James Lovelock predicts unstoppable global meltdown

We're all doomed! 40 years from global catastrophe - and there's NOTHING we can do about it, says climate change expert
By SARAH SANDS - Daily Mail

Apocalypse, now! James Lovelock says the world is about to change
The weather forecast for this holiday weekend is wildly unsettled. We had better get used to it.

According to the climate change scientist James Lovelock, this is the beginning of the end of a peaceful phase in evolution.

By 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine.

The people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain.

We will, he says, have to set up encampments in this country, like those established for the hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by the conflict in East Africa.

Lovelock believes the subsequent ethnic tensions could lead to civil war.

Crackpot or visionary, the fact is that more and more people are paying attention to Lovelock, and that he, himself, supports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the influential group who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former American vice president Al Gore for their campaigns on global warming.

Lovelock also says that Margaret Thatcher and the Queen are "sympathetic" to his views.

He has been proclaiming his Gaia Theory for a generation. This states that the Earth is a living, self-regulating system and that by filling its atmosphere with CO2 (carbon dioxide emissions) we have destroyed the balance and overheated the planet. We are in the phase when the thermometer suddenly shoots up.

Lovelock believes it is too late to repair the damage. Government targets are "futile". Britain contributes such a tiny amount of emissions compared with countries such as China that our self-regulatory measures are pathetic.

"Everyone could burn coal all day and drive around in 4x4s and it would not make a scrap of difference," he says.

It is hubris, he argues, to believe we can prevent the inevitable consequences of mankind's actions. Lovelock reminds us - in case it has slipped our memory - that the Earth has gone through exactly the same correction before.

"It was last as hot as this 55 million years ago. There was a geological accident in the North Sea, near where Norway is. A volcanic layer of lava came up underneath one of the large petroleum deposits. It vaporised the whole lot, putting into the atmosphere about two million, million tons of crude oil.
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Polio vaccine & Simian Virus 40

From the CDC:

Frequently Asked Questions about Cancer, Simian Virus 40 (SV40), and Polio Vaccine

SV40 is a virus found in some species of monkey. Soon after its discovery in 1960, SV40 was found in polio vaccine. More than 98 million Americans received one or more doses of polio vaccine during the period (1955–1963) when some of the vaccine was contaminated with SV40. SV40 has been found in certain types of human cancers, but it has not been determined that SV40 causes these cancers. The majority of evidence suggests there is no causal relationship between receipt of SV40-contaminated vaccine and cancer; however, some research results are conflicting and more studies are needed. For more information, see the fact sheet.

• What is SV40?
• Why is there so much interest in SV40?
• Does polio vaccine being given in the U.S. today contain SV40?
• What about concerns that the testing methods used to screen oral polio vaccines could have missed certain strains of SV40?
• Who received SV40-contaminated polio vaccine?
• Were any other people in the U.S. possibly exposed to SV40-contaminated vaccines?
• Is receiving contaminated vaccine the only way to become infected with SV40?
• SV40 is known to cause tumors in rodents. Have research studies found an association between SV40 and cancer in humans?
• What steps have been taken by the government to see if SV40-contaminated vaccines affected people's health?
• What has research found regarding the health effects of receiving SV40-contaminated vaccine?
• Have research studies looked at the risk of cancer in children whose mothers received SV40-contaminated polio vaccine?
• If I have one of these cancers, does it mean that SV40 caused it?
• Can I obtain a test to see if I am infected with SV40?
• What should I do if I received polio vaccine during 1955–1963?
• Where can I get more information about SV40?

From the SV40 foundation:

SV40 was the 40th virus found in rhesus monkey kidney cells when these cells were used to make the polio vaccine. This virus contaminated both the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) created by Dr. Jonas Salk and the Oral or "Live" Polio Vaccine (OPV) created by Dr. Albert Sabin.

Children being fed sugar cubes with the oral polio vaccine. Circa 1961.

In 1961, SV40 was discovered by Dr. Bernice Eddy of the National Institute of Health, Division of Biologics when she took the material used to grow polio vaccines and injected it into hamsters. Tumors grew in the hamsters. Her discovery was subsequently validated by Drs. Maurice Hilliman and Benjamin Sweet of Merck.

Upon the discovery that SV40 was an animal carcinogen that had found its way into the polio vaccines, a new federal law was passed in 1961 that required that no vaccines contain this virus. However, this law did not require that SV40 contaminated vaccines be thrown away or that the contaminated seed material (used to make all polio vaccines for the next four decades) be discarded. As a result, known SV40 contaminated vaccines were injected into children up until 1963. In addition, it has been alleged that there have been SV40-contaminated batches of oral polio vaccine administered to some children until the end of the 1990's.

Autism - vaccine link disproven?

Vaccines and autism: The incredible shrinking causation claim shrinks some more

March 28, 2008 9:00 AM,

scienceblogs.com/insolence by Orac

I have good news and bad news for you.

First, the good news. The devastating death crud that has kept me in its grip for nearly a week now appears to be receding. For the first time, "whining" or not, I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it's due to PalMD's kind offer of Pranic Healing or not, I don't know, but things are on the mend.
<...>
On the other hand, my current not-quite-recovered state puts me in the perfect frame of mind to apply some richly deserved not-so-Respectful Insolence™ to David Kirby's latest bit of antivaccination nonsense published the other day in that repository of antivaccination nonsense, The Huffington Post, entitled The Next Big Autism Bomb.

Suffice it to say that, as usual, the only "big bomb" here is the one that Kirby drops on science and logic. In fact, as per his usual M.O., Kirby carpet-bombs logic and science under a torrent of obfuscating verbiage designed to mask just how weak his arguments are. He probably thinks he's delivered a thermonuclear blast to scientists and skeptics who tell him he's full of crap, but in reality you'd be hard-pressed to hear a ladyfinger explosion there. In fact, I doubt it's the equivalent of a sparkler, even. A wet, sputtering sparkler just before it fizzles out. If anything, it's nothing more than part two of the incredibly shrinking causation claim and another desperate attempt to keep blaming autism on vaccines, despite all evidence failing to find a link.

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Vox Day: Mindlessly parroting antivaccination myths again

I tell ya, I get sick for a few days, and the antivaccination cranks come out of the woodwork. This time around, it's über-crank Vox Day entering the fray (or, as I like to call him Vox "hey, it worked for Hitler" Day). We've seen him in action before. Be it using the example of Nazi Germany as a reason why we could, if we so desired, round up all the illegal immigrants in the country and eject them, labeling women as "fascists" who shouldn't have the right to vote, or falling hook, line, and sinker for an evidence-free antivaccination claim, when it comes to an inflated opinion of his own knowledge and understanding, coupled with the arrogant belief in his ability to apply them to the real world, no one turn the Crank-O-Meter up to 11 quite as easily as ol' Vox, so much so that he's even been too much of a crank for WorldNet Daily.

That's saying a lot.

This time around, he's unhappy at some recent articles pointing out that parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated are a danger to public health, and in attacking such sentiments he lays down some serious, neuron-apoptosing stupid bombs that reveal just how ignorant he is about vaccines. The proximal target of his wrath is Megan McCardle, who told it like it is about the antivaccination movement, and, consistent with his usual misogyny, Vox can't resist starting out with a sexist insult and then launching into a brain-fryingly dumb rant:

Full Blog

Big Tobacco funding search for cure?

Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study
By GARDINER HARRIS - March 26, 2008

In October 2006, Dr. Claudia Henschke of Weill Cornell Medical College jolted the cancer world with a study saying that 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of CT scans.

Small print at the end of the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, noted that it had been financed in part by a little-known charity called the Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment. A review of tax records by The New York Times shows that the foundation was underwritten almost entirely by $3.6 million in grants from the parent company of the Liggett Group, maker of Liggett Select, Eve, Grand Prix, Quest and Pyramid cigarette brands.

The foundation got four grants from the Vector Group, Liggett’s parent, from 2000 to 2003.

Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, editor in chief of the medical journal, said he was surprised. “In the seven years that I’ve been here, we have never knowingly published anything supported by” a cigarette maker, Dr. Drazen said.

An increasing number of universities do not accept grants from cigarette makers, and a growing awareness of the influence that companies can have over research outcomes, even when donations are at arm’s length, has led nearly all medical journals and associations to demand that researchers accurately disclose financing sources.

Dr. Henschke was the foundation president, and her longtime collaborator, Dr. David Yankelevitz, was its secretary-treasurer. Dr. Antonio Gotto, dean of Weill Cornell, and Arthur J. Mahon, vice chairman of the college board of overseers, were directors.

Vector issued a press release on Dec. 4, 2000, saying that it intended to give $2.4 million to Weill Cornell to finance Dr. Henschke’s research. Articles in Business Week and USA Today mentioned the gift. No mention was made of the foundation, begun so hastily that its 2000 tax return stated “not yet organized.”

Paul Caminiti, a Vector spokesman, confirmed that the company donated $3.6 million to the foundation over three years. The company “had no control or influence over the research,” he said.

Prominent cancer researchers and journal editors, told of the foundation by The Times, said they were stunned to learn of Dr. Henschke’s association with Liggett. Cigarette makers are so reviled among cancer advocates and researchers that any association with the industry can taint researchers and bar their work from being published.

“If you’re using blood money, you need to tell people you’re using blood money,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. The society gave Dr. Henschke more than $100,000 in grants from 2004 to 2007, money it would not have provided had it known of Liggett’s grants, Dr. Brawley said.

In an e-mail message, Drs. Henschke and Yankelevitz wrote, “It seems clear that you are trying to suggest that Cornell was trying to conceal this gift, which is entirely false.”

“The gift was announced publicly, the advocacy and public health community knew about it, it is quite easy to look it up on the Internet, its board has independent Cornell faculty on it, and it was fully disclosed to grant funding organizations,” they wrote, adding that the Vector grant represented a small part of the study’s overall cost. The foundation no longer accepts grants from tobacco companies, they wrote.

In the Vector press release, Dr. Henschke was quoted as saying that, thanks to the Vector grants, “we have raised the initial funding needed to support this important research and data collection on the effectiveness of spiral CT screening.”

Dr. Gotto said in an interview that Dr. Henschke, Dr. Yankelevitz and another colleague set up the foundation initially without the university’s approval, which he said faculty members are allowed to do. He and Mr. Mahon joined the board some weeks or months after its creation to ensure that the Vector grants were handled correctly, he said.

“If we had been approached, we would not have set up the foundation,” Dr. Gotto said. “We would have accepted the gift directly. We think we behaved honorably. There was no attempt to set up a foundation to hide tobacco money.”

Days earlier, Andrew Ben Ami, assistant secretary of the foundation, said in an interview he would not disclose the source of the charity’s financing at the request of the university.

In another interview before Dr. Gotto agreed to speak, Mr. Mahon, another foundation director, said he did not know the source of the funds.
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New Brunswick Sturgeons turning Kraut

N.B. sturgeon begin journey to restock German rivers

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 9, 2007 | 9:34 AM AT

CBC News

Baby sturgeon from the St. John River in New Brunswick are helping to repopulate German rivers where the species has all but disappeared.

Cornel Ceapa owns and operates a sturgeon hatchery at Carter's Point on the Kingston Peninsula outside Saint John.

Sturgeon are plentiful in New Brunswick rivers, and this farmed variety is helping to restock German rivers, where the species has been depleted.
(CBC)

On Tuesday, he packed 1,000 baby fish into coolers and put them on an overseas flight to Germany.

Ceapa said it makes sense to send New Brunswick fish to Europe.

"About 800 years ago, there were two species of sturgeon in the European rivers and one of them was exactly genetically identical with what we have here," he said.

This baby St. John River sturgeon, hatched on a New Brunswick farm, is destined for Europe.
(CBC)

The sturgeon being exported come from eggs taken from wild Atlantic sturgeon caught in the St. John River by fisherman Stan Whelpley, who has been catching sturgeon commercially in the river for more than 30 years.

"This is the only river on the east coast of North America that's got sturgeon in it, any amount," said Whelpley. "I mean there may be a few in some of the others but there's all kinds of sturgeon here."

Full Article

Science Four Two: A new beginning

As I've just gone over the top in my vitriolic spiels over at QSLS Politics, I'm going to try and soften the withdrawal by posting some science Items.

Probably mostly links and articles until I can get my teeth into an issue.
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Science Weekly: The Mind's Eye
3/10/2008 3:08:09 AM [Science Weekly]
James Randerson and the team discuss the new computerised mind-reading technique: is it scary or sensational? Plus, we hear from the government's new chief scientific adviser, John Beddington. And, the crisp company hoping to advertise in space