Category Archives: Fail!

writeaboutwarming: Fungal Forest Fire – food crops under attack

Not just climate warming – if the crops are more non-diversified GMO seeded crops, the fungi would spread even faster and over a larger area.

The following is a list of fungi, pests and diseases that could be potentially exacerbated by climate change.  It is lifted directly from The Independent.

Asian Soybean Rust affects the soya crop in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer.  There are more than 244 confirmed cases this year.  Industry spending on insecticides and fungicides is expected to reach $11 billion.

Cocoa Pod Borer Disease: Cocoa bean production in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest producer, is likely to dip 2 percent to 410,000 metric tons for 2013-2014, according to the International Cocoa Organization.  The fall is in part due to a tiny, mosquito-sized moth which attacks the plant.

Potato Blight is a fungus-like organism that thrives in damp, humid conditions.  The speed with which blight infection occurs and the devastating impact on the crop make it the biggest threat to the six million tons of potatoes produced in the UK each year.

Coffee Leaf Rust is an orange-colored fungus that has swept through coffee fields from Mexico to Panama.  The epidemic is affecting the livelihoods of more than two million people and causing the loss of 500,000 jobs.

Banana Fungus (TR4): This soil-borne disease is threatening banana crops in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  The value of traded bananas worldwide totals $8.9 billion.

via writeaboutwarming: Fungal Forest Fire.

Ebola outbreak in west Africa affecting diets continent-wide | The Raw Story

Ebola outbreak in west Africa affecting diets continent-wide | The Raw Story.

Humans, the world over, will eat ourselves into extinction by eating so much meat!

Agoutis, antelopes, chimpanzees, porcupines and other species are all in danger of extinction in Ivory Coast, but today they have at least a few weeks’ respite.

Ironically, “Ebola is a good thing for the preservation of wildlife,” said Colonel Jerome Ake, the Yamoussoukro regional director for water and forestry.

A break in hunting will also benefit the natural environment, since hunters flush out game by starting large brush fires, which they are not always able to keep under control.

In the past 10 years, such blazes have killed 120 people and destroyed more than 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 square miles) of forest and other land, a region twice the size of Luxembourg. But in these days of Ebola, fewer fires are likely to be started.

Avian Flu Diary: Saudi MOH Announces 6 More MERS Cases In Jeddah (1 Fatal)

Fast becoming Saudi SARS-MOH – Based on FluTracker’s MERS Case Line Listing, this brings to 51 the number of cases in this cluster, along with 8 deaths (or 52 and 9 if you count the religious pilgrim who died this week in Malaysia with recent travel history to Jeddah.)   Additionally, 22 (42%) are described as being Health Care Workers.

Cases clustered in hospitals, among healthcare workers and now two people who died after they returned home to Greece and Malaysia

The Pretend Complexity of the Nevada Cattle-Grazing Dispute – NYTimes.com – NYTimes.com

This is a pretty straightforward situation—unless you’re an anti-government libertarian, or an anti-government libertarian who aspires to one day run the government.

“This is a real, I think, intellectual and constitutional and legal debate,” Senator Rand Paul told Fox News, “but it shouldn’t be about violence of arms, and I hope that the government will not be there in full arms and provoke a showdown and something terrible will happen. I hope that doesn’t happen.”

It’s Mr. Bundy who has done his utmost to provoke a showdown and there is no real debate, constitutional or otherwise. The Property Clause of the Constitution spells out that “Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”

via The Pretend Complexity of the Nevada Cattle-Grazing Dispute – NYTimes.com – NYTimes.com.

8 Confirmed Mumps Cases At Hoboken College Campus: Gothamist

Mumps in adult males can – oops – settle in testicles and cause sterility! All the more reason for 100% vaccination… guys!

As if it weren’t enough that Manhattan’s been plagued by a recent measles resurgence, eight students at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ have reportedly contracted mumps. Up next: smallpox, rinderpest, bubonic plague, dodo bird stampede.

According to the New Jersey Department of Health, the eight students were diagnosed with the highly-contagious disease last week. Officials say the virus is not spreading, and the students, aged 18-21, have been isolated in their off-campus homes.

There’s no cure or specific treatment for mumps—which is characterized by fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and the swelling of salivary glands, according to the CDC—though usually the illness passes on its own. The MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccination helps prevent individuals from contracting the disease, and two doses of mumps vaccine are 88 percent effective in protecting you. But since vaccines rely on herd immunity to keep you from getting sick, it’s still possible to contract the illness. All of the Stevens Institute students who have fallen ill had received the recommended two vaccine doses.

Mumps spreads easily through coughing and sneezing, and it can cause serious complications in adults, according to the NJ Health Department [pdf]. Plus, swollen glands like these don’t seem so pleasant.

via 8 Confirmed Mumps Cases At Hoboken College Campus: Gothamist.

No, not never – Yes, you will! Japan will never stop whaling: fisheries chief | The Japan Times

Hayashi, who took the ministerial post overseeing the country’s whaling program in December, said criticism of the practice is “a cultural attack, a kind of prejudice against Japanese culture.”

via Japan will never stop whaling: fisheries chief | The Japan Times.

Someone’s Handing Out Leaflets in Eastern Ukraine Telling Jews to ‘Register’ – The Wire

According to the Times of Israel, Pushilin has gone on record to a Russian paper denying any involvement in the flyers, instead calling them a “provocation.” Olga Resnikova, a Jewish resident of the region who saw the leaflet told Ynet that “we do not know if the leaflet was spread by pro-Russian forces or someone else, but it did manage to create quite a fear.”

No matter where the flyer comes from, the very real issue of anti-Semitism in Ukraine following the change of power there has been a fraught one. Pro-Russian groups have taken pains to paint the new interim government in Kiev as in collusion with anti-Semitic nationalists. But a New York Times look into Jewish life in Ukraine following the change of power found that many in the country were more concerned about anti-Semitism coming from Russia than they were about nationalist backlash from the new Ukrainian government. It seems no matter the crisis, the worst bigots will always find a way to exploit it.

via Someone’s Handing Out Leaflets in Eastern Ukraine Telling Jews to ‘Register’ – The Wire.

Invasive foreign species pose a threat to the global ecosystem. So when will we learn not to meddle with nature? – Telegraph

Twelve thousand alien species of animals and plants from other lands have taken up residence in Europe, according to the European Union – and as human traffic and trade grow, that influx will surely increase. So, according to the House of Commons environmental audit committee in its latest report on invasive non-native species, it is time to do something about it.

via Invasive foreign species pose a threat to the global ecosystem. So when will we learn not to meddle with nature? – Telegraph.

Just as big a problem in US – Florida having huge problem – pun intended – with Burmese Pythons being let loose in wild and now with no natural predators chomping up Everglades species.

National Technical Commission for Biosecurity approves Oxitec mosquito for use in Brazil | Vaccine News Daily

{Nature is not a machine and cannot be fooled by humans – when the new dengue comes – Oxitec will just say… Oops?}

Oxitec announced on Thursday that the National Technical Commission for Biosecurity approved the commercial release of its genetically modified mosquito in Brazil to control dengue fever.

The Oxitec mosquito is a strain of the wild Aedes aegypti species that was modified to contain two additional genes. The added genes cause mosquitoes to die before they become functional adults.

The male mosquitoes are released to mate with wild female mosquitoes and pass the genes to their offspring. The genetically modified mosquitoes have a marker that is visible with a special light, which will aid field monitoring and help ensure the mosquito control programs are successful.

“In recent years, our technology has been attracting a great deal of attention from dengue endemic countries worldwide and CTNBio’s technical opinion will be very helpful for other countries considering whether to evaluate this for their own circumstances,” Oxitec CEO Hadyn Parry said. “We feel that the beneficial environmental profile, coupled with excellent efficacy to date, make the Oxitec mosquito a valuable new tool for health authorities around the world to complement their existing efforts in tackling the mosquitoes that spread dengue fever.”

The A. aegypti mosquito is the main vector of dengue, and is known for being difficult to control. In several trials, the Oxitec males have proved to significantly reduce the wild population of dengue mosquitoes.

via National Technical Commission for Biosecurity approves Oxitec mosquito for use in Brazil | Vaccine News Daily.

IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security

{Boko Haram – just another criminal for-profit extremist militia? – seems so}

Nigeria’s extremist Islamist group Boko Haram are believed to be actively recruiting fighters across the border in Cameroon’s Far North Region, according to residents and local government officials.

More than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters and preachers (the latter presumed to have links with the group), have been arrested in Far North Region since 2012, but many have been released due to lack of evidence, according to a local security official.

via IRIN Africa | Fears in Cameroon of Boko Haram recruitment | Cameroon | Conflict | Economy | Security.