Newswire: Newsbytes

A lot of things of note happened while we were gone into the woods, so I decided to post a short outline of them here with links to the full stories. *smile* Please take a moment to take action on the issues at hand. Thanks!
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2166058
With the FDA's approval, Northfield Lab has recruited hospitals to participate in a trial study with exemption from informed consent requirements on study participants. Although Northfield Lab claims that extensive information on the study has been made public, a vast majority of the general public has never heard of the trial. To opt out of the study, contact Northfield Labs (http://www.northfieldlabs.com/contact.html) or a participating hospital and request a blue bracelet. If worn, you will be exempt from the trial.

Hawking seeks answers online on humanity's future: Some questions even stump Stephen Hawking. The famed British astrophysicist and best-selling author has turned to Yahoo Answers, a new feature in which anyone canpose a question for fellow Internet users to try to answer. By Friday afternoon, nearly 17,000 Yahoo Inc. users had responded. Hawking's question: "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?" Some of the answers were short - "get rid of nuclear weapons" - and others vague - "Somehow we will." Many were doubtful: "I don't think it is possible unless we expand into space," one user wrote. A number of people suggested thinking differently, ending bickering or fostering cooperation. Officials at the University of Cambridge, where Hawking is a mathematics professor, confirmed that Hawking wrote the message but said he would have no further comment. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060707/ap_on_hi_te/people_hawking;_ylt=A9G

PESTICIDES INCREASE RISK OF PARKINSONS DISEASE
A new Harvard study has linked pesticide exposure to a 70% increase in Parkinson's disease. The study, which is the largest ever conducted, was released in the July 2006 issue of the Annals of Neurology. This research backs up earlier animal studies linking pesticide exposure to brain and nerve damage. For those who were exposed, occupation was not a risk factor, as farm workers and everyday home bug-sprayers all had the same increased risk. The study did not correlate the increased risk with any specific pesticides, but rather found the connection in overall general use of pesticides. "This is certainly the biggest and most serious populations study on people, and it appears to be the best proof today that there is a general association between pesticide and Parkinson's among people," said Robin Elliot, executive director for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York City, describing the findings as "important and solid." Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_902.cfm

UK: Amnesty collects more than 1,500 weapons
Source: ThisIsLancashire
"More than 1,500 knives handed into police in Lancashire during an
amnesty have been turned into scrap. Police today hailed the five-week
campaign a success after swords and machetes were among weapons
surrendered. At the close of the amnesty earlier this week, the 1,525
weapons were taken to a scrap metal yard where they were destroyed in
a crusher. Chief Inspector Val Prince said: 'This has been a very
successful operation with a number of potentially dangerous weapons
now taken off the streets.continued ...'Thankfully, knife crime in
Lancashire is relatively rare.'" http://tinyurl.com/h5faq

STUDY SAYS MAD COW EPIDEMIC MAY BE INCUBATING IN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
A new study in the Lancet medical journal (UK) suggests that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human variant of Mad Cow Disease, may not peak in the human population for several decades, by which time many thousands of beef eaters and hospital patients that have received tainted blood transfusions could die. The study shows how Kuru, a similar fatal brain-wasting prion disease in New Guinea, has been found to have an incubation period of 35 to 41 years. Researchers suspect it could be longer for vCJD because the infection is transmitted between species, from cows to humans. The 160 fatal human cases of the disease that have already surfaced around the world could represent a distinct genetic subgroup of the population with an unusually short incubation period, according to John Collinge, the study leader and a professor at University College, London. There could be "substantial underestimations" in recent estimates of the size of the vCJD epidemic, Collinge said in a report in The Lancet medical journal. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_889.cfm

STOP GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLUM TREES: The USDA is accepting public comments regarding the commercial planting of a genetically engineered plum tree, known as "C5." The plum has been gene-spliced to be resistant to the Honey Sweet Pox Potyvirus, which doesn't even exist in the United States. Approval of C5 would be the first widely released genetically engineered (GE) tree in the mainland United States (GE papayas are currently grown in Hawaii), and would pave the way for more GE tree and fruit varieties, including peaches, cherries, and apricots. GE tree pollen can drift for several miles, leading to contamination of neighboring organic crops and indigenous trees. Learn more and Take Action: http://organicconsumers.org/plum_alert.htm

STATE FOOD SAFETY LABELING LAWS UNDER ATTACK (71,330 letters sent by OCA members so far): The House of Representatives has passed a controversial "national food uniformity" labeling law that would take away local government and states' power to require food safety food labels such as those required in California and other states on foods or beverages that are likely to cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, or mercury poisoning. The law lowers the bar on food safety by overturning hundreds of food safety state laws and regulations, including those governing the safety of milk, fish, and shellfish. The bill now goes forward for consideration by the Senate. Learn more and Take Action: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/labeling.cfm

Did you know you can reduce muscle pain with rosemary? Or that kelp can help with hair loss, cilantro can soothe a headache, and cherries can assist you in getting a better night sleep? NewsTarget and Truth Publishing have launched the internet's largest free searchable database of healing foods, herbs and nutrients. Look up any ailment and find a quick guide to treating the problem with everyday natural ingredients. http://www.healingfoodreference.com/

Blogger's quest ends with keys to house
Taking a paper clip and turning it into a house sounds like a cheesy magic trick or a phony instance of resourcefulness on the 1980s TV show "MacGyver." Kyle MacDonald, however, has pulled it off. One year ago, the 26-year-old blogger from Montreal set out to barter one red paper clip for something and that thing for something else, over and over again until he had a house. Read the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060710/ap_on_hi_te/paper_clip_to_house_2
(So I'll have to find something to barter online, yes? *chuckle*)

From Grist Magazine: Outstripped Demand for organics outpacing local supply
With demand for organic food soaring in the U.S. and U.K., manufacturers of organic products are struggling to find adequate supplies of organic ingredients and are increasingly looking and buying abroad. While exporters like Australia welcome the trend, it creates a dilemma for many organic enthusiasts, who also tend to support local, small-scale farmers; they cheer the rise of organic awareness but bemoan the current need for large-scale imports. Hoping to increase stateside production, a number of U.S. organic companies are providing technical help and financial incentives to local farmers who switch to organic. The Soil Association, Britain's organic certification body, gives Jamie "Naked Chef" Oliver partial credit for increased interest in organics; we bet if he were actually naked, interest would increase even more.
straight to the source: San Diego Union-Tribune, Associated Press, Libby Quaid, 06 Jul 2006
straight to the source: The Telegraph, Charles Clover, 07 Jul 2006
straight to the source: National Nine News, Australian Associated Press, 05 Jul 2006
(This looks like something worth looking into. If I could make more money by letting these folks know I'm "organic", maybe they'd give me a grant to buy land to boost production? It's worth checking into. *grin*)

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts
A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.
Read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07recruit.html

Jewish Family Flees Deleware School District's Agressive Christianity
A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion." Read more: http://www.jewsonfirst.org/06b/indianriver.html

Farm Program Pays People Who Don't Farm
Federal subsidies to owners of old, unused farmland top $1.3billion Some of them collect hundreds of thousands of dollars without planting a seed. Read the story here: http://www.steamboatpilot.com/forum/msg/75022229

Source: New Scientist
"Safety catches do not always prevent firearm accidents and even newfangled biometric guns, which check the identity of a user by their fingerprint, cannot stop thieves from using stolen ammunition in other weapons. The way to make firearms really safe, says Hebert Meyerle of Germany, is to password-protect the ammunition itself. Meyerle is patenting a design for a modified cartridge that would be fired by aburst of high-frequency radio energy. But the energy would only ignitethe charge if a solid-state switch within the cartridge had been activated. This would only happen if a password entered into the gun using a tiny keypad matched one stored in the cartridge. " Link: http://tinyurl.com/pm4r3

FTC Proposed Legislation
Proposed new laws that will negatively impact independent consultants. Here's a link to the DSWA's website that provides more information about this potential ruling: http://www.mydswa.org/FTC.asp There is also a downloadable template for a letter (top right corner ofthe web page) that can be sent in to the FTC to voice your concerns on the matter. (Note: You do not have to be a member of the DSWA to voice your opinion!)

Manditory Mental Health Screening to Be Imposed on All Citizens!
Dear Homeschool Colleagues,
If you think that mental health testing will be limited to government school
children - check this out ... (and remember that in NJ State law already
mandates the mental health testing/monitoring of all pregnant women.. the
pharmaceutical industry is behind this and is looking to garner more
customers.) http://www.teenscreentruth.com/teenscreen_quotes.html
National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (NAMI) TeenScreen Rep: "We're trying
to look at how we could reach out to the community and offer that
[TeenScreen] for families that are home-schooling." Listen to the very, very
short audio here from the NAMI 2005 Annual Convention, June 18-21, 2005:
(http://www.teenscreentruth.com/MP3/b6.mp3) Please sign and forward this petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html to every person you
know, because home schooled children will be next to be targeted.
Keep an eye on the petition and watch all your friends sign it after you do.
The Petition to Stop TeenScreen's Unscientific and Experimental "Mental
Health Screening" of American School Children is written in such a way so that it can be presented to any school board or state or federal legislator.
Teresa Rhoades, the creator of the petition is the mother suing in federal
court over her child being screened and diagnosed with mental disorders
without parental consent. Please forward, forward, forward to all your e-mail lists, friends, family and associates. Post a link on your website to alert others, etc.
Christy D'Aquila
(I've been talking about this for several years now. Sometimes it REALLY sucks to be right. Some places are already screening pregnant women to see if they are "worthy" of keeping and raising their own children. *sigh*)

Sex church preaches how 'Jesus loves porn stars'
Jesus loves porn stars just as much as he does pastors and soccermoms, XXXchurch contends.
The outreach team from XXXchurch, calling itself a "porn ministry,"distributes paperback New Testaments with a gaudy purple-and-yellow cover reading: "Jesus loves porn stars." "We're not here to tell people they're going to hell," saidMahon. "We just want people to know that we dig God and we want themto dig him too."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060703/od_afp/usreligionsexoffbeat
(Now THIS is the kind of missionary work I can agree with! People who don't preach or condemn, but who instead, share their joy in their faith. I never have been able to understand those churches who refuse to allow "sinners" into their congregation. One would think logically, based onn the teachings of the bible that any church that refused sinners entry,would have no congregation. *boggle* And I agree with them too. If Jesus -as the biblical character- were here today, he would go to porn events. He'd also go to the churches and evengelical seminars, to round up the "biggest sinners" of them all.)

Merriam-Webster unveils new dictionary entries
Need tips on how to groom a unibrow or soul patch? Just google it. Or get a mouse potato to do it for you. If you're still lost, grab the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for a definition of those and about 100 other words that have made their way into its pages.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/07/06/dictionary.new.words.ap/index.html