tagged w/ Exposing Corruption
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Gorillas could disappear from most of Africa's Greater Congo Basin within 10 to 15 years unless immediate action is taken to combat the illegal activities of militias, counter poaching and safeguard gorilla habitats, the United Nations and the international police organization INTERPOL warned in a report released today.
Illegal logging, mining, charcoal production and increased demand for bushmeat, plus deadly outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever are wiping out Congo Basin gorillas faster than the UN Environment Programme estimated just eight years ago.
The Rapid Response Assessment report, entitled "The Last Stand of the Gorilla - Environmental Crime and Conflict in the Congo Basin," finds that militias in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo are behind much of the illegal trade, estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars a year.
The report was issued at an ongoing meeting of delegates from 175 governments who are Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.
David Higgins, manager of the INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme, said, "The gorillas are yet another victim of the contempt shown by organized criminal gangs for national and international laws aimed at defending wildlife. The law enforcement response must be internationally co-coordinated, strong and united, and INTERPOL is uniquely placed to facilitate this."
"We are committed to combating all forms of environmental crime on a global scale," Higgins said. "INTERPOL is mandated to do so by providing law enforcement agencies in all our 188 member countries with the intelligence exchange, operational support, and capacity building needed to combat this world-spanning crime."
The report finds that smuggled or illegally-harvested minerals such as diamonds, gold and coltan along with timber ends up crossing borders, passing through middle men and companies before being shipped on to countries in Asia, the European Union and the Gulf.
The export of timber and minerals is estimated to be two to 10 times the officially recorded level, and is claimed to be handled by front companies in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
The illegal trade is in part due to the militias being in control of border crossings which, along with demanding road tax payments, may be generating between $14 million and $50 million annually, which in turn helps fund their activities.
The insecurity in the region has driven hundreds of thousands of people into refugee camps. Logging and mining camps, perhaps with links to militias, are hiring poachers to supply refugees and markets in towns across the region with bushmeat - meat fromm wild animals, increasingly gorillas.
"This is a tragedy for the great apes and one also for countless other species being impacted by this intensifying and all too often illegal trade," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
* continued below in comments
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2010/2010-03-24-01.htmlGorillas could disappear from most of Africa's Greater Congo Basin within 10 to... more
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Just sharing .....
"Since we are currently facing the global takeover of our food supply by genetically modified organisms (GMO), I feel it is time to reprint my article on the link between GMO and Morgellon’s Disease.
GMOs have been proven in independent tests to be harmful to life, yet our government has declared that they are substantially equivalent to normal food, and require no special handling or labeling. If we go to a grocery store and purchase anything that is processed, chances are it contains GMO. What are the ramifications of this to us on a personal health level? Why are we being used as human guinea pigs?
GMO and Morgellon’s Disease
By Barbara H. Peterson
Since the Clinton administration made biotechnology “a strategic priority for U.S. government backing” (1), giant transnational agri-business concerns have aggressively taken over the global food chain by flooding it with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) without regard for the consequences to the earth or its inhabitants. This takeover not only has the potential for global economic devastation, but threatens the earth’s population with far-reaching health concerns as well. One health concern that seems to coincide with the GMO revolution is Morgellons disease. What if the advent of Morgellons disease has something to do with the ingestion of GMO foods?
Morgellons Disease – What is it?
Very little can be found regarding this disease. Originally, sufferers were told that their problem was imaginary. This was of little comfort to the people who were suffering.
Morgellons Disease sufferers report strange, fiber-like material sticking out of sores or wounds that erupt on the skin. This is accompanied by painful, intense itching, that has been described as “an ever present sensation as if something is crawling under the skin.” (2)
On May 18, 2006, KGW, a local news channel reporting out of the Oregon area published this story:
Strange sickness: Mystery disease horror story (excerpt)
[Dr. Drottar] The disabled family practice doctor felt like bugs were crawling under her skin. ”If I fully tell people what has gone on with me medically, they think they’re in the twilight zone,” said Drottar. She woke up with the feeling that fluid was flowing just below her skin. Often black or blue hair like fibers protruded from her skin, she said. ”I thought I had been exposed to asbestos. I thought I was having asbestos fibers come out of my skin. I was pulling long, thin, small hair-like fibers that were extremely sharp that could literally pierce through my finger nails,” Drottar said.
In addition to the feeling of bugs and the fibers, Drottar also suffered from severe depression, chronic fatigue and a weakened immune system. As a result, she had to give up her family practice, Drottar said. (3) Here is a picture of a Morgellons lesion included in the KGW report:
Morgellons and GMO – the Link
Little information has been revealed concerning the long-term health effects of GMO crops on humans or animals, and even less information can be had regarding research correlating Morgellons with GMO foods. This is suspicious right off the bat, because it would seem that there would be a natural curiosity regarding a link between Genetically Modified Organisms that people ingest regularly and inorganic fibers that protrude from a person’s skin. This would be right up a geneticist’s alley, and quite worthy of intensive research. So, why aren’t there a ton of published studies? Why is it so difficult finding anything related to this? Could it be that companies such as Monsanto have enough clout to effectively squash these stories? If they have enough clout to ruin countries by deceiving impoverished farmers into purchasing patented GMO seeds, and then take it a step further and force these poor people to purchase seeds year after year instead of harvesting their own, then they have enough clout to ask our more than willing corporate government to manipulate the press…again.
According to Mike Stagman, PhD, ”Genetic Engineering is a nightmare technology that has already caused MANY disease epidemics — documented but unpublicized.” continuing....Just sharing .....
"Since we are currently facing the global takeover of our... more
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