Category Archives: environment

Breeding Health: Scientists Deploy Iron-Rich Pearl Millet Against Malnutrition | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Good on them for non-GMO approach!

Iron-rich pearl millet is being conventionally bred by ICRISAT as part of the HarvestPlus program, which seeks to develop and disseminate staple food crops rich in micronutrients to improve nutrition and public health.

via Breeding Health: Scientists Deploy Iron-Rich Pearl Millet Against Malnutrition | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Golden Rice Still Won’t Solve the Political Problem of Hunger and Poverty | Food & Water Watch

Every industry has its go-to PR strategies, the ones they revisit periodically out of habit or when they hit a rough patch in the news. For the biotechnology industry, their old reliable is how genetically engineered crops are going to solve some pressing social problem, like curing disease or ending global hunger. Their favorite example is golden rice. And this weekend, the New York Times ran a piece that rehashed the same old debate, wondering how anyone could possibly be opposed to this miracle crop that will supposedly save poor people around the world from vitamin A deficiency.

Unfortunately, the piece missed the point that sustainable agriculture and peasant farmer advocates have been making for years: that unleashing an unproven, unwanted technology into the food systems of developing countries won’t solve the political issues that create hunger.

via Golden Rice Still Won’t Solve the Political Problem of Hunger and Poverty | Food & Water Watch.

Desert tortoise faces threat from its own refuge as BLM closes Vegas rescue center – The Washington Post

“It’s the lesser of two evils, but it’s still evil,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service desert tortoise recovery coordinator Roy Averill-Murray during a visit to the soon-to-be-shuttered reserve at the southern edge of the Las Vegas Valley last week.

Biologists went about their work examining tortoises for signs of disease as Averill-Murray walked among the reptile pens. But the scrubby 220-acre refuge area will stop taking new animals in the coming months. Most that arrive in the fall will simply be put down, late-emerging victims of budget problems that came from the same housing bubble that put a neighborhood of McMansions at the edge of the once-remote site.

via Desert tortoise faces threat from its own refuge as BLM closes Vegas rescue center – The Washington Post.

Snakes found in Gothenburg home after he was bitten by cobra – UPI.com

How dumb can guys be? Sorry for him and hope he survives but… What can they be thinking? A Swedish man was hospitalized after being bitten by a venomous cobra inside his Gothenburg home, officials said.

The 40-year-old man managed to call authorities before he passed out after being bitten by the snake Saturday night, The Local.se reported.

When paramedics arrived, 40 other venomous snakes were found in the man’s apartment, including a taipan, the world’s deadliest snake.

The man was rushed to a local hospital, where he received anti-venom that was sent from Stockholm. His condition was unknown Monday.

Illusionist Joe Labero said the snake was intended for his use. Labero had recently returned from a Morocco where he was inspired by snake charmers.

“We wanted to have animals and something dangerous in the show,” Labero told the Aftonbladet newspaper. “At first, we were thinking scorpions, but they are so small and hard to see that we decided on venomous cobras. We have always known of the danger and had respect for them, it was just the plan to have one or two at the show.”

via Snakes found in Gothenburg home after he was bitten by cobra – UPI.com.

The Himalayan Times : Close to one million birds culled – Detail News : Nepal News Portal

(Before the global growth in poultry trade which fueled the growth of avian influenza – there would have been far fewer such farms and less of a threat to the economy from an industry that cannot stand in the long run)

The government has culled 9,90,981 fowls and chicks from several farms in Bhaktapur since the bird flu was first confirmed in the district.

According to Bhaktapur District Bird Flu Control Section, 5,23,921 fowls and 1,56,726 chicks have been culled from as many as 439 poultry farms since the government declared Bhaktapur a crisis-hit zone on August 15.

Bird flu was first confirmed in Bhaktapur on July 26. As many as 1,91,063 fowls and 1,19,271 chicks were culled before the district was declared crisis-hit following the flu confirmation.

via The Himalayan Times : Close to one million birds culled – Detail News : Nepal News Portal.

BBC News – Ducks were bird flu ‘melting pot’

(BBC passing on load of you know what from Chinese who want to blame wild birds and not gazillions of caged birds that provide the most perfect breeding ground for new viruses that get passed on to wild birds afterwards. It is not accident that the problem is bigger since the poultry market went global about 20 years ago and you have billions more birds being raised and sold in live markets than ever before and chicks and eggs being shipped all over the globe 24/7.)

 

Ducks were the melting pot of viruses that led to the new bird flu emerging in China early this year, according to Chinese scientists tracking the evolution of the virus.

Ducks picked up viruses from migrating birds and passed them onto chickens.

The study, published in the journal Nature, showed humans were probably then infected with H7N9 due to contact with chickens at live poultry markets.

There have been 133 human cases of the bird flu and 43 deaths.

The team, including researchers at the Shantou University Medical College, were trying to trace the root of the outbreak.

They took samples from 1,341 chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, partridges and quail as well as faecal and water samples from live poultry markets.

By comparing the similarities and differences between the genetic codes of influenza viruses in each of the animals, scientists can work out how the virus evolved and spread.

Their report said: “Domestic ducks seem to act as key intermediate hosts by acquiring and maintaining diverse influenza viruses from migratory birds.

via BBC News – Ducks were bird flu ‘melting pot’.

GM bacteria could help mass produce hookworm drugs

(Cure the problem created by too many antibiotics and pesticides in agriculture by using genetic engineering to “create” a new anti-bacteria-bacteria? Who is kidding who? Oh, your house is sliding away down the hill because of our  poor engineering? We have engineered a new earth stabilizer for just that problem…)

Researchers have produced a protein that kills parasitic intestinal worms, by genetically engineering a bacterium similar to those used in probiotics — raising hopes of more effective and safer therapies for infections that affect up to two billion people worldwide.

“There is a growing number of drug resistant parasites.”

Rose Gomes Monnerat  The protein, Cry5B, has previously been shown to kill parasitic worms. It is normally produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium used as an insecticide and not considered safe for use in people.

via GM bacteria could help mass produce hookworm drugs.

New York identifies encephalitis virus and West Nile virus in mosquitoes | Vaccine News Daily

The health department identified EEEv in 15 pools of mosquitoes in Chautauqua and Oswego counties. Children under the age of 15 and adults over the age of 50 are at the greatest risk for contracting the severe disease. There were human cases of EEEv reported in 1971, 1983, 2009, 2010 and 2011. All five human cases were fatal.

The department identified two human cases of WNv, both of which occurred in New York City. Mosquitoes carrying WNv were identified in multiple New York counties, including Westchester, Suffolk, Rockland, Oswego, Onondaga, Nassau, Madison, Erie and Chautauqua. Last year, there were 107 cases of WNv identified in the state with nine fatal cases.

via New York identifies encephalitis virus and West Nile virus in mosquitoes | Vaccine News Daily.

Study: MERS virus match seen in Saudi Arabian bat | News , Health | THE DAILY STAR

Since it was identified last September, the respiratory illness has sickened nearly 100 people, most of them in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. About half of them died.

No cases have been reported in the United States.

Bats have been a suspected carrier of the virus for some time because they are known to carry viruses similar to MERS. They also harbor other deadly viruses, including rabies and SARS.

Still, discovery of a genetic match doesn’t mean bats are the direct culprit.

“There is no evidence of direct exposure to bats in the majority of human cases of MERS,” Memish said in a statement.

via Study: MERS virus match seen in Saudi Arabian bat | News , Health | THE DAILY STAR.

 

This has been so obvious – the outbreak began in area that has thousands of acres devoted to growing some of the best dates in the world. and the bat love them as much as we do. Direct exposure is not necessary… these types of viruses are passed along by exposure of humans and other animals to the feces and urine of the bats on the ground, in the water, and on the fruit.

U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program

While dogs work as effective sentries on land, dolphins and sea lions cannot be outmatched as sentries in the water. In the MK 6 MMS, dolphins and sea lions effectively protect piers, ships, harbors, and anchorages against unauthorized swimmers, SCUBA divers, closed-circuit divers, and swimmer delivery vehicles.

via U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program.