Byron Katie: Question Your Thoughts and End Your Suffering

Hidden and Under Your Nose at the Same Time...

The meaning of the word 'Ascension'...

Why is This Transformational Process Called “Ascension”?

Depiction of the Light Body or Merkabah

This is one of a series of short, introductory articles on Ascension.
“Ascension” is the name given to the process that forms the culmination of this age or cycle. I’ve seen descriptions of the end times since the 1870s when the spirit teacher “Imperator” (the prophet Malachi) spoke through Rev. Stainton Moses. (1) Subsequent sources such as the Bulgarian master Beinsa Douno, (2) the British Spiritualist guide Silver Birch, (3) and others have also discussed the New Era that’s coming.

The Company of Light (ascended masters, galactics, and celestials) chose the word  to refer to the shift or transformation that will happen on or before Dec. 21, 2012.

The first time I saw the word “Ascension” used was by Sananda, the exalted spirit who often spoke through Jesus and who now commands the Galactic Federation in the Ascension process.  Sananda addressed a class of lightworkers in 1990 who were destined to be early ascenders and had this to say of it.

“These times are quite extraordinary. There is an incredible amount of growth available. The opportunity to take a quantum leap into higher consciousness is now here for you.” (4)

He went on to describe what Ascension was.

“What is Ascension? It is a great leap of experience on every level of your being. In general you could say that it is a leap from third dimensional reality into a fifth dimensional or higher state of consciousness. … You might say that the fifth dimension or higher, the ascended state, is a state of increased frequency of vibration. It is as if you have a prism and you shine white light through the prism, breaking it into many various colors, various wavelengths of light. You could day that the third dimensional existence as you know it relates to that visible spectrum of light that you can see with your eyes, from the violet through the other colors.

“Ascension is a matter of going beyond this limited spectrum of experience. The nature of the universe does not change so much. The laws of physics do not change so much. But you expand and increase your frequency of vibration and your consciousness to a point where you can see those colors and move into those realms that are now invisible to you.” (5)

The Company of Light chose the word “Ascension” to describe a change of dimensionality. The metaphor casts that change as movement upwards; that is, from a lower to a higher dimension or density.  Spiritual teacher Matthew Ward explained that we don’t really climb from plane to plane as if ascending a mountain.

“Although this movement is into planes of successively lighter energy, not into progressively higher elevations such as climbing a stepladder or a mountain, souls’ growth in conscious awareness and spiritual clarity can be thought of as upward. Thus ascension is the most descriptive term for this advancement.” (6)

SaLuSa of Sirius, a spokesperson for the Galactic Federation, says of Ascension that “you rise up higher”  (7) or “you rise up into the higher dimensions.” (8) Our challenge, he says, is “reaching up for the Light.” (9) Ascension, he says, is “a wonderful process…, one that is intended to lift you up to levels that are more in line with your true selves.” (10)

The ascended masters Maitreya and Buddha are cited as describing Ascension this way as well.

“Know that the great Resurrection Dispensation is now in full effect for the Planet Earth and all upon her. All who choose will rise up with the Earth into the Higher Dimensions.” (11)

The master St. Germain also spoke of our “opportunity to leave duality for good and to fully rise up into the Light.”  (12)

Our current Ascension to the Fifth Dimension is part of an ongoing journey of Ascension that will not stop until we finally merge with the God from whom we came, as SaLuSa tells us: “Ascension … will never cease until you return to the absolute Source.” (13)

Ascension is not something new. Once we transition to the planes on the other side of death, we ascend all the time, although we may not use that particular word to describe our forward movement. We progress from one realm to another which is what the word “Ascension” points to.

Here is Frederic Myers, having ascended from the Fourth to the Fifth Dimension on the spirit side of life, telling us that the process of Ascension is continuous and involves choice.

“Between each plane there is this lapse into apparent oblivion, a stilling of all processes, a great calm. … Here the soul seems to pause. Slowly, however, vision returns, the traveller perceives, imaged upon the glimmering sea of eternity, all his experiences on previous planes; all the past images that make up the story of his life are spread before him. He studies them in the light of his Unifying Principle or spirit. They rouse, according to his nature, his varying desires, intellectual and emotional.

“He knows then that he must choose either to go forward or backwards. The spirit actually forces the choice.” (14)

And here is T.E. Lawrence actually describing an Ascension on the Astral Plane, dissimilar to ours in that the individual does not keep his lower-dimensional body as we will but sloughs it off. I’m not clear that Ascension for us will exactly follow the contours of Ascension for Dr. G.

“I had heard about this second death and transition to the next sphere…. Now it seems that I may be privileged to watch it happening to another.” (15)

“The end came suddenly. I called on [Dr. G] and was told that he was sleeping. We stood around and watched his still form and the light which waxed and waned there. In a breathtaking second the change came. The light gathered itself together and burnt itself to a keen thought of light so intense and inward that we gasped and turned aside. Then it had gone and only a wraith of our friend remained which shrank away and disappeared as we watched.

“We sat speechless, absorbed in the beauty and meaning of the transition. It was long before anyone broke the silence and then one said: ‘I have heard that some time is needed for a spirit to get used to the new conditions, just as we needed time to adjust when we first came here, so we must not expect our friend to come to us yet. I suggest that when an interval has elapsed we should meet here again and wait and hope for his coming.’ We agreed to do this and went off full of thought to our various occupations. (16)

“Dr. G. has kept his promise to come to us but he appeared when we were least expecting him. Some few of us were sitting quietly talking when his voice suddenly took up the parable and as we looked up, startled, we saw the outlines of a form which speedily filled in and took substance and there he was among us again.

“He brought with him an exalted air and we felt his presence as a spiritual baptism, a stream of pure joy absorbed hungrily by our thirsty beings. Light and happiness glowed up in us too with the pleasure of heightened being. He stayed only a short while … and left us again.” (17)

We are told that we too will feel this exalted air when we are in the presence of exalted beings like the galactics or the ascended masters of Earth.

So Ascension may be a new process to us, but it is an ancient and well-known process to spirits and galactics. It’s simply that we’ve forgotten all the times we’ve ascended in the past. But our memory will return at some point in the near future. And when it does, we’ll see that “Ascension” is one name, and the name that the Company of Light prefers to use, for a process of spiritual evolution which is the mainspring for our progress from God back to God again.

Footnotes

(1) See “Imperator’s ‘New Revelation,” at http://stevebeckow.com/2012-history-4/imperators-new-revelation/ and “Imperator’s ‘New Revelation’” (a dictionary of quotations) at http://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/nmh/imperator1.html
(2)”Beinsa Douno’s ‘New Epoch,” at http://stevebeckow.com/2012-history-4/beinsa-dounos-new-epoch/
(3) “Silver Birch on ‘The New World,’” at http://stevebeckow.com/2012-history-4/silver-birch-on-the-new-world/and “About Silver Birch and His New World,” at http://stevebeckow.com/2012-history-4/silver-birchs-new-world-2/
(4) Sananda in Eric Klein, The Crystal Stair, Livermore: Oughten, 1992; c1990, 13.
(5) Ibid., 14-5
(6) Matthew’s Message, Aug. 13, 2010, at http://www.matthewbooks.com/mattsmessage.htm
(7)  SaLuSa, Apr. 3, 2009, at http://www.treeofthegoldenlight.com/First_Contact/Channeled_Messages_by_Mike_Quinsey.htm
(8) SaLuSa, April 6, 2011.
(9) SaLuSa, Apr. 19, 2010.
(10) SaLuSa, Apr. 19, 2010.
(11) “A Message from Maitreya and Buddha,” April 1, 2009, through Marlene Swetlishoff, at http://www.therainbowscribe.com/
(12)  St. Germain, June 25, 2008, through Mike Quinsey at http://www.treeofthegoldenlight.com/First_Contact/Channeled_Messages_by_Mike_Quinsey.htm
(13) SaLuSa, March 26, 2010.
(14) Frederic W.H. Myers through Geraldine Cummins, medium. The Road to Immortality. Being a description of the after-life purporting to be communicated by the late F. W. H. Myers [Frederic William Henry Myers, 1843-1901]. Located at http://www.trans4mind.com/spiritual/cummins/cummins1.html, n.p.
(15) T.E. Lawrence through Jane Sherwood, medium, Post-Mortem Journal. Communications from T.E. Lawrence. London: Spearman, 1964, 77.
(16) Ibid., 78-9.
(17) Ibid., 83.

 http://stevebeckow.com/ascension/

Truth Clears the Way for Healing and a much more Harmonious future...

13 toxins and poisons in your environment. These are things everyone should know about...

By Jonathan Elinoff

This list of 13 items was compiled to show others that our environment is not as safe as people hope it to be.  What is more disturbing is that every single item listed is man-made and has been known to be harmful since it was injected into our lives.  Activists fought against it then, they have since, and they remain fighting against these to this day.

Not included in this list are others that you might want to check out as well;  Such as:

    High Fructose Corn Syrup in Almost Every Product on the Market
    Acrylamide in Most Food Products Like Coffee, Frozen Frech Fries
    Organochlorines
    Dioxins
    Cadmium
    Mercury Levels in Some Vaccines Used as a Preservative
    Sodium Nitrate used in Meat as a Preservative
    Melamine in Chinese Imported Food Products
    Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) used in Most Chip Products, Fast Food (Is a Neuro-toxin)

1. DDT
DDT was supposed to be the magic bullet vs. the scourge of insect-borne diseases like malaria. Discovered in 1873, DDT (short for the less catchy dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) wasn't used widely until 1939, when Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller noted its effectiveness as a pesticide during World War II, a discovery that earned him a Nobel Prize in 1948. After the war, use exploded: from 1942 to 1972, some 1.35 billion lb. of DDT were used in the U.S.

But absent from the DDT mania was consideration of the environmental effects of dumping millions of pounds of potent pesticides each year. Rachel Carson's seminal 1962 environmental tract Silent Spring was the first to call attention to the nasty little fact that DDT produced fertility and neurological problems in humans and accumulated up the food chain in wildlife, poisoning birds. Use of the compound plummeted, and in 1972, DDT was banned in the U.S. entirely.
Effects on human health

Potential mechanisms of DDT on humans are genotoxicity and endocrine disruption. DDT may have direct genotoxicity, but may also induce enzymes that produce other genotoxic intermediates and DNA adducts. It is an endocrine disruptor; The DDT metabolite DDE acts as an antiandrogen (but not as an estrogen). o,p'-DDT, a minor component in commercial DDT has weak estrogenic activity.
Acute toxicity

DDT is classified as "moderately toxic" by the United States National Toxicology Program (NTP) and "moderately hazardous" by WHO, based on the rat oral of 113 mg/kg. DDT has on rare occasions been administered orally as a treatment for barbiturate poisoning.
Chronic toxicity
Diabetes

Organochlorine compounds, generally, and DDT and DDE, specifically, have been linked to diabetes. A number of studies from the US, Canada, and Sweden have found that the prevalence of the disease in a population increases with serum DDT or DDE levels.
Developmental and reproductive toxicity

DDT and DDE, like other organochlorines, have been shown to have xenoestrogenic activity, meaning they are chemically similar enough to estrogens to trigger hormonal responses in animals. This endocrine disrupting activity has been observed toxicological studies involving mice and rats, and available epidemiological evidence indicates that these effects may be occurring in humans as a result of DDT exposure. There is therefore concern that DDT may cause developmental and reproductive toxicity.
Other

Occupational exposure to DDT (either as a farmer or a malaria control worker) has been linked to:

    Neurological problems
    Asthma

Carcinogenicity

DDT is suspected to cause cancer. The NTP classifies it as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen", and the EPA classifies DDT, DDE, and DDD as a class B2 "probable" human carcinogens. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it is as a "possible" human carcinogen. These evaluations are based mainly on the results of animal studies.

There is epidemiological evidence (i.e. studies in humans) that DDT causes cancer of the liver, pancreas and breast. There is mixed evidence that it contributes to leukemia, lymphoma and testicular cancer.
Breast cancer

The question of whether DDT or DDE are risk factors of breast cancer has been the subject of numerous investigations. While individual studies have come to conflicting conclusions, the most recent reviews of all the evidence conclude that exposure to DDT before puberty increases the risk of breast cancer later in life. Until recently, almost all studies measured DDT or DDE blood levels at the time of breast cancer diagnosis or after. This study design has been criticized, since the levels of DDT or DDE at diagnosis do not necessarily correspond to the levels present in a woman's body at the time when her cancer first started. Such studies have thus yielded conflicting results and taken as a whole "do not support the hypothesis that exposure to DDT is an important risk factor for breast cancer." The studies of this design have been extensively reviewed.
2. Leaded Gasoline

Pull in to the local gas station and every pump has something in common. "Unleaded" is the new craze. For nearly six decades, gasoline companies ignored the known dangers associated with lead to get rich. Tetraethyl lead boosted the octane levels in auto fuel, but there was speculation surrounding the safety of that decision from Day One. In the Nov. 10, 1924, issue of TIME, a report showed that 35 men at the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey had come down with an "occupational disease." Symptoms ranged from insomnia to low blood pressure, all at the hands of lead poisoning. The EPA completed a full phaseout of lead gasoline in 1986, ending the quest to trade steady health for steady sales.

Qualms about leaded gasoline began with the environmentalists and health professionals. Apparently, leaded gasoline was incompatible with catalytic converters installed in many on-road vehicles being driven. Catalytic converters are devices used to reduce the toxicity levels of automobile emissions. They are, however, ineffective in the presence of lead due to a chemical alteration that results from their interaction. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stepped in quickly to regulate amounts of auto exhaust, leading to the general disapproval of leaded gasoline use.

Moreover, health professionals determined that consumption of lead products, including leaded gasoline, correlated with the amount of lead found in the human bloodstream. This can cause lead poisoning, a condition that primarily causes neurological damage, gastrointestinal discomfort, and cognitive impairment in children.

3. Lead Paint

Lead paint or lead based paint (LBP) is paint containing lead, a heavy metal, that is used as pigment, with lead(II) chromate and lead(II) carbonate being the most common. Lead is also added to paint to speed drying, increase durability, retain a fresh appearance, and resist moisture that causes corrosion. In some countries lead continues to be added to paint intended for domestic use  whereas in others regulation exists that prohibits this, though lead paint may still be found in older properties painted prior to the introduction of such regulation e.g. in the U.S. and the U.K. and Australia. Paint with significant lead content is still used in industry and by the military. For example, leaded paint is sometimes used to paint roadways and parking lot lines.

Although lead improves paint performance, it is a dangerous substance. It is especially damaging to children under age six whose bodies are still developing. Lead causes nervous system damage, stunted growth, and delayed development. It can cause kidney damage and affects every organ system of the body. It also is dangerous to adults, and can cause reproductive problems for both men and women.
One myth related to lead-based paint is that the most common cause of poisoning was eating leaded paint chips. In fact, the most common pathway of childhood lead exposure is through ingestion of lead dust through normal hand-to-mouth contact during which children swallow lead dust dislodged from deteriorated paint or leaded dust generated during remodeling or painting. Lead dust from remodeling or deteriorated paint lands on the floor near where children play and can be ingested.
4. Asbestos

At first glance, asbestos appears to be a construction worker's confidant. It is a versatile mineral fiber that excels at absorption and can withstand the harshness of heat. But when floor tiles or roof shingles need to be repaired or replaced, asbestos morphs into a homeowner's headache. Those same strong fibers that drive a building's start can turn nasty during remodeling or demolition stages. Inhaling the toxic particles in that state causes asbestosis — a condition instigated by fibrosis in the lungs, sparking chest pain, shortness of breath, nail abnormalities, clubbing of fingers and other complications. With those factors in mind, the EPA issued a ruling on July 12, 1989, banning most asbestos-containing products. But two years later, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned that decision, leaving only some products on the banned list: flooring felt, rollboard and corrugated, commercial and specialty paper. When a substance makes its way into the federal government's Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, something was wrong to begin with.

Chrysotile asbestos, like all other forms of asbestos, has produced tumors in animals. Mesotheliomas have been observed in people who were occupationally exposed to chrysotile, family members of the occupationally exposed, and residents who lived close to asbestos factories and mines.  Amosite and crocidolite are the most hazardous of the asbestos minerals because of their long persistence in the lungs of exposed people. Tremolite often contaminates chrysotile asbestos, thus creating an additional hazard.

Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over a long time period. People who become ill from inhaling asbestos are often those who are exposed on a day-to-day basis in a job where they worked directly with the material. As a person's exposure to fibers increases, because of being exposed to higher concentrations of fibers and/or by being exposed for a longer time, then that person's risk of disease also increases. Disease is very unlikely to result from a single, high-level exposure, or from a short period of exposure to lower levels. Smoking combined with asbestos exposure may increase the health risk dramatically.
Other asbestos-related diseases

    Asbestos warts: caused when the sharp fibers lodge in the skin and are overgrown causing benign callus-like growths.
    Pleural plaques: discrete fibrous or partially calcified thickened area which can be seen on X-rays of individuals exposed to asbestos. Although pleural plaques are themselves asymptomatic, in some patients this develops into pleural thickening.
    Diffuse pleural thickening: similar to above and can sometimes be associated with asbestosis. Usually no symptoms shown but if exposure is extensive, it can cause lung impairment.

5. Olestra

When it comes to nutrition, what better equation could there be than zero calories, zero grams of cholesterol and zero grams of fat? In January 1996, the FDA approved olestra as a food additive. Cut out the unhealthy cooking oil. Shred the package of shortening. Bury the stick of butter. Frito-Lay was among the first companies to jump on board, introducing its WOW! division of potato chips in 1998 to claim fat-free stomach satisfaction. But olestra proved to be a greedy chemical. It not only removed unwanted fat from foods but also negated the body's ability to absorb essential vitamins. Side effects included cramps, gas and loose bowels, turning fat-free French fries into a foiled business fad. The FDA has kept olestra as a legal food additive to this day, though, leaving its health implications in the hands of individual consumers.

Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of traditionally high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content.

Olestra was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a food additive in 1996 and was initially used in potato chips under the WOW brand by Frito Lay. In 1998, which was the first year Olestra products were marketed nationally after the FDA’s Food Advisory Committee confirmed a judgment it made 2 years earlier, sales were over $400 million. However, by 2000 sales slowed to $200 million, largely caused by the unappealing side effects described on the FDA-mandated health warning label "This Product Contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E, and K have been added."

This condition (normally occurring only by excessive consumption in a short period of time) led to a condition known as "steatorrhea", which can be embarrassing. Sales were so slow that P&G gave up on attempts to widen the uses of Olestra, and even sold off their Cincinnati-based Olestra factory to Twin Rivers Technologies in February 2002.

The FDA removed the warning requirement in 2003 as it had "conducted a scientific review of several post-market studies submitted by P&G, as well as adverse event reports submitted by P&G and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (a particularly outspoken critic). The FDA concluded that the label statement was no longer warranted", in spite of having received over 20,000 complaints. When removing the Olestra warning label, the FDA cited a 6-week Procter & Gamble (makers of Olestra) study of more than 3000 people showing that an Olestra-eating group experienced only a small increase in bowel movement frequency.

P&G also worked hard in its publicity campaigns to highlight the positives of the additive, even working directly with the health-care community. But, outside of the popular culture disapproval of the product, many consumers simply did not see the speedy results for which they had hoped from a product they saw as being a cure-all. This was because Olestra only addressed the fat component of the overall dietary pattern of Americans. Foods containing olestra do not contain calories from fats and many Americans believed that they could just eat more of them to compensate for the fat calories "saved". Eating olestra chips was not a particularly effective way to improve one's diet overall.
Olestra is banned in many countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada
6. Fluoride (Water Fluoridation)

"In summary, we hold that fluoridation is an unreasonable risk." - US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HEADQUARTERS' UNION, 2001.

“Over the past ten years a large body of peer-reviewed science has raised concerns that fluoride may present unreasonable health risks, particularly among children, at levels routinely added to tap water in American cities.” - ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP, July 2005

"I am quite convinced that water fluoridation, in a not-too-distant future, will be consigned to medical history." - Dr. ARVID CARLSSON, Winner, Nobel Prize for Medicine (2000).

Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to allegedly reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding fluoride. Fluoridated water operates on tooth surfaces: in the mouth it creates low levels of fluoride in saliva, which reduces the rate at which tooth enamel demineralizes and increases the rate at which it remineralizes in the early stages of cavities. Typically a fluoridated compound is added to drinking water, a process that in the U.S. costs an average of about $0.94 per person-year. Defluoridation is needed when the naturally occurring fluoride level exceeds recommended limits. A 1994 World Health Organization expert committee suggested a level of fluoride from 0.5 to 1.0 mg/L (milligrams per liter), depending on climate. Bottled water typically has unknown fluoride levels, and some domestic water filters remove some or all fluoride

7. Agent Orange

A potent herbicide used from 1961 to 1971 in the Vietnam War, Agent Orange was designed to cut through Vietnam's thick canopy of foliage to reveal enemy troops beneath. While it succeeded, the price was high: exposure proved deadly to humans, causing cancers, birth defects and a slew of other disorders. Some 21 million gallons of it were dumped on Vietnam, resulting in hundreds of thousands of injuries and birth defects to Vietnamese citizens. U.S. veterans faced exposure too; they received a $180 million settlement from its manufacturers in 1984.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. The most affected zones are the mountainous area along Truong Son (Long Mountains) and the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The affected residents are living in sub-standard conditions with many genetic diseases.

The use of Agent Orange still has an effect on the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and creating concern about its effect on human beings. This chemical has been reported to cause serious skin diseases as well as a vast variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate. Children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes.

Presently the Veterans Administration provides compensation and treatment for several diseases to former military service personnel who were exposed to Agent Orange

8. Depleted Uranium

Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium primarily composed of the isotope uranium-238 (U-238). Natural uranium is about 99.27 percent U-238, 0.72 percent U-235, and 0.0055 percent U-234. U-235 is used for fission in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.

DU is useful because of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm. Civilian uses include counterweights in aircraft, radiation shielding in medical radiation therapy and industrial radiography equipment, and containers used to transport radioactive materials. Military uses include defensive armor plating and armor-piercing projectiles.

The use of DU in munitions is controversial because of questions about potential long-term health effects. Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because in addition to being weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal. It is weakly radioactive and remains so because of its long physical half-life (4.468 billion years for uranium-238), but has a considerably shorter biological half-life. The aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel. During a three week period of conflict in 2003 in Iraq, 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of DU munitions were used, mostly in cities.


9. CFCs

Short for chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs are nasty chemical compounds that wreak havoc on the environment. Used in refrigeration units and aerosol cans, CFCs combine with atmospheric ozone, neutralizing the molecular compound and weakening the ozone layer, an important environmental barrier that protects the earth's surface from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. While increased regulation since the 1970s has diminished their use, CFCs can endure in the atmosphere for nearly a century, making this a very long-lived mistake.

According to their Material Safety Data Sheets, CFCs and HCFCs are colourless, volatile, relatively non-toxic liquids and gases with a faintly sweet ethereal odour. Overexposure may cause dizziness, loss of concentration, Central Nervous System depression and/or cardiac arrhythmia. Vapors displace air and can cause asphyxiation in confined spaces. Although non-flammable, their combustion products include hydrofluoric acid, phosgene, and related species.
10. Plastic Grocery Bags

Touted as a convenient and cheap alternative to paper bags, plastic grocery bags gained acceptance in the late 1970s and now meet 80% of retailers' bagging needs. They've saved millions of trees but come with equally bad consequences: more than 500 million are used and discarded each year, millions of which never make it to a landfill and fall as litter. And depending on the plastic used in production, those bags may take several hundred years to decompose. The solution? Recycle, or better yet, skip both paper and plastic and bring a reusable bag of your own.
11. Cigarettes

The earliest forms of cigarettes have been attested in Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. The Maya, and later the Aztecs, smoked tobacco and various psychoactive drugs in religious rituals and frequently depicted priests and deities smoking on pottery and temple engravings. The cigarette, and the cigar, were the most common method of smoking in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America until recent times.

The South and Central American cigarette used various plant wrappers; when it was brought back to Spain, maize wrappers were introduced, and by the seventeenth century, fine paper. The resulting product was called papelate and is documented in Goya's paintings La Cometa, La Merienda en el Manzanares, and El juego de la pelota a pala (18th century).

Nicotine, the primary psychoactive chemical in cigarettes, is addictive. Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects (which include mental and physical disability). On average, each cigarette smoked shortens lifespan by 11 minutes and half of smokers die early of tobacco-related disease and lose, on average, 14 years of life.

The list of 599 additives approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the five major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in April of 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret.

Tobacco companies reporting this information were:

American Tobacco Company
Brown and Williamson
Liggett Group, Inc.
Philip Morris Inc.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning them, and it is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties, often for the worse. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette, many of which are toxic and/or carcinogenic. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia are all present in cigarette smoke. Forty-three known carcinogens are in mainstream smoke, sidestream smoke, or both.

It's chilling to think about not only how smokers poison themselves, but what others are exposed to by breathing in the secondhand smoke. The next time you're missing your old buddy, the cigarette, take a good long look at this list and see them for what they are: a delivery system for toxic chemicals and carcinogens.

Cigarettes offer people only a multitude of smoking-related diseases and ultimately death.

The List of 599 Additives in Cigarettes is primarily:

    Acetanisole
    Acetic Acid
    Acetoin
    Acetophenone
    6-Acetoxydihydrotheaspirane
    2-Acetyl-3- Ethylpyrazine
    2-Acetyl-5-Methylfuran
    Acetylpyrazine
    2-Acetylpyridine
    3-Acetylpyridine
    2-Acetylthiazole
    Aconitic Acid
    dl-Alanine
    Alfalfa Extract
    Allspice Extract,Oleoresin, and Oil
    Allyl Hexanoate
    Allyl Ionone
    Almond Bitter Oil
    Ambergris Tincture
    Ammonia
    Ammonium Bicarbonate
    Ammonium Hydroxide
    Ammonium Phosphate Dibasic
    Ammonium Sulfide
    Amyl Alcohol
    Amyl Butyrate

To read the entire list of additives, click here or go to the following link:

http://www.newworldorderreport.com/News/tabid/266/ID/3887/The-List-of-599-Additives-in-Cigarettes.aspx


12. Aspartame

Aspartame (or APM) is the name for an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in many foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is known under the E number (additive code) E951. Aspartame is the methyl ester of a phenylalanine/aspartic acid dipeptide.

Aspartame was first synthesized in 1965. Its use in food products was first approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1974. Because its breakdown products include phenylalanine, aspartame is among the many substances that must be avoided by people with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic condition.

The safety of aspartame has been the subject of several political and medical controversies, Congressional Hearings and internet hoaxes since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974.

You need to read your labels, these may well be in more products than you suspect. If you take vitamins, remember to check those as well. Check anything that is consumable!

    Aspartame
    Acesulfame-k
    Low Calorie
    Low Sugar
    No Calories
    Saccharin
    Sugar Free

The following is a brief list, compiled by the author, of products containing the artificial sweetener Aspartame. This list will be periodically updated and user submissions are welcomed, just leave a comment, these will be added to the list then when verified.
Product Name     Category
Diet Coca Cola (all varieties)

Coca Cola Zero (all varieties)

Diet Pepsi (all varieties)

Pepsi Max (all varieties)

Diet Irn Bru (all varieties)

Lilt Zero (all varieties)

Sprite Zero (all varieties)

Tango (all varieties)

Tango no added sugar (all varieties)

7up Free (all varieties)

Lucozade Sport (all varieties)

Schweppes Slimline Drinks (all varieties)

Fanta Zero (all varieties)

Fanta Orange

Dr Pepper Zero

Oasis Summer Fruits Extra Light

Oasis Citrus Punch
    Soft Drink
Ribena Really light (all varieties)

Robinsons Orange Squash

Robinson’s No added sugar range
    Cordial
Muller Light Cherry

Muller Light Blueberry

Muller Light Raspberry

Muller Light Banana and Custard

Danone Activia Cherry

Weight Watchers Fromage Frais

Weight Watchers Toffee and Vanilla
    Yoghurt
Wrigleys Airwaves (all varieties)

Wrigleys Orbit (all varieties)

Wrigleys Extra (all varieties)
    Chewing Gum
Uncle Ben’s Sweet and Sour Light     Cooking Sauce
Walkers Sensations Sweet Thai Chilli

Walkers Sensations Lime and Thai Spices

Walkers Prawn Cocktail
    Crisps
Canderel

Silver Spoon Sweetness and Light

Silver Spoon Light Granulated Sugar
    Tabletop Sweeteners
Cadburys Highlights (all varieties)

Options Hot Chocolate Drink (all varieties)
    Drink powders

13. PCB's

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of organic compounds with 1 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. PCBs were widely used for many applications, especially as dielectric fluids in transformers, capacitors, and coolants. Due to PCB's toxicity and classification as a persistent organic pollutant, PCB production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979 and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.

Alternative names

Commercial PCB mixtures were marketed under the following names.:

Brazil

    Ascarel

Former Czechoslovakia

    Delor

France

    Phenoclor
    Pyralène (both used by Prodolec)          

Germany

    Clophen (used by Bayer)

Italy

    Apirolio
    Fenclor

History

PCBs, originally termed "chlorinated diphenyls," were commercially produced as complex mixtures containing multiple isomers at different degrees of chlorination. In the United States, commercial production of PCBs was taken over in 1929 by Monsanto Company from Swann Chemical Company. Manufacturing levels increased in response to the electrical industry's need for a "safer" (than flammable mineral oil) cooling and insulating fluid for industrial transformers and capacitors. PCBs were also commonly used as stabilizing additives in the manufacture of flexible PVC coatings for electrical wiring and electronic components to enhance the heat and fire resistance of the PVC.[7]

The toxicity associated with PCBs and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, including polychlorinated naphthalenes was recognized very early due to a variety of industrial incidents.[8] A conference about the hazards was organized at Harvard School of Public Health in 1937, and a number of publications referring to the toxicity of various chlorinated hydrocarbons were published before 1940.[9] Robert Brown reminded chemists in 1947 that Arochlors were "objectionably toxic. Thus the maximum permissible concentration for an 8-hr. day is 1 mg/m3 of air. They also produce a serious and disfiguring dermatitis".[10] However, PCB manufacture and use continued with few restraints until the 1970s.

PCBs are persistent organic pollutants and have entered the environment through both use and disposal. The environmental transport of PCBs is complex and nearly global in scale. The public, legal, and scientific concerns about PCBs arose from research indicating they were likely carcinogens having the potential to adversely impact the environment and therefore undesirable as commercial products. Despite active research spanning five decades, extensive regulatory actions, and an effective ban on their production since the 1970s, PCBs still persist in the environment and remain a focus of attention.[2]

The only North American producer, Monsanto Company, marketed PCBs under the trade name Aroclor from 1930 to 1977. These were sold under trade names followed by a 4 digit number. The first two digits generally refer to the number of carbon atoms in the biphenyl skeleton (for PCBs this is 12), the second two numbers indicate the percentage of chlorine by mass in the mixture. Thus, Aroclor 1260 has 12 carbon atoms and contains 60% chlorine by mass. An exception is Aroclor 1016, which also has 12 carbon atoms, but has 42% chlorine by mass. Different Aroclors were used at different times and for different applications. In electrical equipment manufacturing in the USA, Aroclor 1260 and Aroclor 1254 were the main mixtures used before 1950, Aroclor 1242 was the main mixture used in the 1950s and 1960s until it was phased out in 1971 and replaced by Aroclor 1016.[2]

Manufacture peaked in the 1960s, by which time the electrical industry had lobbied the U.S. Congress to make them mandatory safety equipment. In 1966, they were determined by Swedish chemist Dr. Soren Jensen to be an environmental contaminant,[11] and it was Dr. Jensen, according to a 1994 article in Sierra, who named them PCBs. Previously, they had simply been called "phenols" or referred to by various trade names, such as Aroclor, Kennechlor, Pyrenol, Chlorinol and others.

Their commercial utility was based largely on their chemical stability, including low flammability, and desirable physical properties, including electrical insulating properties. Their chemical and physical stability has also been responsible for their continuing persistence in the environment, and the lingering interest decades after regulations were imposed to control environmental contamination.

In 1972, PCB production plants existed in Austria, the then Federal Republic of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, USSR, and USA.[2]

In 1973 the use of PCBs was banned in "open" or "dissipative" sources, such as:

    plasticisers in paints and cements
    casting agents
    fire retardant fabric treatments and heat stabilizing additives for PVC electrical insulation
    adhesives
    paints and water-proofing
    railway sleepers

However, they continued to be allowed in "totally enclosed uses" such as transformers and capacitors, which, in certain failure modes or out-of-specification conditions, can leak, catch fire, or explode. It was Ward B. Stone of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) who first published his findings in the early 1970s that PCBs were leaking from transformers and had contaminated the soil at the bottom of utility poles.[citation needed] Concern over the toxicity and persistence (chemical stability) of PCBs in the environment led the United States Congress to ban their domestic production in 1979,[12] although some use continues in closed systems such as capacitors and transformers.

"Enclosed uses" of PCBs include:

    capacitors
    insulating fluids in transformers
    vacuum pump fluids
    hydraulic fluids

In the UK, closed uses of PCBs in new equipment were banned in 1981, when nearly all UK PCB synthesis ceased, but closed uses in existing equipment containing in excess of 5 litres of PCBs were not stopped until December 2000.[13]

In Japan, PCBs were first produced by Kanegafuchi Chemical Co. Ltd. (Kaneka) in 1954 and production continued until 1972 when the Japanese government banned the production, use, and import of PCBs.[2]

Estimates have put the total global production of PCBs on the order of 1.5 million tons. The United States was the single largest producer with over 600,000 tons produced between 1930 and 1977. The European region follows with nearly 450,000 tons through 1984. It is unlikely that a full inventory of global PCB production will ever be accurately tallied, as there were factories in Poland, East Germany, and Austria that produced unknown amounts of PCBs.[14]
Large-scale environmental contamination events
United States
Massachusetts

Pittsfield is one of GE’s hometowns. Pittsfield was home to GE’s transformer and capacitor divisions, and electrical generating equipment built and repaired in Pittsfield powered the electrical utility grid throughout the nation.

PCB-contaminated oil routinely migrated from GE’s 250-acre industrial plant located in the very center of the city to the surrounding groundwater, nearby Silver Lake, and to the Housatonic River, which flows through Massachusetts to Connecticut on down to the Long Island Sound. Faced with ever mounting amounts of PCB-contaminated material, and with a growing need to dispose of this material, GE and its contractors hauled and dumped PCB-contaminated material anywhere they could. They still had too much. So GE in the 1940s and 50s launched a giveaway program. GE employees and their neighbors and local contractors, in return for signing a letter stating that they were receiving clean fill and that they would not hold GE liable for any subsequent problems, were given truckloads of PCB-contaminated material to use as fill in their backyards and construction projects.

The sheer magnitude and varied scope of this contamination has made the Pittsfield/Housatonic Site one of America’s most complicated PCB sites.
New York State

Between approximately 1947 and 1977 General Electric Company (GE) released up to 1,300,000 pounds (590,000 kg) of PCBs into the Hudson River.[15] The PCBs came from the company's two capacitor manufacturing plants at Hudson Falls and Fort Edward in New York State.[15]

In 1976, because of concern over continuing high levels of PCBs in local fish and other aquatic organisms, and the unacceptable risk to the health of consumers of such fish, the NYSDEC banned all fishing in the Upper Hudson River, as well as commercial fishing of striped bass and several other species in the Lower Hudson River,[15][16] and also issued advisories restricting the consumption of fish caught within a 20-mile (30 km) long segment of the Hudson River from Hudson Falls to Troy.[15][17]

There have been many programs of remediation work to reduce the PCB pollution. In 1984, approximately 200 miles (320 km) of the Hudson River was designated a Superfund site, and attempts to cleanup the Upper Hudson River began, including the removal in 1977-8 of 180,000 cubic yards (140,000 m3) of contaminated river sediments near Fort Edward.[16] In 1991, further PCB pollution was found at Bakers Falls near the former GE Hudson Falls factory, and a program of remediation was started.[16] In August 1995, a 40-mile (64 km) reach of the Upper Hudson was re-opened to fishing but only on a catch-and-release basis.[16] Removal of contaminated soil from Rogers Island was completed in December 1999.[16] In 2002, the EPA announced a further 2,650,000 cubic yards (2,030,000 m3) of contaminated sediments in the Upper Hudson River would be removed.
Indiana

From the late 1950s through 1977, Westinghouse Electric used PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors in its Bloomington, Indiana plant. Reject capacitors were hauled and dumped in area salvage yards and landfills, including Bennett's Dump, Neal's Landfill and Lemon Lane Landfill.[18] Workers also dumped PCB oil down factory drains which contaminated the city sewage treatment plant.[19] The City of Bloomington gave away the sludge to area farmers and gardeners, creating anywhere from 200 to 2000 sites which remain unaddressed. Over 2 million pounds of PCBs were estimated to have been dumped in Monroe and Owen Counties.[citation needed] Although federal and state authorities have been working on the sites' environmental remediation, many areas remain contaminated. Concerns have been raised regarding the removal of PCBs from the karst limestone topography, and regarding the possible disposal options. To date, the Westinghouse Bloomington PCB Superfund site case does not have a RI/FS (Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study) and ROD (Record of Decision), although Westinghouse signed a US Department of Justice Consent Decree in 1985.[20]. The 1985 Consent Decree required Westinghouse to construct an incinerator that would incinerate PCB-contaminated materials. However, due to public opposition to the incinerator, the State of Indiana passed a number of laws that delayed and blocked the construction of the incinerator. Consent Decree parties began to explore alternative remedies in 1994 for six of the main PCB contaminated sites.[20]

On February 15, 2008, Monroe County approved a plan to clean up the 3 remaining contaminated sites in the City of Bloomington, at a cost of $9.6m to CBS Corp., the successor of Westinghouse.[21]
The Great Lakes

Much of the Great Lakes area is still heavily polluted with PCBs, despite extensive remediation work.[22] Locally caught fresh water fish and shellfish are contaminated with PCBs and their consumption is restricted.

From 1959 to 1971, Waukegan Harbor in Illinois on Lake Michigan was contaminated with PCBs discharged by the Outboard Marine Corp.
Alabama

PCBs (manufactured through most of the 20th century) originating from Monsanto Chemical Company in Anniston, Alabama leaked into Snow creek, then Choccolocco Creek, then Logan Martin Lake. In the early 2000s, class action lawsuits (led, in at least one case, by the late Johnnie Cochran) were settled by local land owners, including those on Logan Martin Lake, and Lay Reservoir (downstream on the Coosa River), for the PCB pollution.

Today, the highest pollution levels remain concentrated in Snow and Choccolocco Creeks.[23] Concentrations in fish have and continue to decline over time, however, sediment disturbance can resuspend the PCBs from the sediment back into the water column and food web.
Belgium

In 1999, the Dioxine affair caused serious trouble for the Belgian government when PCBs were found in chicken and eggs.
Czechoslovakia

The chemical plant Chemko in Strážske (east Slovakia) was an important producer of polychlorinated biphenyls for the former communist block (Comecon) until 1984. Chemko contaminated a large part of east Slovakia, especially the sediments of the Laborec river and reservoir Zemplínska šírava.[24][25]
Republic of Ireland
Main article: 2008 Irish pork crisis

In December 2008 a number of Irish news sources reported that testing had revealed "extremely high"[26] levels of PCBs in pork products, ranging from 80 to 200 times the EU's upper safe limit of 1.5 pg/μg i.e. 0.12 to 0.3 parts per billion.[27][28] The PCB levels involved are small in comparison to other contamination incidents; indeed in 1986 the breast milk of healthy nursing mothers in the US contained between 1020 to 1770 ppb of PCBs and the PCB contaminated rice-bran oil that caused mass poisoning (Yu-Cheng) in Taiwan in 1979 contained between 53,000 to 99,000 ppb of PCBs.[29][30][31]

Brendan Smith, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, stated that pork contamination was caused by PCB contaminated feed that was used on 9 out of the 400 of Ireland's pig farms and only one feed supplier was involved.[27][32] Smith added that 38 beef farms also used the same contaminated feed, but those farms were quickly isolated and no contaminated beef entered the food chain.[33] While the contamination was limited to just 9 pig farms, the Irish government requested the immediate withdrawal and disposal of all pork-containing products produced in Ireland and purchased since September 1, 2008.

This request for withdrawal of pork products was confirmed in a press release by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on December 6.[34]
Environmental transport and transformations

Due to their low vapour pressure, in the environment PCBs goes mainly in the hydrosphere (despite their hydrophobicity, the great amount of water in the oceans can dissolve a fair great amount of PCBs), in the organic fraction of soil, and in organisms.

However, a small amount of PCBs have been detected globally in the atmosphere, from the most urbanized areas that are the centers for PCB pollution, to regions north of the Arctic Circle. Whereas the hydrosphere is the main reservoir, the atmosphere serves as the primary route for global transport of PCBs, particularly for those congeners with 1 to 4 chlorine atoms.

Atmospheric concentrations of PCBs tend to be lowest in rural areas, where they are typically in the picogram per cubic meter range, higher in suburban and urban areas, and highest in city centres, where they can reach 1 ng/m³ or more. In Milwaukee, an atmospheric concentration of 1.9 ng/m³ has been measured, and this source alone was estimated to account for 120 kg/year of PCBs entering Lake Michigan.[35] Concentrations as high as 35 ng/m³, 10 times higher than the EPA guideline limit of 3.4 ng/m³, have been found inside some houses in the U.S.[6]

Volatilization of PCBs in soil was thought to be the primary source of PCBs in the atmosphere, but recent research suggests that ventilation of PCB-contaminated indoor air from buildings is the primary source of PCB contamination in the atmosphere.[36]

In the atmosphere, PCBs may be degraded by hydroxyl radical, or directly by photolysis of carbon - chlorine bonds (even if this is a less important process).

In biosphere, PCBs can be degraded by either bacteria or eukariotes, but the speed of the reaction depends on both the number and the disposition of chlorine atoms in the molecule: less substituted, meta- or para- substituted PCBs undergoes biodegradation faster than more substituted congeners.

In bacteria, PCBs may be dechlorinated through reductive dechlorination, or oxidized by dioxygenase enzyme.

In eukariotes, PCBs may be oxidized by mixed function oxidase enzyme.
Health effects

The toxicity of PCBs had been known since before its first production through research done by producing companies themselves back in the 1930s; however, these conclusions were dismissed as neglectable.

The toxicity of PCBs to animals was first noticed by the rest of society in the 1970s, when emaciated seabird corpses with very high PCB body burdens washed up on beaches. Since seabirds may die far out at sea and still wash ashore, the true sources of the PCBs were unknown. Where they were found was not a reliable indicator of where they had died.

The toxicity of PCBs varies considerably among congeners. The coplanar PCBs, known as non-ortho PCBs because they are not substituted at the ring positions ortho to (next to) the other ring, (i.e. PCBs 77, 126, 169, etc), tend to have dioxin-like properties, and generally are among the most toxic congeners. Because PCBs are almost invariably found in complex mixtures, the concept of toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) has been developed to facilitate risk assessment and regulatory control, where more toxic PCB congeners are assigned higher TEF values. One of the most toxic compounds known, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo[p]dioxin, is assigned a TEF of 1.[37]
Signs and symptoms

    Humans

    The most commonly observed health effects in people exposed to extremely high levels of PCBs are skin conditions such as chloracne and rashes, but these were known to be symptoms of acute systemic poisoning dating back to 1922. Studies in workers exposed to PCBs have shown changes in blood and urine that may indicate liver damage. In Japan, 1968, 280 kg of PCBs contaminated rice bran oil used as chicken feed, resulting in a mass poisoning known as Yushō Disease in over 14,000 people.[38] Common symptoms included dermal and ocular lesions, irregular menstrual cycles and a lowered immune response.[39][40][41] Other symptoms included fatigue, headache, cough, and unusual skin sores.[42] Additionally, in children, there were reports of poor cognitive development.[39][41][42]

    There have also been studies of the health effects of PCBs in the general population and in children of mothers who were exposed to PCBs.

    Animals

    Animals that eat PCB-contaminated food even for short periods of time suffer liver damage and may die. In 1968 in Japan, 400,000 birds died after eating poultry feed that was contaminated with PCBs.[38] Animals that ingest smaller amounts of PCBs in food over several weeks or months develop various health effects, including anemia; acne-like skin conditions (chloracne); and liver, stomach, and thyroid gland injuries (including hepatocarcinoma). Other effects of PCBs in animals include changes in the immune system, behavioral alterations, and impaired reproduction. PCBs are not known to cause birth defects in humans, although those that have dioxin-like activity are known to cause a variety of teratogenic effects in animals.

    Effects during pregnancy/breastfeeding

    Women who were exposed to relatively high levels of PCBs in the workplace or ate large amounts of fish contaminated with PCBs had babies that weighed slightly less than babies from women who did not have these exposures. Babies born to women who ate PCB-contaminated fish also showed abnormal responses in tests of infant behavior. Some of these behaviors, such as problems with motor skills and a decrease in short-term memory, lasted for several years. Other studies suggest that the immune system was affected in children born to and nursed by mothers exposed to increased levels of PCBs. The most likely way infants will be exposed to PCBs is from breast milk. Transplacental transfers of PCBs were also reported.

    Studies have shown that PCBs alter estrogen levels in the body and contribute to reproduction problems. In the womb, males can be feminized or the baby may be intersex, neither a male nor a female. Also, both sets of reproductive organs may develop. More instances of this are being reported. Biological magnification of PCBs has also led to polar bears and whales that have both male and female sex organs and males that cannot reproduce. This effect is also known as endocrine disruption. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC's) pose a serious threat to reproduction in top-level predators.

Cancer link

A few studies of workers indicate that PCBs were associated with specific kinds of cancer in humans, such as cancer of the liver and biliary tract. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been shown to mimic the action of oestrogen in breast cancer cells and can enhance breast carcinogenesis.[43] Rats that ate food containing high levels of PCBs for two years developed liver cancer. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has concluded that PCBs may reasonably be anticipated to be carcinogens. The EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have determined that PCBs are probably carcinogenic to humans. PCBs are also classified as probable human carcinogens by the National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Recent research by the National Toxicology Program has confirmed that PCB126 (Technical Report 520) and a binary mixture of PCB126 and PCB153 (Technical Report 531) are carcinogens.
Mechanism of action

As discussed, PCBs exhibit a wide range of toxic effects. These effects may vary depending on the specific PCB. Similar to dioxin, toxicity of coplanar PCBs and mono-ortho-PCBs are thought to be primarily mediated via binding to aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR).[44][45] Because AhR is a transcription factor, abnormal activation may disrupt cell function by altering the transcription of genes. The concept of toxic equivalency factors (TEF) is based on the ability of a PCB to activate AhR.

However, not all effects may be mediated by the AhR receptor, and PCBs do not alter estrogen concentrations to the same degree as other ligands of the AhR receptor such as PCDD and PCDF, possibly reflecting the reduced potency of PCBs to induce CYP1A1 and CYP1B1.[46] Examples of other actions of PCBs include di-ortho-substituted non-coplanar PCBs interfering with intracellular signal transduction dependent on calcium; this may lead to neurotoxicity.[47] Ortho-PCBs may disrupt thyroid hormone transport by binding to transthyretin.[48]
Containment

Because of its difficult containment, many buildings (at least in the U.S.A.) with known high PCB dangers have been evacuated and shutdown. In many states, including California, laws require any building with such dangers to be sealed and locked, with large warning signs on every entrance point indicating a PCB presence and also a notice to indicate the presence of chemicals known to cause cancer, health problems or reproductive harm. Until a safe solution can be well established, many of these buildings remain undemolished and sealed. Some forms of containment other than building closure and lockdown are below.

Landfill – Large quantities of PCBs have been placed in landfill sites, mainly in the form of transformers and capacitors. Many municipal sites are not designed to contain these pollutants and PCBs are able to escape into the atmosphere or ground water. No emissions above background are seen if the landfill is designed correctly.
Methods of destruction

These can be separated into three distinct categories: physical, microbial, and chemical destruction.
Physical

Incineration – Although PCBs do not ignite themselves, they can be combusted under extreme and carefully controlled conditions. The current regulations require that PCBs are burnt at a temperature of 1200 °C for at least two seconds, in the presence of fuel oil and excess oxygen. A lack of oxygen can result in the formation of PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxins, or the incomplete destruction of the PCBs. Such specific conditions mean that it is extremely expensive to destroy PCBs on a tonnage scale, and it can only be used on PCB-containing equipment and contaminated liquid. This method is not suitable for the decontamination of affected soils.

Ultrasound – In a similar process to combustion, high power ultrasonic waves are applied to water, generating cavitation bubbles. These then implode or fragment, creating microregions of extreme pressures and temperatures where the PCBs are destroyed. Water is thought to undergo thermolysis, oxidising the PCBs to CO, CO2 and hydrocarbons such as biphenyl, and releasing chlorine. The scope of this method is limited to those congeners which are the most water soluble; those isomers with the least chlorine substitution.

Irradiation – If a deoxygenated mixture of PCBs in isopropanol or mineral oil is subjected to irradiation with gamma rays then the PCBs will be dechlorinated to form biphenyl and inorganic chloride. The reaction works best in isopropanol if potassium hydroxide (caustic potash) is added. Solvated electrons are thought to be responsible for the reaction. If oxygen, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride or nitrobenzene is present in the mixture then the reaction rate is reduced. This work has been done recently in the US often with used nuclear fuel as the radiation source.[49][50]

Pyrolysis – Destruction of PCBs with pyrolysis using plasma arc processes, like incineration uses heat, however unlike incineration, there is no combustion. The long chain molecules are broken with extreme temperature provided by an electric arc in an inert environment. Adequate post-pyrolisis treatment of the resultant products is required in order to prevent the risk of back reactions.
Microbial

Much recent work has centered on the study of micro-organisms that are able to decompose PCBs. Generally, these organisms work in one of two ways: either they use the PCB as a carbon source, or destruction takes place through reductive dechlorination, with the replacement of chlorine with hydrogen on the biphenyl skeleton. However, there are significant problems with this approach. Firstly, these microbes tend to be highly selective in their dechlorination, with lower chlorinated biphenyls being readily transformed, and with preference to dechlorination in the para and meta positions. Secondly, microbial dechlorination tends to be rather slow acting on PCB as a soil contaminant in comparison to other methods. Finally, while microbes work well in laboratory conditions, there is often a problem in transferring a successful laboratory strain to a natural system. This is because the microbes can access other sources of carbon, which they decompose in preference to PCBs.

Further recent developments have focused on testing enzymes and vitamins extracted from microbes which show PCB activity. Especially promising seems to be the use of vitamin B12, in which a cobalt ion is in oxidation state (III) under normal redox conditions. Using titanium (III) citrate as a strong reductant converts the cobalt from Co(III) to Co(I), giving a new vitamin known as B12s, which is a powerful nucleophile and reducing catalyst. This can then be used on PCBs, which it dechlorinates in a rapid and selective manner.[51]
Chemical

Many chemical methods are available to destroy or reduce the toxicity of PCBs.

Nucleophilic aromatic substitution is a method of destroying low concentration PCB mixtures in oils, such as transformer oil. Substitution of chlorine by polyethylene glycols) occurs in under two hours under a blanket of nitrogen, to prevent oxidation of the oil, to produce aryl polyglycols, which are insoluble in the oil and precipitate out.

Between 700 and 925 °C, H2 cleaves the carbon-chlorine bond, and cleaves the biphenyl nucleus into benzene yielding HCl without a catalyst. This can be performed at lower temperatures with a copper catalyst, and to yield biphenyl. However, since both of these routes require an atmosphere of hydrogen gas and relatively high temperatures, they are prohibitively expensive.

Reaction with highly electropositive metals, or strong reducing agents such as sodium naphthalide, in aprotic solvents results in a transfer of electrons to the PCB, the expulsion of a chloride ion, and a coupling of the PCBs. This is analogous to the Wurtz reaction for coupling halogenoalkanes. The effect is to polymerise many molecules, therefore reducing the volatility, solubility and toxicity of the mixture. This methodology is most successful on low strength PCB mixtures and can also be performed electrochemically in a partly aqueous bicontinuous microemulsion.

The solution photochemistry of PCBs is based on the transfer of an electron to a photochemically excited PCB from a species such as an amine, to give a radical anion. This either expels a chloride ion and the resulting aryl radical extracts a hydrogen atom from the solvent, or immediately becomes protonated, leading to the loss of a chlorine atom. It is useful only for water soluble PCBs.

The major pathway for atmospheric destruction of PCBs is via attack by OH radicals. Direct photolysis can occur in the upper atmosphere, but the ultraviolet wavelengths necessary to excite PCBs are shielded from the troposphere by the ozone layer. It has, however, been shown that higher wavelengths of light (> 300 nm) can degrade PCBs in the presence of a photosensitizer, such as acetone.

The Schwartz reaction is the subject of much study, and has significant benefits over other routes. It is advantageous since it proceeds via a reductive process, and thus yields no dioxins through oxidation. The proposed reaction scheme involves the electron transfer from a titanium (III) organometallic species to form a radical anion on the PCB molecule which expels chlorine to eventually form the relatively non-toxic biphenyl.

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Read this again if not for the first time and see if it feels like it is occurring today...

"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!"
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

To avoid interference from Lieutenant-Governor Dunmore and his Royal Marines, the Second Virginia Convention met March 20, 1775 inland at Richmond--in what is now called St. John's Church--instead of the Capitol in Williamsburg. Delegate Patrick Henry presented resolutions to raise a militia, and to put Virginia in a posture of defense. Henry's opponents urged caution and patience until the crown replied to Congress' latest petition for reconciliation.

On the 23rd, Henry presented a proposal to organize a volunteer company of cavalry or infantry in every Virginia county. By custom, Henry addressed himself to the Convention's president, Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg. Henry's words were not transcribed, but no one who heard them forgot their eloquence, or Henry's closing words: "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

Henry's first biographer, William Wirt of Maryland, was three-years-old in 1775. An assistant federal prosecutor in Aaron Burr's trial for treason at Richmond in 1807, and later attorney general of the United States, Wirt began to collect materials for the biography in 1808, nine years after Henry's death. From the recollections of men like Thomas Jefferson, Wirt reconstructed an account of Henry's life, including the remarks presented below.

Patrick Henry at St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia
March 23, 1775.

MR. PRESIDENT: No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these war-like preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable²and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace²but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

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Source: Wirt, William. Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry . (Philadelphia) 1836, as reproduced in The World's Great Speeches, Lewis Copeland and Lawrence W. Lamm, eds., (New York) 1973.

Ref: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation