Toxic pesticides and chemicals in cigarettes and how 90% of tobaccos in US are GMO. And, find out how the father of modern propaganda “Edward Bernays” campaigned on the behalf of the tobacco industry, for American women to take up smoking as an act of feminist liberation
As if smoking by itself wasn’t bad enough, researchers have found up to 4,000 chemicals and pesticides inside cigarettes. Also, new studies show that up to 90% of tobaccos in US are being genetically modified. If you are a smoker you should know that recently, scientists have been able to insert the genes of bacteria from other plants into the DNA of tobacco seeds.
Now, thanks to biotech, tobacco plants are engineered to be resistant to Roundup. So, the farmers are spraying ten times more Roundup and other chemicals on the tobacco plants to kill the bugs and the weeds. Not to mention that farmers have to spray more chemicals since Monsanto’s Roundup has lost its full affectivity in killing weeds and pests and now farmers have to deal with superweeds or superbugs. http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/Monsanto-pest-weed-resistant-crops.php
Did you know that mixing bleach with ammonia releases toxic vapors?
Beside Roundup, smokers are inhaling other toxins such as bleach and ammonia. If you are a smoker you should know that the cigarettes paper is bleached to be white. On the other hand, ammonia (commonly used as fertilizer and in cleaning products) is added to cigarettes to improve the affectivity of nicotine in cigarettes.
But, mixing bleach and ammonia releases toxic vapors. Here are the chemicals that are involved and are all toxic except water and salt: (http://chemistry.about.com/b/2010/08/20/why-you-shouldnt-mix-bleach-and-ammonia-bleach-and-ammonia-chemical-reactions.htm)
- NH3 = ammonia
- HCl = hydrochloric acid
- NaOCl = sodium hypochlorite (bleach)
- Cl = chlorine
- Cl2 = chlorine gas
- NH2Cl = chloramine
- N2H4 = hydrazine
- NaCl = sodium chloride or salt
- H2O = water
Bleach resolves to form hydrochloric acid (HCl) and reacts with ammonia (NH3) to form toxic chloramine fumes. So, first the hydrochloric acid is formed:
NaOCl → NaOH + HOCl
HOCl → HCl + O
And then the ammonia and chlorine gas react to form chloramine, which is released as a vapor:
NaOCl + 2HCl → Cl2 + NaCl + H2O
2NH3 + Cl2 → 2NH2Cl
Also, presence of ammonia in excess can form toxic and potentially explosive liquid called hydrazine. Impure toxic chloramine fumes might not explode, yet it’s still toxic and can boil and spray hot toxic liquid.
2NH3 + NaOCl → N2H4 + NaCl + H2O
So why the tobacco industry adds ammonia to cigarettes?
The tobacco industry adds ammonia to cigarettes to make nicotine up to 35 times more effective and addictive. Recently, state of Minnesota sued Tobacco companies for adding ammonia to cigarettes. Tobacco companies use an average of 10 million pounds of ammonia every year. (http://14andout.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/big-tobacco-gets-caught-using-ammonia-but-continues-after-paying-off-blue-crossblue-shield-over-5-billion/)
While 40 million Americas fall into the viscous cycle of smoking and not being able to quit, the tobacco companies make billions of dollars every year and that money allows them to bribe the legislatures not to vote for more regulations and strict rules.
This is when, the lung, mouth and throat cancer are among the most preventable diseases in the US, yet the cancer industry has no interest in prevention because an average cost for cancer patients is up to $300,000. So unlike any other civilized societies, “Free Health Care” in the US is just a fantasy because “sick care” controlled and manipulated by powerful multibillion dollar corporations makes a lot more money than “health care” paid by the government.
Unfortunately, the US lawmakers and legislators who are supposed to serve the people are so corrupt and tied to the big money from giant agribusinesses. On the other hand, there is no international court of justice to send the CEOs and shareholders of the giant pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical and drug companies to jail for mass murdering and poisoning people, because in America, you are a hero, as long as you are making enough money to bribe or crush everyone who stands on your way.
The world Top Propagandist about tobacco industry and adding Fluoride to water
John Pilger, the Australian film maker and journalist talks about Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays as the modern field of manipulation of public perceptions. In fact, John Pilger points out how Edward Bernays was the father of modern propaganda and a man who significantly influenced and manipulated the public opinion.
As veteran reporter John Pilger writes:
“Propaganda,” Bernays wrote, “got to be a bad word because of the Germans . . . so what I did was to try and find other words [such as] Public Relations.” Bernays used Freud’s theories about control of the subconscious to promote a “mass culture” designed to promote fear of official enemies and servility to consumerism. It was Bernays who, on behalf of the tobacco industry, campaigned for American women to take up smoking as an act of feminist liberation, calling cigarettes “torches of freedom”; and it was his notion of disinformation that was deployed in overthrowing governments, such as Guatemala’s democracy in 1954.
Bernays was also the chief architect of the campaign to sell fluoridation of water.http://seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/fluoride-health-risks/
Austrian economist Murray Rothbard wrote in 1993:
The mobilization, the national clamor for fluoridation, and the stamping of opponents with the right-wing kook image, was all generated by the public relations man hired by Oscar Ewing to direct the drive. [Ewing was the chief counsel for Alcoa aluminum company, and fluoride is a by-product of aluminum production.] For Ewing hired none other than Edward L. Bernays, the man with the dubious honor of being called the “father of public relations.” Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, was called “The Original Spin Doctor” in an admiring article in the Washington Post on the occasion of the old manipulator’s 100th birthday in late 1991.
How the vicious cycle deepens even more:
A cigarette burns at 1700 degrees Fahrenheit during inhale and the mixture of nicotine, ammonia and pesticides like Roundup directly engages the nervous system. The nicotine effects heart and brain in less than 3 seconds and the level of dopamine goes up rapidly providing a sense of pleasure and relaxation for the smoker. The immediate relief provides a central nervous system hangover for the smoker. That by itself is so addictive that that millions of smokers across the globe, willingly, poison their bodies with more than 4,000 detrimental chemicals like ammonia, bleach, herbicides and pesticides.
The health of the environment and humans are sacrificed for the corporate profit
The biotech industry including the GMO tobacco industry is willing to kill all the useful microorganisms, pests and worms for the sake of corporate profit. The biochems used in biotechnology destroys the fertility and digestive tracts of worms, insects and beetles and humans who consume or smoke GM crops are no exception.
Since spraying pesticides are not that effective enough and pests are becoming resistant to pesticides quickly, the biotech is re-engineering the DNA of tobacco plants to produce toxic cells and kill insects like budworm or hornworm within side. No wonder why we see a huge epidemic of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and leaky gut syndrome in people.
Beside herbicides and pesticides, the biotech develops fungicide to destroy bugs and fungi. One of tobacco bugs killed with fungicide is aphid. Fungicide also destroys human gut flora and cause digestive problems that can lead to cancer.
The tobacco wireworm who also feed off of the roots of tobacco plants are killed by the diatomaceous chemicals used by farmers. Even the farmers wear gears to protect them against these toxic chemicals. Yet, a smoker inhales all these toxic chemicals with one puff into her/his lungs.
Three other undetected pesticides in a cigarette that you smoke--The chemicals of death:
The researchers at Colorado School of Mines have recently identified three previously undetected pesticides in cigarette smoke. (http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/chemicalsinsmoke/a/pesticides.htm) These chemicals also known as endocrine disrupters are used in tobacco plants but find their way into the cigarettes. The endocrine glands produce hormones for reproduction, growth and development. However, the endocrine disrupters interfere with this process by blocking normal hormone function of endocrine glands. Here are these three pesticides that are endocrine disrupters and are used in tobacco plants:
- Flumetralin - This is carcinogenic and a toxic chemical for humans. Flumetralin is also an endocrine disruptor, and its use on tobacco plants has been banned in Europe.
- Pendimethalin - Another endocrine disrupter that targets the thyroid specifically. Pendimethalin is carcinogenic and toxic to humans.
- Trifluralin - Like the other two pesticides mentioned, trifluralin is an endocrine disrupter, is toxic to humans and is carcinogenic.
