Wireless headphones, like Apple's popular AirPods, could be dangerous to human health, according to a petition signed by 250 scientists.¹ The devices, which include not only AirPods but also other wireless Bluetooth headphones, bring a new level of function and convenience to those looking to listen to music, podcasts, audio books and more while on the go.

Since their introduction, more than 44 million AirPods have been sold,² with another 55 million predicted to be sold in 2019 alone. Forecasts were that 80 million would be sold in 2020,³ but when the final tally came in, they actually hit over 100 million.⁴ It's an undeniably alluring bit of technology — one that was further made into a "necessity" of sorts when Apple removed the headphone jack from its iPhone 7⁵ — but it's one that may come at a steep price.

The petition to the United Nations (U.N.), led by the International Electromagnetic Field Alliance, takes aim at both nonionizing electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which are used by AirPods and other Bluetooth devices, as well as cellphones and Wi-Fi, which emit radiofrequency radiation.

Scientists Warn of Danger From EMFs

The petition, which was originally released in 2015 and updated in 2019, is an international appeal from scientists who work closely in the study of the health effects of nonionizing EMF. For decades, the industry has claimed that nonionizing radiation is harmless and the only radiation worth worrying about is ionizing radiation. On the contrary, the scientists state:⁶

"Based upon peer-reviewed, published research, we have serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to EMF generated by electric and wireless devices.

These include — but are not limited to — radiofrequency radiation (RFR) emitting devices, such as cellular and cordless phones and their base stations, Wi-Fi, broadcast antennas, smart meters and baby monitors as well as electric devices and infrastructures used in the delivery of electricity that generate extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF EMF)."

Noting the International Agency for Research on Cancer's classification of EMF as a possible human carcinogen, they also stated numerous scientific publications show EMF affects organisms at levels "well below" most international and national guidelines. Among the potential risks of exposure include:⁷

By failing to take action, the petition states, the World Health Organization is "failing to fulfill its role as the pre-eminent international public health agency," adding that damage from EMF "goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life."⁸

Why Wireless Earbuds Could Be Particularly Problematic

Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley and one of the petition's signers, explained that earbud technology is so new that research hasn't yet been done to detail what effects it could have on the brain.

However, he stated in a news release, "I couldn't imagine it's all that great for you," noting that AirPods "communicate with one another using a magnetic induction field, a variable magnetic field [one] sends through your brain to communicate with the other."⁹

Bluetooth technology like that used by AirPods is typically low intensity, but it's the close proximity to your brain that could make earbuds particularly dangerous, especially since they tend to be used for longer periods. Moskowitz said the technology could "open the blood-brain barrier, which evolved to keep large molecules out of the brain."

He believes that with earbuds, exposure leading to neurological disorders and diseases may be more likely than cancer. "From a precautionary standpoint, I would argue you shouldn't experiment with your brain like this by keeping these kinds of wireless headphones on your head or in your ears," Moskowitz said in a news release. "You're conducting a health experiment on yourself, and current regulations are completely oblivious to these kinds of exposures."¹⁰

EMFs May Damage Your Cells by Causing Excessive Free Radicals

Martin Pall, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Washington State University, is another one of the scientists who signed the petition. He discovered more than two dozen bodies of research asserting that EMFs work by activating voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), which are located in the outer membrane of your cells.

Once activated, they allow a tremendous influx of calcium into the cell — about 1 million calcium ions per second per VGCC. When there's excess calcium in the cell, it increases levels of both nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide. While NO has many beneficial health effects, massively excessive amounts of it react with superoxide, forming peroxynitrite, which is an extremely potent oxidant stressor.

Peroxynitrites, in turn, break down to form reactive free radicals, both reactive nitrogen species and reactive oxygen species, including hydroxyl radicals, carbonate radicals and NO2 radicals — all three of which do damage. Peroxynitrites also do their own damage.

EMFs are not, therefore, causing damage by having a thermal influence or heating your tissues; they are not "cooking" your cells as some suggest. Rather, EMF radiation activates the VGCCs in the outer cell membrane, triggering a chain reaction of devastating events that, ultimately:

• Decimates your mitochondrial function, cell membranes and cellular proteins
• Causes severe cellular damage
• Results in DNA breaks
• Dramatically accelerates your aging process
• Puts you at higher risk for chronic disease

Like Moskowitz, Pall believes consequences of chronic EMF exposure to the brain can include neurological changes leading to anxiety, depression, autism and Alzheimer's disease.¹¹ Further, it's known that elevated VGCC activity in certain parts of the brain produces a variety of neuropsychiatric effects. According to Pall:

"I reviewed a [large number] of studies on various kinds of EMF exposures, each of them showing neuropsychiatric effects. What you find is that these effects have been repeated many times in these epidemiological studies.

It's the same thing that everybody's complaining about, 'I'm tired all the time,' 'I can't sleep,' 'I can't concentrate,' 'I'm depressed,' 'I'm anxious all the time,' 'My memory doesn't work well anymore.' All the things everybody's complaining about.

We know all those things are caused by EMF exposures. There's no doubt about that. Because we know their effects on the brain, we know that the VGCCs' excessive activity can produce various neuropsychiatric problems."

Nine Measures to Protect Human Health From EMFs Requested

In their petition to the U.N., the scientists state there are inadequate nonionizing EMF guidelines on an international level, and the agencies responsible have failed to create and impose sufficient guidelines and safety standards to protect public health and populations that may be especially vulnerable to EMF, such as children.

They're calling for the United Nations Environmental Programme to fund an independent multidisciplinary committee to figure out ways to lower human exposure to RFR and ELF, noting that while industry should cooperate in this process, they should not be allowed to bias the findings. They also made the following nine requests regarding EMF:

1. Children and pregnant women be protected
2. Guidelines and regulatory standards be strengthened
3. Manufacturers be encouraged to develop safer technology
4. Utilities responsible for the generation, transmission, distribution and monitoring of electricity maintain adequate power quality and ensure proper electrical wiring to minimize harmful ground current
5. The public be fully informed about the potential health risks from electromagnetic energy and taught harm-reduction strategies
6. Medical professionals be educated about the biological effects of electromagnetic energy and be provided training on treatment of patients with electromagnetic sensitivity
7. Governments fund training and research on electromagnetic fields and health that are independent of industry, and mandate industry cooperation with researchers
8. Media disclose experts' financial relationships with industry when citing their opinions regarding health and safety aspects of EMF-emitting technologies
9. White-zones (radiation-free areas) be established

Protections Needed Before 5G Technology Becomes Widespread

The scientists' petition is a somber warning as 5G, or "5th Generation," networks continue to roll out. Unlike the "4th Generation" (4G) technology currently in use, which relies on huge 90-foot cell towers with about a dozen antenna ports on each, the 5G system uses "small cell" facilities or bases, each with about 100 antenna ports each.¹²

Expected to be 10 to 100 times faster than 4G technology and capable of supporting at least 100 billion devices,¹³ 5G relies primarily on the bandwidth of the millimeter wave (MMW), which is between 30GHz and 300GHz, according to EMF coach and author Lloyd Burrell.¹⁴

MMWs have not been widely used before, but there are some concerning findings to date, including that sweat ducts in human skin act as antennae when they come in contact with MMWs.¹⁵

In addition, there is a possibility the technology could worsen the problems with antibiotic-resistant bacteria already plaguing the world, as they cause changes in E. coli and many other bacteria, depressing their growth and changing properties and activity.

This also raises concerns that the technology could lead to similar changes in human cells. According to researchers in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology:¹⁶

"MMW … or electromagnetic fields of extremely high frequencies at low intensity is a new environmental factor, the level of which is increased as technology advances. It is of interest that bacteria and other cells might communicate with each other by electromagnetic field of sub-extremely high frequency range …

[T]he combined action of MMW and antibiotics resulted with more strong effects. These effects are of significance for understanding changed metabolic pathways and distinguish [sic] role of bacteria in environment; they might be leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria."

Studies have even shown that MMWs may invoke stress protein changes in plants such as wheat shoots,¹⁷ while low levels of nonionizing radiation have been linked to disturbances and health problems in birds and bees.¹⁸

Skip the Earbuds — and Other Tips to Lower Your EMF Exposure

It's clear that when it comes to the use of earbuds, the use of the precautionary principle is warranted. Don't become part of the experiment — skip earbuds and listen to your media content the "old-fashioned" way instead.

Apart from that, here are 19 more suggestions that will help reduce your EMF exposure and help mitigate damage from unavoidable exposures.

While the globalist cabal claims “climate change” is the No. 1 threat to humanity, necessitating radical quality of life sacrifices and the total relinquishing of privacy and freedom, there are far more pressing problems. One key environmental threat facing mankind today is the increasing lack of potable water, thanks to a combination of water pollution and scarcity. Without potable water, we’re in immediate lethal peril.

Groundwater aquifers rapidly depleting, resulting in water scarcity, higher prices, land cave-ins and water wars. On top of that, much of the world's remaining water supply has become too contaminated to drink or even bathe in, and infrastructure — especially in the U.S. but also elsewhere — is nearing the end of its useful life and is in dire need of upgrades.

Water Contamination Commonplace Even in Developed Countries

News of dangerous water contamination in the U.S., reported in the first week of September 2022 alone, include:

According to the World Health Organization, more than 2 billion people worldwide drink water contaminated with feces,⁶ resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to preventable diseases each year.

Water sources in both developing and developed countries are also contaminated with toxic chemical pollutants that treatment plants are not prepared to filter. Among the most hazardous water pollutants are arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics.⁷

Algae Blooms Are a Costly Problem

According to a September 5, 2022, article in the San Francisco Chronicle,⁸ wastewater from 37 sewage plants dumped into the San Francisco Bay has turned the water a murky brown, and dead fish litter the shores. (While hard to believe, an estimated 80% of global wastewater is released into the environment untreated.⁹)

An estimated 10,000 yellowfin goby and hundreds of striped bass and white sturgeon have washed ashore so far. The cause for the die-off: toxic algae bloom, triggered by the nitrogen and phosphorous from the feces and urine in the discharged wastewater.

Harmful algae bloom (HABs) will turn the water red and release neurotoxic compounds that are then passed up the food chain. It also depletes the water of oxygen, eventually — if not properly addressed — creating a dead zone where no life can be sustained.¹⁰ As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:¹¹

“The regional water board has told agencies that it will probably require caps on nutrients in wastewater when their regional permit comes up for renewal in 2024.

But upgrading dozens of aging treatment facilities could cost $14 billion, which would double or triple ratepayers’ water bills, [executive officer of San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, Eileen] White said in an interview.

‘It’s a multibillion-dollar Bay Area issue that needs to be thought through very carefully, taking the science into effect,’ she said. ‘There’s all of sorts of different treatments, and none of them are cheap’ ...

Federal, state and local governments and the treatment plants themselves have spent millions to research the issue, but like much of climate change planning, the science and policy are moving slower than the problem is progressing.”

Some water treatment plants could help address the problem using already existing infrastructure. The San Jose/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, for example, has been able to reduce the nitrogen load of its wastewater from 17 to 11 milligrams per liter, at no extra cost, simply by directing the water through a series of four tanks containing nitrogen-consuming bacteria before it’s discharged.

Wastewater Could Be a Source of Reusable Phosphorous

One of the important resources found in wastewater is phosphorus. This mineral is an essential nutrient for plant growth, which is why many fertilizers include it. And, while widespread across the Earth, there are limited areas where it is found in concentrated form.

However, wastewater contains a significant amount, as phosphorus is not only found in human excrement but also in detergents. Removing and reusing phosphorus from wastewater would not only increase supply, but would also reduce the risk of algae blooms.

The U.N. has proposed¹² that removing and recovering phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients from wastewater could prevent hyper-growth of HEBs in lakes and rivers, while simultaneously providing a unique business opportunity to recuperate a finite resource essential for agriculture. The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant has been doing this for years already, as seen in the 2012 video report above.

Pharmaceutical Pollution Is Widespread

Anything and everything you flush down the drain ends up somewhere and, oftentimes, the end destination is your local waterways. Pharmaceutical drugs are particularly problematic, as water treatment plants are not equipped to filter out these compounds.

Water treatment plants fail to filter out an estimated 93% of the drug compounds in wastewater, and a 2017 U.S. Geological Survey found 80% of U.S. waterways contained pharmaceutical pollution,¹³ which can have a devastating impact on aquatic species.

Proper disposal of drugs, lotions, creams and perfumes is paramount to the reduction of water pollution. By using all-natural and unscented personal care products, dropping off unused and expired drugs at a drug take-back site and not flushing any medication down the toilet, you can reduce your personal pharmaceutical footprint.

If you’re in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has tools to help you find a local drug take-back location on its Drug Disposal: Drug Take Back Locations page.¹⁴

Firefighting Foam Contaminates Water Across the US

Firefighting foam also poses a serious threat to our water supplies. In 2015, investigative journalist Sharon Lerner published an extensive series¹⁵ of articles about the dangers of PFAS¹⁶ (two of the most well-known ones of which are PFOA and PFOS) and the industry’s attempts to cover up the damage.

Part 15¹⁷ addressed the U.S. military’s affinity for toxic flame retardants, despite the fact that billions of dollars are being spent trying to clean up drinking water contaminated by firefighting foam used on military installations. Many other PFAS chemicals¹⁸ — such as PFHxS, PFHpA, PFBA and PFBS — have also been detected in drinking water, yet the military is only attempting to clean up PFOA and PFOS contamination.

Around hundreds of U.S. military bases, PFAS have leached through the ground, contaminating surrounding groundwater. In addition to prostate cancer and thyroid problems, these chemicals have been linked to other types of cancer as well, including kidney, testicular and bladder cancer, as well as immune dysfunction, reproductive problems and hormone disruption.

Considering the public health threat posed by PFAS contamination, courtesy of firefighting foam, you’d think the U.S. government would take proactive measures to eliminate the use of these toxic chemicals. After all, other countries are using PFAS-free firefighting foam, and it works just as well. Alas, this is not happening.

Incomplete data make it very difficult to ascertain how widespread the PFAS-contamination might be, but drinking water near at least 46 military installations in the U.S. have been found to contain PFOA and/or PFOS at levels exceeding 70 parts per trillion (ppt), which is the EPA’s health advisory level for drinking water.¹⁹

If you live anywhere near a military installation or fire department fire-training area, consider getting your tap water tested for PFAS and other toxic contaminants. Water testing is a prudent step no matter where you live these days, as is filtering your water, as there are literally hundreds of potential water contaminants that can harm your health.

Factory Farm Contamination

Another major source of water contamination is runoff from factory farms. In addition to farming chemicals such as nitrates, which pose a serious threat to water quality, there’s the issue of drug-resistant bacteria, which are a result of antibiotic overuse in livestock.

When it comes to water pollution from farms, the problem is twofold. First, regular farming is exempt from the Clean Water Act. Second, while farms registered as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are regulated under the Act, many simply don’t apply for the required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, which dictate what you’re allowed to discharge into national waterways.

Between 2011 and 2016, the number of CAFOs in the U.S. increased by 956, to a total of 19,496, yet the total number of CAFO discharge permits didn’t go up but actually declined by 1,806 during that period.²⁰ Many farmers also don’t bother with nutrient management planning, which is voluntary, even though there are plenty of conservation practices that can help reduce water pollution.²¹

The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater

Industrial farming also uses enormous amounts of potable water for irrigation, and in many areas, aquifers are being drained faster than they can be refilled, resulting in water scarcity.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 80% of U.S. consumptive water (and more than 90% in many Western states) is used for agricultural purposes.²²

NASA mapping²³ of groundwater storage trends for the earth's 37 largest aquifers reveals 21 aquifers have already exceeded their sustainability tipping points and are being depleted, and 13 of them are considered “significantly distressed, threatening regional water security and resilience.” Considering groundwater accounts for 99% of potable freshwater,²⁴ the depletion of aquifers is a serious concern. As reported by the Pacific Institute:²⁵

“Depleted groundwater aquifers can take thousands of years to be replenished by rain, snow, and other sources. This option can be off the table when an aquifer becomes so depleted it loses its capacity to store water.

In the U.S., the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches across parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, illustrates this concern.

A history of groundwater overdraft threatens to deplete the aquifer. Once depleted, it’s estimated the Ogallala Aquifer could take more than 6,000 years to be naturally replenished ...

A 2021 Pacific Institute study²⁶ highlighted connections between California groundwater management and local communities’ ability to access water — with significant water equity concerns.

California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was created to help protect groundwater, but the study showed minimum groundwater thresholds defined by SGMA would leave many people vulnerable to losing their water access.”

What Are the Solutions?

There tends to be a “free-for-all” mentality at play where the one who can afford to drill the deepest well wins in the short term, but everyone loses in the long term. Groundwater as a resource needs proper governance and management. Farmers also need more efficient irrigation systems, and we need engineering solutions to improve the refill rate of aquifers.

On a personal level, we also need to make changes in how we use water, and how we grow crops. Selecting the most appropriate crops for any given area would result in more efficient water usage, and would reduce the amount farmers would have to draw from our aquifers. In short, we need to grow food with less water.

The good news is we already know how to do that, and it’s called regenerative agriculture. It’s been well-proven that regenerative agriculture biodynamic farming is far more water efficient than industrial farming. To learn how, see “Regenerative Food and Farming: The Road Forward.”

With water wars becoming a reality even in developed nations (just look at California, where the battle over water allocation has been ongoing for more than a decade²⁷), you’d be wise to give serious thought to emergency water preparations.

Not only do you need a source of water, were your tap water to stop running, but you also need to have the proper supplies on hand to filter and decontaminate that water to make it safe to drink.

Filtering the water you use for drinking, cooking and bathing is, I think, an absolute necessity these days, no matter where you live — unless you’ve had your water tested and are satisfied that it’s pure (which is rare). I recommend installing a whole-house filter system to ensure optimal water quality from your tap.

In an emergency situation, however, when tap water is unavailable, you’ll need to source your water elsewhere and that can be a real challenge, as people in Jackson, Mississippi, are now finding out.

In “How to Secure Your Water Supply for Emergencies,” I review ideas for alternative water sources, such as collecting spring water, or water from a local stream or river, which is far from ideal but might work in the short-term, and setting up a rain catchment system, which is a far more sustainable, long-term solution.

I also go over basic water purification and disinfection guidelines. Rainwater is often thought to be pristine, but it’s not, so even rainwater needs to be properly filtered before drinking.

The time to sort out your emergency plans is now, while municipal water and supply chains are still operational. Once an emergency hits, it’s too late to start thinking about installing wells or rain barrels and buying water filters, as by then the things you need might be incredibly difficult to get.

As reviewed in “Why Government Health Care Kills More People Than It Helps,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention couldn't have botched its COVID response any more if it tried.

August 17, 2022, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky even publicly admitted the agency’s failures, stating, “we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes from testing, to data, to communications.”^1,2,3

To save face, Walensky is reorganizing the agency, but considering the extent to which CDC officials have lied, obfuscated and broken laws intended to protect public health, it is highly unlikely that the CDC will ever be able to recover their credibility.

Abolish the CDC

The CDC is corrupted beyond salvage, and as noted by Brownstone Institute founder and president Jeffrey Tucker,⁴ the only way to fix a captured bureaucracy is to get rid of it:

“Any serious effort to end the crisis must deal with the problem of the administrative state and the bureaucratic power thereof. Without that focus, no reform effort can get anywhere ...

The reason is simple: a free and functioning society cannot coexist with an undemocratic beast like this on the loose, making its own laws and running roughshod over rights and liberties with zero oversight from elected leaders. Until the administrative state is defanged and disempowered, there will be no representative government and no hope for change.

It’s obvious that the bureaucracies will not reform themselves ... The reform will be ... cosmetic without reality. It will not deal with the central problem as plainly stated by Harvey Risch:⁵ ‘industry subservience and epidemiologic incompetence’ ...

After Betsy DeVos left the Department of Education, and observing from the inside what a disaster it truly was, she said what needed to be said. Abolish it. Shut it down. Defund it completely. Forget about it. It does nothing useful. Everything it does can be performed better at the state level or private markets. All true.

What she says about the Department of Education is equally true of another hundred-plus agencies of the administrative state. People have been talking lately about abolishing the FBI. Great, do it. Same goes for the CDC. It’s time. Right now. Pull the plug on the whole thing and sell the real estate.

Truly there is no other option except continuing to do what we are doing now. The status quo is intolerable. If a serious reform-minded Congress comes to power, abolition and not reform and not cuts, needs to be the starting point of discussion ...

There needs to be a to-be-abolished list and any federal government institution with the word agency, department, or bureau needs to be on it ... Society itself, which is smarter than bureaucracy, can manage the rest.”

The Rise of the American Biosecurity State

To understand how and why the CDC has morphed into an agency that works against, instead of for, the public good, we need to take a look at the history of American biodefense. Two journalists have recently dedicated articles to this issue.

In an August 29, 2022, Unherd article,⁶ Ashley Rindsberg reviewed how Dr. Anthony Fauci rose to power as the highest paid federal employee, sitting at the “very top of America’s biodefense infrastructure,” with near-unlimited authority, at least as it pertains to science; what gets funded and what doesn’t.

“To understand the rise of Fauci ... we must return to the first months of the 2000s, when a hawkish new administration was settling into power,” Rindsberg writes. George W. Bush came into office with Dick Cheney as vice president. Cheney had already served as defense secretary under George H.W. Bush.

According to Rindsberg, the Bush administration “came to power with biological weapons and infectious disease very much top of mind, with Cheney seeking to address the gaping hole in America’s national security left by the country’s lack of a coherent biodefense strategy.”

Biodefense became an even more prominent concern in the aftermath of 9/11, when letters containing anthrax were sent out to members of media and two U.S. senators. Of the 22 people infected with anthrax, five died. According to Rindsberg, Cheney “served as the political engine behind a paradigm shift that would soon take place in America’s biodefense strategy.”

Biodefense for the 21st Century

Just six days before 9/11, Joe Biden, then-chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had led a hearing on the threat of bioterrorism and the spread of infectious diseases.

Subsequent to that hearing, in June 2002, president Bush signed the “Biodefense for the 21st Century”⁷ directive, the aim of which was to advance a “comprehensive framework” for U.S. biodefense, based on the assumption that America could be devastated by a bioweapons attack.

The directive outlined “essential pillars” of the U.S. biodefense program, including threat awareness and vulnerability assessment, prevention and protection, surveillance and detection, response and recovery. The year before, in June 2001, senior policymakers had also performed a two-day tabletop simulation of a smallpox attack called Dark Winter.

“Intended ... to expose vulnerabilities, the operation showed how quickly a public health disaster could lead to widespread chaos and social collapse. This was the stuff nightmares are made of — and, by all accounts, those were the nightmares that Dick Cheney was having,” Rindsberg writes. He continues:⁸

“Significant as it was, [Cheney’s] transformation of America’s biodefence framework was part of a much larger repositioning of long-term geopolitical strategy, an effort also led by Cheney.

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early Nineties, Cheney, then Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush, along with Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, began formulating a grand strategy for the post-Cold War era.

This plan, revealed in an infamous leaked memo,⁹ was rooted in a single strategic objective: America should permanently remain the world’s superpower. Its architects argued the US would do so only by preserving ‘strategic depth’ to ‘shape the security environment.’

The initial leaked memo was later reworked by Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who broadened the concept¹⁰ of ‘strategic depth’ to cover not only geographic reach but also an ability to wage war with weapons that could not only cripple an enemy’s military capabilities but disrupt its political, economic and social stability.”

How Biodefense Became Fauci’s Domain

In 2002, the Bush administration quintupled biodefense spending to $317 million. That same year, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), broke out in China, and in 2003, just as SARS was being contained, H5N1 avian influenza emerged.

The back-to-back outbreaks acted as fuel for the erection of a biosecurity state, and in 2003, the Bush administration increased the annual biodefense budget to $2 billion — a staggering sum at the time. Bush also earmarked another $6 billion for the development and stockpiling of vaccines over the next decade.

But funding was only part of the challenge. To truly prepare for a bioweapons attack, research had to be conducted and coordinated, and to that end, Cheney brought all biodefense research programs under the purview of a single entity — the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by Fauci.

So, since 2003, Fauci has been responsible for “civilian biodefense research with a focus on research and early development of medical countermeasures against terrorist threats from infectious diseases and radiation exposures.”¹¹

What’s more, as explained by Rindsberg, “as far as NIAID was concerned, there was no meaningful administrative distinction between biodefense and scientific research. With the stroke of Cheney’s pen, all United States biodefense efforts, classified or unclassified, were placed under the aegis of Anthony Fauci.”

This, in a nutshell, explains Fauci’s power. As the head of the biodefense infrastructure, Fauci has, for decades, had an open channel straight into the top office of the White House. He’s also exempt from oversight. For all these years, he’s had carte blanche to approve and run whatever biodefense research he wanted, without anyone telling him otherwise.

It also explains why he’s the highest paid employee in the federal government, making more than the president himself. A significant portion of Fauci’s $417,600 annual salary¹² is compensation for his biodefense research leadership.

COVID-19 Is Fauci’s Grandest Failure

As top dog of biodefense research, it was Fauci’s job to prevent COVID-19 from devastating the U.S. Instead, in 2017, he confidently announced that then-president Trump would “no doubt” have to face a “surprise infectious disease outbreak,”¹³ and then went on to issue a never-ending series of conflicting recommendations as head of the White House Coronavirus Response team.

Fauci also led efforts to suppress discussion about the origin of COVID-19, as detailed in “Liars, Propagandists and The Great Reset.”

In January 2022, House Oversight Committee Republicans released National Institutes of Health emails showing Fauci and now-former NIH director Francis Collins spearheaded the effort to bury the lab leak theory, even though the consensus in early February 2020 was that the virus likely leaked from the Wuhan lab — and that it appeared to have been genetically engineered.

February 4, 2020, Fauci and Collins received a draft of the article, “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” later published in Nature Medicine.¹⁴ The original draft has never been released to the public, but we do have an email reply from Fauci, in which he objected to the inclusion of serial passaging through humanized mice.

In its final form, the Nature Medicine article roundly dismissed the idea that the virus originated in a lab, proposing instead that it must have evolved naturally, even though no actual evidence for that existed.

The Dangers of Biodefense Research Are Obvious

For years, a number of critics have warned that biodefense research could result in the very thing we’re trying to avoid, namely an infectious disease outbreak, as even the highest-security laboratories are prone to leaks and accidents.

One such critic is Richard Ebright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University. In 2003, he warned that the burgeoning biodefense endeavor, while well-intentioned, “may perversely have exactly the opposite effect.”¹⁵

Fauci, ever the defender of risky research (and as we now understand, for selfish reasons), dismissed Ebright’s concerns as “spurious.” Today, Fauci’s dismissal rings hollow, as documents obtained through various Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show he and Collins appear to have been more than a little nervous about people discovering they funded gain-of-function research on coronaviruses.¹⁶ As reported by U.S. Right To Know (USRTK):¹⁷

“In the earliest days of the pandemic, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins emailed about coronaviruses under study at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and about whether they had steered money to the lab, an email obtained by U.S. Right to Know shows.

Collins ... and Fauci ... exchanged emails on February 1, 2020, about a preprint¹⁸ authored by Zhengli Shi, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. The preprint described bat coronaviruses under study at the lab, including a coronavirus 96% genetically similar to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The emails show that Collins and Fauci were concerned about links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and NIH. ‘In case you haven’t seen this preprint from one week ago,’ Collins said in a February 1, 2020, email to Fauci. ‘No evidence this work was supported by NIH’ ...

About two hours after the email exchange, Collins and Fauci would join a secret teleconference with a group of virologists who were closely examining the novel coronavirus. The teleconference touched off a high-profile push to discredit the lab leak hypothesis.

The revelation that Collins and Fauci were discussing whether NIH had funded work on coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 at the Wuhan lab in the hours before suggests that politics may have been at play.”

How Cheney Tricked Us Into War

The second article¹⁹ to take a deep dive into the links between Cheney and Fauci was published by Sam Husseini, September 7, 2022. Husseini, however, throws his searchlight on the way both of these characters have used lies to further the biosecurity agenda:

“Twenty years ago, the ‘Cheney-Bush junta’ ... launched its propaganda campaign to invade Iraq ... Sept. 8, 2002, The New York Times ran on its front page the story ‘U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts’ ...

That same day, then Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on Meet the Press ... hyping the New York Times story as evidence that Hussein was attempting to acquire ‘the kinds of tubes that are necessary to build a centrifuge and the centrifuge is required to take low-grade uranium and enhance it into highly-enriched uranium which is what you have to have in order to build a bomb.’ Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice followed Cheney’s lead on other shows.”

The problem, we now know, is that the “anonymous source” quoted by The New York Times lied. Worse, Cheney himself appears to have been that source. In other words, Cheney leaked the false story to the press, and then used that news coverage to support his recommendation to invade Iraq.

“Even the mainstream Bob Simon of CBS would later remark to Bill Moyers about Cheney: ‘You leak a story, and then you quote the story. I mean, that's a remarkable thing to do,’” Husseini writes,²⁰ adding: “Remarkable is actually an understatement. It’s engaging in a de facto conspiracy to deceive the U.S. public into war.”

Fauci Caught Employing the Same Trick

Taking a page straight out of Cheney’s handbook, Fauci used the exact same trick when, in April 2020, he was asked to address the suggestion that SARS-CoV-2 was manmade.

Fauci went on to cite “a study ... where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences there and the sequences in bats as they evolve. And the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”

That paper was “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2”²¹ that I just discussed above — the paper that Fauci and Collins edited prior to its publication in Nature Medicine. So, Fauci edited the paper²² and then he used that paper as “evidence” to support his irrational stance that the virus occurred naturally.

Just as Cheney engaged in a “de facto conspiracy to deceive the U.S. public into war,” Fauci engaged in a de facto conspiracy to trick the public into giving up our freedoms and livelihoods in the name of biosecurity. So, as noted by Husseini,²³ “One thing that should be kept in mind as one parses through the claims and ‘exposés’ is that some are de facto cover stories.”

‘Biodefense’ Has Become a War Machine Against the Public

Now, nearly three years into the COVID debacle, it’s clear that this is indeed a war. It’s a war against the American public, for the purpose of forcing us into a New World Order, a One World Government run by a globalist cabal, where “biosecurity” is the justification for the removal of Constitutional rights and freedoms.

The same war is being waged by governments across the globe, against their own citizens, for the same reason and with the same aim. Fauci like Cheney before him, is responsible for getting us into this war, and for keeping us in it, using lies and propaganda.

The Iraq war — launched under false pretenses — lasted for eight years. No doubt, COVID could be strung out for that long as well, unless the truth is finally recognized by the masses.

And, to circle back to where we started, the institutions that facilitated this war on the American public must be abolished and dismantled, and the individuals responsible within them held to account for their roles. This includes not only Fauci and Walensky, but a host of others as well.

Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of the mRNA and DNA vaccine core platform technology,¹ has unintentionally become a public figure for speaking out about the risks and ineffectiveness of COVID-19 shots. He's been deplatformed by LinkedIn and Twitter in the process, but that's only the beginning.

Malone is now earning most of his income from continuing to speak out via Substack, functioning not only as a scientist but as a citizen reporter. "To shut me down is basically anticompetitive," Malone said, speaking with WND in the video above.²

Malone Files Defamation Lawsuit Against WaPo

Yet, corporate media outlets are attempting to do just that, as they continue to publish defamatory hit pieces against Malone, as they have done to yours truly and many others who have shared information that's not in line with the official narrative. Now Malone is fighting back, as he's filed a $50 million lawsuit³ against The Washington Post (WaPo).⁴

If you've heard of Malone, it may be because his mention of the term "mass formation psychosis" on an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" December 31, 2021, which was viewed by more than 50 million people,⁵ went viral.

Those under the spell of mass formation psychosis obsessively focus on a failure of the normal world or a particular event or person who becomes the focus of the attention and can effectively control the masses.

Mass formation can occur in a society with feelings of social isolation and free-floating anxiety among a large number of people, and provides a coherent explanation of why so many people have fallen victim to the unbelievable lies and propaganda of the mainstream COVID-19 narrative.

Malone is also dedicated to speaking out because he wants to protect future generations. He's concerned about the pandemic response's effects on children, stating that public policies have had a particularly strong adverse effect on the young, and calling COVID-19 injection mandates "completely unjustified" for children.⁶ He also told WND:⁷

"I am of the opinion that a product that does not prevent infection, replication or spread of a pathogen to any substantial degree is not a vaccine.

And the fallback, of course, has been by the government that the genetic inoculations prevent severe disease and death, but unfortunately for all of us, the data are now showing internationally, and increasingly within the U.S., that the risk of severe disease or death is at a minimum equivalent between the unvaccinated and those who have received at least two inoculations.

And the data from most countries that are reporting this, like in Northern Europe, suggest the multiple inoculations — four or more injections, and even three injections to some extent — are associated with a higher risk of hospitalization and death."

It doesn't matter if what he's saying is true; if it creates "vaccine hesitancy," it will be censored. Toward that end, Malone has been targeted by the media and labeled an "anti-vaxxer," which is ironic since he's received COVID-19 shots.

Malone Attorneys File Cease-and-Desist Letters

Malone's attorneys sent cease-and-desist letters to the corporate media outlets that were most egregious in their attacks against him. This included The Washington Post, The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone and The Scientist, which published an inflammatory article against Malone and his response when a physician from Maui alerted the Maryland state medical board that Malone was promoting "COVID-19 misinformation."⁸

The reason he's suing The Washington Post, in particular, is because after his attorneys sent the media outlet a cease-and-desist letter, it put out another attack article repeating the same defamatory statements. "So that appears to show malice," Malone said, "and there's a number of other aspects in the words that they've used that appear to meet the criteria for malice."⁹

The Washington Post has continued to publish hit pieces against Malone, "accusing him of spreading 'dangerous lies' and 'leading his followers on a journey to illness, suffering and possible death,'" WND noted, adding, "Significantly, Post staff writer Timothy Bella labeled as "misinformation" Malone's statement that the vaccines 'are not working,' citing studies published by the CDC's sponsored journal as a counterpoint."¹⁰

Writing on Substack, Malone further explained that he had a gut feeling The Washington Post was up to no good when Bella first contacted him, asking to shadow him at the Defeat the Mandates rally in Washington, D.C., held in January 2022, where Malone was speaking:¹¹

"Having been defamed and slandered by state-sponsored media before, I had learned enough about how these reporters approach their targets to politely turn down the offer to 'profile' me by a WaPo reported who has 'respect for you and your body of work' ...

In retrospect, my gut instinct was right. I felt like I was being set up (I can't get into the head or Mr. Bella and speak to his motives — maybe others can). Can you only imagine what would have been written and published IF I had agreed to have Mr. Bella shadow me — as he requested? Let my experience be a lesson to all concerned."

Malone is seeking more than $50 million in damages for injury to his reputation (past and future), insult, pain and mental suffering, lost income, career damage and impairment of future earnings.¹² The lawsuit alleges:¹³

"WaPo falsely accused Dr. Malone of fraud, disinformation, dishonesty, deception, lying to the American public, lack of integrity, immorality and ethical improprieties. The gist of the Article is that Dr. Malone is unfit to be a medical doctor and scientist. WaPo exposed Dr. Malone to public ridicule, scorn, and contempt, and severely prejudiced Dr. Malone in his employment."

The New York Times Also Attacked Malone

Malone told WND that he was also "ground into sausage" by The New York Times, after one of their reporters, who he welcomed to his farm for what he thought would be a good faith interview, published another attack piece. He now says he's gotten to the point where he tells others who are speaking words that are not endorsed by the government or the current narrative to "just say no" if they're approached by the media.¹⁴

Indeed, The New York Times has also published repeated hit pieces against me, making multiple blatantly false claims and labeling me a "superspreader" of misinformation. Twitter has banned anyone from sharing any link to my website, YouTube banned my account with over 15 years of content, while Facebook and Google have done everything possible to make me disappear.

It certainly would be much easier to cave under the pressure, but if we don't stand up for our rights and freedom now — when will it be too late? I will continue 'superspreading' truth and health until my last days, and I suspect Malone will as well.

"The lesson learned by so many is that the likes of Business Insider, Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN," Malone said, "these are media outlets which are paid by pharma and paid by the government ... more and more is coming out ... that the government has been actively promoting these forms of attack, cancelling and defamation."¹⁵

New York Times Paradox Explained?

Malone also spoke about the seeming paradox of the corporate-sponsored, narrative-aligned New York Times publishing an exposé in February 2022 that revealed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been collecting data on COVID-19 hospitalizations according to age, race and injection status throughout the pandemic but didn't release most of it to the public.¹⁶

Such data certainly would have been of interest to a large portion of the U.S. population, but according to CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund, the CDC hadn't released all of the data "because basically, at the end of the day, it's not yet ready for prime time."¹⁷ The Times reported, "Another reason is fear that the information might be misinterpreted, Ms. Nordlund said."¹⁸

Malone said he believes that the CDC withholding evidence about COVID-19 shot safety is scientific fraud¹⁹ and, beyond that, the outcome of the Times exposé and other public criticism of the CDC may have been revealed by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky's recent calls for sweeping changes at the CDC.²⁰ Among them, Malone says, is the establishment of a committee:²¹

"The outcome of all of this is that a committee has been established — you know what that means in D.C., it means that nobody has to take a hit for any bad decisions ... responsibility is all diffused — to advise and provide oversite for operations at the CDC."

Another outcome is to make the CDC less academic and give them more money and more power. "They need the power to extract data from the states," Malone said, explaining:²²

"Since the practice of medicine is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a federal mandate," — the regulation of the practice of medicine is done at the state level — "she wants to basically circumvent the Constitution and be able to demand data from the states, because apparently they don't have enough data at the CDC, even though there are multiple stories out that they haven't analyzed and reported the data that they do have, and they need more money to hire more people in order to do this.

They need to refocus their workforce on rapid response rather than putting out academic papers. The whole thing, to me, reeks to high heaven."

Turning an Attack Into a Badge of Honor

While being targeted by the media has ruined many reputations, it's possible to turn the attack into a badge of honor. One way to do this is to not back down under these signs of oppression and continue to fight for the truth, no matter the cost. Malone's lawsuit will not be the last that seeks to expose the true intentions behind the COVID spin.

And remember, in your own search for the truth — and in your journey to protect and maintain your health and that of your family — understand that the media intentionally uses Orwellian doublespeak, a weapon of tyranny in which words are twisted, reversing their meaning.

Back pain is one of the most common health complaints across the globe, with an estimated 80% of people experiencing back pain at some point in their life.¹ Not only is back pain the No. 1 cause of job disability,² it’s also one of the most common reasons for opioid dependence, the side effects of which can be lethal. In fact, opioids are now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50.³

According to a 2018 study,^4,5 opioids — which modulate your brain’s reaction to pain — are the most commonly prescribed medications for people with chronic low back pain and, as you’d suspect, these drugs are typically used long-term in this population.

According to Pharmacy Times, about 20% of patients on long-term opioid therapy end up developing an opioid use disorder.⁶ Up to 25% of opioid users also end up with other substance-abuse disorders,⁷ which have additional risks.

The use of opioids for back pain flies in the face of guidelines⁸ from the American College of Physicians, which recommends heat wraps and exercise as a first line of treatment, stressing that prescription drugs should only be used as a last resort, as they completely fail to treat the underlying problem.

Research⁹ has also shown opioids (including morphine, Vicodin, oxycodone and fentanyl) fail to control moderate to severe pain any better than over-the-counter (OTC) drugs such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen. In fact, those taking nonopioid pain relievers actually fared “significantly better” in terms of pain intensity.

Considering the immense risks associated with opioid use, you’d be wise to exhaust all other alternatives before jumping on that bandwagon to disaster. The good news is there are a wide variety of non-drug options available.

Unlearning Chronic Back Pain

Most recently, researchers have shown you can successfully reverse chronic back pain by retraining your brain with Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT).¹⁰ As reported by DW.com:¹¹

“PRT aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain to deactivate pain and train the brain to respond to signals from the body more appropriately, using what's called pain education. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce a patient's fear of certain movements, so that when they do move in those ways, they are confident that it won't cause them any pain.”

The article tells the story of one of the study participants, Daniel Waldrip, who had suffered chronic debilitating back pain for 18 years. One month after the conclusion of the study, Waldrip was 100% pain free, and he’s remained pain free in the four years since. “It completely changed my life,” he told DW.com.

Pain Processing Gone Haywire

If pain can be “unlearned,” what does that say about the nature of pain? Contrary to popular belief, chronic back pain is not always due to some structural or mechanical problem. More often than not, it’s actually caused by nerves sending incorrect or faulty signals to your brain. As explained by DW:¹²

“Pain is like an alarm system that alerts us when we may have hurt ourselves or become injured. But regardless of where a person hurts themselves physically, their sense of pain is formed in the brain.

Nerves send signals to the brain to let it know that something has happened in the body and the brain then decides whether to produce a pain sensation, and that depends on whether the brain thinks there is danger.

Pain draws a person's attention to potential harm and diminishes when that warning signal is no longer needed. This is called acute pain ... But pain that persists for more than three months despite treatment is considered chronic.

‘It's really important that people are able to experience pain. It's critical for survival, and yet some people [continue to have] pain even though their bodies have recovered,’ said James McAuley, a psychologist and professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

While scientists have their theories, it is still unclear what causes chronic pain or how acute pain becomes chronic, said McAuley. But they do know that some changes occur in the brain when pain goes from acute to chronic.

‘The nerves are misfiring and advising the brain that the patient is having pain or is at a risk of damage,’ said Steven Faux, director of the Rehabilitation Unit at St Vincent's Public Hospital in Sydney, Australia.”

In all, two-thirds of the volunteers in the PRT group were either pain free or nearly pain free at the end of the treatment, compared to just one-fifth (20%) of those in the placebo group. Functional MRI scans performed at baseline and at the end of the trial also demonstrated that pain processing in the brain had been noticeably altered.

The Importance of Staying Active and Minimizing Sitting

Staying active and minimizing sitting are two strategies that can go a long way toward preventing — and treating — back pain. Both will improve muscle strength and coordination, reduce stiffness and improve blood flow, which may reduce back pain and lower your risk of developing back pain in the first place.

Oftentimes, back pain originates from tension and muscular imbalances. For example, sitting for long periods of time ends up shortening the iliacus, psoas and quadratus lumborum muscles that connect from your lumbar region to the top of your femur and pelvis.

When these muscles are chronically short, it can cause severe pain when you stand up as they will effectively pull your lower back (lumbar) forward. By bringing these muscles into better balance, you will remedy many of these common pains and discomforts.

This was certainly true for me when I had debilitating back pain about 10 years ago that failed to respond to all interventions. The only thing that worked was to stop sitting for over 12 hours a day. I shifted to a standing desk and the problem permanently resolved: Address the cause and you typically have a cure.

Overuse and misuse of the muscles supporting your spine, poor muscle strength and inappropriate posture while sitting, standing and walking are other common causes of low back pain. For instance, when walking with your toes pointed outward, the muscles in your hips and lower back tighten, increasing your risk for lower back pain.

Sitting with your shoulders hunched over a computer screen stretches muscles in your upper back and places added stress on your lower back, increasing your risk for both lower and upper back pain.

Walking with your head down is yet another posture-related problem that has repercussions on the rest of your back and hips,¹³ as your head is the single heaviest part of your body and will throw everything out of alignment. If poor posture is a culprit, consider doing some exercises to stretch out your shoulders, open up your hip flexors, and lift your chest.

Correct Improper Body Mechanics That Cause Pain

Techniques that can ease or erase back pain by teaching you proper body mechanics include:

Benefits of Chiropractic Care

Spinal adjustment by a chiropractor can also ease back pain in many cases. In one 2017 meta-analysis¹⁸ of 26 studies, spinal manipulation was associated with “statistically significant benefits in both pain and function, of on average modest magnitude, at up to six weeks.”

The average patient reported greater ease and comfort in their day-to-day activities, such as walking, sleeping or turning in bed. However, while these results appear to be modest in nature, it is important to recognize the results are an average, and that the participants only underwent manipulation. In other words, they were not given any additional rehabilitative exercises designed to maintain functional movement of the spine gained after manipulation, or to reduce inflammation.

A study^19,20 that did take physical therapy and/or anti-inflammatories into account, published in 2018, found this kind of multidisciplinary approach reduced discomfort and disability to a greater than standard medical care.

In all, 750 active duty military service members already being treated for lower back pain were evaluated. All were receiving physical therapy and/or drugs to ease pain and inflammation. The team added chiropractic treatment to half the participants, including spinal manipulation, rehabilitation exercises and treatment with cold or heat.

On average, the chiropractic treatment group received two to five treatments over a six-week period. After six weeks, patients who received chiropractic treatments experienced greater improvements in their lower back pain and less disability than those who did not receive the treatments. Lead study author and chiropractor Christine Goertz, Ph.D., commented on the results:²¹

“Spinal manipulation (often referred to as Hias chiropractic adjustment) may help heal tissues in your body that form as a result of injury, decreasing pain and improving your body's ability to move correctly.

It is also possible that manipulation impacts the way your body perceives pain through either the brain or spinal cord and or decreases pain from muscle strain, inflammation and or spasm in the muscles next to your spine.”

Aside from addressing any immediate spinal misalignment that might cause back pain, chiropractic care can also help address, prevent and treat deeper dysfunctions in your body. Chiropractic adjustments can actually affect the chemistry of biological processes on a cellular level, thereby reducing oxidative stress and improving immune function and DNA repair,²² for example.

Acupuncture and Massage

Acupuncture and massage also have their place, and often work well together. The WellBridge Clinic in Oregon is a proponent of acupuncture for back pain, stating on its website:²³

“There is extensive, conclusive research behind the use of acupuncture for pain resolution and management, especially for back pain. Modern science has found that targeting specific points in the body with acupuncture pins acts as a nociceptive stimulation that leads to the activation of the nerve-endocrine-immune systems.

This activation helps the body to begin to heal at the sites of injury and pain. Effectively, this means it increases blood flow and circulation to injured areas. It changes the electrical current that is the foundation of our biology. That’s how acupuncture releases endorphins to ease pain, release muscle tension, and change cellular processes so the body can heal.”

Back problems that may respond well to acupuncture include pinched nerves, sciatica, herniated discs and spinal stenosis. Massage therapy, meanwhile, releases endorphins that help induce relaxation, relieve pain and reduce levels of stress chemicals such as cortisol and noradrenaline. It also reverses the damaging effects of stress by slowing your heart rate, respiration and metabolism, and lowering high blood pressure.

Benefits of Compression Breathing

Certain breathing techniques can even be helpful. Compression breathing is actually an important aspect of Foundation Training. It helps re-educate the muscles surrounding the spine of your rib cage, teaching them to be in a state of expansion rather than contraction. This technique is demonstrated in the video above.

Done properly, it will help lengthen your hip flexors, stabilize your spine and support your core using transverse abdominal muscles. This strengthens your back and keeps your chest high and open — all of which can reduce pain. Here’s a quick summary of how to do structured decompression breathing:

1. Whether sitting down or standing, put your thumbs at the base of your rib cage, positioning your pinkies at the pointy bones at the front of your waist. Think of the space between your fingers as a measuring stick.
2. Pull your chin back so your chest is lifting upward. Take three slow deep breaths as instructed below.
3. The distance between your thumbs and pinkies should increase as you breathe in.
4. When you breathe out, tighten your abdominal muscles so your torso will not collapse back down. This is the most important step: Do not let your torso drop back down toward the pelvis as you exhale. It should be challenging, allowing you to feel your abdomen engage as you exhale.
5. With each breath, your aim is to increase the distance between your thumb and pinky fingers, as well as increase the width of your upper back. This occurs as you elongate the back of your rib cage. Each inhalation expands your rib cage, and each exhalation will keep the abdomen extended and tight. So, each in-breath fills up your rib cage, and each out-breath maintains the height and width of your rib cage.

Repeat five to 10 rounds with three to four breaths per round. Over time, your muscles will get stronger and your seated posture will gradually improve.

Simple Stretches to Help Relieve Lower Back Pain

Stretching is also important, as tight and stiff muscles and lack of flexibility will contribute to back pain. There are many options here. Below, I’ve highlighted six simple stretches commonly recommended for lower back pain.²⁴ The Yoga Journal²⁵ also has an online page demonstrating poses that can be helpful.

If these stretches are too painful to perform, stop doing them and consult your doctor, chiropractor or massage therapist before continuing. You may experience mild discomfort when you begin doing these stretches, especially if you are new to exercise or it has been a long time since you last exercised. My advice is to take it slowly and gradually increase your tolerance to these stretches over time.

Addressing the Emotional Root of Back Pain

Last but not least, there’s evidence that back pain may originate in, and is certainly exacerbated^26,27 by, psychological or emotional issues. The late Dr. John Sarno, a professor of rehabilitation medicine, gained notoriety using nothing but mind-body techniques to treat patients with severe low back pain.

His specialty was those who have already had surgery for low back pain and did not get any relief. This is a tough group of patients, yet he claimed to have a greater than 80% success rate using techniques like the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

As noted by Sarno in the documentary "All the Rage" — a four-minute trailer of which is included above — "I tell [my patient] what's going on, and lo and behold, it stops hurting." The "what" that is going on is not a physical problem at all — it's emotions: anger; fear; frustration; rage.

When these kinds of emotions are suppressed, your brain redirects the emotional impulses to restrict blood flow to certain parts of your body, such as your back, neck or shoulders, thereby triggering pain. This pain acts as a distraction from the anger, fear or rage you don't want to feel or think about.

The pain essentially acts as a lid, keeping unwanted emotions from erupting. You may feel anger at the pain, but you won't have to face the fact that you're actually angry at your spouse, your children or your best friend, or that you hate your job, or the fact that you feel taken advantage of.

As noted by Sarno, working hard and constantly trying to do everything perfectly to keep everybody around you happy, "is enraging to the unconscious mind." The term Sarno coined for this psychosomatic pain condition is "tension myoneural syndrome,"²⁸ and he firmly believed most people can overcome their pain by acknowledging its psychological roots.

While many of Sarno's patients got well without psychiatric help, he would often recommend seeking out a psychotherapist to explore repressed emotions, or to take up journaling to put your feelings on paper.

Another doctor who believes resolving suppressed emotions is key for those with chronic back pain is Dr. David Hanscom, an orthopedic surgeon. He prescribes expressive writing as a primary treatment tool for back pain. You can learn more about this on Hanscom’s website, backincontrol.com.²⁹

When to See a Doctor

While back pain is rarely indicative of something medically dangerous, if your pain is accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms, a thorough medical checkup would be in order to rule out a more serious problem.^30,31,32

Back Pain Is Common, yet Largely Avoidable

Once you understand that back pain is typically the result of poor posture, improper movement, faulty nerve signaling, emotional repression or a combination of these factors, it becomes clear why narcotics and surgery have such high failure rates. They simply don’t address any of the underlying causes.

So, if you’re among those seeking medical care for persistent back pain, I’d advise you to consider your options — several of which I’ve just reviewed — before filling that prescription or going under the knife.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one-half — 47% — of Americans have high blood pressure (hypertension).¹ Hypertension carries a high cost to your health. It is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke,² which are in the first and fifth position for leading causes of death in the U.S.³

The financial burden is over $131 billion each year in direct medical costs and lost work days, but does not include a number of other health conditions worsened by hypertension, including kidney disease and cognitive decline.

Only 1 in 4 of those with hypertension have their blood pressure under control.⁴ Unfortunately, while blood pressure monitoring has become commonplace at dentists' and eye doctors' offices, the CDC estimates 1 in 3 people are not aware they have hypertension.⁵

There are several ways to reduce your blood pressure without drugs, which I discuss below. Among them is balancing your potassium level, as this electrolyte has a significant effect on muscle contraction and arterial wall relaxation, but most Americans barely get half of the recommended daily allowance.⁶

What Is High Blood Pressure?

When your physician takes your blood pressure, he uses a sphygmomanometer to measure the amount of pressure your heart exerts to push blood through your arterial system. The top number represents the highest pressure and the bottom number is the lowest pressure needed. These numbers are related to the elasticity and diameter of your arterial walls.

When the pressure required to circulate your blood is high, it places an abnormal amount of stress on your heart muscle and smaller arteries, and reduces the amount of oxygen delivered to the smallest blood vessels in your body. Both of these consequences account for many of the secondary effects of hypertension.

Your blood pressure reading can vary throughout the day, so one high reading is not a concern. It is only when your blood pressure is consistently or chronically higher than normal that significant health conditions may occur.

The validity of your blood pressure reading will be affected by the size of the blood pressure cuff, the position of the cuff on your arm and whether you're nervous. Measuring your blood pressure in both arms at the same office visit may also give your vital information about your circulatory health.

A number of studies have revealed that a significant difference between your right and left arm pressure may indicate circulatory problems that raise your risk for stroke, peripheral artery disease or other cardiovascular problems.

While small differences between your arms is normal, researchers found when there is a difference of 5 points in the systolic reading (top number) it doubled the risk of dying from heart disease in the following eight years.⁷ The difference suggests the presence of plaque in the artery supplying the arm with the higher pressure.⁸

In a meta-analysis evaluating mortality rates of over 17,000 participants with inter-arm systolic blood pressure differences, researchers found participants with less than 10 points difference compared to those with greater than 10 point difference between arms suffered a 58% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.⁹ However, when the difference increased to 15 points, the risk increased to 88%.

Potassium Level Impacts High Blood Pressure

Potassium is a naturally occurring mineral that your body uses as an electrolyte, or substance in solution that will conduct electricity, and is vital for normal functioning.

Diarrhea, vomiting, excessive sweating (such as when using a sauna) and some drugs may deplete or disrupt your potassium balance. But, the most common reason your potassium levels are not within normal limits is due to poor dietary choices.

The average reported intake of potassium from food is about half of the 4,700 milligrams (mg) recommended.¹⁰ Research demonstrates that these low levels of potassium may have a significant impact on blood pressure, especially as it relates to the amount of salt normally found in a Western diet.

Dr. Paul Whelton, professor of epidemiology at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, did an analysis in 1997 of over 29 trials that demonstrated low levels of potassium resulted in higher systolic blood pressure readings.¹¹ Studies performed since then have found similar results.^12,13 According to Whelton's research:¹⁴

"The results support the premise that low potassium intake may play an important part in the genesis of high BP. Increased potassium intake should be considered as a recommendation for prevention and treatment of hypertension, especially in those who are unable to reduce their intake of sodium."

Potassium works in your body to relax the walls of your arteries, keep your muscles from cramping, and lowers your blood pressure.¹⁵ The reduction in blood pressure with added potassium has also been associated in studies with a reduced risk of stroke.¹⁶

The Many Benefits of Potassium

Research has found that women without hypertension who consumed the most potassium (nearly 3,200 mg/day) had a 21% reduced risk of stroke. Further, women who consumed the most potassium were 12% less likely to die during the study period than those who consumed the least.¹⁷ According to the study's lead researcher:¹⁸

"Potassium may play a role in improving blood vessel function in our brains. This could allow better oxygenation of our brain tissue, and prevent tissue death that occurs from lack of oxygen to the brain …

The effect of potassium consumption on reduced stroke risk could also be due to a better diet overall, though we did not investigate this in our study."

Potassium should be the third most abundant mineral in the human body. Adequate amounts of potassium are also associated with quicker recovery from exercise and improved muscle strength.^19,20 As an electrolyte, potassium helps to regulate the fluid balance in your cells and throughout your body.²¹

Fluid balance is essential to maintaining life, preventing dehydration at the cellular level and maintaining brain function.²² Potassium is important in the transmission of nerve impulses in your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.²³

Nerve impulses transmitting information from one nerve to the next happens as the result of electrical activity. This activity is what an electrocardiogram measures as it tracks heart activity.

Low levels of potassium have been linked with high levels of insulin and glucose, associated with metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes.²⁴ These results have been found in several studies,²⁵ leading researchers to recommend dietary choices that boost potassium levels and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Effects of High Blood Pressure on Your Body

Unfortunately, 20% of people who suffer with high blood pressure are unaware of the condition, significantly increasing their potential risk of health problems. With uncontrolled or poorly controlled hypertension, you increase the risk of significant health effects that reduce your quality of life and have a negative effect on the length of your life.

Hypertension increases your risk of stroke as it can cause blood vessels in your brain to rupture or clog more easily. In both instances, oxygen supply to a portion of the brain ceases and a stroke results.²⁶ The increased workload on the heart muscle may result in heart failure, and damage to the arteries supplying the heart muscle with oxygen may result in a heart attack.

Hypertension may damage the smaller arteries, reducing the amount of oxygen delivered and severely impacting the ability of organs to function, such as your kidneys and eyes. This may result in kidney failure and vision loss. The damage to smaller blood vessels is called microvascular disease and may lead to angina, or chest pain when the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, and sexual dysfunction.

Atherosclerosis is another form of damage to the arterial system from hypertension that may result in peripheral vascular disease. The narrowing of the arteries may occur in the legs, arms, stomach and head, triggering pain and fatigue.

Sodium/Potassium Ratio Is Key

The key to relaxing your arterial walls and reducing your blood pressure is the sodium to potassium ratio. In the United States and many other developed countries, salt has been vilified as a primary cause of high blood pressure and heart disease. According to research presented at last year's American Heart Association meeting,²⁷ excessive salt consumption contributed to 2.3 million heart-related deaths worldwide in 2010.

However, it's important to realize that most Americans and other Westerners get the majority of their sodium from commercially available table salt and processed foods — not from natural unprocessed salt. So, not only is the ratio between potassium and sodium important, so is the type of sodium consumed.

If you eat a lot of processed foods and not many vegetables, there's a good chance your sodium-to-potassium ratio is unbalanced. If you're not sure, try using cronometer.com/mercola, which allows you to enter the foods you eat and then calculates the ratio automatically. It's generally recommended that you consume five times more potassium than sodium, but most Americans get the opposite ratio, eating two times more sodium than potassium.

This ratio is more important than your overall salt intake. A better strategy to promote public health would be to forgo the strict sodium reduction element and focus recommendations instead on a high-quality diet rich in potassium, as this nutrient helps offset the hypertensive effects of sodium. Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:

Why a Balanced Diet Is Your Best Option

Getting nutrients from your food instead of supplements is preferable as your food contains more than a single nutrient and in different forms. For instance, potassium found in fruits and vegetables is potassium citrate or potassium malate, while supplements are often potassium chloride. The citrate and malate forms help produce alkali, which may promote bone health²⁸ and preserve lean muscle mass as you age.²⁹

Bone loss may lead to brittle bones or even osteoporosis. While potassium in fruits and vegetables may help build bone health, potassium chloride may not. As researcher Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes from Tufts University explains:³⁰

"If you don't have adequate alkali to balance the acid load from the grains and protein in a typical American diet, you lose calcium in the urine and you have bone loss … When the body has more acid than it is easily able to excrete, bone cells get a signal that the body needs to neutralize the acid with alkali … And bone is a big alkali reservoir, so the body breaks down some bone to add alkali to the system."

Research by Dawson-Hughes found that people who were in the neutral range for net acid excretion, meaning they had a fairly healthy balance for bone and muscle health, were eating just over eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day along with 5.5 servings of grains.

When they rounded this out, it came to about half as many grains as fruits and vegetables. For many Americans a simple recommendation to increase your alkali (and potassium) while reducing acid is to eat more vegetables and fewer grains.³¹

Other Drug-Free Methods to Control Blood Pressure

Here are several suggestions to help keep your blood pressure under control and reduce your risk of organ damage.