Are more babies dying in the Northwest U.S. since Fukushima?
Category: The Body Electric
A real penis story
But you will most likely not see it in your corporate media:
As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — one of the largest and most influential big business lobbying groups in the world — fired a letter off to Cass Sunstein, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, telling him to block the regulation of extremely toxic chemicals in consumer plastics. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the dangers of such chemicals, the chamber letter declares that that EPA “lacks the sound regulatory science needed to meet the statutory threshold for a restriction or ban of the targeted chemicals.”
A wide body of scientific research has linked these chemicals, including phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA), to declining birth rates, stillbirths, and an increasing number of birth defects. Many of the chemicals under review for increased regulation have already been banned in Europe and Canada.
In fact, studies have shown that these plastic chemicals are directly linked to an alarming rate of male genital birth defects such as hypospadias, a condition in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside, rather than at the end, of the penis. A report by the Center for American Progress’ Reese Rushing details many other risks associated with the chemicals slated for regulation.
The Chamber letter to Sunstein is signed by chief lobbyist Bill Kovacs. Why is Kovacs fighting so aggressively to continue to allow birth defect and miscarriage-causing chemicals to be used in household items and food containers? Perhaps it is because the Chamber is heavily funded by some of the largest plastics manufacturers in America. According to investigations by the New York Times and ThinkProgress, Dow Chemical and Proctor & Gamble have contributed millions to the Chamber’s war chest in recent years.
Fungus
On top of everything else these poor people have to deal with:
(AP) JOPLIN, Mo. – An aggressive fungus is striking Joplin tornado victims, contributing to a handful of deaths.
Doctors told the Springfield News-Leader that at least nine survivors may have contracted blood-vessel invading zygomycosis infections.
Overall numbers weren’t available. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department declined to release them, citing patient privacy concerns.
Kendra Williams, of the health department, says the common fungus likely came from soil or vegetative materials imbedded in the skin by the tornado.
Nope
Now the Germans say it really was the sprouts that caused their e.coli epidemic.
Hard truths
There are women who will have sex, pretend or otherwise, with anyone they consider even a minor celebrity. And if those women engage with that man, and indulge in sexual activity with him, he becomes a sexual predator and a misogynist. He is now an outcast, unsuitable for human company.
I have so much trouble keeping the rules straight!
Look, men have a lot of screwy ideas about sex, much of it gleaned from a combination of two things. Watching or reading porn is one way; having sex with women who aren’t honest about what works is another. I know a lot of women who pretend to like those porn scenarios because their guys like it and they figure, what’s the harm?
Well, the harm is that they begin to believe that’s what all women want. And even a consenting woman faced with that kind of aggression might be scared.
Continue reading “Hard truths”
Connect the dots
I realize some people really are this dumb, but it frightens me to think this woman has a drivers license and can vote.
Fallout
Very long interview with nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen about Fukushima, including how to protect yourself. West Coasters, pay attention:
Chris Martenson: What about food? I mean, this is a big issue and I would think this would be potentially an issue for people on the West Coast of the US even. Is the idea that there are certain isotopes up there and particles that can somehow get through the food chain, maybe through milk because cows graze a whole lot of grass and turn it into a very little bit of milk helping to concentrate whatever was on that grass or leafy vegetables that have a real affinity for certain of these isotopes, potentially cesium, certainly iodine if that is still around, which it shouldn’t be, but apparently it still is. How do you approach food? Because that is one quick way to ingest things.
Arnie Gundersen: Well, the cow milk predominantly would have iodine and we are out now at 80 days and most of the iodine should have disappeared because it has an eight day half life and the rule of thumb is 10 half lifes. But we are still seeing iodine which is kind of strange and it gets back to that issue of criticality re-criticality that we talked about earlier. So I’m still telling friends until the middle of June stay away from milk and dairy products. Clearly washing the vegetables is critical. In Japan we are saying avoid fish caught in the Pacific, unless you know they are caught a long way away from Fukushima. I am saying 100 miles of Fukushima, don’t even consider it. I think that will actually get worse with time. Greenpeace has some numbers that came out indicating that it is worse with time. So we are telling the Sea of Japan is a different story. You can probably feel safe eating fish from the Sea of Japan. But if you believe it came from the Pacific, avoid it.
Continue reading “Fallout”
E. coli epidemic worsens
This is really horrible. But luckily for these people, they don’t have to worry about whether they can afford to go to the hospital, because this is a very expensive illness to treat:
FRANKFURT—Europe’s severe outbreak of Escherichia coli bacterial infections worsened further on Friday as more people succumbed to the lethal strain in Germany and around Europe.
Total reported cases in Germany reached 1,733, with 520 of those resulting in severe complications that can lead to kidney failure, according to the Robert Koch Institute, a research body funded by the German health ministry. Cases have been reported in at least 11 other European countries.
The Spanish, Portuguese and German governments said on Friday that they would request EU aid for farmers affected by the outbreak, which is costing farmers millions of euros as mountains of vegetables sit rotting and uneaten.
The source of the outbreak still hasn’t been found, and authorities continue to warn against eating raw lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. So far, 18 people have died from the strain, which is the deadliest outbreak of E. coli in modern history.
New e coli strain
I’m always torn about posting this stuff, because while it’s certainly newsworthy, you probably already know that our food system is at high risk and you don’t need to get hit over the head to understand that:
The World Health Organisation has said that the E coli bacterium responsible for an outbreak that has left 17 dead and infected hundreds in Europe is a new strain that has never been seen before.
Preliminary genetic sequencing suggests the strain is a mutant form of two different E coli bacteria, with lethal genes that could explain why the Europe-wide outbreak appeared to be so big and dangerous, the agency said.
Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO, told the Associated Press that “this is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before”.
She added that the new strain has “various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing”.
So far the mutant E coli strain has infected more than 1,500, including 470 who have developed a rare kidney failure complication. Researchers have been unable to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak, which has hit at least nine European countries.
News you might use
Flying to Asia over the North Pole exposes you to a lot of radiation.