Filed under: Argentina, Bolivia, brazil, Britain, Central Banks, Chile, colombia, Europe, european union, FARC, global elite, Globalism, Hugo Chavez, NAU, New World Order, North American Union, paraguay, Peru, single currency, South American Union, United Kingdom, uruguay, Venezuela | Tags: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
South American Union Formed
BBC
May 24, 2008
The leaders of 12 South American nations have formed a regional body aimed at boosting economic and political integration in the region.
At a summit in Brazil, they signed a treaty which created the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the move showed that South America was becoming a “global player”.
But tensions between several members will make it difficult for the group to achieve its goals, observers say.
Mr Lula said at the summit in Brasilia that the differences between some Unasur governments were a sign of vitality in the region.
“The instability some want to see in our continent is a sign of life, especially political life,” Mr Lula said.
“There’s no democracy without people [protesting] in the streets,” he added.
The treaty envisages that Unasur will have a revolving presidency and bi-annual meetings of foreign ministers.
Prior to the Brasilia summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez described the “empire” of the United States as Unasur’s “number one enemy”.
Mr Chavez is embroiled in a bitter diplomatic row with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe – a staunch US ally – over Colombian claims that Venezuela has been helping to finance the activities of the Colombian Farc rebels.
The Unasur members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
South America considers single common currency
Gulf Times
May 28, 2008
BRASILIA: South America is thinking of creating a common currency and a central bank along the lines of those in the European Union’s eurozone, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday.
The idea is a logical next step following the signing last Friday of a treaty creating a Union of South American States that aims to promote joint regional customs and defense policies, Lula said during his weekly radio broadcast.
“Many things still haven’t been realised. We are now going to create a Bank of South America. We are going to move forward so in the future we’ll have a single central bank, a common currency,” he said.
But, he added: “This is a process. It won’t be something that happens quickly.”
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela all signed up to the Unasur treaty creating the regional union during a ceremony in Brasilia last Friday.
The entity’s goal is to bring together two trade blocs within South America, Mercosur and the Andean Community, and to integrate the region.
Brazil is also pushing for a regional defence council that could be used as a forum to settle inter-regional disputes as well as formulate joint policies.
Lula said the creation of Unasur was “the realisation of a dream,” and evidence of remarkable economic and political progress South American nations have made in recent decades.
Filed under: autism, big pharma, Child Abuse, Eugenics, flu vaccine, health and environment, HHS, mandatory vaccinations, medical industrial complex, merck, Mercury, paraguay, Thimerosal, Vaccine, WHO | Tags: proquad
Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court – Now What?
Huffington Post
February 28, 2008
After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.
The unprecedented concession was filed on November 9, and sealed to protect the plaintiff’s identify. It was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case.
The claim, one of 4,900 autism cases currently pending in Federal “Vaccine Court,” was conceded by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the “defendant” in all Vaccine Court cases.
The child’s claim against the government — that mercury-containing vaccines were the cause of her autism — was supposed to be one of three “test cases” for the thimerosal-autism theory currently under consideration by a three-member panel of Special Masters, the presiding justices in Federal Claims Court.
Keisler wrote that medical personnel at the HHS Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation (DVIC) had reviewed the case and “concluded that compensation is appropriate.”
The doctors conceded that the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, when she received vaccinations against nine different diseases all at once (two contained thimerosal).
Days later, the girl began spiraling downward into a cascade of illnesses and setbacks that, within months, presented as symptoms of autism, including: No response to verbal direction; loss of language skills; no eye contact; loss of “relatedness;” insomnia; incessant screaming; arching; and “watching the florescent lights repeatedly during examination.”
Seven months after vaccination, the patient was diagnosed by Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a leading neurologist at the Kennedy Krieger Children’s Hospital Neurology Clinic, with “regressive encephalopathy (brain disease) with features consistent with autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development.” The girl also met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) official criteria for autism.
In its written concession, the government said the child had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was “aggravated” by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.
“The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder,” the concession says, “which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD.”
This statement is good news for the girl and her family, who will now be compensated for the lifetime of care she will require. But its implications for the larger vaccine-autism debate, and for public health policy in general, are not as certain.
In fact, the government’s concession seems to raise more questions than it answers.
Childhood Vaccine Linked To Convulsions
Raw Story
February 28, 2008
Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when they got a Merck & Co. combination vaccine instead of two separate shots, according to a new study presented Wednesday.
The results prompted a federal advisory panel on vaccines to water down their preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.
In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate of seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, compared with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three other diseases.
The risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every 2,000 doses of ProQuad given said Dr. Nicola Klein, who lead the federally funded study. She presented the data at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The study focused on children who develop fevers and then go into convulsions — an occurrence that frightens parents but usually has no lingering consequences. There were no deaths in the new study.
ProQuad was licensed in 2005. It’s been in extremely short supply since last year, when Merck suspended production because of manufacturing problems. The company expects to resume ProQuad production next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7260123.stm
Panel: All U.S. Kids Should Get Flu Vaccine
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSWAT00897520080227