Life Extension Technologies To Facilitate Elite Technocracy

 

Malthusian rulers’ obsession with eugenics and population control to render humanity obsolete, say leading scientific pioneers

Prison Planet | Oct 10, 2007

by Paul Joseph Watson

The development of successful life-extension technologies will be a reality within 30 years, but the application of such stunning advances will be tightly restricted by a ruling elite, and eventually may be used as a justification to completely wipe out humanity, according to some of the scientific community’s leading pioneers.

A recent article carried by the Methuselah Foundation, an organization that advocates the development of life extension and nanomachinery technology, concludes that life-extension technology and “(greatly) augmenting our biology with nanomachinery” will have arrived by the 2030’s, but that “The new bio- and nanotechnologies of the 2040s will be massive overkill for the “simple” task of repairing the damage of aging.”

The report concludes that the greatest obstacle in the field is not the development but the application of such technology, suggesting that living for hundreds of years is inevitable only for the wealthy elite.

Pressure groups pushing for more widespread funding of life-extension technology research seem to be constantly frustrated by the fact that major global scientific institutions seek to contain progress within very selective parameters and are very reticent to encourage more open access to the field.

Those who advocate the necessity to mainstream life-extension technology research are keen to tackle the red herring of overpopulation, which is often cited as a reason to restrict the availability of such advances.

As the Fight Aging organization is keen to stress, the specter of overpopulation is a con game used by the elite to keep their subservient and enslaved population in poverty.

The fact is that population growth naturally declines and reverses with increasing wealth, industrialization and the creation of a strong middle class.

So it turns out that if 5% of the United States were converted into urban area with a population density of 6,000/km2, and 45% were converted into suburban area with a population density of 2,000/km2, with the remaining 50% left for rural area, parks, and farms, there would be enough room for 3 billion in the urban areas, and 9 billion in the suburban areas, for a total population of 12 billion. This is in the US alone. This scheme could be extended to the other countries and continents for a total population of around 100 billion. Everything between the Arctic and Antarctic circles are potential targets for colonization. This is about 130,000,000 km2 of land area (the circumpolar regions have about 20,000,000 km2 of land).

The planet would be perfectly able to sustain many more billions than currently occupy the earth if third world nations were allowed to industrialize and raise their living standards, but the elite, keen to protect a policy that exploits the third world and plunders their resources, are loathe to accept this and thus have to resort to scaremongering about the population bomb in order to maintain the status quo.

But there’s another reason why the architects of the eugenics movement and the global warming bandwagon need to promulgate the hoax of the population bomb – to restrict access to life extension technologies, and pave the way for the “overkill” that their use will be directed towards during the second stage of their development.

Prince Philip ‘told MI6 to murder Diana and lover’

“In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.”

– Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA), August, 1988

Yorkshire Post | Oct 3, 2007

By Andrew Vine

SENSATIONAL claims that Princess Diana was murdered on the instructions of the Duke of Edinburgh after she expressed fears of an attempt on her life dominated the opening of the inquest into her death yesterday.

The jury heard allegations that Prince Philip was at the heart of a conspiracy to murder Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, after ordering MI6 to prepare a report on them for the Royal Family. The car crash that killed them both in Paris on August 31, 1997 was then engineered, the jury heard.

The claim of murder by Dodi’s father, Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed, was at the heart of coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker’s opening statement to the jury at the inquest at the High Court in London yesterday.

And the jury was told how Diana had expressed fears that she would be the victim of an arranged accident if, as she believed, the Queen abdicated and Prince Charles succeeded to the throne, saying that would create a need to “get rid of her, via some accident in her car such as prepared brake failure”.

The judge told the jury of six women and five men that many had come to believe something “sinister” may lie behind the crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in which Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Dodi were killed with their driver, Henri Paul.

He added that Mr al-Fayed also believes MI6 had been commissioned to write a special report on his family to be presented to the Royal Family.

The judge said: “It is his belief that a decision was taken at that time to kill Diana and Dodi. He places Prince Philip at the heart of the conspiracy, you will have to listen carefully to the witnesses you hear to see whether there is any evidence to support this assertion.”

Mr al-Fayed believes that Diana was carrying Dodi’s child and that they would have announced their engagement on September 1 that year, the day after the crash, but the Royal Family “could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim could eventually be stepfather to the future King of England”.

He is convinced that Henri Paul was in the pay of MI6 and French secret services, and the crash was caused by a combination of a collision with a mystery white Fiat Uno and a blinding flash from a stun gun deliberately fired. Two official inquiries concluded that Paul had been drinking and lost control of the car whilst driving too fast. But the inquest heard that Diana had written a note to her ex-butler, Paul Burrell, saying Prince Charles wanted her dead so he could marry their nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke. Diana also claimed Ms Legge-Bourke had undergone an abortion.

The jury was told of a note written by one of Diana’s lawyers, Lord Mishcon, following a meeting at Kensington Palace in October 1995.

In the note, Lord Mishcon said: “Her Royal Highness said that she had been informed by reliable sources whom she did not wish to reveal … that (a) The Queen would be abdicating in April and the Prince of Wales would then assume the throne and (b) efforts would be made if not to get rid of her (be it by some accident in her car such as prepared brake failure or whatever) between now and then.”

Lord Justice Scott Baker also said Mr al-Fayed had claimed Diana had told him she believed her life was in danger.

He said: “Mohamed al-Fayed says during the summer holiday she often told him she would be
murdered by the Royal Family.

“She would go up in a helicopter and never come down alive.”

He went on: “It is clear that there are many members of the public who are concerned that something sinister may have caused the collision in which Diana and two others died.

“One of the purposes of the inquest is to investigate the incident thoroughly so that the public suspicion is either dispelled or substantiated.”

He said there would be a “vigorous and searching” investigation of the evidence to find the truth.

Lord Justice Scott Baker told the jury: “Most, if not all, of you will remember where you were when you heard about the subsequent death of the Princess of Wales.

“None of you would for a moment have thought that over 10 years later you might be in a jury investigating the events related to that tragic August night.”

The inquest is set to continue for up to six months.

. . .

Related 

MI6 and Princess Diana: Unpublished document pertaining to the “Car Accident Plot”
Text of sworn testimony of former MI6 Agent Richard Tomlinson
The 1999 sworn testimony of MI6 Agent Richard Tomlininson made available to French police investigators and judicial authorities was first  posted on Global Research in October 2003. This testimony which was never made public, reveals certain circumstances  pertaining to the death of the Princess of Wales ten years ago in late August 1997.

Lord Goldsmith moves to gag spy giving evidence in Diana case
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has used a gagging order against former MI6 agent, Richard Tomlinson, to stop him from giving evidence by video link to the Diana inquest. It is the second time in the past ten days Lord Goldsmith has become involved in a gagging order controversy. Like his attempt to silence the BBC over its report on the cash-for-honours scandal, the order against Tomlinson is also surrounded by secrecy. A surprised senior lawyer at the French bar, maitre Clotele Normand, who is acting for the government to enforce the gagging order because Tomlinson now lives near Nice, said: “I am astonished you have learned of this. I am not authorised to answer your questions on the matter. I cannot discuss how English law can be enforced in France against Mr Tomlinson. My instructions are that nothing can be publicly said on this matter”, said the lawyer in Paris. Tomlinson’s own lawyer, Yves Rousarie, says the gagging order raised “disturbing questions”.

DRIVER ‘MET MI6 SPY’ ON CRASH NIGHT
Renegade spy Richard Tomlinson will tell the Princess Diana inquest that he believes Ritz hotel security chief Henri Paul met an MI6 handler on the night she died. Today we also reveal a French spy chief allegedly seen chatting to Paul on the night of the crash is refusing to give evidence at the inquest. Mr Tomlinson, a former MI6 officer once jailed for leaking Government secrets, will make sensational claims via a videolink from his bolthole in France to the inquest in London. He is refusing to return to Britain to give evidence in person because he fears he will be arrested and jailed. Cambridge-educated Mr Tomlinson, 40, will give evidence supporting the claim by Harrods tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed that there was an Establishment plot to kill Diana to stop her marrying his son, Dodi, a Muslim.

Ousted spook to finger MI6 for Diana’s death
Richard Tomlinson says the way the Princess and her boyfriend died closely resembles a British secret service plan to eliminate Slobodan Milosevic. A New Zealander’s evidence could form a crucial piece of the puzzle as the world waits to hear the true story behind the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Richard Tomlinson, a renegade British secret service spy who was born in Ngaruawahia, is due to give evidence to the Royal Courts of Justice in London during the inquests into the 1997 deaths of the Princess and Dodi Al Fayed. Lord Justice Scott Baker, who is heading the inquests, has listed 20 key issues that he will focus on. And one of those is whether Mr Tomlinson’s evidence throws any light on the collision. Mr Tomlinson, a highly controversial figure who worked for MI6 and was later sacked by the organisation, claims the Princess’ death was curiously similar to a fate planned by MI6 for Serbian leader President Slobodan Milosevic in the early 1990s. He also claims the Princess and Al Fayed’s driver, Henri Paul, who was also killed in the crash, worked for MI6.

New Eyewitness To WTC Basement Level Explosions

Saltalamacia describes “grenade” like bombs, backs up William Rodriguez’ story, numerous others that were ignored by 9/11 Commission

Prison Planet | Oct 12, 2007

by Paul Joseph Watson

A new eyewitness who was working in the WTC on 9/11 has gone on record to describe how he heard multiple grenade-like explosions around the basement levels of the north tower, backing up William Rodriguez’ story, the WTC janitor who reported explosions before the first plane hit the tower.

Anthony Saltalamacia was a morning supervisor who managed over a hundred workers in the twin towers. He worked closely with WTC janitor William Rodriguez, eyewitness to sub-level explosions that occurred before the impact of the first plane in the north tower and representative for many 9/11 victim’s families.

Saltalamacchia was in sub-basement B1 of the North Tower, approximately 1,100 feet below the airplane’s impact point at floors 93 to 98.

In the the following You Tube video, Saltalamacia discusses what he witnessed on 9/11. The account backs up the events previously described by William Rodriguez.

“The explosion….at first we believe it came from the mechanical room and then we heard a series of other explosions that sounded up on the above levels of the building,” said Saltalamacia.

Saltalamacia then discusses how a man ran into the office with his skin hanging off. William Rodriguez had previously described the same scenario following basement level explosions and it was also seconded by another eyewitness , Kenneth Johannemann, an employee of ABM janitorial services.

“The explosion….at first we believe it came from the mechanical room and then we heard a series of other explosions that sounded up on the above levels of the building,” said Saltalamacia.

Saltalamacia then discusses how a man ran into the office with his skin hanging off. William Rodriguez had previously described the same scenario following basement level explosions and it was also seconded by another eyewitness , Kenneth Johannemann, an employee of ABM janitorial services.

“As we’re standing there, more explosions were happening,” said Saltalamacia, before he urged Rodriguez and the other workers to leave the building. The group left and initially headed towards the lobby before they realized it too had been partially destroyed.

Despite Saltalamacia’s plea to stay out of harm’s way, Rodriguez ran back into the burning building in an attempt to save his colleagues.

“The amount of explosions I heard from 8:46 to the time we got out was so many – at least ten – it was just like multiple explosions to where I felt there was different grenades, that’s what it sounded like, like different grenades being set off in the building,” said Saltalamacia.

“It was one major explosion and then there was different explosions throughout that period of time until we got out,” he added.

Numerous other WTC basement workers, including Felipe David and Salvatore Giambanco, have also gone public with eyewitness testimony concerning massive sub-level explosions that took place before Flight 11 hit the north tower.

WTC construction worker Phillip Morelli was headed for level B-4 in Tower One [north tower], four stories below ground, when he was thrown to the floor by a violent explosion that coincided with the plane hitting 100 floors above.

15-year WTC worker Marlene Cruz told Peter Jennings in an interview with ABC News that she was also rocked by an explosion in the basement level of the north tower.

WTC construction worker Phillip Morelli was headed for level B-4 in Tower One [north tower], four stories below ground, when he was thrown to the floor by a violent explosion that coincided with the plane hitting 100 floors above.

15-year WTC worker Marlene Cruz told Peter Jennings in an interview with ABC News that she was also rocked by an explosion in the basement level of the north tower.

The 9/11 Commission completely ignored the hundreds of survivors, professionals, first responders, firefighters and police who reported numerous secondary explosions at all levels of the twin towers.

In his video interview, Saltalamacia concluded by dismissing the official story of 9/11 as a “cover-up” and urged a proper investigation to find out the truth behind what he and others witnessed that day.

US investigates child deaths in airstrike

US military has stated that Iraqi civilian deaths are part of the war on terror

The Times | Oct 12, 2007
by Deborah Haynes in Baghdad and Tim Reid in Washington

American forces are investigating how a barrage of airstrikes on suspected insurgent targets in Iraq killed nine children and six women, in one of the highest civilian death tolls acknowledged by the military since the March 2003 invasion.

In a bloody start to the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr today, children also bore the brunt of a suicide bomb attack in a playground in the north of the country, in which two children died and 17 were wounded.

The US military said that the airstrikes had been targeting senior al-Qaeda leaders north of Baghdad during an operation yesterday evening in which 19 suspected fighters were also killed.

“Coalition forces are investigating the incident, as we do with all incidents that involve injuries or deaths of civilians,” a statement said.

“We are working closely with local Iraqi officials and tribal leaders to ascertain and provide a full accounting of events.”

Imagery from aerial drones and the attack helicopters that were deployed was being studied to get a better understanding of how events had unfolded.

“We are further committed to ensuring the needs of those affected are thoroughly respected and provided for,” the military statement said.

The Iraqi Government, which is closed for the Eid festivities, had no immediate comment on the matter.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has confronted General David Petraeus, the US commander, in recent meetings over what he regards as overly aggressive US tactics that harm innocent civilians.

Those criticisms have focused more on civilian contractors such as Blackwater, the US security company that is embroiled in controversy over the shooting of 17 civilians last month.

But yesterday’s airstrikes will increase tensions between Mr al-Maliki’s Government and US military commanders.

The American statement detailing the attack said that soldiers were acting on intelligence reports about an al-Qaeda meeting in the Lake Tharthar region. The southern reaches of the large artificial lake are about 85km (50 miles) northwest of the capital.

The American account said that the first air attack killed four terrorists.

The military said that US troops then tracked some of those who escaped the initial strike to a place south of the lake, and that air support was called in when ground forces came under fire as the moved up on the suspects.

“We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism,” said Major Brad Leighton, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq.

“These terrorists chose to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence.”

Two suspected al-Qaeda members were also wounded, along with one woman and three children.

The violence continued today further north in Tuz, near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, when a would-be suicide bomber exploded a cart of toys in a crowded playground, killing two children and wounding 17 others.

One of the fathers, who had come to the playground with his children for the Eid festival, said that he had tried to prevent the suicide bomber from setting off his explosives but failed, according to Police Captain Hiwa Abdullah.

The attacker survived but one of his legs was torn off in the blast and he was taken to hospital in Kirkuk.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. It started yesterday evening for Shia Arabs in Iraq and from Friday evening for Sunni Arabs. Families traditionally spend the day visiting relatives and heading to public parks for picnics and socialising.

Lipsticks contain lead, consumer group says

 

A model has lipstick applied during New York Fashion Week September 6, 2007. Lipsticks tested by a U.S. consumer rights group found that more than half contained lead and some popular brands including Cover Girl, L’Oreal and Christian Dior had more lead than others, the group said on Thursday. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Reuters | Oct 11, 2007

By Karen Jacobs

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Lipsticks tested by a U.S. consumer rights group found that more than half contained lead and some popular brands including Cover Girl, L’Oreal and Christian Dior had more lead than others, the group said on Thursday.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said tests on 33 brand-name red lipsticks by the Bodycote Testing Group in Santa Fe Spring, California, found that 61 percent had detectable lead levels of 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm).

Lipstick, like candy, is ingested. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of public health, environmental and women’s groups, said the FDA has not set a limit for lead in lipstick.

One-third of the lipsticks tested contained an amount of lead that exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy — a standard established to protect children from ingesting lead, the group said. Thirty-nine percent of the lipsticks tested had no discernible lead, it said.

“It’s critical that manufacturers reformulate their product,” said Stacy Malkan, a co-founder of the coalition. “It’s possible to make lipsticks without lead, and all companies should be doing that.”

Lead can cause learning, language and behavioral problems such as reduced school performance and increased aggression. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, the group said in its statement. Lead has also been linked to infertility and miscarriage, it said.

Procter & Gamble Co’s makes Cover Girl brand and France’s L’Oreal is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world.

Over the last three months, more than 20 million toys made in China have been recalled, mostly due to the use of lead paint.

The coalition said that some less expensive brands it had tested, such as Revlon, had no detectable levels of lead, while the more expensive Dior Addict brand had higher levels than some other brands.

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association trade group said in a statement that lead was a naturally occurring element that was not intentionally added to cosmetics.

The FDA has “set strict limits for lead levels allowed in the colors used in lipsticks, and actually analyze most of these to ensure they are followed,” the association’s statement said. “The products identified in the (CSC) report meet these standards.”

L’Oreal’s U.S. arm said its products are reviewed and tested by a safety team that includes toxicologists, pharmacists and doctors.

“All the brands of the L’Oreal Group are in full compliance with FDA regulations” as well as safety requirements in international markets, L’Oreal USA said in a statement.

P&G said in a statement that the quantity of lead a consumer might be exposed to from its lip product “is hundreds of times less than the amount that she would get from eating, breathing and drinking water.”

“Lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. The latest studies show there is no safe level of lead exposure,” said Dr. Mark Mitchell, president of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice.

Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize for climate campaign

“It would seem that men and women need a common motivation, namely a common adversary, to organize and act together in the vacuum such as motivation seemed to have ceased to exist or have yet to be found. The need for enemies seems to be a common historical factor…Bring the divided nation together to face an outside enemy, either a real one or else one INVENTED for the purpose…

Democracy will be made to seem responsible for the lagging economy, the scarcity and uncertainties. The very concept of democracy could then be brought into question and allow for the seizure of power…

In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. The real enemy [of the elites and their minions] then is humanity itself.”

– “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome. Members of the Club of Rome include: Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, George Soros and author of the Kyoto Protocols Maurice Strong.

Times | Oct 12, 2007

by Philippe Naughton

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize today for warning the world about the dangers of global warming, and leading the campaign to persuade governments and individuals to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

The former US vice-president will share the £750,000 prize with the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations panel which has worked for two decades to establish consensus on the science of man-made warming.

The decision puts Mr Gore’s name on what is perhaps history’s most illustrious list, alongside such campaigners for freedom, democracy and human values as Lech Walesa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King.

He is not the first environmentalist to win the peace prize, which was given to Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan campaigner for sustainable development, three years ago. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said however that Mr Gore was one of the first politicians to understand the risks of climate change, and described him as “probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding” of the challenge it presents.

Mr Gore said today that he was “deeply honoured” by the award. He added: “We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.”

Mr Gore has become the international poster boy for the green movement, organising a chain of Live Earth rock concerts this year which attracted hundreds of music stars and celebrities to help raise the profile of climate change.

He is best known for presenting An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 documentary laying out the risks of global warming – although a UK High Court judge criticised it this week as “alarmist”. The film won this year’s Oscar for best documentary.

The only public honour which continues to elude Mr Gore is the US presidency. He lost out to George W Bush in the 2000 election after the Supreme Court ruled against him in the “hanging chad” row, and has for seven years born the nickname of the man “who used to be the next President of the United States”.

The Nobel committee said that Mr Gore and the IPCC should be honoured “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.

Such work was of the utmost importance to mankind, said the citation, because: “Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources.

“Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.”

The committee praised the IPCC for creating an “ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming”, by involving thousands of scientists and officials from over 100 countries.

“Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent,” the committee said.

In a landmark report this year, the IPCC said it was now more than 90 per cent sure that greenhouse-gas emissions were to blame for the perceptible warming of Earth’s atmosphere in the past few decades.

After an exhaustive review of the evidence, the panel added that there were signs that this warming was already beginning to affect the climate, as seen through melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers and retreating permafrost. By the century’s end, temperatures could rise by by as much as 6.4C (11.5F), fuelling the risk of drought, flooding and violent storms.

The committee added: “Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change.

“He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.”

In a tumultuous week for Mr Gore, the prize was announced just two days after a High Court judge in London identified nine scientific errors in An Inconvenient Truth, which he said should not be shown to British schoolchildren without guidance notes.

Ruling after an objection for a school governor in Kent, Mr Justice Burton agreed that Mr Gore’s film was “broadly accurate” in its presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change but said that some of the claims were wrong and had arisen in “the context of alarmism and exaggeration”.

Those included Mr Gore’s claims that polar bears were drowning because of disappearing ice floes in the Arctic, that the snows and glacier cover on Mount Kilimanjaro were being eroded by climate change.

The judge also disputed Mr Gore’s assertion in the film that Hurricane Katrina, the storm which devastated New Orleans two years ago, was caused by global warming. “It is common ground that there is insufficient evidence to show that,” he said.

. . .

Related 

Gore’s climate film contains 9 inconvenient untruths
Despite much hype and hoopla created over former US Vice President Al Gore’s film on climate change “The Inconvenient Truth” a British High Court Judge Sir Michael Burton said that his Oscar-winning documentary contained nine significnt errors.

The judge said that although Al Gore’s documentary was “broadly accurate”, he also outlined that it contained nine “scientific errors” and was “one-sided” in its presentation.

He said this while ruling on whether climate change film, “An Inconvenient Truth, could be shown in schools said it contains “nine scientific errors”.

Torture, starvation and death: how American boot camps abuse boys

The Times | Oct 12, 2007

by Tim Reid

Thousands of teenagers sent to American boot camps have suffered horrific abuse and some have paid with their lives, according to a shocking new report by the US Congress.

The report, presented with harrowing testimony from parents of three teenagers who died at boot camps, comes as a Florida manslaughter trial opened into the death of Martin Lee Anderson, 14. He was filmed being beaten by camp guards minutes before he died, footage seen not only inside the courtroom but on television screens across America.

The Government Accountability Office, the US Congress investigative arm, identified 1,619 incidents of child abuse in 33 states in 2005. It selected ten deaths since 1990 for special investigation in boot camps and “wilderness programmes”.

Parents send their children to the privately run camps in the hope that their strict regimes and outdoor pursuits will instil discipline. But the findings suggest that instructors often go too far in trying to teach them good behaviour.

“Examples of abuse include youths being forced to eat their own vomit, denied adequate food, being forced to lie in urine or faeces, being kicked, beaten and thrown to the ground,” Gregory Kutz, a GAO investigator, told a congressional committee.

One teenager, Mr Kutz said, was “forced to use a toothbrush to clean a toilet, then forced to use that toothbrush on their own teeth”. The abuse that preceded the deaths of the ten teenagers was particularly shocking. “If you walked in partway through my presentation you might have assumed I was talking about human rights violations in a Third World country,” Mr Kutz said.

Speaking in front of photographs of his emaciated son an hour before his death, Bob Bacon — the father of Aaron — described how his son had been starved, with his weight falling from 9st 4lb (59kg) to 7st 10lb in three weeks. He said that he and his wife had sent Aaron to the Northstar Expeditions in Escalante, Utah, in the hope that it would get him away from the drugs that he had started dabbling in at school.

A “bloody and battered journal” that Aaron kept contained “an unbelievable account of torture, abuse and neglect”, Mr Bacon said. He said that Aaron spent 14 of 20 days “without any food whatsoever” while having to hike eight to ten miles (13-16km) a day. When he was given food, it consisted of “undercooked lentils, lizards, scorpions, trail mix and a celebrated canned peach on the 13th day”. Aaron died from an untreated perforated ulcer. His father said that he had been beaten “from the top of his head to the tip of his toes” during his month at the camp. “His mother and I will never escape our decision to send our 16-year-old son to his death,” Mr Bacon said.

At the American Buffalo Soldiers boot camp in Arizona, where Anthony Haynes, 14, died in 2001, children were fed an apple for breakfast, a carrot for lunch and a bowl of beans for dinner, the GAO report said. Anthony became dehydrated in a 45C (113F) temperature and vomited soil that he had eaten because of his hunger, according to witnesses. The programme closed and Charles Long, its director, was sentenced in 2005 to six years in prison for manslaughter. The report said that five of the ten programmes where teenagers died are still operating, sometimes under different names. Between 10,000 and 20,000 American children attend the camps every year. Some charge as much as $450 (£225) a day.

Mr Kutz said that the programmes marketed appealing outdoor experiences to “desperate parents”, who are often trying to keep their children out of jail or from getting into deeper trouble.

Paul Lewis said that his son, Ryan, 14, committed suicide six years ago after one week at a West Virginia boot camp. “To turn your son over to someone else and hope they’re going to love and protect your child was naive on my part. We thought \ was an answer to our prayers. It turned out to be a living nightmare.”

Republican and Democrat members of the committee reacted with outrage and dismay at the report and the parents’ often tearful testimony. They called for new laws that would regulate the boot camps, some of which are not even licensed.

In Panama City, Florida, seven guards and a nurse are on trial over Martin Lee Anderson’s death. The opening day was so traumatic for his mother, Gina Jones, that she ran from the courtroom, sobbing and shouting “I cannot take it.”

Prosecutors say that the guards suffocated the boy by covering his mouth, making him inhale ammonia. The guards and nurse each face up to 30 years in jail if convicted.

Boot-camp fatalities

— A 15-year-old girl collapsed of dehydration while hiking in 1990 and lay dead on road for 18 hours

— A 15-year-old boy refused to return to camp in 2000. He was forcibly restrained and died of a severed artery – ruled a homicide

— A 14-year-old boy punished for asking to go home in 2001 was made to sit in the desert, then left in bath to recuperate – later died

— A 14-year-old boy complained of thirst in 2002, was left in sun for an hour and stopped breathing and died. Staff thought he was faking