Genetically-modified insects: under whose control?

Genetically-modified insects: under whose control? This paper examines the plans to commercialize GM insects, including agricultural pests. Such plans would result in many millions of GM insects being released in fields of crops, including olives, tomatoes, citrus fruits, cabbages and cotton. Many millions of GM mosquitoes have already been released in experiments intended to reduce transmission of dengue fever. Releases of GM insects are covered by laws and regulations that cover the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and by general requirements for environmental and health protection. However, the paper raises concerns that the regulatory process on GM insects are being unduly influenced by companies seeking to commercialize GM insects. The full paper is available at: http://www.testbiotech.de/node/729 Alternative controls at: http://www.thebestcontrol2.com

EPA Releases Integrated Pest Management Plan for Schools

EPA Releases Integrated Pest Management Plan for Schools The EPA is releasing its Strategic and Implementation Plan for School Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The plan sets forth the EPA's approach and activities for implementing the School IPM Initiative announced by EPA in 2010. Protecting children’s health is a top priority for the EPA. Children in the United States continue to face risks arising from exposure to pests and pesticides in school settings. IPM is an approach to managing pests that schools can use to reduce pest and pesticide risk for students and staff. The Strategic and Implementation Plans for School IPM demonstrate how the EPA will promote the goal that all of the nation’s children be covered by a verifiable and ongoing school IPM program. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/pestwise/ipminschools/strategicplan.pdf For all of the safe and far more effective alternatives click on: http://www.thebestcontrol2.com

How to make an attractive Toxic Sugar Mosquito Bait

How to make an attractive Toxic Sugar Mosquito Bait To lay eggs, females do need blood for its iron and protein. But usually mosquitoes subsist on modest sips of nectar from flowers or from ripe or rotting fruit. And that, according to scientists from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is an ... Achilles' proboscis - through which the pests can also be poisoned... That's how we came up with fruit juice...Attractive Toxic Sugar Baits." “You can’t move flowering trees around,” said Yosef Schlein, a parasitologist at the university’s medical school. “So you have to use movable bait. That’s how we came up with fruit juice.” Supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Schlein and his research partner Günter C. Müller concocted an array of nectar poisons known as Attractive Toxic Sugar Baits that are easy to make, environmentally friendly and inexpensive. In tests in Israel and in West Africa, the baits knocked down mosquito populations by 90 percent. Even better, they nearly eliminated older females, the most dangerous mosquitoes. (Only females bite humans, and only mosquitoes that have already picked up malaria, dengue or another disease from one human can inject it with their saliva into another human.) Dr. Müller and Dr. Schlein tested their idea five years ago at a desert oasis near the Red Sea. Putting out vases of flowering tree branches, they learned that acacias — the thorn trees common in Africa — attracted the most mosquitoes. They sprayed branches with a mixture of sugar water and Spinosad, a bacterial insecticide considered harmless to humans and most beneficial insects. The mosquitoes feeding on them died. Their next test was in a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Judean hills where mosquitoes laid their eggs in underground rainwater storage cisterns. They filled old soda bottles with a solution of brown sugar, the juice of rotting nectarines, Spinosad and a dye. They put each in a sock with a wick that helped keep the sock soaked with the colorful fatal elixir. They suspended a bait at the opening of each cistern. Trapping later showed that up to 97 percent of all mosquitoes in the area were marked with the dye, meaning they had landed on a toxic sock at least once. Within a week, the female population had crashed to near zero; it stayed there for a month. The toxic sugar bait developed by scientists at Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem is made with a combination of fruit juice essences, which are attractive to mosquitoes, and boric acid - a mild, inorganic powder that kills insects when they ingest it. In experiments in a semi-arid region of Mali, in West Africa, the bait - in this case a blend of boric acid with guava and honey-melon fragrances - was applied using a hand sprayer on the vegetation near a cluster of man-made ponds. These ponds are important dry-season water supplies for local villagers and their livestock. They are also breeding grounds for Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that carries the most deadly form of malaria. For comparison, investigators sprayed grasses and leaves near other ponds with a solution of sweet fragrances only. Both baits contained a dye that marked any mosquito making contact, so scientists could count how many had actually fed on the lure. Josef Schlein, a medical entomologist who led the study, says the results after 38 days showed the bait containing both sweet fragrances and boric acid proved to be very effective at killing mosquitoes."In Mali, we got down by some 80 percent, the females, and 90 percent of the males," he said. "But the area is full of little ponds in there, so it is impossible to stop mosquitoes from flying from an untreated pond to a treated pond." At the control sites that were treated with fragrances only, Schlein says upwards of 75 percent of mosquitoes fed on the fake bait. Their most recent study, published in Malaria Journal, was done in West Africa, where malaria is a major killer, especially of young children. The scientists chose a rural road in Mali running past ponds where two aggressive mosquito species breed — Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles arabiensis. They sprayed weeds there with a solution of the fermented juice of local guavas and melons mixed with dye and boric acid. Within a few days, they saw 90 percent die off. Boric acid is much less expensive than Spinosad. It is also about as harmless to humans as table salt is. It is a chief ingredient in Silly Putty. Dr. Schlein said he had heard that some Malians sampled the alcoholic bait brew, with no ill effects. But it kills insects that eat it. It is common in cockroach control; when a thin layer is spread on floors, cockroaches take it in when they preen their feet. “You can buy it by the truckload,” Dr. Christensen said. “And it kills in so many ways that there’s never been resistance to it. Some authorities think there never will be.” http://www.malariajournal.com/content/9/1/210 Schlein explains most people don’t realize that female mosquitoes typically feed on sweet plant nectars to survive. Their more familiar blood meals, when mosquitoes bite people, are part of the reproductive cycle. The researchers’ goal now is to make a lure that’s even more irresistible to mosquitoes. Research leader Josef Schlein notes that boric acid poses little risk to humans and other mammals, so it’s possible a mosquito lure could be developed for use indoors. Given the non-toxic simplicity of this new bait, the Hebrew University entomologist says it’s a marvel that other scientists didn't think of it sooner.

FEMA and Hurricane Sandy - Who do you really want in charge? Remember this when you vote!

What Republican Romney wants to do with FEMA While millions of Americans are bracing for damage and power outages from the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, they should know that this may be the last time they get help from FEMA. Mitt Romney does not support federal aid for disaster relief and wants to get rid of it. During the 2012 presidential primary debates, Romney said if he were elected, he would leave disaster relief to the states, or better yet, “send it back to the private sector.” According to Romney, FEMA is not worth spending federal dollars on and it should be cut from the budget. Romney referred to federal disaster relief as “one of the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do.” With so many states cash-strapped, disaster victims may have to rely on private companies for help. However, as any Florida resident can tell you, in the wake of a storm, price gouging is both common and seemingly permitted. It is conceivable that if Romney is elected, without FEMA, food, water and basic medical supplies following a disaster might only be available to victims with enough cash to buy them at absorbent prices from sleazy re-sellers, who Romney would likely label business entrepreneurs. http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13281985-romney-on-fema-disaster-relief-get-rid-of-it ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... Democrat President Obama promises FEMA's response to Hurricane Sandy to be 'big and fast' - President Barack Obama made a statement about Hurricane Sandy at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Headquarters today, with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Deputy FEMA Administrator Richard Serino. Hurricane Sandy has already claimed over 50 lives in the Caribbean and is predicted to bring heavy winds and floodwaters as the Mid-Atlantic region prepares for the damage. President Obama promises swift action by the federal government and specifically by FEMA. Obama called it a "a serious and big storm." Obama promised to "to respond big and respond fast." President Obama has been in touch with the governors of the potentially impacted states, as well as the mayors of some of the mayors of the major cities in the region. He has also been in touch with regional officials of FEMA as well. http://www.examiner.com/article/president-obama-promises-fema-s-response-to-hurricane-sandy-to-be-big-and-fast ................................................................................................................................................................................................ Video shows Republican Republican Bush got explicit Katrina warning In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage. Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11627394/ns/us_news-katrina_the_long_road_back/t/video-shows-bush-got-explicit-katrina-warning/

Hair loss drug causes depression and suicidal thoughts

Hair loss drug causes depression and suicidal thoughts Men who took the hair-loss drug Propecia (finasteride) could be suffering from depression, and even having suicidal thoughts. The reaction is very common, say researchers, and could affect the vast majority of men who took the drug, especially if they suffered from persistent sexual side effects at the time. The longer-term side-effects range from mild depression to having suicidal thoughts, say researchers from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In a study of 61 former finasteride users who all suffered sexual side effects for more than three months at the time, nearly half had had suicidal thoughts, and 36 per cent had severe depressive symptoms. Doctors should be aware of the life-threatening side effects and should talk to former finasteride patients. (Source: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2012; doi: 10.4088/JCP.12m07887).

Chemotherapy spreads cancer, scientists confirm.

Chemotherapy spreads cancer, scientists confirm Scientists have discovered something we revealed more than a year ago: chemotherapy causes cancer to spread. The drug promotes cancer growth by attacking healthy cells surrounding the tumour. The ‘environment’ in which the tumours live in the body can weaken the effectiveness of chemotherapy, and also encourages the spread of cancer by making neighbouring cells immune to treatment. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle made the discovery when they carried out laboratory tests on prostate cancer cells. (Source: Nature Medicine, 2012; doi: 10.1038/nm.2890) See alternative cures in Chapter 46 at: http://www.thebestcontrol2.com

Inflammation = Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Dementia (Including Alzheimer's Disease), Cancers........

I have finally finished my free Chapter 46 on healing with this note: Every chronic dis-ease is an inflammatory dis-ease. You can find this Chapter at: http://www.stephentvedten.com/46_Inflammation.pdf .