This looks like a repeat of yet another BSE-style closed cycle caused and rapid transport spread epidemic...


Concerns grow in Europe over threat from deadly pig virus

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea Virus (PEDv) has killed some seven million piglets in the US in the past year. The disease has also been found in Canada, Mexico and Japan.

While the virus isn't harmful to humans or food, France is concerned over the potential economic impact...

PEDv is spread in faecal matter...

... In North America, the disease has moved rapidly, with around 4,000 outbreaks in 30 US states, in four Canadian provinces and in parts of Mexico.
Virus on the move

Experts in the field believe that lax biosecurity is an important factor.

In June last year, a US study found that 17% of trucks going into a slaughterhouse were positive for the infection. "They also discovered that 11% of the trucks that had been negative when they went into the slaughterhouse were subsequently positive when they left," said Dr Zoe Davies from the UK's National Pig Association (NPA).

"It's how many animals you are moving around, that's how its being spread."

Another factor that is making the disease more difficult to stop is the use of dried pig blood in feedstuffs that are given to weaned piglets...



All a game of cruel crude business-with-no-morals and no cares?


We are our world around us...
Martin

Did we learn nothing from feeding cows to cows? :(

Here's to drinking your processed foods Marketing poison:


Coca-Cola to remove controversial drinks ingredient

... Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is found in Coca-Cola fruit and sports drinks such as Fanta and Powerade. An element of the additive, also found in flame retardants, could have negative health effects, activists say...

... BVO has been used as a stabiliser in fruit-flavoured drinks as it helps to prevent ingredients from separating.

The health concerns stem from the fact BVO contains bromide, which is found in brominated flame retardants. According to medical researchers at the Mayo Clinic, excessive consumption of soft drinks containing BVO has been linked to negative health effects, including reports of memory loss and skin and nerve problems.

BVO was dropped from the US Food and Drug Administration's "Generally Recognized as Safe" list of food ingredients in 1970. However, drinks companies are allowed to use BVO...

In Japan and the European Union, the use of BVO as a food additive is not allowed...

... Coca-Cola's decision to remove BVO from its drink reflects a growing move among companies to reconsider certain practices due to public pressure...


Incredible!

We are what we eat and drink...
Martin

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Here's to continued carefree poisonous dangerously intensive farming practices:



Concerns grow over farm drugs used like 'sweets'

The widespread use of antibiotics on farms without medical supervision has been condemned...

It's estimated that 80% of the antibiotics purchased in the US are used on farm animals.

The drugs are given as prophylactics to livestock to help them avoid illnesses that are transmitted easily between beasts confined in large-scale feed lots. The drugs are also used to boost the animal's weight.

But the large-scale use has prompted concerns...

... Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this abuse of the drugs led to 23,000 deaths from infections resistant to treatment.

Part of the problem in the US is that often the antibiotics are administered by producers or farmers, without medical supervision. A survey by the Department of Agriculture found that less than half of dairy farmers followed a vet's recommendations...



Incredible!

We are what we eat and drink...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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That is the issue that worries me most for the upcoming decades; not global warming, not nuclear war, or any of the 'big' issues. What will happen when bacteria have developed resistance to our relatively puny arsenal of antibiotics. I contributed several paragraphs on the subject to a review published in ChemComm last year.
We haven't developed any completely new antibiotics since 1987, when i was barely out of nappies. If people keep abusing these resources as they currently do, one by one our supply of antibiotics will become useless, and then we're screwed!

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

And here's to carefree Marketing?


The country where nearly two-thirds of men smoke

... "Tobacco companies in Indonesia and elsewhere are targeting very much young people who are conscious of image, conscious of 'the cool factor'," she says.

Some, she says, were as young as 10 and 11. The tobacco industry, however, always vehemently denies it targets children.

As yet, East Timor's hospitals are not overrun with patients suffering from smoking related diseases as the young have not been smoking cigarettes long enough to incubate them...

... Some 80% of the world's smokers live in developing countries and "young people are learning that what they're supposed to do to be Western and advanced is to smoke cigarettes," he says.

"Now we have to change their whole way of thinking and start worrying about tomorrow. I'm afraid we're going to have to go through a phase of learning the hard lesson that's been seen throughout poor countries."

He isn't convinced that the government is serious about tackling the problem - the tobacco lobby, he says, is powerful.

"They can make it seem like [smoking] is something that's a pleasure, something that adds to your life and puts meaning on your life. You're up against a propaganda machine - for cigarettes, smoking and the image. And that's a tough battle."


Reminiscent of the propaganda pushing Fossil Fuels use, and even for subsidizing their use? All despite there being better alternatives available...

All in the name of profit without morals?


All in our only one world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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All by the power of sweetly unhealthy Marketing?


Call to halve target for added sugar

People need to more than halve their intake of added sugar to tackle the obesity crisis...

... The sugar industry said "demonising one ingredient" would not "solve the obesity epidemic".

The body reviewed 600 scientific studies on the evidence of carbohydrates - including sugar - on health to develop the new recommendations.

One 330ml can of fizzy pop would take a typical adult up to the proposed 5% daily allowance, without factoring in sugar from any other source. ...

... The target of 5% is a huge challenge when teenagers are currently getting 15% of their calories from added sugar...



All a continuing example of our health being poisoned by "processed" food?...


All in our only one world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Innocent badgers scapegoated for cattle profits?...


Radical plan needed to stop spread of cattle TB - study

New research suggests that the spread of TB in cattle can only be controlled if more radical measures are adopted...

... The lead researcher has told BBC News that the study also confirms research that shows culling badgers will at best slightly slow down rather than stop the epidemic...

... the study's conclusions "give further support to the view that culling badgers is not an effective strategy for controlling bovine (cattle) TB".

"Instead, the emphasis should be on stopping cattle-to-cattle transmission. It is to be hoped that Defra takes on board this latest piece of scientific evidence when they formulate their policy for the future," he added...

... Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust and a policy advisor to campaigners Care for the Wild, said: "It is now time for the government to call an immediate halt to all future badger culls and to move its focus to the gaping holes in its cattle management policy, which this report shows has allowed TB in cattle to spread."



And also what of the other example of the bad farming practice of "cottaging" with cruel long transport of live animals all for the sake of silly bureaucracy and even more silly labeling?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH SUPERMARKETS?

... Whilst this has indeed improved conditions in abattoirs, it has made the cost for independent operators of replacing them locally, financially prohibitive. Journeys of 200-400 miles to slaughter are not unusual for animals today; the average journey from farm to abattoir has been estimated at 100 miles. Supermarkets regularly make a premium selling 'Scotch beef' and 'Welsh lamb' despite the fact that they may have only been transported across the country and pastured in Scotland or Wales for just two weeks...



And the unhealthy spread from that is...?


All in our only world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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No surprise here:


Clear differences between organic and non-organic food, study finds

Organic food has more of the antioxidant compounds linked to better health than regular food, and lower levels of toxic metals and pesticides, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date...


So... The Big Agri-Businesses really are poisoning us all and the all the worms...



All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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No surprise here: So... The Big Agri-Businesses really are poisoning us all and the all the worms...

Non "organic" and "organic".

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The organic apple looks much tastier to me...

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

The organic apple looks much tastier to me...

You are a tiny minority. I have no objection to organically grown food or free range chickens as long as no one tries to force them on me.

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The organic apple looks much tastier to me...

You are a tiny minority. I have no objection to organically grown food or free range chickens as long as no one tries to force them on me.

The non-organic looks unnatural and even unnaturally waxed. Such apples can taste 'watery' due to rapid growth.


Unfortunately, supermarkets and their large control of the food chain are unnaturally seeking 'perfection' and consistency to have foodstuffs fit nicely into packaging which then 'teaches' the ignorant public to expect such unnatural things...

Hell, each supplier chain has it's own branded colour of egg yolks! Dare you guess how that is done...


All far too hard boiled to be natural or good for anyone other than those extorting the profits...

If you should go down to the farm today, you may see something that may open your eyes...


All in our only one world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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The non-organic looks unnatural and even unnaturally waxed

Waxing apples keeps them shiny for a year. It's all about the presentation. I don't see a problem as both types of farming can exists giving a choice. Let the free market decide.

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The non-organic looks unnatural and even unnaturally waxed

Waxing apples keeps them shiny for a year. It's all about the presentation. I don't see a problem as both types of farming can exists giving a choice. Let the free market decide.

The question there is:

Do we have a "free and fair market"?

Free from unnatural and anti-competitive coercion?...


All in our only world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Do we have a "free and fair market"?

Free from unnatural and anti-competitive coercion?...

Growing apples is not "net neutrality". Anyone can be Johnny Apple seed. My grandfather had wild apple trees on his dairy farm. They weren't very appealing for picking and eating but they made great pies. Are you suggesting Birds Eye is conspiring to keep you from buying rotten apples? My grandfather is gone but the trees are still there. The apples all rot on the ground as no one wants them. You are welcome to stop by in October and pick your fill.

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This has taken a long time coming:


Chain smoker's widow awarded $23bn in punitive damages in Florida

A jury in Florida has awarded the widow of a chain smoker who died of lung cancer 18 years ago record punitive damages of more than $23bn against America's second-biggest cigarette maker, RJ Reynolds.

The judgment, returned on Friday night, was the largest in Florida history in a wrongful death lawsuit... Cynthia Robinson, of Pensacola, sued the cigarette maker in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael Johnson, claiming the company conspired to conceal the health dangers and addictive nature of its products.

Johnson, a hotel shuttle-bus driver who died of lung cancer in 1996 aged 36, smoked between one and three packets a day for more 20 years, starting at age 13, Chestnut said.

“He couldn't quit. He was smoking the day he died...

... jurors appeared to have been swayed by evidence of the company's aggressive marketing of tobacco products, particularly promotions aimed at young people, and by its claims that it was Johnson's choice to smoke.

“They lied to Congress, they lied to the public, they lied to smokers and tried to blamed the smoker,”...



Note how some of the Fossil Fuels industry use the same Marketing people with the same "lies" of FUD and denial...

How long before the damage is done?

How soon before people shout loud enough to get rid of the dirty old polluters?


All on our only one world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

This has taken a long time coming:


Chain smoker's widow awarded $23bn in punitive damages in Florida

A jury in Florida has awarded the widow of a chain smoker who died of lung cancer 18 years ago record punitive damages of more than $23bn against America's second-biggest cigarette maker, RJ Reynolds.

The judgment, returned on Friday night, was the largest in Florida history in a wrongful death lawsuit... Cynthia Robinson, of Pensacola, sued the cigarette maker in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael Johnson, claiming the company conspired to conceal the health dangers and addictive nature of its products.

Johnson, a hotel shuttle-bus driver who died of lung cancer in 1996 aged 36, smoked between one and three packets a day for more 20 years, starting at age 13, Chestnut said.

“He couldn't quit. He was smoking the day he died...

... jurors appeared to have been swayed by evidence of the company's aggressive marketing of tobacco products, particularly promotions aimed at young people, and by its claims that it was Johnson's choice to smoke.

“They lied to Congress, they lied to the public, they lied to smokers and tried to blamed the smoker,”...



Note how some of the Fossil Fuels industry use the same Marketing people with the same "lies" of FUD and denial...

How long before the damage is done?

How soon before people shout loud enough to get rid of the dirty old polluters?

Martin, I want to know why cigarettes are still sold. They have known about the health risks here in the US since the middel 60's. Bet yet they continue to sell them. Any state that selle cigarettes should not be able to sue anyone. Infact the states should be sued for selling them.And Any idiot who still smokes should have no recourse to sue for getting cancer or what ever you can get sick from smokeing.
And untill a cheaper form of energy is availble to all of the world that everyone can afford to use, Fossil wont die. Id love to have a wind turbine and a solar panel for my energy use. I cant freaking afford to get them. Public transportion is basically non existant unless you live in a city. And why would I buy an electric car when my electric bill is high enough now. Even with me trying to limit my usage.
You cant pass laws on carbon without sticking it to the poor pepole who cant afford the latest dodadds.All on our only one world,
Martin

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[/quote]

Old James

Martin, I want to know why cigarettes are still sold. They have known about the health risks here in the US since the middel 60's. Bet yet they continue to sell them. Any state that selle cigarettes should not be able to sue anyone. Infact the states should be sued for selling them.And Any idiot who still smokes should have no recourse to sue for getting cancer or what ever you can get sick from smokeing.
And untill a cheaper form of energy is availble to all of the world that everyone can afford to use, Fossil wont die. Id love to have a wind turbine and a solar panel for my energy use. I cant freaking afford to get them. Public transportion is basically non existant unless you live in a city. And why would I buy an electric car when my electric bill is high enough now. Even with me trying to limit my usage.
You cant pass laws on carbon without sticking it to the poor pepole who cant afford the latest dodadds.

All a balance of freedoms?...

I think there is a fine balance that people should be free to do as they please provided they do not impose upon others.

So, all well and good for the tobacco industry to have and to sell tobacco. Provided that is they do not lie and deceive and entrap the unwary to profit from killing them.

My understanding is that the smoking tobacco has been specially developed to be especially addictive. I consider that to be entrapment rather than selling a product for pleasure.

There is also the long history of FUD that has been peddled by the tobacco industry to ignore all the bad health effects. Worse still, their marketing has very cynically targeted children in various ways. Why else do you still see children smoking like old troopers? And yet they are a long way short of their 16th birthday!...


Meanwhile, we are all being slimed by the lies and deceit in the pursuit of profit by the old dirty fossils desperate to pollute us all to hell. All in the name of profit at everyone elses' expense and the world be damned.


All on our only one world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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China's turn

Anyone fancy visiting MacDonald's today?

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http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/07/30/5-food-writers-subpoenaed-in-pink-slime-lawsuit/

Several food writers, including a New York Times reporter, have been subpoenaed by a meat producer as part of its $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC in regards to the network's coverage of a beef product dubbed "pink slime" by critics.

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