Toxic // Current TV

World's Largest Trash Heap Lies in the Ocean

The Great Pacific Garbage Dump Stretches From California to China By DARCY BONFILS... more

contactkatrinaford
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3 years ago
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How Monsanto really makes GMOs

GMO's are made by manipulation of extremely deadly viruses & bacteria that... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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30 comments

Monsanto and Michael Pollan talk about creating a world that can feed itself

This is like 36 minutes long, but it's definitely worth watching...

Kati_kat
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3 years ago
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5 comments

Just When You Thought It was Safe to Feed Your Dog

The ASPCA just posted a list of dog foods that are tainted or dangerous. Check to be... more

patsarts
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3 years ago
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2 comments

World leaders recommit to poverty goals

World leaders recommitted themselves to reducing global poverty, pledging an estimated... more

goldenways
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3 years ago
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Zimbabwe children eating toxic roots, rats, says aid agency

Children in Zimbabwe are eating rats and inedible roots riddled with toxic parasites... more

goldenways
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3 years ago
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37 comments

Almond growers sue USDA to halt mandatory fumigation of raw almonds

After having their organic almond businesses devastated by the USDA's bizarre decision requiring mandatory chemical fumigation of almonds, the almond industry is fighting back. Fifteen American almond growers have filed a lawsuit against the USDA in an attempt to repeal the requirements that all almonds grown in California be fumigated or pasteurized. (Virtually all almonds sold in the United States are grown in California.)

Since the USDA's ruling in 2007, organic almond growers in California have been economically devastated by the mandatory fumigation of almonds. Because USDA rules don't apply to almonds being imported from other countries, however, the industry has seen a huge shift away from U.S. growers and towards almond growers in Spain and other countries. Some American almond farmers have even called the USDA's decision "a plan to destroy the U.S. almond industry and put small organic farmers out of business."

The USDA's plot to deceive consumers over "raw"

The mandatory almond fumigation requirement is seen by health-conscious consumers as not merely bizarre, but downright fraudulent. That's because the USDA's regulations allow fumigated and pasteurized almonds to be labeled "raw," thereby intentionally deceiving the consuming public and instantly destroying consumer trust in the labeling of all almonds.

By any honest measure, the people making these decisions at the USDA can only be described as either idiotic or criminal. To enforce regulations requiring the intentional mislabeling of raw food seems more like the actions of a criminal racket than a government agency. While online pharmacies selling mislabeled pharmaceuticals are routinely raided and shut down by U.S. authorities, when the government itself engages in similar deceptions, it declares itself above the law and immune to prosecution.

This lawsuit by U.S. almonds growers aims to overturn the USDA's deception. These fraudulent actions on the part of the USDA have generated an enormous amount of criticism from the raw food community, whose members depend on almonds to make raw almond milk, raw almond "burgers" and other raw foods preparations. As leaders of the raw foods movement rightly insist, fumigating or pasteurizing nuts destroys as much as 90 percent of their original nutritional value, altering proteins and destroying disease-fighting phytonutrients. The USDA, however, remains remarkably illiterate on this topic, have never made a single statement acknowledging any qualitative difference between cooked foods and raw foods.

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However, the USDA doesn't require this of almonds imported from other countries, only the almonds grown here, mostly from California. Why does the USDA seem to hate the American farmer so much? GM foods, irradiation, and now this. If I didn't know any better, I would say they were out to destroy the livelihoods of American farmers. And again, we have the deceptive description regarding pasteurized nuts as raw with a lack of scientific backup. Is there no end to it? After having their organic almond businesses devastated by the USDA's bizarre... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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14 comments

What the Chemical Industry Doesn't Want You to Know about Everyday Products

The chemical industry has spent years trying to suppress information about a certain... more

goldenways
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3 years ago
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13 comments

Nonstick cookware chemicals found in human breast milk

Toxic chemicals used in nonstick coatings and stain-resistant fabrics were found in... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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30 comments

Chinese baby milk scare 'severe'

The number of Chinese babies known to have fallen ill with kidney stones as a result... more

goldenways
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3 years ago
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14 comments

Scarce water in Argentina threatened by Barrick gold mine

Tearing mountains apart, destroying indigenous lands, polluting scarce water sources, for what? A few pieces of shiny metal excavated in a greedy material world where the metal means more than the lives and environment ruined by it.

From the article:

For nearly a year and a half, local residents in the northwestern Argentine province of La Rioja have been blocking the road that climbs up to the Nevados de Famatina mountain to protest a gold mining project that they say will pollute the water in the country’s driest district.

"The mountain is our only source of water, and it regulates the region’s climate," said Marcela Crabbé, a shopkeeper in Chilecito, a city of 45,000 located 30 km from Nevados de Famatina. "One hundred years ago this was a mining zone, but that left the area neither gold nor progress, just a huge environmental debt," she told IPS.

Chilecito and Famatina -- a town of less than 8,000 people located 20 km from the mountain it takes its name from -- are in the northern part of La Rioja, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, some 1,200 km northwest of Buenos Aires.

More than 2,000 people took part in the latest protest against the mine, earlier this month.

Criss-crossed by dry river beds, and with virtually no surface water, La Rioja is Argentina’s most arid province. It obtains its water from wells more than 200 metres deep, and from mountains like the 6,250-metre Nevados de Famatina, which provide water during the thaw period. If this melt water is polluted, the very survival of the two nearby towns would be in danger.

La Rioja Governor Luis Beder Herrera himself acknowledged this month that the province’s biggest problem is the lack of water: "We are the only province which practically has no rivers; water means everything for us." Nevertheless, his administration has promoted mining activity.

"I don't understand people who say we are going to pollute," said the governor. "I don't know of a single case of people who have died of this famous pollution. They are trying to scare people, but we aren't going to bring this to a halt."

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Their only source of water.Tearing mountains apart, destroying indigenous lands, polluting scarce water sources,... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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5 comments

Don't believe the GMO apologists

Avarice and greed in the name of exploiting a food crisis brought on not by food shortages, but high prices of oil and feed and political corruption propagated by the very governments and agencies like the World Bank that are now pushing GM foods that are untested. Notice a pattern here?

From the article:

Arguments about genetic modification, often wrongly characterised as science versus irrational nature-worshippers, have lost none of their passion. On one side are those who yearn for simple, high-tech solutions to complex problems. Against GM, there are ecological realities and scientific evidence. There is overwhelming evidence that farming took a wrong turn after the last war, with widespread use of artificial nitrogen fertilisers and sprays.

In Britain, we lost up to 95 per cent of our ancient woodlands, flower meadows, hedges and wildlife and saw massive losses of farms and farm workers' jobs. Farming became more oil-dependent. Our food lost vitamins, taste and diversity and our diet became unhealthy.

As the environmental and human cost of industrial farming became harder to deny, along came a new miracle cure ; genetic engineering. Twenty years ago, GM promised unbelievable wonders ; fruit that would never freeze, crops needing no fertiliser or sprays and food with vitamins and medicines engineered in. All food would soon be GM. Geneticists would engineer anything we wanted, taking a gene from a fish here, a pig there, adding a bacteria gene and maybe a bit of a virus.

The greatest coup by the GM companies, and their greatest scientific fraud, was to ensure no GM food had to be tested for safety. In America, they established the concept of "substantial equivalence" which means that if a GM crop looks like its non-GM equivalent and grows like it, then it is it no safety testing is needed before people eat it. GM maize could have added virus and antibiotic resistance genes, and a gene that makes it express an insecticide in every leaf, stem and root but to the US government it looks and grows like maize, so it is safe to eat.

GM crops face mounting scientific evidence of uncertainty, risk and danger. But now, because of rising food prices, the GM industry's claim that GM is needed to feed the world is suddenly newsworthy again. However, a key reason for soaring food prices higher oil costs leading to higher fertiliser prices also presents a massive threat to GM crops. All current and planned GM crops depend on artificial, oil-based fertiliser to grow, and all need to be treated with pesticides to survive.

In 2006, the pro-GM US Department of Agriculture observed that "currently available GM crops do not increase yield potential" a point already made by a 2004 UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report which acknowledged that "GM crops can have reduced yields". The recently published UN IAASTD report, the work of more than 400 international scientists, about the future of global food production under the challenges of climate change and population pressure, concluded that GM crops do not have much to offer.
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GM foods: 'un'natural selection.

Avarice and greed in the name of exploiting a food crisis brought on not by food... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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20 comments

Ever wondered where your old tv's and computers go?

Containers full of e-waste arrive by ship from Europe, North America and Japan and... more

toshiba
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3 years ago
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3 comments

Plastics suspect in lobster illness

The search for what causes a debilitating shell disease affecting lobsters from Long... more

JanforGore
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3 years ago
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22 comments

Toxic teddy bears: Harrods recalls hundreds of toys

Harrods is recalling hundreds of teddy bears that contain potentially harmful levels... more

JanaPokana
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3 years ago
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2 comments

GMO containment?

The CBC's national news takes a look at how GM crops are being monitored in Canada.

wholefreespirit
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3 years ago
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13 comments

Elixir of the Toxic Frog

Current's Mariana van Zeller heads to the Brazilian Amazon to search for the... more

MarianaVanZeller
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4 years ago
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19 comments

Cow gas curdling climate? :: PostStar.com

CHICAGO - Burgeoning efforts to curb global-warming pollution are taking aim at an... more

dankitti
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Martian soil may contain detrimental substance

LOS ANGELES - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has detected the presence of a chemically reactive salt in the Martian soil, a finding that if confirmed could make it less friendly to potential life than once believed.

Scientists previously reported that the soil near Mars' north pole was similar to backyard gardens on Earth where plants such as asparagus, green beans and turnips could grow. But preliminary results from a second lab test found perchlorate, a highly oxidizing salt, that would create a harsh environment.

The first test "suggested Earth-like soil. Further analysis has revealed un-Earthlike aspects of the soil chemistry," chief scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson said in a statement Monday.

On Earth, perchlorate is a natural and manmade contaminant sometimes found in soil and groundwater. It is the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel and can be found in fireworks, pyrotechnics and other explosives.

It's unclear how perchlorate forms on Mars or how much there is of it. NASA is investigating whether the substance could have gotten there by contamination before launch. Phoenix used another fuel, hydrazine, to power its thrusters and land on the red planet on May 25.

Phoenix detected the salt through a chemistry experiment. The lander mixed soil with water brought from Earth into a teacup-size beaker and stirred it. Two dozen sensors inside the beaker detect the soil's pH and probe for traces of mineral nutrients.

The first test determined the soil was slightly alkaline and contained nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride necessary for living things. The second test found the highly reactive perchlorate.

Scientists want to confirm their results because another Phoenix instrument that bakes and sniffs soil samples found no evidence of perchlorate during a run on Sunday.

Brown University geologist John Mustard, who has no role in the mission, said judgment about the soil's potential to support life should be reserved until all the data are in.

But at first glance, "it is a reactive compound. It's not usually considered an ingredient for life," Mustard said.

The latest soil finding comes less than a week after NASA extended Phoenix's three-month mission by another five weeks through the end of September.

Since arriving at Mars, the three-legged lander has impressed scientists by confirming that ice exists in the Martian arctic plains. Its main task is to study whether the landing site could be a habitable zone for primitive life forms to emerge.

LOS ANGELES - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has detected the presence of a chemically... more

KefKef
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Burning joss sticks causes cancer just like smoking, study shows

Burning joss sticks fills the air with cancer-causing toxins that are every bit as deadly as traffic fumes and cigarette smoke, according to a study in Thailand.

Dr Manoon Leechawengwong, who has just completed a two-year study of temple workers tasked with clearing the smouldering sticks, found the cocktail of chemicals in the smoke put them at risk of leukaemia, lung, blood and bladder cancers.

“One joss stick creates the same amount of cancer-causing chemicals at one cigarette,” said Dr Manoon, who led the research. “I knew there would be some carcinogens, but I was surprised by the levels.”

Joss sticks are a type of incense used in worship in many Asian countries. In Buddhism they are believed to aid spiritual communication and serve as an offering.

Dr Manoon’s study was conducted among 40 workers in three temples at Ayutthaya, Chachoengsao and Samut Prakan, sites chosen deliberately far from Bangkok’s traffic pollution. The findings were compared with another 25 people living in a joss-stick free environment.

Temple workers were exposed to high levels of benzene, also known as petroleum ether, related to leukaemia; butadiene involved in blood cancer; and benzo[a]pyrene that can cause lung, bladder and skin cancers.

The level of benzene in the temple workers was four times higher than normal, butadiene was 260 times higher, and benzo[a]pyrene - the most dangerous carcinogen - 63 times greater.

Analysis of the temple workers blood and urine samples discovered damage to their DNA, with a correspondingly lower capacity of their bodies to repair that damage.

“We know from our study that there’s DNA damage,” said Dr Manoon. “But what we don’t know is if they will develop cancer. Certainly they have a greater risk. It’s like smoking. Not all smokers get cancer, it’s about 20% .”

Should incense sticks carry a health warning just like cigarettes? Has your valiant attempt to quit smoking been thwarted by the ill effects of your hippy joss stick habit?

Burning joss sticks fills the air with cancer-causing toxins that are every bit as... more

LindseyIndigo
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3 years ago
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11 comments

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