Category Archives: planetkillers

Second Oregon wolf killed by hunter in Idaho | OregonLive.com

The wolf was a member of the Imnaha pack, the first to breed in Oregon from wolves that migrated from Idaho after their reintroduction in the 1990s. It was fitted with a GPS tracking collar by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and turned loose in February 2012, after getting inadvertently caught in a coyote trap. A young male wolf from the pack, OR-9, was shot in Idaho in February 2012. Young wolves regularly leave their packs in search of a mate and a new territory. At last count, Oregon had 64 wolves, up from 48 in 2012. Four of the eight packs, all located in northeastern Oregon, successfully produced pups.

via Second Oregon wolf killed by hunter in Idaho | OregonLive.com.

Manufactured ignorance » Butterflies and Wheels

This is a subject that has always interested me – agnotology, the study of the cultural production of ignorance.

It’s a rich field, especially today when whole industries devote themselves to sowing public misinformation and doubt about their products and activities.

The tobacco industry was a pioneer at this. Its goal was to erode public acceptance of the scientifically proven links between smoking and disease: In the words of an internal 1969 memo legal opponents extracted from Brown & Williamson’s files, “Doubt is our product.” Big Tobacco’s method should not be to debunk the evidence, the memo’s author wrote, but to establish a “controversy.”

via Manufactured ignorance » Butterflies and Wheels.

Crabs, Shrimp & Lobsters All Capable Of Feeling Pain: Gothamist

It’s about to get a lot more difficult for some of us to scald lobsters to death in a boiling vat of liquid doom. A study from Queen’s University Belfast indicates that invertebrates like crabs, shrimp and squid are capable of feeling pain, reports the Washington Post. Next we’ll find out cauliflower is capable of love.

Scientist Robert Elwood studied a variety of crustaceans, including shrimp and crabs, trying to determine if their response to certain stimuli was either reflex or pain. Across the board he discovered that when subjected to something inherently “painful”—losing a limb or being brushed with acid—the animals responded with movements and actions specifically related to where they were touched.

via Crabs, Shrimp & Lobsters All Capable Of Feeling Pain: Gothamist.

Mars and P&G: one just took deforestation seriously, and the other didn’t | Greenpeace International

Greenpeace activists hold a banner inside palm oil consession owned by PT Multi Persada Gatramegah (PT MPG), a subsidiary of Musim Mas company, a palm oil supplier to Procter and Gamble in Muara Teweh, North Barito, Central Kalimantan.  10/03/2014

This morning, a dozen activists unfurled a giant banner in a plantation owned by Musim Mas – a company we identified as a supplier to P&G and involved in ongoing forest and orangutan habitat clearance. This is not “sustainable” – at least not for the half a million of you who have already called for forest-friendly products.

via Mars and P&G: one just took deforestation seriously, and the other didn’t | Greenpeace International.

U.S. Plans to Speed Poultry Slaughtering, Cut Inspections to please Tyson’s bank account- Inter Press Service

 

The U.S. government is in the final stages of weighing approval for an overhaul of regulations governing the country’s poultry industry that would see processing speeds increase substantially even while responsibility for oversight would be largely given over to plant employees.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspector at a poultry processing facility in Accomac, Virginia checking for cleanliness and testing poultry for the Avian Influenza (AI) virus. Credit: USDA/public domain

The plan, which was originally floated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) two years ago, is currently slated to be finalised by regulators next month. Yet opposition has been heating up from lawmakers as well as labour, public health and consumer advocacy groups.

On Thursday, over 100 such groups and businesses delivered a letter, along with nearly 220,000 petitions, to President Barack Obama, asking that the proposal be withdrawn.

via U.S. Plans to Speed Poultry Slaughtering, Cut Inspections – Inter Press Service.

Infections Linked to Chinese Seafood Markets in New York – NYTimes.com

At least 30 people have contracted a rare skin infection after buying seafood at markets in Chinese neighborhoods across New York City, prompting health officials to issue a warning to consumers and market workers to take precautions when handling raw or live fish.

The source of the outbreak was unclear, but health officials said that all of the people who were infected had bought fish at markets in Sunset Park, Brooklyn; Flushing, Queens; or Chinatown, in Manhattan.

There was no evidence that eating fish from any of those markets could cause illness, officials said.

“People are encouraged to wear waterproof gloves in their home when preparing live or raw fish or seafood that came from a market in Chinatown, especially if they have cuts or abrasions,” the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement.

via Infections Linked to Chinese Seafood Markets in New York – NYTimes.com.

Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!

Calling all Atkins, Paleo, and standard American diet eaters — listen up! ‘More animal protein’ does not mean ‘more health and happiness.’ According to a study published Tuesday in Cell Metabolism, people who consume lots of animal protein in their middle years should instead expect it to mean ‘more cancer, diabetes, and premature mortality.’

via Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!.

H5N1: Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age

Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age

I just heard the CBC interview with Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age. From the Sunday Edition’s web page:

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs like MRSA, C. difficile and CRE lurk in hospital rooms and kill patients who have undergone medical procedures that would have otherwise saved or improved their lives.

In fact, a lot of medical and public health experts now fear that we’re on the cusp of an unsettling new age…the Post-Antibiotic Age.

Maryn McKenna is an award-winning science journalist who specializes in public health issues.  She’s a columnist for The Scientific American, and her books include Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA, as well as an upcoming book about the connection between antibiotics and agriculture. She’s also the author of a new article called “Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future” for the online magazine, Medium.com.

Click through to listen to the interview. McKenna should have her own radio program; she has a wonderful radio voice, and has a lot to say in it.

via H5N1: Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age.

Cow Porno in Idaho, now protected? And Abuse of Cows a Sacred Right? Idaho Governor Signs Bill Banning Dairy Spying

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed a bill Friday that imposes jail time and fines against people who secretly film animal abuse at Idaho’s agricultural facilities.

Otter inked the new law swiftly, just two days after it cleared its final legislative hurdle in the House.

The bill came in response to videos released by Los Angeles-based vegetarian and animal rights group Mercy for Animals showing workers at Bettencourt Dairy beating, stomping, dragging and sexually abusing cows in 2012.

Idaho’s $2.5 billion dairy industry complained the group used its videos not to curb abuse, but to unfairly hurt Bettencourt’s business. Bettencourt operates dairies at numerous locations that include more than 60,000 cows and is one of the largest dairy companies in the U.S.

via Idaho Governor Signs Bill Banning Dairy Spying.

13 were exposed to radiation at US plant – The Hindu

Thirteen workers at the U.S. underground nuclear waste dump in New Mexico have tested positive for radiation exposure after a recent leak released toxic particles in and around the plant, officials announced.

The accident is the first-known release of radiation since the dump began taking plutonium-contaminated waste from U.S. nuclear bomb building sites 15 years ago.

via 13 were exposed to radiation at US plant – The Hindu.

Why am I seeing this first in an Indian newspaper and not in US yet?