kind of divided society that HG Wells envisaged in his futuristic novel, The Time Machine? Perhaps. But let’s worry about the future in the future.
In the present, if those of us with mostly healthy children are worried about the ethics of gene editing, then we should ask the parents of children born with haemophilia, cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy whether they would have used this kind of technology if it had been available to them. If science can be used to eliminate human suffering, then let’s get on with it.
***
MIT Technology Review
Pope Francis Said to Bless Human-Animal Chimeras
A scientist sought the Vatican’s approval for mixing human cells in animal embryos. And the Pope said yes.
By Antonio Regalado on January 27, 2016
A Spanish scientist working at the Salk Institute in California told Scientific American that Pope Francis personally blessed his cutting-edge research to mix human cells into animal bodies.
Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a prominent stem-cell biologist, is engaged in efforts to grow human tissue inside of farm animals such as pigs, sheep, and cows. This type of research is sensitive because scientists have to inject human stem cells into early-stage animal embryos, then try to grow the mixtures inside surrogate animals.
Much of Belmonte’s work occurs in collaboration with a team in the province of Murcia in his native Spain, a sausage- and ham-loving country which is about 77 percent Catholic.
“Spain is a very Catholic country, so we had to go through the Pope. He very nicely said yes.” Belmonte told Scientific American. “Yes. The current Pope. So the Vatican is behind this research and has no problem based on the idea is to help humankind [sic]. And in theory all that we will be doing is killing pigs.”
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican’s scientific body, did not respond to an e-mail seeking to confirm Pope Francis’s position.
After placing human cells into animal embryos, researchers are watching to see what they do. The likely result is that a small percentage of human cells spread throughout the animal’s body. Belmonte’s eventual hope is to channel the human contribution so that it forms a complete human heart or other organ inside a pig or cow. Such an organ could be used to transplant into a needy patient.
While the Catholic Church has opposed research on human embryos, it endorses evolution and generally takes a liberal view on scientific matters. In fact, the Vatican’s position on “human-animal chimeras,” as the mixtures are known, may be more liberal than that of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which in September instituted a ban on funding chimera research until it can weigh ethical questions associated with it.
Attempts to make this sort of human-animal chimera began only recently. Previously, any added human cells would simply die or the embryo would not live. That changed when Belmonte’s lab and that of Israeli scientist Jacob Hanna each developed new ways of cultivating human stem cells to take on a more “naïve,” primitive state that is able to contribute to the animal embryo.
In 2013, Hanna’s lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot showed these naïve cells could contribute to the bodies of fetal mice, resulting in animals with as much as 15 percent human tissue. Scientists predict many other reports discussing human-animal chimeras soon.
In an interview in December, I asked Hanna what Jewish law had to say about human-animal mixtures.
“I’m not sure. I am a Palestinian Christian,” he said.
***
Ancient Origins
BREAKING NEWS: New Telescope Observes Otherwise Invisible Terrestrial Entities with Intelligent Movement
26 JANUARY, 2016 - 16:50 APRILHOLLOWAY
A new report published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Modern Physics has revealed a startling finding – a newly developed telescope with concave lenses has observed, for the first time, entities in our terrestrial environment that are invisible to our eyes and to conventional Galileo telescopes with convex lenses. Even more surprising is the fact that these entities have been observed to move ‘intelligently’ in the night sky in a manner suggesting unauthorized surveillance of the area.
Revolutionary New Santilli Telescope
The discovery was made by Dr Ruggero Santilli, a highly-regarded expert in mathematics, cosmology, and physics, who has been nominated for Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Dr Santilli developed a new type of telescope that was designed to observe antimatter-light. This form of light has a negative index of refraction, thus requiring concave lenses to focus it, rather than the traditional convex lenses used in conventional Galileo telescopes.
Top: A conventional Galileo telescope with convex lenses designed to observe ordinary matter-light. Bottom: The new Santilli telescope with concave lenses designed to observe antimatter-light. Credit: Dr Santilli
Using a pair of Galileo and Santilli telescopes, Dr Santilli found the first known evidence of the apparent existence in our universe of antimatter galaxies, antimatter asteroids and antimatter cosmic rays. These results were published in the journal Clifford Algebras and their Applications in 2014. But that is not all the new telescope observed…
Detection of Invisible Terrestrial Entities
In his paper, Apparent Detection via New Telescopes with Concave Lenses of Otherwise Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITE) , Dr Santilli relates the moment his new telescope found a lot more than he anticipated:
“On September 5, 2015, at 9.30 pm the author aimed a pair of 100 mm Galileo and Santilli telescopes at the night sky over Tampa Bay, Florida, as seen from the NE orientation of the terrace of room 775 of the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg… The tests were merely intended for the search of antimatter galaxies and, consequently, the paired telescopes were aimed at the sky, but sudden clouds halted the tests and the author oriented the pair of telescopes horizontally over Tampa Bay.
To his great surprise, unidentified yet clearly visible entities immediately appeared in the screen of the camera attached to the Santilli telescope, without any enlargement, without the same entities being visible to the naked eyes, and without any corresponding image existing in the screen of the camera attached to the Galileo telescope.
This unexpected discovery triggered a novel systematic use of the pair of Galileo and Santilli telescopes, this time, for the search of entities, here called Invisible Terrestrial Entities, that are invisible to our eyes as well as to our optical instruments with convex lenses, but are otherwise fully visible via the Santilli telescope with concave lenses, and are located in our terrestrial environment.”
Invisible Terrestrial Entities of the First Kind (ITE-1)
Following his first observation, Dr Santilli carried out systematic tests and observations, and came to identify two different types of Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITEs), though he acknowledges that further types may be identified in the future. Both types have been independently verified by colleagues, and their existence was disclosed for the first time at an invited lecture delivered at the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club on September 25, 2015.
He defines the First Kind (ITE-1) as entities that:
are not visible to the human eye or to conventional optical instruments with convex lenses, but are otherwise fully visible via Santilli telescopes with concave lenses;
exist in our terrestrial environment, rather than in deep astro-physical spaces; and
leave “dark images” in the background of digital cameras attached to Santilli telescopes.
Dr Santilli notes that the entities moved slowly and rotated. This particular type of motion excludes impurities in the telescope lens or in the camera as possible interpretations.
He further notes that “the emission of antimatter light does not mean that the entity is made up of antimatter, because the existence of the entities within our atmosphere would imply a cataclysmic explosion due to matter-antimatter annihilation.”
“In short,” writes Dr Santilli, “it appears that ITE-1 consist of matter-entities in our terrestrial environment achieving locomotion via the acquisition of antimatter in their interior with consequential use of matter-antimatter propulsion, and achieve invisibility via the emission of antimatter-light as a sort of exhaust.”
Photographs of ITE-1s. Left and Middle: Captured by Dr Santilli in the night sky over Tampa Bay, Florida on September 5, 2015. Right: Captured by K Brinkman in the night sky over St Petersburg, Florida on September 20, 2015. Credit: Dr Santilli.
Invisible Terrestrial Entities of the Second Kind (ITE-2)
He defines the Second Kind (ITE-2) as entities that: are not visible to the human eye or to conventional optical instruments wish convex lenses, but are otherwise fully visible via Santilli telescopes with concave lenses; exist in our terrestrial environment, rather than in deep astro-physical spaces; and
leave “bright images” in the background of digital cameras attached to Santilli telescopes.
Unlike the ITE-1s, which leave dark images caused by a type of light equivalent to antimatter-light, ITE-2s appear to be composed of matter that leave bright images caused by ordinary light, which possess invisibility due to the “conversation of their index of refraction from a positive to a negative value”.
Dr Santilli notes that the ITE-2s were pulsating and moving systematically backward and forward, suggesting they were “conducting unauthorized surveillance of the Tampa Area solely visible with the Santilli telescope, thus confirming the need for systematic views of sensitive civilian, industrial and military installations”.
Photographs of ITE-2s. Captured by Dr Santilli in the night sky over Tampa Bay, Florida on September 5, 2015. Credit: Dr Santilli.
Photograph of an ITE-2 showing its movement. The entity consists of lights of different colors that are pulsating and move synchronously according to a complex trajectory during the 15 seconds of exposure, including a point in which motion stopped for a few seconds, to resume thereafter.
In his report published in the American Journal of Modern Physics, Dr Santilli explains the significance and potential applications of this revolutionary discovery:
“The writing of this paper has been motivated by the fact that ITE-1 and ITE-2 behave in a manner strongly suggesting the conduction of unauthorized surveillance of our sensitive, civilian, industrial and military installations, thus warranting their societal knowledge.
On scientific grounds, the documentation presented in this paper establishes beyond credible doubt the existence of two new types of light that are totally outside any possibility of treatment via 20th century physical knowledge…
On industrial grounds, the findings presented in this paper establish, also beyond credible doubt, the utility of Santilli telescopes, not only for basically novel astrophysical advances, but also for issues pertaining to personal, industrial and national security.”
Reference:
Ruggero Maria Santilli. Apparent Detection via New Telescopes with Concave Lenses of Otherwise Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITE) . American Journal of Modern Physics. Special Issue: Issue II: Foundations of Hadronic Mechanics.
About Dr. Ruggero Santilli
Dr. Ruggero Santilli was born and educated in Italy where he achieved his Ph.D., the highest possible education in mathematics and physics, as well as a chair in nuclear physics at the Avogadro Institute in Turin. In 1967, Dr. Santilli was invited by the University of Miami in Florida to conduct research for NASA. In 1968, he joined the faculty of Boston University, under partial support from the U.S. Air Force, where he taught physics and mathematics from prep courses to seminar post-Ph.D. courses. From 1974 to 1977 he was a visiting scientist at MIT and from 1978 to 1983 he was a member of the Department of Mathematics of Harvard University under support by the U. S. Department of Energy to study a generalization of quantum mechanics and chemistry needed for new clean energies and fuels. Since 1984. Dr. Santilli has been the author of some 250 technical articles and 18 post Ph.D. level monographs in mathematics, physics, cosmology, superconductivity, chemistry and biology published the world over. He is the founding editor of three journals in mathematics and physics and editor of several others. Dr. Santilli is the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes and since the 80s, has been recommended by scholars around the world to the nominations for the Nobel Prize in physics as well as in chemistry. From 2007 to 2013, Dr. Santilli has been the Head Scientist of Magnegas Corporation that has developed a new gaseous fuels with complete combustion internationally. Currently, Dr. Santilli is the Chairman of the Board and Head Scientist of the new publicly traded company, Thunder Energies Corporation, which is developing the cleanest possible and most efficient possible combustion of fossil or synthetic fuels.
***
YAHOO!NEWS
Israel approves mixed-sex Jewish prayer site at Western Wall
By Dan Williams
Reuters
January 31, 2016
Members of activist group "Women of the Wall" speak to the media following the Israeli government's approval to create a mixed-sex prayer plaza near Jerusalem's Western Wall to accommodate Jews who contest Orthodox curbs on worship by women at the site, in Jerusalem's Old City January 31, 2016.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli government approved on Sunday the creation of a mixed-sex plaza at Jerusalem's Western Wall to accommodate Jews who contest Orthodox curbs on worship by women there.
The wall is revered as a vestige of Judaism's two ancient temples and access to it is segregated by gender. Most religious rites take place in the men's section in accordance with centuries-old Orthodox standards that hold sway in Israel.
The new area will be located at a separate expanse of the wall that, when seen from the plaza looking toward the wall, stands to the right of the current Orthodox-administered compound where men and women will still worship separately.
More liberal streams of Judaism, which outside of Israel have larger followings than Orthodoxy, chafe at the restriction. It is regularly challenged by the activist group "Women of the Wall", sometimes setting off scuffles and police intervention.
Under the plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet over objections from Orthodox members, an old archaeological site will be turned into a plaza where men and women can mix and pray freely.
In remarks broadcast before the 15-to-5 vote, Netanyahu said the plan sought a "solution to the question of the Women of the Wall" and "a compromise on this sensitive issue of a place that is meant to unite the Jewish people".
Welcoming the blueprint, Women of the Wall activist Rabbi Susan Silverman told Reuters: "This is an extremely joyful day."
Natan Sharansky, the head of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency chosen by Netanyahu in 2013 to resolve the dispute, has said the new plaza would not entail structural damage to the nearby al Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest site.
Israel has seen a four-month-old surge of Palestinian street violence fueled in part by Muslim agitation at perceived Jewish encroachment on al Aqsa compound. Israel denies Palestinian allegations it plans to open the compound to non-Muslim prayer.
The mosque compound, wall and several Christian shrines are in Jerusalem's Old City, which Israel captured in the 1967 war and annexed as its capital in a move not recognized abroad.
An Israeli official said the new plaza will take at least a year to complete. Unlike the Western Wall, it will not have a state-employed rabbi, but will be run by a committee under Sharansky.
Plaza regulations will permit bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvahs - Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies for boys and girls, respectively - to be held there.(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Tom Heneghan)
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WND
'GAY' CAMPAIGNER: I WAS WRONG ABOUT CHRISTIAN BAKERS
'I want to defend freedom of conscience, expression and religion'
Published: February 1, 2016
BOB UNRUH
And just ahead of the hearing in Belfast, a prominent “gay” activist has announced an abrupt reversal in his opinion. He now believes Christians have the right to refuse to provide a message with which they ardently disagree.
The owners of the bakery were ordered last year by a court to pay a fine of $750 for “injury to feelings” after they refused to promote homosexuality on their product.
They appealed, and the higher court’s hearing is scheduled Wednesday. The two-day hearing was listed by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan following a ruling from county Judge Isobel Brownlie that the Christian-owned Asher’s Baking Co. violated the nation’s pro-“gay” provisions by refusing to decorate a cake with a “gay marriage” slogan.
At issue is the bakery’s religious and freedom of speech protections under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Similar cases have arisen in the United States, where courts have fined, penalized, threatened and intimidated Christian business operators, including bakeries in Oregon and Colorado and a photographer in New Mexico for refusing to promote homosexuality with their professional talents, as WND’s Big List of Christian Coercion shows.
The Belfast appeal on behalf of the McArthur family, which owns Ashers Baking Co., was pursued by the Christian Institute.
The bakery owners have argued in court they were unaware of any potential customer’s sexual lifestyle choices. They simply could not subscribe to the message.
The same arguments have been raised in American cases.
Now, Peter Tatchell, described as a prominent campaigner on homosexuality, has written in the Guardian that he’s changed his mind.
“Like most gay and equality campaigners, I initially condemned the Christian-run Ashers Bakery in Belfast over its refusal to produce a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan for a gay customer, Gareth Lee. I supported his legal claim against Ashers and the subsequent verdict – the bakery was found guilty of discrimination last year. Now, two days before the case goes to appeal, I have changed my mind. Much as I wish to defend the gay community, I also want to defend freedom of conscience, expression and religion,” he wrote.
“Gareth Lee’s legal case against Ashers was backed by the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland. It argued that the bakery’s actions breached Northern Ireland’s Equality Act and Fair Employment and Treatment Order, which prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the respective grounds of sexual orientation and political opinion. Last May a Belfast court found Ashers guilty of discrimination on both grounds, ordering it to pay Lee £500 compensation,” he wrote.
“I profoundly disagree with Ashers’ opposition to same-sex love and marriage, and support protests against them. … Nevertheless, on reflection the court was wrong to penalize Ashers and I was wrong to endorse its decision,” he wrote.
“The lawsuit against the bakery was well-intended. It sought to challenge homophobia. But it was a step too far. It pains me to say this, as a long-time supporter of the struggle for LGBT equality in Northern Ireland, where same-sex marriage and gay blood donors remain banned. The equality laws are intended to protect people against discrimination. A business providing a public service has a legal duty to do so without discrimination based on race, gender, faith and sexuality.
“However, the court erred by ruling that Lee was discriminated against because of his sexual orientation and political opinions. … His cake request was refused not because he was gay, but because of the message he asked for. There is no evidence that his sexuality was the reason Ashers declined his order,” he wrote.
Such a conclusion is a bad precedent, he said.
“Northern Ireland’s laws against discrimination on the grounds of political opinion were framed in the context of decades of conflict. They were designed to heal the sectarian divide by preventing the denial of jobs, housing and services to people because of their politics. There was never an intention that this law should compel people to promote political ideas with which they disagreed.”
He continued: “This raises the question: should Muslim printers be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed? Or Jewish ones publish the words of a Holocaust denier? Or gay bakers accept orders for cakes with homophobic slurs? If the Ashers verdict stands it could, for example, encourage far-right extremists to demand that bakeries and other service providers facilitate the promotion of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim opinions. It would leave businesses unable to refuse to decorate cakes or print posters with bigoted messages.”
The Christian Institute recently posted a video of the key managers of the bakery, Daniel and Amy McArthur, explaining that the lower court decision appeared to have been made before evidence was presented.
“They wanted to teach us a lesson. … If you’re a Christian, don’t bring it into work,” they said.
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SPUTNIK
French TV Channel Releases Maidan Documentary Despite Kiev's Protest
Canal+ released the new documentary "Les Masques de la Revolution" (The Masks of Revolution) about 2014 Maidan events in Ukraine.
ANDREY STENIN
10:46 02.02.2016(updated 11:06 02.02.2016
Kiev Asks French TV Channel to Take Maidan Documentary Off the Air
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – French TV Channel Canal+ released the new documentary "Les Masques de la Revolution" (The Masks of Revolution) about 2014 Maidan events in Ukraine despite Kiev's request to take it off the air.
The film was broadcast on Monday at 10.30 p.m. local time (21:30 GMT).
The synopsis to "The Masks of Revolution" directed by Paul Moreira as posted on the Canal+ website reads that the movie presents a special investigation into the events that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014. In particular, it portrays the actions by far-right radical groups backed by the United States and the violence in the Ukrainian southern city of Odessa in May, 2014 incited by nationalists.
"Paul Moreira reveals the real faces of the Ukrainian revolution," the press review by the Telecable Sat broadcaster reads.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian Embassy in France in Paris asked Channel Canal+ not to broadcast the film as it gives the viewer "a false picture on the situation in Ukraine," in a message posted on the diplomatic mission's page on Facebook, which was later deleted.
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BIZARRE VIDEO TEACHES FINNISH WOMEN TO USE ‘THE FORCE’ TO DEFEND AGAINST RAPISTS
Hilarious clip suggests invisible energy field can make attackers back away
Paul Joseph Watson - FEBRUARY 3, 2016
In the aftermath of the mass molestation of women in Cologne by migrants on New Years’ Eve, Finnish police have released a bizarre video which teaches women to use ‘the force’ to deter rapists and robbers.
In the absence of being allowed to carry guns, tasers or pepper spray, the clip simply advises women to hold their hands out to stop a would-be sex attacker in the belief that some kind of invisible energy force is enough to make the perpetrator back away.
It is important to emphasize that this is NOT a satire. It is posted on the official Facebook page of top Finnish broadcaster Yle Oulu.
The video also educates women that swinging their handbag is also a sufficient way to make a determined sexual predator lose his nerve.
The post is accompanied by an article which explains how interest in self-defense classes has exploded amongst women in Finland in the aftermath of a rape epidemic that has accompanied the arrival of millions of predominantly Muslim migrants into Europe.
The article advises women that, “The best way to self-defense is not karate, but to run away. Whenever possible, seek to resolve the situation by leaving the scene.”
Like other Scandinavian countries, Finland is currently enjoying the benefits of “cultural enrichment’ by way of a migrant crime wave that is so endemic, Finnish cops have been ordered by the country’s national police board not to publicly identify migrants as criminal suspects over concerns that doing so would encourage a ‘racist’ backlash against asylum seekers.
Following the mass sexual assault of women in Cologne and other German cities on New Years’ Eve, Mayor Henriette Reker was condemnedafter she released a “code of conduct” for women urging them to fend off rapists by keeping them at “arms length”.
As we reported yesterday, a Mayor in the German town of Bad Schlema prompted fury when he responded to a grandfather’s concern about young girls being sexually harassed by migrants by responding; “don’t provoke them”.
Sales of firearms, pepper spray and other weaponry have been surging in countries like Germany and Austria as reports of violent attacks being perpetrated by migrants continue to emerge.
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Zero Hedge
JOHN CLEESE: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WILL LEAD TO AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE
The very essence of his trade — comedy — is criticism
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
John Cleese says political correctness has gone too far, especially on America’s college campuses, where he will no longer go to perform. As BigThink reports, the very essence of his trade — comedy — is criticism and that not infrequently means hurt feelings. But protecting everyone from negative emotion all the time is not only impractical (one can’t control the feelings of another), but also improper in a free society.
Cleese, having worked with psychiatrist Robin Skynner, says there may even be something more sinister behind the insistence to be always be politically correct.
“If you start to say we mustn’t, we mustn’t criticize or offend them then humor is gone. With humor goes a sense of proportion. And then as far as I’m concerned you’re living in 1984.”
157 seconds of Python-esque reality from Mr Cleese on just how silly all this PC-ness really is…
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RT
'Cancer cells simply melt away': Miracle drug amazes Australian researchers after lengthy trials
Published time: 28 Jan, 2016 07:57
Cancer patients are finally catching a break, as Australian researchers have tested a miracle drug that leads to big improvement in a majority of cases, and total recovery in some. The drug targets a specific protein that helps cancer cells survive.
The Melbourne-based trial took place over four years and tested 116 patients. It was shown by researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre that the drug Venetoclax can greatly reduce cancer blood cells.
Positive results were seen in 79 percent of cases involving patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Some patients who had previously undergone treatment were left as good as new after agreeing to the new pill trials.
This is indeed historic news, as it marks the first trial of a medicine that is the result of three decades of research. "Here we are a bit under 30 years later in collaboration with WEHI and pharmaceutical companies here and in the US having proved that's achievable," head of haemotology, Professor John Seymour, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"This is a completely new class of drugs and there is no other drug or medicine previously available that has had the ability to inhibit this BCL-2 protein," he said, adding that the drug’s benefits also spread to other forms of cancer and leukemia than those tested.
Their results are published Thursday in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.
Success stories were heard from many chronically sick patients. One, Rodney Jacobs, 63, who owns a record shop in Melbourne, told the newspaper he was referred to the trial in 2012 after other therapies, including chemotherapy. Jacobs could not get a break.
"It was looking pretty bleak at that stage," he told the paper. "The results have been nothing short of stunning... I've had little or no side effects and I slowly got myself back to work with my business and slowly but surely I have a relatively normal life."
Roberts explained how the drug works, and it has to do with a specific protein called BCL-2, which helps cancer cells survive, making them simply “melt away.” It was first discovered in the 1980s, but scientists couldn’t find an inhibitor for it.
"I think this drug is going to be very significant and I think these results are significant in themselves because they show in real people exactly what the potential of this can be," Roberts says. "Many of the people who achieved a complete remission are still in a complete remission more than a year later."
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Medical Daily
Growing A Beard May Protect Men From Bacteria And Their Infections, Thus Promoting Good Health
Feb 1, 2016 05:36 PM By Samantha Olson
Beards may serve a perhaps surprising hygienic purpose, according to a new study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection. A team of researchers combed through the beards of hospital workers and compared bacteria levels to their clean-shaven hospital workers. Their findings may encourage men to flaunt their facial hair.
For the experiment, researchers swabbed the beards of 408 male hospital workers from two different teaching hospitals in 2013. Next, they compared the prevalence of certain bacterial strands in beards to the clean-shaven cheeks of their male hospital coworkers. Clean-shaven men were three times more likely to carry harmful bacteria, including Methicillin-resistant Staphlyococcus aureus (MRSA), than their bearded counterparts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MRSA is a common and dangerous hospital-acquired skin infection that’s resistant to many antibiotics currently available today. Researchers also found men without any facial hair are 10 percent more likely to carry patches of MRSA on their faces.
"Our study suggests that facial hair does not increase the overall risk of bacterial colonization compared to clean-shaven control subjects," the study’s authors wrote. "Clean-shaven control subjects exhibited higher rates of colonization with certain bacterial species."
Researchers suspect it has to do with the “microtrauma” men experience when they shave. The repeated abrasions that occur day after day help bacterial colonies grow and spread on the skin. But according to another experiment conducted in 2014, another theory is that the beards may be able to fight infection.
Dr. Adam Roberts, a microbiologist at the University College London, swabbed a random assortment of beards and placed the samples in petri dishes. He was able to grow 100 different kinds of bacteria out of the beard samples. But Roberts found a presence of microbes seemed to be destroying all other bacteria in the petri dishes. He isolated the microbe and placed it in a separate petri dish with Escherichia coli, more commonly referred to as E. coli, and found it was able to effectively kill the bacterium.
Meanwhile, a previous experiment demonstrated how beards harbor more bacterium than those with clean shaven faces. A beard swap test conducted by reporters at Action 7 News in Albuquerque, N.M., who teamed up with Quest Diagnostics, revealed men’s facial hair contained the same bacteria typically found in intestines and fecal matter. Beards can trap dirt and germs more easily, but the truth is that as long as proper hygiene is maintained, most men’s beards contained normal levels of bacteria. Keeping clean and not clean shaven could be the trick to the healthiest faces.
Source: Sakai Y, Qin L, and Miura M, et al. Successful infection control for a vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus auereus outbreak in an advanced emergency medical service centre. Journal of Hospital Infection. 2016.
Wakeam E, Hernandex RA, Rivera Morales D, Finlayson SR, Klompas M, and Zinner MJ. Bacterial ecology of hospital workers’ facial hair: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Hospital Infection. 2014.
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Natural News
WashPost goes full retard, claims kale isn't healthy and there's no such thing as healthy food at all
Saturday, January 23, 2016 by: Harold Shaw
(NaturalNews) On January 17, Michael Ruhlman published an article in The Washington Post, where he attempted to demonstrate the ignorance of American consumers in regard to nutritional matters and healthy eating. The hook for his shabby argument was, as the title suggested, that no food, not even kale, is healthy.
What he meant by this is that food can only be nutritious and only us, human beings, can be healthy. According to him, stating otherwise is a cause for confusion and a means for food production companies to manipulate the masses. Unfortunately, most of Ruhlman's article and especially his word play on "healthy food" are nothing more than a screaming logical fallacy, quite possibly resulting from the author's failure to consult an accurate dictionary on the matter.
The issue with kale...
"I submit to you that our beloved kale salads are not 'healthy.'" This is Ruhlman's bold statement about one of the healthiest greens we know and love. And yes, we can call it "healthy," at least according to every dictionary we have ever consulted. According to Merriam-Webster, healthy can also mean "good for your health." Dictionary.com, which defines healthy as "conducive to good health," also seems to agree on the matter. The same holds for the Online Cambridge Dictionary, as well as for any other dictionary that defines the term.
In the attempt to strengthen a linguistically feeble argument, the WashPost author commits a logical fallacy. He argues that kale is not healthy because "[i]f all you ate was kale, you would become sick." This, of course, is a slippery slope fallacy. It assumes that just because we believe kale is healthy and we make it a part of our diets, we will somehow end up eating only kale and become sick. As a result, kale is bad for us. Really?
Hold on! It gets worse...
Just when you think you've heard it all, Ruhlman continues by arguing that fat is good and that the American consumers are fools for trying to keep it out of their diets. And he's not talking about nuts, seeds and olive oil, but about full-fat milk and pork cracklings.
Of course, we ought to know that many unsaturated fats are essential to our health and support several bodily functions. With recent studies, we've even come to discover that saturated fats have a place in our diets. But is it really reasonable to equate a healthy kale salad with pork rinds? Is it a responsible statement that we should replace the first with the latter? On the contrary, Ruhlman's point is a fallacious sweeping generalization that attacks everything currently deemed healthy and proposes dubious alternatives purely for their shock value.
Something to salvage
Especially in an article that focuses so much on the subtle meaning of words, a statement like Ruhlman's "[F]at isn't bad; stupid is bad" has absolutely no place. It is because of this appallingly disrespectful attitude, which simply interchanges words like ignorance and stupidity, that we find it difficult to salvage something positive from this WashPost fiasco.
It's a shame, really, that the WashPost author didn't stick to his initial point, but attempted to shock through inappropriate language and poor word-play instead. At the end of the day, we are indeed faced with the issue that food labels are becoming increasingly difficult to read. We find ourselves struggling to understand intentionally obscure terms like "mechanically separated meat" or "fat-free half-and-half," and we sometimes take for granted that a product is "healthy" and "all-natural."
In a world where a staggering number of food producers see human beings only as potential sales and flashy advertising addicts, we have to personally double-check everything we eat.
That is the healthy thing to do.
Sources include:
WashingtonPost.com
MedicalNewsToday.com
WestonAPrice.org
LogicalFallacies.info
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NaturalBlaze
Coca-Cola Funded Study Claims Diet Soda May Be Healthier Than Water
POSTED ON
JANUARY 27, 2016
By Carey Wedler
A new study claiming diet beverages may be more beneficial to weight loss than water was funded by Coke, Pepsi, and other soft drink conglomerates. The analysis, published in November in the International Journal of Obesity by a professor at the University of Bristol, concluded that low energy sweeteners (LES) in place of sugar “in children and adults, leads to reduced EI [energy intake] and BW [body weight], and possibly also when compared with water.”
The study, a “systematic review” titled, “Does low-energy sweetener consumption affect energy intake and body weight?” disclosed it was partly funded by the International Life Sciences Institute-Europe (ILSI). Though the name seems neutral — and its board of directors includes qualified scientists — other members’ positions on the board suggest ulterior motives. Doctors from Nestle, Mars, Unilever, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola serve on ILSI’s board of directors. Further, these directors elect the board’s officers, three of five of whom represent corporations.
The lead scientist in the study, Dr. Peter Rogers, a professor of biological psychology at Bristol University, is also the co-chair of ILSI’s Eating Behaviour and Energy Balance Task Force. That task force is populated by doctors representing companies like DuPont, the notorious chemical giant, and Johnson & Johnson. The task force’s chair is a doctor from Unilever, while the Vice-Chair is a doctor from Nestle.
Further, as Consumerist detailed:
“[O]ne of the researchers himself is an employee of ILSI Europe, while the study’s lead author previously received research funding from a group called ‘Sugar Nutrition, UK,’ an industry lobbying group formerly known as the British Sugar Bureau. Others on the team have previously been paid for research by the Dutch Sugar Bureau, UK sweetener brand Canderel, or are — as disclosed at the end of the study — ‘employees and shareholders of companies that manufacture products containing sugars and low-energy sweeteners.’”
While the study disclosed it was partially funded by ILSI and other sugar interests, it failed to note that each co-author of the analysis was individually paid €750, or about $850. Additionally, in a press release, the University of Bristol failed to acknowledge the study’s industry funding. As the Sunday Times reported, when asked, the university said “other organisations had supported the work and it had not provided details of funding for ‘reasons of space.’”
Unsurprisingly, the analysis, which surveyed scientific literature on the subject published through February of last year, employed questionable methodology. As the Independent explained:
“Although more than 5,500 papers were reviewed, the comparison of diet drinks with water was based on just three. Two did not find any significant statistical difference in weight loss, and only one paper, funded by the American Beverage Association, found that those drinking diet drinks were more likely to lose weight.”
The American Beverage Association includes members like Coca Cola and Pepsi, and its study was criticized for the apparent conflict of interest.
Responding to criticism of the paper currently in question, a spokesperson for the University pointed out that it was peer-reviewed before publication:
“This research was published in the International Journal of Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal, which means the data and conclusions have been scrutinized by other scientists. We therefore stand by the findings. It was funded by a range of bodies including the NHS and European Union, as well as ILSI Europe,” a statement said. Though the statement seems reasonable, it is worth noting that the peer-to-peer review process has been criticized in recent years for failing to adequately evaluate the merits of scientific papers.
Regardless, a cardiologist and advisor to the National Obesity Forum, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, discounted the University of Bristol study’s conclusions. “To suggest that diet drinks are more healthy than drinking water is laughable unscientific nonsense,” he told the Independent. Multiple studies have found a link between diet drinks and weight gain, as well as other life-threatening ailments.
Criticism regarding the integrity of Rogers’ study parallels similar skepticism of corporate-funded scientific research. Late last year, following widespread outrage, the University of Colorado’s School of Medicinereturned $1 million donated by Coca Cola, which had granted the money to establish a group intended to promote diet and exercise while downplaying the role of sugary drinks in the obesity epidemic. Though Coke feigned a hands-off approach in its relationship with the group, leaked emails showed they viewed the opportunity as a business strategy. Coke’s chief health and science officer, Rhona Appelbaum, wrote, “Akin to a political campaign, we will develop, deploy and evolve a powerful and multi-faceted strategy to counter radical organizations and their proponents.” She has since resigned.
The University of Bristol’s study is only one in a growing list of purported scientific research funded by corporate behemoths and intended to serve their interests. It was recently revealed, for example, that Monsanto funded herbicide studies the EPA used in its decision to approve them as “safe.” More generally, some scientists have condemned what they view as the corporate corruption of scientific research.
Indeed, Coke’s chief executive, Muhtar Kent, recently said the company has “spent almost $120 million since 2010 to pay for academic health research and for partnerships with major medical and community groups involved in curbing the obesity epidemic,” reported the New York Times. Whether those studies actually serve their stated purpose or promote a profit-driven agenda is debatable, to say the least.As Dr. Malhotra said of Dr. Rogers’ recent analysis, “If you want good science you cannot allow corporate sponsorship of research.”
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