Biological Rain

Wow, more links to biology and rain! Over the past 25 years a small group of scientists has been studying the role bacteria in the clouds might play in our weather and, with papers published in leading scientific journals, the evidence that they're right is beginning to stack up. One identified bacteria is also a product of agriculture - which raises the question: does agriculture have any consequence for the amount of rain that could be formed? Indeed!!! The links to vegetation and rain are growing, but unfortunately are seen more as a role for pathogen dispersal than a vital weather making processes.

New Salinity Model

I thought I was cheeky suggesting the old dryland salinity model was wrong and putting forward a new one - but it appears that other scientists are now questioning the old model too! Climate and rainfall, not land-clearing, have emerged as the main drivers of salinity in south-eastern Australia, in a study that could overturn decades of research. Unfortunately I don't hold with their new theory - there is no understanding of fresh water lens' and living root systems etc.

One of the Secrets are Out

Many farmers, especially biological consultants, have known of this glyphosate enhancing trick for years - adding ammonium sulfate to hard water for better efficiency. Interestingly, in the past while working in a produce store, some glyphosate adjuvants had fancy names and descriptions at high cost, but were in fact just diluted ammonium sulfate. I wonder when the pH 'trick' will emerge publicly (yes, there are fancy adjuvants that do this at a high price too)? Glyphosate works best at a pH 5.

Chemical No-Till Losing its Punch

Chemical-based no-till farming rose to prominence in the ‘70s thanks to the efficacy and low cost of glyphosate-based herbicides, which offered broad-spectrum weed control. But the mirage of continuous weedless perfection is fading, as more weed varieties are surviving the chemical. The future implications for GM glyphosate crop protection should also be questioned I suspect.

Inert Ingredients Not So Inert

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. Polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly than the herbicide itself - a finding the researchers call "astonishing." Inert ingredients are often less scrutinized than active pest-killing ingredients. Since specific herbicide formulations are protected as trade secrets, manufacturers aren't required to publicly disclose them.

Emerging US Food Bill

A number of Food Safety Bills have been submitted, and one looks more likely to be seriously considered than the others, but the ramifications are dire for small local producers, and hands unprecedented powers to the FDA and Federal Government.

Industrialised Food on Film

A new movie called Film Inc is working itself around America, but on its way through rural areas has caused concern with both farmers and Monsanto. "[the filmaker's] ignoring the farmers' willingness in implementing the science and technology in today's food system." And Monsanto have posted up some of the film's so-called inaccuracies online - yet have not pursued the filmakers in anyway. Do view the trailer, its great.

Industrialised Fish Problems

As a follow through on a couple of fish articles in past newsletters, feeding carnivorous fish in fish farms is becoming a big problem. Wild fish harvests to feed them are declining (and perhaps should be banned on ecological reasons), but finding an alternative protein source is proving to be challenging, especially if meat meal carries Mad Cow Disease contamination suspicions. Perhaps what is needed is a shift towards herbivorous fish and away from carnivorous fish in our diets?

Ag Dept to Overseer Ag Carbon Offsets

A new deal puts USDA in charge of programs that would pay farmers and other landowners to conduct the environmentally friendly projects - not the EPA. The agreement clears what had been a major sticking point in negotiations on the bill and sides with the position agriculture and farmland conservation groups have been pushing heavily for the past few weeks.

Tampering With the Food Chain

Internationally, Australia and New Zealand appear to be unique in their approach to agriculture and emissions trading. "All of the countries we spoke to were surprised, even astounded, that Australian and New Zealand were considering capping agricultural production through emissions trading. As far as they were concerned, it was detrimental to be tampering with the food supply chain. The European countries remember what it's like not to have food."

GM Caught Out

A Japanese consumer was given access to Monsanto GM registration papers - something that is not generally permitted in other countries. The data found does not match data reported elsewhere and scientific analysis identifies huge holes in the so-called safety evaluation done by the company. Next the relationship between Monsanto and the US FDA and government itself is investigated. Then it is all linked back to the situation in Europe and the many problems emerging in Argentina. Very good.

GM Alfalfa Held Up

A US federal appeals court upheld a 2-year-old ban on Monsanto Co.'s genetically modified alfalfa in a case a biotech food opponent calls a "turning point" in the regulation of such crops. This marks the first time a thorough environmental review has been required for regulatory approval of a genetically modified crop. Fancy that it hasn't been required to date!

Europe Looks at Opting-Out of GM 

The European Commission has agreed to draw up a list of options for further discussion after 11 countries urged that individual nations be allowed to opt out of growing GM crops. But the EU would still control issues surrounding GM food/products.

Trust the Regulators

Apart from telling us that the GM debate is over, Jim Peacock, Australia's former chief scientist tells us to simply trust the regulators to regulate food crops in the same way they are trusted with non-food crops. Gosh, are they? The pharmaceutical industry doesn't seem to have a good record. Also, beware the GM Barley Max coming to a supermarket shelf near you.

Erosion of Consumer Confidence

New research from the United States suggests that consumer confidence in food companies has plummeted after less than one in five said they trusted firms to develop and sell healthy products. Consumer appetite for information about food products has increased over the last two years - with 77% eager for more information on ingredients and 76% interested in it origin. Almost three quarters are prepared to do more research into how the food products are grown.

Health Fears Over Compost Piles

Researchers fear that the rapid spread of commercial open air composting sites may bring a rise in respiratory infections, asthma and skin complaints among nearby residents unless the sites are properly regulated.

Hydrogen Chooks

Researchers have discovered that carbonized chicken feathers could provide an inexpensive, environmentally friendly way to store hydrogen fuel for future motor vehicles. Carbonizing the feathers gave a strength approaching that of nanotubes, and can store up to 1.7% of their weight as hydrogen, about as much as carbon nanotubes could store, and much less hazardous than pressurized tanks.

Coal to Algae to Biofuel

In China, coal is being first gasified in a simulated underground environment. The carbon dioxide is then extracted with the help of solar and wind power, then "fed" to algae, which can be then used to make biofuel, fertiliser or animal feed. Researchers at the algae greenhouse plan to scale up the trial to a 100 hectare site over the next three years. If it proves commercially feasible, coal plants around the world could one day be flanked by carbon-cleaning algae greenhouses or ponds.

Downwind of Wind Farms

Researchers are looking at another potential "unintended consequence" of wind farms - the likelihood that collectively, groups of large wind farms in one region could alter weather patterns downwind of the turbines in another region. So far, evidence suggests that large collections of wind farms could have small but measurable effects on atmospheric circulation patterns, cloudiness, and temperatures over substantial distances.

Solar Farms Criticised

The world's biggest concentrating solar power (CSP) project has run into unexpected opposition - from environmentalists. Installing an array of 318,000 parabolic sun-tracking mirrors would involve "extensive grading and removal of existing desert soils, resulting in the potential for increased erosion"; herbicides would be sprayed to keep weeds down, and waste from the project would contain "mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, and other substances hazardous to human and environmental health".

The Toll of Coal

Coal supporters like to point to the jobs and economic activity that coal mining brings to communities. But a new study argues the human costs of coal mining in Appalachia (and no doubt many other places) far outweighs its benefits.

Get Out of Debt Free

While this offer follows along the lines of a Monopoly game - it is very much a reflection of our real world. I strongly recommend, for those that cannot believe what they read or hear, to follow through with the links. It is real and people are playing this game and winning. Did anyone watch the ABC series "Ascent of Money "? The corruptness, and history, of our financial system is beautifully tracked and echoes the same message.

Out With the .com and In With the .eco

Want to prove your ecological credentials? In a move that could do for websites what personalised rego plates did for cars - make them diverse, exciting and sometimes confusing - the internet's governing body is looking to expand beyond standard domains like .com .org or .net. A Canadian company will launch its bid to control .eco, an internet extension it hopes would help green companies stand out from the crowd.

Fed Up With Children's Behaviour

Former teacher and psychology graduate, twice nominated as Australian of the Year, Sue Dengate became interested in food intolerance after recognising the effect of foods on her own children. In the past 18 years, Sue has spoken to tens of thousands of parents in Australia, the USA and the UK, and has conducted food trials in schools with remarkable success. She will be speaking in Inverell 18th August.  Dengate 2009 24/06/2009,23:05 147.10 Kb

Peter Andrews Back On ABC

The first of the NEW two part Australian Story on Peter Andrew's NSF will be shown on ABC this coming Monday 6 July followed by the second part on the 13 July 09 at 8pm.

BFA Auditor's Course

BFA (Biological Farmers of Australia) are planning to hold an auditor's course 3rd-7th August in Albury and they must have RSVP's asap.  Its suited to those people interested in pursuing a career as an organic auditor or those who wish to gain professional qualifications in Organic Quality Assurance.  BFA Info Sheet 30/06/2009,03:28 37.70 Kb

2009 Sustainable Farming Forum

The 2009 Queensland Farmers' Federation Sustainable Agriculture Forum is set for Thursday, July 9 in Brisbane. The objective of the forum is to highlight current issues impacting on primary industries and potential solutions for a strategic and coordinated approach to sustainable agriculture and food production in Queensland.

Queensland Community Climate Forum

This free summit aims to bring together community groups working on climate change, plan for future climate action and build a powerful climate change movement in Queensland. To be held in Brisbane 25th & 26th July.

Building Personal and Community Resilience

Partners in Grain are holding a series of one day workshops in late July to provide participants with an awareness of personal resilience and the need to keep physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual areas of their life in balance. The dates are: Mungindi 27th July, Goondiwindi 28th July, Moonie 29th July and Surat 30 July.

Maarten Stapper in Victoria

Maarten's focus is on biological farming that helps farmers improve the profitability of their operations by harnessing the power of natural soil processes with practices creating healthy soils while reducing heavy reliance on fertilisers and chemicals. A must see for any farmer - Glenormiston 1st September, Warragul 2nd September, Nagambie 3rd September.  Stapper Sept 09 25/06/2009,18:22 1.04 Mb

Health

Misleading Toxic Levels

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signed an agreement with the DuPont corporation, imposing a new maximum level of a toxic Teflon chemical in drinking water near a factory in West Virginia. The new level was set as a maximum safe level for short-term exposure. Unfortunately drinking water involves long-term exposure and presumes that people's only source of PFOA exposure is tap water, but most people are also exposed to the chemical from a variety of consumer sources as well.

Borrowing Money to Pay for Disease

Obama's new health care plan will borrow money to pay for health care. Borrowing money to invest in real health might be justifiable, but borrowing money to pay for yet more "disease maintenance" (with huge payouts to Big Pharma and conventional medicine drug pushers) is idiotic.

Aspartame Study

The UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking individuals who believe they have suffered a reaction to aspartame to take part in a pilot study. "...we know that some people consider they react badly to consuming this sweetener so we think it is important to increase our knowledge about what is happening." How refreshing!

Folic Acid/Cancer Link Continues

Concerns over a possible role of folic acid in development of colon cancer are continuing, as results of a rat study suggest the vitamin may promote tumour formation.

Putting On Weight

Clues as to what causes weight gain: 1) mice that were eating a healthy diet did not put on weight, even when stressed; those eating high-fat, high-sugar diets, however, were much more likely to gain weight when stressed; 2) Those who don't get enough deep restful sleep tend to gain weight; 3) The risk of a child becoming overweight declines the longer a child is breast-fed; 4)  links between manmade chemicals and weight gain (sometimes referred to as obesogens) like BPA, dioxins, phthylates, pesticides.

Consumers Affecting BPA Investments

A coalition of investors has warned the US FDA that continued use of bisphenol A (BPA) in packaging may threaten the shareholder value of food and beverage companies. "As investors, we're concerned that the use of BPA, particularly in food and beverage packaging, may threaten shareholder value. Companies may face reputational, competitive, or market exclusion risks from using BPA."

Massive Profits From Conflict of Interest

Dr. Paul Offit, a fierce and highly public pro-vaccination advocate, earned at least $29 million on royalities from the Merck Rotateq vaccine. Unlike most other patented products, the market for mandated childhood vaccines is created by the recommendation of an appointed body, ACIP. From 1998 to 2003, Offit served as a member of ACIP.

Change Your Body to Change Your Mind

This is a 'big sell' site for DVDs, not something I am a fan of, but I just love the message - heal your body and your brain will heal itself. I scanned down and watched the short video clips. What a great message with associated stories. There is no one remedy or solution, it involves a holistic approach using nutrition enhancement, detoxing and emotional clearing.

Accusations of Bioterrorism

As the anticipated July release date for Baxter's A/H1N1 flu pandemic vaccine approaches, an Austrian investigative journalist is filing criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), and several of the highest ranking government and corporate officials concerning bioterrorism and attempts to commit mass murder.

History of Swine Flu Vaccination

History repeating itself. In the 1979 CBS 60 Minutes ran an episode concerning the 1976 swine flu pandemic in USA and the massive vaccination that followed. This episode was banned after its first showing on television. It is now being released publicly on the internet for the first time, after 20 years!!! 

Cancer Funding Limiting Cancer Research

The cancer institute has spent $105 billion since 1971 and the American Cancer Society has spent about $3.4 billion on research grants since 1946, yet the fight against cancer is going slower than most had hoped. One major impediment, is the grant system itself. It has become a sort of jobs program, a way to keep research laboratories going year after year with the understanding that the focus will be on small projects unlikely to take significant steps toward curing cancer.

Gardasil Questioned

Even mainstream media is stepping forward to question the safety of the Gardasil vaccine ...pity the questioning doesn't stretch to other vaccines, where children are also being damaged.

Legal Drugs Killing Celebrities

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died in the last 48 hours - both killed by Big Pharma's toxic drugs. Like many celebrities before them. I love this comment about medical deception...If the cancer goes away, they claim the patient was "treated by the medicine," but if the patient dies, they claim "the cancer killed them." It's pretty easy to claim success if you take credit for the wins while fleeing the any responsibility for the losses.

Ethnic Differences in Sweetness

Researchers claim to have discovered a particular gene variant that could affect sweetness perception among different ethnic groups, raising the possibility of more targeted flavour profiling of foods.

Miscellaneous

I have been enthralled by the various 2012 prophecies - but this astrophysical explanation, with diagrams, is really interesting. It steps you through the known interactions of the planets with the sun and ultimately our solar system with the Milky Way galaxy. The passing of our solar system across the galactic centre in 2012 is certainly a curiosity, and obviously coincident with many doomsday prophecies for 2012. Is something going to come to pass at that time? Astronomy certainly predicts likely solar influences.

Events

The calendar is playing up, so most of the links below are directed back to other websites where possible or to a contact email address. If there are no links, look to the related article above. 

* 2009 Sustainable Farming Forum - Brisbane Qld 9th July 2009.

* Queensland Community Climate Forum - Brisbane Qld 25th - 26th July 2009.

* Building Personal and Community Resilience - Mungindi NSW 27th July 2009.

* Building Personal and Community Resilience - Goondiwindi Qld 28th July 2009.

* Building Personal and Community Resilience - Moonie Qld 29th July 2009.

* Building Personal and Community Resilience - Surat Qld 30th July 2009.

* BFA Auditor's Course - Albury NSW 3rd - 7th August 2009.

* Fed Up with Children's Behaviour - Inverell NSW 18th August 2009.

* Maarten Stapper in Victoria - Glenormiston Vic 1st September 2009.

* Maarten Stapper in Victoria - Warragul Vic 2nd September 2009.

* Maarten Stapper in Victoria - Nagambie Vic 3rd September 2009.

Postscript

Just a Mum

A woman, renewing her driver's licence, was asked by the woman at Registry to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

"What I mean is," explained the woman at Registry, "do you have a job or are you just a...?"

"Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a mum."

"We don't list 'mum' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it," she said emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like "Official Interrogator" or "City Registrar".

"What is your occupation?" she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. 

"I'm a Research Associate in the field of child development and human relations."

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right.

I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold black ink on the official questionnaire.

"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest "just what you do in your field?"

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers, and the rewards are more of a satisfaction than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants - ages 13, 7 and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 moth old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal patter.

I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another mum."

Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.

Does this make grandmothers "Senior Research Associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations"? And great grandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates"? I think so!! I also think it makes aunts "Associate Research Assistants".