Prenatal selection destroys women’s health

It is not a secret that prenatal selection leads to the eradication of over 90% of unborn babies with Down syndrome. However, it is a secret that killing these babies can lead to serious health complications in women not unlike PTSD-symptoms soldiers face when returning from war.

When Canadian, pro-choice, filmmaker Punam set out on a journey to make an honest movie (Hush) about women’s reproductive health, she never expected to find this: Abortion leads to very serious health problems. Problems include breast cancer, infertility, pre-term birth in future pregnancies, anxiety, depression and even suicide.

Induced abortion more than doubles the risk for breast-cancer

Induced abortion causes a sudden overexposure of estrogen. Studies published in the Lancet and British Journal of Cancer show that these hormonal changes more than double a woman’s risk for developing breast-cancer.

Furthermore, the surgical or vacuum removal of a baby weakens a woman’s cervix and may form scar tissue. This significantly increases the risk of infertility, miscarriage or (extreme) premature birth (before 32 weeks) in future pregnancies. Extreme pre-mature birth in itself is a known cause for breast-cancer.

Selective abortion does not fix problems but creates new ones

The majority of women going through an abortion believe they are responsible for terminating a human life. Feelings of guilt, stress and depression are well-known long-term effects in soldiers who have killed or witnessed murder. It is no surprise that many women also suffer severe and lasting emotional damage after an abortion.

One woman calls the abortion of her unborn son diagnosed with Down syndrome the blackest decision she made in her life. She writes: “I’m going thru hell. But I believe I am not entitled to mourning. I have played a role in the death of my child. To live with that, is the hardest part in this journey.”

In recent years the marketing of prenatal genetic screening tests has intensified. Today’s pregnancy is cast in the illusion of ‘perfection’. Detecting disability in unborn children results in higher numbers of selective abortions. It is a sad irony that in the quest for perfection developmental and health problems may occur more frequent in future pregnancies. This is due to the fact that abortion increases the risk for premature birth.

Women don’t hear about the risks when prenatal screening and selection is offered. Instead they hear outdated, negative predictions about life with Down syndrome. The promise of “peace of mind” lures women into screening. They are made to believe that attacking their own babies for reason of being ‘different’ is a ‘right’ and a ‘freedom’. Some eugenicists even claim women have the ‘moral obligation to abort and try again’.

The truth is that abortion cannot make women un-pregnant. It makes them mothers of dead babies. Mothers who are then left to deal with the mental and physical consequences.

Women should take back their pregnancy

People with Down syndrome have always existed as a natural part of our human species. Down syndrome is not the result of increased pollution of our environment. Most importantly: most people with Down syndrome lead healthy, rewarding lives. 99% indicate they are happy with their lives. That number is much higher than the average population.

It is time women take back their pregnancies and stop fearing genetic differences. Instead we should fear the marketing of a fictitious perfect world where money, food, health and humans are controlled by a select tight-knit group of people.

The prenatal testing and selection industry is not about women’s rights. It is about women’s suppression as much as it is about eugenics and economics: creating ‘perfect’ humans while maximizing profits for pharma and reducing projected health-care costs for states.

The majority of care-takers are female. Women need extra support when their baby is diagnosed with Down syndrome or another disability. Better information, access to therapeutic programs and improved chances and equality in society helps women and their children. Genetic testing with the intent of selective abortion is not support. It is discriminatory and destroys women’s health.

Sources:

hushfilm.com

abortionbreastcancer.com

abortionfacts.com

trouw.nl

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

theguardian.com

Prenatal selection destroys women’s health

Sex choice is a false selection our destiny is not defined by our genitalia | Ally Fogg

In the very good outdated days, it was simple for a girl to decide on the sex of her child. If she wished a woman, she would place a pink ribbon beneath her pillow and a wooden spoon under the bed. If she wished a boy, she would eat plenty of uncommon meat and make adore with the man on leading. These approaches had been safe, cheap and, ideal of all, would function properly on about 50% of occasions.

Engineering has given that progressed and many newspapers are nowadays reporting claims that hundreds of would-be parents are travelling from the United kingdom to the US every year to acquire IVF remedies, with the sole aim of picking the intercourse of their child. According to embryologist Daniel Potter, 80% of individuals undertaking so are demanding to have girls.

Explanations for this trend are coming in thick and quick. Ellie Lee of the University of Kent is quoted in the Instances (paywalled hyperlink) as saying: “It could be a wider pattern of girls currently being on the up and boys going the other way … There is a lot of negativity close to boys – a fear that they get into difficulties, that childhood circumstances are a lot more likely to impact them, that they have a lot more problems than women.”

Potter claims that the women he sees are desperate for a lady, obtaining grown up playing with dolls and constantly imagining themselves with a daughter. He advised the Telegraph: “Some have only 1 youngster but most have two or 3 of the exact same gender. The procedure is driven by the mom who has identified with minor ladies because her personal childhood and has usually had a location for a daughter. When they do not have 1, it is like a death and they grieve for their tiny lady.”

Maybe some insight into the mindset concerned can be gleaned from a specified flavour of newspaper columnist. You might recall a couple of many years ago the Every day Mail ran one of its pages of button-jabbing provocation, in which Esther Walker described her fears that the embryo in her womb may possibly be male. “Boys are gross,” she wrote. “They attack their siblings with sticks, are obsessed with toilets, casually murder regional wildlife and flip into disgusting teenage boys and then boring, selfish men.”

In the Telegraph right now, Beverley Turner is slightly far more subtle but conveys the identical considerations: “Most mothers who have experimented with to get their 4-12 months-previous son to sit even now lengthy adequate to watch you peel a pile of carrots will know what I’m talking about. These females go for coffee with other new mums and watch enviously as the little girls crowd about a colouring guide for a quiet half-an-hour, even though their son climbs up the back of the sofa, knocks more than their latte and up-ends a shelf of neatly stacked bottled water.”

It is at exactly this level that I want to assemble all these doctors, mothers and fathers and newspaper columnists in one area and, in a strictly metaphorical, non-violent way, bang their bloody heads collectively.

Youngsters are not defined by their biological sex or even their socially constructed gender overall performance. You may have a kid who loves to run, leap, climb, kick footballs and come residence caked in mud, and that youngster may develop to be the subsequent David Beckham or Jessica Ennis. You may possibly raise a youngster who loves to sit and draw or create stories, who might turn into the up coming Alison Bechdel or Alan Moore. If you want your youngster to understand to sit politely when you’re having coffee, educate your kid some manners. If you fantasise about raising a best princess who can be dressed specifically as you like, with her hair and make-up carried out to perfection then buy a Barbie doll simply because you’re obviously not prepared to manage a real human getting with a mind of her very own.

There is overwhelming proof that a really large proportion of the variations in gender performance amongst youthful boys and youthful ladies can be accounted for by children’s astonishing ability to grow to match our expectations of them. Folks who believe that boys are uncontrollable monsters will also usually uncover themselves parenting uncontrollable monsters. Meanwhile any mother or father who is welded to a stringent image of how their youngster will develop and behave is asking for trouble and disappointment. Most children have their personal quirks. Some are gender non-conforming. All are a complex combine of realized behaviours, feelings, habits and genes.

Rumbling beneath the unsubtle PR campaign which has driven this week’s information is I suspect, a covert agenda. The personal IVF sector would like nothing at all much more than to overturn the law that bans sex choice practices for non-clinical causes. Such a liberalisation would open up a possibly massive and rewarding industry.

It is strain which need to be, I think, resisted. This is not so significantly because it could lead to calamitous sex-ratio difficulties – I firmly think the overwhelming vast majority of mothers and fathers would continue to feel “so prolonged as she or he is healthful I do not care”. However making intercourse selection mainstream would validate the false and damaging belief that our social, psychological and emotional destiny is determined by our genitalia. We have invested the previous 50 many years taking important actions away from individuals assumptions, to everyone’s benefit.

This is 1 of those cases in which technological progress can be socially regressive. If you genuinely want a lady, stick to the wooden spoon below the mattress strategy.

Sex choice is a false selection our destiny is not defined by our genitalia | Ally Fogg

How Feeling Grateful Improves Your Selection Making

Ancient wisdom traditions have extended held that gratitude is a prerequisite for fulfillment. Focusing on what we have, rather of what we consider we require, fortifies the mind towards rampant desire that eventually leaves us feeling empty.

The problems we encounter in living out that wisdom comes in the type of issues to self-handle – our perilous dance with quick gratification and temptation. Now new analysis suggests that gratitude can aid us out right here as properly, by enhancing our selection-creating chops by fortifying our patience.

Researchers tested this concept by placing review participants via a test of financial self-management right after they have been pre-conditioned to feel one of 3 emotional states: (1) Grateful, (2) Happy, or (three) Neutral. The pre-conditioning was accomplished by getting the participants publish about a daily life encounter that created them feel both grateful, satisfied, or left them feeling a whole lot of practically nothing.

The fiscal test was extremely standard: participants could both decide on to acquire $ 54 now or $ 80 in three days. Alternatively, they could negotiate to receive a lesser or better volume now instead of a lot more later on (for illustration, a participant could pick to take a $ 60 payout now as an alternative of an $ 85 payout later on).

The standard response to these exams is that most individuals opt for less funds upfront instead of waiting for a lot more. Participants in this examine who had been pre-conditioned to feel satisfied or no certain emotion largely reacted specifically as anticipated – they wished the funds now.

But participants feeling grateful showed much more restraint, with considerably far more in this group opting to wait longer for the bigger sum of income. And the a lot more grateful participants reported feeling, the more patient they were.

“Showing that emotion can foster self-manage and finding a way to minimize impatience with a straightforward gratitude exercise opens up remarkable possibilities for minimizing a broad selection of societal ills from impulse getting and insufficient saving to weight problems and smoking,” said Assistant Professor Ye Li from the University of California, Riverside School of Company Administration.

It’s not completely clear why feeling far more grateful increases patience, but it may possibly just be that gratitude is an emotional counterbalance to selfishness.

Juliann Wiese, an executive coach who consults with several leading-tier organizations, says the research buttresses one thing she’s identified to be repeatedly accurate in her encounter.  “In my coaching practice, I’ve observed that once men and women shift their focus to what’s already worthwhile in their lives–instead of what they feel they are missing–their decision-making capabilities quickly boost.”

Just as people in this research were pre-conditioned to feel grateful, there is most likely advantage in putting ourselves in a grateful mindset to alter our standpoint. In accordance to Wiese: “Filtering decisions via a gratitude-centered perspective is not only crucial for producing greater choices on the job, but across all factors of their lives. Men and women are merely a lot more patient and much less prone to jumping at the 1st offer or fleeting hint of temptation when they’re grounded in gratitude.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science.

How Feeling Grateful Improves Your Selection Making

"No Such Thing As GMO Contamination" Principles Australian Court in Landmark Selection, Rebuffing Organic Activists

As the Genetic Literacy Project reports, in an endorsement of the co-existence of genetically modified and natural farming, the Western Australian Supreme Court today rejected claims by a farmer who contended that his natural licensed farm was “contaminated” by a neighboring farmer growing GM canola.

“I am not pleased that in 2010 Mr. Baxter breached any (lesser) duty of reasonable care,” Justice Kenneth Martin wrote in his judgment.

Natural farmer Steve Marsh had sued his neighbor and former buddy, Michael Baxter, claiming that GM canola from Baxter’s land had drifted onto his organic oats, rye and sheep farm in Kojonup, Western Australia. The Nationwide Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) temporarily suspended Marsh’s natural certification on about 70 % of his house in late 2010. Marsh sought monetary compensation of $ 85,000 (AU) from Baxter, as effectively as a long lasting court injunction banning Baxter from planting GM crops.

In contrast to the United States, the European Union and Japan, which let trace amounts of GMO crops in natural meals in acknowledgement of cross pollination by wind or pollen transfer, Australia maintains a zero threshold.

Anti-GMO groups have gotten a great deal of traction by branding cross pollination as “contamination.”  Cross pollination occurs naturally but is regarded unacceptable to organic purists, who want natural crops to be entirely cost-free of pollen from GM crops and want individuals demands incorporated into legislation.

Just lately, voters in two southern Oregon counties accepted measures to ban the cultivation of GM crops based on “contamination” issues. The Marsh versus Baxter case has attracted global consideration as it sheds light on how “contamination” claims by organic farmers may be received in other courts.

In the 150-webpage judgment summary, Justice Martin wrote there had been no unreasonable interference with Marsh’s crops. He found that the determination to withdraw natural certification was produced by the Australian organic certifying bodies NASAA/NCO and it was that decision and not natural cross pollination that price Marsh about $ 85,000 (AU) in decreased cash flow.

“Mr. Baxter was not to be held accountable as a broadacre farmer merely for expanding a lawful GM crop and deciding on to adopt a harvest methodology (swathing), which was completely orthodox in its implementation,” he wrote. “Nor could Mr. Baxter be held responsible, in law, for the reactions to the incursion of the Marshes’ organic certification entire body, NCO, which in the conditions presented to be an unjustifiable response to what occurred.” Martin added there was “a really strong physique of proof in this trial to suggest that there was no reputable contractual basis for NCO to decertify” Marsh’s farm.

Natural tolerance requirements challenged

In the course of the eleven-day hearing in February, scientists also testified that Roundup Ready canola swathes have been harmless to animals, people and land even if consumed.

The court case has highlighted contradictions in recent Australian farming and natural certifying regulations. Professor Rick Roush from Melbourne University’s College of Land and Atmosphere stated he believes the situation is exclusive to Australia, simply because the Australian organics industry has a zero tolerance to the presence of any GM materials in certified organic merchandise.

“In other nations, there is a tolerance for quite little levels of legally accepted seeds, or pollen, or no matter what, to be found in a crop, even in organics,” he mentioned. “In the United States, for instance, there are broad-scale examples of GM and natural crops being grown in near proximity. In fact, in some farming operations in the United States the very same farmer will be using both GM and organic production.”

The Australian court ruling has no direct impact upon U.S. law. While related issues and fears of “GMO contamination” are also widespread amid organic farmers in the US, there has been no case in which an organic farmer has misplaced natural certification because of cross pollination. Even so, typical growers have had grain rejected for shipment simply because of the presence of GMO seeds.

The US Department of Agriculture says there is no threshold for the sum of acceptable cross pollination, and handles the concern as such:

As opposed to several pesticides, there aren’t distinct tolerance levels in the USDA organic regulations for GMOs. As this kind of, National Organic Program policy states that trace amounts of GMOs don’t immediately indicate the farm is in violation of the USDA natural regulations. In these instances, the certifying agent will investigate how the inadvertent presence occurred and advocate how it can be much better prevented in the long term.

Decision fallout

Throughout a major overview in 2011-twelve, the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21) endorsed coexistence in between farmers expanding typical, natural and genetically modified crops and rejected calls by natural activists for “zero tolerance”:

Numerous commenters recommended that we set up a “threshold” for the unintended or adventitious presence of items of excluded strategies in natural products. Some commenters argued that a threshold is required because, with no the necessary labeling of biotechnology-derived items, organic operations and certifying agents could not be assured that items of excluded approaches had been not getting utilised. Other folks argued that, without having an established threshold, the laws would constitute a “zero tolerance” for items of excluded techniques, which would be extremely hard to attain.

"No Such Thing As GMO Contamination" Principles Australian Court in Landmark Selection, Rebuffing Organic Activists

Lady, 13, can make her very own selection about termination, says judge

Details of the situation emerged on Friday in a written ruling by the judge following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The judge stated the girl’s grandmother had noticed a “bump” a few weeks ago. Exams had proven that the girl was most likely a lot more than twenty weeks pregnant.

He explained health authority bosses with accountability for the youngster’s care had sought a court ruling since they wanted to be positive that the teenager had the “proper capacity” to make selections about the pregnancy.

“I am completely content that (she) has adequate knowing and intelligence,” mentioned Mr Justice Mostyn.

“It will now be for her to make a decision what she wishes to do.”

The judge did not identify any individual involved but mentioned the woman lived in the north of England with her parents.

The ruling did not give detail of any views held by the girl’s parents.

Mr Justice Mostyn mentioned the woman would need to have family members help.

“If she decides to carry on with the pregnancy, then I am expecting that her loved ones and, indeed, Social Solutions will need to have to give her considerable help and assistance,” he additional.

“It also goes with no saying that need to she go by way of with a termination her loved ones will want to be at her side and to help her and assistance her following what is inevitably going to be an unpleasant and traumatic expertise.”

Lady, 13, can make her very own selection about termination, says judge

New Medtronic Heart Valve Threatened By Court Selection

A legal injunction might severely limit the availability in the United States of Medtronic’s CoreValve gadget, which only acquired FDA approval earlier this 12 months. The device acquired abundant praise not too long ago when a massive clinical trial demonstrated significant advantages for CoreValve more than conventional open-heart surgery.

The injunction is the newest episode in an ongoing patent war in which Edwards Lifesciences, which pioneered the field of transcatheter aortic valve replacement with its Sapien gadgets, has sought to hinder Medtronic from competing in the US and global markets. This specific situation was initiated in 2008. In 2010 a federal jury’ made a decision that Medtronic had infringed Edwards’ Andersen transcatheter aortic valve substitute patent. The decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court declined to evaluation the case.

Even though the judge accepted Medtronic’s contention that CoreValve has essential clinical advantages he ultimately sided with Edwards. Right here is the important passage in the judge’s oral determination on Friday.

Regarding the public interest aspect, the Court is persuaded that there are sufferers who can’t be served by either the Sapien or Sapien XT and who need the CoreValve Generation three. The Court is also convinced that the CoreValve Generation 3 is a safer device and that patients in whom it is implanted have far better outcomes with a lower risk of death. At the identical time, the Court are not able to downplay the robust public curiosity favoring enforcement of patent rights. Therefore, the Court finds that the public interest weighs in favor of granting Edwards a preliminary injunction, but that Medtronic need to be allowed to promote its devices to individuals patients who can’t be helped by Edwards’devices.

The judge ordered the two businesses to negotiate an arrangement so that CoreValve could proceed to be used in US centers at the moment trained on CoreValve. The judge also agreed to postpone implementation of the injunction for one particular week in order to enable Medtronic a possibility to appeal the injunction. (On Monday, according to Fierce Medical Units, Medtronic filed its motion to postpone the injunction and appeal the ruling.)

Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen estimated that if the injunction is upheld CoreValve will be constrained to about 15% of the US marketplace till patent expiration in March 2016.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed John Carroll, the director of interventional cardiology at the University of Colorado Hospital, which uses the Sapien valve but had planned to start off coaching to use the CoreValve as nicely. Carroll told the WSJ that Medtronic had put the coaching system on hold. ”It’s a shock because the gadget has been accepted and is getting employed commercially,” explained Carroll.

I asked David Kandzari, the director of worldwide cardiology at the Piedmont Heart Institute, for some extra viewpoint. He mentioned that there are further patent situations that could threaten CoreValve.  ”In brief, the story is not over, even after this story is more than,” he stated.

Referring to the historical precedent of drug-eluting stents, Kandzari suggested the two companies may in the end attain a financial arrangement which would allow CoreValve a substantial presence on the market. Edwards, he recommended, could injury itself by looking for excessive limitations on CoreValve availability:

As a lot as this is unfavorable for Medtronic, it also represents a public relations dilemma for Edwards. In other words, do they seem to be suppressing a worthwhile technology for their personal self interest, or alternatively, do they present goodwill with some agreement for CoreValve to remain on the US market place?

New Medtronic Heart Valve Threatened By Court Selection

Meat Industry Gets Court To Vacate Selection In Favor of Great Regulation

by Prolonged Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

The American Meat Business (AMI) has succeeded in delivering nevertheless yet another blow to consumers, by obtaining the U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate a recent choice in favor of the USDA’s Amazing (Nation of Origin Labeling) regulation.  The end result will be the re-hearing of the case in Might, by all eleven judges in the circuit.

The USDA took a stand for shoppers by implementing Awesome, which requires  labeling of specific meats to disclose the nations the place cattle was born, raised and slaughtered.  One of the premises behind the regulation is that considering that cattle may possibly be born, raised and slaughtered in three different nations, buyers have the appropriate to know the place their meats are coming from.  The AMI submits that Amazing violates the 1st amendment by compelling speech that is factual in nature and of no well being benefit to consumers.

The final result of this case is appropriate to all buyer label movements, as it centers on the consumer’s correct to know what is in the food we consume.  In the U.S., several hazardous food components are hidden from shoppers under the toxic veil of a meals label.  The USDA, which is far from excellent, implements a regulation that actually favors customers, only to be brought down by the AMI.  Perhaps the adage, “No great deed goes unpunished” is real right after all.

Long Island Attorney
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com 

Meat Industry Gets Court To Vacate Selection In Favor of Great Regulation

Steve Bell on Jeremy Hunt"s selection to freeze well being workers" pay out – cartoon

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Steve Bell on Jeremy Hunt"s selection to freeze well being workers" pay out – cartoon

DNA pioneer James Watson sets out radical concept for selection of illnesses

James Watson, 85, says he produced his theory soon after pondering why exercising appears to benefit people with higher blood sugar. Photograph: Edmond Terakopian/PA

Not satisfied with his work that unravelled the double helix construction of DNA and landed him a share of a Nobel prize half a century ago, James Watson has come up with a radical concept for diabetes, dementia, heart ailment and cancer.

The 85-year-outdated scientist has turned to the pages of the Lancet medical journal to set forth his grand notion, which some academics say might not have observed the light of day had it come from anyone else.

Watson, who stepped down as director of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in New York in 2007 after the Times quoted his views on Africa and intelligence, has organized a conference at the lab this 12 months to discover his most recent hypothesis.

Writing in the Lancet, Watson claims that late onset, or variety two diabetes, is typically considered to be induced by oxidation in the physique that causes irritation and kills off pancreatic cells. But he thinks the root of that irritation is fairly different: “The basic result in, I suggest, is a lack of biological oxidants, not an excess,” he writes.

Watson, a keen singles tennis player, says he developed his theory right after pondering why workout appeared to advantage individuals with high blood sugar, an early indicator of potential diabetes. Workout developed “reactive oxygen species” that were extensively believed to be dangerous.

Other study fed into his thinking, chiefly a research by Matthias Blüher at the University of Leipzig. He showed that reactive oxygen species released in exercising combatted the insulin resistance noticed in diabetes, but that the benefits vanished if you gave men and women antioxidants prior to the exercised.

Watson believes that rather than getting wholly negative, oxidising molecules, such as hydrogen peroxide, are vital for the body’s wellness. In certain, he factors out that hydrogen peroxide goes to operate in a cellular organ called the endoplasmic reticulum, the place it guarantees proteins are secure. If levels of oxidants are too minimal, he suggests, the proteins grow to be misshapen and trigger the inflammation that damages the pancreas. And a raft of other illnesses.

Huge research have currently proven that antioxidant dietary supplements do not help folks to dwell longer. Watson’s hypothesis also suggests there is nothing to be acquired, although he makes a point of saying he is not experienced to give individuals well being guidance.

“Just about every doctor I’ve ever known tells every patient who is capable of carrying out so to exercise. I feel physical exercise assists us create healthy, functional proteins. But we genuinely want to have some higher-good quality research to demonstrate this.”

He adds: “We sorely need to consider a much a lot more critical and thorough scientific seem at the mechanisms via which exercising improves our overall health.”

Watson’s thought acquired a mixed reception from scientists on Thursday. A single professor of metabolic medicine was unimpressed and said the idea was not even novel. “It is only because of his identify that James Watson is permitted to present his woolly ideas in the Lancet,” he explained.

The director of the MRC Metabolic Illnesses Unit at the University of Cambridge, Stephen O’Rahilly, was significantly less scathing. He said: “He is exhorting more science to be completed on how physical action may possibly be beneficial. We want to realize the mechanism. Making the proper reactive oxygen species in the appropriate place at the correct time is essential for us to stay effectively, and blocking them may possibly not be a very good idea.”

DNA pioneer James Watson sets out radical concept for selection of illnesses

CVS"s Selection To Dump Tobacco Delivers On Its Brand

Just yesterday, I invested the morning with 75 senior marketers at a key healthcare program discussing how the ideal companies provide on their brand’s positioning. This healthcare method was especially interested as it is in the middle of a rebranding energy aimed at doubling its enterprise, expanding its geographical reach, enticing individuals away from stalwart rivals and inspiring over thirty,000 employees – no tiny task for any brand.

The upshot of the discussion is that a robust, effectively-positioned brand can be the North Star for almost everything an organization does. Regardless of whether it is a new knowledge, a new item or service or a late-night buyer support experience, the greatest firms make certain that each and every consumer touchpoint is always on-brand.

Contemplate the irreverent Axe, the empowering Unique K or the unconditional personal support zealot such as Nordstrom and Zappos. You just know what is on- or off-brand, regardless of whether you are a consumer, an employee or an investor. Staples is hassle-totally free, so do not assume them to increase into massive, bulky workplace furniture. Southwest Airline’s hospitality and esprit de corps implies passengers won’t encounter class distinctions in seating and services. CVS is your destination for health and wellness please store elsewhere for tobacco. (Right after October 1, that is).

I’m including CVS to this listing right after its high-priced but cautiously considered move and February five^th announcement. In the words of Chief Executive Larry Merlo, “We’ve come to the selection that cigarettes have no location in an environment the place healthcare is becoming delivered.”

CVS was as soon as just yet another storefront disbursing comfort items and medication, duking it out with Walgreens, Rite Support, Walmart and seven-Eleven. But over time, one thing modified — a flu epidemic and a MinuteClinic later on, CVS had embarked on a journey to transform itself into a overall health and wellness provider and spouse.

CVS recast itself as a “pharmacy innovation company” that each day is “working to make health care far better.” This is the “why” of its brand’s positioning, and the noble function of “helping folks on their path to greater health” is the “what” of its brand, its North Star.The brand shifted and the experience realigned to this North Star with crucial shop redesigns, a robust vaccination system and much more articulate pharmacists.

These moves—including this week’s discontinuation of tobacco solution sales—are on-brand with CVS’ brand purpose as properly as exactly where the nation is headed. Wellness and wellness is not a fad. A persistent U.S. population is a truth – 150 million in the U.S. ages 18 and older have at least a single continual problem, with over 70 million having two. CVS would like to aid the chronically unwell greater manage their situations and to assist the wholesome grow to be healthier. Rivals are also expanding their roles in the wellness arena: This week, Walgreens announced a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare to launch a cost-free, Net-based mostly smoking cessation system named Sponsorship to Quit.

But the $ 2 billion decision to boldly dump tobacco sends CVS’ boldest signal of dedication to the brand and to the place it sees its long term development it’s an unprecedented move and 1 that is wickedly smart. CVS is putting its funds where its brand is, betting that this 1st mover benefit will pay off. I say “first mover” due to the fact no one genuinely owns wellness and wellness. Sixteen thousand health and wellness apps had been downloaded final 12 months. Above $ one.four billion was spent by people striving to discover a lot more about the topic. The all round group is heading to $ 1 trillion in the up coming three-five many years and the timing is right for an individual to stage in and lead the dialog and turn out to be the Amazon of health and wellness. Why not CVS?

There is significantly a lot more to this story tied to CVS Caremark’s relationships with insurers, employers and significant role in Obamacare. But the tale of brand repositioning—and the elimination of a key brand disconnect—is one that all marketers ought to take seriously. “We would constantly get the query: ‘Why do you proceed to sell cigarettes?’” says Troyen Brennan, CVS’ chief medical officer. “Because from the physicians’ and nurses’ point of view, you’re both all-in for healthcare or you’re not.”

A properly-defined, authentic brand has no less responsibility—you are both all in or you’re not. CVS is all in.

CVS"s Selection To Dump Tobacco Delivers On Its Brand

Hummus: Smart Healthful Snack Selection

Hummus is a Middle Eastern dip or spread created from cooked chickpeas blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.  What helps make this tasty combine so healthier? Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) are really large in protein. Chickpeas and Olive Oil are acknowledged to be effective in stopping cholesterol build up in the blood vessels. Garlic and lemon juice are excellent antioxidants that decrease oxidative stress in the physique. They also perform to boost immune functions and fight off bacteria and viruses. Hummus can help you preserve correct blood sugar amounts. It also contains loads of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are great for strengthening intelligence and maintaining a wholesome heart. As if that wasn’t ample, this dish also has iron, vitamin B6, manganese, folic acid and amino acids. The amino acids discovered in hummus contain Tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine which are identified to market excellent sound sleep and improve your mood. Wow, hand in excess of the gluten-totally free pita chips or carrots and dig in!

Elements:

• sixteen oz of fresh chickpeas (or one can)


•  1/four cup of liquid from chickpeas (either the water you soaked them in or from the can)two Tbsp of olive oil


• two Tbsp of Tahini


• 1 clove garlic (crushed)


• 3 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice


• 1/two tsp of salt or as per your taste

Instructions:

For very best results, if you are employing raw chickpeas you will need to soak the chickpeas in water overnight so that they get soft, straightforward to use and digest afterwards.  Soaking will also have the hulls rise to the prime of your soaking bowl as these really don’t blend nicely.

The up coming morning, drain (and reserve) the water from the chickpeas and then mix them into a smooth mixture in a foods processor. (I enjoy my Vitamix to blend, puree etc.)

You can also use canned chickpeas and save your cooking time as these can be blended straight away in the blender.

Variations:  You can increase the taste with spices like coriander powder, cumin, cayenne pepper or roasted red peppers.

You can  add hummus to lunches for your youngsters. It comes with all these great nutritional advantages and the large protein content material will assist you really feel full for longer. If you have any other healthy and delightful variations for hummus, please share them with our readers and us in the comment box.

 Great Resource: Middle Eastern Spice Set

Guest Author Bio: Lita is a busy mom, blogger and a freelance writer. She left the corporate globe back in 2008 to focus a lot more on her family, healthful living and her blogging profession. This hummus recipe which she found on Femina’s site is a single of her favorite snacks and it helped her lose her pregnancy bodyweight.

Be Well,

Beth

Hummus: Smart Healthful Snack Selection