Life Abundantly

New Pesticides Killing the Honey Bees

2012-02-06T10:14:00.001-05:00

Is new form of pesticide to blame for catastrophic decline in honey bees?

US study shows latest nicotine-based sprays attack insects' immune systems

Last updated at 8:07 PM on 29th January 2012

A new generation of pesticides may be to blame for the catastrophic decline in Britain’s honey bees.

The contain chemicals, routinely used on farms and in garden centres make bees more vulnerable to disease, a study has shown.

There have been concerns for some years about neonicotinoids, a family of chemicals based on nicotine, but a study by an expert based in the US finally confirms a link.

Threat: Experts believe the sharp decline in Britain's bee population could be down to an increase in the use of nicotine-based pesticides

Conservationists have called for these pesticides, which became popular in the 1990s, to be banned as the insects are key to human’s survival – pollinating 70 per cent of the crops which produce most of the world’s food.

More...

Global warming will lead to fresher blueberries, plentiful fish and fewer winter deaths, finds official study (oh yes, and a lot of flooding)

The findings were published by the US government’s top bee expert Dr Jeffrey Pettis, who found that even minute doses of the chemical made bees three times more vulnerable to infections from parasites.

Drop: In Britain the number of bees has fallen by half since the 1980s

He said it could be a ‘major contributor’ to the mysterious decline of bees worldwide. In Britain numbers have fallen by half since the 1980s.

Matt Shardlow of the charity Buglife, which first raised concerns about these pesticides three years ago said: ‘The science is now clear: bees poisoned by neo-nicotinoids are much more likely to die from diseases, gather less food, and produce fewer new bees.’

Dr Pettis, of the US Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory tested bees given doses of imidacloprid – one of these neo-nicotinoid chemicals, which is produced by Bayer CropScience.

His findings are published in the German science journal Naturwissenschaften (CORR).

The study shows that in a laboratory setting infections by the nosema parasite – which gives bees dysentery – increased significantly when they were fed pollen spiked with the imidacloprid and then fed a sugar solution containing the bug, compared to those who did not have the chemical.

These pesticides were hailed as a breakthrough as they are not applied directly to plants but to the seeds so manufacturers thought they were more environmentally friendly.

But it seems tiny quantities of the pesticides stay active in the plant’s nectar and appear to attack bees immune systems.

The authors say in young bees, tiny quantities seem to weaken their gut and this could debilitate hives although it does not necessarily kill them off.

Other research suggests the chemicals confuse bees, causing them to lose their sense of direction and abandon their colonies.

Study: Research in the United States has shown that nicotine-based pesticides are present in plants' nectar and attack bees' immune sytems

However the decline of bees is complex, and experts say habitat destruction, mites and disease are also important.

Tim Lovett of the British Beekeepers Association said improving the pesticides may be better than a blanket ban.

He said: ‘This is very interesting and the authors are right to point out that it demands attention from regulatory bodies.

There is a link there but a ban may mean we may use other pesticides which are even worse, the evidence has to be looked at carefully.’

Bayer shed doubt on the findings, saying results the lab may not relate to conditions in the open air.

A spokesman said focusing on pesticides ignored the bigger issues of mites, and disease.

The French government restricted use of neo-nicotinoids but bee populations remained low.

You Become What You Think About

2012-02-06T09:52:00.001-05:00

We have all at least heard, You are what you eat. And, now we find, You become what you think about. If your thoughts are negative they can actually kill you! Just as bad food shortens life-span, bad thinking does the same. Are you making yourself sick?

Are Negative Thoughts Cutting Your Lifespan in Half?

Andre Evans
NaturalSociety
February 5, 2012

Are your thoughts generating life-threatening levels of emotional stress? Oftentimes we hold onto negative thoughts and emotions that are actually devastating your health — mentally and physically. Research has shown that high stress levels can actually increase your overall chance of death by a staggering 50%. Is your mindset propelling you into a strained state of less-than-optimal health?

Some people drag foul moods and thoughts with them like extra baggage. A small decision as to whether or not you want to continue along this path determines how you choose to act and react for the rest of your day– or perhaps much longer. Often the root causes of the negativity is ignored, with the individual focusing only on the side effects of the real problem. Remind you of something? It sounds like the ridiculous method of mainstream pharmaceutical science: treat the symptoms, not the disease!

Breaking the Life-Shortening Stress Pattern

Those who have fallen into this negative lifestyle pattern people are easy to recognize. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder; they’ve got something to prove. A haughty spirit and lofty eyes. The whole world is out to get them, and they feel that success is simply an impossibility. This includes the success of overcoming this negative mindset that ultimately turns into a negativelifestyle.

Ever notice how it’s easier to let go of a bad mood rather than to hold onto it? During any conflict, there’s a contention of pride involved. One person feels ‘justifiably’ mad, as deemed by their own assessment. Oftentimes when somebody is angry, they will find and make reasons to sustain the anger, even going as far as to further inflate the negative emotions!

This is the same stress-inducing negative lifestyle that could be cutting your lifespan in half! Thankfully, there are methods of combating this serious health threat.

Most people are usually the authors of their own social and emotional dilemmas. While this can lead to the same negative thoughts and feelings that are crushing your vitality, it can also help you overcome them. It is quite simple to let go of these burdens that you really do not have to carry. In fact, it’s beyond simple — your mind has complete control over your emotions!

It has been previously shown in studies that positive thoughts and affirmations can actually boost your overall health. Amazingly, these practices help you to make the right choices and overcome health burdens. The very opposite of stress-inducing negativity.

Ultimately, life is not meant to be wasted holding grudges and contentions of pride against other people. Even if you have legitimate cause for these negative thoughts, fueling it will only hurt you in the long run. Even in the face of adversity or frustration, do not let yourself be overcome with life-hampering negative burdens. The counter action to negative emotion is positive energy. Try injecting that instead.

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Does Cancer Have a Silver Lining?

2012-02-04T12:35:00.000-05:00

Could silver offer hope to cancer victims? May be... recent studies show that silver compounds were just as effective as chemo in some cases! Actually, to be as effective or even more effective than chemo isn't saying all that much... Almost anything (or nothing at all) is as effective as most chemo therapy...

But any how it is worth taking a look at, wouldn't you say?

Silver bullet for cancer: Metal can kill some tumours better than chemotherapy with fewer side effects

By ANTHONY BOND

Last updated at 9:00 PM on 2nd February 2012

Silver can kill some cancers as effectively as chemotherapy and with potentially fewer side effects, new research claims.

Scientists say that old wives tales about the precious metal being a ‘silver bullet’ to beat the Big C could be true.

The metal already has a wide range of medicinal uses and is a common antiseptic, antibiotic and means of purifying water in the third world.

Good news: Silver can kill some cancers as effectively as chemotherapy and with potentially fewer side effects, new research has claimed

And British researchers now say that silver compounds are as effective at killing certain cancer cells as a leading chemotherapy drug, but with potentially far fewer side-effects.

They compared it to Cisplatin, currently used to treat a wide variety of cancers, but known to have harsh side effects including nausea, vomiting and even kidney damage.

Silver is used already in everyday products such as deodorant with no known side-effects, and could make for a potentially cheaper alternative to platinum-based Cisplatin.

More...

Researchers from the University of Leeds conducted lab tests which exposed breast and colon cancer cells to various silver-based chemicals over a six day period.

Results, published in journal Dalton Transactions, showed that these silver-compounds were ‘as effective as Cisplatin’ at killing cancer with potentially fewer side effects.

While the team are still unsure about how exactly silver battles cancer, they think its effectiveness may be caused by the structure surrounding silver atoms, known as its ligand.

Way forward: Researchers from the University of Leeds found that silver could be used to help defeat breast cancer

They think this may help release the silver ion into cells when it enters the body, killing any cancer.

Study author Dr Charlotte Willans plans to spend the next year looking closely at what effect silver has on both cancerous and healthy cells, and whether it could be a safe and effective new anti-cancer drug.

She said: 'It’s certainly an exciting discovery, although I think we have a lot of work to do in the future. It opens the doors in terms of what we can do and investigate.

'Getting these results also gives us the opportunity we need to apply for funding to take the research further.

'This could lead to a cheaper, less toxic alternative to current treatments for cancer.'

Explaining the research in greater detail, Dr Willans added: 'As many are unfortunately aware, chemotherapy can be a very gruelling experience for the patient.

'Finding effective, yet non-toxic drugs is an ongoing problem, but these preliminary results are an important step in solving it.

'Our research has looked at the structure which surrounds a central silver atom. This "shrubbery" is what determines how reactive it is and what it will interact with.

'Our research has used different types of these ligands to see which is the most effective against cancer cells.'

The Super Bugs in Your Meat

2012-02-03T09:08:00.003-05:00

Could eating meat give you life threatening infections? Maybe, since drug resistant microbes are found routinely in meat, even organic, pasture raised meat...Could it be that the era of meat eating has come to an end?

Drug-Resistant Bugs Found in Antibiotic-Free Meat

By ScienceNow
Email Author
January 31, 2012 |
11:47 am |
Categories: Animals, Medicine

By Jill U. Adams, ScienceNOW

If you’re paying premium prices for pesticide- and antibiotic-free meat, you might expect that it’s also free of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Not so, according to a new study. The prevalence of one of the world’s most dangerous drug-resistant microbe strains is similar in retail pork products labeled “raised without antibiotics” and in meat from conventionally raised pigs, researchers have found.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), a drug-resistant form of the normally harmless S. aureus bacterium, kills 18,000 people in the United States every year and sickens 76,000 more. The majority of cases are linked to a hospital stay, where the combination of other sick people and surgical procedures puts patients at risk. But transmission also can happen in schools, jails, and locker rooms (and an estimated 1.5% of Americans carry MRSA in their noses). All of this has led to a growing concern about antibiotic use in agriculture, which may be creating a reservoir of drug-resistant organisms in billions of food animals around the world.

Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City who studies the movement of staph bacteria between animals and people, wondered whether meat products might be another mode of transmission. For the new study, published this month in PLoS ONE, she and colleagues bought a variety of pork products—395 packages in all—from 36 different stores in two big pig farming states, Iowa and Minnesota, and one of the most densely populated, New Jersey.

In the laboratory, the team mixed meat samples “vigorously” with a bacterial growth medium and allowed any microbes present to grow. MRSA, which appears as mauve-colored colonies on agar plates, was genetically typed and tested for antibiotic susceptibility.

The researchers found that 64.8% of the samples were positive for staph bacteria and 6.6% were positive for MRSA. Rates of contamination were similar for conventionally raised pigs (19 of 300 samples) and those labeled antibiotic-free (seven of 95 samples). Results of genetic typing identified several well-known strains, including the so-called livestock-associated MRSA (ST398) as well as common human strains; all were found in conventional and antibiotic-free meat. (The label “antibiotic-free” is not regulated, and the products were not “certified organic.”)

Smith says she was surprised by the results. In a related investigation, which has not been published, her group tested pigs living on farms and found that antibiotic-free pigs were free from MRSA, whereas the resistant bug is often found on conventional pig farms.

The study reveals an important data point on the path from farm to fork, yet the source of the MRSA on meat products is unknown, Smith says. “It’s difficult to figure out.” Transmission of resistant bugs might occur between antibiotic-using and antibiotic-free operations, especially if they’re near each other, or it could come from farm workers themselves. Another possibility is that contamination occurs at processing plants. “Processing plants are supposed to be cleaned between conventional and organic animals,” she says. “But how well does that actually happen?”

In another recent study, researchers from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, found that beef products from conventionally raised and grass-fed animals were equally likely to be contaminated by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli. In a second study by the same group, poultry products labeled “no antibiotics added” carried antibiotic-resistant E. coli and Enterococcus (another bacteria that causes invasive disease in humans), although the microbes were less prevalent than on conventionally raised birds.

“The real question is, where is it coming from, on the farm or post-farm?” says Paul Ebner, a food safety expert who led the Purdue studies. And the biggest question of all, he says, “Is it impacting human health?”

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest in this issue—feeding antibiotics to food animals,” says Ellen Silbergeld, an expert on health and environmental impacts of industrial food animal production at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. “Thus, determining when amending that practice makes a difference is important.”

“The definitive study would take every bacterium and follow that along until it gets in humans—from food supply to causing a certain disease,” Smith says. “It would be a huge and costly study that no one’s going to do, but that’s what the meat producers” say is missing.” Meanwhile, Smith says she will continue her investigations of MRSA, one potential transmission point at a time.

This story provided by ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science.

Image: Even pigs raised antibiotic-free may harbor MRSA bacteria. (Janice Haney Carr/CDC)

Updated: Feb. 1, 2012 at 10:20 a.m. EST. All original references to “organic” have been replaced by “antibiotic-free” because the meat used in this study was not certified organic.

Tags: Agriculture, antibiotics, meat, MRSA, pork, ScienceNOW

Computer Program Can Read Your Mind

2012-02-02T11:13:00.004-05:00

Having trouble tuning in to your friend's thoughts? Don't worry the problem has been solved with a computer program that can read thoughts and transcribe them! Throw your voice recognition soft-ware away- now you don't even have to say the words- just think them!

Mind-reading program translates brain activity into words

The research paves the way for brain implants that would translate the thoughts of people who have lost power of speech

Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 January 2012 16.59 EST
Article history

Algorithms translated the brain activity associated with hearing 'Waldo', 'structure', 'doubt' and 'property' into recognisable words. Video: PLoS Biology Link to this video

Scientists have picked up fragments of people's thoughts by decoding the brain activity caused by words that they hear.

The remarkable feat has given researchers fresh insight into how the brain processes language, and raises the tantalising prospect of devices that can return speech to the speechless.

Though in its infancy, the work paves the way for brain implants that could monitor a person's thoughts and speak words and sentences as they imagine them.

Such devices could transform the lives of thousands of people who lose the ability to speak as a result of a stroke or other medical conditions.

Experiments on 15 patients in the US showed that a computer could decipher their brain activity and play back words they heard, though at times the words were difficult to recognise.

"This is exciting in terms of the basic science of how the brain decodes what we hear," said Robert Knight, a senior member of the team and director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Potentially, the technique could be used to develop an implantable prosthetic device to aid speaking, and for some patients that would be wonderful. The next step is to test whether we can decode a word when a person imagines it. That might sound spooky, but this could really help patients. Perhaps in 10 years it will be as common as grandmother getting a new hip," Knight said. The study is published in the journalPLoS Biology.

The scientists ran tests on patients who were already in hospital for an operation to treat intractable epilepsy. In that procedure, patients have the top of their skull removed and a net of electrodes laid across the surface of their brain. Doctors use the electrodes to identify the precise trigger point of the patient's fit, before removing the tissue. Sometimes, patients wait for days before they have enough seizures to locate the source of the problem.

Scientist Brian Pasley enrolled 15 patients to take part. He played each a series of words for five to 10 minutes while recording their brain activity from the electrode nets. He then created computer programs that could recognise sounds encoded in the brain waves.

The brain seems to break sounds down into their constituent acoustic frequencies. The most important range for speech is 1-8,000 Hertz.

Pasley compared the technique to a pianist who can hear a piece in their mind just by knowing which keys are played.

He next played a collection of new words to the patients to see if the algorithms could pick out and repeat recognisable words. Among them were words such as "Waldo", "structure", "doubt" and "property".

The scientists got their best results when they recorded activity in the superior temporal gyrus, part of the brain that sits to one side, above the ear.

"I didn't think it could possibly work, but Brian did it," said Knight. "His model can reproduce the sound the patient heard and you can actually recognise the word, though not at a perfect level."

The prospect of reading minds has led to ethical concerns that the technology could be used covertly or to interrogate criminals and terrorists.

Knight said that is in the realm of science fiction. "To reproduce what we did, you would have to open up someone's skull and they would have to co-operate." Making a device to help people speak will not be easy. Brain signals that encode imagined words could be harder to decipher and the device must be small and operate wirelessly. Another potential headache is distinguishing between words a person wants to say and thoughts they would rather keep private.

Jan Schnupp, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University called the work "remarkable".

"Neuroscientists have long believed that the brain works by translating aspects of the external world, such as spoken words, into patterns of electrical activity. But proving that this is true by showing that it is possible to translate these activity patterns back into the original sound – or at least a fair approximation – is nevertheless a great step forward. It paves the way to rapid progress toward biomedical applications," he said.

"Some may worry though that this sort of technology might lead to mind-reading devices which could one day be used to eavesdrop on the privacy of our thoughts. Such worries are unjustified. It is worth remembering that these scientists could only get their technique to work because epileptic patients had cooperated closely and willingly with them, and allowed a large array of electrodes to be placed directly on the surface of their brains.

"We can rest assured that our skulls will remain an impenetrable barrier for any would-be technological mind hacker for any foreseeable future," he added.

Why All 'Cholesterol Drugs' Are Very Dangerous

2012-01-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

What is the biggest scam in medicine these days? Some would say the 'cholesterol' problem and statin drugs that are used to treat the 'problem'.

The problem wasn't a problem until Donald Rumsfeld made it into a problem that has now grown into a $29 billion a year 'solution' that is just as phony as the original 'problem'. Nowadays, doctors working for HMO's have a statin drug quota that they have to meet or get fired. That's why, if you don't know anything else, you know your cholesterol number. The side effects and the lack of benefits not with standing, Big Pharma is waxing richer and richer off the only kind of problem they can solve- the problems that don't exist.

Down load this study (below) and send it to your doctor. He or she probably doesn't know what you now know.

300 Side Effects of Statin Drugs

Post date:

Friday, January 27th 2012 at 10:00 am by Sayer Ji

While annual sales of statin drugs have reached $29 billion a year, globally, new concerns are being raised by a broad range of health and consumer advocacy organizations around the world regarding the growing body of clinical research indicating they may be causing far greater harm than good.
Despite the success of statin drugs for lowering cholesterol, over 300 health problems have been linked to this chemical class of drugs in peer-reviewed clinical research found on the National Library of Medicine.
GreenMedInfo.com, a biomedical research site, is offering a 63 page PDF for free and unlimited download, as part of a broad-based awareness campaign dedicated to informing consumers and health care practitioners alike of the danger represented by the indiscriminate and excessive use of this type of drug.
Natural Society, which has garnished a global following due to its hard-hitting investigative pieces into the role corporations play in adversely affecting environmental and human health, is spear-heading the dissemination of this message, and openly invites other organizations to join the cause.

The medical ethical principle of informed consent requires that patients be told the risks and benefits associated with their treatment. Until there is full awareness among the millions of statin users in this country, and abroad, that these drugs may be contributing to muscle damage, nerve damage, cancer, diabetes, and hundreds of other adverse health conditions, we believe the burden of proving them safe should be on the companies producing these products, as well as the regulatory agencies approving them for use, instead of the population being given them.

To become involved, copy and repost this release. Additional and/or media inquires:info@greenmedinfo.com, contact@naturalsociety.com

Cell Phones and Brains Don't Mix

2012-01-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

Your Brain or Your Cell Phone- You must choose

NaturalSociety
January 27, 2012

A new Greek scientific study has demonstrated how frequency electromagnetic fields, namely cell phones, portable phones, WiFi, and wireless computer equipment, alter important protein changes in the brains of animals. Exposure to electromagnetic frequencies is the result of our advancing technologies, but it is important to study these effects so people know exactly what they’re dealing with in order to take the necessary precautionary measures.

Cell Phones, EMF Negatively Altering Important Regions of the Brain

The study, entitled “Brain proteome response following whole body exposure of mice to mobile phone or wireless DECT base radiation,” was published in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine. Important areas of the brain such as the hippocampus, cerebellum, and frontal lobe are regions responsible for learning, memory, and other functions. These areas are negatively impacted by microwave radiation, even at levels below the safety guidelines put in place by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation protection.

Researchers found that 143 proteins in the brain were negatively impacted by radio frequency radiation over a period of 8 months. A total of 3 hours of cell phone exposure were simulated over the 8 month time period, and the results showed that many neural function related proteins’ functional relationship changed the for worse.

It is known that short term exposure of microwaves exuded from a cell phone, depending on how far the antenna is from the head, can penetrate as much as 1 1/2 inches into the brain, but this study focuses more on the long term effects and how EMF impacts specific brain proteins. This provides new evidence of the potential relationship between EMF and health complications stemming from EMF such as headaches, dizziness, sleep disorders, and even tumors and Alzheimer’s disease.

Another study conducted by a Russian team of researchers also showed that EMF and cell phones cause significant long-term cognitive decline in children. It may be time for parents to re-determine if young children should really be using these devices with growing bodies and developing brains.

A number of foreign countries are attempting to adopt precautionary protocols to limit cell phone use in an attempt to mitigate the number of adverse effects they have on human health. In 2011, the WHO/IARC released a report stating that cell phone radiation may have a carcinogenic effect on humans. In fact, the World Health Organization actually said that cell phones are in the same cancer-causing category as lead, engine exhaust, and chloroform.

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The Dangers of Artificial Joint Replacements

2012-01-30T13:06:00.002-05:00

The pain of arthritis in the hips and knees has led many to accept artificial joints as a solution. Now, studies indicate that they are not safe. The artificial hips introduce minute amounts of foreign material into the body that causes severe health problems- the poisoning effects on heart, lung, and muscles, not to mention the general toxicity to the body. Not only that, but the overall failure rate of the devices can be as high as 50% in just 6 years! These facts are not often disclosed to patients ahead of time. They only find out later when its too late. While it is possible to rebuild arthritic joints with very specific nutriton, the process is slow. It is better to avoid the development of joint disease through proper nutrition as a life-long practice.

Health warning over hip implants

Tens of thousands of patients who received hip replacements are at the centre of a major health alert over concerns they are poisoning their bodies.

Metal-on-metal implants were introduced in the UK in the 1990s when they were promoted as offering better mobility than replacements which use a metal ball and plastic socket

By Laura Donnelly, and James Clayton

9:00PM GMT 28 Jan 2012

187 Comments

Medical regulators are drawing up new advice for more than 30,000 Britons who have received “metal-on-metal” devices because of fears that they are even more dangerous than previously thought, a Sunday Telegraph investigation has found.

Problems occur with such devices when friction between the metal ball and cup causes minuscule metal filings to break off, which can seep into the blood and cause inflammation, destroying muscle and bone.

There are also concerns that the fragments could put the nervous system, heart and lungs at risk of being slowly poisoned.

The problems have been found to affect people of all ages but studies have found young and petite women are particularly at risk.

Patients with this type of hip replacement are already supposed to undergo annual checks, with scans and blood tests if doctors find symptoms that suggest metal leakage.

Advisers to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have decided the advice should go further due to concerns that the devices could cause “systemic toxicity” in the body.

The move comes as an investigation found:

Newly obtained research shows some hip replacements, which were withdrawn from the UK market in 2010, have far higher failure rates than had been known — of up to 50 per cent within six years.

Warnings from senior surgeons that although all patients given two specific implants should have been checked for metal leaks, not all have been contacted.

Nine legal firms are preparing compensation claims for 1,136 patients who suffered as a result of the two substandard devices.

A report from a conference of senior surgeons, held behind closed doors, describes the situation regarding all metal-on-metal hip replacements as “frightening” given the number of patients now suffering tissue reactions amid “component failure of catastrophic proportions”.

Metal-on-metal implants were introduced in the UK in the 1990s when they were promoted as offering better mobility than replacements which use a metal ball and plastic socket. They were seen as a better option for younger patients, who were likely to be more active and put more pressure on the joint.

In total, more than 40,000 patients in Britain have had them implanted. They include 10,000 who received two types of implants made by DePuy, a subsidiary of the health giant Johnson & Johnson, which were taken off the market in September 2010 because of declared “failure rates” of 12 to 13 per cent at five years.

More than 5,500 were given full hip replacements, with the rest given partial “resurfacing” operations with the devices. Now, a report on more than 500 patients, presented to the British Hip Society and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, has found failure rates of up to 50 per cent at six years for those given the full hip replacement.

Even among those given the more limited resurfacing treatment, one in four products failed within the same period, according to the study by surgeons in the North East.

Experts have not established why the DePuy models have such a high failure rate. In September 2010, the MHRA said orthopaedic surgeons should contact every patient given either a DePuy ASR or DePuy ASR XL model, to ensure they were monitored.

Any patients suffering abnormal pain or deteriorating hip function should have been offered tests to establish the levels of cobalt and chromium in their blood, and MRI or ultrasound scans to check for soft tissue reactions. If problems were found the device should be replaced, the alert said.

However, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose that the British Orthopaedic Assocation (BOA) has written to surgeons, expressing fears that not all patients who received the DePuy devices have been recalled for checks.

The letter, sent this month, says that records held by DePuy show that just over one third of patients who received the devices are recorded as having been recalled.

Professor Joe Dias, president of the BOA, said he understood that just 41 per cent of patients who received the implants were registered on this system.

He said it was possible that others had been recalled by hospitals, and undergone checks, without their details being centrally logged but that he was concerned that some had never been contacted.

The surgeon said that while private hospitals and large NHS units seemed to have been thorough in contacting patients, it was less clear whether small NHS units had done the same.

“My worry would be about cases where surgeons have retired, and no-one is following up on the patients they treated,” he said.

The implants’ manufacturers cannot contact patients directly, because they do not have access to their records.

In 2010, months before the DePuy recall, all 40,000 patients with metal-on-metal implants were told that they should undergo checks annually for at least five years.

The MHRA would not say when it would issue the new alert, or what it would say.

Stephen Cannon, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, said the type of damage caused by metal leakage could make replacement operations more difficult.

There was also concern that increased cobalt and chromium levels in the blood could be toxic to kidneys and, in the case of pregnant women, be passed on to the unborn child.

Experts expressed alarm that many people could remain unwittingly at risk from the products.

Peter Walsh from the patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents said: “It is outrageous that this has been allowed to happen and that patients who are at risk from these products have not been warned.”

He said the system of regulation for medical devices required a radical shake-up, with the disclosures about the safety of hip replacements following the fiasco in which thousands of women received potentially dangerous PIP breast implants made of industrial silicone.

Massive legal action is now under way over the DePuy claims with 1,136 already represented by lawyers. Some individual compensation claims are likely reach six figures to take account for loss of earnings from patients facing repeated operations and disability, lawyers said.

A spokesman for DePuy said the company was working to provide patients with information and support. He said the company had no comment on how many patients who should have been recalled were logged by their system.

The study showing a 50 per cent failure rate was based on findings by one surgeon, and was not in line with the latest national figures, which had found a five-year revision rate of 17 per cent for the full hip replacement, he added.

Law Forcing People into Experimental Vaccine Trials

2012-01-28T19:35:00.001-05:00

AMA Paper Proposes Law Forcing People into Experimental Vaccine TrialsMike BarrettNaturalSocietyJanuary 27, 2012How would you react if I were to tell you that you or your child were forced to participate in experimental vaccine trials? A paper published by the American Medical Association’s Virtual Mentor wants to do just that. It seems that the amount of current participants in current experimental vaccine trials is a bit too low, so why not create a federal law forcing each person to need to “opt-out” of experimental vaccine trials in an attempt to better society?AMA Proposes Law ‘Forcing’ Individuals to Participate in Experimental Vaccine TrialsThe proposed law is lunacy to say that least, stating that individuals must make a “mandated choice” to participate in such experimental trials. People shouldn’t be automatically enrolled in experimental trials or need to state in advance their decision to “opt-out”. Along with the law will come a customer list for big pharma, where each participant’s information will be shared with the pharmaceutical companies in order to gather trial and field test data. Of course this isn’t so different from how things operate now, where individuals are enrolled into big pharma’s database even if you exempt your child from vaccination. But if big pharma can’t produce enough positive data from those who actually want to volunteer for introducing a new product to the FDA for approval, they may just try to force people to participate or use a segment of the population that is ignorant to the laws surrounding the trials. What happens if these experimental vaccines cause harm? There are laws already set in place that essentially give vaccine manufacturers immunity to legal repercussions. That is to say that if your child is harmed from a vaccine, the vaccine manufacturers are not financially or morally responsible. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 protects vaccine manufacturers from any liability.Another example of similar medical and political tyranny is when a document was signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, where both vaccine makers and federal officials were granted complete legal immunity from any repercussions — regardless of whether or not the case is valid. Signed in July of 2009 by Sebelius, the document drew upon the provisions of a law signed in 2006 created for public emergencies. Granting swine flu vaccine makers legal protection and establishing a compensation fund, the legislation allows for vaccine makers to virtually disregard consumer safety.It is interesting to note that these laws are still needed even though health officials and vaccine makers tout vaccines as being 99.99% effective. But it isn’t so surprising, given the countless occasions in which vaccines have ruined both the lives of children and parents. Furthermore, previous attempts to test the anthrax vaccine on unsuspecting participants went sour after the public was alerted to the shocking history behind the anthrax vaccine. In a 2007 report by the CDC in conjunction with theVaccine Healthcare Centers of the Department of Defense and the watchdog group Government Accountability found that ”between 1 and 2 percent” of vaccinated military personnel experienced ”severe adverse events, which could result in disability or death.”As a result of public outrage, the government called off the testing.What would even happen if there were complications in future trials? Going by past history with other experimental vaccines, severe complications would probably just be hidden. The controversial trials of experimental AIDS vaccines that led to the loss of innocent lives have already been ignored by mainstream scientists and reporters. Even the scientists responsible for the deaths covered up the situation, failing to report the fatalities of their trials in order to prevent the public from finding out.Giving big pharma a guaranteed customer list of individuals while simultaneously giving them immunity from lawsuits is quite the deal. Through activism and spreading the word, hopefully such a deal will not be made.Explore More:AIDS Vaccine Coming Soon | Experimental Vaccine Led to Censored DeathsVaccine Makers Immune to Legal RepercussionsVaccine Information Week Starts Today, October 1stGenetically Modified HIV Vaccine Approved – Human Tests to Begin ShortlyScientists Announce a ‘Super Antibody’ Universal Flu VaccineInstitute of Medicine Admits Vaccine Dangers After ReviewThe Natural Society NewsletterEmail *

Nutt in Charge of Magic Mushroom Study

2012-01-25T10:20:00.001-05:00

Can psychedelic mushrooms be a treatment for depression and other psychological illnesses? Dr Nutt of the Imperial C0llege is leading a study to see if the mushrooms can benefit severely depressed patients.

Prof Nutt stressed that people should not be tempted to conduct their own experiments with magic mushrooms.

Magic mushrooms 'could treat depression'

Magic mushrooms could be used as a treatment for depression, scientists hope.

Magic mushrooms Photo: John Downing

2:51PM GMT 23 Jan 2012

A clinical trial of ''magic mushroom therapy'' could take place in the UK within a year following two ground-breaking studies.

Doctors plan to treat depressed patients who cannot be helped by modern drugs or behaviour-based psychotherapy with the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Psilocybin would slowly be infused into their bloodstreams while they receive a carefully tailored ''talking therapy''.

The controversial trial is planned by Professor David Nutt, from Imperial College London, who three years ago was sacked as the Government's chief drug adviser.

Prof Nutt, former chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) clashed with then Home Secretary Alan Johnson after criticising the decision to toughen the law on cannabis.

The move to investigate psilocybin as a possible treatment for serious depression is linked to results from two far-reaching scientific studies.

In one, volunteers were given psilocybin infusions while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans.

The findings, reported today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed the drug disconnected two key ''hub'' regions of the brain with multiple connections to other areas.

One of these regions, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is known to be hyperactive in people with depression. The other, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) at the back of the brain, is thought to play a role in consciousness and self-identity.

The second study, soon to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that the magic mushroom chemical enhanced memories associated with positive emotions.

Scans showed that the memory experience was very ''real''. Activity was increased in brain regions that processed vision and other sensory information.

Speaking to journalists in London, Prof Nutt said the findings were ''a revelation''.

''Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity, but surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas.

''These hubs constrain our experience of the world and keep it orderly. We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange.''

It is the first time serious research has been carried out on the effects of ''psychedelic'' drugs for more than 50 years.

In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists investigating drugs such as LSD and psilocybin carried out studies on around 40,000 patients and published 1,000 papers.

Such work was brought to an abrupt halt when the drugs came to be seen as social evils and were made illegal.

''They got banned because they could be society changing,'' said Prof Nutt. ''There was great concern about that. Since then they've been virtually impossible to research.''

He said finding support for the new studies had been ''damned difficult''. Neither the Medical Research Council (MRC) nor the Wellcome Trust, Britain's biggest research charity, had been willing to fund them. And both Nature and Science, the two most prestigious scientific journals, refused to publish the findings.

Now the MRC is said to be showing interest in the planned clinical trial, which Prof Nutt believes could be undertaken this year with sufficient backing.

Twenty six patients with a history of serious depression which cannot be treated with drugs or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are expected to take part.

Half will be treated with psilocybin while trained psychotherapists prompt them to recollect happy memories and think positively.

Findings from the earlier research suggest the positive effects of the drug might be long-lasting, or even permanent.

After the treatment, the patients' progress will be monitored for a year. Their responses will be compared with those of a ''placebo group'' of another 13 patients given infusions of a salt solution containing no psilocybin.

For safety reasons, both the PNAS and British Journal of Psychiatry studies involved healthy volunteers unaffected by mental problems. All had also taken hallucinogenic drugs in the past without reacting badly to them.

Thirty participants took part in the PNAS study and ten in the British Journal of Psychiatry study.

Volunteers had a range of vivid and ''dreamlike'' experiences including seeing geometric patterns, an altered sense of time, and the ''Alice in Wonderland'' sensation of being either very big or very small.

They also underwent ''mystical'' transformations of the sort reported by Buddhist monks who practise deep meditation. This has been described as the ''ego dissolving'' and becoming ''one with the universe''.

One volunteer described the effect of psilocybin as being like ''kneeling before God''.

Prof Nutt stressed that people should not be tempted to conduct their own experiments with magic mushrooms.

''This is a research tool which may give us insights into how to treat depression,'' he said. ''I would strongly resist people self-medicating.''

Dr Kevin Healy, who chairs the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, described the British Journal of Psychiatry study as ''interesting'' but added: ''We are clearly nowhere near seeing psilocybin used regularly and widely in psychotherapy practice.

''Although this study found that psilocybin enhanced autobiographical recollection in 10 healthy volunteers, we have no evidence that it would enhance a therapeutic response in patients, where the experienced relationship between patient and therapist is central to the therapeutic work.''

Witch's Brew to Destroy a Brain

2012-01-23T14:45:00.002-05:00

The addition of Aluminum and Fluoride together is a witch's brew that destroys

the personality and the ability to think and remember. As the chart below indicates there is a skyrocketing incidence of Alzheimer's dementia over the recent years- years that coincide with the atmospheric spraying of aluminum compounds called chemtrails. With fluoride already in the water supply this is a perfect witch's brew to destroy the minds of an entire population with every breath and every sip.

So what I want to know is, Who are the witches that have concocted this brew?

Aluminum + Fluoride = Alzheimer’s and

Dementia

Translation

(Chart taken from CDC National Vital Statistics 2000 report page 9)

Barbara H. Peterson

Farm Wars

Chemtrails contain “the oxides of metals,” according to this geo-engineering patent. These substances are supposedly sprayed into our atmosphere for “beneficial” climate manipulation, or geo-engineering, and residue tests indicate excess aluminum oxide in water and soil after heavy chemtrailing. Fluoride is put in our water to “prevent tooth decay.” Both of these actions, geo-engineering and fluoridation, on the surface, appear to be beneficial, with only good intentions behind their implementation. Really!

Aluminum is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease:

Certain aluminum compounds have been found to be an important component of the neurological damage characteristics of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Much research over the last decade has focused on the role of aluminum in the development of this disease. At this point, its role is still not clearly defined. Since AD is a chronic disease which may take a long time to develop, long-term exposure is the most important measure of intake. Long-term exposure is easiest to estimate for drinking water exposures. http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/alzheimers.htm
“Subacute to chronic toxicity: Aluminum may be implicated in Alzheimers disease.” (Material Safety Data Sheet)

…and dementia:

Dementia develops when the parts of the brain that are involved with learning, memory, decision-making, and language are affected by one or more of a variety of infections or diseases. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, but there are as many as 50 other known causes. Most of these causes are very rare.
http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-dementia

Fluoride “enhances the bio-availability of aluminum,” allowing it to cross the blood-brain barrier easier, thus making it more toxic. The following study is from 1998:

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND DEMENTIA – IMPORTANT NEW STUDY SHOWS GRAVE IMPLICATIONS FROM INTERACTION OF ALUMINUM AND LOW DOSE FLUORIDE
The latest edition of the peer-reviewed medical journal, Brain Research, (vol.784:l998), reveals that aluminum-induced neural degeneration in rats is greatly enhanced when the animals were fed low doses of fluoride. The presence of fluoride enhanced the bio-availability of aluminum (Al) causing more aluminum to cross the blood-brain barrier and become deposited in the brain. The aluminum level in the brains of the fluoride-treated group was double that of the controls.
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/aluminum.html

So why are we fluoridating our water supply? Considering that the secret is out about the effectiveness or lack thereof of fluoride to prevent tooth decay as referenced by the following report, how exactly is it that this potentially deadly combination has gone relatively unnoticed by the medical establishment? And probably the most important question of all is, why are we standing by and blindly accepting our poison without so much as a whimper?

Fluoride, Dentists “Magic Bullet” is Shooting Blanks
SOURCE: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
Poor Not Helped; Money Wasted; Kids in Dental Pain; Viable Alternatives Shunned
New York – January 20, 2012 — Despite decades of water fluoridation in New York State, the Journal of the American Dental Association reports that emergency treatment for NYS toddlers’ severe tooth decay has grown substantially in numbers and costs, many require general anesthesia, (1)reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF)
Fluoridation is touted as an effective cavity preventive that will save money. But this study and others proves it’s doing neither.
In 72% fluoridated NYS, 25,622 children, under six-years-old, made cavity-related emergency dental visits from 2004 though 2008. Visits grew from 4,361 in 2004 to 5,683 in 2008. Seventy-five percent required general anesthesia, up from 35% in 2004. Total costs: $121 Million ($18.5 million in 2004 increased to $31.3 million in 2008), most borne by taxpayers.
“There is a limited number of dentists willing to treat patients younger than 6 and/or accept Medicaid” write the NYS researchers.
More Statistics Show Fluoridation Fails New York State
NYS Department of Health statistics reveal that, even when water is fluoridated, cavity-rates are extremely high in low-income third-graders. (2)For example:
85% of low-income third graders have tooth decay in WayneCounty(74% fluoridated)
83% in OntarioCounty(61% fluoridated)
82% in CayugaCounty(not fluoridated)
82% in AlleghenyCounty(14% fluoridated)
81% in LivingstonCounty(55% fluoridated)
67% in SchuylerCounty(not fluoridated)
58% in NassauCounty(not fluoridated)
Fluoridation not only fails New YorkStatebut nationally children, the elderly and poor lack dental care.The General Accounting Office estimates that 6.5 million children aged 2 through 18 in Medicaid had untreated tooth decay in 2005.(3)
Oral health complications may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Annually, 164 million work hours and 51 million school hours are lost due to dental problems, according to the Instituteof Medicine. (4)Also, a 2008 study of the armed forces reveals 52% of new recruits had oral health problems needing urgent attention, reports the Pew Charitable Trust.
“The American economy is hurt by dentists’ refusal to treat low-income Americans and by organized dentistry’s lobbying to outlaw cheaper dental care by viable dental professionals, such as dental therapists,” says attorney Paul Beeber, NYSCOF President. “Fluoridation is a false concept that must be abandoned.”
Past Studies Show that when fluoridation ceases so do cavities (5 )
Cavity rates decreased six years after fluoridation was stopped in Kupio, Finland.
Seven years after fluoridation ended in LaSalud, Cuba, cavity-free children increased dramatically
Following the cessation of water fluoridation in the East German cities, Chemnitzand Plauen, a significant fall in caries prevalence was observed.
After fluoridation ended in the East German cities, Spremberg and Zittau, cavities in 12-year-olds significantly decreased
During an 11-month fluoridation break in Durham, NC,cavity rates remained stable but dental fluorosis declined in children born during that period
In British Columbia, Canada, “the prevalence of caries decreased
over time in the fluoridation-ended community while remaining unchanged
in the fluoridated community.”
In 1973, the Dutch town of Tielstopped fluoridation. Decayed, missing and filled surfaces dipped in 15-year-olds. Never-fluoridated Culemborg’s 15-year-olds had 72% less cavities over the same period.
Beeber says, “The multi-billion dollar Pew Charitable Trust continues to waste its resources promoting fluoridation in Iowa, Arkansas, Austin and elsewhere with misinformation. However, we agree with their findings that ‘Support for CWF (Community Water Fluoridation) is soft, especially among the following groups…Those who report being more knowledgeable of Community Water fluoridation.’”
Contact: Paul Beeber, Esq, 516-433-8882 nyscof@aol.com
http://www.Fluoridation.Webs.com
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
SOURCE: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

Research shows that fluoridation does not reduce cavities but quite possibly increases them, yet we fluoridate our water, then spray aluminum from the sky to pollute that water, the soil, and air. We unwittingly ingest this aluminum, take a nice cool drink of fluoridated water, and end up a few years down the road wondering where we misplaced our minds and health. This is a two-part mix that leads to a crippling disease.

Our brains and nervous systems are under attack, and we end up paying dearly for the privilege of being poisoned to death. Insane? Yes. But very real. Whether you believe we are being subjected to an intentional depopulation agenda or simply hapless victims of reckless corporate greed, it’s happening! You can’t refute the facts. Aluminum + Fluoride = Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The combination is deadly. They know it, I know it, and now you know it.

Notes:

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-dementia

http://www.nanomaterialstore.com/alo_alpha_msds.php

http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/aluminum.html

Toxic Mercury in Processed Food

2012-01-23T12:04:00.003-05:00

One of most toxic substances known is mercury. It damages the brain and other parts of the body. There is almost no 'natural' exposure to the metal. It must be administered artificially. So how is it that the majority of Americans will test positive for this toxic metal. Its in the vaccines, its in the food, its in the creams, its in the light bulbs...

Mercury Pandemic: Avoiding Toxic Levels of Daily Exposure

218

NaturalSociety
January 22, 2012

Mike Barrett

With today’s manufacturing there are many chemicals and toxins that are both purposefully added to products as well as unintentionally added. Mercury is one of those unintended additions to many of the products peopleconsume and topically apply every day. In order to avoid exposure to this heavy metal, and in turn avoid the risk of any heavy metal toxicity, you need to know where the metal resides in order to avoid it.

Mercury Highly Present in Many Foods and Consumer Products

One of the most significant places you may find mercury is in processed foods. In 2009, a study found that almost half of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury — a carcinogenic chemical element that is toxic in all its forms to the human body. Even more troubling, nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products that listed HFCS as the first or second ingredient were found to contain mercury as a whole. With an incredible amount of processed foods and fast foods containing this ingredient, the result could be described as a mercury pandemic. Instead of addressing this major public health concern, the FDA is focusing their time on crushing beneficial supplements through NDI regulations that threaten the entire infrastructure of the nutraceuticals industry.

Mercury is also very present in skin whitening creams and body care products. Mercury has been found in some of these products at levels as high as 300,000 parts per million. A newspaper sent 50 skin-lightening creams to a certified lab for testing. Six were found to contain amounts of mercury banned by federal law. Five of the six had more than 6,000 parts per million — enough to potentially cause kidney damage over time.

Another everyday product you may want to avoid is compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Only months after it was found that energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs release carcinogenic chemicals into the air, a new study has found that these harmful chemicals are continually released from the bulbs over a period of weeks to months. Furthermore, the study also found that the levels of mercury released exceed those that are considered safe for humans.

Avoiding these products will not only result in better overall health, but you will also dramatically reduce your exposure to mercury. Along with this avoidance, dental amalgam fillings, multi-dose vaccines, and seafood should also be avoided.

Explore More:

Ants and Grasshoppers: When Famine Comes

2012-01-23T11:49:00.001-05:00

Most people are not ants, most people are grasshoppers. Grasshoppers have fun while the ants are busy working. The ants seem to know the future and they prepare for it. They lay up food for the long winter so when spring comes they're still alive to start over. Grasshoppers die with the first frost and never live to see another season. Some people are preparing for the coming famine they can easily see on the horizon. Most people are grasshoppers who either see nothing or deny what they see. More than likely if you are reading this you at least have tendencies toward being an ant.

Alternative Foods in Famines,

by ShepherdFarmerGeek

January 21, 2012 6:41 PM

Several future scenarios include or produce famine on a very large scale. The goal of a famine feeding strategy is to get people from the beginning of the famine to the end alive and not permanently damaged. In extreme circumstances this may call for unusual measures…

Preparing for famine. We can be reasonably confident that any future crisis will include food scarcity. From EMP to pandemic, from war to drought, food is a critical resource. (The projected death rate from an EMP, including death from a variety of causes including famine, is 9 out of 10 Americans!) The sooner we can educate people about the dangers ahead the sooner every family can begin to prepare. Every little bit will help. And the sooner we start the better.
People need to know the facts in a non-inflammatory way and in a way they can relate to, “painting them a picture” so to speak of how it could affect them and their family. They need to know they cannot expect a government rescue, they need to take personal responsibility for their preparedness. And they need hope – to believe that their efforts can make a difference in the outcome.
Americans have been manipulated, lied to, cheated, and stampeded from issue to issue by unscrupulous people in government, education, the media, and even the church. We need a well thought-out strategy so that we don’t sound like crazies predicting the end of the world or selling something. That’s not going to happen without a lot of deliberation and work.

One of the reasons for getting a head start on famine preparedness is that the real experience of famine is horrible - it is surreal and disorienting and frightening. People need mental preparation, a sort of “mental inoculation” so that they are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually up for the challenge. Without this innerpreparation many people will give in to paralysis and hopelessness and make an already dire situation worse.
Consider all the time and effort and materials that are going toward creating lovely politically-correct landscaping in 99% of American cities. Most of that landscapingcould be replaced with food-producing plants, pasture grasses, fruit- or nut-producing trees, edible decorative plants, and even simply gardens. Fruit trees take several years to come to maturity – if people are going to plant them they are going to need to get going now..
As a group or a church becomes prepared their efforts will be multiplied by those in the community who catch the vision and understand the dangers. City policies for landscaping, even public landscaping, could be improved, and laws examined to allow emergency contractual changes to neighborhood covenants.
Gardeners need to be educated on how to grow insect resistant crops that don’t require pesticides, or that can be treated without commercial chemicals that will in all likelihood be unavailable. Cold-resistant and drought-resistant crops should be encouraged and seeds (for more than a single season’s planting!) and know-how distributed.

Stored foods. Clearly the best option in the face of famine is to buy food in advance! The challenges are (a) the cost of accumulating food over and above everyday consumption, (b) storing a large quantity of food, some of which will need special storage conditions, (c) making sure there is a nutritional balance, and (d) trying to guess how long a famine might last and how much might be needed. Because we can make some advance preparations now we even have the luxury of asking a nutritionist to help us develop a nutritionally sound plan, or of finding some individual or organization that has already done this basic meal planning. (A good resource is the LDS storage food calculator.)
In addition to a centralized storehouse, food storage should also be dispersed to individual homes as much as possible to make it harder to be all stolen or destroyed in one emergency or raid. Dispersed storage also means greater storage totals, and greater participation as people take personal responsibility. Bulk foods purchases could feed as many as 1,000 people for around $100 per day.

Raised foods. Raising basic, hardy crops such as beans, cabbage, beets / sugar beets, and potatoes can contribute significantly to the food available. It’s difficult to raise grain in a gardening situation, except for corn. Whether or not corn grows well will depend on what caused the famine in the first place – it typically needs a long, warm growing season which may not happen in some areas. Bean pollination can be improved (if insects are affected by cold or disease) by growing larger varieties and hand-pollinating. Sprouting grains in spring could provide an early “crop”. Unless massive amounts of vegetable seeds are made available to a community in advance, with gardening help, the first year’s crops are not going to come close to meeting the need.

Livestock. Livestock that can survive on foods that people do not eat (like grass) are an option (cows, sheep, rabbits, etc.), but livestock that requires grain input (chickens and turkeys) may not be an efficient use of the calories available. Care must be taken (if possible) not to eat livestock that may be needed for other essential purposes, such as oxen or horses for plowing or transportation. Growing children, the elderly, and the ill would benefit greatly from additional protein (eggs/meat) and fats.

Purchased/traded foods. In a famine some food typically continues to be available from traders or markets or even in stores, but at a significantly higher price. Saving up money to purchase food after a famine begins would be crazy, since far more food can be purchased for the same amount of money before it begins. But it’s possible that a delegation could be sent to other areas with a surplus to trade for food. A survival community theoretically could bring back additional food to sell to the public to cover the expenses of the trip.

Hunted/found foods. Hunting, fishing, trapping, and foraging are all good sources so long as there aren’t thousands of other people competing for the same resources. Once famine has thinned the population and concentrated people in the cities for government feeding programs, wild game and edible weeds/plants may rebound and be more available.

Gleaned foods. Combining a wheat field leaves significant amounts of grain still in the field where the combines miss the stalks – that grain can be collected. There may be fruit on fruit trees that was too difficult to reach or that was overlooked by pickers. All food harvesting processes should be investigated as possible gleaning candidates.

Discarded foods. An organized effort to collect food thrown out by restaurants and grocery stores could make a significant contribution to feeding people, and if nothing else scavenged foods may be fed to livestock to supplement their feed and indirectly contribute to feeding people. Fruit left in the field because of blemishes or damage, insect damage or rot, might yet have an edible portion. Even rotten, disgusting foods may provide highly-nutritious food for maggots (rather than feeding on feces), which can be safely consumed by humans.

Livestock feeds. Animal products like “All Stock” are made with bran, minerals, and molasses. It contains 12% protein (red wheat is typically 14%), 2% fat, 15% fiber, and vitamin A and D – it could be consumed by humans. “Cull peas,” a product of split pea manufacture, are peas that are too small to be processed for human use. A serving of pea soup has 8 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat, and 161 calories. Chicken scratch is just coarsely ground corn and wheat. It costs more than just plain whole corn and wheat, but if whole grain is not available the scratch is edible. The one thing to watch out for is that some foods unfit for human consumption are sometimes dumped in the livestock market – grains contaminated with mold, pesticides and other chemical contamination. Great care will need to be used to detect and avoid harmful feed (and it’s not good for the animals either!)

Insects. Millions of people around the world already know that the local insect population can be considered a potential food source. Maggots, or other large insects / bugs / worms such as earthworms and cicadas and grasshoppers are edible and nutritious when properly prepared. In ideal circumstances insects could even be raised, rather than having to be foraged for (found foods, below). Insects could be fed foods that are unfit for human and livestock consumption and produce high quality protein in return.

Lake “seaweed”. Not all algae is edible (avoid globular and floating!), but the long stringy strand-types can be boiled (or pressure-cooked!) and consumed, containing starches and even fats. There may be water pollution issues, but in a worst-case scenario that would be a secondary concern. Blooms of algae (floating on surface or making the water turbid) can be highly toxic and make everything in the water, including fish, toxic. Saltwater kelp/dulse (sea lettuce) is edible.

Non-traditional foods. Some things are edible (or could contribute nutrition to a meal) that are not commonly considered food. Some foods consumed by other cultures may have been rejected as too spicy, disgusting, or strong. Even dogs, cats and horses in excess of what is needed for security and agriculture/hauling should be considered if times are desperate enough. Bones discarded by butchers (turkey bones, chicken bones, etc.) contain valuable nutrients, as do organ meats including heart, lung, kidneys, liver, and intestines. They’re all edible, all safe and nutritious, and all consumed in many other non-Western cultures today. See e University database of foods known to be used by populations around the world in famine. Just three crops - maize, wheat and rice - account for about 40% of the world's consumption of calories and protein. 95% of the world's food needs are provided for by just 30 species of plants. In stark contrast, at least 12,650 species names have been compiled as edible (Kunkel 1984)

Fillers. Historically, chaff and fine sawdust have been added to breads to make the flour go further and still be filling. It’s not nutritive, but it’s filling as a last resort. Steel-cut (pin-cut) oats can be added to chopped meats to extend the meats because the oats take on the flavor and are nutritious in themselves.

A note about Vitamins. If every family would stockpile a year’s supply of a goodmultivitamin for each person it would be a huge help toward meeting their nutritional needs (particularly Vitamin D.) People escaping famine by pouring into Irish cities in the mid-1800’s died more frequently from disease caused by crowded conditions (and weakened immune systems) than directly by starvation. “In famines, most people do not die of hunger but of hunger-related fevers and diseases,” according to the excellent Multitext Project in Irish History.

Where do we start? “The minimum survivable calories varies between individuals, with 600 to 1,000 given as a standard range, according to the US Army Survival Handbook. The less active an individual is, the fewer calories he can eat and still survive.” There are a lot of variables to consider, and active, contributing persons would need more food than inactive and barely surviving ones. We don’t know how bad a famine will get or how long it will last, but we have to start somewhere:
The last time I checked, locally purchased wheat straight from the silo costs $200 a ton. That's just 10¢ a pound. At 92 calories per ounce that works out to 1472 calories/pound, and around 14,000 calories per dollar (roughly 72¢ per person per day). Bulk, un-winnowed wheat could be the cheapest calories per dollar deal we can find, and could be the foundation for a desperate food planning strategy. If I did the math right about 1,000 people could be fed on $72 per day. It’s not impossible to save a lot of people.

"Pinto beans are much more nutritious but more expensive ($1,600 per ton at Costco), and corn, potatoes (dried or stored in cool/humid conditions), oats, sugar, oil (corn oil keeps and is inexpensive) – all can be bought in bulk. Using the figures from Paul B.’s SurvivalBlog article Staple Foods Storage By The Numberstarget nutrient categories per person per day are 112.5 grams of protein, 412.5 grams of carbohydrates, 100 grams of fat, and 40 grams of fiber. Much of that can be met with wheat, supplemented with other bulk foods as well as the alternative food sources mentioned above in this article.

Replant, Store, Raise, Hunt, Trap, Fish, Forage, Scavenge, Glean, Trade, and “eat outside of the box” – these are all famine survival strategies, but without aplan very little is going to get done. The effort in your community, your church, your club needs to begin NOW – today – and be led by the “vision bearer” – the person who “gets” that there is a storm coming and who has the leadership charisma to organize and motivate people. (This person might or might not be a person in the officially sanctioned ranks of an organization or church!)

Preparing for a famine, to prevent widespread death from hunger in our community, will be hard work that requires leadership and sacrifice and focus. We can probably save ourselves - those of us who have already been “prepping” for years – but the compassion of God calls us to save as many others as we can.
Find a way. Be Prepared. Trust God. We can do both.

Why Johnny Is Shootin Blanks

2012-01-22T16:28:00.002-05:00

Monsanto's Roundup Pesticide is very deadly against agricultural pests, and also sperm cells a new study finds. Apparently, life = life = life... If you can kill one form of life, more than likely the same thing will kill other forms as well. Sort of makes sense if you think about it. How could any of these things be good in the long run?

Montsanto's Round Up Pesticide is also a Spermacide

Andre Evans
NaturalSociety
January 21, 2012

A recent study has found that Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide may be responsible for causing infertility. After reviewing the many already well-documented negative impacts Roundup has on the environment and living creatures, it is no surprise to add yet another item to the list.

Researchers tested roundup on mature male rats at a concentration range between 1 and 10,000 parts per million (ppm), and found that within 1 to 48 hours of exposure, testicular cells of the mature rats were either damaged or killed. According to the study, even at a concentration of 1 ppm, the Roundup was able to affect the test subjects by decreasing their testosterone concentrations by as much as 35%.

How can such small levels of exposure have such a profound effect on the reproductive system? Roundup, being a glyphosate-based herbicide is also known to have endocrine disrupting properties.

Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility

Much like BPA, glyphosate-based herbicides have the ability to interfere with the natural hormonal balance in the human body, thereby introducing a number of health risks along with even the smallest levels of exposure. These chemicals are strong enough to affect your metabolism, behavior and mood, reproductive organs, and even provoke cancer.

As a result, any plants that are sprayed with roundup carry with them a chemical effect similar to that of other endocrine disruptors, offsetting the hormonal balance and causing adverse effects, despite even the smallest levels of exposure. This in part contributes to the number of males with increased fertility issues in more recent times.

It is no surprise that Monsanto, a company already infamous for a whole slew of dangerous concoctions, would also be responsible for affecting another major aspect of human health on a large scale.

Ultimately it is highly important to avoid any products sprayed with pesticides or herbicides for the many associated health risks – now fertility included. In addition to avoiding food which has been tarnished by this pesticide, you may also want to consider investing in a water filter. The carcinogenic chemical Roundup contains known as glyphosate has been found to be contaminating the groundwater in areas it is being applied in.

Being aware of the hormonal disruptors you face in your daily life such as BPA and now Roundup is a must. Even the smallest levels of exposure can have the large negative effects.

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Why Real Food Costs More (video)

2012-01-18T12:46:00.001-05:00

Any one who tries to save money on food is a fool. Why? Because US government subsidies favor food products like Twinkies over whole natural foods like carrots. Save money on car insurance if you want, or on your cable but not on food. Right now, if you want to eat good food you have to pay extra- unless you grow it yourself...

65% of Fish from Japan is Radioactive

2012-01-18T12:16:00.000-05:00

The mainstream media and government continue their silence on the ongoing global nuclear disaster spewing forth from Fukushima, Japan. But we all share the same air and water and what is taking place in one place on the globe, especially of the magnitude of Fukushima affects us all one way or another. The the radioactive contamination of all of Japan continues, it means that anything from Japan is likely to be radioactive. As a major world fishing nation, seafood from Japan is widely exported. How safe is it now? Recent reports show massive amounts of radiation...

After Fukushima, fish tales

S
BY ALEX ROSLIN, SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE JANUARY 13, 2012

More Images »
An aerial view of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Honshu in March after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan: The garbage patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas.
Photograph by: U.S. Navy
After the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years, authorities in Canada said people living here were safe and faced no health risks from the fallout from Fukushima.
They said most of the radiation from the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant would fall into the ocean, where it would be diluted and not pose any danger.
Dr. Dale Dewar wasn’t convinced. Dewar, a family physician in Wynyard, Sask., doesn’t eat a lot of seafood herself, but when her grandchildren come to visit, she carefully checks seafood labels.
She wants to make sure she isn’t serving them anything that might come from the western Pacific Ocean.
Dewar, the executive director of Physicians for Global Survival, a Canadian anti-nuclear group, says the Canadian government has downplayed the radiation risks from Fukushima and is doing little to monitor them.
“We suspect we’re going to see more cancers, decreased fetal viability, decreased fertility, increased metabolic defects – and we expect them to be generational,” she said.
And evidence has emerged that the impacts of the disaster on the Pacific Ocean are worse than expected.
Since a tsunami and earthquake destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant last March, radioactive cesium has consistently been found in 60 to 80 per cent of Japanese fishing catches each month tested by Japan’s Fisheries Agency.
In November, 65 per cent of the catches tested positive for cesium (a radioactive material created by nuclear reactors), according to a Gazette analysis of data on the fisheries agency’s website. Cesium is a long-lived radionuclide that persists in the environment and increases the risk of cancer, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which says the most common form of radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which monitors food safety, says it is aware of the numbers but says the amounts of cesium detected are small.
“Approximately 60 per cent of fish have shown to have detectable levels of radionuclides,” it said in an emailed statement.
“The majority of exported fish to Canada are caught much farther from the coast of Japan, and the Japanese testing has shown that these fish have not been contaminated with high levels of radionuclides.”
But the Japanese data shows elevated levels of contamination in several seafood species that Japan has exported to Canada in recent years.
In November, 18 per cent of cod exceeded a new radiation ceiling for food to be implemented in Japan in April – along with 21 per cent of eel, 22 per cent of sole and 33 per cent of seaweed.
Overall, one in five of the 1,100 catches tested in November exceeded the new ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilogram. (Canada’s ceiling for radiation in food is much higher: 1,000 becquerels per kilo.)
“I would probably be hesitant to eat a lot of those fish,” said Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Fisher is researching how radiation from Fukushima is affecting the Pacific fishery. “There has been virtually zero monitoring and research on this,” he said, calling on other governments to do more radiation tests on the ocean’s marine life.
“Is it something we need to be terrified of? No. Is it something we need to monitor? Yes, particularly in coastal waters where concentrations are high.”
Contamination of fish in the Pacific Ocean could have wide-ranging consequences for millions.
The Pacific is home to the world’s largest fishery, which is in turn the main source of protein for about one billion people in Asia alone.
In October, a U.S. study – co-authored by oceanographer Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the non-profit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., – reported Fukushima caused history’s biggest-ever release of radiation into the ocean – 10 to 100 times more than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.
“It’s completely untrue to say this level of radiation is safe or harmless,” said Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility.
Edwards, who is also a math professor at Vanier College, said Fukushima has highlighted how lackadaisical Canadian authorities are about radiation risks – the result, he says, of the influence of Canada’s powerful nuclear industry.
“The reassurances have been completely irresponsible. To say there are no health concerns flies in the face of all scientific evidence,” said Edwards, who has advised the federal auditor-general’s office and Ontario government on nuclear-power issues.
Other Fukushima impacts have been unexpected, too. The first debris swept into the sea by the tsunami reportedly started to wash ashore on the west coast in mid-December, a year earlier than scientists and authorities predicted.
Residents of Vancouver Island, Alaska and the U.S. Pacific coast have said they’ve found large quantities of bottles, cans, lumber and floats.
The debris is part of 18 million tonnes of debris from Japan floating across the Pacific – taking up an area thought to be twice the size of Texas.
The impact of the debris on the Pacific is unclear. Much of it is expected to eventually join an already massive patch of existing garbage floating in the Pacific gyre.
The arrival of the debris on the west coast also appears to have caught Canadian authorities off guard.
“What debris are you talking about?” Health Canada spokesman Gary Holub asked when contacted for a comment this week.
“Debris from Japan is not expected on the west coast of Canada for another year.”
He asked a reporter to email him media stories about the debris. Later, Holub emailed a statement saying “there has been no official confirmation that the source of this debris is from the tsunami in Japan.”
He said, “It is ‘highly unlikely’ the debris will be radioactive and that Health Canada will await scientific data before deciding whether to test any of it.”
It’s also unclear how the debris will impact fish in the Pacific.
But there is a good chance Canadians have already eaten some of the types of fish most likely to be contaminated with cesium, based on the Japanese fisheries data.
Japan exported $76 million of food products to Canada in 2010, including $13 million of fish and crustaceans. No figures were available for 2011.
The Gazette analyzed the Japanese fisheries data for 22 seafood species that Japan has exported to Canada in recent years.
Some cesium was found in 16 of these 22 species in November, the last full month for which data was available.
Cesium was especially prevalent in certain of the species:
73 per cent of mackerel tested
91 per cent of the halibut
92 per cent of the sardines
93 per cent of the tuna and eel
94 per cent of the cod and anchovies
100 per cent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish
Some of the fish were caught in Japanese coastal waters. Other catches were made hundreds of kilometres away in the open ocean.
There, the fish can also be caught by fishers from dozens of other nations that ply the waters of the Pacific.
Yet, Japan is the only country that appears to be systematically testing fish for radiation and publicly reporting the results.
CFIA is no longer doing any testing of its own. It did some radiation tests on food imports from areas of Japan around the stricken nuclear plant in the weeks after the Fukushima accident.
Only one of the 169 tested products showed any radiation. CFIA stopped doing the tests last June, saying they weren’t needed.
“The quantities of radioactive material reaching Canada are very small and within normal ranges,” CFIA spokesperson Lisa Gauthier said in an emailed statement.
“They do not pose any health risk to Canadians, the food we eat or the plants and animals in Canada.”
In August, CFIA also tested a dozen samples of fish caught in B.C. coastal and inland waters. None of those tests found any radiation.
CFIA said it has no plans to do any other radiation tests on fish in the Pacific or imports from other nations that fish in the ocean, including Japan.
CFIA now relies on Japanese authorities to screen Japanese food exported to Canada.
But Japan’s monitoring of food has come under a storm of criticism from the Japanese public after food contaminated with radiation was sold to consumers.
A Canadian seafood industry official was surprised when told CFIA doesn’t plan any more tests of Pacific fish.
“It is certainly our expectation that the CFIA will test again this year,” said Christina Burridge, executive director of the B.C. Seafood Alliance.
The alliance is an umbrella of Pacific seafood harvesting associations whose member firms generate about $700 million in yearly revenues.
Burridge said CFIA promised her group last spring it would test Pacific salmon and tuna returning to B.C. fishing grounds in 2012 and 2013 because of the possibility those fish could have migrated close to Japan.
“We all agreed that if there was any risk of contamination, it would be in 2012 and 2013,” she said.
She wouldn’t comment on the Japanese fisheries data, which she hadn’t seen previously. But she said of the data: “It would reinforce our expectation that the CFIA would test this year.
“We want to be able to assure our customers that our expectation that there will be no increase in detectable levels (of radiation) is true,” she said.
She said she based this expectation on “a general belief that contamination will be limited to the coastal waters off Japan.”
But despite this belief and the importance of the Pacific fishery, few studies exist on how Fukushima affected marine life.
One of those studies found that fish and crustaceans caught in the vicinity of Fukushima in late March had 10,000 times more than so-called safe levels of radiation. The study, published last May in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, also said macroalgae had 19,000 times the safe level.
Those levels were measured before the Japanese utility that runs the crippled nuclear plant dumped 11,000 tonnes of radioactive water into the Pacific in April and additional leaks that have released hundreds of tonnes more.
But since that early study, little research has been published on the topic.
“People want to know what’s happening with the cesium and how much is in the fish, but we don’t know. It’s frustrating,” said oceanographer Buesseler.
“It’s disconcerting how big of an event Fukushima was and how little data are out there. No one has taken responsibility for studying this in a single agency (in the U.S.), even though we also have reactors on the coast and other events could happen,” he said.
SUNY’s Fisher agrees: “In the U.S., it’s very difficult to acquire funding to do that work. A lot of people are very frustrated. Funding agencies are already spread incredibly thin, and they were not prepared for this,” he said.
After governments refused to provide funds, Buesseler, Fisher and other scientists secured funds from a private foundation for a research voyage in the Pacific to gather radiation data on fish, plankton and water.
Fisher can’t discuss his findings because they aren’t published yet. He expects to send them for publication in coming weeks.
Buesseler has already reported some results from the 15-day cruise last May and June.
He co-authored the study in October that said cesium levels in the Pacific had gone up an astonishing 45 million times above pre-accident levels. The levels then declined rapidly for a while, but after that, they unexpectedly levelled off.
In July, cesium levels stopped declining and remained stuck at 10,000 times above pre-accident levels.
It meant the ocean wasn’t diluting the radiation as expected. If it had been, cesium levels would have kept falling. The finding suggested radiation was still being released into the ocean long after the accident in March, Buesseler said in an interview.
“It implies the groundwater is contaminated or the facility is still leaking radiation.”
The Japanese fisheries data seems to support this conclusion. Far from declining, contamination levels in some species were flat or even rose last fall, including species that Japan exports to Canada like skipjack tuna, cod, sole and eel.
In November, the average Japanese catch had 111 becquerels of cesium per kilogram – above the new radiation ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilo that Japan has announced it will implement for food this spring.
The November level declined from a peak level of 373 becquerels per kilo last April. But it was an increase from the October average of 78 becquerels per kilo.
Such persistently elevated levels of radiation warrant more monitoring and research, Fisher said. “It’s not something we can easily dismiss.”
Continuing radiation leaks from Fukushima could be to blame, he said. Another culprit, he said, may be a phenomenon called biomagnification – the tendency for radiation concentrations to increase in species that are farther up the food chain.
About 2.7 per cent of the fish catches also exceeded Japan’s existing ceiling for food of 500 becquerels per kilo. That was also up from one per cent in October.
In November, 0.8 per cent of Japanese catches exceeded Canada’s ceiling of 1,000 becquerels per kilo, up from 0.2 per cent in October.
But food with radiation below these limits can still pose health risks, Edwards believes. “There is no safe level of radiation. They should be making every effort to monitor food.”
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/After+Fukushima+fish+tales/5994237/story.html#ixzz1jpYBQ8vh

Are You Drinking Toilet Water?

2012-01-13T11:25:00.004-05:00

The National Research Council says toilet water is better for you then fresh water. Are they right? Are you sure you aren't already drinking it? Maybe you better check.

Toilet on tap: Panel recommends Americans drink more waste water to combat future shortages

'Wastewater is a drought-proof supply and a very viable option compared to imported water and other options'

By DANIEL BATES

Last updated at 8:03 PM on 11th January 2012

Next time you pour a glass of water from the tap try not to think about this - you might be about to drink what you once flushed away.

Rising numbers of Americans are consuming wastewater, or 'toilet on tap', without even realising it, according to an official report.

Even though it once contained human waste, food scraps and bath scum, the National Research Council claims that it could actually be better for you than fresh water.

It also says says that only wastewater that has been treated gets back into circulation, although the last industry-wide study was done was back in 1980.

Waste not, want not: Water flushed down the toilet, or emptied from sinks, bathtubs, washing machines and dishwashers heads to a treatment plant where materials like oils, soaps and chemicals is filtered out

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, wastewater is nothing more than 'used water'.

It includes substances such as oils, soaps and chemicals and comes from sinks, bathtubs, toilets, washing machines and dishwashers.

Businesses and industries also contribute their share of used water that must be cleaned.

Wastewater is sent to a treatment plant where large material is filtered out before it is oxygenated to make it safe for human consumption.

The NRC looked at water drawn from a normal source that had five per cent wastewater and compared it to a sample which had been completely treated.

'You can have a supply that is as safe as the current drinking water supplies. It's a drought-proof supply.'

- Professor Jörg Drewes

By examining 24 different potential contaminants and a number of pathogens, they found no difference in risk between the two.

In fact, when it came to the pathogens, the fully wastewater sample had fewer.

The announcement from the NRC is a change from its stance in 1998 when a paper said that reclaimed water should only be used for drinking as 'an option of last resort'.

Jörg Drewes, an engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines who contributed to the report said that wastewater was now a 'viable option'

He said: 'This can be done reliably without putting the public at risk.

'We can really say that there is no difference from the risk standpoint. You can have a supply that is as safe as the current drinking water supplies.

'Wastewater is a drought-proof supply. People are always generating wastewater.

'That can be a very viable option, the committee felt, compared to imported water and other options.'

Water scarcity is growing problem in the U.S. especially in arid states like California and Arizona.

Contributing to the problem is the amount we waste - less than 10 per cent of drinkable water is used for cooking, drinking, showering or washing dishes.

Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group, said: 'We flush it down the toilet, literally...we have to do something'.

In the instances where wastewater has been put back into the system, voters have sometimes reacted badly and rejected it.

Water reuse projects also tend to be more expensive than most water conservation options, although they are cheaper than seawater desalination.

In Arizona a case is currently ongoing in the Federal Court over the use of reclaimed water to make snow at a ski resort.

Until it is resolved the U.S Forest Service in Flagstaff has put up a sign telling people not to eat the snow, even though it is considered safe for skiing.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085351/Toilet-tap-Panel-recommends-Americans-drink-waste-water-combat-future-shortages.html#ixzz1jM8Xxj45

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65% of Fish from Japan is Radioactive

After Fukushima, fish tales

An aerial view of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Honshu in March after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan: The garbage patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

Photograph by: U.S. Navy

Are You Drinking Toilet Water?

The National Research Council says toilet water is better for you then fresh water. Are they right? Are you sure you aren't already drinking it? Maybe you better check.

Toilet on tap: Panel recommends Americans drink more waste water to combat future shortages

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