Investment Watch
by Mac Slavo
With seven billion people on the planet energy and food resources are already highly strained, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of the world’s population lives on just scraps a day.
It wouldn’t take much to send us over a cliff. The last several years have not only reduced food reserves significantly because of widespread droughts, but have led to price inflation in essential grains necessary to feed ourselves as well as the livestock on which millions of Americans depend.
The reality is that we’re just one major calamity away from a catastrophic impact on our ability to feed the people of earth.
And, according to recent data published by the Bee Informed Partnership, that calamity could come in the form of a totally unexpected event: Peak Pollination.
According to the latest survey results, an astounding 31.3 percent, or roughly one-third, of all managed bee colonies in the U.S. were wiped out during the most recent 2012/2013 winter season, a rate that represents a 42 percent increase compared to the number of colonies lost during the previous 2011/2012 winter season.
U.S. beekeepers on average lost more than 45 percent of their colonies during the 2012/2013 winter season, a 78.2 percent jump in losses over the previous season.
And overall, more than 70 percent of respondents, most of whom were backyard beekeepers, experienced losses beyond the 15 percent “acceptable” threshold, illustrating a monumental problem not only for bee survival but also for the American food supply.
…many are worried that this year-after-year compounded increase will very soon make it impossible for grow enough food.
“We’re getting closer and closer to the point where we don’t have enough bees in this country to meet pollination demands,” says Dennis vanEngelstorp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland who led the survey. “If we want to grow fruits and nuts and berries, this is important.
One in every three bites [of food consumed in the U.S.] is directly or indirectly pollinated by bees.
Via: Natural News
The bee population has been diminishing at an astounding 30% per year over the last decade, a decline that is often overlooked or ignored by central planners.
Bees are absolutely essential to the cycle of life. In the United States they pollinate about 90% of flowering crops, including those used as feed for cattle.
Take away the bees and the majority of the world’s population will be dead within a year because there will be no way to pollinate the billions of pounds of fruits, vegetables and other plants required to keep all of us alive.
The most frightening thing about the destruction of bee colonies is that we have absolutely no idea what is causing it. It could be contaminants in the air such as industrial pollutants or radiation. Some have surmised that it’s electro-magnetic and radio signals from millions of internet-wired devices. Or, perhaps it’s the very plants the bees are pollinating, most of which are now genetically modified to serve corporate business interests.
Whatever the cause, we have no solution, which means we can expect this trend to continue.
Nature has struck a very delicate balance on our planet. From the thermo-halene circulation of our oceans to the oxygen and carbon dioxide in our air, even tiny changes make for significant global impacts.
At this pace it is only a matter of time before the population of bees on our planet falls below the threshold necessary to produce enough food required to meet global demand.
Adee Honey Farms of South Dakota, the largest beekeeping business in the country, lost 28,000 of its 70,000 hives. That’s about a billion bees gone missing. “It’s off the charts,” said Bret Adee. “It’s not a sustainable thing, what’s happening now.” (link)
How long before we go critical is anybody’s guess, but peak pollination is coming unless we can reverse the trend (something that doesn’t look very promising).
At current rates about half of the world’s bee population is being destroyed every two years.
These are massive numbers.
With bees responsible for pollinating about 35% of the food produced for global consumption, it’s easy to see how serious of a crisis we’ll face if Colony Collapse Disorder can’t be stopped.
Couple this with all of our other problems, both natural and man-made, and things could go very badly, very quickly.
Sweet Remedy
The World Reacts to an Adulterated Food Supply
Friday, May 17, 2013
Fukushima Fallout Threat and Cover Up Continues
Veterans Today
by Allen L Roland
A creeping and never ending deadly fog of radiation, invisible to the eye but not to the immune system, continues to blanket the West Coast while its human cost is just beginning to be perceived.
The threat and ongoing cover up of the nuclear fallout of the Fukushima melt down in 2011 continues unabated and now, two years later, the human cost of this catastrophe and cover up are now being published ~ especially with infants.
For example, a peer-reviewed research paper, published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics, found increased rates of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in West Coast babies born within nine months of the Fukushima meltdowns beginning March 11, 2011 ~ “ Newborns in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington showed up to 28 percent higher rates of CH than in 36 control states. If left untreated, congenital hypothyroidism can impede physical and mental development.“ See report It also appears that radiation has already killed over 14,000 Americans as Thom Hartman shockingly discovered during his 7 minute video interview with Dr. Janette Sherman, M.D., Internist and Toxicologist. These are apparently the same levels of death that were found at Chernobyl and the radiation effects could easily last over 300 years.
WHAT ABOUT THE ONGOING THREAT OF FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT ?
The Washington Blog posed that same question on April 13, 2013 ~ Is Fukushima Leaking … Or Are the Reactors Wholly Uncontained?
“You may have heard that Tepco ~ the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plants ~ announced a large leak of radioactive water….. You may have heard that the cooling system in the spent fuel pools at Fukushima has failed for a second time in a month.
This is newsworthy stuff … but completely misses the big picture. Associated Press notes: ” Experts suspect a continuous leak into the ocean through an underground water system, citing high levels of contamination in fish caught in waters just off the plant. (Tepco graphics of the Fukushima plants even appear to show water directly flowing from the plant to the ocean. And see this.) In fact, Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day. ”
How much radiation is that?
“A quick calculation shows that Chernobyl released around ten thousand times more radioactive cesium each day during the reactor fire. But the Chernobyl fire only lasted 10 days … and the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than 2 years so far. Indeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive cesium and iodine 131 than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released by Fukushima was some 20-30 times higher than initially admitted.
Fukushima also pumped out huge amounts of radioactive iodine 129 ~ which has a half-life of 15.7 million years. Fukushima has also dumped up to 900 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium-90 ~ which is a powerful internal emitter which mimics calcium and collects in our bones ~ into the ocean. And the amount of radioactive fuel at Fukushima dwarfs Chernobyl … and so could keep leaking for decades, centuries or millennia.”
” The bottom line is that the reactors have lost containment. There are not “some leaks” at Fukushima. “Leaks” imply that the reactor cores are safely in their containment buildings, and there is a small hole or two which need to be plugged. But scientists don’t even know where the cores of the reactors are. That’s not leaking. That’s even worse than a total meltdown.” So what are the consequences for people living outside of Fukushima itself ? They could be quite severe, indeed.” See full report:
Let’s use tuna as a radiation example ~ The ocean currents head from Japan to the West Coast of the U.S.~ For example, the Telegraph notes that scientists tagged a Bluefin tuna and found that it crossed between Japan and the West Coast three times in 600 days ~ The Bluefin spawn off Japan, and many migrate across the Pacific Ocean. Tissue samples taken from 15 Bluefin caught in August, five months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, all contained reactor byproducts cesium-134 and cesium-137 at levels that produced radiation about 3% higher than natural background sources … The bad news is that it is only going to get worse.”
As Reuters points out: ” Unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor. Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms.. “
As CNN notes: ” Neither (of the scientists who tested the fish) thought they were likely to find cesium at all, they said. And since the fish tested were born about a year before the disaster, “This year’s fish are going to be really interesting,” Madigan said.
“There were fish born around the time of the accident, and those are the ones showing up in California right now,” he said. “Those have been, for the most part, swimming around in those contaminated waters their whole lives.” In other words, the 15 fish tested were only exposed to radiation for a short time. But Bluefin arriving in California now will have been exposed to the Fukushima radiation for much longer.
So what has the American government done to protect us? (According to the Washington Post)
” It has pressured the Japanese government to re-start its nuclear program, and is allowing Fukushima seafood to be sold in the U.S. And U.S. nuclear regulators actually weakened safety standards for U.S. nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster. And as we noted 6 months after Fukushima melted down: American and Canadian authorities have virtually stopped monitoring airborne radiation, and are not testing fish for radiation. (Indeed, the EPA reacted to Fukushima by raising “acceptable” radiation levels.)” See report ~
In other words, there is currently a concerted worldwide propaganda campaign to cover up the severity of the major nuclear fallout of Fukushima by raising acceptable levels of radiation and, in essence, saying that a little more radiation in your system is nothing to be concerned about.
The cover up regarding exposure to radiation especially applies to Japan itself. On December 20, 2012, a multi-professional symposium was held in Tokyo, and organized by Free Press Association of Japan, a non-profit organization. The symposium clearly illustrates that the issues of radioactive exposure are considered taboo on the Japanese media ~ as they most certainly are on the American main stream media. 7 minute video
In yet another example of growing corporate totalitarianism, we now have a worldwide conspiracy to suppress the radiation exposure of the ongoing Fukushima nuclear fallout. Led by Japan itself and reinforced by America’s plutocracy ~ much like the financial crisis, the gulf oil Spill, and all other major crises ~ we continue to cover up instead of address the real human problem, human cost and human consequences of these events, and that is the very definition of corporate totalitarianism. In that regard, what did the leader of the free world, President Obama actually have to say regarding this disaster in 2011?
Clearly, the situation regarding the Fukushima fallout is out of control ~ now that the fog of calculated deception is slowly lifting. As such, the US needs to be forced to lead the way in rallying international support for the crippled plant for it’s obviously more than Japan can handle itself. A Senate investigation would be a first step in facing the reality of Fukushima fallout as well as its ongoing threat. Please continue to circulate thispetition ~ Only the united will of the people in action can block the gears of an out of control plutocracy along with the abuse of corporate totalitarianism but now, in regards to Fukushima, our very lives are at stake.
by Allen L Roland
A creeping and never ending deadly fog of radiation, invisible to the eye but not to the immune system, continues to blanket the West Coast while its human cost is just beginning to be perceived.
The threat and ongoing cover up of the nuclear fallout of the Fukushima melt down in 2011 continues unabated and now, two years later, the human cost of this catastrophe and cover up are now being published ~ especially with infants.
For example, a peer-reviewed research paper, published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics, found increased rates of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in West Coast babies born within nine months of the Fukushima meltdowns beginning March 11, 2011 ~ “ Newborns in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington showed up to 28 percent higher rates of CH than in 36 control states. If left untreated, congenital hypothyroidism can impede physical and mental development.“ See report It also appears that radiation has already killed over 14,000 Americans as Thom Hartman shockingly discovered during his 7 minute video interview with Dr. Janette Sherman, M.D., Internist and Toxicologist. These are apparently the same levels of death that were found at Chernobyl and the radiation effects could easily last over 300 years.
WHAT ABOUT THE ONGOING THREAT OF FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT ?
The Washington Blog posed that same question on April 13, 2013 ~ Is Fukushima Leaking … Or Are the Reactors Wholly Uncontained?
“You may have heard that Tepco ~ the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plants ~ announced a large leak of radioactive water….. You may have heard that the cooling system in the spent fuel pools at Fukushima has failed for a second time in a month.
This is newsworthy stuff … but completely misses the big picture. Associated Press notes: ” Experts suspect a continuous leak into the ocean through an underground water system, citing high levels of contamination in fish caught in waters just off the plant. (Tepco graphics of the Fukushima plants even appear to show water directly flowing from the plant to the ocean. And see this.) In fact, Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day. ”
How much radiation is that?
“A quick calculation shows that Chernobyl released around ten thousand times more radioactive cesium each day during the reactor fire. But the Chernobyl fire only lasted 10 days … and the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than 2 years so far. Indeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive cesium and iodine 131 than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released by Fukushima was some 20-30 times higher than initially admitted.
Fukushima also pumped out huge amounts of radioactive iodine 129 ~ which has a half-life of 15.7 million years. Fukushima has also dumped up to 900 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium-90 ~ which is a powerful internal emitter which mimics calcium and collects in our bones ~ into the ocean. And the amount of radioactive fuel at Fukushima dwarfs Chernobyl … and so could keep leaking for decades, centuries or millennia.”
” The bottom line is that the reactors have lost containment. There are not “some leaks” at Fukushima. “Leaks” imply that the reactor cores are safely in their containment buildings, and there is a small hole or two which need to be plugged. But scientists don’t even know where the cores of the reactors are. That’s not leaking. That’s even worse than a total meltdown.” So what are the consequences for people living outside of Fukushima itself ? They could be quite severe, indeed.” See full report:
Let’s use tuna as a radiation example ~ The ocean currents head from Japan to the West Coast of the U.S.~ For example, the Telegraph notes that scientists tagged a Bluefin tuna and found that it crossed between Japan and the West Coast three times in 600 days ~ The Bluefin spawn off Japan, and many migrate across the Pacific Ocean. Tissue samples taken from 15 Bluefin caught in August, five months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, all contained reactor byproducts cesium-134 and cesium-137 at levels that produced radiation about 3% higher than natural background sources … The bad news is that it is only going to get worse.”
As Reuters points out: ” Unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor. Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms.. “
As CNN notes: ” Neither (of the scientists who tested the fish) thought they were likely to find cesium at all, they said. And since the fish tested were born about a year before the disaster, “This year’s fish are going to be really interesting,” Madigan said.
“There were fish born around the time of the accident, and those are the ones showing up in California right now,” he said. “Those have been, for the most part, swimming around in those contaminated waters their whole lives.” In other words, the 15 fish tested were only exposed to radiation for a short time. But Bluefin arriving in California now will have been exposed to the Fukushima radiation for much longer.
So what has the American government done to protect us? (According to the Washington Post)
” It has pressured the Japanese government to re-start its nuclear program, and is allowing Fukushima seafood to be sold in the U.S. And U.S. nuclear regulators actually weakened safety standards for U.S. nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster. And as we noted 6 months after Fukushima melted down: American and Canadian authorities have virtually stopped monitoring airborne radiation, and are not testing fish for radiation. (Indeed, the EPA reacted to Fukushima by raising “acceptable” radiation levels.)” See report ~
In other words, there is currently a concerted worldwide propaganda campaign to cover up the severity of the major nuclear fallout of Fukushima by raising acceptable levels of radiation and, in essence, saying that a little more radiation in your system is nothing to be concerned about.
The cover up regarding exposure to radiation especially applies to Japan itself. On December 20, 2012, a multi-professional symposium was held in Tokyo, and organized by Free Press Association of Japan, a non-profit organization. The symposium clearly illustrates that the issues of radioactive exposure are considered taboo on the Japanese media ~ as they most certainly are on the American main stream media. 7 minute video
In yet another example of growing corporate totalitarianism, we now have a worldwide conspiracy to suppress the radiation exposure of the ongoing Fukushima nuclear fallout. Led by Japan itself and reinforced by America’s plutocracy ~ much like the financial crisis, the gulf oil Spill, and all other major crises ~ we continue to cover up instead of address the real human problem, human cost and human consequences of these events, and that is the very definition of corporate totalitarianism. In that regard, what did the leader of the free world, President Obama actually have to say regarding this disaster in 2011?
Clearly, the situation regarding the Fukushima fallout is out of control ~ now that the fog of calculated deception is slowly lifting. As such, the US needs to be forced to lead the way in rallying international support for the crippled plant for it’s obviously more than Japan can handle itself. A Senate investigation would be a first step in facing the reality of Fukushima fallout as well as its ongoing threat. Please continue to circulate thispetition ~ Only the united will of the people in action can block the gears of an out of control plutocracy along with the abuse of corporate totalitarianism but now, in regards to Fukushima, our very lives are at stake.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger
BBC
The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution.
It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
However it admits that "consumer disgust" remains a large barrier in many Western countries.
Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently "underutilised" as food for people and livestock, the report says. Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security".
"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," according to the report.
Nutritional value
The authors point out that insects are nutritious, with high protein, fat and mineral content.
They are "particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children".
Insects are also "extremely efficient" in converting feed into edible meat. Crickets, for example, need 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein, according to the report.
Most insects are are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases than other livestock.
The ammonia emissions associated with insect-rearing are far lower than those linked to conventional livestock such as pigs, says the report.
Delicacies
Insects are regularly eaten by many of the world's population, but the thought may seem shocking to many Westerners.
The report suggests that the food industry could help in "raising the status of insects" by including them in new recipes and adding them to restaurant menus.
It goes on to note that in some places, certain insects are considered delicacies.
For example some caterpillars in southern Africa are seen as luxuries and command high prices.
Most edible insects are gathered in forests and serve niche markets, the report states.
It calls for improved regulation and production for using insects as feed.
"The use of insects on a large scale as a feed ingredient is technically feasible, and established companies in various parts of the world are already leading the way," it adds.
The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution.
It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
However it admits that "consumer disgust" remains a large barrier in many Western countries.
Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently "underutilised" as food for people and livestock, the report says. Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security".
"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," according to the report.
Nutritional value
The authors point out that insects are nutritious, with high protein, fat and mineral content.
They are "particularly important as a food supplement for undernourished children".
Insects are also "extremely efficient" in converting feed into edible meat. Crickets, for example, need 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein, according to the report.
Most insects are are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases than other livestock.
The ammonia emissions associated with insect-rearing are far lower than those linked to conventional livestock such as pigs, says the report.
Delicacies
Insects are regularly eaten by many of the world's population, but the thought may seem shocking to many Westerners.
The report suggests that the food industry could help in "raising the status of insects" by including them in new recipes and adding them to restaurant menus.
It goes on to note that in some places, certain insects are considered delicacies.
For example some caterpillars in southern Africa are seen as luxuries and command high prices.
Most edible insects are gathered in forests and serve niche markets, the report states.
It calls for improved regulation and production for using insects as feed.
"The use of insects on a large scale as a feed ingredient is technically feasible, and established companies in various parts of the world are already leading the way," it adds.
NHS may collapse unless elderly give up hospital beds – Health Minister
RTBritain’s National Health Service (NHS) will collapse unless action is taken to improve care for elderly patients outside of hospitals to free up much needed beds for other inpatients, Health Minister Norman Lamb has warned.
Lamb said that the NHS is under huge pressure from an ageing population, with the number of elderly patients suffering chronic and complex health problems growing and that tackling it would be “the challenge of the 21st century.”
“Accident and Emergency [A&E] units are under pressure, ambulances are carrying more patients than they should, significant numbers of people are in hospital who should be cared for elsewhere. The system is becoming dysfunctional and we need to do something about it,” Lamb told the Telegraph.
While one of Britain’s most senior A&E doctors, Dr. Cliff Mann, from the College of Emergency Medicine, said that they had begun to feel like “war zones,” and that many doctors were turning their backs on emergency medicine.
The current funding system where hospitals have a financial incentive to hang on to patients is at the heart of the problem and currently there is no reward for a hospital to get patients to leave.
In an attempt to address the issue, minsters will announce Tuesday plans to co-ordinate NHS services and councils to make sure than more is done to organize home-help for elderly patients or make basic adaptations to their home so that they can return there rather than languishing in hospitals.
A series of pilot schemes will be set up to test more joined up ways for health and social care providers to work together. The plan is that the schemes will be expanded to every part of the country by 2015.
“At the moment the system is horribly fragmented and that means bad care – distress, crises occurring that could be avoided, massive disruption to people’s lives. If we carry on as we are the system will collapse,” said Lamb.
Hospital regulators have also announced a review of the NHS funding system to encourage hospitals to release patients earlier.
Other plans which could be implemented under the review include giving elderly patients their own personal NHS worker who would manage all their care needs including home help and physiotherapy, as well as medical treatment.
While the system of paying doctors for completing specific activities will also be overhauled so that they are only rewarded for actual improvements in a patient’s health.
Lamb’s announcement comes just days after David Prior, the head of the UK’s Care Quality Commission (CQC), the leading UK health watchdog, said that acute beds for the elderly must be closed and that admissions through A&E are out of control.
Robert Francis QC, who conducted the review into failings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS trust, which led to the deaths of 1,200 people between 2005 and 2009, told the Nursing Times that while doctors and hospital managers understood that serious changes need to be made, certain members of the nursing profession were not taking the problem seriously enough.
Labels:
eugenics,
NHS,
sending old people home
Campaigners' anger at the mobile phone for 4 year olds
Telegraph
by Claire Carter
The phone does not allow access to text messaging or the internet, removing risks associated with mobile phones, and, the makers say, makes it easy for parents to stay in touch with their children .
But experts warned the '1stFone', which costs £55 and is available on a contract or pay as you go basis, risks playing on parents' fears of abduction and represents a worrying commercialisation of children. Concerns have also been raised about the health implications for very young children using mobile phones.
The phone was launched by OwnFone on Thursday, which has previously collaborated with Age UK on a telephone for the elderly. It is available on a made to order basis through the company’s website. Instead of a screen it just has the names of people to call on the front of it, which can be pre-programmed and older children can have 999 pre programmed.
Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, said marketing a phone for children so young was “just another way of trying to make money out of children and their parents.” However Mrs Palmer, a former headteacher, and other childcare experts have said the idea behind the phone, aimed at four to nine year-olds, in an era where children want mobiles and the latest technology, could be a positive step.
Mrs Palmer said parents felt more comfortable if they could contact their child easily in all situations, and in principle a simple phone – that removed the dangers of the internet – could be a good idea.
She added: “It’s a very tricky one. I would love to see a phone marketed for children under the age of 14 with no access to the internet. But four years old is extremely young. The point is it’s once they are going out on their own.The point is to look at what’s sensible, healthy and reasonable for children.”
“The marketing of technology to very young children is just a hook to get them into techno-consumerism,” she added.
Dr Agnes Nairn, the author of a Unicef report which compared childhood in Britain with that other European countries, said the phone needed to be marketed sensibly. She warned if it becomes popular it could put pressure on parents who think they need to buy one for their four year olds. But she said, for a phone that helped parents remain in contact with their children easily without the usual dangers of mobile phones, it was a "very good idea."
She said: “You get this arms race of having to have the latest technology and there are big safety issues with being on the internet. You would give your child a phone if they are somewhere you are not, but four does seem a little young.”
Siobhan Freegard, founder of the UK parenting site Netmums.com said while a phone can be useful, children of four should not need one because they ought not be separated from their parents. She said: "It's sadly yet another example of firms ringing up profits before children's welfare.
“Marketing mobiles to pre-school children is wrong. No four year old needs their own phone as they should never be left alone or in a situation where they need to ring an adult.”
Thomas Sunderland, founder and inventor of OwnFone said: "Parents can stay in touch with their child even if they are as young as four without putting them at risk from sexting, text bullying, stumbling across inappropriate images on the internet or even being mugged for their smartphone.
“It's up to the parent at what age they feel their child needs to be contactable, we just want to ensure when that time comes, there's a product that minimises usage and poses no threat or danger to their safety."
Mr Sunderland said the limitations of the phone means the health risks associated with a lot of mobile use is reduced.
by Claire Carter
The phone does not allow access to text messaging or the internet, removing risks associated with mobile phones, and, the makers say, makes it easy for parents to stay in touch with their children .
But experts warned the '1stFone', which costs £55 and is available on a contract or pay as you go basis, risks playing on parents' fears of abduction and represents a worrying commercialisation of children. Concerns have also been raised about the health implications for very young children using mobile phones.
The phone was launched by OwnFone on Thursday, which has previously collaborated with Age UK on a telephone for the elderly. It is available on a made to order basis through the company’s website. Instead of a screen it just has the names of people to call on the front of it, which can be pre-programmed and older children can have 999 pre programmed.
Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, said marketing a phone for children so young was “just another way of trying to make money out of children and their parents.” However Mrs Palmer, a former headteacher, and other childcare experts have said the idea behind the phone, aimed at four to nine year-olds, in an era where children want mobiles and the latest technology, could be a positive step.
Mrs Palmer said parents felt more comfortable if they could contact their child easily in all situations, and in principle a simple phone – that removed the dangers of the internet – could be a good idea.
She added: “It’s a very tricky one. I would love to see a phone marketed for children under the age of 14 with no access to the internet. But four years old is extremely young. The point is it’s once they are going out on their own.The point is to look at what’s sensible, healthy and reasonable for children.”
“The marketing of technology to very young children is just a hook to get them into techno-consumerism,” she added.
Dr Agnes Nairn, the author of a Unicef report which compared childhood in Britain with that other European countries, said the phone needed to be marketed sensibly. She warned if it becomes popular it could put pressure on parents who think they need to buy one for their four year olds. But she said, for a phone that helped parents remain in contact with their children easily without the usual dangers of mobile phones, it was a "very good idea."
She said: “You get this arms race of having to have the latest technology and there are big safety issues with being on the internet. You would give your child a phone if they are somewhere you are not, but four does seem a little young.”
Siobhan Freegard, founder of the UK parenting site Netmums.com said while a phone can be useful, children of four should not need one because they ought not be separated from their parents. She said: "It's sadly yet another example of firms ringing up profits before children's welfare.
“Marketing mobiles to pre-school children is wrong. No four year old needs their own phone as they should never be left alone or in a situation where they need to ring an adult.”
Thomas Sunderland, founder and inventor of OwnFone said: "Parents can stay in touch with their child even if they are as young as four without putting them at risk from sexting, text bullying, stumbling across inappropriate images on the internet or even being mugged for their smartphone.
“It's up to the parent at what age they feel their child needs to be contactable, we just want to ensure when that time comes, there's a product that minimises usage and poses no threat or danger to their safety."
Mr Sunderland said the limitations of the phone means the health risks associated with a lot of mobile use is reduced.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Beemageddon' threatens US with food disaster
RTUS honey bees have been dying by the tens of millions, with annual death rates of about 30 percent. With fewer bees to pollinate fruits and vegetables each year, 'beemageddon' may soon cause the collapse of the agriculture industry.
Honey bees pollinate more than 100 US crops, including apples, zucchinis, avocados and plums, that are worth more than $200 billion a year. Since 2006, about 10 million bee hives at an average value of $200 each have been lost in what scientists call the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), according to a new report by the US Department of Agriculture.
There are currently about 2.5 million honey bee colonies in the US, which is a drastic decrease from the 6 million that existed in 1947 and the 3 million that existed in 1990. Last winter alone, the honey bee population declined by 31.1 percent, with some beekeepers reporting losses of 90 to 100 percent. In the previous two winters, beekeepers lost about 22 percent of their populations.
“Currently, the survivorship of honey bee colonies is too low for us to be confident in our ability to meet the pollination demands of US agricultural crops,” the USDA report states.
California’s almond crop, which blooms toward the end of winter, would suffer the most. About 80 percent of the global almond supply comes from the Golden State’s orchards, and 70 percent of the state’s crop is marketed overseas.
US beekeepers truck about 1.5 million out-of-state colonies to the almond orchards each year, which depend on the insect’s pollination. The colonies are tasked with pollinating about 760,000 acres of almond trees at the end of each winter. It takes 60 percent of all US bee colonies to pollinate the $4 billion crop.
Zac Browning, a beekeeper, told NPR that the almond orchards have become “ground zero in commercial beekeeping” and that many beekeepers drive over from their home base in the Midwest.
But with a bee shortage that gets worse every year, many of the almond orchards will never be pollinated, which could eventually cause a global almond shortage and economic consequences for the US.
The USDA knows how the agriculture industry will be affected by the large-scale bee die-offs, but does not know why exactly they are dying in such numbers. The report cites “multiple factors… including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure”, while also citing last summer’s drought as a contributing factor.
“Undernourished or malnourished bees appear to be more susceptible to pathogens, parasites, and other stressors, including toxins,” the USDA report states.
During CCDs, surviving adult bees abandon their hives, leaving behind the queen bee, brood and food stores.
“Bees across the country are not in as good a shape as last year,” Eric Mussen, a University of California bee specialist, told the Christian Science Monitor. “When you stress them far enough, the bees just give in.”
After large-scale honey bee die-offs each winter, beekeepers try to restore their populations in the summer. But with the populations dropping so low, the economic ramifications are almost unavoidable.
The European Commission suspects that neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine, might be responsible – at least partially – for the die-offs and the CCDs. Honey bees have also died off in unusually large numbers in Europe, prompting the commission to impose a two-year ban on neonicotinoids last month to give scientists time to review the chemicals’ impact on bee health.
But US officials have stated that they don’t have enough evidence to ban neonicotinoids. And with a drastically decreasing honey bee population, ‘beemageddon’ might be just around the corner.
“We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster,” Jeff Pettis, the USDA’s bee research leader, said in the report.
Monday, May 6, 2013
European Commission to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with government
Blakkened . com
A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”
It’s called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.
The draft text of the law, which has already been amended several times due to a huge backlash from gardeners, is viewable here.
“This law will immediately stop the professional development of vegetable varieties for home gardeners, organic growers, and small-scale market farmers,” said Ben Gabel, vegetable breeder and director of The Real Seed Catalogue. “Home gardeners have really different needs – for example they grow by hand, not machine, and can’t or don’t want to use such powerful chemical sprays. There’s no way to register the varieties suitable for home use as they don’t meet the strict criteria of the Plant Variety Agency, which is only concerned about approving the sort of seed used by industrial farmers.”
All governments are, of course, infatuated with the idea of registering everybody and everything. Under Title IV of the proposed EU law:
Title IV Registration of varieties in national and Union registers
The varieties, in order to be made available on the market throughout the Union, shall be included in a national register or in the Union register via direct application procedure to the CVPO.
Gardeners must also pay fees to the EU bureaucracy for the registration of their seeds. From the proposed law text:
The competent authorities and the CPVO should charge fees for the processing of applications, the formal and technical examinations including audits, variety denomination, and the maintenance of the varieties for each year for the duration of the registration.
While this law may initially only be targeted at commercial gardeners, it sets a precedent to sooner or later go after home gardeners and require them to abide by the same insane regulations.
Government bureaucracy gone insane
“This is an instance of bureaucracy out of control,” says Ben Gabel. “All this new law does is create a whole new raft of EU civil servants being paid to move mountains of papers round all day, while killing off the seed supply to home gardeners and interfering with the right of farmers to grow what they want. It also very worrying that they have given themselves the power to regulate and licence any plant species of any sort at all in the future – not just agricultural plants, but grasses, mosses, flowers, anything at all – without having to bring it back to the Council for a vote.”
As a hint of the level of insane bureaucracy that gardeners and vegetable growers will be subject to under this EU law, check out this language from the proposed EU law:
Specific provisions are set out on the registration in the Union variety register and with regard to the possibility for the applicant to launch an appeal against a CPVO decision. Such provisions are not laid down for the registration in the national variety registers, because they are subject to national administrative procedures. A new obligation for each national variety examination centre to be audited by the CPVO will be introduced with the aim to ensure the quality and harmonisation of the variety registration process in the Union. The examination centre of the professional operators will be audited and approved by the national competent authorities. In case of direct application to the CPVO it will audit and approve the examination centres it uses for variety examination.
Such language is, of course, Orwellian bureaucraticspeak that means only one thing: All gardeners should prepare to be subjected to total government insanity over seeds, vegetables and home gardens.
RealSeeds.co.uk warns about any attempt to actually try to understand the law by reading it:
You cannot just read the first 5 pages or so that are an ‘executive summary’, and think you know what this law is about. The executive summary is NOT what will become the law. It is the actual Articles themselves that become law, the Summary has no legal standing and is just tacked on as an aid to the public and legislators, it is supposed to give background information and set the proposed legislation in context so people know what is going on and why.
The problem with this law has always been that the Summary says lots of nice fluffy things about preserving biodiversity, simplifying legislation, making things easier etc – things we all would love – but the Articles of the law actually do completely the opposite. And the Summary is not what becomes the law.
For example, the Summary of drafts 1, 2 & 3 talked about making things easier for ‘Amateur’ varieties. But the entire class of Amateur vegetables – which we have spent 5 years working with DEFRA to register – was actually abolished entirely in the Articles right from the start. Yet the Summary , and press releases based on it, still talked about how it will help preserve Amateur varieties! The Summary is completely bogus. Do not base your views of the law on it!
So, be warned. By all means, read it yourself. But you have the ignore the Summary as that is not the Law, and does not reflect what is in the Law.
As you might suspect, this move is the “final solution” of Monsanto, DuPont and other seed-domination corporations who have long admitted their goal is the complete domination of all seeds and crops grown on the planet. By criminalizing the private growing of vegetables — thereby turning gardeners into criminals — EU bureaucrats can finally hand over full control of the food supply to powerful corporations like Monsanto.
Most heirloom seeds to be criminalized
Nearly all varieties of heirloom vegetable seeds will be criminalized under this proposed EU law. This means the act of saving seeds from one generation to the next — a cornerstone of sustainable living — will become a criminal act.
In addition, as Gabel explains, this law “…effectively kills off development of home-garden seeds in the EU.”
This is the ultimate wish of all governments, of course: To criminalize any act of self-reliance and make the population completely dependent on monopolistic corporations for their very survival. This is true both in the USA and the EU. This is what governments do: They seize control, one sector at a time, year after year, until you are living as nothing more than a total slave under a globalist dictatorial regime.
An online petition has already been started on this issue and has garnered nearly 25,000 signatures so far.
NOAH’S ARK and 240 other organizations from 40 European countries have also initiated an “open letter” appealing to Brussels bureaucrats to stop the insanity. Click here for a translated version of their petition.
I saw this coming
By the way, I am on the record predicting this exact scenario. Read Chapter Three of my fiction book, “Freedom Chronicles 2026.” (Read it FREE, online.) It depicts a seed smuggler living in a time when seeds are criminalized and people earn a living as professional seed smugglers.
In my book, a woman uses a specially-crafted breast prosthesis to smuggle seeds to “underground gardeners” in full defiance of laws crafted by Monsanto. A vast underground network of grassroots gardeners and scientists manage to put together a “seed weapon” to destroy GMOs and take back the food supply from evil corporations.
Mark my words: Seeds are about to become contraband. Anyone who grows their own food is about to be targeted as a criminal. The governments of the world, conspiring with corporations like Monsanto, do not want any individual to be able to grow their own food.
This is about total domination of the food supply and the criminalizing of gardeners. And this is what big government always does after centralizing sufficient power. All governments inherently seek total control over the lives of everyone, and if you don’t set boundaries and limits for government (i.e. the Bill of Rights), it eventually runs roughshod over all freedoms and liberties, including the freedom to grow your own food.
A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”
It’s called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.
The draft text of the law, which has already been amended several times due to a huge backlash from gardeners, is viewable here.
“This law will immediately stop the professional development of vegetable varieties for home gardeners, organic growers, and small-scale market farmers,” said Ben Gabel, vegetable breeder and director of The Real Seed Catalogue. “Home gardeners have really different needs – for example they grow by hand, not machine, and can’t or don’t want to use such powerful chemical sprays. There’s no way to register the varieties suitable for home use as they don’t meet the strict criteria of the Plant Variety Agency, which is only concerned about approving the sort of seed used by industrial farmers.”
All governments are, of course, infatuated with the idea of registering everybody and everything. Under Title IV of the proposed EU law:
Title IV Registration of varieties in national and Union registers
The varieties, in order to be made available on the market throughout the Union, shall be included in a national register or in the Union register via direct application procedure to the CVPO.
Gardeners must also pay fees to the EU bureaucracy for the registration of their seeds. From the proposed law text:
The competent authorities and the CPVO should charge fees for the processing of applications, the formal and technical examinations including audits, variety denomination, and the maintenance of the varieties for each year for the duration of the registration.
While this law may initially only be targeted at commercial gardeners, it sets a precedent to sooner or later go after home gardeners and require them to abide by the same insane regulations.
Government bureaucracy gone insane
“This is an instance of bureaucracy out of control,” says Ben Gabel. “All this new law does is create a whole new raft of EU civil servants being paid to move mountains of papers round all day, while killing off the seed supply to home gardeners and interfering with the right of farmers to grow what they want. It also very worrying that they have given themselves the power to regulate and licence any plant species of any sort at all in the future – not just agricultural plants, but grasses, mosses, flowers, anything at all – without having to bring it back to the Council for a vote.”
As a hint of the level of insane bureaucracy that gardeners and vegetable growers will be subject to under this EU law, check out this language from the proposed EU law:
Specific provisions are set out on the registration in the Union variety register and with regard to the possibility for the applicant to launch an appeal against a CPVO decision. Such provisions are not laid down for the registration in the national variety registers, because they are subject to national administrative procedures. A new obligation for each national variety examination centre to be audited by the CPVO will be introduced with the aim to ensure the quality and harmonisation of the variety registration process in the Union. The examination centre of the professional operators will be audited and approved by the national competent authorities. In case of direct application to the CPVO it will audit and approve the examination centres it uses for variety examination.
Such language is, of course, Orwellian bureaucraticspeak that means only one thing: All gardeners should prepare to be subjected to total government insanity over seeds, vegetables and home gardens.
RealSeeds.co.uk warns about any attempt to actually try to understand the law by reading it:
You cannot just read the first 5 pages or so that are an ‘executive summary’, and think you know what this law is about. The executive summary is NOT what will become the law. It is the actual Articles themselves that become law, the Summary has no legal standing and is just tacked on as an aid to the public and legislators, it is supposed to give background information and set the proposed legislation in context so people know what is going on and why.
The problem with this law has always been that the Summary says lots of nice fluffy things about preserving biodiversity, simplifying legislation, making things easier etc – things we all would love – but the Articles of the law actually do completely the opposite. And the Summary is not what becomes the law.
For example, the Summary of drafts 1, 2 & 3 talked about making things easier for ‘Amateur’ varieties. But the entire class of Amateur vegetables – which we have spent 5 years working with DEFRA to register – was actually abolished entirely in the Articles right from the start. Yet the Summary , and press releases based on it, still talked about how it will help preserve Amateur varieties! The Summary is completely bogus. Do not base your views of the law on it!
So, be warned. By all means, read it yourself. But you have the ignore the Summary as that is not the Law, and does not reflect what is in the Law.
As you might suspect, this move is the “final solution” of Monsanto, DuPont and other seed-domination corporations who have long admitted their goal is the complete domination of all seeds and crops grown on the planet. By criminalizing the private growing of vegetables — thereby turning gardeners into criminals — EU bureaucrats can finally hand over full control of the food supply to powerful corporations like Monsanto.
Most heirloom seeds to be criminalized
Nearly all varieties of heirloom vegetable seeds will be criminalized under this proposed EU law. This means the act of saving seeds from one generation to the next — a cornerstone of sustainable living — will become a criminal act.
In addition, as Gabel explains, this law “…effectively kills off development of home-garden seeds in the EU.”
This is the ultimate wish of all governments, of course: To criminalize any act of self-reliance and make the population completely dependent on monopolistic corporations for their very survival. This is true both in the USA and the EU. This is what governments do: They seize control, one sector at a time, year after year, until you are living as nothing more than a total slave under a globalist dictatorial regime.
An online petition has already been started on this issue and has garnered nearly 25,000 signatures so far.
NOAH’S ARK and 240 other organizations from 40 European countries have also initiated an “open letter” appealing to Brussels bureaucrats to stop the insanity. Click here for a translated version of their petition.
I saw this coming
By the way, I am on the record predicting this exact scenario. Read Chapter Three of my fiction book, “Freedom Chronicles 2026.” (Read it FREE, online.) It depicts a seed smuggler living in a time when seeds are criminalized and people earn a living as professional seed smugglers.
In my book, a woman uses a specially-crafted breast prosthesis to smuggle seeds to “underground gardeners” in full defiance of laws crafted by Monsanto. A vast underground network of grassroots gardeners and scientists manage to put together a “seed weapon” to destroy GMOs and take back the food supply from evil corporations.
Mark my words: Seeds are about to become contraband. Anyone who grows their own food is about to be targeted as a criminal. The governments of the world, conspiring with corporations like Monsanto, do not want any individual to be able to grow their own food.
This is about total domination of the food supply and the criminalizing of gardeners. And this is what big government always does after centralizing sufficient power. All governments inherently seek total control over the lives of everyone, and if you don’t set boundaries and limits for government (i.e. the Bill of Rights), it eventually runs roughshod over all freedoms and liberties, including the freedom to grow your own food.
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