US Diplomats’ Campaign GM Foods – May 20, 2013

Review of Wikileaks cables reveals effort to break down other nations' resistance to GMOs

by Suzanne Goldenberg

American diplomats lobbied aggressively overseas to promote genetically modified (GM) food crops such as soy beans, an analysis of official cable traffic revealed on Tuesday.

The review of more than 900 diplomatic cables by the campaign group Food and Water Watch showed a carefully crafted campaign to break down resistance to GM products in Europe and other countries, and so help promote the bottom line of big American agricultural businesses.

The cables, which first surfaced with the Wikileaks disclosures two years ago, described a series of separate public relations strategies, unrolled at dozens of press junkets and biotech conferences, aimed at… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Climate Milestone is a Moment of Symbolic Significance on Road of Idiocy – May 10, 2013

The only way forward is back: to retrace our steps and seek to return atmospheric concentrations to around 350ppm

The data go back 800,000 years: that's the age of the oldest fossil air bubbles extracted from Dome C, an ice-bound summit in the high Antarctic. And throughout that time there has been nothing like this. At no point in the preindustrial record have concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air risen above 300 parts per million (ppm). 400ppm is a figure that belongs to a different era.

Photo courtesy NASAThe difference between 399ppm and 400ppm is small, but it is symbolic of our failure to put the
long-term prospects of the natural world and the people it supports above… more

by: The Guardian UK

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US Rejects EU Claim of Insecticide as Prime Reason for Bee Colony Collapse – May 3, 2013

EPA study points to a combination of factors for decline in population, breaking away from singling out pesticides

A government report blamed a combination of factors for the disappearance of America's honeybees on Thursday and did not join Europe in singling out pesticides as a prime suspect.

Photo by Dennis GoedegebuureEnvironmentalists say the report missed an opportunity to build a case for action on a
pesticide that has been associated with the collapse of the honeybees.

The report, by the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, blamed a parasitic mite, viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition and genetics as well as pesticides for the rapid decline of honey bees since 2006.

Researchers said it… more

by: The Guardian UK

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GM Salmon Being Raised in a Secretive Location in the Panamanian Rainforest – April 24, 2013

Supersized genetically modified fish are ready for market – but is the market ready for them? And why is the firm hidden away in Panama?

It is hard to think of a more unlikely setting for genetic experimentation or for raising salmon: a rundown shed at a secretive location in the Panamanian rainforest miles inland and 1,500m above sea level.

Photo courtesy AquaBounty AquaBounty's GM Salmon. The US government is in the final stages of its deliberations on whether to
allow commercial production of the genetically modified fish.

But the facility, which is owned by an American company AquaBounty Technologies, stands on the verge of delivering the first genetically modified food animal — a fast-growing salmon — to supermarkets and dinner tables.

The US government this… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast Devastates Tight-Knit Town – April 18, 2013

Up to 15 feared dead. Rescue efforts continue amid fears that toll could rise

Rescue workers were fighting through the devastation caused by an explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant that destroyed scores of homes and killed up to 15 people.

Barklee Sanders/YouTube

The blast wrecked a large section of West, a small town around 20 miles north of Waco, leveling buildings and leaving more that 160 people injured. Police estimated that between five and 15 people died. Up to five firefighters were missing on Thursday.

As acrid smoke hung over the area, authorities warned that the number of victims could rise. "We do not know how many folks may still be trapped," Waco police sergeant William Swanton… more

by: The Guardian UK

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