1. Greenpeace and survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India dumped seven barrels of poisonous waste collected from the disaster scene onto the lawn of the largest European operation of Dow Chemical. The waste was transported from Bhopal to Europe in the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise.” This is a tiny part of the hundreds of tons that have been strewn around the derelict Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal. In 1984 a toxic gas leak at the plant killed 8,000 people and injured half a million. No one has accepted responsibility for the waste or cleaned up the site. OneWorld.net (via Common Dreams News Center)
2. KATHMANDU, Oct 5 - The Chinese border security personnel shot two Tibetan refugees to death while several others were wounded while they were trying to enter Nepal. 42 Tibetan refugees were attempting to enter Nepal through Nangpa La pass, near Mt Everest six days ago on Chinese side of the border, when Chinese security personnel opened fire on them. Every year, despite severe threats like high altitudes, ferocious weather conditions and Chinese border security force, thousands of Tibetan refugees trek for days to sneak into Nepal. Kantipur Reporter
3. The Lancet Journal, a leading medical journal has said. “All schoolgirls should be routinely vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, The Lancet editorial calls for mandatory vaccination against human papillomavirus for girls in all EU member states once they are 11 or 12. Is this another vaccine manufacturer master-stroke? The question is: is it necessary AT ALL? Doesn’t vaccination pre-suppose danger without recognizing it’s own BBC
4. The tide has turned against artificial growth hormones in dairy. Demand for rBGH-free milk brands have spread throughout the United States, with many mainstream brands banning the hormone. Dean Foods, the largest milk processor in the United States, now has milk processing plants that do not accept milk from hormone-treated cows. The New York Times
5. Adding fuel to the fire, the front-page headline of a Vermont newspaper was “Vermont Ag Secretary Backs Milk Ban” . The Agriculture Secretary, Steve Kerr, said it makes sense for dairy farmers in Vermont to stop using the hormone “because the consumer doesn’t want it and it isn’t going to work.” While he doesn’t criticize the drug’s safety, he notes that consumer demand is paramount and Vermont dairy farmers would be wise to stop using the hormone. Kudos to all you shoppers who choose rBGH-free dairy and help move this industry toward healthier and more humane choices! democracyinaction.org
6. “Wendell Berry once wrote that when we took animals off farms and put them onto feedlots, we had, in effect, taken an old solution — the one where crops feed animals and animals’ waste feeds crops — and neatly divided it into two new problems: a fertility problem on the farm, and a pollution problem on the feedlot. Rather than return to that elegant solution, however, industrial agriculture came up with a technological fix for the first problem — chemical fertilizers on the farm. As yet, there is no good fix for the second problem, unless you count irradiation and Haccp plans and overcooking your burgers and, now, staying away from spinach. All of these solutions treat E. coli 0157:H7 as an unavoidable fact of life rather than what it is: a fact of industrial agriculture.”http://www.honestfarm.org.
7. Happy Sowen , Celtic New Year, Halloween!