Scientists reveal negative impact of Roundup Ready GM crops

Five studies published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agronomy reveal the negative impacts of using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, a formula developed specifically for the company’s line of genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” crops. The papers, which were not released in the United States, offer a solid indictment against GM crops and the plight of using the Roundup herbicide.

Robert Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, co-authored one of the five papers and offered insight into their premise during an interview with The Organic & Non-GMO Report, a monthly newsletter that offers recourse in addressing the challenges of fighting GM foods.

Kremer and his colleagues began studying the effects of Roundup on soil back in 1997. They found that the herbicide was causing an increase in parasitic colonization at the roots of Roundup Ready soybeans and corn. They also observed an increase in fungal growth that leads to sudden death syndrome (SDS) in the plants.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is systemically changing the soil composition in the fields where it is used, leeching from plant roots into the ground. It is also disrupting the normal microorganism balance on plants and in soil, spurring the growth of harmful bacterial colonies that are destroying the beneficial ones.

According to Kremer, the most apparent disruption by glyphosate is observed in rhizobia, a type of bacterium that fixes nitrogen in the soil. Glyphosate’s toxicity inhibits rhizobia from enriching soil with nitrogen, preventing plants from receiving this necessary element.  Read Article

Sasquatch hunter coming to Tri-Cities

KENNEWICK, Washington, USA—When Jeff Meldrum goes into the backcountry, he keeps his eyes, ears and nose alert for signs of Sasquatch.

For 12 years now, the author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science has been on the hunt for evidence that will prove or disprove existence of the legendary tall, apelike creature described in hundreds of sightings across much of forested North America.

Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, will talk about his research at a free 7 p.m. Thursday program at the Kennewick Library, 1620 S. Union St.

“As a scientist I don’t have the answers yet,” Meldrum said in a phone interview Tuesday. But he hopes his research will be fruitful.

“I’m quite personally convinced there will be a new species of primate confirmed,” he said.

Meldrum said he has more than 200 casts of what may be Sasquatch footprints—each a five-toed impression up to nearly 14 inches long and more than 5 inches wide found at various sites.

Some of those he collected himself in 1996 near Walla Walla, where he had gone to talk to a man who had reported finding tracks in the Blue Mountains. His interest in the legendary creature dates back to when he was 11 years old and saw the famous film taken by Roger Patterson near Bluff Creek, Calif., of a purported Bigfoot running away.

As an expert in primate and human locomotion, Meldrum looks for detail that shows the mechanics of how a Sasquatch foot differs from a human’s. The Sasquatch footprints show a foot that flexes in the middle, more like an ape than a man, he said.  Read Article

Concocting a Cure for Kids With Issues

If you’re the parent of a child who’s having trouble learning or behaving in school, you quickly find yourself confronted with a series of difficult choices.

You can do nothing — and watch your child flounder while teachers register their disapproval. Or you can get help, which generally means, first, an expensive and time-consuming evaluation, then more visits with more specialists, intensive tutoring, therapies, perhaps, or, as is often the case with attention issues, drugs.

For many parents — particularly the sorts of parents who are skeptical of mainstream medicine and of the intentions of what one mother once described to me as “the learning-disability industrial complex” — this experience is an exercise in frustration and alienation.

These parents often don’t trust the mental-health professionals who usually treat children with “issues,” as we euphemistically tend to refer to problems like learning disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism or other developmental difficulties. They find offensive the prospect of having a child “labeled” when his or her development doesn’t correspond to what seem like random, overly restrictive norms. They find the notion of putting children on psychotropic medication frightening and unacceptable. They want to find concrete causes for their children’s diffuse, often difficult-to-understand problems and, ideally, to find cures. They want their children to achieve, and they’re dissatisfied with what they feel are the palliative half-measures offered by pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists and learning specialists.

That’s why some of these parents end up seeking the services of people like Stanley A. Appelbaum.  Read Article

The Great Prostate Mistake

Each year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer.

The test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with — I discovered P.S.A. in 1970. As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer.

Americans spend an enormous amount testing for prostate cancer. The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration.

Prostate cancer may get a lot of press, but consider the numbers: American men have a 16 percent lifetime chance of receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent chance of dying from it. That’s because the majority of prostate cancers grow slowly. In other words, men lucky enough to reach old age are much more likely to die with prostate cancer than to die of it.

Even then, the test is hardly more effective than a coin toss. As I’ve been trying to make clear for many years now, P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can’t distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer — the one that will kill you and the one that won’t.  Read Article

Men have longer sex life expectancy, study says

It seems the old cliche may be true.

Men are more likely than women to be interested in sex, have sex and enjoy sex, according to new scientific research, which also found people who stay active and healthy enjoy longer sex lives.

Research by University of Chicago academics published online Wednesday in the British Medical Journal found that, across all age groups, men were more interested in sex than women — and the gap increased with age.

The difference was most pronounced in the 75 to 85 age group, where 39 percent of men and 17 percent of women said they were sexually active, although the gender difference was smaller among people with a partner. Women of that age are more likely than men to be widowed.

A total of 71 percent of men who were sexually active above age 75 reported a good sex life, compared with 51 percent of women, while 41 percent of men said they were interested in sex, compared to 11 percent of women.

“Overall, men were more likely than women to be sexually active, report a good quality sex life, and be interested in sex,” the researchers found.

“This disparity, and its implication for health, requires further exploration.”  Read Article

The Sacred Space Of The Shared Heart

“When people come to me because of a sudden illness,” the shaman was telling me as he painstakingly mended a crack in a highly-prized ceremonial gourd, “the first thing I do is ask them, ‘Who recently asked for your help that you refused?’ “

The midday sun blistered the rocky soil of the patio. We sat in the shade of a thatched roof affixed to the wall of the adobe house, looking out over the red rock river. A horse whinnied into the wind from the high ground above the rancho. A burro answered from somewhere across the narrow valley. Time, such as it was, moved very slowly deep in the Copper Canyon of Mexico, where the Tarahumara still lived as they have for millennia.

The shaman dipped the gourd in a bucket of water and held it aloft. Not a drop leaked from the mended crack. He could have fashioned a new gourd in a tenth the time it’d taken him to repair the old one.

“My duty isn’t just to heal individuals,” he explained, taking a sip from the gourd and handing it to me, “but to heal the community.” Sipping the cool spring water, I looked over the rim of the gourd at my adopted father and realized he spoke with the absolute confidence of someone who had been trained since childhood in the art of holding a community together.

It was a small village far-removed from the twentieth century. No electricity or telephones, let alone a hospital or medical doctor. There, on the outskirts of civilization, there was no one to turn to in an emergency if not your neighbor: the individual could not hope to survive without the goodwill of the community—nor could the community hope to survive without the goodwill of each individual.

Far-removed from twentieth century civilization, yes. But the most civilized people I was ever to meet.  Read Article

Dalai Lama says he will not take political position in Tibet

Seeking more autonomy for the Chinese controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said he would not hold any political position in the government in Tibet, once the vexed Tibetan issue is resolved.
“Let me reiterate that once the issue of Tibet is resolved, I will not take any political position nor will the members of Tibetan Administration in exile hold any position in the government in Tibet” said Dalai Lama addressing hundreds of Tibetan gathered at the main Buddhist temple to mark the 51st anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day.

The Tibetan leader appealed to officials in the Tibetan Autonomous Region to explore the conditions and aspiration of the Tibetan people living in exile.
Deploring China, Dalai Lama said the problem in Tibet was serious. He expressed concern over the “huge” military presence and restriction imposed on travel inside Tibet.
Reaching out to the Tibetan people, Dalai Lama reiterated his stance to continue talks with China.

“Judging by the attitude of the present Chinese leadership there was little hope that results will be achieved soon,” he said, and held the “ultra leftist” policies of the government responsible for the dispute between Tibetan and Chinese people.  Read Article

Yoga class helps war veterans heal unseen scars

In a black T-shirt and black jeans, John Armendarez takes his place on a mat on the floor.

The 47-year-old veteran who was assigned to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has never taken a yoga class before, but has been trying new things lately and figures the experience couldn’t hurt.

Before class starts, Armendarez raises his left shirt sleeve to reveal a foot-long scar on the inside his arm, an indelible reminder of his service. Hesitant about going into it further, he added, “I’ve seen some action.”

Just like Armendarez, Tim Withee also served his country.

Withee, 60, is a Vietnam War veteran and had a rough time recovering from the effects of war until he discovered Kundalini yoga.

Since 2005, yoga has helped Withee cope and now he teaches yoga classes locally in the hope more veterans also can benefit. It’s not outward scars, but veterans’ inner struggles, where Withee feels he can help.  Read Article