Growers seek answers on GE-tainted corn
Thursday December 7, 2006 The growers' lobby Horticulture NZ wants a "thorough review" of procedures for importing sweetcorn seed. HortNZ chief executive Peter Silcock said growers wanted assurances that "robust biosecurity systems" could ensure shipments contaminated with genetically-engineered seeds were not brought into the country. Biosecurity Minister Jim Anderton said in Parliament on Tuesday that about 4420kg of sweetcorn seed was being investigated for possible GE contamination. About two-thirds of the seed, 3067.5kg, was planted in the Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, and Mid-Canterbury regions. The remaining 1352.5kg of seed had not been planted and had been "secured". Mr Silcock said the announcement was a worry. "Growers have planted this seed in good faith. If the crops are to be destroyed, it will have a big impact on those growers and we will be expecting compensation". If the growers, on 25 properties, were ordered to destroy their crops soon, they might still have time to replant, he said. "We would like to see these decisions happen quickly so growers aren't left hanging and can make decisions about the future use of the land," Mr Silcock said. Sweetcorn is a major horticultural crop, and 5000ha to 6000ha is grown annually. The crops being investigated total 373.3ha. Mr Anderton said Biosecurity NZ was consulting growers and seed producers, but it was "almost certain" that the unplanted seeds and the crops which were growing would be destroyed. And questions were being asked about how the seeds were able to enter the country despite documents accompanying at least two of the consignments showing the parent batches from which the seeds originated had GE-contaminated seed in them. "The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is conducting a stringent inquiry," he said. "There will be accountability here." New Zealand has a "zero-tolerance" policy on GE seed contamination. Asked by Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons if the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was trying to implement its preference for a threshold below which GE contamination was legal - an acceptable level of "inadvertent" contamination - Mr Anderton said seed producers claimed they had a system of control that eliminated GE contamination. "The ministry is rather questioning of that possibility, but that is what the seed producers say," he said. None of the crops was likely to create any long-term problem as long as the plants were removed before they set seed. Ms Fitzsimons said any GE seeds in the shipments were unapproved organisms under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act and were illegal under the Biosecurity Act. "MAF does not have the authority to decide, after 'consultation', to let them mature, flower and seed," she said. The suspect sweet corn came from the American company Syngenta, which was known as Novartis when it supplied the seeds that caused the 2002 "Corngate" controversy. It also supplied the seeds which in 2003 led to a Japanese pizza-maker complaining that a topping from New Zealand contained GE-sweetcorn.
Australia gives green light for therapeutic cloning
9.20am Thursday December 7, 2006 CANBERRA - Thousands of Australians living with debilitating diseases have been given new hope of a cure, with federal parliament overturning the ban on therapeutic cloning. Liberal senator Kay Patterson's private member's bill will allow researchers to clone embryos using donor eggs and cells without sperm, and extract their stem cells for medical research. Prime Minister John Howard and new Labor leader Kevin Rudd both spoke against the bill before it passed the House of Representatives last night. Mr Howard said he struggled with his decision, but ultimately could not support the bill to overturn the legislation passed in 2002 banning therapeutic cloning. "I don't think the science has shifted enough to warrant the parliament changing its view," he said. Mr Rudd said he found it very difficult to support a law that would allow human life to be created for the explicit purpose of experimentation and ultimate destruction. Senior cabinet ministers Peter Costello, Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews also spoke against the technology. It was the second conscience vote in parliament this year, following a vote on the abortion drug RU486 in February. But after an emotional four-day debate, the final vote was an anti-climax -- with MPs electing not to call a division and have their choice recorded.
Green MP pushes for Tongan torture investigation
Friday December 8, 2006By Mike Houlahan New Zealand should press the Tongan Government to investigate claims that prisoners arrested during the November riots were abused and tortured, Green MP Keith Locke says. Tonga's National Centre for Women and Children has issued a report which alleges widespread maltreatment of prisoners after unrest in the capital, Nuku'alofa. The centre, which is partly funded by NZAID and combats domestic violence, said its report exposed systematic torture and abuse by Tongan Defence Service personnel and police. The Tongan Government has said it condemns torture and abuse of prisoners and will look at the report's claims. Mr Locke, the Greens' foreign affairs spokesman who was in Tonga last week, said the report tallied with what he had been told. "The pictures I've seen ... they've all got very puffed-up and bruised faces and they didn't just walk into a door or anything ... It all adds to a picture that needs to be investigated." New Zealand and Australia rushed soldiers and police to Tonga to help to restore order after a pro-democracy protest disintegrated into violence. Several police officers are still there. The report did not mention any abuse involving foreigners. "The Government, particularly as it has police and has had military over there, we don't want them to be tainted by what the Tongan military in particular are doing," Mr Locke said. "I think it's important that the Government look closely at that report and our diplomatic people over there fully investigate what has been going on and express our serious concerns." Prime Minister Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Winston Peters were unavailable for comment. A spokesman for Defence Minister Phil Goff said there was no evidence New Zealanders were implicated in any way in claims of abuse. The report said treatment amounting to torture under Tongan and international law had been reported. Injuries included facial cuts, swelling and bruising, ripped ears, broken and missing teeth, split lips and heavily bruised ribs. "I saw bloody people come into the cells every day. People with smashed faces - it just became normal," one former prisoner said. Cells were overcrowded - one cell for 16 reportedly had 64 prisoners in it on one day. They lacked bedding and proper toilet facilities. One prisoner estimated that 40 per cent of prisoners in his cell had been subjected to some form of violence during interrogation.
Agent Orange campaigners angry as many miss out
Friday December 8, 2006 Some of the soldiers who felt the mist of Agent Orange on their backs or drank it in their water during the Vietnam War are disappointed by the compensation package. They say it is unnecessarily restrictive, barring from compensation conditions which are covered for US veterans. Ray Beatson, a veteran who has helped the campaign for compensation, said yesterday that many would be upset when they read details of the package and realised they were not covered. Conditions such as heart and circulatory diseases ought to have been included, he said. The package limits ex-gratia payments to veterans of up to $40,000 to four kinds of cancer and a skin condition, chloracne. Payments of up to $30,000 to veterans' children are limited to two types of cancer, spina bifida, cleft lip and cleft palate. John Jennings, who served in Vietnam's Phuoc Tuy and Bien Hoa provinces, recalls the chemical smell from when he was sprayed by Agent Orange - a herbicide used to kill jungle and deny the enemy cover - from an aircraft in the late 1960s. He has suffered an itchy rash since and developed a condition, linked to dioxins in the herbicide, that left him blind in one eye. His daughter, Marrakech Jennings-Lowry, has had to spend thousands of dollars on her wide range of health problems, one of which left her unable to have children. Mr Jennings said it was hoped a wider range of conditions would be covered, in light of Massey University research showing that Vietnam veterans had a significant degree of genetic damage. His hope now was that the $7 million trust fund included in the package would help a wider group. Mrs Jennings-Lowry said that despite her lung, heart and other conditions, she would not qualify for compensation. "The package is sadly lacking." Mr Beatson, a lieutenant when he went to Vietnam with the infantry in 1967 for nearly eight months, said he decided to help press the case for Government compensation after realising the death rate among his war comrades was extraordinarily high. By last May, from a platoon of 36 men, 12 had died. Eight were seriously unwell, a group that has grown since. "Last year, I went to a funeral of one of the many in my platoon. The wake-up call for me was that five of the six pallbearers were beneficiaries - because of service in Vietnam," said Mr Beatson, now aged 63. He said there was scepticism among veterans about the compensation package, which fell short of what was sought. "One of the recommendations [to the Government] was that veterans have access to an annual free medical. The press statement [yesterday] says one-off comprehensive medical examination. There's a certain amount of flannelling going on." Roly Flutey, 59, who served in the artillery, remembers a mist of Agent Orange from aircraft falling on him and his mates. They were shirtless while playing basketball at Nui Dat camp. "It seemed like a nice cooling drop of water at the time." He said he had had skin cancer and still suffered from the skin condition psoriasis, a type of arthritis, deafness and post-traumatic stress disorder. While he did not wholly blame Agent Orange, he said it played a part. He would not qualify for compensation. He objects to the plans for a Defence Force welcome home parade for veterans. "It's too late. I would not go if they called it a welcome home get-together or parade."
Severe tornado hits London
Dont know if this has been posted anywhere else but..
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LONDON (Reuters) - A severe tornado ripped roofs off homes and tore down walls in a residential area of northwest London on Thursday, injuring six people.
Television footage showed a trail of destruction in Kensal Rise, with trees uprooted and cars damaged by falling debris. Tornadoes in Britain are normally weak and rarely cause damage.
Local resident Daniel Bidgood was in his house when the tornado, which he said was about 20 meters (yards) across, smashed his windows.
"It was very large and certainly very powerful," he told BBC television. "You could see it ripping up heavy chunks of mortar and smashing it into cars."
One man in his 50's was taken to hospital with head injuries. Five other adults were treated for shock and minor injuries after the tornado struck at around 1100 GMT.
Around 100 houses were damaged, a Fire Brigade spokesman said, "so I would imagine several hundred people may be displaced." Some of those evacuated were being housed in local churches.
More than 20 fire engines were sent to the scene and the area was cordoned off.
"SEVERE"
The London tornado was rated at T4 on a scale of 0 to 10. This means winds were moving at between 115 and 136 mph (185-219 kph), rating the tornado as severe, said a spokesman for the Meteorological Office.
Britain experiences between 30 and 40 tornadoes in an average year, he said, but they rarely hit built-up areas. In July 2005, a tornado in Birmingham, central England, damaged dozens of homes.
The cost in London could run into millions of pounds. Houses in the area cost an average 550,000 pounds ($1.08 million), a local estate agent said. The Association of British Insurers said most home insurance policies would cover the costs.
"You're not likely to find the word 'tornado' in a UK insurance policy," a spokesman said. "But it would be covered under 'storm damage'."
Tornadoes are a vortex of swirling air caused by a build-up of heavy thunder clouds. The Met Office spokesman said it was impossible to tell if global warming had a role to play in the London tornado.
The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for southern England, with heavy rains and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour, after the warmest autumn in the last 347 years.
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Yikes!! Didnt even know we got tornados in the UK
Research explains tea treatment
NEW YORK - Scientists have discovered why tea extracts help repair skin damage, a finding that may benefit cancer patients who suffer skin problems from radiotherapy. Dr Frank Pajonk from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California's Los Angeles campus said tea extracts were a traditional remedy for sunburn, and had been used successfully to treat the effect of radiation damage. But until now there had been no data to explain how it worked. The researchers found that tea extracts affect the body signals that trigger inflammation. In a study reported in the journal BMC Medicine, the researchers analysed the effects of green or black tea extracts given to 60 patients with skin damage related to radiotherapy for head and neck cancers and cancer in the pelvic region. Dr Pajonk said more studies were needed to compare tea extract therapy with standard treatments for radiation-induced skin damage.