Let It Burn

"A fabulous Easter gift," commented Monsanto Director of Development Initiatives Elizabeth Vancil. Nearly 60,000 seed sacks of hybrid corn seeds and other vegetable seeds were donated to post-earthquake Haiti by Monsanto. In observance of World Environment Day, June 4, 2010, roughly 10,000 rural Haitian farmers gathered in Papaye to march seven kilometers to Hinche in celebration of this gift. Upon arrival, these rewarded farmers took their collective Easter baskets of more than 400 tons of vegetable seeds and burned them all.[i] "Long live the native maize seed!" they chanted in unison. "Monsanto's GMO [genetically modified organism] & hybrid seed violate peasant agriculture!"

According to Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, coordinator of the Papay Peasant Movement (MPP), "there is presently a shortage of seed in Haiti because many rural families used their maize seed to feed refugees."[ii] Like any benevolent disaster capitalist corporation, Monsanto extended a hand in a time of crisis to the 65 percent of the population that survives off of subsistence agriculture. But not just any hand was extended in this time of great need, rather: a fistful of seeds. The extended fist was full of corn seeds, one of Haiti's staple crops, treated with the fungicide Maxim XO. With similar benevolence, not just any tomato seeds were donated to the agrarian peasants, but tomato seeds treated with Thiram, a chemical so toxic the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled it too toxic to sell for home garden use, further mandating that any agricultural worker planting these seeds must wear special protective clothing.[iii] Happy Easter! Monsanto's web site's official explanation for this toxic donation is that "fungicidal seed treatments are often applied to seeds prior to planting to protect them from fungal diseases that arise in the soil and hamper the plant's ability to germinate and grow. The treatments also provide protection against diseases the seed might pick up in transfer between countries."[iv] However, according to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet, "repeated exposure [to Thiram] can affect the kidneys, liver and thyroid gland. High or repeated exposure may damage the nerves."[v] Why would Monsanto be so eager to donate seeds that could potentially compromise the health of so many famished people?

Marc Miller survived a motorcycle crash in October near his Baltimore County home, but his foot had been dragged along the pavement and badly damaged. That injury would require both the most advanced medicine and an ancient therapy - leeches.

Trauma doctors at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland and other U.S. hospitals routinely use leeches as a temporary measure to keep blood flowing as new vessels grow in a damaged area. The animals kept blood moving in and out of a new skin flap sewn onto Miller's foot. They also can get blood flowing to amputated digits that are reattached. And because the leeches' saliva has a natural anesthetic, some doctors now are looking to use them to ease pain.

"They can be the difference in whether the tissue lives or dies," Dr. Scott D. Lifchez, who treated Miller and is section chief of plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, said about the blood-sucking worms.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its approval to market leeches as medical devices in 2004, though they had been used for many years before then. And their use appears to be growing, said Dr. Ronald A. Sherman, director of the BioTherapeutics, Education and Research Foundation, which supports the medical use of leeches and other furry, slimy and microscopic animals.

Israeli researchers are reporting a link between exposure to artificial light at night (LAN) and elevated rates of breast cancer and prostate cancer. The 10-year study conducted by the University of Haifa's Biology Department confirmed suspicions that exposure to higher-intensity light during sleep can be dangerous. The results were recently published in the Chronobiology International journal.

More than 1,670 Israeli women took part in the study which found that those exposed to higher intensity light in their sleeping environment had 22 percent higher odds of developing breast cancer than those who slept in total darkness.

"Bulbs with high-intensity light contribute more to environmental light pollution, and lead to cancer," said researcher Professor Avraham Haim.

Study participants were asked about light in the bedroom from electrical fixtures, street fixtures outside the bedroom window, light from other rooms, and whether they went to sleep with the TV on.

The most significant predictor of breast cancer was exposure to artificial light in the bedroom.

Journalist Peggy Orenstein wrote Cinderella Ate My Daughter out of concern over what messages the "pink, princess" girl culture was doing to her daughter Daisy.

Surprisingly, taking a shuteye right after memorizing might be the best way to remember difficult lessons, as a new study by German researchers suggests that sleeping boosts memory retention and helps in learning faster.

Previous researches have established that fresh memories are stored temporarily in the hippocampal region of the brain, and reactivating these memories soon after learning helps in transferring the information permanently to brain's 'hard drive,' the neocortex.

The present study findings provide a completely different insight to the cognitive process by which we store and retrieve the acquired information, that is, learning.

According to the report, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the brain works better during sleep than in wakefulness to safeguard a recent memory and hence prevents it from getting fragile.

The Environmental Working Group analyzed the company websites and product labels of over 170 varieties of bottled water to see if the companies disclosed information on where water came from, how the water was treated, and whether the results of tests to ensure purity were revealed.

The researchers also called the bottled water companies to see if they would willingly give information to consumers.

More than half of the bottled water products failed the transparency test. Almost 20 percent didn't say where their water comes from, and an additional 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

According to Yahoo Green:

"Only three brands earned the highest possible ... Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water ...

[S]ix brands got the worst marks in EWG's report ... Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, and Cumby's Spring Water."

Sources:

Yahoo Green January 5, 2011

Environmental Working Group Report January 2011

New American research shows that there could be a link between the controversial MMR triple vaccine and autism and bowel disease in children.

The study appears to confirm the findings of British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who caused a storm in 1998 by suggesting a possible link.

Now a team from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina are examining 275 children with regressive autism and bowel disease - and of the 82 tested so far, 70 prove positive for the measles virus.

Last night the team's leader, Dr Stephen Walker, said: 'Of the handful of results we have in so far, all are vaccine strain and none are wild measles.

'This research proves that in the gastrointestinal tract of a number of children who have been diagnosed with regressive autism, there is evidence of measles virus.

'What it means is that the study done earlier by Dr Wakefield and published in 1998 is correct. That study didn't draw any conclusions about specifically what it means to find measles virus in the gut, but the implication is it may be coming from the MMR vaccine. If that's the case, and this live virus is residing in the gastrointestinal tract of some children, and then they have GI inflammation and other problems, it may be related to the MMR.'

Fears are growing over the safety of an anti-smoking "wonder drug", taken by nearly a quarter of a million Britons, after officials in America linked it to 37 suicides.

The Food and Drug Administration said it looks "increasingly likely" that there is a connection between the drug Champix and serious psychiatric problems.

The Mail on Sunday revealed in December that there were concerns over the drug after it emerged that seven deaths in Britain were thought to be linked to the pill.

But updated figures now suggest that 11 people taking Champix in the UK have died.

And reports of suspected adverse reactions to the drug to the Government's medicines watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, have risen by 35 per cent to 1,811 in just the past seven weeks.

The FDA began investigating Champix in November after a number of patients reported possible side-effects ranging from depression and agitation to headaches and nausea.

On top of the 37 suicides, it has recorded more than 400 cases of suicidal behaviour.

You've seen such lists before: 5 steps to prevent heart disease or some such thing. These lists usually say things like "cut your saturated fat," eat a "balanced diet" (whatever the heck that means), exercise, and don't smoke.

I would offer a different list. You already know that smoking is a supremely idiotic habit, so I won't repeat that. Here are the 5 most important strategies I know of that help you prevent heart disease and heart attack:


1) Eliminate wheat from the diet--Provided you don't do something stupid, like allow M&M's, Coca Cola, and corn chips to dominate your diet, elimination of wheat is an enormously effective means to reduce small LDL particles, reduce triglycerides, increase HDL, reduce inflammatory measures like c-reactive protein, lose weight (inflammation-driving visceral fat), reduce blood sugar, and reduce blood pressure. I know of no other single dietary strategy that packs as much punch. This has become even more true over the past 20 years, ever since the dwarf variant of modern wheat has come to dominate.

2) Achieve a desirable 25-hydroxy vitamin D level--Contrary to the inane comments of the Institute of Medicine, vitamin D supplementation increases HDL, reduces small LDL, normalizes insulin and reduces blood sugar, reduces blood pressure, and exerts potent anti-inflammatory effects on c-reactive protein, matrix metalloproteinase, and other inflammatory mediators. While we also have drugs that mimic some of these effects, vitamin D does so without side-effects.

Sausages, bacon, fried bread, black pudding, eggs - for generations it's been seen as the quintessentially British start to the day.

But our love of a 'full English' fry-up is in danger of sizzling out, according to a survey.

Just one in 100 is tucking in to bacon and eggs for breakfast each day, compared with more than half the population in 1950.

But with just over half of Britons estimated to be overweight, the dive in popularity could be partly explained by the battle to beat the bulge, according to the Good Food channel's Big Adventure Breakfast Report.

Ingredients of a 'Full Monty' fry-up, which averages 1,000 calories, are being replaced with less fattening options.