News
The Journal of the American Medical Association is rocking the boat in conventional medicine. An article in JAMA has come up with the suggestion -- aghast! -- that doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies. Most people didn't know that doctors routinely accept bribes (including hundreds of thousands of dollars in "contractor's fees" for signing patients up for drug trials), so this news may come as a bit of a shock to some.
QUESNEL, B.C. -- Millions of acres of Canada's lush green forests are turning red in spasms of death. A voracious beetle, whose population has exploded with the warming climate, is killing more trees than wildfires or logging.
The mountain pine beetle has infested an area three times the size of Maryland, devastating swaths of lodgepole pines and reshaping the future of the forest and the communities in it.
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Americans Are Cautiously Open to Gas Tax Rise, Poll Shows
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/national/28gas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
By Louis Uchitelle and Megan Thee
The New York Times, February 28, 2006.
Web Note: In the past 48 hours over 25,000 members of the Organic Consumers Association network have sent an email to the House Representatives in Congress, calling for them to vote against HR Bill 4167, the so-called "National Uniformity for Food Act." Tens of thousands of other consumers, responding to Action Alerts from the Consumers Union, the Center for Food Safety, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and other groups have done the same thing.
Ag Policy Issues
Food Labels
We speak with Liz McIntyre, author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with RFID" that examines radio frequency identification - a technology that uses tiny computer chips to track items at distance. Major corporations are working right now to install RFIDs on all consumer products. What about in you arm? Or in your kids? We also speak with freelance journalist Annalee Newitz who recently had an RFID implanted in her arm.
"Imagine a world of no more privacy.
The recent controversy over the Harvey lawsuit in the United States organic community stirred a heated debate over the use of non-organic substances and ingredients in organic foods. One major issue not addressed was the fact that many non-organic ingredients provide a pathway for genetic contamination of organic foods. Many such ingredients, including citric acid, lecithin, vitamins, and enzymes, may contain or be derived from genetically modified organisms.
In the last couple of years, bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have become immensely popular with governments disillusioned by the slow pace of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At present there are over 200 FTA negotiating processes under way across the globe. While ostensibly aimed at breaking down trade barriers, these agreements are increasingly targeting indigenous peoples' and local communities' traditional knowledge in very real ways.
Mah fellow progressives, now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the party. I don't know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Harleysville, Pa. Feb 28 / SOAPWIRE/ -- The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) announced today that retail sales within the U.S. consumer packaged goods health and wellness industry reached $79 billion in 2005. That constitutes a total growth of 15% over 2004. These findings are part of NMI's annual Health & Wellness Trends Database? (HWTD) research study of 2,800+ U.S. consumer households.
A fascinating new poll by the NY Times/CBS found that a majority of Americans are willing to support a gas tax increase if it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil or global warming. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/national/28gas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin The poll is quite clear. When asked straight up whether they would support a gas tax increase 85% were opposed.
