GreenWatch

B. McPherson Greenpeace ship in international waters being boarded by Russians The following is copied from a Greenpeace email. Big news! The Arctic 30 have been granted amnesty. Earlier today the Russian government agreed to amend an amnesty bill to include the Arctic 30, and just now the bill was officially adopted by their parliament. This means legal proceedings against them will be halted and they should be home soon. I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief, but the Arctic 30 have said they’re not celebrating. They’ve all spent two months in jail for a crime they didn’t commit, and faced criminal charges that were absurd. As Pete Willcox, captain of the Arctic Sunrise, said: “There’s no amnesty for the Arctic.” By accepting the amnesty they are not admitting guilt, and once they have the necessary exit visas, they should be home with their families. When that will be is still in the hands of the Russian authorities, but I’m keeping my fingers cross...

B. McPherson Plain soap and water cleans your hands. Ditch the triclosan. The widespread use of antibacterial soaps is a recent phenomenon in N. America and much of the industrialized world. We have been subjected to “Wash Your Hands” campaigns for years now. The cosmetic companies have aided our search to be clean, producing many versions of antibacterial soaps. The premise being that we will save ourselves and others from infections by using these products. The US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has recently focussed on these products, looking for evidence that these products convey an anti-bacterial advantage. They are cooperating with the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) in investigating these personal antibacterial products. They have not found a long term benefit to using these products. Instead they have uncovered some disconcerting unintended consequences of their use. Lead microbiologist Colleen Rogers, Ph.D. had the following to say: "...

B. McPherson The US Food and Drug Administration is proposing a change in how antibiotics are used in the agriculture industry. If accepted, sweeping changes will be made in the way food animals are raised in the USA.   You may have noticed TV ads recently touting fast food outlets bragging about their meat being antibiotic and hormone free. Few people realize that the majority of antibiotics produced today are given to food animals, not because the animals are sick, but because the judicious application of antibiotics promotes faster growth and more efficient use of animal feed. The constant low-level dosing of animals destined for the dinner plate has resulted in the gradual loss of effectiveness of medically important antibiotics. Bacteria are adept at adapting to changing conditions and dosed at low levels can fairly quickly develop resistant strains. Tetracyclines, penicillin, azithromycin are unable to curb many bacterial infections due to overuse, mainly in the a...

B. McPherson Brazil may be the first country to defy the 13 year UN moratorium on the commercial sale of terminator seeds. This would be the “thin edge of the wedge” to gradually collapse the ban on the engineered seeds.   Terminator seeds are those engineered to produce a crop but the seeds from the crop will not germinate or sprout if planted. So if a farmer buys a GM seed that also has the terminator trait, he cannot save seed and avoid buying seed from the corporation next planting. That is bad enough but many of the crops that are GM spread their pollen via insects, other animals and the wind spreading their traits to non-GM fields. The spread of terminator traits would be disastrous to organic and more traditional farmers, forcing them to purchase seed from corporations. It would eventually drastically reduce the biodiversity of food crops as seed houses sell what is commercially viable. The Judicial Commission is meeting this week to review their decision about ...

B. McPherson When you fill your gas tank, spare a thought for the consequences.  The Canadian Federal Government has granted permission to Shell Oil Canada to expand its oil sand extraction into its Jackpine holdings. This, in spite of the Minister of Environment, Leona Aglukkaq, acknowledging that it’s “likely to cause significant environmental effects”. The move is “justified under the circumstance”. One wonders what the circumstance is that would further degrade the Northern Alberta environment, putting at danger the health of the fragile environment and the people who live there.   Perhaps the prospect of the multinational, foreign owned petroleum company pumping 100 000 barrels of oil a day from the area holds out the promise of too much money skimmed as taxes to pay attention to the damage done. The local First Nation asked for and was granted an extension before the decision was made whether to grant Shell Canada permission to mine the area. The Athabasca...

B. McPherson Remember the old adage You Are What You Eat The AquaBounty Fish Company , manufacturer of the genetically modified salmon made up of three species of fish has been accused of shirking its environmental responsibilities. The fish eggs for the supersalmon are prepared in Canada, in the Province of Prince Edward Island. They are then shipped to Panama for hatching and raising the young salmon to market size. The fish have the appearance of Atlantic salmon, but carry genes from the Chinook salmon(a different species) as well as genes from an Ocean Pout . Both of the latter species have genes that promote rapid growth. The Canadian government has recently given the go-ahead for the PEI labs to start commercial production of the GM salmon eggs. The Environmental Advocacy Center in Panama has submitted a complaint about AquaBounty to the Panamanian National Environmental Authority alleging that the biotech company has failed to submit required reports a...