GMO 'fish oil' crop trials - how to respond?

Rothamsted Research has applied to field trial GM Camelina plants that make long chain omega-3 fatty acids - an important nutrient currently available only from fish. This poses a dilemma for those who have so far opposed GMO foods.

 Long chain omega-3s are not readily available, especially to poor people or those in hot countries far from the sea. There is also a global crisis of over-fishing.

The application to trial the GM Camelina oilseed - a species similar to the well-known oilseed rape - is certain to receive Defra's permission and we can confidently expect the crop trial to begin shortly, in time for the 2014 growing season.

Established GM campaigners have lost no time to oppose the application. Helen Wallace, executive director of Genewatch, spoke today on the BBC's World at One to denounce it as a "desperate attempt" by the GM industry that would bring "no real benefit to health" and was "not a sustainable solution".

Rather than representing a genuine benefit to people suffering from poor diet and nutrition, she insisted, it was merely "tinkering". She went on to warn of "unintended side effects" that might result from the genetic modiciation, with possible dire consequences for health.

Her conclusion was clear and firm - the crop trials should not take place.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential

But the facts of the matter are not quite so clear and simple. Long chain omega-3 fatty acids are not strictly essential in the diet, no. But omega-3 fatty acids are, and most people eat nowhere near enough of them.

Modern diets are over-rich in the omega-6 fatty acids abundant in nuts, seeds and vegetable oils like soy, corn, sunflower and safflower. The far more fragile omega-3 oils are relatively scarce and most of us eat much less of them that we should.

Moreover the vegetable omega-3 oils that we do get - linseed, hemp seed and green leaf vegetables are good sources - are of the short-chain variety, predominantly alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA.

And ALA is many metabolic steps away from the long chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA for short, that are needed to maintain good health - especially in the brain, nervous tissues, heart, and immune system.
Our bodies can and do extend the ALA into EPA and DHA, but it is a long and metabolically 'expensive' process requiring the well-functioning of numerous enzymes.

Moreover not everyone can produce enough of the long chain omega-3s. Some are genetically disadvantaged. Others may suffer from mineral deficiences that cause a shortage of key enzymes essential to the elongation process.

Fish oil - a valuable nutrient

That's why millions of people take fish oil as a nutritional supplement, or make a point of eating oily fish like mackerel or herring. The EPA and DHA is especially beneficial for babies and children who need far more of it than adults to build a healthy brain and nervous system.

But it's beneficial to get additional EPA and DHA right through life, and those who do are likely to enjoy better cognitive, nervous and cardiovascular health - something to think about as ever more elderly people are afflicted by Alzheimer's disease.

There is however a serious problem. The seas are unable to provide enough fish to feed the world. Of course it's not helpful that the biggest consumer of the world's fish catch is not actually people, but ... fish.
That is, high value fish like salmon kept in fish farms and fed on low value 'trash' fish turned into fishmeal. These in fact eat an astonishing 80% of the world's fish oil production.

But fish is also expensive and in many parts of the world, either not affordable or simply not available at all. And that's not to mention the vegetarians and vegans who choose not to eat fish on principle.

Fish may also be contaminated with heavy metals like mercury from coal fired power stations, bio-concentrated in marine ecosystems. There are also growing fears about radioactive contamination to Pacific fish from Fukushima.

There are real benefits to be gained

So if crops were to provide us with the EPA and DHA that we need without needing to catch and kill fish, that surely creates a real benefit for us, and the quality of our diet.

It could also reduce the world's dependence on wild-caught fish and relieve pressure on dwindling fish stocks. The EPA/DHA rich oilseeds could make a real contribution to both health and environment.

This is in stark contrast to the direction of the GMO industry to date. Two very specific interventions characterise the current generation of GM crops: resistance to herbicides like glyphosate and glufonisate; and built-in pest resistance using Bt toxins from Bacillus thiriguensis.

GM crops so far - a disaster

Both have had serious and undesirable consequences. Herbicide resistance allows farmers to spray the growing crop with herbicides to control weeds.

And because a crop may be sprayed to control weeds several times over a growing season, it inevitably causes far higher levels of herbicide residues in the resulting food - with reported consequences on animal health.

It also means that fallen seeds in the field can contaminate the following year's crop - unless a different herbicide is used to get rid of them. Now as crops are engineered to be resistant to multiple herbicides, it will become ever harder to find herbicides that can do the job without resorting to ever more toxic ones.

The herbicide resistance genes have also spread to wild crop relatives, creating new 'super-weeds' - again requiring the use of new and often more toxic herbicides for their control. The result is detrimental to both health and environment.

Bt toxins - not so harmless?

Bt toxins can indeed be effective in controlling insect pests. But they too are not ideal - after all they are produced within the tissues of the plant itself, and are therefore present in the resulting food, not to mention pollen and possibly even nectar, so they can kill beneficial insects like bees.

Moreover insects can acquire resistance to the Bt toxins - as has happened with aggressive strains of boll-worm in India. The answer has been to increase the number of Bt toxins in the GM crops, and even to create new synthetic toxins not found in nature.

One such example is StarStax corn, widely grown in the USA, engineered to be resistant to both glyphosate and glufosinate and expressing eight different Bt toxons, one of them synthetic.

And while Bt toxin is not meant to be harmful to humans, this notion is coming increasingly under question. The truth is that the long-term food studies that would prove that is safe to eat Bt toxins in our daily food have simply not been carried out. Safety has been assumed.

The anti-GMO movement hs won all the arguments

This dire state of affairs has enabled anti-GMO campaigners to win all the arguments as far as health and environment are concerned, as well as the battle of public perception. GM food is quite rightly seen as a liability and anti-GM movements are growing across the world.

There may be benefits for farmers - some of them at least, for a time - and GMO companies like Monsanto and Dow Agrosciences have grown rich on the proceeds. But where is the benefit for consumers or environment?

The answer is clear - there is no benefit to consumers or environment, only hazards and harm.
The development of Golden rice, engineered to express Vitamin A, has been a sop in the direction of providing consumer and health benefit.

But that's all it is - because the sought-after benefit can be achieved simply by eating a few green leaves and other vegetables, which also deliver a host of other vitamins and mineral nutrients that the Golden rice could never deliver.

This time there is a difference

The EPA/DHA Camelina is different. The long chain omega-3s are not readily available, especially to poor people or those in hot countries far from the sea. There is also a global crisis of over-fishing.

Yes, there are other possible solutions to these problems. The long-chain omega-3 fatty acids could be eaten in the form of algae, for example. And there is no actual need to feed quite so much of the world's fish catch to fish, rather than people - merely a powerful economic driver.

But to judge by the price of algae-based dietary supplements in health food shops, there is nothing cheap about growing, harvesting and preparing algae for human consumption.

And to judge by the success of campaigners to date in reforming the world's fishing and fish farming industries, we should not expect any major transformation any time soon.

Should campaigners be more open?

So maybe campaigners should be more open to the GM Camelina. Of course it needs to be tested and screened very carefully for any unforeseen and undesirable consequences of the kind alluded to by Helen Wallace.

Far more complete, thorough and long lasting tests must be performed to prove their safety before they enter into the food chain, than has been standard practice with GM crops to date.

But these are not arguments against carrying out the trials. They may actually be arguments to carry out the trials, and to ensure that the trials themselves and the subsequent food safety testing are carried out to the highest standard.

A question of principle?

Of course there are those who oppose all GMO and GM technologies on a matter of ethical or philosophical principle, or from simple conviction. They are fully entitled to that view.

But many GMO campaigners still need to work out in their own minds exactly where they stand. Are they opposed to GMO technology itself?

Or are they opposed to the way in which obnoxious, aggressive and over-powerful multinational corporations have used GMO technology, allied it with restrictive and monopolistic practices, defended it with flawed patent and intellectual property regimes, and used it to attack the environment and human health in the callous and single-minded pursuit of profit at all cost?

On the second point I know exactly where I stand.

On the first, I'm still thinking about it.

Source: http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2251435/gmo_fish_oil_crop_trials_how_to_respond.html

Where Is The Best Place In The World For Healthy Eating?

The U.K. has plenty of fresh produce available, such as these vegetables on display at a garden show in Southport, England. But these healthy options cost more in the U.K. than in any other country in Western Europe.

The Dutch are known for their lax drug laws, tall statures and proficient language skills.
Perhaps we should add stellar eating habits to that list, as well.

The Netherlands ranked as the easiest country in the world in which to find a balanced, nutritious diet, the advocacy group Oxfam reported Tuesday.

France and Switzerland shared the second slot. And Western Europe nearly swept the top 20 positions, with Australia just edging into a tie for 8th.

Where did the U.S. land?

We tied with Japan for 21st place, despite the fact that we have the most cheap food available. Our friendly neighbors to the north, Canada, took the 25th position out of 125 countries.

A banana seller makes his way to the market in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura. The small country in eastern Africa ranked last in terms of malnutrition in children.

A group of researchers at Oxfam, an anti-poverty nonprofit based in Oxford, England, concocted the ranking scheme to measure the best and worst places to eat around the world.

We're not talking about the density of Michelin-starred restaurants or whether you can get wild salmon versus farmed-raised fish at the grocery store.

Instead, the ranking considers whether families have sufficient access to fresh produce, nutritious proteins and clean water — and whether these options are affordable compared with less healthful options.

The Healthy Food Rankings

 

According to the advocacy group , here are the easiest and hardest countries in the world to find a nutritious and diverse diet.

Best:
1. Netherlands
2. France, Switzerland
4. Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium
8. Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, Australia
Worst:
121. Yemen
122. Madagascar
123. Ethiopia, Angola
125. Chad


The team's conclusion?

"Basically, if you arrive from Mars and design a food system, you probably couldn't design a worse one than what we have today on Earth," Oxfam's Max Lawson tells The Salt. "There is enough food overall in the world to feed everyone. But 900 million people still don't have enough to eat, and 1 billion people are obese. It's a crazy situation."

To compile the rankings, Lawson and his colleagues spent a few months analyzing eight reports from the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N and the International Labor Organization.
A country's score depends on how much food is available (so richer countries have an advantage), the nutritional value of that food and how diet helps or harms the nation's health.

The team measured that last metric by looking at diabetes and obesity rates in each country. Not surprisingly, that's where the U.S. stumbles: We ranked 120th out of 125 countries in terms of how diet influences health.
The problem is linked to poverty, Lawson says.

"Food is very, very cheap in the U.S. compared to most countries," he explains. "But the fact is you end up with people malnourished in one of the richest countries because they don't have access to fresh vegetables at a cheap enough price to make a balanced diet."

At the other end of the spectrum are countries that struggle just to get enough food on each family's table each day. Chad, Ethiopia and Angola ranked at the overall bottom of Oxfam's list, in large part because of high malnutrition rates and the relatively high cost of foods in these countries.

 "People think that hunger is inevitable, but that's just not true," Lawson says. "There is enough food in the world to ensure that nobody goes to bed hungry."

The problem, in large part, is getting fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains to people who need it, he says. "Even in countries with famines, there's still often enough food. Someone is hoarding it, or it hasn't been distributed."

And that problem isn't new. "Very famously," he says, "during the Irish potato famine, the British were exporting Irish wheat to the U.K."

Source;  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/14/262465619/where-in-the-world-is-the-best-place-for-healthy-eating?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20140119&utm_source=mostemailed

Amazon forest loss risks water security across South America

Water, food supplies and energy production are all in jeopardy as the Amazon forest is felled for profit. And the damage is spreading well beyond Amazonia itself.

 The continued destruction of the Amazon to exploit its resources for mining, agriculture and hydro-power is threatening the future of the South American continent, according to a report by campaigning groups using the latest scientific data.

Five countries - Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru - share the Amazon, and for all of them the forest area occupies more than 40% of their territory. All face threats to their water supply, energy production, food and health.

Declining rainfall

In addition, the report says, because of the over-exploitation of the region rainfall will fall by 20% over a heavily-populated area far to the south of Amazonia known as the La Plata basin, covering parts of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Last month it was reported that deforestation in Amazonia had increased by almost a third in the past year, with an area equal to 50 football pitches destroyed every minute since 2000.

The report, the Amazonia Security Agenda, authored by the Global Canopy Programme and CIAT, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, says the prosperity of the region is based on the abundance of water.

"Amazonia's abundant natural resources underpin water, food, energy, and health security for the economy and people of the region and far beyond", the report states.

"At the heart of this nexus of securities is water. So abundant in the region, but now under increasing threat as industrial pollution increases, and unprecedented droughts reveal a once unthinkable water vulnerability."

The forest maintains its own rainfall

Key to the problem is the role of the forest in recycling water deep into the interior of the South American continent, as rainfall onto the forest is transpired by trees back into the atmosphere, regenerating atmospheric humidity and clouds, and creating powerful thermal updraughts:

"The loss of ecosystem services through deforestation undermines the securities and particularly water security that is so pivotal. The forest recycles 20-25% of the rainfall it receives, and air travelling over
extensive forest cover may generate twice as much rainfall as air over deforested land."

As forest is cut down this process is disrupted - leaving both people and ecosystems at increasing risk.

Pollution - a growing problem

Another problem that comes with Amazonia's increasing industrialisation is pollution of both air and water, with toxic contaminants including mercury from gold-mining.

"Large-scale deforestation is predicted to reduce rainfall by up to 21% by 2050, although the science is still uncertain. Furthermore, deforestation is likely to affect water quality through increasing soil erosion and leaching of nutrients and heavy metals including mercury."

And most people depend on the rainforest and the rain it brings to keep their water clean:

"Water purification ecosystem services are important for the provision of clean drinking water. However, limited access to a proper water supply, treatment and basic sanitation infrastructure across Amazonia, particularly in rural areas, makes water security of Amazonian populations extremely vulnerable to pollution.

"This has knock on effects on food security (fisheries) and health security. In Ecuador 30,000 Amazonian citizens are seeking compensation through the courts at the billion US dollar scale over claims of toxic pollution by oil companies in the region."

Profits siphoned off

The huge wealth being generated from the forests comes with large-scale environmental and social costs. Local people do not benefit, and the profits from minerals, mining and agriculture are siphoned out of the region.

The large-scale economic development of the region causes deforestation. That in turn is threatening not only the wellbeing of the local people but the economic stability of the industries themselves.

Climate change is adding to both the uncertainty and the instability. Increasing temperatures, as much as 3.5°C in the near future, changing rainfall patterns and more intense and frequent extreme weather events will have further impacts on the health and well-being of the population.

Hydroelectricity at risk

Energy supply from hydro-electric dams will also decline, according to the report:  

"Hydropower generation, especially for run of river dams, will be more vulnerable in the dry season, challenging future energy security across the region, especially given plans to invest heavily in new Amazonian hydropower."

The biggest such example is the highly controversial Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon, which is projected to supply 40% of Brazil's additional electricity needs by 2019.

Belo Monte

 "will have a significantly lower power output than expected due to regional deforestation - up to 13% lower than under a fully-forested scenario, and up to 36% lower by 2050 if current deforestation rates continue."

Big bill coming

Among those welcoming the report is Manuel Pulgar, Peru's environment minister. He will play a leading part when the country's capital, Lima, hosts the 20th summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2014.

He said:

 "Climate change is a global problem, but one that will multiply local and regional problems in unforeseeable ways. In Latin America, we have taken Amazonia and its seemingly limitless water and forests as a given. But recent unprecedented droughts have shown us just what happens when that water security falters ..."

According to the report, the impacts of environmental degradation that have so far been felt in other parts of the world are now likely to be felt in Amazonia, threatening economic development and security.

Governments in the region, it says, need to recognize that development cannot continue without recognising the damage caused to the water supply and the climate both globally and locally. Policy makers need scientists to monitor changes to conditions and the economic risks they pose.

Trillions of tons of water

These findings must be shared between academic institutions and governments so that they can decide how to remedy the problem. Annual reviews of dangerous hotspots are also needed, and cross-border groups of experts who could help both national and regional development plans to be worked out.

Carlos Klink, Brazil's national secretary for climate change and environmental quality, endorsed these findings.  

"We are understanding more and more how interdependent water, food, energy and health security are across our continent.

"There is also interdependence between the countries that share the Amazon, which recycles trillions of tons of water that all our people and economies rely on.

"The challenge that we are just beginning to recognise and act upon is one of transitioning to a more sustainable economy - one that values the role of a healthy Amazonia in underpinning long-term security and prosperity."

The History of Christmas and Its Pagan Origins

Many people suffer from the misconception that Christmas is a Christian holiday. The earliest history of Christmas is composed of "pagan" (non-Christian) fertility rites and practices which predate Jesus by centuries. The truth is, in short, the real history of Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity. Many of the traditions which we hold dear, such as decorating Christmas trees, singing Christmas carols, and giving Christmas gifts, are rooted in the traditions of non-Christian religions.

We do not observe Christmas on December 25th because it was the date in history when Jesus was born. Nobody knows exactly what that date was, but references in the Bible show it most likely did not take place in winter. Rather it is because this was the date that the Romans historically celebrated the winter solstice.

This celebration was about dies natalis solis invicti: the day of the birth of the unconquerable sun, which took place on December 22nd. The winter solstice held the promise of the return of springtime and earthly renewal. In Roman history, this was the time of Saturnalia, honoring the God of Agriculture, for the week before the solstice, and Juvenalia, a feast in honor of the children of Rome, around the same time. On the 25th of the month they celebrated the birth of the sun-god Mithra. Masters and servants traded places temporarily, and everybody had a rollicking good time. It was during Saturnalia that the tradition of exchanging gifts was established. They gave one another Stenae or fruits which were intended to bring good luck. The Romans placed an enormous amount of pressure on the early Christians to rejoice along with them, and around the time of the fourth century, they began to celebrate Christmas around the same time. It was inevitable that Christians should make a connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son.

In the Middle Ages, Christmas was a raucous, drunken celebration which resembled a carnival. Poor people would go on a Christmas"trick or treat" around the richer neighborhoods, causing them misery if they didn't get what they wanted.

Many other pagan traditions have been incorporated into Christmas. Yule was celebrated by the Norse in Scandanavia around the time of the winter solstice by bringing in large logs for the fire, in recognition of the eventual return of the sun. It could take as much as twelve days for the log to burn down. Meanwhile, the Norse would feast. The holiday usually lasted through January.

The Germans did not so much celebrate as honor the winter solstice. They believed that their god, Oden, flew through the sky at night passing judgment on his people. Generally, they would stay indoors during this season. When the Germanic people were converted to Christianity, their winter festival was naturally adopted as a celebration of the birth of Christ.

To the pagans, evergreens served as a symbol of winter's inability to stop the cycle of renewal. They were important fertility symbols which were highly revered by many cultures, including the Germans and the Celts. They helped to soothe the pagans' fears that the sun would never return, and that winter would reign eternal.

Contrary to popular belief, the tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree, bringing it into the home and decorating it is not pagan in origin, and did not appear until centuries after Christ's broth. The Romans decorated their homes and temples with evergreen clippings, but allowed the trees to remain intact, often decorating live trees with religious icons. The Druids tied fruit to the branches of live trees, and baked cakes in the shape of fish, birds and other animals, to offer to their god, Woden. We also inherited the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe from the Druids. The Christmas tree tradition we currently practice had its origins in 16th century Western Germany. "Paradise trees" were cut down to commemorate the Feast of Adam and Eve, which took place on Christmas eve every year.

Many Christians were opposed to the merrymaking and pagan origins of the Christmas festivities, especially the more solemn Christians such as the Puritans. In England in 1645, Christmas was actually canceled. In Boston between 1659 and 1681 Christmas was outlawed, and merrymakers incurred fines for their mirth.

Early carols were sung in a circle dance by European Celts in medieval times, as a part of their fertility rituals, and were later adopted as a way to celebrate Christmas. As a result they became unpopular among Christian authority. Over the ages multiple attempts have been made to ban Christmas carols. Christmas carols enjoyed a revival when St. Francis of Assisi began to favor a more joyous celebration of the Christmas season. Another pagan custom called wassailing, or singing from door to door, also became very popular among Christmas celebrants.

Many people mistakenly state that "Jesus is the reason for the season." They do so, because they believe people have lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. It simply isn't true. Christmas can be celebrated as completely secular because ultimately it is not a Christian holiday. Christmas goes beyond religious and cultural differences, and addresses something universal in all of us. For this reason it has become popular in non-Christian countries such as Japan. The truth is that Christian and pagan traditions have a great deal in common. The real need behind all of these traditions was to find a source of joy, happiness, hope, goodwill and generosity. There was a need to find ways to cope with our fears about the darkness and cold of wintertime, and to celebrate the return of the sun and the longer days of spring.

In fact, Christianity and pre-Christian pagan religion have a great deal in common. Various pagan religions shared the Christian practice of worshiping a god-man who could offer salvation in the form of heaven or condemnation in the form of hell. The concept that a son of God could be born of a mortal woman is seen in many different religions spanning the globe. These concepts are universal, except to those who are extremely divisive and have a tendency to pick nits.

The pagans were smart people who had quite a few good ideas. They respected the earth, and we have benefited greatly from their practices. There is no reason for Christians to fear "pagan" universal and earth-centered traditions. At Christmas, rather than fretting that non-Christians have forgotten about Jesus we should focus on the deeper purpose of the holiday. The main problem is that Christmas has become far too commercial and this has gotten us away from the pagan tradition of connecting with the earth. Instead, we spend the whole holiday trashing the planet with excessive buying, and cutting down millions of Christmas trees which must then be discarded less than a month later. Environmental destruction and consumerism has passed for merrymaking for many years now, but it's an empty tradition. Celebrating the fertility of the earth is better by far. There is a strong need for a return to the family- and society-centered traditions which were established in Roman times and reestablished in the 19th century. Washington Irving's writings helped Americans to establish Christmas as a time of giving to those who are most in need, and bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. These traditions had their roots in the practices of the real St. Nicholas, who lived in Myra in the fourth century A.D. He was born rich and inherited a great deal of money on the death of his parents, all of which he gave away. St. Nicholas is said to have thrown bags of gold into the windows of dowerless girls to save them from lives of prostitution or slavery. He was also well know for his love and protection of children. St. Nicholas is the figure behind our modern day Santa Claus myth of a generous man who delivered hand-made toys to children all over the world.

So rather than viewing Christmas as a time to break the bank, we can take advantage of it as a time to help the less fortunate. Many people ask that their friends and loved ones give to charity rather than buy them a gift. This sort of gift giving is popular among yogis who see Christmas as a way to extend their practice.

Fortunately there are many ways to reconnect with the original purpose and meaning of Christmas. Small traditions, such as placing apples or cookies on the tree, or decorating a live tree instead of a cut one, are a good way to get in touch with the way that our ancestors celebrated Christmas. Respecting the planet and understanding its powers and its limitations are important. The pagans were aware of the changing seasons and found earth-centered and social ways to cope with them. They were aware and appreciative of the sun. They exchanged gifts, but their gift exchange was not commercialized. Instead the focus was on bringing good fortune. Giving gifts of fruit has been a common practice throughout history, and is still popular today.

The Christmas holiday season is about unity, not divisiveness. At the holiday season we should forget about our religious differences, abandon commercialism and think about what is best for the planet and for humanity.

Source: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-history-christmas-its-pagan-origins-646539.html?cat=74

FAO warns of coming food shortage

The government has announced a one week food security assessment exercise in the country amid reports that the country could face an acute food shortage come next year. 

Targeting high and medium potential areas of the country, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has donated Sh24m towards the exercise.

The exercise comes amidst warning from the organization that Kenyans should brace for hard times and high food prices due to failed rains coupled with uncertified seeds, high cost of production and the lethal maize in parts of the country the exercise will cover high and medium potential areas of the countries.

According to FAO national food security officer Simon Muhindi, food production in the country would drop by between 30-40 percent covering 24 counties.

FAO Geographical Information Systems officer Joseph Matere also says the project will cover crops, fisheries and livestock sector and the smart phone technology would be used to collect and relay data from the field.

The officers were speaking during the launch of the assessment exercise which is also supported by The Millennium water alliance and the German Agro-action.

Source:
 http://www.kbc.co.ke/fao-warns-of-acute-food-shortage-in-2014/

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000098372&story_title=fao-warns-of-looming-food-shortage/

Ghanaians must resist becoming GMO “guinea pigs” – CPP

Ghana’s Convention People’s Party (CPP) says the country must resist attempts to use Ghanaians as guinea pigs for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

According to Ernesto Yeboah, “…we are waiting someway somehow to become guinea pigs in the hands of some scientific experimentation by people elsewhere before we think, before we come together”.

The party’s anti-GMO lobbying campaign comes on the heels of Parliament’s consideration of a plant breeders’ bill, which when passed into law, aims to regulate and protect genetically modified and improved crop varieties.

The CPP’s deputy communications director told XYZ Breakfast Show Host Moro Awudu Tuesday that passing the bill will amount to pandering to colonialist tendencies.

He argues that tonnes of research findings in the US, the European Union, France, Australia, India and other scientifically advanced countries, have linked GMOs to sterility in men, tumours, cancers as well as numerous birth defects, and so have all put a moratorium on GMOs.

Yeboah claims GMOs have wreaked havoc in so many countries including India where 125,000 died from GMO related diseases in 2008.

Source:
 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=294064

How to turn soda cans into solar heating panels

Soda pop cans are converted into a powerful solar heating panel by Newfoundland inventor Jim Meaney.

Study Finds Cancer-Causing Chemical in Nearly 100 Shampoos and Soaps

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) revealed independent testing on Tuesday finding a cancer-causing chemical in 98 shampoos, soaps and other personal care products sold by major national retailers.

 The chemical, cocamide diethanolamine (cocamide DEA), a chemically-modified form of coconut oil used as a thickener or foaming agent in many products, was listed by California as a known carcinogen last year.
Products tested with high levels of cocamide DEA include shampoos made by Colgate Palmolive, Colomer, Paul Mitchell and many others. In addition, products marketed for children and a product falsely labeled as organic were found with the chemical, in violation of California law.

CEH filed a California lawsuit Tuesday against four companies that sell products containing cocamide DEA, and the nonprofit has sent legal notices to more than 100 other companies that produce and/or sell cocamide DEA-tainted products that their products violate state law.

“Most people believe that products sold in major stores are tested for safety, but consumers need to know that they could be doused with a cancer-causing chemical every time they shower or shampoo,” said Michael Green, executive director of CEH. “We expect companies to take swift action to end this unnecessary risk to our children’s and families’ health.”

In addition to many brand name shampoos and personal care products (see the full list, below), the CEH testing found cocamide DEA in store-brand products purchased at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Pharmaca and Kohl’s. A store brand children’s bubble bath from Kmart and a children’s shampoo/conditioner from Babies R Us were also found with cocamide DEA. Falsely labeled organic products from Organic by Africa’s Best also tested for high levels of the cancer-causing chemical (CEH previously won a legal settlement with this company requiring it to end its use of phony organic labels).

CEH has purchased the shampoos and other products containing cocamide DEA at Bay Area, CA, locations of major retailers and from online retailers since June, and commissioned an independent lab to determine the total content of the chemical in the products. In many cases, products contain more than 10,000 ppm cocamide DEA, and one shampoo tested at more than 200,000 ppm (20 percent) cocamide DEA. California listed cocamide DEA in June 2012 as a chemical known to cause cancer based on the assessment by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which evaluated skin exposure tests on animals.

Source:  http://www.undergroundhealth.com/study-finds-cancer-causing-chemical-in-nearly-100-shampoos-and-soaps/

See the full list of these products here

How could this young woman lie dead and undiscovered for almost three years? - Joyce Carol Vincent:

When the film-maker Carol Morley read that the skeleton of a young woman had been found in a London bedsit, she knew she had to find out more…

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On 25 January 2006, officials from a north London housing association repossessing a bedsit in Wood Green owing to rent arrears made a grim discovery. Lying on the sofa was the skeleton of a 38-year-old woman who had been dead for almost three years. In a corner of the room the television set was still on, tuned to BBC1, and a small pile of unopened Christmas presents lay on the floor. Washing up was heaped in the kitchen sink and a mountain of post lay behind the front door. Food in the refrigerator was marked with 2003 expiry dates. The dead woman's body was so badly decomposed it could only be identified by comparing dental records with an old holiday photograph of her smiling. Her name was revealed to be Joyce Carol Vincent.

I first heard about Joyce when I picked up a discarded copy of the Sun on a London underground train. The paper reported the gothic circumstances of her death – "Woman dead in flat for three years: skeleton of Joyce found on sofa with telly still on" – but revealed almost nothing about her life. There was not even a photograph of her.

The image of the television flickering over her decomposing body haunted me as I got off the train on to the crowded platform. In a city such as London, home to 8 million people, how could someone's absence go unnoticed for so long? Who was Joyce Vincent? What was she like? How could she have been forgotten?
News of Joyce's death quickly made it into the global media, which registered shock at the lack of community spirit in the UK. The story ran on in the British press, but still no photograph of Joyce appeared and little personal information.

Soon Joyce dropped out of the news. I watched as people discussed her in internet chatrooms, wondering if she was an urban myth, or talking about her as though she never mattered, calling her a couch potato, and posting comments such as: "What's really sad is no one noticed she was missing – must have been one miserable bitch." And then even that kind of commentary vanished.

But I couldn't let go. I didn't want her to be forgotten. I decided I must make a film about her.

At this point all that had been revealed in the press was that Joyce Vincent was 38 when she died, had been born in west London to parents who were from the Caribbean, and that some of her family had attended her inquest. Some reports suggested Joyce was, or had been, engaged to be married, and that before living in the bedsit she had been in a refuge for victims of domestic violence. But she didn't fit the typical profile of someone who might die and be forgotten: she wasn't old without family; she wasn't a loner, or an overdosed drug addict; nor was she an isolated heavy drinker. Who she was and the circumstances of her death were a mystery.

I placed adverts with various publications and internet sites. On a poster on the side of a black cab I asked: Did you know Joyce Vincent? Meanwhile, as I waited for any response, I contacted people who were involved with bringing Joyce's story to light.

I met Alison Campsie, news editor for the Tottenham & Wood Green Journal, whose journalist David Gibbs had reported on Joyce Vincent's inquest. She told me that while the paper would have liked to have pursued the background to the story, they didn't have the time or money, and that even the BBC with all its resources had tried and failed to run an item on Joyce.

In the Three Compasses pub below her office, I talked to Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Joyce's constituency. Lynne had urged the police to reopen their investigation into Joyce's death but they decided there was nothing to answer to in terms of foul play. The coroner recorded an open verdict, with the cause of Joyce's death "unascertained". "We don't know how big a part Joyce played in her own isolation or whether it was more down to society neglecting her," Lynne told me.

Lynne wrote to the local council, the utility companies, and the housing association about Joyce's unpaid bills, questioning why alarm bells didn't ring earlier – but she either received no reply or little insight. "The point is, Joyce Vincent is dead, no one murdered her, and no one seems to care that much. I gather she was very beautiful, which for reasons totally spurious makes it more poignant because we always think beautiful people have everything go their way."

On the way to her next appointment Lynne drove me to Wood Green, to the back of Shopping City, where lorries rumbled in and out of a delivery depot. She pointed to the housing estate above the mall known locally as Sky City, where Joyce had lived and died. I looked at the red brick walkways and tiers of water-stained grey concrete, interspersed with metal grilles, indistinguishable from the car park or the shopping centre below. "I suppose, in a way, we all walked by," Lynne said. As I stepped out of her car she wished me luck.

Dominating the skyline was a round blue sign for Shopping City – a beacon to commercialism. In one of the flats I saw an open window with a billowing net curtain and I thought of the window in Joyce's bedsit that had been open for the two years she lay dead, insects crawling along the windowsill, the escaping smell of her decomposing body attributed to the rubbish bins below. I walked around to the other side of the complex – to the high street, hectic with shopping activity and traffic. The main door Joyce used to access her part of the estate is here, sandwiched between the usual chain of shops.

Inside the entrance I avoided the lift and climbed the empty grey concrete stairs. I walked along a walkway, meeting nobody. In contrast to the hordes of people below, it was desolate. I found Joyce's bedsit, with its glossy green door, at the end of the walkway. With only one neighbouring flat, and no flat above or below, it felt architecturally cut off. I knocked on the doors of other flats in the block, but no one answered. I wondered if I would ever meet anyone who actually knew Joyce.

The first response to my adverts was from Karen, but it turned out she never knew Joyce. "I was a neighbour. I lived on her doorstep. I got my old diaries out. Had I seen her? Had I written about her? All the neighbours – where were we? Why didn't we talk to her?" Karen said she had always liked living in Sky City but that as she lives alone, and is the same age as Joyce was when she died, she now worries whether anyone would notice if anything happened to her.

Months passed. I spent time in libraries and public records offices, piecing together some of Joyce's history through official records, locating previous addresses and relatives. I managed to track down people who knew Joyce, but they wouldn't talk to me. Then I received an email from Martin Lister, who had seen my advertisement. He wrote to me in the hope that the Joyce in question was not the same Joyce he went out with in his twenties. We quickly established that it was. On the phone he said it just didn't add up – "she never drank much, she never took drugs" – but the thing that most surprised him, he said, was that she ended up in social housing.

I arranged to meet Martin outside Shepherd's Bush underground station. In his late 40s, he wore a green Brazil baseball cap, and was all friendly smiles. In his local pub I thanked him for seeing me. "Well I want to thank you," he said, his pale complexion flushing pink. "Therapy, is how I feel about it."

While he had confided the news of the circumstances of Joyce's death to friends, he was glad to have the opportunity to discuss her at length. They had met in 1985, when he worked negotiating client renewals for a shipping company in the City. Joyce was 20 years old and secretary to his boss. "She was always asking me to go for a drink, but it never occurred to me that she was asking me out. I thought, what a shame she doesn't have any friends. I didn't read anything into it."

Eventually Martin went for a drink with Joyce and they subsequently dated for about three years. Afterwards they kept in touch, on and off, until 2002. Looking back, Martin was unsure if he ever knew exactly what was going on in Joyce's life. "You look back and think, I wish I'd asked more, wish I'd understood more."
They had good times together. "We were always doing something," Martin reminisced, "racing at Goodwood, tennis at Wimbledon, classical music, opera. We liked restaurants too." Martin shook his head, baffled at Joyce's outcome. "She always wanted to improve her mind. Actually, she told me she'd had elocution lessons and she sounded – I wouldn't say posh, but you wouldn't know she was from London, she just sounded very well-spoken, almost BBC really. In reality she grew up off the Fulham Palace Road in west London and she used to say, 'I don't know why people say it's so lovely round there because it certainly wasn't when I was growing up.'"

Pulling some photographs from a carrier bag, Martin looked at one wistfully before handing it to me. It was the first photograph of Joyce I had seen. I held it carefully, trying to take in every detail. "People used to say she looked like Whitney Houston," Martin said proudly. He sipped his wine and looked at another photo. "Her hair came from her mother's side. Her mother was Indian, she died when Joyce was young, 11, I think. She had a real bond with her mum, especially as she was the youngest. She had four sisters, but I think she was the only one to be born over here – the sisters brought her up really. Her dad was a carpenter. I never met her family, which I thought was a bit odd.

"I don't understand. She worked her way up, had really good jobs. She earned excellent money." His voice was tinged with sadness as he said: "Apparently she wanted to marry me, but being a typical bloke I was like – no, no, don't be ridiculous. I didn't want to settle down."

Martin opened a sizeable old Filofax to find Joyce's name. Her contact details had been TippExed over a number of times. "It was alarming really, how often she moved – at least once a year."

I asked Martin to appear in my film. I stressed how Joyce's story was a very modern one. She was born in 1965, the year the Post Office Tower opened, which Tony Benn later referred to as a symbol of our age – an age in which we worship the internet, television, mobile phones. I told him how ironic I thought it that Joyce should be forgotten and unreachable in this so-called period of communication.

Martin listened politely, thought for a while, and then said, "We'll see". It was not until a few years later, sitting in the same pub, that he finally agreed. "I can't say no, I've got to do it for her," he said then.

A few weeks after meeting Martin, I went to the Horn Pub in St Albans with John Ioannou, who was once friendly with both Martin and Joyce. Known as John the Greek, he was exuberant and talkative. He recalled reading the story about Joyce in a newspaper, but didn't connect it to the Joyce with whom he had once shared a house for a while. He told me he felt an enormous amount of guilt because he spoke to her on the phone in 2002, but never found the time to meet her.

He described his gang of home-counties friends whom Joyce had hung out with in the 80s. "We were a bunch of blaggers. We did things way above our class. A few of us came from money, but most of us didn't. We used to mix with proper posh people and go sailing, go to glitzy nightclubs. Right poseurs we were. We used to make up names. Joyce called herself Rachel Prejudice."

I showed him the photographs I'd gathered of Joyce. "The trouble with Joyce was she was very fanciable," he said. "Wherever she went and whatever she did, there were people trying to get her into bed. It was a burden that she was so beautiful and she was very clever, a lot more intelligent than she let on. I think she had several lives."

John asked what had attracted me to Joyce. I replied that I couldn't leave her to be forgotten – and that I had discovered there were a lot of things that connected us: we were exactly the same age, we shared a name – Carol, her middle name – and at one point we even lived on the same street. Joyce lost her mother when she was 11 and I was 11 when my father died, so I felt I understood something of the loss she had suffered. I told John that the title of the film, Dreams of a Life, captured what I was trying to do – dream up Joyce's life and ambitions through the information I gathered and the people who knew her.

John said: "I want to know Joyce's story myself, and that sounds ridiculous coming from someone who knew her. There must have been signs she would end this way, but if there were she covered them up with this happy-go-lucky, having-a-great-time act." John shook his head and sighed. "She died of neglect. We all loved her, but not enough to stop her dying."

On the train back to London, I reflected on how nobody she knew really worried about Joyce when she fell out of touch with them, as she often did – they just thought she was off somewhere having a better life than they were. Her aspirations and desires, her immaculate way of presenting herself, masked any deeper troubles she may have had.

As I continued my research I tracked down some of Joyce's former colleagues who were willing to appear in the film. Kim Bacon and Dan Roberts worked with Joyce at Ernst & Young, one of the biggest accountancy firms in the world. They told me Joyce worked for the company for four years and had a very responsible job in the treasury department, "moving the company's money around". It was during this period that Joyce was engaged for two years to someone I tracked down but who wishes to remain anonymous.

Her colleagues were surprised when she decided to quit in 2001. Kim said: "There do seem to be conflicting stories about what she did when she left." Joyce told some people she was going travelling with 20 people, and others that she had been headhunted. All that is known for sure about what happened to her in the time between her departure from the firm and her death is that she spent some time in a refuge for victims of domestic violence in Haringey.

Dan said: "I know it sounds odd, but it seems like we're talking about two different people. I just can't connect the Joyce who died to the Joyce that we knew." Kim nodded in agreement: "I mean she gave this impression of being a happy, bubbly person but it does make you wonder what was really going on."

I showed them the Sun article that started my quest. Kim studied the accompanying photograph of the bedsit. "The place she ended up living in doesn't tie up with her persona. I always imagined she lived in a really nice Victorian house, lovely furniture, nice things around her, everything immaculate and perfect. Not somewhere like that."

They looked at the photos of Joyce I'd gathered. "This is the sort of thing you'd imagine being on Facebook," Kim said. Dan agreed – "but we didn't have Facebook then. It's different now, you can keep in touch with people very easily." Dan looked around the pub we were in, where they used to socialise with Joyce. "It's shocking to think that two years after she left work she was dead," he said. Kim put the photos down. "I really don't understand," she said. "She was a very popular girl and I don't know why we didn't keep in touch. I feel a bit guilty about that."

As time went on I received a lot of messages via Friends Reunited from Joyce's old schoolfriends. All concurred that she was beautiful, well turned out, funny, down to earth, and all mentioned that she loved to sing – one message even urged me to tell the world about Joyce's fantastic singing voice.

It was two more years before I found Kirk Thorne, a musician, and a friend and landlord of Joyce's in the late 80s. Kirk had once recorded Joyce in his studio.

I sat with him in the garden of the same modern house in Wapping that Joyce had once occupied. He told me that since he received my message about Joyce he had spent hours speculating on how she ended up as she did. "I can't understand. She had a lot of friends and a good social life. She was not a girl that came in and sat in front of the telly. If she was white she could have been a debutante – she was upwardly mobile, a high flyer."

Kirk was especially surprised that by the age of 38, Joyce was living without a man. "Joyce was the kind of person that would worry most women. She was a threat. Good-looking, intelligent, successful and on a mission for the type of man all women are after."

He showed me around the studio he had built at the bottom of his garden. It was here that Joyce once dressed up as a maid and served tea to Captain Sensible, the punk legend. It was also here that she first fulfilled her dream of being a recording artist. Kirk had lost the tape, though at my insistence he promised me he would have another hunt for it. He wondered if Joyce might have been happier if she had pursued her singing and taken a different path in life. "She had a clique with all these City bankers – they didn't suit her, but she liked it," Kirk said. "I think she was on a search for something she wasn't going to find. I used to think that what she needed was a good black man. She was my flatmate, not my family, so I didn't tell her."
Catherine Clarke became good friends with Joyce while renting a room in Kirk's house. I tracked her down in Florida, where she recalled that Joyce only had one other close female friend. "Mostly it was men. Men who had crushes on her, men who followed her – there was always a story about a guy that had the hots for her. It was just unbelievable how intense guys would get with her."

Catherine said she was not surprised that Joyce ended up in a refuge for victims of domestic violence. "Guys would come on so heavy and not let go. I can only think she became isolated from her family because of a guy that she chose. Maybe she was ashamed of the situation she got herself into. To go into a women's refuge, for Joyce, would have been a big thing."

I tracked down another of Joyce's friend's – the American disco singer Judy Cheeks, who once took Joyce out to dinner with Stevie Wonder. On the phone from the States, Judy said she last spoke to Joyce in the late 90s and found her still looking for Mr Right. "I had no idea where she was heading. It appears no one did. I often thought of her and always assumed she had finally found her ideal husband, had a few kids and was happy."

Over time I received a number of phone calls from Joyce's former boyfriends. Mostly they were calling me for information, so disturbed were they that the Joyce they went out with could have ended up being so overlooked. Most of them didn't want to appear in the film, but were willing to give me snippets of information. Jason, for example, told me that when he met Joyce he was a working-class boy from a sink estate, and Joyce was five years older than him and wanted to be a pop star. "I used to resent her for that. I used to resent her for having dreams… what a fall from grace." Jason told me that before he went out with her, Joyce went out with a baronet and an MP, but he couldn't recall their names. He also thought that Joyce once knew the American soul singer Betty Wright.

So I wrote to Betty in Miami. A couple of months later I received a phone call from Alistair Abrahams, Betty's one-time tour manager and Joyce's former boyfriend. Betty had told him about my letter. Stunned by the news, he invited me over to see him in London the following day.

In his early 50s, with long dreadlocks swept back behind his shoulders, Alistair showed me into his living room. Originally from Zimbabwe, he delivered his accented words slowly and cautiously as he described Joyce and the two years they lived together in the early 90s. "There were a lot of exciting things happening to me and her arrival coincided with a lot of that change, so I used to call her my lucky charm. She was always immaculately attired down to the bows on her underwear. But she wasn't just physically beautiful, she had an aura about her."

Alistair explained that Joyce never really talked about her life before she met him. "Have you ever seen the movie The Man with No Name? That's how she was – she came with no past."

While Joyce lived with Alistair she came into contact with many of the musicians he knew and worked with. "We had great times. We had Jimmy Cliff to stay at the house, Gil Scott-Heron and Isaac Hayes came for dinner. For her it was exciting, vibrant, thrilling. It was a good time."

He asked me if I had found out how Joyce had died but I told him that not even the pathologist came to a conclusion. "Perhaps she suffered a fatal asthma attack, or do you think it was something more sinister?" he asked. I replied that Joyce's death would always be shrouded in mystery and open to speculation, but what was more important then dwelling on how she died was to remember her life.

"I was so committed to Joyce almost in a paternal way. I think that's what she wanted out of a relationship, someone she could rely and depend on. She was a chameleon in many ways – she adapted to the environment she was in. I introduced her to Ben E King and the next day she bought his album. After I'd introduced her to Gil Scott-Heron, when she met him again, she had this wonderful knowledge of him, she was asking him questions about the civil-rights movement and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

Alistair recalled the time he surprised Joyce by taking her to Wembley in 1990 to see a Nelson Mandela tribute concert. "Something very momentous happened – she met Nelson Mandela, she shook his hand. In fact I spoke to my brother yesterday and he thinks he may have seen her at the concert, when it was on the TV."

I ordered up the film of the concert, Nelson Mandela, International Tribute for a Free South Africa, from the BFI National Archive. I trawled through it, ever hopeful, constantly pausing when I spotted anyone remotely resembling Joyce. After a few fruitless hours I began to prepare myself for disappointment when the programme cut from the stadium crowds to Nelson Mandela backstage, addressing the musicians who had taken part in the show. As he ended his passionate speech they cheered in appreciation, and there was a cut to a wide shot from the rear of the room – featuring an array of backs of heads.

And then I saw her. It was Joyce, unarguably. She turned and smiled at someone behind her. Catching the light, her earrings gleamed. She turned back and I panicked, I had lost her.

But she turned around once more. It was Joyce – moving and alive. I had found her. The power of the moving image hit me, the power to resurrect.

I rewound the tape and timed Joyce's appearance. Four seconds. I slowed the footage down and watched. One hundred frames, hundreds of dancing pixels.

Joyce, who died alone in her bedsit, anonymous and seemingly forgotten, had once had her image transmitted live to millions of living rooms in the 61 countries where the show was broadcast.

The video cut away from Joyce to the Wembley crowd and I thought of her, backstage, in her element, on a high, talking to Anita Baker and Denzel Washington, shaking hands with Nelson Mandela, in a room with verifiable stars. She was 26 years old, ambitious, beautiful, full of hope for the future. She had her whole life ahead of her but in 13 years she would die and nobody would know and nobody would notice.

I resumed the tape and carried on watching the show, eager to experience what Joyce once had. Nelson Mandela arrived on stage to rapturous applause and the crowd sang, louder and louder, "You'll never walk alone".

Dreams of a Life, written and directed by Carol Morley, will be shown at the 2011 BFI London Film Festival. The film has been shortlisted for the Grierson award for best documentary at the LFF. It will go on general release in March 2012. www.dreamsofalife.com

Source:  http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/09/joyce-vincent-death-mystery-documentary

New advanced system to guard Russia from hi-tech surveillance, drone attacks

Russia’s Defense Ministry has received the top-notch anti-radar system Krasukha-4. The system is designed to guard against aircraft-based electronic surveillance - including that carried out by drones.
Bryansk electromechanical plant has delivered 1RL257 Krasukha-4 broadband multifunctional jamming stations to the defense ministry, RIA Novosti reported on Sunday, citing a spokesman from the Radioelectronic Technologies group.

The stations, which will complement Krasukha-2 units already in use by the Russian army, will provide the military with powerful radar jamming capability.

While technical details of the units have remained top-secret, sources cited by Russian media have described the system as “unique.”

Krasukha-4 is able to effectively shield objects on the ground against radio-locating surveillance satellites, ground-based radars, or aircraft-installed Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), a source with knowledge of the system told Izvestiya.

The protective jamming shield may span up to a 300-kilometer radius, he said.

Moreover, interference caused by Krasukha-4 will render radio-controlled missile attacks ineffective. The system has been designed to counter attacks from enemies possessing advanced technologies, the source added.

More specifically, the new Russian system has been described as a tool against “flying radars,” such as the USAF E-8 Joint STARS aircraft, or reconnaissance satellites - like the United States’ Lacrosse satellite - and a means of protection against surveillance and combat unmanned aerial vehicles, otherwise known as drones.

Media sources named the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk and the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator as drones which Krasukha-4 could guard ground objects and troops against.

Source:  http://rt.com/news/russia-radar-jammer-drones-864/http://rt.com/news/russia-radar-jammer-drones-864/

Motorola wants to tattoo a mic on your throat

Tattooed electronics? Commence conspiracy theory germination sequence now...

(Credit: US Patent and Trademark Office/Motorola Mobility) 

A patent application filed in 2012 by the Google-owned company and published Thursday details a wireless microphone that can be tattooed on the neck and connect to a smartphone.

 

 For Motorola, the "touchless control" used on the Moto X could be just the beginning. 

If a just-published patent application from Google-owned Motorola Mobility is any indication, the company is actually more interested in devices that you're always touching, like permanently. The patent, filed in 2012, details a wireless microphone that can be tattooed onto the throat.

According to the application:

The electronic skin tattoo can include an embedded microphone; a transceiver for enabling wireless communication with the MCD (mobile communication device); and a power supply configured to receive energizing signals from a personal area network associated with the MCD. A controller is communicatively coupled to the power supply. The controller can be configured to receive a signal from the MCD to initiate reception of an audio stream picked up from the throat region of the body for subsequent audio detection by the MCD under an improved signal-to-noise ratio than without the employment of the electronic skin tattoo.

So if I sit through a long inking procedure to turn my neck into a wirelessly powered and tethered microphone, the only major benefit I'll see in return is improved signal-to-noise ratio? I didn't even think a fancy bone-conducting Bluetooth headset was worth the extra expense. Would I at least get to choose my own tribal design for the tat?

What do you think? If this guy is willing to install his own Bluetooth health monitor sans anesthesia, does it make sense that we'll all soon be having our new smartphones installed by the local tattoo parlor?

Related stories

• Implanted Bluetooth biochip gets under hacker's skin
• My cyborg sister: When life-saving gadgets break down

(Via Engadget)

Source;  http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57611545-1/motorola-wants-to-tattoo-a-mic-on-your-throat/

Larry Burrows' Vietnam Photos Still Haunt Us 47 Years Later

In October of 1966, the Vietnam War had already been raging for nearly 11 years. Thousands of troops were still fighting, and in their midst a courageous photographer risked and ultimately lost his life documenting the horrors of one of the longest wars in U.S. history. As LIFE magazine wrote of Larry Burrows in a 1971 issue:

He had been through so much, always coming out magically unscathed, that a myth of invulnerability grew up about him. Friends came to believe he was protected by some invisible armor. But I don’t think he believed that himself. Whenever he went in harm’s way he knew, precisely, what the dangers were and how vulnerable he was.

Burrows had died that same year when his helicopter was shot down over Laos, together with three other photographers. Their tragic deaths are a harrowing reminder of the acute danger war correspondents face in doing their jobs, and of the endless dangers that armed forces and civilians face in the midst of violence.
For those left at home, there is little that conveys the horrors of war as thoroughly as photographs such as Burrows'.

 Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie (center, with bandaged head) reaches toward a stricken comrade after a fierce firefight south of the DMZ, Vietnam, October 1966. (Larry Burrows—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

 U.S. Marine in Vietnam, October 1966. (Larry Burrows—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

 "Four Marines recover the body of a fifth as their company comes under fire near Hill 484." Vietnam, October 1966. NOTE: At right is the French-born photojournalist Catherine Leroy (1945 – 2006); she was cropped out of the version of this photo that originally ran in LIFE. (Larry Burrows—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

 American Marines receive the sacrament of Communion during a lull in the fighting near the DMZ during the Vietnam War, October 1966. (Larry Burrows—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

You can find more of Burrows' incredible photos on the Life.com website.

New $5 device easily unlocks car doors for thieves in Winnipeg

A new tool is allowing criminals across the world to break into cars without leaving a trace, and now that device has made its way to Winnipeg.

The new device can be purchased online for about $5 and sends an electromagnetic pulse through a car’s key area to unlock the vehicle.

Winnipegger Rick Henzel had no idea the technology existed, until his car was broken into early Sunday morning.

“We did find the glove box open, insurance papers stolen,” said Henzel.

At first, he thought his wife had left the doors unlocked, but a neighbour told him he had phoned the police early that morning when he heard noise outside.

Luckily, the whole thing was caught on tape. Henzel had installed security cameras on his property about a year ago when his car was broken into previously.

“They come running up into the screen. It’s a free for all,” he said. “They’re in that car as well and away they go. Just like that.”

Thieves can be seen applying a device to a car and then opening the door as if it is unlocked.

“It makes you feel a bit vulnerable to be honest with you because you feel like a victim,” said Henzel.
Michael Legary is a security expert with Seccuris. He said thieves are using the $5 devices to hack into vehicles’ computer systems.

"So just like we have to worry about our computers being hacked, our cars can be hacked as well,” said Legary. “That's something we didn't have to worry about a decade ago."
The device sends an electromagnetic pulse into the vehicle, tricking it into unlocking the door, much like a keyless entry key fob.

He said according to the device’s manufacturer, at least 19 of the devices have been shipped to Winnipeg in the past three months.

Legary said while you can’t prevent thieves from getting into your vehicle, you can keep them from getting your belongings, and he recommends not leaving anything, even your insurance papers, in your car unattended.

The device can be thwarted if the car’s keyless entry system is disabled, but you’ll have to visit a mechanic to have that done.

Henzel has reported the theft to police but said police officers appeared baffled by the device.

Source;  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/new-5-device-easily-unlocks-car-doors-for-thieves-in-winnipeg-1.2288826?cmp=rss

GMO Wheat can Silence Human Genes, Causes Early Death

Two Australian researchers have found that CSIRO-developed GMO wheat which was created to silence particular genes within the crop can also silence certain rNA and DNA sequences in the human body, causing fatality as early as age five or six. The researchers are calling the GMO wheat a ‘safety’ issue, which requires more profundity before the genetically modified crop is planted in more areas of Australia and offered in products in grocery stores.

Professor Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury, NZ, and Associate Professor Judy Carman, a biochemist at Flinders University, released their expert scientific opinions on the safety of CSIRO’s GM wheat at a press conference in Melbourne. The Safe Food Foundation & Institute has a video of their conference, here.

While studies on the wheat have been released by CSIRO, the scientists point out that there are some grave holes in the overall assessment of the crop that have serious repercussions for people who consume it.
According to the Heinemann and Carman, extended testing should be performed before the wheat is put on store shelves.

Read: Doctor Says Modern Wheat a “Perfect, Chronic Poison”

“We firmly believe that long term chronic toxicological feeding studies are required in addition to the detailed requests . . . for the DNA sequences used. . .The industry routinely does feeding studies anyway, so it should not be too much more difficult to do long term (lifetime) studies and include inhalation studies.”
“The technology is too new,” the scientists said in the press conference, “What we found is that the molecules created in this wheat intended to silence wheat genes can match human genes and through ingestion can possibly silence human genes. We found over 770 pages of potential matches between the genes in wheat and the human genome.” This is the cause for concern.

The issue may end up in Australian courts if the company does not respond to the scientist’s and publics concerns about the GM wheat.

Additional Sources:

 http://tv.naturalsociety.com/new-csiro-gmo-wheat-can-silence-human-genes-causes-early-death/

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