OCTOBER 2020 TIP TALKS NEWSLETTER

 

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IN THIS ISSUE

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**LIB TALKS: TIP’s Views On Two Major Concerns – Covid & 5Gs, 
Chip Osborne and His New Organic Landscaping Association
**CURRENT EMF INFO & ACTIONS:  Important Letter to Local Newspapers 
About Proposed Action on South County Ballot
**RI RESOURCE OF THE MONTH:  Osborne Organics & OLA
**GOOD NEWS: New Hampshire Group Stops Fracked Gas Pipeline
**HEALTHY LIFE STYLE INFO FROM EWG: Cleaners and Your Health, 
Don’t Want to Chew Glyphosate? 
** COVID CONCERNS (& ACTION)    
**HOW TO BENEFIT TIP AT NO COST TO YOU!
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LIB TALKS
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** TIP’S VIEWS ON TWO MAJOR CONCERNS – COVID & 5Gs
TIP does not support any political claims, nor do we say we have “the whole truth” about Covid
– its origins & manifestations.  We don’t think anyone really does.  Confusion is rife – does testing 
make for greater numbers of those positive?  Do those reported as Covid deaths have preexisting 
or other conditions (possibly made worse by Covid?).  And, how did Covid originally emerge?  
In this issue, we are sharing some suggestions about that, which appear to be rather logical.  
But, regardless of the source/s of the current outbreak, it is clear that the nasty biowarfare 
viruses being produced in labs are not what anyone should want getting out/around.  
As to the 5G question, excellent research is emerging that indicates serious health effects/risks
from these and other electromagnetic exposures.  
A letter from Stephen Dahl, a local EMFconcerns comrade, provides much useful information
about this. (Including a bad local ballot proposal and the negative views of firefighters).
**NOTE RE: TIP SUPPORT:  Most of our usual advertisers are dealing with COVID and we have not asked them for payments until they feel they can afford that.  Chip Osborne is a wonderful safe landscaping consultant and long-time TIP supporter that has this month continued his help. 
I thank him for that and encourage folks everywhere to visit this savvy resource.  (Whose website includes suggestions about response to Covid along with much sometimes unique info about organic land care).   Blessings, Liberty G
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NEWS FROM GREAT,, EXPERT ORGANIC LANDSCAPING CONSULTANT
              & LONG-TIME TIP SUPPORTER, CHIP OSBORNE:
‘" I have been very fortunate in that I went from 40 airplane flights a year to zero and was still able to manage my consulting business. All of my consulting is now done remotely and on a virtual platform. All of my clients around the country are happy with the new format.  It actually has been a blessing in that it allows me to  do more and reach more people. In hindsight when I look at how much time I spent in airports and not working with clients, I am surprised that I got as much done as I did. Once travel returns I do not expect to ever go back to that heavy travel schedule. My work is now almost 100% national as a consultant, advocate, and organic educator.
I have started a second venture called the Organic Landscape Association, https://theola.org/  I have been working on this for several years and it has now come to fruition. It started as a trade association for the organic land care industry and is being developed into an online educational platform as well as an organization that will be bring practitioners and advocates under the same roof with the goal of furthering the organic mission. 
I am also developing an online intensive organic lawn care course on my Osborne Organics website. https://osborneorganics.com/   I hope to roll that out this winter.  I have been fortunate this year while others have struggled. TIP is well deserving and is one place where I want to share.   All the best. Chip Osborne  
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CURRENT EMF INFO & ACTION IN RHODE ISLAND (And Elsewhere)
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                  IMPORTANT LETTER TO LOCAL NEWSPAPERS
(From Stephen Dahl, RI Safe Technology Group to TIP & 5GRI)

Hi Sheila and Liberty,   Both of you were kind enough to allow me to add your names to the letter I submitted to the South County Independent as well as the Narragansett Times newspapers.  This year’s $6.5 million question, “Local Question 2, Finance Capital Improvement Projects” for South Kingstown, lumps several plans together.  Particularly dispiriting is the “Town-wide Radio System” for police, EMS, volunteer fire districts and public services operations.  $2.2 Million is to create “better reliability and signal penetration into buildings.” 

Passing such a measure for a goal of public health is ironic.   Indeed, the International Association of Fire Fighters has concluded that Cell Tower Radiation Health Effects preclude putting cell phone towers near fire stations, because they may impair firefighters: https://www.iaff.org/cell-tower-radiation/   Our public safety building at Curtis Corner, with a gigantic antenna on its roof, is unsafe.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hasn’t updated safety standards for
radio frequency radiation (RFR) since 1996. According to Harvard University’s Edmond 
J. Safra Center for Ethics, the FCC is captured by the industry it is supposed to regulate. https://ethics.harvard.edu/files/center-for-ethics/files/capturedagency_alster.pdf  

Recently, The City of Boston criticized the FCC for refusing to update standards, resenting the FCC’s lack of leadership as Bostonians with RFR-related health problems object to close placement of 5G small cell towers outside every 2 to 10 homes:  https://ehtrust.org/boston-massachusetts-blasts-the-fcc-on-cell-phone-5g-cell-tower-safety/  

By voting to approve the local bond, you’ll increase RFR to your body, adding it to the load from myriad other devices and meters.  You’ll be told, by sources misinformed by the FCC, that wireless radiation is harmless, but independent science, free of vested interests, shows biological damage including insomnia, metabolic changes, cancer, DNA breaks, infertility, cognitive impairment, memory problems, and depression.

There are over 30K studies on EMFs, 10K in just the last 5 years. Hundreds of these point to serious harm from RFR.   https://www.emf-portal.org/en   Most medical doctors don’t know how to recognize, diagnose, treat and prevent the illnesses caused by Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), a grouping which includes RFR. Fortunately, Continuing Medical Education credits are available to medical professionals in an upcoming EMF Medical Conference because illness from EMFs is rapidly growing. : https://mdsafetech.org/2020/09/12/emf-medical-conference-2021/ 

To learn more about why we must reduce wireless radiation, and for practical solutions, use this site by Cece Doucette. She has helped Massachusetts put eight bills for safer tech into committee:  https://sites.google.com/site/understandingemfs/
Stephen Dahl, Kingston, RI   https://www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandersforSafeTechnology/
Cosigned:  Liberty Goodwin, Providence, RI, Toxics Information Project 
And Sheila Resseger, Cranston, RI, 5GFreeRI.com

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GOOD NEWS
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AFTER A FIVE-YEAR UPHILL FIGHT,
NEW HAMPSHIRE GROUP STOPS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE
(News from Sylvia Broude, Community Action Work, s action@communityactionworks.org )
When it comes to stopping pipelines, it often feels like you’ve lost over and over again before you finally win. But still, we’re winning.  Take the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has led historic, years long protests against this dangerous pipeline threatening their water, land and health. In July, they won a milestone victory when a federal judge ordered that the pipeline be emptied for an environmental review.

In the Northeast, we too find ourselves in years-long fights against polluting energy, especially fracked gas.                                       
And right now, we’re celebrating a major victory in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley: Together with community leaders, we stopped the Lebanon-Hanover fracked gas depot and pipeline!  In 2015, a group called Energy and Climate Upper Valley began holding public meetings to raise the alarm on the proposed pipeline and bravely spoke out against it at Public Utilities Commission hearings. When they connected with Community Action Works, we helped them form the Upper Valley Pipeline Coalition with neighbors from towns in New Hampshire and Vermont.  For years, the group kept the pressure on holding meetings, marches and a huge rally, collecting over 1,100 signatures against the project, pushing Lebanon to remove fracked gas from its master plan, showing up at every hearing and meeting to testify. Even after the Public Utilities Commission officially approved the project, the group never gave up.  
            THIS SUMMER, LIBERTY UTILITIES FAILED TO MEET THE REQUIREMENT 
           TO START CONSTRUCTION ON THE PROJECT WITHIN TWO YEARS OF
               FINAL APPROVAL. THIS PIPELINE WILL NEVER BE BUILT!
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                                   HEALTHY LIFESTYLE INFO FROM EWG
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                                DON’T WANT TO CHEW GLYPHOSATE?
                  Concerned about cancer-linked glyphosate in your food?
                Look no further than EWG's Guide to Avoiding Glyphosate.  
This handy guide helps you avoid foods with high levels of glyphosate and opt for organic alternatives instead.   Sign up today to get your FREE copy of EWG's Guide to Avoiding Glyphosate!  
Go TO:  https://act.ewg.org/XFQf7ljP3Uy69UoX3gO6tA2?sourceid=1019742&emci=62612476-a609-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&emdi=b2d4fa80-f80a-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&ceid=328398  
You'll also receive EWG's exclusive email updates, action alerts, promotions to support 
our work and environmental tips.  You can opt-out at any time. 

                               CLEANERS AND YOUR HEALTH
                            Top Ranked Green Cleaning Products
https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/content/top_products/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202010News&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cleaners&emci=2954a596-550a-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&emdi=90f6fef8-a30c-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&ceid=328398 
                          Ewg’s Guide To Healthy Cleaning
https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202010News&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cleaners&emci=2954a596-550a-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&emdi=90f6fef8-a30c-eb11-96f5-00155d03affc&ceid=328398 
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                     CONCERNS (& ACTION) RELATING TO COVID
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STATEMENT BY SCIENTISTS, LAWYERS, AND POLICY EXPERTS ON WHY WE NEED
A GLOBAL MORATORIUM ON THE CREATION OF POTENTIAL PANDEMIC PATHOGENS
             (PPPS) THROUGH GAIN-OF-FUNCTION EXPERIMENTS 
Additional Information is Provided & Signatures Are Invited at This Site)  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLCylWqArvdGSWf9ad42vG4euMikB4aJ5)CEiWRD-bZOumfRQ/viewform     
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the growing controversy over whether the SARs-CoV-2 virus arose out of gain-of-function experiments that escaped from a biodefense/biomedical lab in Wuhan, China, or whether the virus arose “naturally” from animal-to-human transmission, is an important and crucial topic for debate and resolution.   However, even before COVID-19, numerous incidents (leaks, thefts, security lapses, and deliberate releases such as the 2001 anthrax attacks) involving smallpox, anthrax, bird flu, and SARS escaping from some of the top US, Chinese, Russian, and other laboratories across the world, alerted scientists to the fallibility of even the most secure laboratories, reinforcing the urgent need for a thorough reassessment of biosafety (1). 

More than 300 US and global scientists (2) signed a letter in 2014 calling for an end to gain-of-function experiments on potential pandemic viruses until such work could be guaranteed to be safe and absolutely necessary. Partially in response to the letter, the Obama Administration implemented a temporary and partial “pause” on government funding for certain “gain-of-function” experiments in the US in 2014 (3).  Unfortunately, exceptions were granted for ongoing research in the US, while gain-of-function experiments continued globally in labs such as the Wuhan Institute of Virology (funded in part by the US). The pause on funding US-based gain-of-function research was officially lifted in 2017 under the Trump Administration. (4). 

For purposes of this letter, "gain-of-function" is defined as: any activity that increases, or can be expected to increase, the transmissibility, pathogenicity, ability to overcome immune response, or ability to overcome countermeasures of a potential pandemic pathogen; and/or any activity that generates, or can be expected to generate, a potential pandemic pathogen not currently in circulation in nature.  An increasing number of lab accidents and incidents have been occurring on a regular basis with regulated pathogens in academic and government labs across the US, China, and the world (5). An accidental infection with any pathogen is concerning. But accidental risks involving newly created “potential pandemic pathogens” raise grave new concerns. Laboratory creation of highly transmissible, novel strains of dangerous viruses, especially but not limited to influenza, poses substantially increased risks. An accidental infection in such a setting could trigger outbreaks that would be difficult or impossible to control. 

Research involving the creation of potential pandemic pathogens should be curtailed until there has been an objective, credible, and democratic assessment of the risks, potential benefits, and opportunities for risk mitigation, as well as comparison against research approaches that might be more socially and ecologically safe. An inclusive deliberative process which engages concerned scientists and publics that stand to be affected by gain-of-function research, along the lines of the National Research Council’s 1996 report titled Understanding Risks (6), could be a starting point to identify the best approaches to achieve the global public health goals of defeating pandemic disease and assuring the highest level of public safety. 
Whenever possible, safer approaches should be pursued in preference to any approach that risks 
an accidental pandemic. 
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            **BENEFIT TIP WHILE SURFING THE WEB at: www.goodsearch.org  
       (Uses the Yahoo search engine) or **SHOP ONLINE AT AMAZON SMILE
GO TO:  https://smile.amazon.com/ref=smi_ext_ch_14-1862385_dl?_encoding=UTF8&ein=14-1862385&ref_=smi_chpf_redirect&ref_=smi_ext_ch_14-1862385_cl   to select Toxics Information Project (TIP) as your charity to receive a donation.   You already probably use Amazon for various purchases, & it costs you nothing to include us in your buying.
** BEST OF ALL: Make a donation via PayPal on our own website, at: http://toxicsinfo.org/support.htm  or  Mail a check to TIP at the address below. (We are a tax-deductible organization)  Note New P.O. Box Number:  Toxics Information Project (TIP) P.O. Box 40572, Providence, RI 02940 
Tel. 401-351-9193, E-Mail: liberty@toxicsinfo.org Website: www.toxicsinfo.org 
** TIP IS SMALL, ACTIVE, INFORMATIVE, NEEDY There is a need to update our website, as more and more good information cries to be shared & quick links are the best means.  Unlike many organizations, we don’t pester folks with calls for money, but I do ask today that anyone who can contribute any amount, please – this is the time.  Donations are tax-deductible.