It was Trade-Related
I first heard the term Endocrine Disruptor three years ago while researching the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) also known as the EU – US trade agreement.
US firms wanted to dismantle EU safety standards and make big money selling toxic food and chemicals to 500 million EU citizens.
The agreement has since been torpedoed by the Trump administration — but its legacy lives on.
Breitbart The Case against Sugar
In the Case against Sugar, Science Journalist Gary Taubes talks about Endocrine Disruptors, Empty Calories and the link between the rise in diabetes and obesity and the adoption of a western diet.
KPBS Public Media Endocrine Disruptors increase your family’s cancer risk and can be found in practically everything from plastic wrapping to Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Glyphosate pesticide of which traces can be found in supermarket fruit, vegetables, and processed foods.
www.spiegel.de In 2016 Germany opposed the renewal of Roundup’s 5 year EU licence — at the behest of their coalition partners, the centre left SPD:
How German politics pushed Roundup into the weeds https://t.co/Ebn3pA7xsi
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 25, 2017
But as there isn’t a fully fledged government in Berlin right now, Chancellor Merkel’s acting Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt was able to vote to renew the EU licence behind Merkel and SPD Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks’ back.
Disputed weedkiller given 5 more years after German shift https://t.co/WsSTkAqTSK via @financialtimes
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 25, 2017
Despite being politically toxic only 18 months ago it somehow sneaked through and so the enormous German resistance to TTIP & pesticides finally came to nothing.
Monsanto’s Roundup Glyphosate is an organophosphate.
It shouldn’t feel that weird to see Germany voting to kill people — when it comes to chemical weapons, they wrote the book.
But that’s not to say no-one else tried :
Better Living Through Chemistry
Du Pont’s Slogan “Better Living Through Chemistry” was co-opted by DJ Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim whose fans popped countless chemicals including MDMA, Cocaine, Ketamine and Ecstasy. .
Bayer
German mega-corporation Bayer are in the middle of buying up US-owned Monsanto.
CNBC This transatlantic merger is proving that the renewal of the EU Roundup licence is just TTIP by other means.
And Bayer have form.
They invented Aspirin, and Heroin.
Under the IG Farben label they made Zyglon B, the gas used by the Nazis in the Gas Chambers.
Zyglon B was originally just another pesticide — invented by Fritz Haber’s research group at the IG Farben-owned Degecsh pest control company.
Fritz Haber was German, originally of Jewish background, and won the 1918 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his invention of the Haber-Bosch process which was used for both fertilisers and chemical weapons.
Haber is known as the father of chemical weapons.
His first wife Clara Immerwahr was the daughter of a well to do chemist who operated a beet sugar factory on his estate.
Immerwahr was the first woman in Germany to obtain a PhD in Chemistry. She contributed to Haber’s work but was a pacifist and woman’s rights activist.
She committed suicide in 1915 apparently upset about the role her husband played in overseeing the killing of thousands of soldiers in Belgium in the first known use of chemical weapons as a weapon of mass destruction.
Many of Monsanto and Bayer’s pesticide products double up as chemical weapons.
The following excerpt is from the early 2000s:
In the 1930s, chemists working for the German company Bayer discovered the highly poisonous properties of organophosphate compounds. By then, Bayer had already merged with BASF, Hoechst and other companies to form
the huge chemical conglomerate I.G. Farben; today Bayer is poised to become the worlds largest manufacturer of herbicides and pesticides and a leading source of genetically engineered seed varietieswith its recent takeover of the biotech giant Aventis CropScience. (Aventis is the company responsible for the Starlink variety of insecticidal GE corn, which was never approved for human consumption and thus forced the recall of some 300 name-brand processed food products during 2000-01.) As all of German industry became absorbed into the growing Nazi war machine, Bayers organophosphate compounds were developed simultaneously
as agricultural pesticides and as nerve gases for military use.
Agriculture — War by Other Means
Back in 1998, the Economist didn’t hide it’s enthusiasm for Better Living Through Chemistry.
France & Italy
France and Italy oppose the Roundup licence renewal and both plan to ban the pesticide :
French and Italians sense golden opportunity in glyphosate ban https://t.co/b0da3gFJhq
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 25, 2017
Fury as Emmanuel Macron vows to BAN Roundup weed killer despite revolt in EU https://t.co/Gd8U5S6m2q
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 25, 2017
One Man’s Profit is Another Woman’s Diabetes
According to vegan journalist Jill Ettinger, in her 2012 article From BPA to Glyphosate: What Are the Risks of Endocrine Disruptors? Endocrine Disruptors are everywhere including the air we breathe.
The EU is still trying to limit its citizens’ exposure to Endocrine Disruptors but given the enormous food and agriculture industry lobby, the path has been rocky.
EU plan to Regulate Endocrine Disruptors
Some progress was reported last week, but it’s far too early to celebrate.
Just a few weeks ago, in October, the European Parliament voted against the European Commission’s steps to regulate Endocrine Disruptors.
So, unlike with Roundup, at EU level, the Endocrine Disruptor situation may be moving in the right direction.
Dire Beets
Theresa May was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes in 2014. Sweet tooth?
Theresa May: “Type 1 doesn’t change what you can do” https://t.co/Rju1HxQG53
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 25, 2017
David ‘Sugar Man’ Davis
Brexit Secretary David Davis spent 17 years working at Tate & Lyle whose UK sugar processing operations have since been sold to the American ASR Group.
ASR backed Brexit – for good reason!
the Guardian Davis himself was in the SAS and has degrees in Computing, Molecular Science and Business from Warwick, London Business School, and Harvard.
But he’s not taking Brexit, British interests or information management very seriously:
“I haven’t looked at the impact of Brexit at all”
*David Davis then proceeds to actually fucking giggle* pic.twitter.com/0ILFgMCapR— James Felton (@JimMFelton) December 6, 2017
All this talk of chemistry, the military, and the clown like approach to information management reminds me of another international laughing stock from way back in 2003: Ali Hassan Al-Majid aka Chemical Ali
Sweet Home Alabama
According to the Times, Tate & Lyle switched out of its historic sugar operation in 2010 and now focuses on developing new products including sweeteners, many of which are made in Alabama and delivered to Mexico to go into soft drinks.
www.thetimes.co.uk Tate & Lyle diversified into biomaterials in 2007. They currently specialise in plastics, biofuel and processed foods.
It looks as though, as usual, they are using the same chemicals for both purposes. All of which seem to have an endocrine disruption / metabolic disorder inducing aspect.
Maybe David Davis’s old firm has had a hand in giving Theresa May type 1 diabetes, a metabolic disorder that can be brought on by poor diet.
The chemicals mentioned in their wikipedia entry include:
1,3-Propanediol features mainly in bioprocess engineering, which includes the manufacturing of products such as agriculture, food, feed, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, chemicals, and polymers and paper from biological materials & treatment of waste water.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is used in many products including nappies, replacement hips, 3D printers, tea bags, and e-cigarettes.
From where I stand Polylactic acid has something of the endocrine disruptor about it.
Diabetes is the most common endocrine / metabolic disorder.
Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research This whole Brexit thing is starting to look like a game of Endocrinopoly.
Capital Without Borders
Brooke Harrington’s excellent 2016 book, Capital Without Borders, about the world of Trust and Estate Professionals reminds us that there is more to Brexit than pesticides and sugar.
The Atlantic Brooke Harrington is currently being targeted by the Danish Home Office for sharing her academic work with Danish Policy Makers. Unfair and Surreal.
American professor in Denmark says she’s being targeted by immigration officials for delivering invited lectures https://t.co/44pgoKdmER
— Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 26, 2017
Heretical Finance
We read her book as part of the Heretical Finance Book Club in April. A real eye-opener.
#hereticalfinance reading group discussed 'Capital Without Borders' last night @Goldperc.One of the best🌟 books we've ever debated! @CBScph pic.twitter.com/MqNOADKPEm
— Clea Bourne (@bourne_clea) April 4, 2017
This was last year’s selection. 2018’s will be out soon.
If you’ve got this far, you could probably do with some Parliament / Funkadelic.
Free your Mind and your Ass will follow!
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