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William Hornby looks straight into the camera, smiles and says: “Hi, I’m William and I am a man who is proudly in eating disorder recovery.”
It’s the kind of public and unashamed acknowledgement the now 22-year-old Temple University student in the United States wished he could have leaned on when he began his recovery in early 2020.
The video has been watched more than 21,000 times since Hornby posted it on TikTok in December 2020. `
An estimated 10 million men and boys have a diagnosed eating disorder – about a third of all reported cases, according to the US National Eating Disorder Association. `
Yet, because the condition is largely seen as a women’s health problem, men often struggle to find help. `
Treatment centres primarily cater to women. `
Clinicians are trained to recognise eating disorders among women, but often don’t pick up on the different warning signs among men. `
Even self-help is hard to come by, with far fewer men than women speaking out publicly about their experience. `
As a result, men are, on average, sicker when they’re finally diagnosed and more likely to require hospitalisation, which makes their path to recovery that much harder.
“Often, we don’t recognise they’re struggling until it’s too late,” said Brian Pollack, the founder and clinical director of Hilltop Behavioral Health in Summit, New Jersey. `
“They fall harder and quicker – or at least it’s perceived that way – because no one knows the signs and symptoms.” ` Unrealistic body images `
There are good reasons resources are dedicated to treating eating disorders among women. ` Just like women, men too feel the pressure to have a certain ideal physique due to the images portrayed in media. — Filepic `
The cultural ideals for many American women – tall, thin, beautiful – have contributed to generations of eating disorders, especially anorexia, among women and girls who felt immense pressure to resemble the Barbie dolls they played with and the models they saw in magazines. `
Clothing designers are increasingly including models of all sizes in their advertisements; children’s movies feature heroines who don’t wear crowns and corsets; and dolls with realistic body proportions line toy store shelves. `
But there’s still a long way to go to undo such ingrained ideas about body image. `
At the same time, clinicians are grappling with how to better support men and boys experiencing body-image problems. `
For men, movies and music that conflate masculinity with ripped physiques or lean, toned bodies can contribute to eating disorders. `
Gym culture – working out hard and eating nothing but lean protein, then celebrating with indulgent “cheat day” meals – encourages a pattern of food restriction and binge-eating. `
“Behaviours might look the same (in men and women), but cognitive drivers are different and that’s linked to different body ideals,” said Stuart Murray, the director of the University of Southern California’s eating disorders programme and a founder of the US National Eating Disorders Association. `
Men also perceive their eating behaviour differently, which requires medical professionals to take a different approach to talking to men about these issues. `
For instance, binge-eating is considered a loss of control, however, men who are taught to always be in control may not view their binge-restrict eating patterns that way, Murray said. ` Where to turn to? `
Growing up outside Baltimore, Hornby said being around family members who dieted routinely, thumbing through health magazines, and having to change for gym class in a locker room full of his peers, made him question how he looked. `
He started to restrict what and how much he ate. `
“I would look at men’s health magazines and resent that I didn’t look like that, and be scared that I never would,” Hornby recalled of his 11-year-old self. `
Once on his own, in college, Hornby started to eat more, but would immediately feel guilty and force himself to limit his intake. `
At a particularly low point, he reached out to a Temple dietitian, who connected him to a therapist. `
With help from both of them, Hornby began to make progress in breaking his cycle in 2020. `
But figuring out how to move forward from his pattern of restrictive eating and bingeing was hard because he felt alone. `
“One of the most isolating and challenging things for me was I couldn’t find representation for men with eating disorders,” he said. `
“Even though I knew it was happening, I couldn’t find them.” `
Because eating disorders have been cast as a female problem, men may not recognise that their relationship with food is also troubled. `
Those who do realise they have a problem may not know where to turn for help. `
With an overwhelmingly female clientele, treatment centres often have a feminine aesthetic and programmatic approach to discussing eating disorders that doesn’t resonate with men, Pollack said. `
“Whether it’s an all-female organisation or the standards of care and the language around care is female-focused, men don’t feel comfortable,” he said. ` Data needed `
Improving eating disorder treatment for men must be about more than making them feel comfortable speaking out. `
Gym culture, which involves working out hard and eating lean meat with the occasional ‘cheat day’, encourages an unhealthy pattern of food restriction and binge-eating. — The Washington Post >> `
The medical field must evolve to include men in clinical trials to understand the effectiveness of existing and future medications and therapies among men. `
“The provider has to rely on data drawn from predominantly female samples. `
“You have to kind of wing it and assume that the treatment that’s worked for females will work for males,” Murray said. `
Until about 10 years ago, the criteria a person needed to meet in order to be formally diagnosed with an eating disorder included loss of menstrual cycle – a physiological impossibility for men. `
Changing that criteria opened up new funding opportunities for studying and tracking eating disorders among men, but the field is still catching up. `
Less than 1% of studies about eating disorders have involved men, said Murray, who has extensively studied the dearth of re- sources for men. `
Researchers are learning that while influenced by personal circumstance, social media and popular culture, some people may be genetically predisposed to be vulnerable to eating disorders. `
Future treatments could involve therapies that retrain neural pathways in the brain, essentially reteaching the brain how to think about food and body image. `
Clinical studies for these treatments especially, must include men, whose brains work differently than women’s, Murray said. `
“We’re standing at the precipice of repeating history,” he said. ` Helping others `
With help from his therapist and dietician, Hornby has established nutritious eating habits and healthier expectations of his body. `
In late 2020, he decided to start posting videos and messages on TikTok and Instagram, offering encouragement to people who may not even realise they need it. `
He has posted hundreds of short videos with messages like “coffee is not a meal and neither is the milk in your coffee”, “your body isn’t addicted to carbohydrates, it just needs them” and “you aren’t faking your eating disorder if it’s happening when no one’s around” that have earned him hundreds of thousands of social media followers. `
He also recorded a song about body dysmorphia – a mental health disorder in which people obsess over perceived flaws with their appearance. `
It’s titled Clay, he said, “because when you have (body dysmorphia), your mind treats your body like clay” that can be pinched and moulded to a preferred shape. `
Sharing such a personal experience is scary, and at first, he feared people would think he was making it up for attention, he said. `
But the messages he receives from others who have found comfort in his posts are encouraging and have helped him maintain his progress. `
“Every single day I get messages from people telling me my content is what gave them the push to ask for help... it’s incredibly meaningful,” he said. `
“It can serve as a reminder that these are not rational thoughts people are having. `
“Then when I have those same thoughts later in the day, it holds me accountable.” – By Sarah Gantz/The Philadelphia Inquirer/Tribune News Service
Carry out regular maintenance on electrical devices
Safety checks on electrical devices should be conducted frequently and faulty devices replaced promptly to avoid electrocution, say electrical experts. `
This following a recent tragedy on March 10, where a couple were found electrocuted upon using an instant water heater in the bathroom of their flat at Taman Puncak Tringkap, Brinchang, Pahang. `
The Electrical and Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM) advised people at home to use safety-certified electrical equipment and conduct frequent testing of the unit’s residual current circuit breaker (RCCB) or Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB) to avoid such incidents. `
“RCCB is a device that senses electricity and disconnects any high voltage or unbalanced current circuit whenever a fault occurs.
“This protects humans from shocks and prevents death caused by shocks,” said TEEAM’s president Siew Choon Thye. `
He said it is best for people to conduct these safety checks using rubber slippers or boots for safety. `
Siew said that faulty or defective RCCBs in the distribution board have been identified as among the causes of electrocution involving water heaters in homes in Malaysia. `
“The sensitivity of the RCCB used for electric water heaters should be rated 10mA to prevent electrocution,” he said, adding that electrical products should be certified by SIRIM and approved by the Energy Commission for safety and household use. `
He said electrical works and replacements of RCCBs must only be carried out by competent electricians, wiremen, and chargemen who are registered with the Energy Commission of Malaysia. `
“Should a person face an incident where a family member is electrocuted, the safest way is to immediately switch off the main power supply at their home and call the emergency number 999,” he said. `
Siew added that people purchasing electrical products online should also be cautious as there are a number of fake products sold, as well as those without SIRIM certification. `
“Verification of certified products and competent electricians can be done via our website www.teeam.org.my or through the Energy Commission’s portal at www.st.gov.my,” he said. `
Following repeated cases of water heater electrocutions in the country, Siew said TEEAM planned to restart its RCCB self-test campaign in the near future to give people more awareness on the issue. `
Electrician Mohamad Arif Mohamed Kasim, 28, recently noted on his Twitter account (@arepkasim) that people should check their water heaters by pressing the Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB) test button. `
“Electrocution happens when the ELCB has malfunctioned and does not cut the electricity when there is a leak,” he said. `
The PW4 Wireman noted the warm water which comes out directly from the shower is heated in a copper tube within the water heater.“Water and copper are both electrical conductors so when a current leakage occurs, electrocution can happen,” he said. `
He said people should check the ELCB on the main fuse of their home every month or fortnightly to ensure the safety device is working. `
He added such checks can identify any malfunction. Faulty devices, too, should be immediately replaced to avoid electrical cables from overheating or catching fire. `
Twitter user Bovver (@bluehippo__), advised people against using water outlets or external connections on water heaters that are made of metal as there is a risk of electrocution or death when a current leak occurs. `
Others like @KaffeeUndMilch_ warned that people should also be cautious of electrical current from home aquariums as it can also be a cause of electrocution with faulty electrical devices.
Fines worth over RM20mil to telecommunication service providers
(telcos) for not verifying the identity of new prepaid card new subscribers
Those who registered more than the limit given may be using the numbers for activities -Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has issued compounds worth over RM20mil to telecommunication service providers (telcos) for not verifying the identity of new prepaid card subscribers. The failure also saw over one million lines terminated by the telcos. `
MCMC chief regulatory officer Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin told The Star that the commission discovered cases of telco agents or dealers who misused consumers’ personal information to register fake prepaid accounts for sale to other customers. ` Victims, he said, would only realise the abuse via notification from telcos or law enforcement agencies who notified them of their “wrongdoings”. `
“The issue is worsened by the fact that we have foreigners whose identifications were also being used for bogus registrations. `
“It is easier for us to verify Malaysians because we can call and check with them if they have registered the numbers but with foreigners, it is very challenging. `
“As of last year, 430 compounds were issued by MCMC amounting to RM20.53mil for non-compliance with the guidelines based on the monitoring and audit conducts by MCMC through mystery shopper activities as well as public reports,” he said, adding that action was taken under Section 242 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. ` Zulkarnain said the commission had also reduced the limit on the number of prepaid cards a user could register under their names – previously from 10 numbers to only five. ` “We have not ruled out the possibility that those who registered more than the limit given may be using the numbers for activities that are against the law,” he added. ` The commission, Zulkarnain said, was currently working hand in hand with the National Registration Department (NRD) to step up efforts to curb false prepaid registration that could lead to unlawful activities such as scams. `
A data verification exercise will be conducted twice a year to allow the commission to verify the validity of prepaid subscribers’ database and rectify unmatched data from the service providers. `
“Information received from service providers on its active prepaid cellular subscribers registered using MyKad will be shared with NRD for further verification. `
“This exercise is part of the commission’s efforts in ensuring compliance with the Guidelines on Registration of End-Users of Prepaid Public Cellular Service to strengthen the registration process to address false registration issues, security and data integrity issues, thus ensuring that the interest and rights of consumers are being protected,” he said.” he said. `
Zulkarnain said to date, the verification exercise, which began in 2017, had identified over 1.5 million numbers that had been registered with inaccurate information as per MyKad details. `
A total of 1,008,765 or 66% of the lines were terminated, 496,212 were updated with valid information and 12,058 are in the midst of being updating. `
“MCMC will share the verification results with the respective service providers and they will be given three months to take the necessary action to notify the users. `
“Service providers will issue a notice of three working days to the user to re-register their details, failing which, the number will be suspended. `
“Suspension shall be in effect for a period of 14 working days and if the user fails to co-operate, the service will be terminated,” he said. `
He said that upon termination, the remaining balance for the prepaid services would be forfeited and the service providers were not required to reissue the same numbers to the users for any new registrations in the future. `
He advised users who were involved in such activities to lodge a report at the telecommunication company, police and the Personal Data Protection Department (JPDP). `
This included postpaid users, Zulkarnain added. `
“So far, the guideline is for prepaid users. Normally for postpaid users, we will act and check based on complaints we receive.” `
The Malaysian government has made it mandatory for service providers to register prepaid mobile service users since 2006. `
The directive then was to curb the misuse of prepaid public cellular services and to address national security concerns related to terrorism and criminal behaviours. `
During the registration process, a user has to provide personal information such as his full name, permanent address and IC number. `
A foreigner, on the other hand, was required to submit details such as his full name, passport number, passport issuing country, as well as any other information deemed necessary by the commission. `
Separately, a telco executive said: “Prepaid registration is mandated. Dealers can have lapses and some occurrences can happen as there are millions of customers.” `
He said even though dealers might be registering the prepaid numbers, the telcos were held liable as dealers were not licensed. `
He added that lapses in registration could happen due to dealers who had high staff turnovers.
Yang Jiechi (1st L), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (1st R) in Rome, Italy, March 14, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
The Point：Xi & Biden to talk Ukraine
Just hours before the phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden on Friday, China, in a rare move, sent tough signals, stating it will never accept US threats and coercion over the Ukraine issue and vowing to make a strong response if the US takes measures harming China's legitimate interests. `
In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, an anonymous Chinese official said China accepted the US' proposal for the phone call between the heads of the two countries on China-US relations and the Ukraine situation out of considerations of bilateral relations, promoting peace talks and urging the US to take right stance. `
China will never accept US threats and coercion, and if the US takes measures that harm China's legitimate interests and the interests of Chinese enterprises and individuals, China will not sit idly by and will make a strong response, the official stressed, noting the US should not have any illusions or miscalculations about this. `
China's strong signals were sent as the Biden administration has intensified its disinformation campaign over China's "military support" to Russia and attempted to threaten China with "dire consequences." `
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Biden will make clear during Friday's call that China will "bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia's aggression, and we will not hesitate to impose costs," he told a media briefing. `
Chinese analysts said China's clear statement on its stand is very necessary and timely, when the US seeks to manipulate Friday's talk to coerce China to change its diplomatic position, provoke China-Russia relations and smear China's image, which is sinister and vicious. `
China is sending a stern warning to the Biden administration not to harbor any illusions of changing China in Friday night's talk, and is urging Biden to calm down on the practical issues of the two countries, analysts said. `
Just days after the Rome meeting between senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the US reached out to China again for a higher-level meeting, which in some Chinese analysts' view reflected the US' growing anxiety over the uncontrollable consequences of the worsening Ukraine crisis, especially after its attempt to change China's position failed in Rome and the US is in dire need of China's help to deal with the chaos it created but failed to handle. `
Friday's scheduled phone call is being made as the US is caught in double plight: worrying about possible nuclear conflict with Russia with its extreme pressure against it and the risk of a rapid escalation of conflicts with China over the Taiwan question, Chinese analysts said, noting the Taiwan question and the Ukraine issue will be high on the agenda of the exchange. `
Behind the Biden administration's designed pressuring on China was its deep anxiety and pressing need for help from China on the Ukraine crisis, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. `
"Friday's meeting for the US is far more urgent than other issues Biden has dealt with since he took office. The exchange will be held as the US, under extreme urgent circumstances, requested to have exchanges with China on Ukraine," Li said. `
Some American media are also aware of the US' dilemma. In covering Friday's exchange, Bloomberg News said in its headline that, "Biden looks to China for help with Putin." An opinion piece for Bloomberg said the worse Russia does, "the greater the risks America and its European allies may face." `
The Ukraine issue is the consequence of accumulated problems between the US and Russia or the US-led NATO's continuous pressuring and challenging of Russia's security, thus the US, deep inside, does not expect China to solve it, but it still wants to draw China into its mess or ask China to help it out since the current situation is beyond its expectations and it will become harder for the US to avoid being directly involved in it, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. `
Lü pointed out that Biden has been naïve for thinking that Russia will not fight back when faced with the US' provocations, and now he is using fuel to put out the fire in Ukraine while being afraid the fire will reach NATO. `
However, the US on one hand is seeking China's help with the worsening Ukraine crisis that it created but failed to handle; on the other hand, it is pressuring and threatening China, which is typical American practice, Li said, noting that it is unwise and counterproductive. `
"If the US harbors an illusion that China will yield to its pressure on the Ukraine crisis and China-Russia relations, it only reflects that the US has a too superficial understanding of current complex international situations and the right and wrong of facts," Li said. `
Many of the US and West's sanctions against Russia were done purely via long-arm jurisdiction without permission from the UN. And such a practice of framing relations with other countries based on its domestic law and forcing third countries to accept it is undoubtedly contrary to the spirit of international law and the principles of the UN Charter,Chinese analysts said. `
While trying to drag China into the mess the US created, Washington is also smearing China-Russia relations with rumors and disinformation to sow discord between the two. `
After Sullivan warned China that it would "absolutely face consequences" if it helped Moscow evade sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced Sullivan's remarks on Thursday, saying it is another manifestation of Washington's imperialist and hegemonic ambitions. China-Russia relations have strong internal momentum, which are not affected by international changes, she said. `
China and Russia have reiterated there is no military cooperation, and the high-level strategic partnership between the two countries has never targeted any third party, nor will it be affected by any third party. This is a key point that the US and the West never understand, analysts said. `
China has developed bilateral relations with Russia and the US respectively and it does not use bilateral relations to target Russia or the US. Currently, the conflicts between the US and Russia and between China and the US all have roots in the US, and the US is trying to sow discord between Russia and China, Lü said, noting that this is why China has reiterated that the US' actions should fit its remarks. ` Explosive issue on China-US relations `
Lü said that the US should not expect other countries to solve the mess it made in Ukraine while it still ramps up assistance and offers weapons to Ukraine. Therefore, China will still focus the talks between the top leaders on China-US relations and how bilateral relations will develop. `
While driving Russia into a corner on the Ukraine issue, the US has also tried to drive China into a corner with the most "explosive issue" for bilateral ties - the Taiwan question, Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times. `
The US has been quickly advancing its Indo-Pacific strategy using Taiwan as its pawn, and kept sending wrong signals to Taiwan secessionists by sending former American diplomats to visit the island, which shows its conflict with China over Taiwan question is rapidly escalating, Yang said. `
Some US officials also hyped the relevance of the Ukraine issue with the Taiwan question, but the two are fundamentally different. `
Top US Air Force General Kenneth Wilsbach connected the situation in Ukraine with the question of Taiwan, claiming that one of the "key lessons" the Chinese are taking from the Ukraine situation is the "solidarity of the global community," and that if China behaves in a similar way against the island or another neighbor, "something more robust will happen." `
The Chinese side will stress that the US has to take seriously China's major concerns regarding its own core interests, and if the US does not take seriously China's concern but just wants to seek China's help for its own purposes, such pattern of interaction would not work out but only inject more uncertainty into China-US relations, analysts warned.
On the same day as a seven-hour meeting between senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Rome on Monday which was described by some media outlets as "intense," US Air Force General Kenneth Wilsbach blatantly threatened to teach China a lesson from the Ukraine situation, which could be applied
to the Taiwan question. Such conceit was defied by the first direct high-level engagement between Chinese and US officials over the situation in Ukraine on which Washington had tried to misguide Beijing to serve its own interests, although failing to do so as the Chinese side stressed its consistent stance on the issue and urged the US side to correct its wrong words and deeds.
US-funded bio-labs reportedly discovered in Ukraine have attracted global attention as many question the US' inconsistent responses regarding the matter, for a full clarification of its bio-military activities within and outside its borders. The Global Times lays out the spread of the US' Cooperative Biological Engagement Program and wide concerns over its labs' potential risks and safety loopholes.
Chinese FM raises six key questions on US bio labs in Ukraine, demanding truth
Screengrab of Russian Defence Ministry briefing showing US-sponsored biolabs on Ukraininan territory. Photo : Russian Ministry of Defence `
At Monday's routine news conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the spokesperson for the ministry rebutted the US' inconsistent and flawed responses regarding its biological laboratories in Ukraine, urging a full clarification of its bio-military activities within and outside its borders. `
When a BBC reporter asked that the US claims seem to suggest that its secret research involving viruses in Ukraine has nothing to do with the military, Zhao Lijian, the ministry's spokesperson, directly pointed out that the US' response to the issue so far has been contradictory and confusing. `
Under a 2005 agreement between the US and Ukraine, US Department of Defense representatives are authorized to participate in all activities related to Ukrainian facilities, and Ukraine is prohibited from releasing information that the US determines to be "sensitive." `
According to the US submission to the 2021 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Meeting of States Parties, the US has 26 laboratories and other cooperative facilities in Ukraine. `
"We can't help but ask: Did the US send teams to Ukraine or not? What exactly is the scope of their activities? How many collaborative facilities are there? What sensitive information in the field of public health is not allowed to be disclosed? Does Ukraine know what the US is doing in Ukraine?" Zhao asked. `
Public information shows that tens of biological laboratories in Ukraine were operated on the orders of the US Department of Defense, that the US has invested more than $200 million in these laboratory activities, and that US research was aimed at establishing mechanisms for the covert spread of deadly viral pathogens. `
Russian officials said that Russia found more than 30 biological laboratories affiliated with the US on the territory of Ukraine and that the relevant items were urgently destroyed, but traces of plague, anthrax and other pathogens were found. `
While the US initially slammed information about its bio warfare labs in Ukraine as "fake," on March 8, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted the existence of US-funded "biological research facilities" in the country. `
"If the information released by the US itself is inconsistent and full of loopholes, how can the international community believe that the US is fulfilling its BWC obligations?" Zhao asked. `
The US is the only country that opposes the establishment of a verification mechanism for the BWC. At the same time, for decades the US has been accusing other countries of not complying with the treaty, and even sanctioning and using force against these countries. `
"When it happens to the US, it evades inspection, which is a typical US double standard," Zhao said. `
The spokesman urged the US to make a full clarification of its bio-military activities within and outside its borders in a responsible manner and to stop opposing the establishment of a verification mechanism for the Biological Weapons Convention, which would help restore the international community's confidence in the US compliance with its international obligations and would also help raise the level of global biosecurity. `
The World Health Organization has "strongly recommended" to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine to safely destroy "high-threat pathogens" that might be housed within the country's public health labs in order to prevent "any potential spills." ` Source link
Life-long trauma: CIA mind control program victims speak out
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Julie Tanny's father Charles Tanny Photo: Courtesy of Julie Tanny
Editor's Note: `
Among the victims of the CIA's MK Ultra project is the family of Julie Tanny (Tanny), whose father was coercively brainwashed as part of the Montreal Experiments in Canada back in the 1950s. The experiments were funded by the Canadian government and covertly in part by the CIA. She is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against five defendants - the US government, the Canadian government, the McGill University health center, the Royal Victoria Hospital, and McGill University, as her family was irreparably destroyed by the program. She shared her story with the Global Times (GT) in a recent interview. ` GT: You father underwent brainwashing treatment for three months in 1957 by Dr. Ewen Cameron. Why did he go? ` Tanny: My father had what's called trigeminal neuralgia, which is a pain in the side of the face that goes into the jaw. Apparently, it's excruciating because I actually know somebody who has it and just recovered from it. `
They believed at the time that it was psychosomatic. So they sent him to a psychiatrist. My father was very against it, but he did whatever he had to do to get rid of the pain because he just couldn't function. `
The doctor that he went to see was working with Dr. Cameron on this program in the hospital, which we didn't know. He put my father into the programs. We don't know what they wanted to do with him, but we do know that his treatment was different in that my father was not a psychiatric patient. That's what made him different from all the other ones. ` GT: What "treatment" did he undergo? ` Tanny: What they did was as soon as he was admitted to the hospital, they immediately put him on insulin. My father was not a diabetic. I know that the insulin put him in a coma. It was part of the sleep treatment where they put him to sleep, and after it he was interviewed by the psychiatrist, then they would take clips of some of the things he said and run them on a tape, 24-7 under his pillow. It would be going around nonstop in his head, brainwashing him basically. But what they would do was they would give him shock treatments, but not the regular shock treatments they give today. These are called Page-Russells. It was a machine invented by a Mr. Page and Mr. Russell. It was about 75 times the strength of a regular shock treatment. It was designed to wipe out the brain. And the tape was to replace it with different thoughts. `
I don't really know what they were trying to do, but I know in my father's case, they said they had written notes like "this is as far as we can take him" or "we have to put him back in because he still has ties to his former life." It's hard to know, but whatever they were trying to do, it wasn't good. ` GT: How did you know these details? Did your father share what they did to him with you or did you acquire the information through other means? ` Tanny: No. What happened was I was about 5 years old at the time, so I definitely remember what he was like before and what he was like after - it was two different people. My father was very engaged and very hands-on with us. All his free time was spent with his children. And after he came home, he didn't even know who we were. When we were at my mother's for dinner in 1978, when it came on the news that Mrs. Orlikow, who was the wife of a member of parliament in Winnipeg, was suing the CIA and we were all sitting around watching the news and my mother turned to my brother and said, go to the hospital and get dad's records tomorrow. ` And I was like, what are you talking about? Because no one ever told us what happened to my father or why he changed so much. The problem with that was my father had a massive stroke in 1977 and was left unable to communicate. He couldn't speak, he couldn't write, he couldn't read. `
And once I had found out about really what happened to him in 1978, it was too late to have that conversation with him. So it was never talked about. Never. Even after we found out. ` GT: How severely did this affect you and your family? `
Tanny: I think that we started off as a very happy family with the father who was always busy, building a skating rink in the backyard and taking us to the ice rink in the park across the street, and taking us to the amusement park every now and then. `
And all that, everything ended when he came back from the hospital. He came back very angry - physically violent. I asked my brother, what was it like to grow up in our house? And he said empty. ` GT: What prompted your fight for justice? ` Tanny:A lot of things happened to push us to do this. First of all, when my father had his stroke, the doctors couldn't find a reason; he didn't have a blood clot or high blood pressure. What happened to him was he had an artery that collapsed. And recent studies or pretty recent studies have shown that these particular shock treatments that my father had create heart attacks and stroke. ` My mother had to work till the day she died to support herself. And when my mother passed away, there was nothing. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer very shortly after my father died. I don't know what she would have lived on had she lived longer. And I guess it's also what we should have inherited and didn't. So there are a lot of factors. ` I know that in 1992, my mother received $100,000 from the federal government, but it cost, we figured out, my mother over $2 million in cash to have helped to take care of my father. ` So what was $100,000? When a temporary short-term head of the CIA read about what had happened, he insisted that the CIA found all the victims and compensated them properly and told them this twice. And the CIA both times admitted that they should and they will, but of course they never did. And then there's just the justice of it. It's amazing to me that they've never compensated people. They've never bothered to look at the damage [such experiment] did to families. ` GT: You and the other victims formed the group Survivors Allies Against Government Abuse in 2017. How many families are involved in the group? ` Tanny: I've never counted how many families are members, but I can tell you, as far as family members are concerned, it's got to be over 500. But there's also a lot I believe that have not come forward yet, because I'm always meeting more people. ` GT: You are the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit. Do you think a class action lawsuit can exert more pressure than individual lawsuits? ` Tanny: Definitely. First of all, I always believe their strength and numbers. But also to do this, there are very few lawyers, if any, who were willing to take on the work for one client. There's so much work to be done. We were very lucky to get the lawyers that we got. ` GT: What difficulties have you met during the process of executing your lawsuit? ` Tanny: I think the first thing is the government. When Justin Trudeau came into office, one of the first things he did was create these privacy acts so that nobody could get access to any kind of information, so that nobody could sue the government. `
So, when people are trying to find medical records, he makes it very difficult because they found 1 million different ways to deny people records under really ridiculous circumstances. `
Like we know it wasn't just Dr. Cameron, it was everybody who worked at the hospital - the nurses, all the doctors. So the idea that he would have to be the lead doctor on all these cases is ridiculous. We used to go to McGill University and do research and we found out a lot of information through that research. But once we filed, they hid everything. We would get mountains of files before we filed. And once we filed the lawsuit, you go and you get a file about this thick (1 cm). It's just their way of protecting themselves, I guess. `
So for me, we've had the records for a very long time. I wouldn't read them, but we had them. But there are a lot of people who have not yet been given that information. It's difficult for them. ` GT: Are there still such experiments in Canada or the US, as far as you know? ` Tanny:We have a website and we've done things. So people have seen what we're doing. I get so many emails from people who say they're being experimented on. I guess today there're different ways of mind control that are a lot more progressive than what they did in the past. It's hard to know. I wouldn't be at all surprised. Governments are governments. I don't think all that much has changed. Our world has become all about power and control. `
So do I think there's that going on? Sure, but not anything like the primitive way they tried in the 50s. But I do get a lot of emails.
`
"They've taken away enough from me. I don't remember my birth name. I am not in contact with my children. It's a very degrading, devastating reality," said 72-year-old Maryam Ruhullah, an MK Ultra victim who now lives in Grand Prairie, Texas. `
MK Ultra is the code name of a human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the US and its notorious spy agency the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It started on April 13, 1953 and lasted for 20 years. `
It was the height of the Cold War, and the US designed covert operation, among which was MK Ultra, aimed at developing tools that could be used against Soviet bloc enemies to control human behavior with drugs and other psychological manipulators. `
Psychedelic drugs, paralytics, and electroshock therapy, all heinous and inhumane techniques, were clandestinely but routinely used on humans. They included citizens from the US and other countries who were unwitting test subjects, an encapsulation of immense human rights violations. `
Many experiments were conducted in Fort Detrick as a key base of operations. Many people died as a result of these experiments. Those who survived had their memories forcibly erased, forgetting their names and having their personalities irrevocably altered, and faced threats to their lives, living in fear for the remainder of their days. More than 40 years on, the physical, mental, emotional, social horrors, and injuries are still with her, Ruhullah told the Global Times. ` US mind control scheme `
The psychosis induction of Ruhullah started when she was 5 or 6 while attending a parade in London. She was then brought to the US where CIA operatives would continuously use a recording played over tape recorder to embed in her mind what they wanted her to become in her own memory. `
"I remember one time I had been given electric shock treatments and was returned to a room. When I regained a little bit of consciousness, I heard one of the hospital staff say something to the effect of: Why do they do this to her? Why are they giving her so many shock treatments?" said Ruhullah. `
Ruhullah believed that what happened to her was political because of her Iranian heritage. She was then relocated, taken away, and lived and was educated in Russia afterward. At 19, she married an American and moved to the US. Seven years later, a member of US law enforcement agency entered her house and told her she had to be put in protective custody. Although she greatly protested, she was forced to go. She was not able to contact her husband or her son who was about 6 years old at that time. It was the second time that she would be an unwilling participant in a mind control program. ` Ruhullah said she has been living somebody else's lie. `
"You remain physically drained, because there's something that drains your spirit. You cannot hold a conversation with anyone regarding a situation, because everyone that is allowed in your life goes along with the lie, either out of total indifference and complacency, or because they build an allegiance to the government that they have to continue this lie or something would happen to them." `
The CIA mind control schemes did not just remain on US soil but were extended to US allied countries including Denmark, Australia, and Canada. `
In December 2021, a Danish documentary titled The Search for Myself was released, leveling claims against the CIA that in the early 1960s it had financially aided experiments on 311 Danish children, a good number of whom were orphans or adopted. The filmmaker, Per Wennick, himself was one of them.
`
Wennick told Radio Denmark that as one of the kids forced to participate in the experiment, he had electrodes placed on his arms, legs, and chest around his heart. The children were also subjected to loud and high-pitched sounds, which was "very uncomfortable." `
According to Australian media reports, the US once took the experiments to Australia in the 1960s that involved Sydney University psychology students. `
What took place in the Danish documentary and Australian media reports was just the tip of the iceberg. Between 1950 and 1964, experiments funded by the Canadian government and covertly in part by the CIA as part of MK Ultra were conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University in Canada and were led by Scottish psychiatrist Dr. Ewen Cameron. `
None of the Canadian patients provided consent or knew that they were being used for clandestine research purposes. So far, neither the CIA nor the Canadian government has apologized for either's role in these experiments which ruined hundreds of families. `
Julie Tanny's family is one of them. In 1957 when she was 5 years old, her father went to see a doctor as he had trigeminal neuralgia, while the doctor, who worked in cahoots with Dr. Cameron, put him into one of the many brainwashing programs. `
Tanny told the Global Times that her father was put to sleep first, then he was forced to listen to clips of some of the things he had said on a continual 24-hour loop underneath his pillow while he slept as part of the brainwashing process. Then he would be subjected to shock treatments administered using a machine called the Page-Russells, which emitted voltages about 75 times the strength of a regular shock treatment, and the aim was to wipe out his memory. `
Such experiments were administered on Tanny's father for three months, and he was discharged because he "still has ties to his former life." He returned home, but the happy family was soon destroyed. `
Photo: VCG ` Typical US democracy style `
Colin A. Ross, a US-based psychiatrist, wrote a book titled The C.I.A. Doctors: Human Rights Violations by American Psychiatrists, after reading a collection of 15,000-page files from the CIA reading room. As a psychiatrist, he believes the CIA mind control programs were very abusive to innate human nature. `
Moreover, Ross calls into question the medical ethics of said CIA doctors. `
"You have to create psychiatric disorder on purpose, which is completely the opposite of the purpose of psychiatry. And the patient, the subject doesn't give informed consent. They don't have legal representation. So it completely violates all medical ethics," said Ross. `
Despite mounting public backlash and condemnation, the CIA is yet to officially apologize for the actions it took during the Cold War and after. The CIA's mind control projects are still relevant today because they provide a horrific historical narrative of intelligence misconduct in a country that keeps touting human rights and freedom. `
"The problem I have with the United States, while I'm a US citizen, is that they tend to point the finger; accuse other countries around the world of human rights violations, but they don't take responsibility for their own. So I think it's hypocritical and it's all part of geopolitical maneuvering and so on," said Ross. `
"This is the typical style of US democracy - violating human rights and committing crimes at will and then being forced to acknowledge it decades later," Aleksandr Kolpakidi, a Russian intelligence historian, told the Global Times. `
Tanny said she gets many emails from people who say they are currently being experimented on, and she believes mind control experiments are still ongoing, albeit not quite as primitive as those performed in the 1950s. `
"I guess today there're different ways of mind control that are a lot more progressive than what they did in the past. It's hard to know. I wouldn't be at all surprised. Governments are governments. I don't think all that much has changed. Our world has become all about power and control," said Tanny. `
CIA mind control myth. Graphic: Deng Zijun/GT `
CIA mind control myth. Graphic: Deng Zijun/GT ` Seeking justice `
The CIA MK Ultra program was brought to the public's attention in 1975, and victims and their families in Canada started to fight for the responsible parties to be brought to justice and be held accountable for the lifelong pain and suffering. `
A 1980 lawsuit which dragged on for eight years made nine Canadians receive only $67,000 each from the US Department of Justice. `
Tanny's father died in 1992, the same day his wife, Tanny's mother, received compensation worth $100,000 by the Canadian government. He was among the 77 victims who received such compensation. `
But for Tanny, this was just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the whooping $2 million it took her mother to take care of her father. And her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer very shortly after the death of her father. `
In 2017, she and other victims formed the group Survivors Allies Against Government Abuse to exert more pressure on the defendants, and she keeps meeting new people who are victims of such mind control programs. Tanny has filed a request for a class-action lawsuit against the US and Canadian governments, the McGill University health center, the McGill University, and the Allan Memorial Institute, hoping this will extend compensation to family members and other victims. `
Tanny told the Global Times that they will be in court against the US government on April 26. `
Ruhullah said that she hopes the world will remember the immense suffering of MK Ultra victims by setting aside a special day. `
"I know after apartheid, they had a reconciliation council. We don't have anything like that, be it MK Ultra, be it slavery, be it the genocide of the Native Americans, in order for the individuals and the country to heal. There needs to be acknowledgment, there needs to be apologies, there needs to be compensation, and there needs to be a genuine reconciliation," said Ruhullah.
China captured a spy tool deployed by the US National Security Agency, which is capable of lurking in a victim's computer to access sensitive information and was found to have controlled global internet equipment and stole large amounts of users' information, according to a report the Global Times obtained from the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center exclusively on Monday. `
According to the report, the Trojan horse, "NOPEN," is a remote control tool for Unix/Linux computer systems. It is mainly used for stealing files, accessing systems, redirecting network communication, and viewing a target device's information. `
Through technical analysis, the center believes that the "NOPEN" Trojan horse is characterized by complex technology, comprehensive functions and strong concealment, which can fit a variety of processor architectures and operating systems. It can also collaborate with other cyber weapons and is a typical tool used for cyber espionage. `
The report came after the NSA was exposed to have been launching cyberattacks against 47 countries and regions for a decade, with Chinese government departments, high-tech companies and military-related institutes among the key targets. Under the surveillance of the NSA, the privacy and sensitive information of hundreds of millions of people around the world were exposed, like "running around naked." `
Photo: Courtesy of National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center `
Cybersecurity experts told the Global Times that once the Trojan was planted into a victim's computer, it would become a "lurker" waiting for the "code" and opening the "vault door" for hackers. The Trojan also could turn a victim's computer into a bridge tower, allowing hackers to go deeper into the group where the victim works and grasp the company's information. `
According to the center's report, the "NOPEN" can remotely control most existing network servers and terminals, which can be manually implanted by attackers, or cyberattack platforms by the NSA. It can execute a variety of instructions such as information theft and destruction. `
Evidence shows that the NSA used the "NOPEN" Trojan horse to control a large number of internet devices around the world and steal user privacy data, which has caused inestimable losses. `
According to internal NSA documents leaked by hacking group Shadow Brokers, "NOPEN" is one of the powerful weapons used by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) to attack and steal secrets. `
"As the research and development arm of the world's top military power, the NSA cannot develop weapons that rust in their arsenals," a Chinese cybersecurity expert told the Global Times on condition of anonymity. "The international community has learned from the PRISM scandal that the US military intelligence agency has been conducting network monitoring and cybertheft of countries around the world for a long time, and these cyber weapons are an important means of its implementation of network monitoring." `
In April 2017, the Shadow Brokers released a large number of cyberattack tools developed by the NSA. As the NSA is affiliated with the US Department of Defense, the tools are widely believed to be used for military purposes as "cyber weapons." `
For example, on May 12, 2017, the worldwide WannaCry ransomware used EternalBlue, a computer exploit developed by the NSA to attack unpatched computers, which brought serious damage and data loss to many enterprises and individuals, according to media reports. The incident enabled the international community to witness for the first time the terrible power of cyber weapons, but such weapons of mass destruction are only the tip of the iceberg in the NSA's vast arsenal. `
"The vast majority of the NSA's arsenal consists of stealth fighters and submarines that can easily attack victims without theirknowledge," the anonymous expert said, noting that the "NOPEN" Trojan horse is the main weapon of the NSA's arsenal. `
The expert said the center's report sounds an alarm to the world as there are likely a large number of undetected victims online, who face long-term and serious cybersecurity risks. The leakage and proliferation of these cyber weapons further aggravate the increasingly severe network security situation, seriously endanger the overall security of the cyberspace, turning military confrontation in cyberspace into a "zero-sum" game.
Just like women, men too feel the pressure to have a certain ideal physique due to the images portrayed in media. — Filepic
Cybersecurity. Photo: VCG
