UK Government to Plant GMO Crops in Secret Military Locations

Certainly under the department of the interior, for food production research, right?

Nope! They are growing them in Top Secret Military Locations In Order To "Thwart Angry Anti-GM Extremists." RedGreenandBlue has the story:

"UK officials are hoping to protect genetically-modified crops from the actions of anti-gm extremists. Opponents have targeted almost all of the 54 GM crop trials since 2000. For example, recently more than 400 potato plants were destroyed on a farm at the University of Leeds in June."

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What a perfect cover!!

"Yes, we have to move these GMO crops to top secret military basess so those damned 'frankenfood' nutters won't trample them!"

Well, sounds all and well! But hey, now those crops, all of them, are completely shut off from public scrutiny, and are in the provenance of the military. Which means they have some say in its distribution. Say 2% of those crops were used for military research? What would they be doing?

Possibly developing genetically modified invader species that thrive in commonly used GMO strains of food crops -- Biological warfare -- The cheatgrass that destroys not just farms, but multinational agri-businesses.

Now suppose they manage to develop this "takeover deadwheat" type shit, and some evil traitor sells it for cash?

Well, for one, its now a new illicit bioweapon on the black market for any terrorist organization to chose from and buy with petrodollars.

And secondly, it could very well be the next great plague; not of germs or insects, but of plants, of vile monocultures infecting farmlands -- A Zombie Crop. H.P. Lovecraft considered the idea of this occurring from seeds and spores within a meteorite in his story "A Color out of Space."

And with all these super-hybrids and engineered crops, why wouldn't a weed species genetically adapted to displace them not develop naturally? Now that is a truly scary thought.

New MRSA-specific antibiotic approved in Switzerland

Ceftobiprole (aka Zevtera) has passed all its trials and been approved by Swissmedic, which is kind of like the FDA for Switzerland. Fox business (ugh, I know...) has the story:

"Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. announces that ceftobiprole (Zevtera), the first-in-class anti-MRSA broad-spectrum cephalosporin, has obtained regulatory approval from Swissmedic for the treatment of complicated skin and soft tissue infections including diabetic foot infections.

Dr. Anthony Man, CEO of Basilea said, "We are delighted by this approval of ceftobiprole by Swissmedic. This is an important moment for our company and brings a novel and effective treatment against resistant bacteria to patients and physicians here in Switzerland."

The Swiss marketing authorization certificate may be used to facilitate regulatory approval and market entry in other countries including Asia and South America.

The regulatory dossier to Swissmedic was submitted by Basilea's license partner Janssen-Cilag AG, a Johnson & Johnson company, who will commercialize ceftobiprole in Switzerland under the trade name Zevtera.

Ceftobiprole is marketed in Canada and is currently under regulatory review by regulatory authorities in the U.S., the European Union and in other countries. Subject to approval, Basilea will co-promote ceftobiprole in the U.S. and in the major European markets together with the respective Janssen-Cilag companies.

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I hope and also expect a quick approval by the FDA for the use of Zevtera. I'm really surprised Canada got this approved before the US. America often likes proclaim it has some kind of pharmaceutical superiority to Canada, but I have rarely found this to be the case.

Most likely some corrupt Senator or Governor is dishing out grant money for an American company to reverse engineer Zevtera and add some random polymer to get a new patent. Big Pharma has no shortage of lobbyists, that much's for certain!

H5N1 -- It's baaaack!

From the Philippine news site Philstar:

"Authorities have confirmed that bird flu has been discovered in fowl in northern Thailand.

Director-general of the Livestock Department Sakchai Sriboonsue says laboratory tests have found the virulent H5N1 virus in chickens in Uthai Thani province, 180 kilometers north of the capital Bangkok.

He said yesterday the virus has been found in about a dozen chickens raised in a backyard farm after several died.

The department confirmed a bird flu outbreak Sunday among fowl in Sukhothai, another northern Thai province. It was the first case of the virus in Thailand since January when two other outbreaks were reported."

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They can possibly nip this in the bud by banning backyard chicken farms like Indonesia had to do. Hopefully we won't get any human cases this year. Last season was pretty quiet for H5N1...

Two Nevada Clinics Indicted in Hepatitis C Outbreak

From CBS News:

"Investigators think they've identified almost all the people who may have contracted the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus at two Las Vegas outpatient medical clinics, a top public health official said Thursday.

"In putting everything together, we've identified 114 cases in total linked to the two clinics," said Brian Labus, the Southern Nevada Health District's senior epidemiologist.

"We still have some analysis to do," Labus said of the tally, which was up from 86 in July, "but we don't expect the numbers to change much."

District officials say nine cases of the incurable blood-borne liver disease are the result of the unsafe practice of reusing syringes and medicine vials at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center.

The other 105 people were diagnosed with the disease since becoming patients at the clinics, but could have contracted the disease in other ways, Labus said.

Health officials say those identified with the disease are receiving treatment. Hepatitis C can cause swelling of the liver, stomach pain, fatigue and jaundice. Even when no symptoms occur, the virus can slowly damage the liver."

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Wow, w2g clinics!! Reusing needles?!? Yeah, brill idea guys, real fucking clever...

Now that is a class action law suit about to occur.

White Powder Mailed to 10 banks in 2 States

From Denver's 9NEWS.com:

"... [We] learned some bank branches in the Denver metro area were evacuated on Monday after at least seven received letters that contained an unidentified white powder.

"Initial tests show it's not harmful, but it is being sent to a lab for further analysis," said FBI Agent Kathy Wright.

All of the banks that were sent the letters were Chase Bank branches.

No one has been taken to the hospital according to Mary Jane Rogers, JP Morgan Chase spokesperson. She says some bank locations were evacuated, but did not have an exact number.

The FBI has also confirmed it has responded to two Chase Bank locations in Denver, and one each in Centennial, Westminster, Lakewood and Arvada. The FBI says all banks were closed for decontamination as a precaution.

The FBI says white powder was also found at a seventh bank, but did not immediately release the location.

Two banks in Oklahoma City also recieved the letters and another in Norman, Okla. also got a letter.

Denver Fire Department confirmed to 9NEWS that one of the affected banks is the Chase Bank located near Martin Luther King Blvd. and Colorado Blvd.

Denver Fire says an employee at that branch found the powder when he opened a letter.

In Westminster, an employee at the branch near 94th and Sheridan opened a letter just before 2 p.m. on Monday. The Westminster Fire Department says 17 people were held while a Hazmat team tested the powder. A test revealed it was harmless and they were released. The FBI took a sample of the substance.

In Arvada, the fire department says the letter was sent to the branch at 80th and Kipling. They determined it was a type of calcium powder and was not hazardous.

The West Metro Fire Department says they responded to a bank at Colorado Mills Mall.

The Cunningham Fire Department says they responded to a bank at Smoky Hill and Buckley just after 1 p.m. The powder there was determined to be not hazardous and the crews left the scene by 4 p.m.

Lutheran Hospital says its emergency room went into lockdown temporarily on Monday afternoon after two people from one of the banks were taken there to get checked out. The lockdown was standard procedure and only lasted for about 35 minutes while the two people were decontaminated.

Rogers says in addition to working with the FBI, JP Morgan Chase is also working with U.S. Postal Inspection Services.

"We are working closely with (the FBI) to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees," she said.

Rogers says she didn't believe authorities know who sent the powder.

"We take these threats seriously," said Rogers.

First reports of suspicious powder began coming in to authorities at 10 a.m. Monday.


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So what is this stuff? Baking powder most likely. A classic case of bioterrorism without the actual bio... the delivery system is the weapon. If it looks like Anthrax, you don't really want to be around if it is Anthrax... So Chase banks are being targeted for what seems to be to me industrial terrorism -- this was obviously not pulled off by one or two lone individuals or angry ex-employees -- so we know it was a well-connected conspiracy that was planned out very well in advance and executed professionally. Hmm, doesn't sound like a bunch of Arabs with boxknives...

Could it be the government? In, possibly, a partisan false-flag operation to paint liberals as crazy radicals (they hate money and stuff, obviously, as ultra-liberal leftists...

Sadly, these days, that kind of theory is all too plausible.

The more exciting story, actually, would be right out industrial terrorism -- wherein one corporation terrorizes another for financial gain. Talk about a hostile takeover...

New Virus Identified in Outbreak in South Africa and Zambia

Apparently the previously reported "mystery disease" that has cropped up in southern Africa is a newly identified strain of virus from the Arenaviridae family. So the story goes:

"The results of tests conducted at the Special Pathogens Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service in Johannesburg, and at the Special Pathogens and Infectious Disease Pathology branches of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA, provide preliminary evidence that the causative agent of the disease which has resulted in the recent deaths of 3 people from Zambia and South Africa, is a virus from the Arenaviridae family."

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So what family of virus is this, you might ask?

It is the family of viruses whose brethren and sistren are agents of hemorrhage, meningitis, hepatic necrosis, and liver failure. Sounds like a barrel of fun, that bunch!

also:

"..Analysis continues at the NICD and CDC in order to characterize this virus more fully.."

Sounds good to me chaps! This thing seems contagious and that is not good buddies. That means it is either airborne, waterborne, or bloodborne. If its airborne, of course, we could all be screwed... depending on its virulence.

Any progress on MRSA?

Apparently not much... From the BBC News:

"Concerns are being raised about NHS performance on infection control in England - just weeks after ministers announced MRSA targets had been met.

The Healthcare Commission's annual report on NHS performance showed a quarter of trusts were struggling to meet the hygiene code.

The data also showed that just over half of hospitals had managed a sustained reduction in MRSA rates.

It comes after ministers claimed they were winning the superbug fight.

In September, Gordon Brown hailed the "tremendous achievement" in halving the national MRSA rate over the previous three years.

But the watchdog adopts a slightly different approach to measuring performance.

Instead of relying on national quarterly figures as the government does, the Healthcare Commission uses annual figures broken down on a trust-by-trust basis which officials said was a better demonstration of sustained improvement.

These showed that only 52% of trusts had reduced MRSA by 60% - the figure was set higher than the national target in talks with ministers to ensure it was met across the board."

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The number manipulation is even worse in U.S. hospitals, BTW... Institutional fudging is endemic in most hospitals.

Tainted milk sickens 6,200 Chinese babies, kills 3

From the AP:

"The government was dispatching thousands of inspectors to monitor producers as officials reported Wednesday that the number of babies sick from tainted milk formula had climbed dramatically to nearly 6,200 from 1,200 a day earlier.

At least three children have died and more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalized with dozens suffering from acute kidney failure.

Health Minister Chen Zhu said he expected the numbers of affected babies to increase as "more and more parents take kids to the hospital."

The head of China's quality control watchdog agency, Li Changjiang, said 5,000 inspectors will be sent out nationwide to monitor companies after government testing showed that 20 percent of the companies producing milk powder had dairy products with melamine.

The chemical additive was at the center of a pet food scandal in the United States in 2007. An estimated 1,500 dogs and cats died after ingesting a pet food ingredient manufactured in China that was laced with melamine."

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This is extremely sad, but also infuriating. Hello, China!! Melamine kills dogs and cats, why the fuck are you putting it in baby formula?! You would think that these rat-bastard Chinese companies would have been shut down and their owners shot in the head and the bill sent to their family. I guess nowadays there's no hard justice in China, just authoritarianism and corruption.

Corruption that is killing babies. Are you happy that your failure to have a real food inspection program is now killing your children, oh government of China? The party of the "people" - that you are killing with your failure to regulate food, drugs, or even air quality.

I'm just so disgusted.