Tag Archives: health

Fukushima

Pale Green Horse & Fukushima: Damaged GE reactors still spewing radiation almost a year later!

On 20 February 2012, the Japanese media was given a short tour of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The tour was quick because the disaster reactors are still emitting high levels of radiation.

To give you an example; just at reactor 4, daily radiation levels are higher than the yearly safe limit for the civilian population!

The safe limit is one millisievert per year.  Reactor 4 is still pumping out 50 microsieverts per hour!  That’s 1,200 microsieverts, or 1.2 millisieverts per day!

Remember, that’s just from one of the four damaged reactors.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Fukushima

Pale Green Horse & Fukushima: Almost half of population exposed to execesive radiation levels! Woman contaminated with 23 years worth of radiation in just 1 year!

20 February 2012, Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture released the results of their own radiation contamination study.  The study did not include people working at nuclear plants, or other employment where contact with radiation is part of the job.

42% of the people living in Fukushima Prefecture have been exposed to more radiation than the official safe limit. The safe limit is one millisievert per year.

The radiation is coming from the damaged General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At least 71 people have been exposed to 10 millisieverts (or ten years worth of radiation), and one woman has been exposed to 23 millisieverts (or 23 years worth of radiation)!

The study is still ongoing as Fukushima prefectural officials have not been able to screen everyone, and the Fukushima Daiichi reactors are still spewing radiation.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

International, Technology

Pale Green Horse & Global Food Crisis: Scientists say best defense against Climate Change is Adaptability

The following are statements heard at the ongoing American Association for the Advancement of Science annual show taking place in British Columbia, Canada.

“If there’s greater variability, the odds the temperature being so high that you can’t grow a crop are greater.”

“Food insecurity is likely to (be) higher than it has been for some time.”

“We need to understand how the region will fare under projected future scenarios…adapt or mitigate potential consequences.”

“A super-generalist can co-exist with other species if it focuses on just a few of its possible prey at a time and switches prey regularly. It’s stabilizing the system because it allows populations to recover.”  [in other words, if you have a diet that is very specific your chances of starvation are higher]

“biomass processing depots” “would process 100 to 200 tons of feedstock per day. Once processed, we could ship it much longer distances to the large scale refineries.”  farmers “could own part of the depot and share in some of the income from it.”

In other words, those who will fair well in the radically changing climate are those who can quickly adapt, with new ways of acquiring food.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

International, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Government Incompetence: Human manipulation of H5N1 a case of the horse has already fled the barn!

When scientists, who were paid by the U.S. government to find out if H5N1 ‘bird flu’ could be manipulated into a more deadly version, revealed their studies the U.S. government acted quickly to censor their publications.

Even the UN’s World Health Organization joined in the censorship.

On February 15, 2012, National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed three scientists currently involved in ongoing discussions (Asilomar meetings) about what to do with the results of the studies. They basically said any efforts to stop the spread of the information was too late.

Paul Berg, professor emeritus of molecular and genetic medicine at Stanford University, and one of the researchers who’s work caused the U.S. government to censor the results, said there are so many other scientist, around the world, doing their own similar work that it’s only a matter of time before it’s common knowledge.

A molecular biologist, Maxine Singer, said that the Asilomar meetings are really about hypothetical what if scenarios, because discussing research that’s already been done is like “…talking about locking the barn door after the horses have gone.”

Stanley Falkow, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, said the public outcry from governments has only temporarily put on hold scientific research concerning the manipulation of H5N1.  The implication being that overt research will resume once the dust settles.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

International, U.S.

Already suffering from H5N1, Vietnam confirms first human case of H3N2 (H3N2v)

Vietnam has already had two people die from H5N1 ‘bird flu’ this year.  Now health officials confirm a two year old girl has H3N2v ‘swine flu’, and she’s had it since April 2011!

Vietnam’s Department of Preventive Health announced on February 15, 2012, that a two year old girl has been sick with H3N2v since April 2011.   The girl had classic flu like symptoms and then appeared to get well.

However, she has been suffering strange symptoms ever since, and the Ho Chi Minh Pasteur Institute sent samples of her infection to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for more testing.

Vietnam’s officials are blaming the epidemic of flu in their country, partly on unusually cold weather.  Tropical Vietnam has recently seen temperatures as cold as minus 39 Fahrenheit, and has seen at least 7,000 water buffalo freeze to death!

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Rat Fever: Cases are on the rise around the World. Doctors die and government efforts to kill rats has failed. Return of the Black Death?

“May I formally as Commissioner for Health in Rivers State declare that there is Lassa fever epidemic in the State and we must do all we can to tackle the challenge.”-Sampson Parker, Port Harcourt State Commissioner for Health

At the end of 2011, two people died of Lassa (aka Laffa) viral hemorrhagic fever in the African country of Ghana.  It was a first for that country.

Now more than a dozen people have died in the civil war torn African country of Nigeria.  At the end of January 2012, African media reports said there might be an outbreak in the northern areas of Nigeria, one doctor had died.  Reports published on February 15, said another doctor and a nurse died, along with 13 people.

The medical center in Nigeria’s Taraba state has been overwhelmed with cases, and shut down.

In the Nigerian port city of Port Harcourt, the State Commissioner for Health declared Nigeria to be suffering an epidemic of Lassa fever.  Efforts by the Nigerian government to contain the Lassa epidemic will be difficult, since the country is being torn by a violent civil war.  War actually helps spread the disease.

I’d just like to point out that the Untied States has been slowly increasing troop deployments to Africa, and there is no vaccine for Lassa!

Travel across the Indian Ocean to India, and you’ll discover outbreaks of rat fever there as well.  In the Ernakulam district, on the extreme southwestern tip of India, the government is losing a race to distribute rat poison to fight the infected rats.

Ernakulam district has 85 panchayats, or village level governing bodies.  They were supposed to get the rat poison at the end of last year.  According to Indian media reports, as of January 2012, 47 of the 85 panchayats got the poison, but even worse, only four of those actually distributed it to residents.

That’s because in India the panchayats have to pay up front for the so called government help: “We have been promptly delivering the pesticides wherever possible. We have distributed over three lakh packets to the 47 panchayats.
But in the absence of distribution, funds were not released and only four panchayats have been able to pay for the pesticide. It was owing to this that we temporarily stopped distribution.”-P Gopalakrishnan, Inspection and Quality Control

On top of that, the rat poison being offered has a three month shelf life, which means they are racing against time to find the funds to pay for the so called government program.  The Ernakulam district has already had several hundred cases, and several deaths due to the rat fever.

To make matters worse, Southeast Asia, where India is located, does not have laboratories that can handle such deadly diseases.  In a few months time, India will be the first country in Southeast Asia to have such a lab. It’s called the National Institute of Virology’s bio-safety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, and the study of Lassa is one of it’s top priorities.

But don’t think we in the West are better off (well we are, but not by much). According to the San Antonio Express, the U.S. state of Texas has one of the very few labs that study diseases like Lassa.

It’s the Texas Biomedical Research Institute’s bio-safety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory.  They are currently working to develop vaccines for Ebola, Marburg and Lassa.

That’s the rub, there is no treatment for these diseases.

The Black Death was spread by fleas infected with bacteria. Those fleas lived on rats. Those rats spread around the world by hitching rides on camel caravans along the Silk Road, and on merchant ships.  Wars and famines also helped to spread the rats.

There were many times in history when a Black Death plague hit the World.  Hypothesis say it was probably different bacteria each time, science has not been able to positively pin the blame on any one bacteria (Yersinia Pestis is the current favorite).  But this latest Black Death Rat Fever, called Lassa fever, is not a bacteria, it is a virus, and therefore can not be treated with antibiotics.

“You have to be vigilant. You have to educate first responders on the strange diseases that start appearing in the emergency room. And you have to keep developing countermeasures. That’s all you can do at this point.”-Jean Patterson, Texas BioMed

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Medical Incompetence: New study says AntiBiotics are useless for treating Sinusitis!

“It provides further evidence for what we’ve really suspected for a long time, that in the management of patients with acute sinusitis, antibiotics do not convey any additional benefit.“-Jay Piccirilloof, senior author

A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), says most antibiotics are useless in treating sinusitis.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, studied 166 people.  They spilt up the group by giving some patients amoxicillin for ten days, and others a placebo.  The results were that amoxicillin had absolutely no affect on sinusitis.

The study also stated that the majority of sinus infections are caused by viruses, not bacteria, which explains why antibiotics don’t work.

Influenza

Pale Green Horse & Global Food Crisis: Don’t blame wild birds, modern H5N1 human caused! Chicken feed contaminated with crap! Remember Mad Cow?

The earliest form of H5N1 was discovered in Scotland in 1959, where it killed off a couple of flocks of poultry.  That’s the thing, H5N1 bird flu seems to target domesticated birds, poultry, not wild birds.

Since 1959 H5N1 has mutated into more than 700 versions (depending on your source), and the main target is still domesticated poultry.  In some U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies, it was noted that many wild birds who died from H5N1 became infected after eating chicken feed!

By 2008 global health officials felt secure, because vaccines against several types of H5N1 had been developed and seem to be working.  But now, just two months into 2012 and several Asian countries are dealing with epidemic sized outbreaks, killing tens of thousands of poultry, and at least two people in Vietnam.

In regards to Vietnam, back in the summer of 2011, Vietnamese health officials stopped their vaccination program.  They discovered it wasn’t working, due to the fact that they were dealing with a completely new version of H5N1!

I noticed that part of the culling of poultry involves the feed itself.

Some bloggers have posted stories and pics of catfish farms in Jakarta and Java, that regularly feed dead chickens, chicken manure and chicken feed to their catfish!  The bloggers’ concern is over the spread of H5N1 from the chickens through the catfish to humans who eat the catfish.  There is apparently no health organization in the world investigating this.  Health officials do say that cooking the food long enough will kill the virus.

Since H5N1 spreads only through domesticated poultry, how in the hell does it get from Scotland, all the way ’round the world to Asia?  Poultry products are normally eaten in the country that produces them.  Apparently wild birds don’t get too far once they get infected (it makes you wounder why health officials seem to be so concerned over migratory birds).

Here’s another problem, H5N1 doesn’t spread well in the air, so it’s hard to get it from someone coughing or sneezing.  The World Health Organization has postulated that humans get it from being in very close contact with poultry.  It might be kicked up in the dust as they walk, or it actually sticks to something that the human brings near their face, or it gets into cuts on the skin.

So how is it spreading so fast and so intensely? Vietnam admits that their latest outbreak is due to a new version of H5N1, and, poultry being brought into their country illegally.  They don’t know where the domesticated birds came from!

Australia does not have a problem with H5N1 cases. But it’s not because Australia shoots down all the migratory wild birds, it’s because they have a strict quarantine policy on importing domesticated birds!  (and another very important reason you’ll read at the end of this article)

Again, it’s domesticated birds, mainly poultry that’re the target of H5N1.

As an example of how concerned some governments are getting over domesticated birds catching H5N1, in 2006 Germany went on a domesticated bird hunt, arbitrarily killing not only poultry, but pets like homing pigeons.  Two German free range farmers, who had their entire uninfected flocks culled, killed themselves in protest.  This brings up another issue; Germany used the H5N1 scare to shut down free range poultry farms, favoring the bigger corporate factory poultry farms!

What about the feed?  Health officials say don’t let the feed and water get contaminated.  But which really comes first?  Since it’s been proven that the 1959 H5N1, and it’s subsequent hundreds of mutations specifically target domesticated poultry, then it’s not wild birds that’re contaminating the feed and water (as some governmental health organizations insist).

Health officials claim that the feed and water gets contaminated when an infected bird craps in it.  That works if you don’t know where your getting your poultry from, like in Vietnam.  But what about places that have created more  rules like Hong Kong? Hong Kong is dealing with a new outbreak of H5N1, they know where the chickens came from; southern China.  Yet China seems to be dealing mainly with human cases of H5N1.  Two people died between December 2011, and January 2012, and one of them had no contact with birds of any kind.

I wonder if the guy who died without being around birds, got it from poultry feed?  He was a bus driver, could have been transporting chicken feed.

A December 2011 Journal of Virology report said there was a direct link between human H5N1 cases and poultry markets.  It is the first report to do so: “Among these 69 samples, we isolated a total of 12 highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses from four of the six live bird markets….the genetic sequence of the environmental and corresponding human isolates was similar (with a sequence identity of greater than 99%), demonstrating a solid link between human infection and live poultry markets.”-Yuelong Shu, author of study

They also studied 38 human H5N1 cases and found they “…were consistent with those identified in poultry outbreaks or in live poultry markets.”  In other words humans don’t get H5N1 from wild birds, they get it from poultry raised in close quarters (too bad Germany shut down their free range farmers).

Again, if wild birds are not the true source of the H5N1 virus, then how are the chickens getting it?

Check out this statement: “H5N1 is mainly spread by domestic poultry, both through the movements of infected birds and poultry products and through the use of infected poultry manure as fertilizer or feed.”

The use of manure as feed?   The above quote might have originated with the United Nations’ World Health Organization, but it’s being used by many health organization and on medical information websites.

Yes indeed, crap is used in farm animal feed, like feed for cows: “Recycled animal waste, such as processed chicken manure and litter, has been used as a feed ingredient for almost 40 years [Mmmm, this was posted in 2001, and the first H5N1 case was in 1959, that’s 42 years, mmmm]. This animal waste contains large amounts of protein, fiber, and minerals, and has been deliberately mixed into animal feed for these nutrients. Generally, animal waste is used within the State where it is produced because the bulk and weight of the product makes interstate shipment uneconomical. Normally, this animal waste is used by small farmers and owners of beef and dairy herds as a winter supplement for mother cows and weaned calves.”-U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine

In the United States most farm animal feed is augmented with chicken crap.  But the FDA says strict rules are followed.  It might explain why H5N1 isn’t a big deal in the U.S., yet (remember Mad Cow disease?).  It could also explain why Asian countries are having such a bad time with H5N1. What are their regulations regarding the use of chicken crap in their chicken feed?   Have they created a vicious cycle with unregulated chicken feed that’s full of infected chicken crap?

I wonder why Germany shut down their free range poultry farmers in favor of corporate factory farmers who feed their chickens their own crap?   Is the chicken crap industry that powerful?

Oh, and what about Australia?  It turns out that the real reason Australia is not having a problem with H5N1 is that chicken crap is banned from use as animal feed in Australia!!!

The Aussie law is called the Ruminant Feed Ban: “Farmers need to take precautions to ensure that poultry litter and poultry manure are not fed to any livestock species, and that poultry feed is not fed to ruminants [cows, goats, deers, ie plant eaters]. This is important both for guaranteeing the safety of our food and for ensuring that Australia can continue to demonstrate ongoing freedom from BSE  [aka Mad Cow, hello!] for the protection of vital export markets for meat and livestock.”

It looks like the best way to avoid getting some form of H5N1 is to raise your own chickens, or support free range poultry farming, or move to Australia.   Would you eat crap?

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

 

Influenza

Pale Green Horse & Global Food Crisis: Nepal food economy being destroyed by H5N1 and Wild Elephant Terrorists. H5N1 in the chicken feed?

Nepal’s poultry industry is being devastated by H5N1 bird flu.  As of February 12, 2012, 8,353 chickens have been killed in just one district.

Jhapa, Nepal, has seen 3,500 chickens die from H5N1, and another 4,853 put down in an effort to stop the virus, in the past two weeks.  Also, 2,400 eggs were destroyed along with 140 kg (308.6 pounds) of chicken feed.

The local government says they’re on top of the situation: “The influenza control team has sped up its work. The outbreak would be controlled very soon. We have deployed rapid response team…”-Radheshyam Mandal, Veterinary Service Center of Jhapa

H5N1 is also hitting other districts of Nepal.

To make matters worse for those living in Jhapa, wild elephants have been terrorizing farmers.  Farmers and armed Forest Security personnel have been trying to chase off the elephants. 

In some areas farmers have taken to a kind of Neighborhood Watch, where they patrol each others farms and villages, on the look out for wild elephants.  They say the government is not protecting them: “Nothing has been done except following the tuskers. Elephant terror is on the rise in the village.”-Dipendra Katawal

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Business/Economics, International

Japan hits 2.1 million infected with H3N2 (H3N2v), New Zealand orders mandatory health screenings for airline passengers!

On February 5, 2012, the official number of people infected with H3N2v, in Japan, hit 2.1 million!  That’s more than the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.  Now Australian media reporting that New Zealand health officials are getting a little worried.

On February 13, airline passengers, on a plane arriving from Japan, were met by New Zealand health officials who made them undergo health screenings.  Some paramedics were actually dressed in full hazmat gear: “It was like we were radioactive or something. I think it freaked some people out.”-David Turner, passenger

Eventually all passengers were cleared, but the passengers and the crew of the flight say health officials gave them little info about what was going on.  The New Zealand Ministry of Health, and Auckland Regional Public Health Service are refusing to comment.  They’re also refusing to release the results of the health screenings.

Apparently some teenage Japanese passengers, on the Air New Zealand flight, had symptoms like sniffles, and a couple of them threw up.  New Zealand’s hospitals have also been put on high alert.