Environment

BP Oil Blowout: All States Along Gulf Of Mexico Affected By Slick

by

See also:

– U.S. Senate Traitors Block Investigative Power for Oil Spill Commission

Tar balls from the Gulf oil spill have been found on a Texas beach, the first evidence that crude from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well has reached all the Gulf states.

all-states-along-gulf-of-mexico-affected-by-slick
Smoke rises from the BP oil spill site, as natural gas is burned off, while the drilling of two relief wells continue in the Gulf of Mexico (Reuters)

A Coast Guard official said it was possible that the oil hitched a ride on a ship and was not carried naturally by currents to the barrier islands of the eastern Texas coast, but there was no way to know.

The amount is tiny in comparison to what has coated beaches in the hardest-hit parts of the Gulf coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle but it still provoked the quick dispatch of cleaning crews and a vow that BP will pay for the trouble.

Read moreBP Oil Blowout: All States Along Gulf Of Mexico Affected By Slick

U.S. Senate Traitors Block Investigative Power for Oil Spill Commission

by

The elite criminals that control the US government have their puppets in both parties in the right places.

Are they protecting (Dick Cheney’s) Halliburton?

– David Icke On The Gulf Oil Spill And FEMA Camps: A ‘Biblical’ Catastrophe That Will Affect Us All

Just eight days before the Gulf blow-out, Halliburton also announced that it had agreed to buy Boots & Coots for $240.4 million. Who are Boots & Coots?

The world’s largest oil-spill clean-up company which also deals with oil and gas well fires and blowouts.

What an incredibly fortunate coincidence. What a slice of luck.

– Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: The Halliburton Connection:

The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.

More coincidences:

– BP CEO Tony Hayward sold £1.4 million of his shares weeks before Gulf blowout

– Goldman Sachs Sold 44% Of Its BP Stock 3 Weeks Before Gulf Blowout

– Rig firm makes $270m profit from Gulf of Mexico oil spill

This much is true: You have been lied to:

– Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead

And the government is NOT telling the people how contaminated the air really is that they are breathing right now.

The US government knows that many, many Americans will die from this disaster, but the government does not care about them at all.

If you are living in the Gulf region and have relatives elsewhere, call them, ask if you can stay with them for a while and leave.

If you can afford to leave the Gulf region, leave NOW.

The US House of Representatives voted 420 to 1 to give the presidential commission investigating the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico full subpoena power.

The Senate blocked it = No subpoena powers = No investigation.

—-

Transcript:

Read moreU.S. Senate Traitors Block Investigative Power for Oil Spill Commission

And Now: BP admits failing to use industry risk test at any of its deepwater wells in the US

by

BP was facing fresh criticism over its approach to safety on Saturday night after critics said it did not use an industry standard process to asses risk ahead of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

bp

The procedure, known as a safety case, was developed in Britain after the catastrophic Piper Alpha oil rig explosion of 1988 in which 167 people lost their lives.

Royal Dutch Shell confirmed that it always develops safety cases – a lengthy written document – on each of its thousands of wells in the world, even though they are only mandatory in some countries.

However, BP admitted to The Sunday Telegraph that it does not use safety cases on any of its US wells, including the high-pressure deep water Macondo well from which up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day are still leaking in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is now 75 days since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 men and triggering the catastrophic spill.

Read moreAnd Now: BP admits failing to use industry risk test at any of its deepwater wells in the US

Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead

by

Are you sure that you want to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? In a previous article we documented a number of the health dangers from this oil spill that many scientists are warning us of, and now it has been reported on CNN that the vast majority of those who worked to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are now dead. Yes, you read that correctly. Almost all of them are dead.

In fact, the expert that CNN had on said that the life expectancy for those who worked to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill is only about 51 years. Considering the fact that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now many times worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster, are you sure you want to volunteer to be on a cleanup crew down there? After all, the American Dream is not to make big bucks for a few months helping BP clean up their mess and then drop dead 20 or 30 years early.

(Bonus: Uncovered BP Document Brags Of Declining Production Costs)

This news clip from CNN is absolutely stunning.  If this is even close to true, then why would anyone want to be involved in helping to clean up this oil?….

The truth is that what we have out in the Gulf of Mexico is a “toxic soup” of oil, methane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, other toxic gases and very poisonous chemical dispersants such as Corexit 9500.

Breathing all of this stuff is not good for your health, but the reality is that the true health toll of this oil spill is not going to be known for decades.

However, the early reports are not encouraging….

*Already, a large number of workers cleaning up the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico report that they are suffering from flu-like symptoms.

*According to another new report, exposure to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in 162 cases of illnesses reported to the Louisiana state health department.

*In addition, according to one local Pensacola news source,  “400 people have sought medical care for upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation after trips to Escambia County beaches.”

Read moreWarning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead

And Now: One Of The World’s Most Dangerous Chemicals As Pesticide In Strawberry Fields

by

– Dangerous new pesticide coming to the produce aisle:

Think strawberries are expensive now? Wait until they start costing people their lives!

California is about to sign off on an insane plan that would allow farmers to use one of the world’s most dangerous chemicals as a pesticide on strawberry plants.

It’s called methyl iodide, and even some chemists won’t go near it. It’s such a powerful and reliable carcinogen that researchers use it to induce cancer in lab animals.

But go ahead, take a bite. California says it’s OK — and never mind the five Nobel-winning chemists and dozens of other experts who’ve written a letter begging the EPA to keep this poison out of strawberry fields, forever.

Who do you believe — a roomful of Nobel winners and their trusted colleagues, or a bunch of politically motivated bureaucrats?

This toxic monster has been linked to thyroid tumors, nerve damage, and brain and lung problems. It’s also been known to cause miscarriages in lab animals — when it’s not being used to give them cancer.

No wonder it’s such a great pesticide — it can destroy just about anything. The pests don’t stand a chance… and neither do you if you get too close to this poison.

Experts say a good breeze can even send methyl iodide airborne… and if you think U.S. groundwater is bad now, wait until this junk starts seeping in.

And now compare this information to the following Los Angeles Times article …

methyl-iodide-strawberries
The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, ranks strawberries as one of the three worst fruits and vegetables with regard to pesticide exposure. (Peaches and celery are the other two.) (Los Angeles Times)

California strawberry farmers may soon have a new pesticide to use on their fields. The state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation is recommending approving use of the soil fumigant methyl iodide.

However, scientists say that methyl iodide is very toxic and can cause cancer, brain damage and miscarriages. An independent panel of scientists, invited to review the health risk data and safe exposure levels recommended for farmworkers and nearby communities, were shocked that the state is still moving toward approval and at higher levels of exposure than what the department’s scientists proposed.

Methyl iodide received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2007, accompanied by a similar uproar. Fifty-four eminent academic scientists and physicians wrote a letter to the agency, urging them to prevent the chemical’s use.

Read moreAnd Now: One Of The World’s Most Dangerous Chemicals As Pesticide In Strawberry Fields

US: Entire West Virginia County Is CWD Containment Area

by

Romney, W.Va. (AP) — All of Hampshire County is now designated as a chronic wasting disease containment area.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources said Monday that 12 deer tested in the county in the spring tested positive for the disease.

Another 15 deer killed during the fall 2009 hunting season also tested positive.

Chronic wasting disease affects the brains and nervous systems of deer and elk.

A total 74 deer have tested positive for the disease since the first case was confirmed in 2005.

All the cases have been in Hampshire County.

Read moreUS: Entire West Virginia County Is CWD Containment Area

David Icke On The Gulf Oil Spill And FEMA Camps: A ‘Biblical’ Catastrophe That Will Affect Us All

by

For all that still think that this disaster was an ‘accident’:

Just eight days before the Gulf blow-out, Halliburton also announced that it had agreed to buy Boots & Coots for $240.4 million. Who are Boots & Coots?

The world’s largest oil-spill clean-up company which also deals with oil and gas well fires and blowouts.

What an incredibly fortunate coincidence. What a slice of luck.

More coincidences:

– BP CEO Tony Hayward sold £1.4 million of his shares weeks before Gulf blowout

– Goldman Sachs Sold 44% Of Its BP Stock 3 Weeks Before Gulf Blowout

– Rig firm makes $270m profit from Gulf of Mexico oil spill

– Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: The Halliburton Connection:

The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.

The David Icke Newsletter, June 27th 2010

‘AND THE SEA SHALL TURN TO BLOOD’ …

and-the-sea-shall-turn-to-blood

… A ‘BIBLICAL’ CATASTROPHE THAT WILL AFFECT US ALL

THE ‘SPILL’ (UNCONTROLLED GUSH) WILL DEVASTATE AMERICA?

YES, BUT THAT’S THE IDEA

gulf-of-mexico

Hello all …

The potential magnitude of what is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico simply cannot be overstated. It is far, far worse than is being admitted and what we are allowed to see is catastrophic enough.

When a major event happens I like to watch and wait to see what information comes to light before jumping in with ‘it’s this’ or ‘it’s that’. What appears to be one thing at the start can become something quite different a few days or weeks later.

But I have long seen more than enough to shake my head at claims that this was just an ‘accident’ or ‘incompetence’.

Beware cover stories of ‘incompetence’, as with ‘incompetent bureaucrats’, because they are so often a veil for cold calculation. The Gulf of Mexico disaster didn’t just happen, it was made to happen.

Mother Jones magazine reported:

‘Tony Buzbee, a lawyer representing 15 rig workers and dozens of shrimpers, seafood restaurants, and dock workers, says he has obtained a three-page signed statement from a crew member on the boat that rescued the burning rig’s workers.

The sailor, who Buzbee refuses to name for fear of costing him his job, was on the ship’s bridge when Deepwater Horizon installation manager Jimmy Harrell, a top employee of rig owner Transocean, was speaking with someone in Houston via satellite phone.

Buzbee told Mother Jones that, according to this witness account, Harrell was screaming, “Are you fucking happy? Are you fucking happy? The rig’s on fire! I told you this was gonna happen.’

Yes, and nothing was done because it was meant to happen.

Readers of my books and website will be well acquainted with the name, Halliburton, the Illuminati-to-its-fingertips corporation once headed by the truly evil Dick Cheney, the real power in the White House during the Boy Bush administration that gave us 9/11, the ‘war on terror’ and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The company headed by a key player behind the war on Iraq has since been awarded a stream of no bid government contracts in the country that have transferred staggering amounts of taxpayer money into the pig trough infested by Halliburton executives and shareholders.

Lawsuits claim that the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, 52 miles south-east of the Louisiana port of Venice on April 20th, was caused because Halliburton workers improperly capped the well – a process known as cementing.

Anything – anything – involving or connected to Halliburton is ultimately controlled and dictated by the Illuminati cabal orchestrated by the House of Rothschild and its associated families. They own Halliburton, lock, stock and millions of barrels.

Just eight days before the Gulf blow-out, Halliburton also announced that it had agreed to buy Boots & Coots for $240.4 million. Who are Boots & Coots?

The world’s largest oil-spill clean-up company which also deals with oil and gas well fires and blowouts.

What an incredibly fortunate coincidence. What a slice of luck.

ocean-currents

Read moreDavid Icke On The Gulf Oil Spill And FEMA Camps: A ‘Biblical’ Catastrophe That Will Affect Us All

Niger: People eat leaves and lizards to survive, millions of people are facing starvation

by

Aid organisations are warning that millions of people are facing starvation from drought and crop failure in the West African country of Niger, and some people are turning to desperate measures to survive.

famine-hit-niger-in-1984-and-2005

Famine hit Niger in 1984 and 2005

If you look up “bo” on the internet, nothing that makes sense comes up. But we were looking at a bo, or rather looking for it.

We were walking along the bank of the Niger river, searching for the tracks of a hippopotamus that was ravaging the corn on Karim’s farm.

All of a sudden, a lizard about the size of a small crocodile hurtled out of the undergrowth and raced up a nearby baobab tree.

“It’s a bo,” everybody cried, racing to the foot of the enormous tree.

Now I had never seen a bo before, so I was interested out of pure curiosity.

The handful of villagers with us had other ideas, though. “The bo is delicious,” explained Karim. “It has the taste and texture of fish, and the inside of it is all white.

“You don’t see them very often. There are not that many about.”

Moustafa, Karim’s head man, was talking excitedly into his mobile phone. “He’s calling the kids from the village,” explained our host.

“He wants them to climb the tree and get the poor creature down.”

It was hardly surprising, I thought, that the bo was scarce. It is rotten luck to be a delicious animal in a land where people are hungry.

Read moreNiger: People eat leaves and lizards to survive, millions of people are facing starvation

BP burns rare sea turtles alive, blocks efforts to save them

by

sea_turtle

(NaturalNews) By now, almost everyone is aware of the out-of-control oil spill down in the Gulf of Mexico that seems to be getting exponentially worse with each passing day. But what people may not know is that BP’s efforts to control the oil by burning it are actually burning alive a certain rare and endangered species of sea turtle.

For several weeks now, rescue crews have been feverishly trying to save Kemp’s Ridleys sea turtles, as well as four other endangered varieties, from being caught in the oil corral areas that are being intentionally burned by BP, but according to Mike Ellis, one of the boat captains involved in the project, BP has now blocked all such rescue efforts from taking place.

“They ran us out of there and then they shut us down, they would not let us get back in there,” he explained in an interview with Catherine Craig, a conservation biologist.

According to Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinarian with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are five different endangered sea turtles living in the Gulf that are all at risk, but the type being found “dead or covered in oil” the most is the Kemp’s Ridleys variety, which is the rarest species of them all.

So why would BP intentionally block rescue efforts aimed at protecting and saving wildlife and other endangered species from being burned alive in controlled burning pits? For starters, the Kemp’s Ridleys sea turtle is listed in the Endangered Species Act, which means there are severe penalties for those who harm or kill them.

According to the law, harming or killing even one animal on the endangered species list can result in a fine of up to $50,000 and may include prison time. This means that the hundreds, or even thousands, of endangered sea turtles being burned alive by BP are going to cost the company a lot of money, not to mention the prison time its executives might have to serve.

Read moreBP burns rare sea turtles alive, blocks efforts to save them

Matt Simmons: ‘We’re going to have to evacuate the gulf states.’

by

Council on Foreign Relations member Matt Simmons calls for the evacuation of the gulf states.

Don’t miss:

– Former Shell CEO John Hoffmeister On MSNBC: ‘The Whole Casing System Is Deteriorating’

Each day, another way to define worst-case for oil spill

gulf_of_mexico

An enduring feature of the gulf oil spill is that, even when you think you’ve heard the worst-case scenario, there’s always another that’s even more dire.

The base-line measures of the crisis have steadily worsened. The estimated flow rate keeps rising. The well is like something deranged, stronger than anyone anticipated. BP executives last month said they had a 60 to 70 percent chance of killing it with mud, but the well spit the mud out and kept blowing.

The net effect is that nothing about this well seems crazy anymore. Week by week, the truth of this disaster has drifted toward the stamping ground of the alarmists.

The most disturbing of the worst-case scenarios, one that is unsubstantiated but is driving much of the blog discussion, is that the Deepwater Horizon well has been so badly damaged that it has spawned multiple leaks from the seafloor, making containment impossible and a long-term solution much more complicated.

Video from a robotic submersible, which is making the rounds online, shows something puffing from the seafloor. Some think it’s oil. Or maybe — look again — it’s just the silt blowing in response to the forward motion of the submersible.

More trouble: A tropical wave has formed in the Caribbean and could conceivably blow through the gulf.

“We’re going to have to evacuate the gulf states,” said Matt Simmons, founder of Simmons and Co., an oil investment firm and, since the April 20 blowout, the unflagging source of end-of-the-world predictions. “Can you imagine evacuating 20 million people? . . . This story is 80 times worse than I thought.”

Read moreMatt Simmons: ‘We’re going to have to evacuate the gulf states.’

Former Shell CEO John Hoffmeister On MSNBC: ‘The Whole Casing System Is Deteriorating’

by

Related interview with Matt Simmons:

– Matt Simmons on Bloomberg: There Is A Much Larger Leak, Creating A Gigantic Plume; US Military Should Take Over And Use Nuclear Weapons to Seal The Blowout

BUT there is an enormous amount of methane in the Gulf:

– US Scientist: Methane In Gulf ‘Astonishingly High’, As Much As 1 Million Times The Normal Level

What happens if methane explodes?

– History Channel Mega Disasters: Methane Explosion

Added: 24. June 2010

More:

– BP Plans To Dump All North Sea Assets In Dramatic Attempt To Cut Costs

– BP Blocking Media Access To Workers (Video)

– BP Official Admits to Damage BENEATH THE SEA FLOOR

– BP Buys Search Term ‘Oil Spill’ From Google

– BP CEO Tony Hayward sold £1.4 million of his shares weeks before Gulf blowout

– Goldman Sachs Sold 44% Of Its BP Stock 3 Weeks Before Gulf Blowout

– Feds and BP Withheld Videos Showing Massive Scope of Oil Spill

Read moreFormer Shell CEO John Hoffmeister On MSNBC: ‘The Whole Casing System Is Deteriorating’

US Scientist: Methane In Gulf ‘Astonishingly High’, As Much As 1 Million Times The Normal Level

by

Update: Gulf Of Mexico Water Sample EXPLODES! Other Samples Prove To Be Toxic

CHICAGO (Reuters) – As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.

Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are “astonishingly high.”

Kessler’s crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP’s broken wellhead.

“There is an incredible amount of methane in there,” Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.

In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal.

“We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations” in some areas, Kessler said.

The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life.

“At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is,” he told the briefing.

Read moreUS Scientist: Methane In Gulf ‘Astonishingly High’, As Much As 1 Million Times The Normal Level

‘Climate change sceptics have smaller members, uglier wives, dumber kids’ says new study made up by warmists

by

See also: Cap and Trade Is a Gigantic Scam

Are there really no depths to which ManBearPig-worshippers will not stoop in order to shore up their intellectually, morally and scientifically bankrupt cause?

Apparently not, as we see from the latest “study” – based on a petty, spiteful, Stasi-like blacklist produced by an obscure Canadian warmist – outrageously aggrandised by being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

The study examined 1,372 scientists who had taken part in reviews of climate science or had put their name to statements regarding the key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Scientists were grouped as “convinced” or “unconvinced”, and researchers examined how many times they had published papers on the climate.

The results showed that “unconvinced” scientists accounted for just three of the 100 most prolific authors on the subject, while papers by “convinced” scientists were more frequently cited in other research.

Well, no s***, Sherlock. And might this have anything to do, perchance, with the fact that – as the Climategate emails made abundantly clear – “unconvinced” scientists were deliberately shut out of the peer-review process by the “convinced” ones?

And how many scientists, with bachelor of science degrees or higher, have signed the Oregon Petition expressing doubts about Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW)? 31,000 plus.

And how many  of the supposed 2500 climate scientists responsible for the IPCC “consensus” were actively involved in the sections to do with AGW? 53.

And how many scientists does it require to successfully falsify – ie prove wrong – a shabby, tired old theory like “Phlogiston”, or “Geocentrism”, or “Dangerous, unprecedented Man Made Global Warming?” One.

But guess how BBC Radio 4 reported the story this morning? Yep. “98 per cent of scientists support global warming theory.” (Hat tip: Nick Mabbs)

Then again, since when did we expect any kind of honesty or decency from the Warmists? Have a look, for example, at this great analysis by the National Post’s Lawrence Solomon on how Warmist propagandists are using their useful idiots in the MSM to exaggerate the level of public credulousness in AGW.

Read more‘Climate change sceptics have smaller members, uglier wives, dumber kids’ says new study made up by warmists

US Supreme Court Lifts Ban On Monsanto’s GM Alfalfa

by

us_supreme_court_032

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) – The Supreme Court lifted Monday a four-year ban on the sale in the United States of genetically modified alfalfa, which farmers fear contaminates others crops.

A district court judge in California in May 2007 blocked the US biotech giant Monsanto from selling alfalfa seeds that it had genetically modified to resist its Roundup weed killer.

Read moreUS Supreme Court Lifts Ban On Monsanto’s GM Alfalfa

Energy Firms Paid To Shut Down Wind Farms During Wind

by

Britain’s biggest wind farm companies are to be paid not to produce electricity when the wind is blowing.

wind-farm
Energy firms will receive thousands of pounds a day per wind farm to turn off their turbines because the National Grid cannot use the power they are producing

Energy firms will receive thousands of pounds a day per wind farm to turn off their turbines because the National Grid cannot use the power they are producing.

Critics of wind farms have seized on the revelation as evidence of the unsuitability of turbines to meet the UK’s energy needs in the future. They claim that the ‘intermittent’ nature of wind makes such farms unreliable providers of electricity.

The National Grid fears that on breezy summer nights, wind farms could actually cause a surge in the electricity supply which is not met by demand from businesses and households.

The electricity cannot be stored, so one solution – known as the ‘balancing mechanism’ – is to switch off or reduce the power supplied.

The system is already used to reduce supply from coal and gas-fired power stations when there is low demand. But shutting down wind farms is likely to cost the National grid – and ultimately consumers – far more. When wind turbines are turned off, owners are being deprived not only of money for the electricity they would have generated but also lucrative ‘green’ subsidies for that electricity.

The first successful test shut down of wind farms took place three weeks ago. Scottish Power received £13,000 for closing down two farms for a little over an hour on 30 May at about five in the morning.

Whereas coal and gas power stations often pay the National Grid £15 to £20 per megawatt hour they do not supply, Scottish Power was paid £180 per megawatt hour during the test to switch off its turbines.

It raises the prospect of hugely profitable electricity suppliers receiving large sums of money from the National Grid just for switching off wind turbines.

Dr Lee Moroney, planning director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, a think tank opposed to the widespread introduction of wind farms, said: “As more and more wind farms come on stream this will become more and more of an issue. Wind power is not controllable and does not provide a solid supply to keep the national grid manageable. Paying multinational companies large sums of money not to supply electricity seems wrong.”

Earlier this year, The Sunday Telegraph revealed that electricity customers are paying more than £1 billion a year to subsidise wind farms and other forms of renewable energy.

Read moreEnergy Firms Paid To Shut Down Wind Farms During Wind

UN Report Warns: Food Prices To Rise By Up To 40% Over Next Decade

by

I expect food prices to rise over 100% in the not too distant future.

Growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production will send prices soaring, according to the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

somalia-protest-over-high-food-prices
Somalis protest over high food prices during the spike of 2008. (Getty Images)

Food prices are set to rise as much as 40% over the coming decade amid growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production, according to a United Nations report today which warns of rising hunger and food insecurity.

Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are set to pick up again and are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from Paris-based thinktank the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The forecasts are for wheat and coarse grain prices over the next 10 years to be between 15% and 40% higher in real terms, once adjusted for inflation, than their average levels during the 1997-2006 period, the decade before the price spike of 2007-08. Real prices for vegetable oils are expected to be more than 40% higher and dairy prices are projected to be between 16-45% higher. But rises in livestock prices are expected to be less marked, although world demand for meat is climbing faster than for other farm commodities on the back of rising wealth for some sections of the population in emerging economies.

Although the report sees production increasing to meet demand, it warns that recent price spikes and the economic crisis have contributed to a rise in hunger and food insecurity. About 1 billion people are now estimated to be undernourished, it said.

Fairtrade campaigners said the predictions of sharply rising prices provided a “stark warning” to international policymakers.

“Investment to encourage the 1 billion people whose livelihoods rely on smallholder agriculture is vital. Not only will this increase yields but will go a long way to increase prosperity in poverty stricken regions,” said Barbara Crowther, director of communications at the Fairtrade Foundation.

“At the same time, the promise of increased agriculture commodity prices could spark a new surge in land grabbing by sovereign wealth funds and other powerful investors which risks marginalising further rural communities who must be included in solutions to secure and maintain food supplies.”

Read moreUN Report Warns: Food Prices To Rise By Up To 40% Over Next Decade

More Rain Hits Southern France, Death Toll Rises To 22

by



Paris, France (CNN) — The death toll from flash flooding in southern France rose to 22 on Thursday as rain continued to inundate the region, authorities said.

Up to 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) of rain fell in some areas overnight, the Var prefecture said in a statement. Despite the additional rain, most of the flood waters have begun to recede and cleanup has begun.

Some 104,000 homes were without electricity across the region, and 20,000 homes were without phone connections, the prefecture said.

Read moreMore Rain Hits Southern France, Death Toll Rises To 22

Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)

by

See also: UK Academics Quit Rigged FSA Frankenfood Propaganda

Weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over ‘inert’ ingredients.

monsanto-roundup
‘Children & Pets net NOT to be excluded from treated area.’

Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” – the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.

The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” – the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States.  About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA.

Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. But in the new study, scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells-even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.

One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself – a finding the researchers call “astonishing.”

“This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert,” wrote the study authors from France’s University of Caen. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.

The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.

Read moreStudy: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)

Antibacterial Soaps: Chemical Ingedient Triclosan Produces Toxic Dioxins

by

triclosan

For a list of products containing the chemical see page four of ‘The Ubiquitous Triclosan’, in pdf from Beyond Pesticides.

(NaturalNews) Dioxins are a group of highly toxic compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants. People are exposed to dioxins through the environment and the food chain — the highest levels of these compounds are found in soils, sediments and food such as dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish. And, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this exposure can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.

So you would never flush dioxins into your water supply, right? If you use antibacterial soaps and other antibacterial products, you could be doing the equivalent of just that.

In 2003 and 2009, University of Minnesota civil engineering professor William Arnold and his colleague Kristopher McNeill published their discovery that the antibacterial agent triclosan, when exposed to sunlight, generates a specific group of four dioxins. Now, in a new study, a team of scientists from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology, Pace Analytical (Minneapolis), the Science Museum of Minnesota and Virginia Tech, have documented how triclosan is transformed into dioxins that are accumulating in the environment. This research, just published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, concludes dioxins originating from triclosan (found in many hand soaps, deodorants and dishwashing liquids) account for a huge increase in total dioxins now polluting Mississippi River sediments.

Efforts to cut down on dioxin contamination resulting from industrial pollution have been underway for several decades. However, the issue of triclosan in antibacterial consumer products has been virtually ignored. And the research team has found that over the last 30 years, while levels of all the other dioxins have dropped by 73 to 90 percent, the levels of dioxins derived from the antibacterial soap ingredient triclosan have risen by 200 to 300 percent.

For the new study, which was headed by Jeff Buth, a recent University of Minnesota Ph.D. graduate in chemistry, the researchers examined sediment samples from Lake Pepin, an enlargement of the Mississippi River located 120 miles downstream from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. They analyzed sediment cores (which contain a record of accumulated pollutants in the lake over the past 50 years) and checked for amounts of triclosan, the four dioxins derived from triclosan, and the entire family of dioxin chemicals.

The results? In the most current sediments, triclosan-derived dioxins account for about 30 percent of the total dioxin mass. “These four dioxins only come from triclosan. They didn’t exist in Lake Pepin before triclosan was introduced,” Dr. Arnold said in a statement to the media.

Read moreAntibacterial Soaps: Chemical Ingedient Triclosan Produces Toxic Dioxins

BP Blocking Media Access To Workers (Video)

by

Great interview from New Orleans TV station wdsu tv.


Added: 12. June 2010

More:

– BP Official Admits to Damage BENEATH THE SEA FLOOR

– BP Buys Search Term ‘Oil Spill’ From Google

– BP CEO Tony Hayward sold £1.4 million of his shares weeks before Gulf blowout

– Goldman Sachs Sold 44% Of Its BP Stock 3 Weeks Before Gulf Blowout

– Feds and BP Withheld Videos Showing Massive Scope of Oil Spill

Read moreBP Blocking Media Access To Workers (Video)

Japan bribes small nations with cash and prostitutes to gain support for the mass slaughter of whales

by

Recommended: The Cove – Oscar Award Winner (’Best Documentary’)

Humpback Whale - two adults breaching
Japan is attempting to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling

A SUNDAY TIMES investigation has exposed Japan for bribing small nations with cash and prostitutes to gain their support for the mass slaughter of whales.

The undercover investigation found officials from six countries were willing to consider selling their votes on the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The revelations come as Japan seeks to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling. An IWC meeting that will decide the fate of thousands of whales, including endangered species, begins this month in Morocco.

Japan denies buying the votes of IWC members. However, The Sunday Times filmed officials from pro-whaling governments admitting:

– They voted with the whalers because of the large amounts of aid from Japan. One said he was not sure if his country had any whales in its territorial waters. Others are landlocked.

– They receive cash payments in envelopes at IWC meetings from Japanese officials who pay their travel and hotel bills.

– One disclosed that call girls were offered when fisheries ministers and civil servants visited Japan for meetings.

Barry Gardiner, an MP and former Labour biodiversity minister, said the investigation revealed “disgraceful, shady practice”, which is “effectively buying votes”.

The reporters, posing as representatives of a billionaire conservationist, approached officials from pro-whaling countries and offered them an aid package to change their vote.

The governments of St Kitts and Nevis, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Grenada, Republic of Guinea and Ivory Coast all entered negotiations to sell their votes in return for aid.

Read moreJapan bribes small nations with cash and prostitutes to gain support for the mass slaughter of whales