Category Archives: planetkillers

GM Crop Could Migrate Dangerously – Inter Press Service

Food security activists who secured a moratorium on introducing genetically modified brinjal (aubergine) into India fear that their efforts are being undermined by the release of GM brinjal in neighbouring Bangladesh.

via GM Crop Could Migrate Dangerously – Inter Press Service.

When you lie, lie big! Text of H.R. 3533: Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us

the term ESA means the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

3.FINDINGS

Congress finds that—

(1)the ESA was passed in 1973 as a means of protecting and recovering species and has not been substantially revised in over 25 years;

(2)the ESA has not achieved its stated goal of recovering threatened species or endangered species;

(3)of the species listed in accordance with the ESA, less than 1 percent of the total number of species in the United States have been recovered and removed from the list, largely due to data errors or other factors;

(4)there is—

(A)no comprehensive independent study of the costs or benefits of the ESA;

(B)no full accounting of how much the Federal Government and State and local governments spend to implement, enforce, and comply with the ESA; and

(C)no meaningful effort to account for the costs the ESA imposes on the private sector;

(5)the ESA effectively penalizes landowners for owning endangered species habitat by forcing them to bear the cost of conservation;

(6)the regulatory listing process under the ESA has become a tool for environmentalists to undermine, slow down, or halt construction of infrastructure projects, hampering economic growth and employment; and

(7)litigation stemming from the ESA and some resulting settlements between the litigants and the Federal Government have made the ESA even more unworkable, to the detriment of species.

via Text of H.R. 3533: Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us.

When We Lose Antibiotics, Here’s Everything Else We’ll Lose Too – Wired Science

The ability to treat cancer, and to transplant organs, because doing those successfully relies on suppressing the immune system and willingly making ourselves vulnerable to infection. Any treatment that relies on a permanent port into the bloodstream — for instance, kidney dialysis. Any major open-cavity surgery, on the heart, the lungs, the abdomen. Any surgery on a part of the body that already harbors a population of bacteria: the guts, the bladder, the genitals. Implantable devices: new hips, new knees, new heart valves. Cosmetic plastic surgery. Liposuction. Tattoos.

We’d lose the ability to treat people after traumatic accidents, as major as crashing your car and as minor as your kid falling out of a tree. We’d lose the safety of modern childbirth: Before the antibiotic era, 5 women died out of every 1,000 who gave birth. One out of every nine skin infections killed. Three out of every 10 people who got pneumonia died from it.

via When We Lose Antibiotics, Here’s Everything Else We’ll Lose Too – Wired Science.

US Official: (Dumb-Dangerous 2 all- un-needed!) Israeli warplanes strike Syrian missiles in Latakia | Maan News Agency

A US official Thursday confirmed an Israeli air raid on the Syrian city of Latakia.

The official, who declined to be identified, told CNN that Israeli warplanes struck Syrian missiles in Latakia on Wednesday.

via US Official: Israeli warplanes strike Syrian missiles in Latakia | Maan News Agency.

Pesticide illness triggers anti-Monsanto protest in Argentina | Environment | DW.DE | 25.10.2013

Sofía Gatica sits in the sun on a café patio in the Argentine city of Córdoba. She talks about raising her three children in Ituzaingó, a Córdoba suburb surrounded by soy fields. In the mid-1990s her oldest son became extremely ill.

\”When he was four years old, he came down with the illness that left him temporarily paralyzed,\” she recalls. \”He was admitted to the hospital. They told me that they didn\’t know what was wrong with him.\”

The Gatica family lived just fifty meters from fields planted with genetically-modified soy. Planes regularly flew overhead, spraying the plants with the herbicide glyphosate. Slowly, the entire suburb started getting sick.

Argentina is the world\’s third-largest soy producer

\”Children were being born with deformities,\” Sofia says, \”little babies were being born with six fingers, without a jawbone, missing a skull bone, with kidney deformities, without an anus – and a lot of mothers and fathers were developing cancer.\”

In 1999, Sofía Gatica gave birth to her fourth baby, a little girl. Three days later, the baby died of kidney failure. The loss of her child prompted Gatica to take action. She decided to find out what was happening in her neighborhood.

\”I went door-to-door and did a survey – asking each mother for the sick person\’s name, address, clinic, everything. And each mother sent me to another, and to another, and so on.\”

via Pesticide illness triggers anti-Monsanto protest in Argentina | Environment | DW.DE | 25.10.2013.

Aussie Spin to kill wild birds and protect million chicken farms! Poultry vet agrees free range encourages bird flu – ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

He thinks it\’s \’commonsense\’ that free range birds are more likely to contract the virus because they have more exposure to wild water birds.

\”If you have commercial poultry free ranging and they come into contact with these wild water fowl, wild ducks, invariably at some stage they will contaminate this commercial poultry, and, using simple terms, the virus hots up and it gets into these commercial poultry and you finish up like the current situation like we have, where we have significant mortalities and we need to quarantine the farms and unfortunately have to destroy the birds.\”

via Poultry vet agrees free range encourages bird flu – ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

FDA Update: Nearly 600 Dogs Have Died, Thousands Sickened in Connection With Chinese Jerky Treats | Food Safety News

(If 580 people had died from eating jerky, the issue would have had hundreds of investigators and dozens of labs right on top of finding the cause. The takeaway from this is do not feed any packaged “treats” to any of your pets because those charged with making sure they are safe, do not have the budget or whatever to do the job.)

Approximately 580 dogs have died and 3,600 have been sickened in a mysterious connection with consuming Chinese jerky treats, according to a new update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The problems date back as far as 2007, when FDA first began receiving a higher volume of reports of dogs exhibiting symptoms such as decreased appetite, lethargy, vomiting and diarrhea. The apparent commonality was a diet including various brand-name jerky treats, all of which were manufactured in China.

via FDA Update: Nearly 600 Dogs Have Died, Thousands Sickened in Connection With Chinese Jerky Treats | Food Safety News.

Scientists creating super bird flu virus to prevent epidemic | World | News | Toronto Sun

Ultra-dangerous hubris at work in Netherlands Lab –

Steven Salzberg, a professor of medicine and biostatistics from John Hopkins School of Medicine, accused them of \”an outrageous display of chutzpah\” and says Fouchier \”is deeply confused about the possible benefits of this work\”, which Salzberg argues are marginal at best.

\”The notion of \’gain of function\’ research on pathogens is very, very dangerous,\” he told Reuters.

via Scientists creating super bird flu virus to prevent epidemic | World | News | Toronto Sun.

Second Oarfish In A Week Washes Ashore : LAist

An oceanic canary in the mine? Something needs investigating!

For the second time in a week, a rare serpentine oarfish has surfaced on a Southern California beach, NBC reports.

The one found Friday afternoon at Oceanside Harbor wasn\’t quite as large as the 18-foot behemoth found near Catalina Island. This one was only 13-and-a-half feet long. It weighed an estimated 200 pounds and took 15 people to carry.

That is actually quite small for an oarfish. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it\’s the largest bony fish in the sea and can grow to more than 50 feet long.

via Second Oarfish In A Week Washes Ashore : LAist.