Category Archives: planetkillers

IMF cuts global economic growth forecasts – ECONOMY – FRANCE 24

“Failure to lift the debt ceiling would be a major event,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said at a news conference.

U.S. Treasury officials say the government would quickly run out of cash and could default on its obligations if Congress doesn’t approve an increase in the borrowing limit by Oct. 17. U.S. Treasury bonds are a key part of the international financial system and a default would have global repercussions. For that reason, many analysts expect the borrowing limit will probably be increased on time.

via IMF cuts global economic growth forecasts – ECONOMY – FRANCE 24.

GOP Congressman Makes Park Ranger Apologize for Shutdown

The day before he was taped harassing a Park Ranger for doing her job, Neugebauer went on The Chad Hasty Show to state that he will keep the government shut down for “as long as it takes” to ensure that Obamacare is not funded, claiming it was the will of the American people.

via GOP Congressman Makes Park Ranger Apologize for Shutdown.

Russia charges five Greenpeace activists with piracy – RUSSIA – FRANCE 24

Russian authorities on Wednesday charged five Greenpeace activists – a Briton, a Brazilian, a Finn, a Russian and a US-Swedish citizen – with piracy for protesting against Arctic oil drilling. Another 25 Greenpeace protesters are awaiting charges.

via Russia charges five Greenpeace activists with piracy – RUSSIA – FRANCE 24.

Ohio Senator Wants USDA’s Poultry Inspectors Assigned to China; Charges ‘Labeling Gap’ | Food Safety News

??? Export chicken to China, have them “cook” it and send back to US to be sold as Buffalo wings or nuggets???

American consumers need USDA “on station” to inspect chicken processing as it occurs in China, and a “labeling gap” is putting U.S. food safety at risk, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) suggests in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Brown also raised numerous questions with Vilsack about Chinese chicken processors being approved to process chicken raised in the U.S., Canada or Chile and then export the cooked chicken back here.

Since the news leaked (just before USDA announced it on Aug. 30) that four Chinese chicken processors are being green-lighted for exporting cooked chicken to the U.S., it’s become one of this nation’s hotter discussion topics.

“Given the well-documented shortcomings of the Chinese food safety system, we shouldn’t allow unmarked meat into our markets that is processed in Chinese facilities that are not subject to food safety inspections,” Brown stated in a press release accompanying his letter to Vilsack. “This action could endanger the health and safety of American consumers and potentially undermines confidence in our nation’s food safety standards.”

Meat and poultry imported to the U.S. is subject to inspection by the foreign country, which must maintain a food-safety inspection system that is equivalent to USDA’s. “Equivalence” was originally established in 2006 for the People’s Republic of China’s food-safety inspection system for processed poultry after a two-year review by a USDA audit team.

via Ohio Senator Wants USDA’s Poultry Inspectors Assigned to China; Charges ‘Labeling Gap’ | Food Safety News.

Aussie Coalition scraps Climate Commission, dispensing with Tim Flannery | Environment | theguardian.com

Greens leader Christine Milne went further, calling prime minister Tony Abbott a “climate criminal” for dismantling bodies such as the commission and the Climate Change Authority, which sets targets on Australia’s emissions reductions.

“Shooting the messenger does not alter the fact that Australia has to do a lot better than 5% in order to contribute fairly to the global challenge of constraining global warming to two degrees,” she said.

“In the context of global warming this action is a crime against humanity. In one swoop, [Abbott] has demonstrated his contempt for climate science and for the health and wellbeing of future generations.

“Prime minister Abbott has distinguished himself as one of the only leaders of a western democracy to deny the severity of global warming and to actively undermine infrastructure which is bringing down emissions,” she said.

“Future generations will look back on this day and remember it as the day Tony Abbott condemned them and their peers to climate chaos.”

via Coalition scraps Climate Commission, dispensing with Tim Flannery | Environment | theguardian.com.

Raw milk and cheese safe? Not! One Dead, 16 Sickened in B.C. E. coli Outbreak Linked to Raw Cheese | Food Safety News

The outbreak of E. coli linked to Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm in Canada has resulted in one death, as well as 10 confirmed and six suspected illnesses, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The victim who died was from British Columbia. Three more B.C. residents fell ill, while the other seven cases are in Alberta. The agency is investigating another six illnesses that appear to be connected.

Health officials have linked the outbreak to unpasteurized cheese products sold by B.C.-based Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm. The Public Health Agency has recalled 14 of the farm’s cheese items, which were sold at the farm in Salmon Arm, B.C., in retail stores in B.C. and Alberta, and over the Internet between May 27 and Sept. 14.

The farm agreed to stop selling its cheese.

via One Dead, 16 Sickened in B.C. E. coli Outbreak Linked to Raw Cheese | Food Safety News.

WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update

(Beginning to look like H7N1 outbreak in China and as if natural system is “probing” the human system for a path to re-balance the system to the state before so much of agriculture had become industrialized)

WHO has been informed of an additional 18 new laboratory-confirmed cases including three deaths with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia.

The patients are reported from Hafar Al-Batin, Medina and Riyadh. Their ages ranging from three to 75 years old. These cases were announced by the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia on 1, 5, 8, 10 and 11 September 2013.

Additionally, in Qatar, a previously laboratory-confirmed patient with MERS-CoV died on 6 September 2013.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 132 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 58 deaths.

via WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update.

Merkel Campaign Event Visited by Mini Drone – SPIEGEL ONLINE

A Christian Democrat (CDU) campaign event taking place on Sunday in the eastern city of Dresden was interrupted when a miniature drone started circling above the audience. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, who were on the stage alongside several other CDU politicians, looked on with amusement as the 40-centimeter (16-inch) aircraft came crashing down at their feet.

via Merkel Campaign Event Visited by Mini Drone – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

IPS – Seeds of Conflict Sprout in the Balkans | Inter Press Service

“There’s small chance today that you will find out whether what you have bought is a real, home-grown tomato,” says Jasmina Zdravkovic of the Institute of Farming in the central Serbian town of Smederevska Palanka, some 63 km southeast of the capital Belgrade.

“Most probably you’ll end up with one which has a white, inedible middle. It comes from the gene that was introduced to keep the tomato firm,” she tells IPS. Such tomatoes are never ripe; they only get red from the outside, Zdravkovic adds.

via IPS – Seeds of Conflict Sprout in the Balkans | Inter Press Service.

Self-delusion in infinite supply over pseudo-freedom issues – Wisconsin’s Most Famous Raw-Milk Advocate Opposes Bill Requiring Licensing | Food Safety News

While those requirements were too much for Hershberger, many raw-milk advocates showed up to support SB 236. Vincent Hunt, a 62-year old farmer who has consumed raw milk all his life, was among those wearing white ice-cream vendor hats with the word “Freedom” on them.

“Just trust the people,” Hunt told committee members. “I believe the opponents of this bill have only one thing to offer and it is fear.”

Numerous proponents said raw milk can cure all sorts of health problems, including allergies and diabetes.

Not buying any of it were spokesmen for the Wisconsin Safe Milk Coalition, which represents both the state’s $26.5-billion pasteurized dairy industry, and numerous public and private health organizations.

Two dairy farmers representing the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, a coalition member, said they will not even give raw milk to their calves because of its potential for spreading disease. They instead pasteurize the milk beforehand.

“Pasteurization exists for a reason,” said Chris Pollack, who runs a 150-cow diary farm and was one of the Farm Bureau representatives.

via Wisconsin’s Most Famous Raw-Milk Advocate Opposes Bill Requiring Licensing | Food Safety News.

( Earlier this week there was a story about a mom who donated a kidney to her infant daughter whose kidneys failed as a result of disease from raw milk that was given to her daughter) Playing Russian Roulette for 40 years without shooting yourself is not a good argument for risking the health of people so foolishly.