Obese Americans Must Eat Obese Salmon - FDA

FDA Signs Off On Genetically Modified Salmon Without Labeling

by Chris Morran

 

While genetically modified agricultural products have been used in the U.S. for quite some time, the Food and Drug Administration had yet to approve the food use of any genetically engineered (GE) animals — until today. This morning, the agency announced the approval of an application for a salmon engineered to grow to market size faster than other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

The FDA has declared AquAdvantage Salmon “safe to eat,” noting that testing of the fish “demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth.”

According to the FDA, the GE salmon shows “no biologically relevant differences” in its nutritional profile compared to other non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

Upsize Me FDA

The agency also considered the possibility that these GE salmon could end up mixing with other salmon and determined that the AquAdvanatage salmon farms in Panama and Canada “make it extremely unlikely that the fish could escape and establish themselves in the wild.”

There are multiple physical barriers to prevent AquAdvantage fish or their eggs from slipping out through these farms’ plumbing systems. If a fish were to escape or be otherwise introduced into other salmon population, the FDA says it would not matter because the AquAdvantage Salmon are reproductively sterile.

Today’s approval will not allow AquAdantage salmon to be raised in the U.S. Only the facilities explicitly included in the approval can provide these GE fish for sale in America.

Though the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) gives the FDA the authority to require mandatory labeling of foods if there is a material difference between a GE product and its conventional counterpart, the agency says it is not requiring labeling of these GE fish “Because the data and information evaluated show that AquAdvantage Salmon is not materially different from other Atlantic salmon.”

Instead, the FDA says that it will be up to the sellers of these fish to voluntarily decide whether they choose to label their product as GE.

Genetically engineered animals fall under the FDA’s regulatory umbrella because the recombinant DNA (rDNA) introduced into the animals meets the legal definition of a drug.

In this case, the GE salmon use an rDNA construct composed of the growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon under the control of a promoter from another type of fish called an “ocean pout.” According to the FDA, this tweak to the DNA allows the salmon to grow to market size faster than non-GE farm-raised salmon.

Yum, GE salmon is so good for the waistline

Today’s news did not go over well with our colleagues at Consumers Union, especially because of the FDA’s decision to forgo labeling of the GE fish.

“We are deeply disappointed with the FDA’s decision to approve the AquaAdvantage salmon. And it’s even more concerning that the FDA chose not to require any form of labeling, making it extremely difficult for consumers to know if the salmon is GE or not,” says Michael Hansen PhD, Senior Scientist with Consumers Union. “Consumers deserve to know what type of food they’re buying – and an overwhelming majority has told us that they want genetically modified food labeled in poll after poll. The decision to not require a GE label for this product takes away the consumer’s ability to make a truly informed choice.”

Was The CIA Protecting Rogue Nugan Hand Banker For 35 Years?

By Raymond Bonner, Special to ProPublica
How Michael Jon Hand, who founded an Australian bank with ties to American military and intelligence officials that defrauded depositors and investors, was tracked to Idaho.
It was one of the greatest disappearing acts of modern times.

Amid a swirl of allegations and rumors that the Nugan Hand Bank was involved in arms smuggling, drug-running, and covert operations for the CIA, the institution’s American founder vanished from Australia. Thirty-five years later, that man, Michael Jon Hand, was tracked to a small town in Idaho where he has been living under the name of Michael Jon Fuller.

Hand was found by an Australian writer, Peter Butt, whose just-released book, Merchants of Menace, discloses Hand’s whereabouts after decades of mystery.

If finding Hand, now 73, solves one mystery, it raises another. How could he have lived in the United States so long without being detected? He changed his name only slightly, from Hand to Fuller, and did not get a new Social Security number, according to Butt.

Hand’s company, G.M.I. Manufacturing, is registered with the Idaho secretary of state. The company “now manufactures tactical weapons for US Special Forces, special operations groups and hunters,’’ Butt writes. Has Hand/Fuller been brazen, foolish, or, as Butt asks, does he belong “to a protected species, most likely of the intelligence kind?”

Two years after fleeing Australia, in 1982, when the CIA was involved in a covert operation to overthrow the left-wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua, Hand was working as a military adviser in the region where the anti-Sandinista “contras” were based, according to an Australian intelligence document, which was declassified earlier this year.

Aboriginal Tribal Group Renounces Ties To Australia

by Saffron Howden at SMH
A small Aboriginal tribal group that has established its own government and renounced legal ties with Australia aims to make history by entering into the first Indigenous treaty with the Commonwealth.

The Sovereign Yidindji Government, whose lands stretch south of Port Douglas, through Cairns, inland across the Atherton Tablelands and 80km out to sea, says it wants to help Australia overcome the legal conundrum of operating on Yidindji territory without consent.

Murrumu Walubara Yidindji, the foreign affairs minister, said his government was similar to the Vatican City State – with its own laws, language and institutions.

To the Yidindji people, Australia is a "foreign entity".

"The Commonwealth of Australia does not have consent or a treaty to enter Yidindji territory, so we had to show the leadership to create our own institutions of government," Murrumu told Fairfax Media on a visit to Sydney.

"It doesn't have any validity in law."

Formerly a journalist known as Jeremy Geia, Murrumu has renounced his Australian citizenship, relinquished his passport and bank accounts, and eschews Australian currency.

"Australia, we can see the injury you've got," he said.

"We can cure it and we're not going to send you a bill for it. It's a hearts and minds game and all we're saying is we have our own jurisdiction."

On Sunday, he sent his condolences as Yidindji foreign affairs minister to the people of Russia after an horrific plane crash in which all 224 passengers on board perished.

"Today I conveyed our condolences to Russian Foreign Ministry agents & our thoughts and prayers to loved ones of the crash victims #7K9268", Murrumu Walubara Yidindji tweeted on Sunday.

Australian Government Paid People Smugglers

from the Guardian
All of the available evidence points to a transnational crime, says Amnesty International, but immigration minister attacks report as ‘slur’.

 A masked Indonesian crew member of an alleged people-smuggling boat is put before the media alongside a table of US dollar notes at a press conference on Rote Island in June. The money was allegedly given to the crew of the boat by an Australian official to bring migrants back to Indonesia. Photograph: Indonesian police/EPA 


Australian government officials may have engaged in people smuggling, by allegedly paying the crew of an asylum seeker boat to return its passengers to Indonesia, an Amnesty International investigation has found.
In May this year, the 65 passengers and six crew of an asylum seeker boat bound for New Zealand said they were intercepted by an Australian naval ship and an Australian Border Force vessel in international waters.
Australian government officials on board reportedly paid the crew of the vessel $32,000 – in US $100 bills – and instructed them to return the asylum seekers to Indonesia, directing them to Rote Island.
After interviewing all 65 passengers who were on board the ship, as well as the six crew and Indonesian officials, the Amnesty report press release concluded “all of the available evidence points to Australian officials having committed a transnational crime”.
On Thursday the immigration minister Peter Dutton said the government had already rejected the report’s allegations.
“To suggest otherwise, as Amnesty has done, is to cast a slur on the men and women of the Australian Border Force and Australian Defence Force.”
Anna Shea, a researcher on refugee and migrant rights with Amnesty UK, said evidence showed government officials were allegedly paying a boat crew, providing fuel and materiel, and giving instructions on where the boat should be sailed.
“People smuggling is a crime usually associated with private individuals, not governments – but here we have allegations that Australian officials are not just involved, but directing operations.

Brandis's 'Gulag Australia' Starts Now

A reminder to readers that Attorney General Brandis's 'metadata retention' scheme started yesterday. (13 October 2015)
Ostensibly to protect Australians from the extremists that Brandis's government have allowed into the country, expect to see your internet bills increase as ISP's pass on the cost of retaining metadata for 2 years.
We thought we would celebrate this dark milestone in the life of our once-free nation by re-releasing the Brandis metadata for snail mail graphic.
Interesting that the only unmonitored communication system in Australia today is the one operated by George Brandis's government - Australia Post?

                            Is George Brandis Australia's biggest voyeur?
Not as bad as you thought....or worse?
There is an article on gizmodo called 'Everything You've Been Told About Data Retention Is Wrong'.
Tech Lance McDonald says no web browsing history is retained. What is retained however, is the destination of all emails you send, all SMS and all phone calls. This means the government is able to build up relationship profiles of Australians - your 'social networks' if you like. We still don't know if this email snooping extends to Gmail and online Outlook. We'll let you know when we know. Will this regime be extended in the future? Some of the comments on Lance's article think so. 

The Trans Pacific Partnership Farce

By Michael West at SMH
HOW CAN IT BE SO GREAT WHEN NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IT IS?

Rarely has there been such a triumph of image over substance; rarely such an outpouring of admiration for a deal, whose details yet remain a secret, as there has been this week in the wake of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade announcement.
"A gigantic foundation stone for our future prosperity," gushed the PM as business groups pumped out their press releases with zeal. On the TV news, the networks ran their panegyrics to the TPP even higher in the bulletin than the nightly Prince Harry segment.

If this is such a great deal, why are they hiding it? There is, among other things, a four-letter answer to this question: ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement). ISDS is a mechanism for corporations to sue governments.

Pharmaceutical giant Ely Lilly is suing the government of Egypt for lifting the minimum wage. Canada is being sued for a ban on fracking and Germany for its phasing out of nuclear power; all actions taken under ISDS clauses in free trade pacts.
US corporations are the biggest litigants, having brought some 127 cases thus far against sovereign government decisions which they claim have damaged their financial interests. Taxpayers have the pleasure of footing the legal defence bills. Even worse, the authority of sovereign courts is ignored in favour of an international dispute tribunal.

The reality is this TPP free trade deal is as much about free trade as it is about entrenching the interests of large multinational corporations.
It is no secret that, while the citizens of the 12 signatory nations remain in the dark about the detail of the regional free trade pact, multinationals and their lobbyists had a large hand in shaping it. The US has a system of trade consultative committees. There are some 600 "cleared advisers" who consult to government. Of those, about 550 hail from the corporate sector; the rest a smattering of union, community and environment groups.
The cleared adviser has to sign a confidentiality contract and cannot talk about the deal but is free to give detailed advice to government.
Leg-up for vested interests

Besides this leg-up for vested interests, there is the potent influence of money in politics. During the 2008 election campaign, there was $US5.8 billion ($7.7 billion) in political donations. Some $US3.6 billion was splashed on the 2010 mid-term elections. Wall Street, the health and pharmaceutical sectors, oil and gas, telecommunications, weapons manufacturers and real estate are among the biggest donors, and account for the bulk of the annual billion-dollar lobbying spend.

Climate Change - The World Becomes Uninsurable

A few days ago we learned a pool of very cold ocean water in the North Atlantic was caused by the melting of the Greenland ice sheets. Whats scary about this is it can (and will) slow the ' Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC'. Part of that system is the 'Gulf Stream' heat conveyor belt that brings a mild climate to places like Britain.

Today as if on cue, the head of the Bank of England Mark Carney told a Loyds of London dinner audience the British insurance industry was exposed to physical and liability risks as well as the downgrading of their fossil fuel investments.  British insurers manage about £2 trillion in assets and some of these investments are facing re-pricing due to the shift to a low carbon economy. Its a double whammy for the insurance industry, and a BoE report warns them to be prepared. It will only get worse we believe.
We are seeing this effect in Australia right now with coal miner Glencore losing 30% of its value overnight. Australia's biggest miner BHP Billiton is also being dragged down by the uncertainty surrounding coal.
Inside Tasmania was been saying for some time that the World has entered a long series of climatic negative feedback loops. The slowing of the Gulf Stream is just one of these loops and they will cause a massive hit to the global economic prosperity. The clearing and burning of forests in Tasmania to prevent catastrophic bush fires is another negative feedback loop that causes more atmospheric carbon, less rain and an even hotter climate.
We predict that the unusually cold Tasmanian Winter of 2015 was a direct result of climate change. There is another pool of cold ocean water between Africa and Antarctica and we suspect that was the culprit. The World's climate is simply reacting to us, the human infection that destroys everything in it's path.

Can Turnbull Save Australia's Economy From Permanent Stagnation?

Malcolm Turnbull has changed most ministers in the Australian Cabinet but as Bill Shorten points out 'he hasn't changed any policy'. And this is something he will have to do if he doesn't want to sleepwalk into financial lethargy as the nation treads water keeping-up with debt repayments.

It's the same challenge facing all modern economies today. (except Norway) We say that further globalisation and robotics are not the solution but are how we got the problem in the first place. Does anyone seriously believe prosperity can only be achieved globally, and we just need a free trade agreement with every nation on Earth in order to prosper? We don't think that is the solution.
Look at the old Holdens in the graphic above? These were Australia's glory years. We had real freedom, we didn't have fucked-up kids with food allergies on the autism spectrum. We had jobs, in manufacturing no less. Now we elect an endless parade of conformist politicians pandering to Maoist China for their next economic fix, while their sons and daughters buy all the ice Communist China can ship in. We need to ignore the rest of the world for a change and become a 'self-sufficient Australia' until we are ready to trade from a position of power and surplus. At least we have got rid of that terrible foreign-born PM Abbott and his neo-con posse of right-wing nutjobs.
Turnbull may be a smooth operator but we need more than cocktail party ego plays to get our nation back on track. We need to understand how our original people survived for 40,000 years while we are struggling to get to 250!
Colonial Britain were the major liability for Australia as they were for much of the world. They exported small-minded bureaucracy, petty crooks and genocide to Australia and this needs to be officially acknowledged. Our history must be treated sensibly and humanly because modern Australians did not take part in the forced invasion of Australia and the genocide of peoples such as the Tasmanian Aboriginals.
But somebody did, and those people never faced justice. Their descendants still live with the guilt. Our modern systems are run by the descendants of criminals. We need to de-Anglophile our education system and learn the truth of how Britain caused decades of war in Palestine and set-up unstable, corrupt regimes like Malaysia. Why were we used as 'cannon fodder' by Churchill at Gallipoli in 1915? Why were we even trying to invade Turkey? Our so-called 'heritage' is built on gross stupidity and criminal activities.
If we really are 'going global' as the Liberal Party suggests, then why not reformat our education system to include a completely 'international' point of view rather than just a narrow Victorian-era world view?

No Cabinet Role For Abetz

IT pre-empted Malcolm Turnbulls cabinet sacking of Abetz by 4 days.
The new cabinet of PM Malcolm Turnbull should not include far-right ideologue Eric Abetz. Abetz has been making too many mistakes for too long.

He was embroiled in the Godwin Gretsh OzCar affair, he told national TV that abortions cause breast cancer, he has done all he can to hide bizarre religious cults from scrutiny by the senate. In our view Abetz is not a normal politician and he definitely does not represent mainstream Tasmania. This is an opportunity for Malcolm Turnbull to chart a new course for Australia. In our view Abetz and Abbott have dragged Australia into a very dark place. Neither of them understands what it means to be Australian, and both of them promote a global 'Neo Con Agenda'. As employment Minister Abetz has been a total failure. He has consistently 'blamed the victims' for the fact his government exported tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs out of Australia. Abetz has had an over privileged free ride for far too long in our view. He needs to be bought back to reality for a change. Dump him!

'Team Psychopath' Laughing About Rising Sea Levels

Todays recording of a conversation between Border Protection Minister Dutton and PM Abbott by an unnoticed boom mic reveals the inner dynamics of Tony Abbott's 'Team Psychopath'.

They didn't want you to see this exchange because it cracks the carefully-crafted façade that hides a government run by psychopaths. Abbott actually thinks Pacific Islanders being slowly drowned by climate change is funny. When we last looked Australia was the world's fourth coal largest producer. An industry that has bribed the Abbott government with donations.
This cabinet dynamic reveals a PM happily entertained by jokes about other people's misfortune. An up and coming Minister who knows how to reach the PM's inhuman psyche. Pushing Abbott's pleasure button.
We have noticed the compounding effect a number of psychopaths have on each other in the Abbott Ministry. The peer influence is to strengthen and validate each others primitive, self-centred outlook.
These people need a lot more than Peta Credlin to run their show. They need professional help. Many of the Abbott Government are accomplished psychopaths with years of blood sport to their names. The Iraq 'no WMD' and the Afghanistan 'non victory' are two examples of how these psychopaths nurture fear in Australia and then present themselves as 'protectors'. 
One boom mic has gone a small way towards cracking that Neo-Con illusion.
Final Word. Scott Morrison actually seemed mature compared to those childish pterodactyls that just happen to be running the country.

George Brandis - No Metadata Retention On Snail Mail. Why?

We were listening to George Brandis crap-on about Justice Haydon sitting in judgement on himself. (what a blatant conflict of interest that was?) When Haydon claimed he can't send emails, we realised George Brandis has totally ignored the terror threat posted by letters - WHICH HIS GOVERNMENT DELIVERS! So now the safest way for terrorists to communicate is by using AUSTRALIA POST, a service operated by the government!

Australia is being intellectually abused by this crop of Liberal imbeciles. (Don't worry, we know the other party is just as dumb) The Libs want private companies to filter metadata but not themselves. No wonder the economy is collapsing with these bludgers running it?