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Coal mine deaths, fines and significant violations for the 10 largest coal mine controllers, 2000-20
investigativereportingworkshop.org
The Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University seeks to derive new models of supporting investigative reporting.
The Sott Report: The Irish 'Banking' Meltdown & TSA Feel-Ups -- Sott.net **
www.sott.net
The Sott Report's Joe Quinn details the ways in which the citizens of the world are being enslaved through financial manipulation and fear of bogus terror threats..
Björk, Mine Safety & Legal Threats
Björk, in Canadian periodical Maclean’s Magazine, says ‘Companies owned by Ross Beaty have a bad reputation for breaking serious humanitarian and union laws in South America‘. Ross Beaty’s company Magma Energy then threatens Maclean’s with a defamation lawsuit. Otto at IKN did some research
24 deaths in last decade in Peru alone ; whoops make that 25 now
Image by circulating via FlickrWhy do you want to stop the Magma deal?
The bank crash has brought us to our knees and there are municipalities that are really broke so they’re selling. It would be better if we wait, once we’re in a better position to negotiate then maybe we can cut deals with foreigners that would be healthy.
Icelanders have publicly owned their geothermal plants for a century now, why sell access to our energy sources for 65 years when this direction in business affairs has brought the nation to its knees? We should at least get a good deal—this one is appalling. 70 per cent of the price is paid with a seven-year bullet loan carrying an interest rate of 1.5 per cent. In other words the seller lent the buyer most of the money. The rest is financed with Icelandic currency bought at a serious discount on the offshore market.
Houston to deploy electric car charging network
Called eVgo, the $10 million network will feature 220-240 volt Level 2 chargers for Houstonians' garages that will charge electric cars like the Nissan Leaf overnight."Freedom Stations" and "Convenience Stations" will be dispersed around the city and offer Level 2 charging as well as fast-charging that lets drivers top off their batteries in about 10 minutes to get a 30-mile boost.
Image via WikipediaFeds push to speed up wind farms off the East CoastRisk, bacteria, and the tragedy of food-safety reform
It is impossible, it seems, to come up with a policy that zeroes in on the real systematic risk of the food system: the exponential expansion of hazard that comes from concentrating huge amounts of production in relatively small spaces.
The Grocery Manufacturers of America, a potent trade group whose members range from Monsanto and Cargill to Kraft and McDonald's, supports S. 510. That alone tells me that the bill at best promotes marginal, techno-based solutions to the food-safety problem, ones that don't challenge the interests, or practices, of the food giants. As Food and Water Watch's Elanor Starmer recently pointed out on Grist, the bill's new inspection powers for the FDA are so weak that they would not even have prevented the notorious salmonella-tainted peanut butter scandal of 2009. And yet -- as David Gumpert argued forcefully in our forum -- those same powers may well prove too strong for the small-scale, vulnerable operations that are busily building up alternatives to Big Food.
Bilger teases out some of what is at stake in the food-safety wars. He shows that scientists are only just starting to value the importance of the microbial world for human life. "What we see as animals are partly just integrated sets of bacteria," one biologist tells Bilger. Bilger continues:
Nearly all in the DNA in our bodies belongs to microorganisms: they outnumber our own cells nine to one. They process the nutrients in our guts, produce the chemicals that trigger sleep, ferment the sweat on our skin and the glucose in our muscles. ... They work with the immune system to mediate chemical reactions and drive out thr most common infections. Even our own cells are kept alive by mitochondria -- the tiny microbial engines in their cytoplasm. Bacteria are us.
After rounding up some cutting-edge recent science on bacteria, Bilger concludes, "Given how little we know about our inner ecology, carpet-bombing it might not always be the best idea."
Our food-safety regime is lurching along the path that sees bacteria itself as a problem to be wiped out, rather than focusing on specific practices that create niches for bacteria that are known to be harmful.
Federal officials take an our-hands-are-tied approach to the menace of tainted water in Wisconsin, and bring down an iron fist on the small dairy in Washington. It's hard not to conclude that the disparate responses stem from the fact that industrial-scale dairy farmers -- and the very few large processors that purchase their milk -- have bought influence in Washington, while artisanal cheese producers haven't. This is food safety as protection racket.
Aspartame's Sweet Dreams; Who Are We to Disagree?
Aspartame, sold as NutraSweet, Equal, NatraTaste and Canderel, was discovered in 1965 by G.D. Searle Co., and originally used to treat ulcers. It is now found in almost every dietetic or low-calorie food and beverage on the market. Used by such companies as Bayer, Con Agra Foods, Dannon, Smucker, Kellogg, Wrigley, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods (Crystal Light), Conopco (Slim-Fast), Coke, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Wyeth, aspartame can even be found in children's vitamins.
Consumer groups – backed by a wealth of statistical data showing aspartame’s link to immune system and nervous system damage, and the irreversible genetic harm done when aspartame metabolizes into formaldehyde in the body – continue to argue against Monsanto’s assertion that aspartame is harmless.
From 1965 to 1981, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to approve aspartame. Searle persisted, spending millions to get it accepted. In 1977, beleaguered by Searle’s persistence and the questionable veracity of its data, the FDA asked the U.S. Attorney’s office to conduct a criminal investigation of Searle for knowingly misrepresenting statistics, concealing information, and making false statements. This request, submitted in a 33-page letter to then-U.S. Justice Department Attorney Sam Skinner, identified likely violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act on Searle’s part.
Searle responded by hiring the law firm Sidley & Austin. Sidley & Austin then reportedly arranged a lucrative management position for Skinner at Searle. When Skinner resigned to take the position, the investigation was effectively stalled. Skinner later went on to become Secretary of Transportation, and finally chief of staff under President George Bush, Sr.
In 1995, under the Freedom of Information Act, the FDA released a list of ninety-two aspartame symptoms reported by thousands of users. This submission, known as the Bressler Report, is “one of the most damning documents about aspartame in existence”
Dr. Betty Martini, the founder of Mission Possible International, has worked in the medical field for 22 years with international health care professionals who are trying to get aspartame removed from food, drinks and medicine. According to Dr. Martini, aspartame is responsible for 75 percent of all complaints lodged with the FDA.
On September 15, 2004, a $350 million class action lawsuit was filed in United States Federal District Court in San Francisco against Monsanto. Filed by Dr. Robert H. Moser, a former CEO of NutraSweet, the suit – sponsored by the American Diabetes Association – charges Monsanto, NutraSweet and Rumsfeld with misrepresenting the facts of aspartame to the public while fully understanding its dangers. The case never went to trial.
In Japan and Canada, diabetics and others wanting to control calories use Stevia, a plant extract that is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Unlike sugar, Stevia does not trigger a rise in the blood glycemic levels of diabetics. Unfortunately, the FDA has so far refused to approve Stevia for use in the U.S., and has in fact banned its import (reportedly at the request of Monsanto’s NutraSweet division).
In 1992, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) petitioned the FDA to approve Stevia, and provided hundreds of documents showing that the plant extract was remarkably safe. In July of 1992, the FDA rejected the AHPA petition, requesting more information. When asked what kind of information would be considered relevant, the FDA replied: "Well, this may sound flippant, but we'll know it when we see it.”
Latest exposé shows the egg industry’s problems are widespread and systematic
A fundamentally corrupt system -- one in which the abuse of animals and the menacing of public health is the rule and not the exception. All of the nation's largest egg producers have been busted abusing hens and exposing the public to deadly pathogens.
The Secret History of the World And How to Get Out Alive
Florida Oil Spill Law
“The oil is still there”: Up to “79 percent of it sank to the ocean floor, where it remains” says FSU professor
More shrimpers report “body rashes, diarrhea and other ailments"
“Our home has been poisoned”: “Shrimp with missing shells and some suffering from black gill disease” says seafood worker
Shrimp peelings are inexplicably washing up on Grand Isle’s shores
“Reefs of oil” on the ocean bottom near the coast says former cleanup worker
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