I think it’s safe to say that our national agricultural system is failing. Despite having the potential to produce 2,500 calories per person, more than 925 million people go hungry every day. And this record-breaking heat wave sure isn’t helping. A recent New York Times article points out the obvious and disturbing effects heat and drought have on our crop system. What was recently thought to be a record-breaking corn harvest is looking scarce, driving up corn prices and giving the farmers throughout the Midwest a scare.
The issue begins with industrial farming. Large-scale farms dominate the market these days, crowding out smaller farms. A common argument for industrial farming is that it is the only way to feed our ever-growing population. Going on the premise that this is true (don’t worry, I’ll explain why it isn’t in a minute), there are still a bunch of problems with industrial farming. First off, look at the management practices. Herbicides and pesticides are thrown around their fields, which their genetically modified crops are resistant to. This practice is creating super-weeds, which have also developed a resistance to all the ‘cides. To expedite growing, farmers use nutrients (primarily phosphates/nitrates) en masse. The plants, then, leech the ground dry. Without proper crop rotation and land management, the topsoil just can’t keep up. So, lets add some more nutrients. Simply speaking, it isn’t sustainable.
But if it’s the only way to feed our kids, why not do it? Well, it isn’t the only way. Genetic engineering’s history is incredibly short. They only started planting GMOs in modest about 25 years ago. This whole industrial farming deal was really put into effect post-Dust Bowl, when the government sought to bring together agriculture and science through land grant universities. What we’ve found however is that large scale agriculture, while producing tons upon tons of food, is extremely wasteful. When looking at production per acre, small-scale farms are exceedingly more productive, more sustainable, and employ more workers.
Sounds like a win-win, right? So why not stop dead in our tracks and revert? Well, obviously, we can’t. And while there are a lot of reasons why we can’t, I blame Monsanto. Farming has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, with Monsanto leading the charge. Monsanto, a multi-billion-dollar company, has the agricultural market in virtual choke hold. A former Monsanto exec named Michael Taylor now heads off food safety for the FDA, and Justice Clarence Thomas also used to work for Monsanto. Their practices include monopolizing the seed market and genetically engineering food like corn, soy, and alfalfa. It’s safe, they say, because they’ve been doing it for 14 years. Right. Anyway, Monsanto has been known to aggressively protect all of their product, going at lengths to keep farmers from reproducing seeds on their own (to be fair, the SCOTUS did give them the right to. It pays off to have a judge). Monsanto essentially takes jobs out of the hands of farmers; a few farmers on a large farm using GMOs is much more profitable than having a bunch of farmers on a small farm.
Now, while we’d all like to believe that returning the land to the farmers and farming sustainably would fix all of our woes, we can’t ignore the economic implications. Industrial farming is much cheaper. Oh wait, that’s because industrial agriculture has the government pumping subsidies into it like a flat tire. Don’t believe me? Our government has given out over 240 billion in subsidies in the past 10 years, but only to the big guys. This effectively masks the true cost of industrial agriculture. Take away the subsidies, add the cost of long-term health care for the workers exposed to carcinogens, plus land and water restoration for all the pollutants left behind, and suddenly the price tag looks a little less like a Wal Mart sweater and a bit more like a Louis Vuitton belt. No one should bear the price of a Louis Vuitton belt.
I don’t expect a full reversal. I don’t even think that is necessarily the way to go. I think what needs to happen is that we examine our farm system with a critical eye, see what science can do for sustainable farming, and where all that subsidy money would be better located. Don’t tell Justice Thomas or Michael Taylor though.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/10775/monsanto-needs-to-get-its-paws-off-our-crops-industrial-agriculture-is-not-the-answer
ChanneledKnowledgeTV
Friday, July 20, 2012
Hospira Drug Re-Call Due to Glass Particles
Hospira Inc said it has issued a nationwide recall of four of its injectable cancer drugs because of particles embedded in the glass at the neck of the vial.
The drugs recalled are carboplatin, cytarabine, paclitaxel, methotrexate and were distributed nationwide to wholesalers and direct customers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there may be potential for the drugs to come into contact with the embedded particles and the particles may become dislodged into the solutions.
Injury could result if the solution were injected into a patient, the FDA said. Signs and symptoms might include bleeding, bruising, inflammation, itching, rash, chest pain and respiratory symptoms.
Hospira attributed the root cause to a supplier glass defect and said it was arranging for return and replacement of all recalled products, according to the FDA notice.
Formal recall letters have been distributed within the U.S. along with notification to safety organizations. (Reporting By Debra Sherman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/cancer-drug-recall-glass-particles-hospira_n_1676389.html
The drugs recalled are carboplatin, cytarabine, paclitaxel, methotrexate and were distributed nationwide to wholesalers and direct customers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there may be potential for the drugs to come into contact with the embedded particles and the particles may become dislodged into the solutions.
Injury could result if the solution were injected into a patient, the FDA said. Signs and symptoms might include bleeding, bruising, inflammation, itching, rash, chest pain and respiratory symptoms.
Hospira attributed the root cause to a supplier glass defect and said it was arranging for return and replacement of all recalled products, according to the FDA notice.
Formal recall letters have been distributed within the U.S. along with notification to safety organizations. (Reporting By Debra Sherman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/cancer-drug-recall-glass-particles-hospira_n_1676389.html
Nano Insect Drones Used for Espionage
Insect drones known as micro air vehicles (MAVs) are being developed as the newest source of reconnaissance and spying, all at a miniature level. Currently, smaller drones have been researched by a variety of sources, from the U.S. Air Force to the Netherlands.
Insect drones were first publicly discussed in 2007, when small flying objects were reported above protestors, who thought they were being spied upon. Eventually, Tom Ehrhard, a retired Air Force colonel, came out and told the Daily Telegraph that "America can be pretty sneaky"- not a full admission, but rumors were brewing.The next year, the U.S. Air Force unveiled "lethal mini-drones" insect spies "as tiny as bumblebees," according to Daily Mail. They were used to "photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists."
That was in 2008, however, and not much of the program has been heard from since. Insect drones have not been known to be tested in actual combat or reconnaissance situations- a step propelled forward by researchers recently.
The University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab recently unveiled their insect-like drones, which function with "little or no direct human supervision" in "dynamic, resource-constrained, adversial environments." Their drones, though, operate in groups called SWARMS and include 20 nano quadrotors flying simultaneously.
The U.S. is far from the only country interested in technology that mimics nature in order to remain undetected. The Netherlands has a project called BioMAV- Biologically Inspired A.I. for Micro Aerial Vehicles- which managed to get drones down to a parrot's size.
http://global.christianpost.com/news/insect-drones-will-completely-blend-into-their-surroundings-says-researcher-77019/
Read more at http://global.christianpost.com/news/insect-drones-will-completely-blend-into-their-surroundings-says-researcher-77019/#qreTsAdEYA4cMR11.99
Syria's Fallen Ministers
General Daoud Rajha, the Syrian defence minister, deputy general commander for the Syrian army and deputy prime minister, was killed on July 18 2012 when the National Security building in central Damascus was targeted by a suicide bomber during a meeting of high-level officials on Wednesday. The blast also fatally injured deputy defence minister Assef Shawkat, while others reportedly sustained serious injuries.
Rajha, who previously served as army chief of staff since 2004, succeeded his predecessor Ali Habib Mahmud as defence minister in August 2011, reportedly for his loyalty to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Washington imposed sanctions on Rajha in March, including a freeze of any assets held in US jurisdiction and a ban on conducting any business with Americans.
Born in 1967, Rajha was a Greek Orthodox Christian, a rarity for the Alawite-dominated Syrian military and government.
After being trained as an artillery specialist in the military academy, he reached the rank of lieutenant general in 1998 and general in 2005.
In May of this year, the Free Syrian Army claimed that it had killed six high-ranking officials - one of which was allegedly Rajha - within Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The original claim was that a bodyguard of a senior official had poisoned the officials, but rumours of his death were dispersed when he was re-appointed for the same post in June.
Al-Assad's 62-year-old brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, also reported to have been killed in the suicide attack, was one of the pillars of Assad family rule.
Widely seen as a member of the president's inner circle, Shawkat was appointed deputy head in 1994 and then chief of military intelligence in 2005. He became deputy defence minister in September 2011.
US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks described him as both a clever, well-read officer and as part of Syria's "killing problem".
Born in 1950 to a middle-class Alawite family in Tartous, Shawkat joined the army in the late 1970s, working his way up through the ranks.
His big break came when he divorced his first wife and married Bushra, Bashar's older sister, despite the fact that late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and his eldest son Basil initially disapproved of the match.
However, Shawkat's relationship with the new generation of Assads appears to have remained tempestuous. Diplomats say Maher, Bashar's younger brother and head of the elite Republican Guard, once shot him in the stomach, and that Bashar himself was wary of his brother-in-law.
The US and EU imposed sanctions on Shawkat in 2011, accusing him of playing a key role in suppressing demonstrations. He was also sanctioned in 2006 by the US for the suspicion that he orchestrated the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and other officials seen as threats to Syrian influence.
In March he was listed by opposition leaders as one of the six officials to have been poisoned along with Rajha. Syrian state TV confirmed that he was in fact killed alongside Rajha in a suicide attack on July 18, 2012.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/2012718132147531114.html
Rajha, who previously served as army chief of staff since 2004, succeeded his predecessor Ali Habib Mahmud as defence minister in August 2011, reportedly for his loyalty to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Washington imposed sanctions on Rajha in March, including a freeze of any assets held in US jurisdiction and a ban on conducting any business with Americans.
Born in 1967, Rajha was a Greek Orthodox Christian, a rarity for the Alawite-dominated Syrian military and government.
After being trained as an artillery specialist in the military academy, he reached the rank of lieutenant general in 1998 and general in 2005.
In May of this year, the Free Syrian Army claimed that it had killed six high-ranking officials - one of which was allegedly Rajha - within Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The original claim was that a bodyguard of a senior official had poisoned the officials, but rumours of his death were dispersed when he was re-appointed for the same post in June.
Al-Assad's 62-year-old brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, also reported to have been killed in the suicide attack, was one of the pillars of Assad family rule.
 |
| Back left: General Assef Shawkat [AP] |
US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks described him as both a clever, well-read officer and as part of Syria's "killing problem".
Born in 1950 to a middle-class Alawite family in Tartous, Shawkat joined the army in the late 1970s, working his way up through the ranks.
His big break came when he divorced his first wife and married Bushra, Bashar's older sister, despite the fact that late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and his eldest son Basil initially disapproved of the match.
However, Shawkat's relationship with the new generation of Assads appears to have remained tempestuous. Diplomats say Maher, Bashar's younger brother and head of the elite Republican Guard, once shot him in the stomach, and that Bashar himself was wary of his brother-in-law.
The US and EU imposed sanctions on Shawkat in 2011, accusing him of playing a key role in suppressing demonstrations. He was also sanctioned in 2006 by the US for the suspicion that he orchestrated the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and other officials seen as threats to Syrian influence.
In March he was listed by opposition leaders as one of the six officials to have been poisoned along with Rajha. Syrian state TV confirmed that he was in fact killed alongside Rajha in a suicide attack on July 18, 2012.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/2012718132147531114.html
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