After author/journalist McKay Jenkins experienced a health scare of his own, he set out to discover the truth about toxic chemicals, our alarming levels of exposure, and the government's failure to regulate them effectively. In the first half of the show, he focused on GMO foods from both sides of the debate, as well as the state of agribusiness. Increasingly, people don't know what's in their food, and the labeling process can be confusing, he noted. About six giant industrial-chemical agricultural companies control most of what we eat, he revealed, and because they have so much money and power, they're able to influence or determine how they're regulated by the government. Jenkins pointed out that the food business has become highly centralized, and as an alternative, consumers should seek out foods from their local farmers.
GMO corn has been altered to have a bacterium inside that makes it resistant to caterpillars, whereas as herbicide-resistant GMOs such as soybeans are being designed to withstand having herbicides applied to them. While the agriculture companies declare these foods as safe, humans end up consuming some of the chemicals and bacteria, he cited, and if not directly through the corn and soy, then through the farm animals that are fed on them. Further, many junk and processed foods use GMOs for ingredients like high fructose corn syrup. Conversely, GMO designs have offered beneficial solutions in some cases, such as in the development of golden rice, which adds beta-carotene (a source of vitamin A) to rice, and a modification to Hawaiian papayas that saved farmers' livelihoods.
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Independent researcher RL Poole has spent the last ten years studying the enigmatic Coral Castle. In the latter half, he unveiled the clues he found, which he believes unlock the mystery of how Ed Leedskalnin (a 100 lb. man) was able to create the Castle, made out of massive coral stones, all by himself. Poole has concluded that Leedskalnin pushed the large stones into place in a method similar to how the pyramids and megalithic structures were constructed, and he passed the secret down in a set of clues, and a cryptic schematic.
"I believe that he was able to use magnetism combined with charged water and a radio frequency to break the magnetic bond between coral and water...which would make the coral neutrally buoyant," Poole suggested. One of his structures, the Polaris telescope (which looks out on true north), was designed to show off Leedskalnin's knowledge of astronomy, said Poole. The notion that Leedskalnin built the Castle for his lost love, Agnes, referred to as "Sweet Sixteen," may have just been a metaphor, as Poole pointed out that the East Wall contains sixteen different celestial alignments. For more, check out this set of images Poole sent us.
News segment guests: John Curtis, Lauren Weinstein
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