Humanity is under attack. Our men are are dying out. The future of mankind is uncertain.
The Global Future 2045 Congress held in Russia early this year discussed the future of humanity amidst a technological revolution. Transhumanist leader Ray Kurzweil was in attendance among other top technology leaders. Maksim Kalashnikov, a Soviet Union apologist, also attended the conference. He warned of the rise of “easily deceived” “barbarians” who’s “…video-game mentality means they could easily start to wreak havoc…” As Svetlana Smetanina reported from the conference, “If the proportion of people like this comes to encompass 50 percent of the Earth’s population, then a new “middle ages” are almost guaranteed.”
This is the discussion taking place among the elite and intelligentsia: What will we do with masses of obsolete people in the wake of the technological revolution? This article examines a few outstanding examples – recently given attention in the media- of what is being done presently, and offers a potential way out of the trap.
Look out over a cityscape and you will likely see a mass of humanity distracted, absorbed in the glowing screens of handheld devices, largely unaware of the approaching crossroads of history. If you are a person of a moral nature, your conscience will tell you to warn them; Empower them and give them information that will help them make the right choice. If you are an elitist with some degree of control over world affairs, you see them as an ugly mass of insects too stupid to possibly comprehend what you have in store for them. In fact, they’re an obstacle to your success. If they’re dumb enough to fall into your traps, they deserve what they get.
To manage these “barbarians” an artificial habitat has been created in which the reward system of our brain is constantly stimulated with artificial forms of satisfaction (television, video games, porn, artificial flavoring, Facebook, etc.) in place of seeking after real partners, real experiences, knowledge, and adventure. It is a real life matrix. We have an artificially induced sense of fulfillment, and deep down we know it is but a shadow of who we could be. This is the scientific attack that we are enduring, and if we become conscious of it we can make the first steps in conquering it.
The scientific dictatorship has studied human nature and biology only to craft psycho-social-biological weapons against the masses. They are designed to over-ride your thought processes with subliminal messages that target your weaknesses. Food and water have also been weaponized.
The elite has created this situation – using corrupt human nature to their advantage – and now points at the demoralized, dulled mass of humanity left in its wake and dares to say that we are a new class of barbarians threatening to destabilize the world. Looking at the fruits of the elites work, we can see exactly what their agenda is. This Business Insider article gives a few disturbing statistics:
-In 2011, young men’s SAT scores were the worst they had been in 40 years.
-Even Hollywood has caught on: films like Failure to Launch, Knocked Up and Jackass mock the ineptitude of this generation.
-Boys account for 70 percent of D’s and F’s given at school.
-Research shows guys aren’t interested in being husbands, fathers or the head of the household.
Additionally, the health of the world is in a state of necrosis. Alarm bells should be going off the world over. According to Johns Hopkins, “By 2015, 75% of Adults Will Be Overweight; 41% Will Be Obese.” Autism rates continue to skyrocket. Around one in 88 children is now diagnosed with the disorder. A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that as of 1994, properly prescribed and used pharmaceutical drugs accounted for the “…fourth and sixth leading cause of death…” in the United States.
In 1958 Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer exposed the elite’s agenda in his book The Age of Treason, which was subtitled, “Food and Liquids Used as a Medium in Deliberately and Carefully Planned Methods Developed by the Vicious Element of Humanity, for the Mental Deterioration and Moral Debasement of the Mass, as a Means Toward Their Enslavement.”
Dr. Clymer wrote regarding the destruction of man,
“Every vigilant human being should be concerned with several important factors involved: The methods or means by which it is possible to change man’s characteristics as easily as the animal’s. Man is a warrior by nature, the protector of his family, and his own rights and privileges; an individual, a free man… A being who has wrought great things and who, if not interfered with, will do even greater things. This being is to be turned into a lesser female; unable, even unwilling, to defend himself, much less his family or country; becoming a slave…”
The “Animalization of Humankind”
A brave new world is rising, and with it the dehumanization of humanity is accelerating. One reader of Huxley’s timeless 1931 book Brave New World describes the society of Huxley’s future: “The pleasure-seeking society pursues no spiritual experiences or joys, preferring carnal ones. The lack of a religion that seeks a true transcendental understanding helps ensure that the masses of people, upper and lower classes, have no reason to rebel.”
Love and marriage are separated from reproduction in Huxley’s world. Babies are grown in labs while the sterilized masses are encouraged to embrace promiscuity.
In our present world, projections from Deutsche bank state that due to falling fertility rates, “…the human race will no longer be replacing itself by the early 2020s.” Sperm counts are also falling world-wide. Following these trends is what some call the “animalization” of humankind through the increasing prevalence of porn. Brave New World is no longer science fiction.
“…the animalization of humankind will inevitably have consequences that stretch well beyond the screens upon which we view internet porn. Not only will those who participate in online action be labeled with such terms, but those labels will shape how we see each other. If each of us increasingly sees others more as “animal” than “human,” then it follows that our mutual respect is similarly eroded. Human well-being is traditionally protected by a framework of morals and manners that simply does not protect animals… and human life is sacred in a way that animal life is not.”
The Virtual Skinner Box
Video games are designed with basic human psychology in mind. They dispense virtual goodies for the reward system in your brain, which makes no distinction between the real and virtual worlds. Your mind is hooked in, driving you to press the button inside your own personal skinner box over and over again. Psychologist B. F. Skinner developed the Skinner box as a way to induce certain behaviors in rats through a simple reward system. Video games utilize the same idea of behavior based rewards.
“Why do so many of us have that void? Because according to everything expert Malcolm Gladwell, to be satisfied with your job you need three things, and I bet most of you don’t even have two of them:
Autonomy (that is, you have some say in what you do day to day);
Complexity (so it’s not mind-numbing repetition);
Connection Between Effort and Reward (i.e. you actually see the awesome results of your hard work).
Most people, particularly in the young gamer demographics, don’t have this in their jobs or in any aspect of their everyday lives. But the most addictive video games are specifically geared to give us all three… or at least the illusion of all three.”
Eventually, following trends of nanotech and miniaturization, virtual games will be embedded everywhere in the environment dispensing virtual rewards and points to millions of “players”. They will be in your car, on light poles, cereal boxes, walls; Even in your glasses. The question is, who will decide what the rewards are based on? This system has the potential to be the social engineer’s dream come true.
Big Brother, Video Game Psychology & Obedient Humans living inside Skinner Boxes. This was a presentation at the recent DICE 2010 Summit.
- Cereal boxes with screen
- Soda cans with Wi-fi
- Tatoos with Adsense
- REM in-ear entertainment
- Sensors that sense our emotions
- Gov’t rewards for supporting political candidates
- Eye sensors that track our reading
“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” – C.S. Lewis
What will we do about this? How can mankind defend against these tools of deception and domestication? There are a vast number of potential solutions to choose from. I will share with you what I personally believe to be effective.
First, realize that there is a raging battle being fought right now between freedom and tyranny. Too many people have been sold the idea that their lives are boring and the world dull. The hardcore reality of this battle – and the realization that there is breathtaking beauty everywhere – is enough to snap semi-conscious people out of their artificial habitat induced trance.
Noted scholar and writer C.S. Lewis eloquently stated,
“…war creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with “normal life.” Life has never been normal.
The artificial habitat that we live in has seduced us into a sate of complacency. We aren’t exercising the strength that we have as human beings. Our ancestors strove for knowledge and beauty amidst great hardship. Now we are convinced that we are at the end of the road; We don’t need to strive for anything else. We don’t have a reason to rebel. It’s time to break the chains.
We can reach for a higher standard and take the open hand that God is extending to us. Scientific control over humanity is not full proof. In fact, once individuals filled with the spirit of God overcome the spell of wickedness and deception, they are empowered beyond anything that they were before. I say to the New World Order; Keep doing what you’re doing. You are building the army of your own destruction. The weapons that you forge against us will fail.
I leave you with another quote from Mr. Lewis,
“To us [evil] a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense… One must face the fact that all the talk about His [God's] love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself – creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to is… Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy [God] wants a world full of beings united in Him but still distinct.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Here's a Constitutional indicator concerning Americans about the lunacy of Hitler's gun control advocates: Gun sales are way up.
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government”. There is no mixing words there. Source:
A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck off Taiwan early on Sunday, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck off Taiwan, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The US Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 70 kilometres (40 miles) and hit around 5 am (2100 GMT Saturday), some 50 kilometres east of Su-ao in the northeastern Yilan county.
Taiwan’s Seismology Centre recorded the quake, which was felt in Taipei and islandwide, at 6.5 on the Richter scale. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a warning.
The National Fire Agency said there were no reports of damages or injuries.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.
In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in Taiwan’s recent history.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and damages, but the quake threw people into panic. File photo
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake has struck the western parts of Turkey, including Istanbul, shaking apartment buildings, rattling windows and causing residents to rush into the streets.
The tremor was also felt in neighboring Bulgaria, in the municipalities of Burgas, Nessebar, Plovdiv and Kardzhali.
According to the National Institute in Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS, the quake occurred shortly before midnight.
The epicenter was registered in the Marmara Sea, a few kilometers from the town of Tekirdag and Marmara Ereglisi. It was at a depth of 10 km.
The quake was followed by two light aftershocks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and damages, but the quake threw people into panic.
Officials in the New England region of the Australian state of New South Wales are breathing a sigh of relief, with no major damage found from two earthquakes that hit on Friday night.
The green dot indicates where the quake struck at a depth of 17 kilometres. [Google Maps]
Residents were shaken when two magnitude-4.2 quakes hit within a few minutes of each other.
More than 400 people have reported feeling tremors or hearing loud noises. Many called police because they thought they were being robbed.
Gunnedah Shire Mayor Adam Marshall says he has never heard of a tremor in the region before.
“I guess no-one’s really thought about checking their insurance policy for anything like earthquake damage,” he said.
But there have been no reports so far of damage beyond a few windows in need of replacement.
Resident Jeff Silvey says it sounded like a jumbo jet and it set off dogs barking all along his street.
“I thought it was just a jumbo jet but then everyone else started texting saying no it’s an earthquake,” he said.
“The whole house shook and all the windows and even the dogs got scared – we had to bring the dogs in.”
The tremor was felt by residents as far away as the coastal town of South West Rocks, more than 200 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre.
“I was in a rather soft chair, which sort of surprised me that I felt it,” resident Ken Shingleton said.
Geoscience Australia has warned there is a high chance of weaker aftershocks in the coming weeks.
Jonathon Bathgate, a seismologist with Geoscience Australia, says the New England region has had a few earthquakes in the past 100 years.
“There’s been about 13 of this sort of magnitude in that area in these sort of times,” he said.
Mr Bathgate says it is all to do with the underground plates Australia sits on.
“The continent’s moving north at about seven centimetres every year and that just builds up stresses across the rocks. So the overall process is the same for big earthquakes,” he said.
“We can’t predict earthquakes but generally what happens with earthquakes of this size is there is some aftershock activity just as the fault that has moved in an earthquake it sort of resettles down, you’ll get some smaller tremors and a lot of those will go unnoticed by the public.”
Rome, 8 June (AKI) – Italian hospitals are old and at risk of suffering severe damage in the event of an earthquake.
Around 15 percent of the country’s hospitals were constructed before 1900, or which 74, or 9 percent, were built before 1800, according to data from the Italian Civil Protection agency, obtained by Adnkronos Health.
“The oldest hospitals are considered at seismic risk,” said Giuseppe Paradiso, an engineer with Bari-based Gedi di Altamura construction firm. He said the type of cement used puts the structure at risk in the case of an earthquake because of “non-existing regulations.”
“You built without thinking about the territory” he said.
Italy is one of the world’s most seismic countries. A pair of earthquakes last month killed 25 people and caused around 5 billion euros in damage. More than 300 people perished when a quake struck the central Abruzzo region in April 2009.
“The older buildings were built with the seismic norms of the time. But today you need to make important changes to be in line with new regulations,” said Daniela Pedrini, presient of the Italian Society of Health Architecture and Engineering.
Stromboli volcano is in a phase of strong activity. Reports by visitors and images taken with the webcams show that in particular the northwestern vent in the summit crater often produces strong explosions that shower the crater terrace with incandescent lava.
Since the last lateral eruption in March 2007, Stromboli has been in a heightened state of activity overall during most of the past years, indicating that magma levels inside the conduit are relatively high. The question is when again the magma finds its way out through a fissure on the flank on Sciara del Fuoco to produce another effusive eruption with a new lava flow.
A lightning-sparked blaze that jumped its containment lines raced through thick conifer forest in southern New Mexico on Saturday, and fire managers estimated that more than a dozen structures were damaged or destroyed. Spanning only a few acres on Wednesday, the Little Bear fire began to grow Friday as spot fires formed outside established fire lines due to windy conditions. By Saturday morning, about 10,000 acres had been charred. Fire information officers said summer homes and campgrounds in the area about 15 miles north of Ruidoso were evacuated late Friday. There was no immediate word on how many people were evacuated. Two shelters were set up at churches in nearby Ruidoso and Capitan. Officials said in a morning briefing that an estimated 15 to 20 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the fire. They could not say whether the structures were homes, sheds or other buildings since crews haven’t had a chance to do a formal damage assessment. The fire was burning in steep, rocky, inaccessible terrain in the White Mountain Wilderness of the Lincoln National Forest, which is home to Smokey Bear, the little black cub that became the nation’s symbol of fire prevention decades ago. The Little Bear fire has crossed State Highway 48. Fire information officers said Saturday’s goal was to establish an anchor point where crews could work from, fighting the fire with both direct and indirect tactics such as burnout operations. Crews were reporting extreme fire behavior that included flame lengths of about 150 feet and spotting of up to two miles. Fire information officers said one of the biggest concerns was the weather. Forecasters were calling for low humidity and gusty winds. In southwestern New Mexico, firefighters continued securing the massive perimeter of the Whitewater-Baldy fire, the largest fire in the state’s recorded history and the largest currently burning in the nation. The blaze has consumed about 426 square miles and was 32 percent contained Saturday morning.
Today
Forest / Wild Fire
USA
State of Arizona, [Queen Valley, between Superior and Apache Junction]
A fire that has spread to 200 acres between Superior and Apache Junction is about 50 percent contained. David Albo, spokesman for the Tonto National Forest, said about 60 people are fighting the Comet Fire, which is burning a mile east of Queen Valley, north of the U.S. 60. The fire was reported shortly after noon, and officials don’t know how it started, Albo said. “Especially early in the initial-attack phase, they’re kind of scrambling to get some containment of the fire,” he said. The fire is burning primarily Sonoran Desert-type brush, Albo said. Brush fires are “usually not as intense” as forest fires, he said, though they are hard to fight. “The terrain in that area can be kind of difficult, steep and rugged,” he said. No homes or other buildings are in the fire’s path, Albo said. “There is a power line in the vicinity that is a concern, but I don’t think it’s immediately threatened at this point,” he said.
Readers sent in their cellphone pictures of the aftermath of the hail storm. Sean Herd-Hoare lies on an icy hail bed in Durban North.
A freak hailstone storm caught Durban off guard on Friday night with unconfirmed reports of damage to roof tiles, gardens and uprooted trees.
Chris Hoare, in Durban North, said hail got caught in verges and gardens, and was as much as “six inches thick”. His son and friends took pictures of themselves playing in the hail. However, some suburbs like Glenmore and Westville escaped the storm.
Wisani Maluleke, a forecaster at the Durban Weather Office, said temperatures were around 18ºC on Friday night, and large clouds were visible over Durban. “There were reports of hailstones, but we cannot say where,” Maluleke said.
A massive ice storm hit Virginia airport in Durban North. Spokesman for the Durban Air Show Ray de Vries said that this is one of the worst hailstorms the aviation fraternity had seen at the airport. “It looked strangely beautiful. The airport was closed due to dangerous conditions.”
A number of private planes are expected for the Springbok-England Test match, but de Vries said that airport authorities were confident the storm wouldn’t affect planes flying in for the game.
Durbanites, unused to extreme weather conditions, were abuzz on Twitter, while TrafficSA put out a weather warning for motorists, and emergency workers were on high alert. Some people tweeted that it was hailing “mini ice cubes” and that it was as “thick as snow”.
Traffic man Rob Byrne posted pictures of a hail-covered road.
Rassie Pieterse tweeted: “Hail in Durban, and it’s warmer than Bloem” while others called it a “freak storm”.
Rescue workers are searching for an Egyptian tourist who went missing in a flash flood in Phangnga, while one police volunteer was injured in a storm-related incident in Trang.
The tourist was whitewater rafting in the Klong Songphraek stream and went missing three days ago in the flash flood.
Meanwhile, in the provincial seat of Takua Pa district, the floodwater level remains at one metre deep while residents have moved to the second floor.
In Ranong, local officials of the disaster prevention and mitigation department are fixing a portion of flood-damaged road in Kapoe district with a 20-metre bailey bridge to temporarily help 1,000 local residents not be cut off and be able to transport their farm produce.
The work is expected to finish in one or two days. Soldiers distributed royally-sponsored relief supplies to those affected, but it is still not adequate to meet needs.
In Trang’s provincial seat, the floodwater in Bag Rak subdistrict rose to about one metre, forcing residents to evacuate children and pets by boat and to move their belongings to higher ground.
While the floodwaters at some locations reached two metres deep, some villages reportedly were cut off amid rising water levels.
Meanwhile, heavy rain and strong wind in Na Ta Luang subdistrict felled a large tree on a car and injured a local police volunteer.
In Krabi, heavy rain in the afternoon was reported in Ao Luek and Plai Phraya districts, triggering a mudslide on Krabi-Surat Thani Road in Ao Luek district.
The flash flood also damaged the bridge in a village in Plai Phraya district, causing about 50 households to be cut off.
Flash flooding has hit a dozen properties in two villages near York, following torrential rain this afternoon. Five homes and a kitchen manufacturing business were inundated at Flaxton, while another six properties were flooded in Sandy Lane, Stockton-on-the-Forest. Huge traffic jams also built up on the A64 between York and Malton because of flooding. Flaxton resident Mark O’Brien said he drove back home through a huge hail storm. “The noise was unbelievable,” he said. “It was so loud in the car that we couldn’t talk to each other.” He said the flood waters rose to within inches of the floorboards at his home in Main Street. A rain gauge kept by residents John and Sarah Jackson indicated that more than two inches of rain had fallen in the village. Mrs Jackson said: “The whole ground went white with the ice from the hail storm. I have lived here for 17 years and have never, ever experienced anything like this. There was thunder and lightning for over an hour.” Fire station officer David Watson said the sheer volume of rainfall had been too much for the drains to cope with. He said firefighters using pumps had prevented more properties from being flooded. Richard James Handmade Kitchens’ premises near the railway level crossing in Flaxton, were flooded to a depth of about two feet after a nearby beck burst its banks. Proprietor Richard Patterson said about £100,000 worth of machinery was affected by flooding, along with bespoke furniture that was in the process of being manufactured. He said he would have to wait for the flood waters to recede before he could access the extent of the damage. He pledged to get the business reopened as quickly as possible,adding: “You can’t let the customers down.”
Torrential rainfall led to widespread flooding along the northern Gulf Coast on Saturday, and Pensacola came about 2 inches shy of matching its all-time rainfall record for a calendar day: 15.29 inches. On Saturday, Pensacola airport received 13.13 inches of rain. The previous record was set on October 5, 1934, as Tropical Storm 9 of that year was making landfall. The record for any 24 hour period is 17.1 inches, spanning Octover 4-5 in 1934, according to Wunderground weather historian Christopher C. Burt.
At least 150 people were rescued from homes and caravan sites yesterday after serious flooding in Wales. Many people have been winched to safety by a Sea King helicopter and others were rescued by boat after a torrent of rain overnight near Aberystwyth in western Wales. An inshore lifeboat team taking part in the rescue operation also had to be airlifted when it got into difficulty after helping to pluck a disabled man from a flooded caravan. Fire crews rescued 35 people from the Riverside Caravan Park in Llandre, 13km northeast of the seaside resort, using inshore life boats. Another 11 people also were rescued from the nearby Millhouse Caravan Park, while rescues also took place at the Searivers and Glanlerry caravan parks near Borth, 3km further north. In the village of Talybont, located 5km northeast of Llandre, 25 properties were evacuated and residents are sheltering at a local community centre and pub as around 1.2m of water flows through its main street. Jason Hughes, who lives nearby, said, “The lower part of my village is completely closed off, people are all in their top bedrooms.” A spokesman from the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said there was a large amount of water with a heavy current. “Numerous people are surrounded by flood water and are requiring rescue by fire service boats, inshore life boat teams and RAF [Royal Air Force] helicopters,” he said.
The Army launched a major rescue operation to save as many as 400 passengers from the Khardung La Pass in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, world’s highest motorable road, after they were stuck due to heavy snowfall resulting in landslides. In a statement, the Army said, “The rescue operation lasted whole night and timely action by the Army personnel, ably supported by the state police led to safe evacuation of all tourists and no one suffered any injury.” According to the official spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir government, nearly 145 vehicles carrying tourists, labourers and passengers were trapped in sub-zero temperature. The spokesman said the vehicles were stranded between South and North Pullu, 42 kilometres from Leh. This road leads to Siachen glacier and Nurbu valley. “The road axis was finally cleared by 1300 hours on 9 June 2012. Almost 350-400 persons, 70 light vehicles and 35-40 trucks stranded at North Pullu were guided back to Leh safely under Army escort,” the Army statement said. The Army provided shelter, warm clothing and food to the stranded tourists; established vehicle based medical aid post to provide basic medical assistance and administered oxygen to over 120 tourists suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness, the statement added. Northern Command Army Spokesperson Rajesh Kalia also said that nearly 120 people were administered oxygen as the area has low oxygen levels.
Three people were killed and another six were injured in rainstorm-triggered mudslides from Saturday night to Sunday morning in Kaili, a city in Southwest China’s Guizhou province, said local authorities. From 11 pm Saturday to early Sunday morning, heavy downpours hit Zhouxi township in Kaili, triggering mudslides, according to the publicity department of Kaili city. As of 10 am Sunday, three residents of Zhouxi had been found dead and the six injured people had been sent to hospital. At least 81 houses in Zhouxi have been damaged. Local governments have relocated residents from low-lying areas at risk for flash floods and other geological disasters.
The continental United States experienced the warmest spring on record this year, with temperatures far above the average over the past century, government scientists said Thursday.
The United States, excluding Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories, had an average temperature of 57.1 degrees Fahrenheit (13.9 Celsius) from March through May, 5.2 degrees (2.9 Celsius) above the average from 1901 to 2000, the data showed.
“Spring 2012 marked the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record for the contiguous United States,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.
This year’s spring was up 2.0 degrees (1.1 Celsius) from the previous warmest spring in the United States which was recorded in 1910, the agency said.
The year from June 2011 through May also marked the warmest 12-month period on record after a hot summer and warmer winter. The average temperature was 3.2 degrees (1.8 Celsius) above average, the agency said.
In terms of monthly figures, the United States experienced the warmest March, the third warmest April and the second warmest May, the agency said.
Scientists have repeatedly warned that emissions of greenhouse gases, largely through industrial activity, are heating up the planet and could spell serious long-term problems, including the extinction of plant and animal species and the flooding of low-lying islands.
UN-led efforts for a new global climate agreement have moved slowly. Climate change remains a controversial topic in the United States, with many prominent members of the Republican Party casting doubt on the science.
Proposals backed by President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to mandate cuts in emissions have died in Congress. Critics say the measures would be too costly to a fragile economy.
China has surpassed the United States as the largest emitter. The Asian power has pledged to reduce the intensity of its emissions per unit of economic growth, but not in absolute terms.
Last year, 79 people died due to cholera and 28 due to malnutrition in Pune. These shocking facts came to light through a right to information (RTI) query.
What’s worse, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that reaped accolades for its ‘zero malaria deaths’ model may have lied about figures as the RTI reply by the civic body’s birth and death registration section shows that 42 people died due to the deadly disease in the last two years.
RTI activist Vihar Durve filed the query and received its reply from incharge of PMC’s birth and death registration section, stating that a total of 25,049 people died within PMC limits in 2011. 0f these, 10 people succumbed to malaria, while 14 died due to dengue. Cholera, an infectious disease that is notifiable, claimed 79 lives, according to the RTI reply. These trends are seen in previous years too. The 2010 records show 26 deaths due to malnutrition, 24 due to cholera, while the 2009 records peg cholera deaths alone at a whopping 468.
As the RTI reply raises serious concerns over the reporting of diseases by the civic administration, PMC’s health department officials vehemently denied the authenticity of the data. Dr ST Pardeshi, chief medical officer, called the data ‘incorrect’ and based on improper reporting by hospitals and private doctors.
“The reply that has been given under RTI is based on cause of death as stated by doctors or hospitals. However, we have a system of coding where deaths are investigated and each is assigned a code after determining cause of death. A person having malaria may not die of it, but of other associated problems. We are going to carry out an audit of all these deaths, do the proper coding and only then will we know the actual numbers,” said Pardeshi.
However, he denied that there could have been so many cholera, malnutrition or malaria deaths within PMC limits. “Cholera is a notifiable disease and we have to inform the government of India about such cases. Had there been so many cholera deaths, we would definitely have known about it. As far as malaria
and malnutrition are concerned, I am sure the figures are exaggerated too,” said Pardeshi.
Despite repeated attempts, VD Khanande, joint director of state health services, couldn’t be contacted for comment.
Sydney residents are warned to be on high alert for measles after three babies came down with the potentially deadly virus in Sydney’s west. Three children have been recently diagnosed with measles at the emergency department at the Children’s Hospital Westmead. The Western Sydney Public Health Unit is in the process of contacting people who may have been exposed in the hospital, in the days around May 11. High vaccination rates mean the virus is uncommon, but NSW Health wants people to know it’s now circulating in the community.
Biohazard name:
Measles
Biohazard level:
3/4 Hight
Biohazard desc.:
Bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans, but for which vaccines or other treatments exist, such as anthrax, West Nile virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, SARS virus, variola virus (smallpox), tuberculosis, typhus, Rift Valley fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Among parasites Plasmodium falciparum, which causes Malaria, and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes trypanosomiasis, also come under this level.
Unacceptable levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) have been detected along the Sunshine Coast. from the southern tip of Texada Island, past Powell River and beyond Cortes Island. Effective immediately, these areas are closed to the harvest of bivalve mollusks, including clams, oysters mussels, geoducks, scallops and cockles. There is one area, known as subarea 15-5, which is still open for the harvesting of manila clams, littleneck clams, oysters and mussels. PSP, also known as Red Tide, can harmfully affect anyone consuming shellfish. Cooking does not destroy the PSP toxin.
Biohazard name:
Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP)
Biohazard level:
0/4 —
Biohazard desc.:
This does not included biological hazard category.
Four workers have died and another two were hospitalized after being poisoned on Saturday in a plant in Dongyang, east China’s Zhejiang province, local authorities confirmed Sunday. Around 1 p.m. Saturday, one worker was poisoned when he was cleaning up the plating cesspool in the Jinluoma Development Co. Ltd. Another five people were also poisoned during rescue efforts, said the publicity department of Dongyang. As of noon on Sunday, four workers had died in hospital due to cyanide poisoning. Another two people hospitalized were in stable condition. Local authorities have initiated safety checks for all electroplating and chemical plants in Dongyang. Investigation is underway to find the detail cause of the accident.
A 65-year-old man was hospitalized Saturday night after a chemical was found leaking from containers unloaded from an El Al flight hours earlier at Ben-Gurion International Airport. According to Ynet news, some 800 litres of the chemical compound acrylamide leaked out when they were being stored in a warehouse owned by importer/exporter Maman. Emergency services were called to the scene. The man was taken to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer with light injuries. Some 10 containers of the chemical had been unloaded from an El Al cargo flight originating in Belgium, with four of the containers found to be leaking. El Al attributed the leak to a “malfunction,” according to Ynet, and said the incident was under investigation. They added that there was no damage to the airport or the plane. Acrylamide is used in water purification plants and is also utilized to make glues, paper and cosmetics. According to the World Health Organization, the chemical can be toxic to humans at certain doses. Scientists believe smaller doses of the compound, found in some processed foods, may be a carcinogen and contribute to causing cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute in the US.
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Limits of Perception full documentary on Science Channel
“We are surrounded by mysterious worlds. Worlds hidden from us by their sizes, too small or too large to be noticed. But now it’s possible to see these worlds. What’s changed our perceptions? Technology; extending our natural senses, taking us on a remarkable journey from our own world through strange parrallel worlds down to the smallest and up to the largest elements of creation…”
**This video is for promotional use only. The video and its content belongs to its respectful owner(s).
[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes 'FAIR USE' of any such copyrighted material.]
Stress may retard brain development in children, altering the growth of a specific part and the abilities tied to it, researchers say.
“There has been a lot of work on animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use,” says study co-author Jamie Hanson of Wisconsin-Madison, US.
“We have now found similar associations in humans. More exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes,” adds Hanson, the Journal of Neuroscience reports.
Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events posted lower scores on tests of what researchers refer to as spatial working memory.
They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, a Wisconsin statement says.
Brain scans revealed that the anterior cingulate, a portion of the prefrontal cortex believed to play key roles in spatial working memory, takes up less space in children with greater exposure to very stressful situations.
“These are subtle differences, but differences related to important cognitive abilities,” says Hanson.
But these may not be irreversible differences. “We’re not trying to argue that stress permanently scars your brain. We don’t know if and how it is that stress affects the brain,” says Hanson, a psychology graduate student at Wisconsin-Madison.
“We only have a snapshot — one MRI scan of each subject — and at this point we don’t understand whether this is just a delay in development or a lasting difference,” Hanson adds.
“It could be that, because the brains is very plastic, very able to change, that children who have experienced a great deal of stress catch up in these areas,” says Hanson.
Researchers determined stress levels through interviews with children aged nine to 14 years and their parents.
The team, which included Wisconsin psychology professors Richard Davidson and Seth Pollak and their labs, collected expansive biographies of stressful events from slight to severe.
Eating more fruits and vegetables may help you stay off tobacco for longer, says a new study.
The study, undertaken by University of Buffalo (UB) public health researchers, is the first on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and smoking cessation.
The researchers surveyed 1,000 smokers aged 25 and older from around the country, using random-digit dialing telephone interviews, the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research reported.
They followed up with the respondents 14 months later, asking them if they had abstained from tobacco use during the previous month, according to a university statement.
“Other studies have taken a snapshot approach, asking smokers and non-smokers about their diets,” said Gary A. Giovino, Buffalo head of the department of community health and health behaviour.
“What we didn’t know was whether recent quitters increased their fruit and vegetable consumption or if smokers who ate more fruits and vegetables were more likely to quit,” added Giovino.
The UB study found that smokers who consumed the most fruit and vegetables were three times more likely to be tobacco-free for at least 30 days at follow-up 14 months later than those consuming the lowest amount of fruits and vegetables.
These findings persisted even when adjustments were made to take into account age, gender, race / ethnicity, education, household income and health orientation.
“We may have identified a new tool that can help people quit smoking,” said Jeffrey P. Haibach, study co-author and graduate research assistant in Giovino’s department.
In a development that holds great hope in the fight against tuberculosis, an Ahmedabad-basedpharmaceutical and research centre has come up with a capsule that can reduce the treatment time from 6-9 months to just three months.
The BV Patel Pharmaceutical Education and Research Development (PERD) centre has come up with a novel capsule, which contains Rifampicin and Isoniazid. This capsule helps in delivering 100% dosage of the former.
It should be noted that at present the formulation of Rifampicin and Isoniazid available in the market only delivers 70% of Rifampicin dose. This is because in the present formulation Rifampicin ended up reacting with Isoniazid in the acidic medium of stomach.
It should be noted that a better dose of Rifampicin is crucial in the fight against tuberculosis.
The new capsule, when swallowed, prevents the reaction as Rifampicin is released in the stomach and remains there for 5 to 6 hours while Isoniazid is released in the intestine. Dr CJ Shishoo, honorary director of PERD said that as the capsule gives very high Rifampicin levels in blood, it is also expected to treat the disease in a shorter time of say three months.
“At present, a patient needs to take TB medicines for 6 to 9 months. But often patients discontinue it in the middle thinking they have been cured thus leading to relapse. But with the reduced treatment time, patient compliance will go up,” said Dr Shishoo. He said that TB has remained defiant with India having the maximum number of TB patient at around 2 million. We also record 5 lakh deaths every year due to the disease, he said.“The clinical trials for the new capsules are going on at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in New Delhi and final results are likely to be available at the end of the year,” he said.
Dr Manish Nivsarkar, director PERD however, said that it will take about 3 to 4 years before the capsule hits the market. On why the fight against TB hasn’t been very successful in the country, he said it was because of lack of awareness, poor detection rate, lack of diagnostic test and untrained physicians.
Dr Nivsarkar also said that the most unfortunate thing with the disease is that once the treatment is over, the bacteria can still relapse and may even develop into multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which at present has no proven treatment.
“There has been no new anti tubercular drug for the last 40 years or so,” he said.
HPV vaccines: Gardasil becomes a market dud in wake of informed backlash
By Rosemary Mathis, Vice President of Victim Support, SANE VAX, INC.,
(NaturalNews) On the heels of the Vioxx scandal Merck & Co. has apparently manufactured another marketplace dud with Gardasil. After receiving fast-track approval from the FDA in 2006, Merck’s aggressive ‘One More Girl’ marketing campaign catapulted HPV into the collective consciousness as a serious health issue. Almost overnight, medical consumers went from not knowing HPV existed to fear of infection with the dreaded virus. Presto! HPV pandemonium was born. 5 years later Gardasil sales are decidedly…
TIME Magazine pushes death agenda: Remove feeding tubes from the dying elderly (and get a cash bonus!)
By Mike Adams,
(NaturalNews) TIME Magazine is peddling a death agenda propaganda piece with a new issue that features these words on the cover: “HOW TO DIE.” Inside, the magazine promotes a cost-saving death agenda that encourages readers to literally “pull the feeding tubes” from their dying elderly parents, causing them to dehydrate and die. This is explained as a new cost-saving measure that drastically reduces return hospital visits by the elderly… yeah, because dead people don’t return to the hospital…
Spirulina explained: Here’s what you need to know about this healing superfood
By Willow Tohi,
(NaturalNews) One of the oldest life forms on Earth, spirulina is a blue-green microalgae that helped produce the oxygen in our atmosphere billions of years ago so that other life forms could appear (http://www.chinese-herbs.org/spirulina/). The original ‘superfood,’ spirulina is so nutrient dense that you could survive on it and water alone. Hundreds of studies have confirmed spirulina’s powerhouse status. It has 60-70% complete protein, meaning it has all 8 essential amino acids and 10 non-essential…
By Nate Curtis,
(NaturalNews) PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, is a hormonal disorder that affects millions of women the world over. Its symptoms include: Hirsutism – excessive body hair Problems with the menstruation cycle whereby your periods may be light or irregular Gaining weight otherwise inexplicably Loss of hair from your head The onset of acne Difficulty in conceiving All women’s ovaries contain a small number of harmless cysts. But when the number of cysts is dramatically increased, (say…
Vitamins more effective at Type 2 Diabetes treatment than pharmaceuticals
By J. D. Heyes,
(NaturalNews) A dramatic rise in obesity rates across the country in recent years has led to a parallel increase in new cases of diabetes, but not everyone who develops the chronic illness will need medication to deal with it. Some diabetes can be better controlled through the use of vitamins, contends noted pharmacist Stuart Lindsey. According to Lindsey, who in January wrote a column entitled Confessions of a Frustrated Pharmacist which was critical of pharmaceutical orthodoxy, current medical…
How Many More Pets Have Been Harmed by These Products Since the EPA’s Advisory 3 Years Ago?
By Dr. Becker
Three years after taking notice of a disturbing rise in the number of adverse reactions in pets to spot-on flea/tick products, the EPA has yet to convince manufacturers to change a thing about the way they go to market.
In late September 2011, the EPA committed to send letters to spot-on manufacturers requesting important changes to product labeling within 6 months.
When and if the EPA’s recommendations are implemented, spot-on package labeling should provide pet owners with clearer instructions on which species (dog or cat) products are intended for, and hopefully, information on toxicity and documented adverse side effects.
The safest use of dog and cat spot-on products is to simply not use them at all. There are safer effective alternatives to chemical pesticides to help control fleas and ticks on your pet.
This Pint-Sized Pet is Loaded with Charm and Personality
By Dr. Becker
Guinea pigs make great pets for people looking for a small companion to care for.
Guinea pigs, also called ‘cavies,’ are tailless rodents that weigh between one and a half and three pounds as adults. They range in size from 8 to 10 inches. The average lifespan is 4 to 5 years, but some cavies can live to 8 years.
Guinea pigs are social creatures and thrive in small groups. They need spacious habitats outfitted with hiding and napping places, things to climb on, safe wood to chew and guinea pig toys.
Species-appropriate (herbivore) nutrition makes for healthy guinea pigs. They have a special requirement for vitamin C in their diet.
Cavies have lively personalities and make a variety of entertaining sounds. They require time outside their cages each day to exercise and play (in a safe, escape-proof enclosure or room). It’s important to interact with your cavies daily so each pet gets comfortable being handled.
After our old rescue dog died, my daughter longed for another, but I was determined to stick with cats. Finally she wore us down. We found Buddy in a local shelter, shaggy, scared, and with a blue bandaged paw. We took him home on her 10th birthday. He quickly showed us he was smart, funny, and so full of love he doesn’t know what to do with it all. We wonder what troubles he might have suffered in his past, but every time we see his fluffy white face, we’re happy he finally made his way home to us.
Sara Tolchin
San Geronimo, CA
Your Actions Here Fund Food And Care For Rescued Animals.
“We are surrounded by mysterious worlds. Worlds hidden from us by their sizes, too small or too large to be noticed. But now it’s possible to see these worlds. What’s changed our perceptions? Technology; extending our natural senses, taking us on a remarkable journey from our own world through strange parrallel worlds down to the smallest and up to the largest elements of creation…”
**This video is for promotional use only. The video and its content belongs to its respectful owner(s).
Breaking news on Whistleblower lawsuit – coverups, deadly cancers and more linked to the drug Actos
By Craig Stellpflug,
(NaturalNews) Avandia, a defunct diabetes drug, has been blamed for tens of thousands of heart attacks and deaths. For their defense, Glaxo Smith Kline’s researchers claim that Avandia isn’t as bad for the heart when compared to the “other drug” (Actos) in studies. Isn’t “as bad”? But they are both bad news. It’s just that one is worse. If you want to run your broken-down horse in a race and have it win, hedge your bets and run it against an even more broken-down horse. Big Pharma does this all…
Last year, 79 people died due to cholera and 28 due to malnutrition in Pune. These shocking facts came to light through a right to information (RTI) query.
What’s worse, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that reaped accolades for its ‘zero malaria deaths’ model may have lied about figures as the RTI reply by the civic body’s birth and death registration section shows that 42 people died due to the deadly disease in the last two years.
RTI activist Vihar Durve filed the query and received its reply from incharge of PMC’s birth and death registration section, stating that a total of 25,049 people died within PMC limits in 2011. 0f these, 10 people succumbed to malaria, while 14 died due to dengue. Cholera, an infectious disease that is notifiable, claimed 79 lives, according to the RTI reply. These trends are seen in previous years too. The 2010 records show 26 deaths due to malnutrition, 24 due to cholera, while the 2009 records peg cholera deaths alone at a whopping 468.
As the RTI reply raises serious concerns over the reporting of diseases by the civic administration, PMC’s health department officials vehemently denied the authenticity of the data. Dr ST Pardeshi, chief medical officer, called the data ‘incorrect’ and based on improper reporting by hospitals and private doctors.
“The reply that has been given under RTI is based on cause of death as stated by doctors or hospitals. However, we have a system of coding where deaths are investigated and each is assigned a code after determining cause of death. A person having malaria may not die of it, but of other associated problems. We are going to carry out an audit of all these deaths, do the proper coding and only then will we know the actual numbers,” said Pardeshi.
However, he denied that there could have been so many cholera, malnutrition or malaria deaths within PMC limits. “Cholera is a notifiable disease and we have to inform the government of India about such cases. Had there been so many cholera deaths, we would definitely have known about it. As far as malaria
and malnutrition are concerned, I am sure the figures are exaggerated too,” said Pardeshi.
Despite repeated attempts, VD Khanande, joint director of state health services, couldn’t be contacted for comment.
Nutrition blogger files lawsuit against North Carolina for violation of free speech rights
By Ethan A. Huff,
(NaturalNews) A North Carolina man who was told by the state-run North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition (NCBDN) to stop giving online dietary advice to diabetics via his personal blog has filed a federal lawsuit against the group for violating his free speech rights. As we reported previously, Steven Cooksey, a former diabetic, abandoned conventional wisdom concerning diabetes after watching it fail him and land him in the hospital, and instead chose to take an alternative route. This included…
[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes 'FAIR USE' of any such copyrighted material.]
Food Poisoning Bulletin has learned that the multi-state E. coli 0145 outbreak includes Alabama. There are two confirmed cases of E. coli 0145 in Alabama, bringing the total number of patients in this outbreak to 11. There is still no official word from the CDC on the outbreak.
Case count:
Alabama (2)
Florida (1)
Georgia (5)
Louisiana (2 ill, 1 death)
The Alabama Department of Public Health told us that there are some additional possible cases pending. They are waiting to see test results. The states involved are working with the CDC, which is playing a supportive role.
The Food Chain Workers Alliance has released a report that states that more than half of all employees in the food industry work while sick because they can’t afford to take time off and that most food workers are underpaid. This is the first survey that studied income and working conditions of employees in the entire food chain.
Most states have prohibitions against contagious employees working with food. And restaurant and food facility owners are responsible for making sure their employees are not transmitting disease. In 2012 alone, we have reported on twelve outbreaks of foodborne illness that were traced back to a sick employee.
The survey also found that only 13.5% of employees in this industry earn a livable wage, and most jobs are very low wage. The report, titled “The Hands That Feed Us” found that “more than 86% of workers reported earning sub minimum, poverty, and low wages, resulting in a sad irony: food workers face higher levels of food insecurity, or the inability to afford to eat, than the rest of the U.S. workforce.” In fact, food workers use food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce.
As the policy debate over antibiotic resistance rolls on, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Animal Health Institute, an animal drug industry group, are planning to hold a panel discussion on the critical role veterinarians play in public health, including their role in ensuring the responsible use of antibiotics.
“Veterinarians’ responsibility in keeping animals healthy is an essential part of the human health ecosystem,” read an email from AHI this week. “Whether working on a farm, in private or corporate practice, government, academic or uniformed services, veterinarians play an increasingly critical role in protecting public health.”
Fourteen people in six states are sickened with E coli 0145; the same strain killed a New Orleans toddler last week. While no one source has been pinpointed, state officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to solve the case and epidemiologists suspect food may be the culprit.
The case count is as follows:
Alabama (2)
California (1)
Florida (1)
Georgia (5)
Louisiana (3 ill, 1 death)
Tennessee (1)
The CDC has released a statement about the outbreak. They say that the most recent report of illness was on June 4, 2012. The dates when patients became sick range from April 15 to May 12, 2012. Three people have been hospitalized.
Public health officials interview victims with questionnaires, asking them about exposure to different foods, restaurants, animals, and other potential bacterial sources. A petting zoo has been eliminated as the cause of the outbreak.
Food safety experts agree that it’s important to release information about these illnesses, because if someone is experiencing symptoms of E. coli infection, they need to see a doctor and be tested for the bacteria. Each patient is an important link when trying to identify a source of the contamination; information from just one person could solve the case. Patients usually develop STEC infection symptoms within two to eight days after consuming the bacteria.
An Illinois-based firm is recalling approximately 96,408 pounds of meat lasagna products because they contain undeclared allergens.
Windsor Quality Food Co. of Toluca, IL issued a voluntary recall of two types of meat lasagna Wednesday because they contain egg and soy, both known allergens, but these ingredients are not named on product labels.
The products subject to recall are:
- Retail cartons of “Safeway Select Five Cheese Lasagna,” with package code April 4, 2013
- Shipping cases of “Safeway Select Meat Lasagna” with a Best By date of April 4, 2013
A Ferndale, Washington-based nutritional supplements company is voluntarily recalling 313 bottles of liquid supplements because they may be contaminated with Salmonella.
The company – Botanical Laboratories, Inc. – is recalling two of its Wellesse brand liquid supplements because the supplier of one of the ingredients in these products has indicated that the ingredient may contain Salmonella.
The products subject to recall include:
- 38 bottles of 33.8 oz. “Digestive 3 in 1 Health,” with “LOT 34552C (four-digit time code)A EXP 03/2014″ jet coded on the bottom of the bottle
- 275 bottles of 16 oz. “Digestive Health 3 in 1,” with “LOT 34441C (four-digit time code) A EXP 03/2014″ jet coded on the bottom of the bottle
Bay Valley Foods is recalling about 74,000 cases of pasta mixes manufactured by its subsidiary ST Specialty Foods, Inc. A seasoning blend made by Kerry Ingredients & Flavours used lactic acid that may be contaminated with small metal fragments.
To see all of the products, retailers where they are sold, UPC numbers, and MFG lot codes, please visit the FDA site.
On June 4, 2012, the USDA started requiring facilities to test beef trim for six non-0157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria (STEC). The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued Notice 40-12 about non-0157 STEC testing to clarify some points in the new test.
On September 2, 2012, 90 days after the testing implementation, plants must re-evaluate their Hazard Control and Control Point (HACCP) systems if they have positive tests and the hazard is not addressed in their current plan.
Six non-0157 STECs, 026, 045, 0103, 0111, 0121, and 0145, cause about 110,000 illnesses in the United States every year. In fact, there is currently an outbreak of E. coli 0145 that has sickened 11 people in four states and killed a toddler in New Orleans. These bacteria produce shiga toxins that cause hemolytic uremic syndrome and other serious complications, including heart attack, kidney failure, stroke, and severe anemia.
The SuperMedia Hotel and Conference Center, a hotel near the Dallas airport, closed temporarily this week after a guest was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease. It is not yet known if the guest contracted the disease at the hotel or elsewhere, but the hotel closed temporarily while tests are being conducted.
“A guest at the hotel attached to SuperMedia’s offices was treated for Legionnaires’ disease and released from a nearby hospital. After the one case was initially reported to us, we took the precautionary step of asking our employees to work from alternate locations while the appropriate tests were being conducted. No other cases have been reported and we don’t know that this case originated from the hotel,” Andrew Shane, a SuperMedia spokesperson, told Food Poisoning Bulletin.
On June 6, 2012, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture voted to cut funding for the FDA and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The bill now goes to the full House Appropriations Committee.
In this bill, FSIS will receive $9 million less than fiscal year 2012, and the FDA will receive $16.3 million less. This comes at a time when the FDA needs more resources to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. The FDA requested a budget increase of $253 million.
A coalition led by farmers and ranchers is using a last-minute strategy to stop USDA’s new Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) program. The groups involved are using economic grounds – especially the added costs that animal identification will impose on rural America.
In a 9-page letter to the Executive Office of Management and Budget, a unit of the White House, the sixteen organizations in the coalition say animal traceability could cost the U.S. cattle industry more than $1 billion a year.
The so-called ADT rule is a replacement for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), which became so unpopular with rural America that Congress for 2010 cut out its funding before it could be implemented.
ADT is essentially a diet version of NAIS. It is limited to animals moved interstate, will be run by state and tribal governments, is “low tech,” and is being implemented only through transparent federal rule making.
As soon as USDA opened the new program to public comments last fall, ADT came under fire almost as much as the old NAIS had.
Now the opposition is centered on the financial impact ADT will have on farmers and ranchers, and some of the faulty reasoning it says USDA used in working up the proposal. For example, it says USDA’s estimate that “only 30 million cattle” cross state borders each year is “contradicted by the publicly available data on the cattle industry.”
“The USDA has not done their due diligence investigating the true fiscal impact this will have on the livestock industry,” says Mark A. Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for the organic policing group called The Cornucopia Institute. ”Our concern is that the economic burden of this rulemaking, some of which is duplicative of many effective disease control programs currently utilized, will fall unfairly on family-scale farmers and ranchers.”
The federal government of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party is pushing for a tough new food safety law with greater penalties for violators and more unified enforcement powers.
Harper’s government Thursday introduced the Safe Foods for Canadians Act, Bill S-11, to overhaul Canada’s food inspection system.
Albert Chambers, executive director of the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, immediately hailed the government’s new initiative as a “major step forward.”
“The Coalition is a long-time supporter of modernizing food safety legislation and regulations as a key element in the development of a national, coordinated and integrated approach to food safety,” Chambers said.
“The proposals in Bill S-11 meet many of the food safety objectives of both industry and government; they complete initiatives identified by previous governments; and, they will position Canada’s food safety regime well in the rapidly changing global regulatory environment,” he added.
His coalition includes 29 national associations, three provincial associations, and six food companies as allied members. Together, the groups represent every link in the food supply chain from producers to distributors to retailers.
Last month the United States Department of Agriculture released its Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary which reports pesticide residues on fruits, vegetables and other foods commonly consumed in the United States. This was the 20th time this report has been published and it, in part, represents the transparency the USDA has with respect to food safety. The report provides detailed information on the types and amounts of pesticide residues found on foods sold in the U.S. marketplace. Consistent with previous years, when found, the levels of pesticide reported are extremely low among three government agencies — USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — all of whom advise consumers that the regular consumption of fruits and vegetables containing the amounts of pesticide residues reported is not thought to represent any safety risks.
This USDA report and the accompanying press release received scant media attention. Typically, stories with good news about the safety of our food supply get minimal coverage. Regrettably, there is a high probability that this pesticide residue report will be misrepresented by some, and consumers will be advised to shy away from certain fruits and vegetables due to allegations about “high” levels of pesticide residues. Unfortunately, this type of advice has garnered much media attention in the past.
Recent consumer research shows that warnings about the alleged dangers of pesticides may result in reductions in the overall intake of fruits and vegetables. While some could argue that providing information to consumers about pesticide residues simply fuels an increased shift from the consumption of conventionally grown crops to those grown organically, this ignores the issue that organically grown crops are typically more expensive, and higher produce costs could present a significant challenge to many in our society. While such a challenge might be reasonable if there were well documented scientific data that supported the contention that there are different health benefits of conventionally grown versus organically grown foods, at present this is not the case.
Washington, D.C. – A coalition of agriculture and consumer organizations from across the nation is challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to push ahead with a complicated and expensive Animal ID program. The organizations sent a joint letter to the Congressional Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this week arguing that the rule should be sent back to the USDA because of the impacts it will have on family farmers, ranchers, related businesses, and other citizens who own animals.
The letter cites research from North Dakota State University which estimated the costs for cattle as more than five times greater per animal than the USDA’s estimate, potentially creating costs of over a billion dollars per year.
The letter from the coalition also points out that USDA “arbitrarily assumed that only 30 million cattle” would be subject to the new regulatory requirements, even though this assumption was “contradicted by the publicly available data on the cattle industry.”
By underestimating both the number of animals affected and the cost per animal, the USDA estimated the fiscal impacts at under $100 million, claiming that the rule is not “economically significant” and placing it on the fast-track to be finalized after review by the OMB, which serves as the fiscal review agency for all regulatory matters.
The coalition’s critique provides additional information on the disproportionate impact on small farmers due to the on-ranch costs for equipment and labor involved in tagging and long-term recordkeeping. The coalition also notes that the agency failed to address the increased costs to livestock-related businesses, such as for certified veterinarians and sale barns.
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A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck off Taiwan, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
SUPPLIED
Food Poisoning Bulletin has learned that the multi-state E. coli 0145 outbreak includes Alabama. There are two confirmed cases of E. coli 0145 in Alabama, bringing the total number of patients in this outbreak to 11. There is still no official word from the CDC on the outbreak.
The Food Chain Workers Alliance has released a report that states that more than half of all employees in the food industry work while sick because they can’t afford to take time off and that most food workers are underpaid. This is the first survey that studied income and working conditions of employees in the entire food chain.
Fourteen people in six states are sickened with E coli 0145; the same strain killed a 
On June 4, 2012, the USDA started requiring facilities to test beef trim for six non-0157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria (STEC). The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued 
“A guest at the hotel attached to SuperMedia’s offices was treated for Legionnaires’ disease and released from a nearby hospital. After the one case was initially reported to us, we took the precautionary step of asking our employees to work from alternate locations while the appropriate tests were being conducted. No other cases have been reported and we don’t know that this case originated from the hotel,” Andrew Shane, a SuperMedia spokesperson, told Food Poisoning Bulletin.
On June 6, 2012, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture voted to 
