B of A: At It Again
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 10th, 2011
Good morning!
This is just disgusting. B of A is taking a piece of a person’s unemployment money as a debit fee. What’s next?
For Bank Of America, Debit Fees Extend To Unemployment Benefits
ORDOVA, S.C.– Shawana Busby does not seem like the sort of customer who would be at the center of a major bank’s business plan. Out of work for much of the last three years, she depends upon a $264-a-week unemployment check from the state of South Carolina. But the state has contracted with Bank of America to administer its unemployment benefits, and Busby has frequently found herself incurring bank fees to get her money.
To withdraw her benefits, Busby, 33, uses a Bank of America prepaid debit card on which the state deposits her funds. She could visit a Bank of America ATM free of charge. But this small community in the state’s rural center, her hometown, does not have a Bank of America branch. Neither do the surrounding towns where she drops off her kids at school and attends church.
She could drive north to Columbia, the state capital, and use a Bank of America ATM there. But that entails a 50 mile drive, cutting into her gas budget. So Busby visits the ATMs in her area and begrudgingly accepts the fees, which reach as high as five dollars per transaction. She estimates that she has paid at least $350 in fees to tap her unemployment benefits.
“It really boggles my mind,” she said. “This bank is taking little bits of money out of thousands of pockets, including mine.”
Bank of America recently aborted plans to charge ordinary banking customers $5 a month to use their debit cards in the face of national outrage. But the bank has quietly continued to mine another source of fees: jobless people who depend upon the bank’s prepaid debit cards to tap their benefits. Bank of America and other financial firms — including U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase — have secured contracts to provide access to public benefits in 41 states. These contracts typically allow banks to collect unlimited fees from merchants and consumers.
In short, the same banks whose speculation delivered a financial crisis that has destroyed millions of jobs have figured out how to turn widespread unemployment into a profit center: The larger the number of people who are out of work and dependent upon the state for sustenance, the greater the potential gains through administering their benefits.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, a Columbia nonprofit that represents low-income people facing foreclosure, food insecurity and other problems. “It should not cost you any more to use a debit card than if they had issued you a check.”
For the state, handing Bank of America responsibility for unemployment benefits secured cost savings, said Berkowitz, but they have come at vulnerable people’s expense.
“When it comes to ordinary people getting the benefits they have earned, the benefits they need,they don’t seem to spend a lot of time worrying,” she said.
Bank of America asserts that its prepaid debit cards are a good deal for everyone — from state taxpayers to people drawing unemployment benefits.
“We have provided prepaid card programs to government agencies for many years,” said Jefferson George, a Bank of America spokesman based at the company’s Charlotte headquarters. “Clients value the cost savings and increased efficiency and individuals appreciate the ability to receive their benefits payments more quickly and securely.”
South Carolina officials say their state’s current arrangement with Bank of America, launched in July 2010, has proven a good value for taxpayers. The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, which oversees unemployment benefits, expects to save as much $5 million in check printing and mailing costs annually through its contract with Bank of America, said an agency spokeswoman, Adrienne Fairwell.
She said the state was also attracted to the debit cards as a means of helping jobless people who do not have bank accounts avoid the fees they must pay to cash checks. Roughly one tenth of all South Carolina households — about 182,000 families — did not have a bank account as of last fall,according to a recent Pew Research Center report.
But some banking experts say the relevant cost savings are accruing to the banks themselves. New federal regulations cap what banks can collect from merchants when consumers swipe ordinary debit cards at store cash registers. The new swipe fee limits will cut Bank of America’s revenues by $2 billion this year, according to Richard Bove, an analyst who follows Bank of America for Connecticut-based brokerage and research service Rochdale Securities.
“Most banks are aiming to recoup 30 to 50 percent through other methods,” which include prepaid card fees, said Nancy Bush, an analyst with NAB Research, LLC, a a New Jersey-based investment consulting company, who monitors Bank of America.
Those limits do not apply to most prepaid debit cards, making them particularly attractive to banks, say experts. Prepaid cards are still a small business for banks, but the sector is quickly growing, experts say.
South Carolina now distributes half of all unemployment benefits using Bank of America prepaid debit cards, according to the state department of employment and workforce, with most of the other half delivered through direct deposit.
Neither the state nor Bank of America would disclose the details of their contractual arrangement. A bank spokesman termed the deal “confidential.” When The Huffington Post asked the state for for the details of the contract, the spokeswoman required the submission of a formal Freedom of Information Act request. Yet one week after that request was lodged, the state has not provided the contract terms.
But The Herald, a Rock Hill, S.C. newspaper, reported in 2009 that South Carolina pays the bank a 3 cent fee for each transfer it facilitates on a prepaid debit card. The bank collects the same fees from the state for handling direct deposit of unemployment benefits, a state spokesperson said.
Banking experts say the real money lies in the fees the bank collects for a range of services. When the state first contracted with Bank of America, the list of potential fees the bank was allowed to collect included a $1.50 charge when a customer visited a bank ATM or teller more than once per week, a $1.50 charge for use of an out-of-network ATM, a $1.50 charge for speaking to a customer service operator more than once per month, and 50 cents for entering the wrong PIN number at an ATM more than four times or requesting more funds from an ATM than remained on the card.
In May, the National Consumer Law Center named Bank of America prepaid debit cards issued to unemployed people in California and New Jersey the best in the nation. But unemployed card holders in those states don’t face the same list of potential fees that exist in South Carolina. One example: California and New Jersey’s contracts allow card users to conduct a limited number of free transactions at other banks’ ATMs.
After learning about the options that Bank of America gave people using its prepaid cards in other states, South Carolina asked the bank for changes, Fairwell said. In July, unemployed individuals gained unlimited free withdrawals at Bank of America ATMs and one free withdrawal per week at a bank teller anywhere the VISA logo is displayed.
But some fees remain. Bank of America charges prepaid debit card holders in South Carolina $1.50 to visit an out of network ATM. Bank of America also levies a 50 cent fee when a customer uses an ATM to try to withdraw more money than they have in their account more than once in a single week.
“It’s not what we would like to see,” said Lauren Saunders, managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “It is not as if the bank can legitimately argue it costs them something not to let someone take money out of an ATM.”
The state asserts that people who are prudent, timing their withdrawals while adhering to the limits, can secure all of their funds without charge.
“With careful use, South Carolina cardholders can avoid paying any fees,” said Fairwell.
But people who rely on such cards to collect their benefits have a difficult time hewing to polite language when they hear such characterizations.
“That’s bullshit,” said Sandra Gortman, 55, a Columbia resident who says she incurred some $10 in fees within the first weeks of using her card. “Excuse me. But, really, there is no way given the way you have to live when you have very, very little money and copious amounts of stress, to avoid paying fees.”
In 2008, Gortman, a long-time bill collector, temporarily left her law firm job to work for the Obama campaign. When the campaign ended the law firm could not afford to keep her on staff, so she started searching for work. In January 2009, she enrolled in the state’s unemployment benefits program. At first, her benefits were direct deposited to her Bank of America checking account.
In August 2010, unemployment officials summoned Gortman for a benefits review during which she says she was strongly encouraged to sign up for a prepaid debit card. Gortman resisted. Fearful that the agency would delay her benefits if she did not submit, she says, Gortman signed the form. A few weeks later the card and a brochure came in the mail. The potential fees were disclosed in the fine print, she says, but she initially missed them.
The first week she had the card, Gortman used it to purchase $25 worth of gas at a Columbia gas station. The station held $75 as a deposit while she filled up, and did not refund the balance — $50 — until three days later. She says she discovered the charge later when she checked her balance. When Gortman noticed this additional charge, she called Bank of America’s automated customer service twice seeking explanation, incurring a $1.50 charge for the second call, she says. When the automated system failed to explain the missing money, Gortman spoke to an operator, incurring an additional 50 cent fee, she said. In July, the bank eliminated customer service fees.
“When you are living on $325 in unemployment benefits a week, believe me, you need and notice every penny,” said Gortman. “So I called, I know one week, three or four times before I realized those calls were costing me money. I was, well let’s just say, utterly outraged.”
In the town of Cordova, where traffic lights are outnumbered by pickup trucks, Busby and her family have been largely dependent on unemployment benefits since June of 2008, when her husband was laid off from a job at a tractor company. The following month, she lost her own job teaching welfare recipients life skills. When their weekly unemployment checks arrived in the mail, she drove north to Columbia or west to Orangeburg, some 35 miles away, to deposit them in their checking account.
The following year, her husband found a full-time factory job, and she secured a temporary position with the Census. But when her job ended in May 2010, Busby went back to the unemployment office to sign up for benefits anew. She received a few checks, and then the state sent her a debit card, though says she has no recollection of applying for one.
Even now that she is cognizant of the fees, she is afraid to switch to direct deposit, fearing a resulting gap in her weekly benefits. Her family’s finances are so tight, she says, that any delay puts them behind on the bills.
“There is always, something due — a light bill that has to be paid, car insurance, the phone,” she said. “I get my benefits and that’s when we buy food, that very day. There’s just a very delicate balance at our house. Nothing, I mean nothing, can go wrong.”
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Readers: All I can say is that I am so grateful that with the limited time I have access to a computer, that I am able to get on. I HOPE The same goes for you. have a beautiful day everyone!
Peace out
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michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 10th, 2011 at 8:31 am
Daniel:
You and the others had part of the answer when you attested to the white boy giving other white boys deference where they could call for the maximum penalties for an OTW accused of the same crime or incident.
But what you don’t know is that Jerry Sandusky ran a charity that purported to assist young boys. The boys were predominantly BLACK. Are any eyes widening? Like what the germans did to the jew while the rest of the white world looked the other way, white boys in America know they can do the same.
If they could find portable ovens to burn up their OTW victims after there crimes against them, this too, would be viewed with the same indifference.
Here white boy Mike McQueary, couldn’t bring himself to testify against a white boy molesting a black child. They are just not the same.
So he called his father who is a doctor. That white boy also could not see to calling the police and testifying against a fellow white boy raping a black child because they just were not equal.
One was a human being the other something to be tolerated and perhaps used to run a football for them but certainly not to be treated as an equal humanely. So in their eyes Jerry Sandusky was guilty of bestiality at best.
Why report it? It would just embarrass a fine white University.
Hence the reaction of the white student body. Why was this fine white coach being fired for fucking some nigger child in the ass? So Paterno told Mike Sandusky to keep his nigger victims off the campus, lest they return and steal something.
When the doctor told his wife, Mike McQueary’s mother, about it, her response, the same. Not like it was a white lad ole horny Sandusky was buggering, and after all he was a good assistant football coach.
And of course everyone knows that the Penn State trustees who fired Paterno when it became apparent that the story would go public to avoid severe monetary damages knew about it for those nine years, but again it was not little white boys being raped by Jerry Sandusky.
Their attitude is not unlike the catholic church’s who just moved the child rapists around to the next minority parish to start afresh molesting the unsuspecting children there.
I go back to the Cherokee, “they are not human beings.”
Robert
November 10th, 2011 at 8:36 am
What is really perverse here? Do you know the title of the accused child molestor’s life story, that has recently been pulled from many shelves?
“Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story.”
This is no joke. Obviously, Sandusky had a huge say in how his book would be titled.
Revolting.
November 10th, 2011 at 8:41 am
The small fees that banks steal from “customers” are safe from prosecution as based on the recent Supreme Court’s “no class action” lawsuits on lower amounts of money that corporations rip people off with…
November 10th, 2011 at 8:48 am
I went to Penn State. As in most white run entities that I have been a part of this one was morally bankrupt. It used morals to control and terrorize the people they wanted to control.
The woman’s basketball coach there, Renee Portland, terrorized anyone she thought was gay. God help you if you were in her basketball program and she thought you were gay.
Yet, the school tolerated her behavior until a student sued the school for her behavior.
Hypocrites, that is what my father a alum who think Penn can do no wrong. I am gay so my perspective is so different for his.
Belinda
November 10th, 2011 at 8:48 am
This is a re-do of the same scandal involving clergy in the Catholic Church.
Someone sees or hears about sexual abuse of children. Rather than going to law-enforcement or child-protective agencies, as required by law, they call or report it to hierarchy-administrators within the institution.
The only concern (of hierarchy-administrators) is to protect the institution, save themselves embarrassment, and avoid a scandal, rather than any thought as to the consequences to the victims.
Observing a crime, failure to report it, and withholding evidence of it is illegal! By doing so, they not only aid-abet the criminal, but enable the perpetrator to go on committing more crimes, knowing the superiors won’t do anything about it.
They’re all equally guilty, and deserve whatever punishment is doled out, including criminal prosecution.
November 10th, 2011 at 8:53 am
Doug:
You are of course speaking about Robert’s apply named STARK, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Robert, and Kennedy. Creeps for life, I like to call them.
Mica
November 10th, 2011 at 9:05 am
I just read that McQueary not only HAS NOT BEEN FIRED but that he will coach on Saturday:
November 10th, 2011 at 9:09 am
That was my first response! I can’t stop thinking about how that child must have felt when he thought someone had shown up to help him only to have them turn and walk away.
He didn’t yell, he didn’t intervene to get the child away, he didn’t return to his office and call the police. He called his father who told him to leave?
What kind of human does that? What kind of parent condones that sort of cowardice in their child? How have these people slept at night during the last 9 years as this man was still allowed on campus?
November 10th, 2011 at 9:12 am
I’m quite sure that McQueary was in a crisis of conscience but he acted with respect to expedience, not conscience; he seems to have been immersed in a culture so depraved he was unsure of the consequences of proper action.
He was afraid. It appears that he turned to people to guide him, but they instead failed him. That said, I can not envision any circumstance where I would walk away from a rape of that nature unless there was a gun pointed at the victim or me – and I am a woman.
That may be a glib assertion, but at 70 pounds in the seventh grade I pounded on a man who accosted my friend on the way home from school until he ran off. That this man did not do the same is an abomination.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:03 am
SCI-FI LEUKEMIA TREATMENT GETS AMAZING RESULTS
This is one of those great stories that you want to be able to tell to people who are facing a really scary cancer diagnosis.
Three patients with advanced cases of a deadly blood cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), were treated with an experimental therapy that had far better results than anyone would have dared hope.
As Carl June, MD, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia, wrote in his August 10, 2011 New England Journal of Medicine report, “Within three weeks, the tumors had been blown away — in a way that was much more violent than we ever expected.”
That’s violent in a good way… more than a year after the treatment, all three patients are still alive, with two in full remission (meaning that there’s no evidence of cancer) and one in partial remission.
This is a dramatically better outcome than what might have been expected if these patients had been given the standard treatment for their disease, which is a bone marrow transplant that offers only a 50% chance of survival five years after receiving the treatment.
And before patients can even get the bone marrow transplant, it’s often a challenge to find a bone marrow donor who is a match, so many patients die while waiting for one.
Plus, the bone marrow procedure itself is so grueling that one in five patients dies from it.
BLAST! ZAM! POW!
Now that I’ve told you the punch line, here are the details of the treatment. Blood was drawn from the patients and T cells (types of white blood cells that defend the body against diseases or foreign materials) were extracted.
Then the T cells were taken to a laboratory where doctors genetically modified them. The researchers essentially reprogrammed the T cells to multiply and selectively seek tumor cells instead of more generalized infection or inflammation —
sending these T cells on a search-and-destroy mission with the goal of eradicating the cancerous cells in each patient’s body.
In addition, the researchers programmed these altered T cells to “reawaken” other healthy T cells that had been suppressed by the leukemia and stimulate the production of “memory” T cells to protect against cancer recurrence.
Dr. June and his colleagues reintroduced the modified cells back into the patients’ bloodstreams using an intravenous infusion.
When they examined their patients three weeks later, they found that…
Serial killer T cells had replicated at least 1,000-fold, building an army of cells to attack the cancer.
The replicated T cells killed at least two pounds of tumor in each patient.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR THE PATIENTS?
Here is Dr. June’s description of one patient’s encounter with the new treatment: A 64-year-old man with extensive tumors in his blood and bone marrow experienced no significant side effects during the first two weeks of the new treatment when the altered T-cells were put into his bloodstream — but on day 14, he developed nausea, chills, fever and other flulike symptoms.
Paradoxically, this was good news. When doctors tested his blood on day 14, they discovered that a huge increase in T cells had caused widespread death of cancer cells, which must have caused the uncomfortable (but temporary) symptoms.
On day 28, his blood and marrow showed no signs of leukemia.
IS IT A CURE?
The doctors are hesitant to call this new treatment a “cure” at this stage — especially since the treatment was tested on just three patients — but for individuals with CLL who would otherwise face a bone marrow transplant and the many risks that entails, these patient results are extremely promising, Dr. June told me.
Moving forward, the investigators plan to test genetic T cell modification in more CLL patients and also in people who have similar types of cancers, such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and acute lymphatic leukemia.
Unfortunately, this breakthrough CLL treatment isn’t available to the public yet, but the hope is that it will provide a road map to treat many other types of cancer.
Source(s):
Carl H. June, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, department of pathology and laboratory medicine, and director of translational research, Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:45 am
Very exciting news. Moments ago, the Senate voted down the outrageous Rand Paul Dirty Air Assault, 56 to 41!
This is a huge victory for life-saving clean air protections that keep our kids and communities safe – and a direct repudiation of the radical and lavishly funded polluter assault on our right to breathe clean air that won’t kill us or make us sick.
Our Online Action Network did more than its share to help beat this back. In just the last few weeks, 100,000 of you sent emails to your Senators – a truly inspiring display of grassroots power that made sure our collective voices were heard. Thank you to everyone who took action on this important issue.
While we should celebrate our victory today, the fight for clean air and climate action is far from over.
Just yesterday, yet another dirty air bill was introduced in the Senate. This one, sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Dan Coats (R-IN), would delay EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule by three years (this is the same rule the Paul bill would have taken off the books).
And just for good measure, the Manchin-Coats bill would also delay the Mercury Air Toxics rule for two years.
Every year both of these rules are blocked will result in up to 51,000 premature deaths from dangerous air pollution exposure.
All of these dirty air assaults have one fatal flaw in common – they promote the bizarre notion that more toxic air pollution will magically grow our economy. Over many years of clean air protections, we know the opposite to be true.
November 10th, 2011 at 11:59 am
HEALTHIEST 100-CALORIE SNACK?
Supermarket shoppers may feel virtuous by limiting their snack food purchases to those cute little 100-calorie, prepackaged portions, but I believe I have a better idea.
There is another snack that comes in a convenient, single-serving size of 100 or so calories that has the added advantages of being natural, less expensive and potentially much better for your health. That perfect snack is (drum roll please)… the banana!
I know I’m not the first person to tell you that this fruit is a healthy choice. But we are learning more about bananas because of new research, and let me tell you, they are rising toward superfood status.
For example, bananas fight asthma. In a study published in European Respiratory Journal, researchers at the Imperial College of London in England found that eating just one banana a day made asthma attacks among children 34% less frequent and severe. These findings would likely be helpful to adults, too. (The study was funded by Dole, but it seems legit.)
Bananas have antiviral properties. In a study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor reported that a certain
November 10th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
There’s no way to get around it: Wednesday night’s debate at Oakland University turned into a disaster for Rick Perry.
He’s already slipping behind Newt Gingrich in many polls, and needed a solid performance to revive his campaign with his energy and flat tax plans.
Instead, he just… froze up when trying to remember the third agency he wants to eliminate. Awkward laughter turned into head-scratching. Helpful suggestions were offered.
(It turns out it’s not the EPA, which he would keep, but rebuild from the ground up.) Given where Perry’s campaign already was, and that his remaining debate performance was decent but not charged with electricity, it was a bad moment.
All of the candidates were actually quite good on Wednesday night. They committed no other major gaffes, and there were no ugly brawls involving illegal alien lawn care specialists, edited book passages, or heartless voters.
Herman Cain ably defended himself when the sexual harassment allegations against him were brought up, to cheers from the crowd.
A vigorous Mitt Romney spoke against bailing out European banks, promised to get tough with China, and joined the others in praising the power of free markets over President Obama’s moribund statism.
Newt Gingrich had a little too much fun fighting with the moderators, but also dispensed provocative ideas about health care reform and the student-loan mess.
Ron Paul adroitly defended the role of the free market in meaningful health-care reform, and demonstrated his expertise at demolishing his favorite target, currency manipulation and the Federal Reserve.
Michele Bachmann was disciplined and passionate, even though she had little new to offer beyond previous debate appearances.
Rick Santorum made a humble but interesting case for the bipartisan appeal of his simple but effective proposals.
Romney, Gingrich, and Cain accomplished their debate goals, and graduated with honors from the Oakland University stage… while Rick Perry might have just have flunked out of Campaign 2012.
—John Hayward
November 10th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Robert:
Whites often look the other way when other whites target blacks. Here’s a typical example.
======================
Back in the 1950s, the manufacturers of Newport menthol cigarettes literally handed free cigarettes out to Black children in low-income housing trying to hook new smokers.
Sixty years later, a new study shows that the same company is using racial profiling to sell cut-rate menthols to Black high school students.
Through aggressive marketing in Black communities (60% more than in other communities) and the specific marketing of menthols —
which have been shown to be more addictive than non-menthol cigarettes —
Big Tobacco is creating a steady stream of lifetime smokers in the Black community, and killing millions.
================
Most of white america could give two shits about what happens to its black citizens.
John
November 10th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Let it be known to all who can hear or read, there is no LOW to the white boy’s stoop.
=====================
“I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen,” Madden said on the radio. “I hear there’s a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation — and hold on to your stomachs, boys, this is gross, I will use the only language I can — that Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That was being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak.”
===================
How many times have we heard. “the louder the cry of the white boy about his piety, and moral high ground the more debased is his practice behind closed doors.”
Bill
November 10th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Tiny wee wees need little holes.
November 10th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
I was a victim of one of these monsters, for many, many years, at least up until the time I understood what was happening to me. This was a brother-in-law, and it not only destroyed me (at that time) – it made me lose my extended / adopted family, since as I became older I realized they just had to know about it. I left home, and came back only once or twice (for burials). I was informed then that indeed some of my family knew, and there were (of course) other victiims in the family as I found out.
So here’s my take – there are always those who know, and do not say anything – and they are as guilty as the offender, even more so – because they know how wrong it is, but fail to act. At least the predator is undeniably sick, may have been a victim himself, but those who are silent have no excuse.
I’m sorry, but these guys (administrators & coach) need to be made an example of, and unfortunately Penn State as a whole. A major example has to be made here. The lawsuits are on the horizon now. If you were thinking about attending Penn State, I think you might want to reconsider, as their future is in doubt. Tragedy comes to everyone in these cases, and those that are innocent always suffer the most.
I broke the cycle, I have kids. I did my best to protect them, and shared with them my experience, and the way the world is. I think it helped. I share it with anyone (obviously), as it needs to be always discussed, and guarded against.
November 10th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
The biggest question for me though is about McQueary. How could he simply turn around and walk away from witnessing a 10 year old boy being raped in the shower by Sandusky? I can’t imagine seeing something like that and not acting swiftly to aid the victim, up to and including a physical confrontation with the assailant.
November 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
The rumor is that the prosecutor, Ray Gricar, who was going after Sandusky and the big donors of his child foundation was lured to a meet and killed.
November 10th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Hydrogen Peroxide – the Body’s Natural Disinfectant
The Body’s Natural Disinfectant
This compound was reported to work as far back as 1920. The English medical journal, Lancet, then reported that intravenous infusion was used successfully to treat pneumonia in the epidemic following World War I.
In the 1940′s Father Richard Willhelm, the pioneer in promoting its use, reported on the compound being used extensively to treat everything from bacterial-related mental illness to skin disease and polio.
Father Willhelm is the founder of “Educational Concern for Hydrogen Peroxide” (ECHO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on the safe use and therapeutic benefits of hydrogen peroxide.)
What is this “magic” compound that is produced by the body? it is Hydrogen peroxide — and is only one of the many components that help regulate the amount of oxygen getting to your cells.
Its presence is vital for many other functions as well. It is required for the production of thyroid hormone and sexual hormones. (Mol Cell Endocrinol 86;46(2):
149-154) (Steroids 82;40(5):5690579). It stimulates the production of interferon (J Immunol 85;134(4):24492455).
It dilates blood vessels in the heart and brain (Am J Physiol 86;250 (5 pt 2): H815-821 and (2 pt 2):H157-162). It improves glucose utilization in diabetics (Proceedings of the IBOM Conference 1989, 1990, 1991).
The greater magic is that it cannot be patented… it is as cheap as “dirt”. This could be the reason your local medical practioner does not prescribe it.
Properties at a glance
Ever wondered why plants seem to do better with rainwater? It is the additional oxygen from the Hydrogen Perioxide in rainwater.
Hydrogen peroxide should really be called hydrogen dioxide. Its chemical formula is H2O2. It contains one more atom of oxygen that does water (H20).
This atom come from the Ozone in the atmosphere that isn’t very stable. In fact, it will quickly give up that extra atom of oxygen to falling rainwater to form hydrogen peroxide (H202).
This extra oxygen in water is also unstable, and It is this extra atom of oxygen that causes the plants to flourish in rainwater.
Hydrogen Peroxide is odorless and colorless, but not tasteless. When stored under the proper conditions, it is a very stable compound.
When kept in the absence of light and contaminants, it dismutates (breaks down) very slowly at the rate of about 10% a year.
When exposed to other compounds hydrogen peroxide dismutates readily. The extra oxygen atom is released leaving H20 (water). This is the action that causes hydrogen peroxide to be classified as a disinfectant.
The exta atom of oxygen is a “free radical” and is very reactive. our bodies create “free radicals” to destroy harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
In fact, the cells responsible for fighting infection and foreign invaders in the body (your white blood cells) make hydrogen peroxide and use it to oxidize any offending culprits.
The intense bubbling you see when hydrogen peroxide comes in contact with a bacteria-laden cut or wound is the oxygen being released and bacteria being destroyed.
The ability of our cells to produce hydrogen peroxide is essential for life… Oxygen is not the only free radical, and in some cases other “free radicals” can harm the body.
Newer research indicates a multitude of helpful process depend on the creation of hydrogen peroxide. For example, vitamin C helps fight infections by producing hydrogen peroxide, which in turn stimulates the production of prostaglandins.
Also lactobacillus found in the colon and vagina produce hydrogen peroxide. This destroys harmful bacteria and viruses, preventing colon disease, vaginitis, bladder infections and a host of other common ailments.
It’s obvious that our oxygen needs are not being met. The air we beathe has reduce levels of oxygen because of pollution.
The chlorination process in water systems reduces the body’s ability to make maximum use of the oxgen in water.
Several of the most common ailments now affecting our population are directly related to oxygen starvation. Asthma, emphysema, and lung disease are on the rise, especially in the polluted metropolitan areas.
Cases of constipation, diarrhea, intestinal parasites and bowel cancer are all on the upswing. Periodontal disease is endemic in the adult population of this country.
Cancer of all forms continues to increase. Immune system disorders are sweeping the globe. Chronic fatigue, “Yuppie Flu” and hundreds of other strange viral diseases have begun to surface.
Ironically, many of the new “miracle” drugs and nutritional supplements used to treat the above conditions work by increasing cellular oxygen (oftentimes through H202 formation).
For example, the miracle nutrient, Coenzyme Q10, helps regulate intercellular oxidation. Organic germanium, which received considerable publicity not too long ago, also increases oxygen levels at the cellular level.
And even substances like niacin and vitamin E promote tissue oxidation through their dilation of blood vessels.
November 11th, 2011 at 6:54 am
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011115131942562643.html
Great article: Despard and his wife, Catherine, had a vision for humanity, it’d be nice if we could get back to it…ZL
November 24th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
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