Posted: July 18, 2013
(http://www.reuters.com)Monsanto Co said on Wednesday it will withdraw all pending approval requests to grow new types of genetically modified crops in the European Union, due to the lack of commercial prospects for cultivation there.
"We will be withdrawing the approvals in the coming months," Monsanto's President and Managing Director for Europe, Jose Manuel Madero, told Reuters by telephone.
Madero said the decision would allow the company to focus on growing its conventional seeds business in Europe, as well as securing EU approvals to import its genetically modified crop varieties widely grown in the United States and South America.
The decision covered five EU approval requests to grow genetically modified maize, plus one soybean and one sugar beet. The company said it would not withdraw its application to renew the approval for its insect-resistant MON810 maize - the only GMO crop currently cultivated commercially in Europe.
Despite public hostility to genetically modified foods, Europe is one of the world's major buyers of biotech grain, importing more than 30 million metric tons of mostly GM animal feed each year for its livestock industry.
Posted: July 18, 2013
(http://www.foxnews.com)In the wake of the controversial Zimmerman trial, many people across the country have voiced their differing opinions on the matter. Anthea Butler, of University of Pennsylvania's Department of Religious Studies, seems to blame God for the unfortunate death of Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman's subsequent acquittal.
"God ain't good all of the time. In fact, sometimes, God is not for us," Butler wrote in the post. "As a black woman in an [sic] nation that has taken too many pains to remind me that I am not a white man, and am not capable of taking care of my reproductive rights, or my voting rights, I know that this American god ain't my god.
"As a matter of fact, I think he's a white racist god with a problem. More importantly, he is carrying a gun and stalking young black men," she added.
Josiah Ryan, editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, which first reported Butler's comments, said the professor's reaction to the verdict was bizarre.
"No amount of heartbreak over the Zimmerman acquittal justifies these hateful posts," Ryan said. "Professor Butler's remarks were clearly designed to hurt when Americans needed healing and to divide when we needed unity."
"In tumultuous times students must be able turn to their professors for calm and wisdom. In stoking the flames of hatred, Professor Butler has betrayed her students' trust. UPenn administrators ought not to allow her back in the classroom."
Posted: July 17, 2013
(http://investigations.nbcnews.com)If you look on Goodwill's website, you can see their official mission stated as such: "Goodwill works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work." This is in stark contrast to the way the company treats its employees.
Despite their noble claims, this international "nonprofit" organization recently came under scrutiny for exploiting persons with disabilites for cheap labor. While CEO Jim Gibbons made $729,000 in 2011 alone, Labor Department records show that some Goodwill workers in Pennsylvania earned wages as low as 22, 38 and 41 cents per hour that same year.
Disabled workers are routinely denied the right to minimum wage and are subjected to arbitrary "speed tests" where their performance is compared to nondisabled workers to determine how much they're worth. In 2012, Goodwill received over $16 million from the same federal government whose minimum wage laws don't apply, thanks to an outdated law passed in 1938. This law, known as Section 14 (c) allows employers to obtain special minimum wage certificates from the Department of Labor, legally removing the bottom wage limit for disabled employees.
Harold Leigland said he feels that Goodwill can pay him a low wage because the company knows he has few other places to go. "We are trapped," he said. "Everybody who works at Goodwill is trapped." Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, says the current system implies that "'Americans who have disabilities aren't as valuable as other people,' and that's wrong. These folks have value. We should recognize that value."
Posted: July 17, 2013
(http://usawatchdog.com)Employers are cutting full-time employees back to part-time to avoid the requirement of providing health insurance under Obama Care. Trader Karl Denninger says, "As the Obama Administration runs against the economic reality of what they passed, they are now trying to find ways to dodge it. . . . The Obama Administration's reaction to this has been to unilaterally, and by the way illegally, put off the imposition of mandate." This is not going to save the teetering economy as Denninger contends, "Bernanke has lost control of the bond market and, in general, his policy. . . . The reality is the Fed is not in charge, and when that confidence level breaks, you are going to see all hell break loose." Denninger goes on to predict, "We are setting up for a collapse that is going to be worse than 1929, and it's going to come sometime within the next two years. It could come as soon as the next couple of months, but it is going to happen, and there's nothing that is going to stop it."
Posted: July 16, 2013
(http://www.organicconsumers.org)
(http://www.vitis-vea.de)Traditionally wine has been allowed to ferment using unaltered, natural yeast and other microorganisms, however, that is quickly changing with the introduction of genetically modified yeast to the wine industry. Like all other parts of our lives being invaded by GMOs, this is sure to cause some controversy as people worry about the possible health risks associated with GMOs. In 2004, a team of researchers including F.F. Bauer, S. Dequin, I.S. Pretorius, H. Schoeman, G. Wolfaardt, M.B. Schroeder, and M.K. Grossman, representing scientific institutions from around the world, released a paper stating:
"The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in biotechnological know-how and in the development of modern molecular biology. The yeast S. cerevisiae has played an essential part in the development of these technologies, and a tremendous amount of knowledge has been accumulated about this organism. The potential for significant scientific and technological breakthroughs, based on the application of our accumulated know-how of yeast molecular biology to wine-related problems, promises therefore benefits for wine producers and consumers alike.
"However, the application of modern biotechnology, particularly in agriculture and food production, remains controversial. Countless reports on the topic have been published, and the arguments for and against the use of genetic modification, be they of an ethical, economic, environmental or otherwise scientific nature, have been made extensively in public debates. Most of these discussions have not been conducted in a rational environment, and have frequently been hijacked by particular interests. This situation, combined with the sometimes irresponsible political handling of sensitive, public health-related issues and a silent scientific community, has created a negative public perception of GM-technology, particularly in European countries.
"The future application of this technology in the wine industry therefore hinges on a scientifically sound evaluation of the safety and of the potential environmental and economic impact of genetically modified organisms. This evaluation requires the study of complex interactions and ecosystems, and needs to assess a large number of interrelated parameters. It therefore has to integrate multidisciplinary approaches, and include ecologists, microbiol ogists, geneticists, biochemists and other scientists. It is probably due to the intrinsic complexity of the topic that few studies have been conducted to holistically assess the environmental impacts of microbial GMOs."
Genetically modified yeast has since then been used in the commercial production of wine in North America. If you are concerned about the adverse effects on your health that untested GMO's could cause then contact your favorite wine producer or do some research to confirm that they produce their wine responsibly and organically.
Posted: July 16, 2013
(http://www.guardian.co.uk)Facebook has removed dozens of profiles from its site, causing outcries from political activists. Deactivated pages include UK Uncut, and pages created by students during 2010's university occupations.
A list posted on the Stop Facebook Purge group says Chesterfield Stop the Cuts, Tower Hamlet Greens, London Student Assembly, Southwark SoS and Bristol Uncut sites were no longer functioning. Administrators for the profiles say hundreds of links between activists have been broken.
Guy Aitchison, 26, an administrator for one of the non-functioning pages, said: "I woke up this morning to find that a lot of the groups we'd been using for anti cuts activity had disappeared. The timing of it seems suspicious, given a general political crackdown because of the wedding. It seems that dozens of other groups have also been affected, including some of the local UK Uncut groups."
It is not yet known how many groups have been affected in total. A Facebook spokeswoman explained that the profiles were suspended because they had not been registered correctly and denied that the removal of pages was politically motivated or instigated by law enforcement concerns before the royal wedding.
Jim Killock, 38 who runs the Open Rights Group, which campaigns for civil liberties on the net, said: "It's pretty flatfooted of Facebook to pull profiles without notifying users. Clearly, if you just take down sites without any warning, people are going to feel aggrieved, they're going to have activities disrupted and be unable to organise politically."
Posted: July 16, 2013
(http://now.msn.com)Photos of what look like mutated fruits and vegetables from Fukushima, Japan, have surfaced on Imgur. The produce in question suffer from a range of malformations from Siamese-twinned corn cobs to what can only be called peaches with elephantiasis.
A Korean website assembled this image collection of produce from towns and villages surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The region's agriculture appears to have taken a heavy radiation hit from the nuclear disaster in 2011, but it's not clear yet what effect eating the produce might have on the population. The World Health Organization and the Tokyo Electric Power company have tested the area and stated that risk for cancer is minimal, no testing has been done on the mutations exhibited by local flora, and what effects they might have on humans is still not known.
This isn't the first time the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster has sparked fears that radiation was causing deformities in nature. In August 2012, researchers in Japan discovered evidence of mutant butterflies. IScience Times reported that researchers collected 144 specimens of the pale grass blue butterfly, a common species in Japan, two months after the disaster. They found that 12 percent of the butterflies showed signs of mutation and abnormalities, including antennae disfigurement, small wings and a change in color patterns.
The world looks on as the lingering effects of the 2011 catastrophe are now being seen. We can only hope that greater efforts are made to contain the radiation and to protect the safety and health of not only the people of Japan, but the whole world, as oceanic contamination threatens to make this into a global problem.
Posted: July 16, 2013
(http://finance.yahoo.com)
(http://www.vaccines.net/autism.pdf)A new peer reviewed study was published in the current issue of Open Access, Scientific Reports (Volume 2, Issue 3, 2013) linking the autism epidemic to the epidemic of vaccine induced type 1 diabetes. Growing evidence shows that a large percentage of cases of autism have an inflammatory or autoimmune component. The new data shows autism is strongly linked to type 1 diabetes, another epidemic inflammatory disease where the epidemic has been proven to be caused by vaccines. The new paper is authored by immunologist J. Bart Classen, MD.
"We have been publishing for many years that vaccine induced inflammation is causing an epidemic of type 1 diabetes and other diseases. Our new data, as well as the extensive data from others regarding the role of inflammation in the development autism, leaves little doubt vaccines play a significant role in the autism epidemic," says Dr. J. Bart Classen, MD.
Dr. Classen's research indicates that the large number of vaccines given to patients is leading to an epidemic of chronic inflammation resulting in epidemics of autoimmune diseases, allergies, and a comprehensive inhibitory response manifesting as obesity and metabolic syndrome.
"The best data indicates that vaccine induced chronic disease is now of a magnitude that dwarfs almost all prior poisoning of humans including poisoning from agents like asbestos, low dose radiation, lead and even cigarettes. Most patients don't even realize that they are suffering from the adverse effects of vaccines," says Dr. J. Bart Classen.
Posted: July 15, 2013
http://www.infowars.com
www.facebook.com
Recently, a user created a page on Facebook in honor of the young slain Trayvon Martin. This would be fine, except that the title of the page is "Kill Zimmerman" and it's covered in comments advocating vengeance against George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of all charges in connection to Martin's death.
This isn't the first Facebook page created to display public anger against Zimmerman, it follows a "RIOT for Trayvon" page that Facebook took down earlier this month. The "Kill Zimmerman" page appears to be a clone of an identical page that was previously removed. Facebook has stated that the "RIOT for Trayvon" page did not violate their "community standard on credible threat of violence" and the "Kill Zimmerman" pages were found to not violate their "community standard on hate speech." Despite these statements, the pages were soon taken down after receiving media attention.
The "Kill Zimmerman" page was subsequently cloned and is currently available to view and comment on. Visitors will quickly see the insults and violent threats directed against Zimmerman and his innocent family.
Posted: July 15, 2013
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com
http://www.buzzfeed.comFor decades, propaganda developed by the state has been banned domestically, however, that changed recently with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency that supervises all U.S. government-supported media and broadcasts programs such as "Voice of America," "Radio Free Europe," and the "Middle East Broadcasting Networks," became domestically available on July 2.
In 1985, Nebraska Senator Edward Zorinsky argued that propganda from the BGB should be kept out of America to distinguish it "from the Soviet Union where domestic propaganda is a principal government activity." 28 years later and with no rival socialist superpower to worry about, the United States government can safely repeal the propaganda ban. Of course, with today's extensive media bias and government/corporate sponsored news, we are already subjected to indirect propaganda.
Posted: July 15, 2013
http://www.clarksvilleonline.comTennesee's "implied consent" law states that if a person is lawfully arrested by an officer who has probable cause to believe that they have been driving under the influence, then they automatically give consent to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol content (BAC). The type and even number of tests to be taken are at the sole discretion of the officer. Normally, a person is able to refuse taking a BAC test, at the risk of losing their license.
On July 1, Tennessee's "no refusal" law went into effect, permitting officers to order warrants to draw blood from suspects, willing or otherwise. A total of 61 individuals were arrested by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on suspicion of impaired driving during the Fourth of July weekend. The "no refusal" law went out of effect 11:59 PM Sunday 7, but will likely make a return next year.
Posted: July 15, 2013
http://www.breitbart.comIn the media's continuing zeal to insert a racial narrative into an event where no evidence of any kind exists that points to race as a factor, as late as Monday, The Washington Post refused to identify George Zimmerman as Hispanic. Instead, the Post writes, "Zimmerman, who has a white father and a Peruvian mother[.]"
In the very same sentence, however, Trayvon Martin is correctly identified as "African American."
Mainstream media continues to refer to "Zimmerman as white-hispanic," or even just "white," despite mixed racial background. Portrays Zimmerman as a white racist and Trayvon as a poor young black man who was only a murder victim.
Other than inflammatory media rhetoric backed by fraud, thus far nothing concrete has been found that points to race being a factor in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. This includes Zimmerman's background, which, in fact, points to the exact opposite.
Posted: July 15, 2013
http://cnsnews.com"You know, this is a case that should never have been brought in the first place, certainly not as a second degree murder prosecution," Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz told CNN's "State of the Union With Candy Crowley" on Sunday.
Dershowitz said George Zimmerman was put on trial because "there was political pressure on the governor, and he appointed somebody (special prosecutor Angela Corey) who had the worst reputation in Florida for overcharging. And she did exactly what she was supposed to; she overcharged. She charged second-degree murder in a case where there was reasonable doubt written all over it."
Dershowitz said prosecutors are guilty of misconduct, for "willfully and deliberately" withholding evidence, such as photographs showing Zimmerman's head and nose injuries.
On the "Mike Huckabee Show" on Fox News, Dershowitz went even further, saying that Corey's behavior "bordered on criminal conduct."
Despite the prosecutor's unprofessional conduct and the racially charged atmosphere cultivated by the media to surround the trial, Zimmerman received a verdict of not guilty and acquittal of all charges.
Posted: February 1, 2013
Since 2008, Chinese government hackers have been targeting Western news organizations to identify and intimidate their Chinese sources and contacts, as well as to anticipate stories that could hurt the reputation of Chinese leaders. Chinese hackers have repeatedly infiltrated the computer systems of the New York Times over the last four months, following an investigation by the paper that revealed that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China's prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings. Security experts hired by the Times have determined that the attacks started from the same university computers used by the Chinese military to attack U.S. military contractors in the past.
Chinese hackers have repeatedly infiltrated the computer systems of the New York Times over the last four months, gaining access to passwords of reporters and other employees.
The Times reported late Wednesday that the paper has been tracking the intruders in order to study their movements and use better defenses against them. The Times, along with computer security experts have thwarted the attackers and have prevented them from breaking back in.
Read more here: http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
A new report in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology1 claims that 90 percent of melanoma patients may not only have had their skin lesions removed unnecessarily, but may also have actually increased their morbidity risk by doing so.
The study looked at 300,215 melanoma excision cases that occurred over 10 years at participating clinics and dermatopathology units in 13 countries.
As reported by The Tanning Blog:2
The purpose of the survey was to investigate the relationship between necessary excision of malignant melanoma and unnecessary removals of benign lesions. In non-specialized clinics the number of unnecessary removals was as much as 30 times higher than the necessary excisions. In specialized clinics, the ratio sank to less than 10 times.
This means that in some dermatologists' clinics, 90 out of 100 'melanoma-victims' were misled to have a piece of their skin sliced away. When extrapolating the average figures in the survey to one million American victims, as many as 900,000 may have suffered needlessly.
Read more here: http://gaia-health.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
Feb. 1, 2013 - We've all heard examples of animal altruism: Dogs caring for orphaned kittens, chimps sharing food or dolphins nudging injured mates to the surface. Now, a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests some plants are altruistic too.
The researchers looked at corn, in which each fertilized seed contained two "siblings" -- an embryo and a corresponding bit of tissue known as endosperm that feeds the embryo as the seed grows, said CU-Boulder Professor Pamela Diggle. They compared the growth and behavior of the embryos and endosperm in seeds sharing the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents.
"The results indicated embryos with the same mother and father as the endosperm in their seed weighed significantly more than embryos with the same mother but a different father," said Diggle, a faculty member in CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department. "We found that endosperm that does not share the same father as the embryo does not hand over as much food -- it appears to be acting less cooperatively."
Read more here: http://www.sciencedaily.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
"I've never seen scientific evidence discounted and refused to be looked at the way they're doing with fluoride." We're facing a bottom-line reality. There can be no question that the US government's policy is that water will be fluoridated no matter how much harm is done to the people.
In this age of repression on genuine scientific research, we need to take note that scientists free to do open and honest research, and report on it, have often taken stands that dispute their agencies' officials stances. Nowhere has that been more true than in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the issue of fluoride. Rank and file EPA scientists have strongly opposed water fluoridation.
EPA scientists protected by the National Treasury Employees Union were approached by an employee in 1985. His concern was that he was:
... being forced to write into the regulation a statement to the effect that EPA thought it was alright for children to have "funky" teeth. It was OK, EPA said, because it considered that condition to be only a cosmetic effect, not an adverse health effect. The reason for this EPA position was that it was under political pressure to set its health-based standard for fluoride at 4 mg/liter. At that level, EPA knew that a significant number of children develop moderate to severe dental fluorosis, but since it had deemed the effect as only cosmetic, EPA didn't have to set its health-based standard at a lower level to prevent it.[1]
Read more here: http://healthimpactnews.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
Farmers questioning the value of GMO traits in corn.
Interest and demand for non-GMO corn seed among US farmers is growing, according to seed suppliers who say that higher yields and returns, less cost, dissatisfaction with genetically modified traits, and better animal health are driving the demand.
Tim Schneider, a sales representative for Tom Eischen Sales in Algona, Iowa, said he is selling 20 times as much conventional, non-GMO corn seed as GM this year. "Demand has been steadily going up," he says.
"Demand has never been higher. We are growing faster than what we can handle," says Will Trudell, vice president of De Dell Seeds.
Read more here: http://healthimpactnews.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
Despite evidence to the contrary, the conventional view is that getting inoculated is the best way to protect yourself against the flu, and to make more flu vaccines available faster, the FDA recently approved a number of novel flu vaccines.
The first, Flublok, is produced by programming insect cells to produce hemagglutinin, a flu virus protein essential for entry of the virus into your body's cells. Flublok is "the first the first trivalent influenza vaccine made using an insect virus (baculovirus) expression system and recombinant DNA technology," and is approved for use in adults only, ages 18-49. This kind of genetically engineered vaccine technology, while you may never have heard of it before, has already been used in the production of vaccines against other infectious diseases. According to CNN:
"This method allows for more rapid production, making more of the vaccine available more quickly in the event of a pandemic... Flublok will be available in limited supply this winter and widely available during the next flu season, said Protein Sciences, which is based in Meriden, Connecticut.
Flublok contains the elements necessary to help fend off three different flu strains, including H1N1 and H3N2, the regulator said. And it proved 44.6% effective against all influenza strains in circulation, not just those that matched the strains included in the vaccine, according to the FDA."
Read more here: http://healthimpactnews.com
Posted: February 1, 2013
New Jersey employers want to take every precaution to keep their staff healthy and on the job. However, as a Rhode Island lawsuit highlights, requiring employees to get a flu shot can lead also lead to legal headaches.
Rhode Island is one of several states that require vaccinations for all health care workers. Under the state's regulations, health care workers are required to get a flu shot during "any declared period in which the flu is widespread." Unless workers are medically exempted, those who refuse are required to wear a mask when directly treating patients. Health care workers who violate the regulations can also be fined $100 per violation and each such violation constitutes "unprofessional conduct" with regard to their professional licenses.
Shortly after the regulations took effect, SEIU Healthcare Employees Union District 1199, a labor organization representing health care employees throughout Rhode Island, filed a lawsuit. The union points to the lack of scientific evidence that higher rates of vaccination of healthcare workers result in fewer cases of influenza among patients. It also argues that mask wearing compromises patient care by reducing the ability to communicate effectively.
Read more here: http://healthimpactnews.com
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