The Intense Humming of Evil

Today is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by soviet troops. Estimates place the number of victims at 1.1 million people of a range of nationalities. Alfred Hitchcock worked on this unfinished documentary which covers the Holocaust using real and graphic footage taken after the liberation of various camps:

6 Minutes To Midnight

For the first time since 2007, the so-called Doomsday Clock has been moved. Today, it was moved backwards from 5 minutes to 6 minutes, signifying a brighter outlook on the future of humanity.
You can read the statement from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists here, and take a look at the new Turn Back The Clock blog here.

Junk Food?

Corn is something most people would consider to be part of a healthy diet. Most people aren't aware of Monsanto's GM varieties. Three of them were subjected to testing, and the results of the study are as follows:
"Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity....These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown."
You can read about the study, Monsanto's reaction, and the author's subsequent statements here

Frozen Water

The recent cold weather spell across much of the US and Europe has resulted in several deaths, largely due to the actions of people who are not used to such conditions. There have, of course, been several cases where homeless people actually froze to death. I think that speaks volumes about our society and it's priorities. Up until the 1990's, Britain's Central Office of Information produced dozens of public information films (or PIFs, like the US PSAs). Here are some which deal with winter weather:










Some might think of these relics as the product of an authoritarian govt, or the "nanny state". Unfortunately, there are people who need this advice and I think we would be better off if films of this sort were shown today, and that it is a sign of a govt which is concerned with the welfare of the public (which is, after all, it's job).

Who's Hungry?

How about a nice food safety story to start 2010?
Burgers - probably one of the most popular foods in the US, wouldn't you say? The contents of an average burger have been discussed many times over the years (from body parts you might not consider to be meat to the possibility of BSE contamination). It seems that in the quest to reduce E.Coli contamination, you can add ammonia to the list of delicious ingredients. You can read the full story here.

Bankers vs Cleaners

The results of a recent study by the New Economics Foundation, a UK think tank, suggest that a cleaner is worth much more to society than a banker. A hospital cleaner can create £10 of value for every £1 they are paid, while bankers destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn. Tax accountants do even greater damage.

Eilis Lawlor, spokeswoman for the New Economics Foundation, said: "Pay levels often don't reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment".

You can read the BBC article here, or read their whole report here.

Sitting on a Volcano

Twenty-five years ago, the worst non-nuclear industrial accident ever happened in the city of Bhopal:





Thousands of people died in the days that followed, and many more have suffered from the long term effects of exposure to methyl isocyanate and the abandoned chemical wastes which have polluted the water supply over the last twenty five years.

People in the US often think that this kind of tragedy cannot occur in the most industrialized nations. The Love Canal disaster was an eye-opener for many Americans, and contributed greatly to the reasons for the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund scheme, which was designed to clean up other dangerous waste dumps across the country, as they were discovered. Read all about Superfund here

Want to know which sites are near you? Take a look at the EPA site here, but bear in mind, the sites on the National Priorities List are just those deemed large enough and dangerous enough to warrant clean up action by the EPA. There are many smaller yet extremely hazardous sites across the US, and many of those have probably been forgotten long ago....