Monsanto’s GM corn MON863 shows kidney, liver toxicity in animal studies — Even though this link is actually a few months old, the story is apparently completely suppressed by the mainstream media which should be all over it.

A variety of genetically modified corn that was approved for human consumption in 2006 caused signs of liver and kidney toxicity as well as hormonal changes in rats in a study performed by researchers from the independent Committee for Independent Research and Genetic Engineering at the University of Caen in France.

• The corn in question, MON863, is made by the Monsanto Company and approved for use in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States. It has had a gene inserted from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which causes the plant’s cells to produce a pesticide.

• Researchers fed rats either unmodified corn or diets containing 11 or 30 percent MON863 for 90 days. The rats who ate modified corn were found to exhibit signs of liver and kidney toxicity, as well as signs of hormonal changes.

• Male rats lost an average of 3.3 percent of their body weight, and their excretion of phosphorus and sodium decreased. Female rats gained an average of 3.7 percent of their body weight, while their triglyceride levels increased by 24 to 40 percent.

• The mechanism that causes the toxicity is not yet known, but the researchers say there is evidence that the Bt toxin may cause the perforation of blood cells.

Wait, let me check the logic. The corn naturally produces a pesticide and we wonder why it causes problems when ingested? Oh brother. And you can be sure the genes are in the wild now via natural pollination. The kinds of lawsuits — worldwide — that will be coming out of some of these Frankenfood developments are going to be awesome.

Going once…going twice…

The Associated Press: Chinese investor pays $2.1M to eat with Buffett — Oh brother. Meanwhile, from the sounds of it, these two will never manage to meet for lunch anyway.

A Chinese investment fund manager won the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett by bidding $2.1 million in the most expensive charity auction ever held on eBay.

Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund won the auction, which ended Friday evening with a bid of $2,110,100.

A spokeswoman for the Glide Foundation, which receives all the proceeds from the auction, identified the winner Saturday.

It appears that Zhao and Buffett share a similar investment philosophy. But Zhao could not be reached Saturday, and no one answered the phone at Buffett’s Omaha office.

The auction will provide a significant boost to Glide, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. The foundation operates on a $12 million annual budget, spokeswoman Denise Lamott said.

Guests: Prof. Michael Greenberger and John C. Dvorak discuss the Enron Loophole, the London Loophole and the skyrocketing price of oil. We also find out how closing the loophole could bring the per barrel price of oil down 25%!

Click to listen:

Since July 2001, Michael Greenberger has been a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, where he teaches a course entitled “Futures, Options and Derivatives.”

Professor Greenberger was a partner for more than 20 years in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner, where he served as lead litigation counsel before courts of law nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court.

In 1997, Professor Greenberger left private practice to become the Director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

related links:
Greenberger’s Testimony

Reader and Twitterer Jeff Szer points out that the latest disc that comes with Gramophone Magazine highlights my Twitter name THErealDVORAK. I thought it was amusing anyway.

 
I call shenanigans on these stats! Who under 50 doesn’t have a DVR these days to skip all the ads for viagra and incontinence issues and to watch what you want when when you want? It’s only the older folks who aren’t into tech and don’t have young’uns to hook them up with one.

So, they don’t count people with DVRs which skews the stats older which causes shows to be made for oldersters (and as someone over 50 I’m generally bored by them) which causes the younger ones to stop watching and… It’s a vicious circle produced by the flawed stats.

TV viewers’ average age hits 50

The broadcast networks have grown older than ever — if they were a person, they wouldn’t even be a part of TV’s target demo anymore.

According to a study released by Magna Global’s Steve Sternberg, the five broadcast nets’ average live median age (in other words, not including delayed DVR viewing) was 50 last season. That’s the oldest ever since Sternberg started analyzing median age more than a decade ago — and the first time the nets’ median age was outside of the vaunted 18-49 demo.

Fueling the graying of the networks: the rapid aging of ABC, NBC and Fox. The three nets continue to grow older, while CBS — the oldest-skewing network — has remained fairly steady.

“The median ages of the broadcast networks keep rising, as traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set,” Sternberg wrote.

Research shows that a virus is killing bee colonies worldwide. Global warming and the destruction of the Ozone layer has nothing to do with it. Frogs and other amphibians also seem to be dying from the spread of pathogens, not rising temperatures as some people have suggested.

Bee Disease A Mystery – ScienceDaily.com: Scientists are one step closer to understanding the recent demise of billions of honey bees after making an important discovery about the transmission of a common bee virus. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is passed between adult bees and to their developing brood by a parasitic mite called Varroa destructor when it feeds.

Deformed wing virus has been linked to the collapse of honey bee colonies in Britain. In recent years the prevalence of the virus has increased globally in colonies infested with Varroa. It is widely accepted that the virus replicates in the mite and is then transmitted to bees when it bites. However, researchers at Rothamsted Research and the University of Nottingham have found that the virus does not replicate in the mite, suggesting an alternative means of transmission.

Of course, if you’ve seen the latest episode of Doctor Who here in the U.K. you would know the real reason why the bees are disappearing