Category Archives: environment

More Not for Friday News but… Saudi Arabia Announces 3 More MERS-CoV Cases

“Three New Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus Recorded in Taif .. One of Them Passed Away in Wadi Al-Dawaser”

14 June 2013

Within the framework of the epidemiological surveillance of the novel Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced that three new confirmed cases of this virus have been recorded. The first case is a Saudi citizen in Taif governorate, aged 65 who is suffering from chronic diseases, and still at ICU receiving the proper treatment. The Second one is a Saudi female citizen in Taif governorate, aged 68 who is suffering from chronic diseases as well, and still at ICU receiving the proper treatment. However, the third case is a resident, aged 46 in Wadi Al-Dawaser, who passed away today, May Allah have mercy upon him.

 

Within the same vein, MOH has pointed out that it has tested 53 samples, where all of them have been proved negative, May Allah be praised.

via Saudi Arabia Announces 3 More MERS-CoV Cases.

Not for Friday News but… China: 21 Doctors, Nurses Infected With `Viral Pneumonia’

HEFEI, June 14 (Xinhua) — Twenty-one doctors and nurses in east China’s Anhui Province have been hospitalized after being diagnosed with viral pneumonia, local health authorities said Friday.

 

The medical workers have been quarantined for treatment and none of their infections are critical, according to a statement from the municipal health bureau of the city of Suzhou.

 

All of the infected work in the department of respiratory care at the General Hospital of the Wanbei Coal-Electricity Group.

 

One nurse began to show symptoms of fever, headache and coughing on the night of June 5, with the rest exhibiting symptoms soon afterward, the bureau said.

 

Twenty-one of the department’s employees had been diagnosed and hospitalized as of Tuesday, the bureau said, adding that no new cases have been reported since then.

via China: 21 Doctors, Nurses Infected With `Viral Pneumonia’.

Starting Saturday: A weeklong celebration of local food and farms – KansasCity.com

Cultivate Kansas City’s fifth biennial Urban Grown Farms & Gardens Tour (June 15-23) provides abundant opportunities to volunteer at or tour local farms, attend cooking workshops, and engage in conversation with farmers and food experts such as New York Times columnist and food writer Mark Bittman, who recently talked about his latest book, “VB6: Going Vegan Before 6,” with The Star’s food editor, Jill Silva.

via Starting Saturday: A weeklong celebration of local food and farms – KansasCity.com.

More than up to date in Kansas City – leading the pack!

House Advances Funding Bill That Bans Horse Slaughter, Gives FDA Small Boost | Food Safety News

An amendment by Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA) and Bill Young (R-FL) that would prohibit USDA funding for horse slaughter inspection, which would essentially ban the practice in the United States, was approved by voice vote. Animal welfare advocates praised the move, as they argue the practice is inhumane, unnecessary, and presents a health risk because horses are often given drugs that can linger in horsemeat and are harmful to people who consume the meat.

via House Advances Funding Bill That Bans Horse Slaughter, Gives FDA Small Boost | Food Safety News.

The Latest Seafood Trend: Trash Fish Dining – Spin and Self-Delusion for Profit

“The oceans can play a very big part in making sure people have healthy and good food to eat between now and 2050,” Sharpless says. “The goal of restoring those oceans to abundance is more achievable than people have generally understood.”

And consumers have been enthusiastic, chefs say. Sales of fish at Carolina Crossroads have increased 45 percent, Clark says. At Incanto, customers can’t get enough of Cosentino’s unusual offerings, including steaks of Humboldt squid, an often 85-pound creature that is 90 percent edible, and fish heads.

“If I had salmon heads on the menu they’d be gone every day,” he says. “People get it. They’re not afraid. It’s all about making people comfortable with what they’ve never had before.”

And about getting them to stop thinking of good food as garbage. Many chefs and conservationists say they appreciate the term “trash fish” for its sensationalism, which might grab people’s attention. But they bristle at the idea that healthy, abundant animals capable of feeding the world’s growing population — and keeping fishermen in business — would be thought of as disposable.

“There’s a long tradition of big famous chefs generating excitement around a new dish that people haven’t previously eaten, and having that become a high status thing,” Sharpless says. “One man’s trash fish another man’s new taste sensation.”

via The Latest Seafood Trend: Trash Fish Dining.

Chefs, restaurants and money people creating buzz to keep selling sea food and making a profit from it until there is nothing left but “farmed” on land fish but by then oceans will be dying and so will we. Think again what it means to live at peace with each other and the earth!

What We Do | STOP Foodborne Illness

STOP Foodborne Illness is a national nonprofit public health organization dedicated to the prevention of illness and death from foodborne illness by advocating for sound public policy, building public awareness, and assisting those impacted by foodborne illness.

Advocating for sound public policy

We encourage our constituents to participate locally, statewide, and nationally in food safety policy issues. STOP actively participates in three food safety coalitions. We create and provide press releases, public service announcements, public comments, and personal stories to journalists and media outlets.

via What We Do | STOP Foodborne Illness.

Border Lines: The Tarahumara Aren’t Running

The Tarahumara of the Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) aren’t running. Many know of the Tarahumara or Rarármuri (“those who walk/run well”) from reading Born to Run and other accounts of their long-distance running feats.

Now, instead of running, the Tarahumara are taking a firm stance against a government-sponsored megatourism project. With the assistance of the Defensa Tarahumara network and Tierra Nativa in Chihuahua City, Tarahumara communities are resisting a culturally and environmentally destructive plan to bring luxury hotels, a golf course, and “adventure tourism” ventures to their homeland in the Sierra Tarahumara.

In February a couple hundred Tarahumara marched to the Palacio del Gobierno in downtown Chihuahua to demand that the state government end its tourism project, which is stealing their land, contaminating their water, and threatening their livelihoods. They joined a protest organized by mestizo farmers and ranchers who were demanding that the killers of assassinated water-rights activists be brought to justice. The newly mobilized Tarahumara brought their complaints to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington in March, which insisted that the Mexican government respond to the Tarahumara complaints.

via Border Lines: The Tarahumara Aren’t Running.

Nicaragua still thinks it can build a better canal than Panama after 200 years of trying – Quartz

Today, Nicaragua’s parliament is expected to approve proposals by a Chinese consortium to build a canal across the country to rival that of Panama. The $40 billion project could double Nicaragua’s GDP and create 40,000 construction jobs over an 11-year construction period.

via Nicaragua still thinks it can build a better canal than Panama after 200 years of trying – Quartz.

If you think cutting down the Amazon is a planet killer, then you have not seen anything yet – connect the Pacific and Atlantic and watch what happens to marine life and then us! And what would the environmental impact on Nicaragua? They are only thinking about money and status, not life.

Egypt’s Wheat Harvest Mired by Politics

Morsi in his speech said this year’s harvest will reach 9.5 million tons, an increase of 30 percent over last year, when he said the total was 7.5 million tons.

But the government’s own statistics agency has put the 2012 crop at 8.7 million, meaning that if the harvest does reach the prediction, the increase would be just under 10 percent, a slightly larger rate than previous years’ reported growth.

But there are doubts even the 9.5 million figure can be reached. A report by the U.S. Agricultural Department said predicted Egypt’s production this year at about 8.7 million tons.

Abu Bakr Abu Warda, deputy head of the Corps Institute at Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry, told The Associated Press on Monday that the real figure is likely to be even lower, between 8 to 8.5 million, based on the amount of land believed to have been planted with wheat and the average yield. The harvest ends this month, and he said an official figure is not yet out as the ministry accumulates the data.

via Egypt’s Wheat Harvest Mired by Politics.

Mich. Company Recalls Sunflower Seed Products

A Michigan snack food maker is recalling sunflower seeds due to the potential of listeria contamination.

Lipari Foods in Warren, north of Detroit, says Wednesday the recall includes Raw Sunflower Seeds, Roasted Sunflower Seeds, and Snack Mixes.

They are among 52 items distributed from April 5 to June 11 to manufacturers and retailers in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The company says no illnesses have been reported.

A Michigan Department of Agriculture sampling project revealed that retail packaged raw sunflower seed products contained Listeria monocytogenes. Lipari says the company’s investigation pointed to bulk seeds purchased from a supplier.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, which is an uncommon but potentially fatal disease. Symptoms can include high fever and severe headache.

via Mich. Company Recalls Sunflower Seed Products.