When I saw this story this morning I could hardly believe it was real. But I have checked and it is. You can click through to download the CDC .pdf report.
I find it highly ironic that this story is appearing in a conservative religious website, because much of this enormous spread of venereal disease is arising because the Theocratic Right has done everything it can to stop useful sex education in the U.S. leaving teens, particularly teens in Red value states, completely unprepared to practice safe sex. Not surprisingly, the incidence of unintended pregnancies and STDs in those states are much higher than in Blue value states.
Flu experts overturn self-imposed ban on creating mutant firms of the H5N1 bird flu virus
They claim the risky research is needed to prepare in case it naturally mutates to human transmissible form
But leading experts condemn decision to restart research into genetically modified versions of the virus
Humans can only currently catch H5N1 from infected birds, but when they do it is usually fatal
Phi Beta Iota: “Who benefits?” The “precautionary principle” is well established, and anyone who violates it generally has come combination of moral disengagement and financial corruption attendant to their decision. The “good guys club” that includes Bill Gates and Warren Buffet is known to have a eugenics agenda. Could it be that these researchers have been offered a financial incentive of such proportions as to overcome their intellectual appreciation for the risks? As with nuclear proliferation, and small arms proliferation, the weakness of human ethics is the weak link — once created, such viruses will inevitably be “leaked.” This is a good time for the public to ask: what is government doing on this issue that is or is not in the public interest?
It is amusing to see how eagerly the establishment media have welcomed Steven Pinker’s 2011 tome, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,[1] which explains not only that “violence has been in decline for long stretches of time,” but that “we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species' existence.”[2] A professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University since 2002 and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist in the general nonfiction category,[3] Pinker’s lovable theme coincides with the Nobel Peace Laureate’s current engagement in wars on at least four separate continents (Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America); his regretful partial withdrawal from invaded and occupied Iraq; his victorious termination of the 2011 war in Libya; his buildup and threats to engage in even larger wars with Syria and Iran, both already underway with aggressive sanctions and an array of covert actions;[4] his semi-secret and ever-widening use of remote-controlled aerial gunships and death squads in global killing operations;[5] and his declaration of the right to kill any person anywhere for “national security” reasons—officially making the entire world a U.S. free-fire-zone.[6] The Barack Obama regime, and before it the Bush-Cheney regime, have also supported and protected Israel’s escalated ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and the hostile U.S. actions and threats involving Iran and Syria are closely geared with those of Israel.
“It is likely that the patient's infection was acquired in Qatar, as he was in Qatar for the 16 days prior to the onset of his most recent respiratory illness in September,” write researchers from the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency and co-workers.
The man remains on life support in a London hospital after he got infected last month by the previously unknown coronavirus. He can't breathe on his own, so requires treatment called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, basically an artificial lung. He has also suffered kidney failure.
It's a troubling story authorities think will unfold over the next month or so. An untold number of Americans who got steroid injections in their spine to relieve back pain may end up with a rare fungal meningitis. The drug was contaminated with the spores of a common leaf mold — nobody knows how.
So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 35 cases of the fungal meningitis in six states: Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. Five patients have died.
. . . . . . .
The contaminated drug came from New England Compounding Center, a company based in Framingham, Mass., that abruptly suspended operations this week, took its main website offline and stopped answering phone calls.
Five people have been isolated in a hospital in Denmark with symptoms of a new viral respiratory illness from the same family as the deadly SARS virus.
EXTRACTS:
Petersen said those admitted were a family of four where the father had been to Saudi Arabia, and an unrelated person who had been to Qatar. Two of those with symptoms were under the age of five.
. . . . . . . .
SARS swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide.
Certain types of life science research involving “high consequence pathogens and toxins” would be subject to new review and risk mitigation procedures which might include classification of the research or termination of the funding, according to a U.S. government policy issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health.
The policy applies to research involving 15 specified biological agents and toxins which “pose the greatest risks of deliberate misuse with most significant potential for mass casualties or devastating effects to the economy, critical infrastructure or public confidence.”
Research that increases the lethality or transmissibility of the agent or toxin, or otherwise enhances its harmful consequences, will be subject to the new review procedures.
Based on the outcome of the review, a risk mitigation plan may be developed. If less restrictive measures were deemed inadequate, the new policy would allow for national security classification of the research or termination of government funding.
Phi Beta Iota: Nice but inadequate. The government is paying lip service to this necessary precautionary principle. If they were really serious, such a policy would encompass all agricultural and industrial processes without exception.
Huh? Here are Mini-Me's post-November 2012 nightmare events:
01 End of all federal grants to all universities
02 By law, all option years on all federal contracts eliminated.
03 30% federal employee Reduction in Force (RIF)
04 Industrial chemical accident of historic proportions (e.g. the really really big rusted chlorine tank above the NJ Turnpike right outside NYC blows)
05 One of NYC's two 1920's water mains blows, followed by a firestorm
06 Our own biological agent used (Forced Population Reduction) across the poorest sectors of the south (“useless eaters” according to Henry Kissinger).
07 Radiological event (dirty bomb) closes down a major transit hub for the next 20 years. Having fun yet?
We live in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable, and the potential for an event that could cause “sudden change” to the U.S. economy is greater than ever.
There are dozens of potentially massive threats that could easily push the U.S. economy over the edge during the next 12 months. A war in the Middle East, a financial collapse in Europe, a major derivatives crisis or a horrific natural disaster could all change our economic situation very rapidly.
In the list below, you will find some “sudden change” events that are somewhat likely and some that are quite unlikely. I have tried to include a broad range of potential “black swan events”, but there are certainly dozens more massive threats that could potentially be listed. (List only — links and text at the article.
01 War with Syria
02 War with Iran
03 Disorderly Greek Debt Default
04 Economic Collapse in Spain
05 Price of Gasoline
06 Student Loan Debt Bubble
07 State and Local Debt Crisis
08 Collapse of a Major US Bank
09 Derivatives Crisis (Credit Swaps Collapse)
10 Fall of the Japanese Economy (and government)
11 A Solar Megastorm (1 in 8 chance)
12 Major West Coast Earthquake and/or Volcanic Eruption
13 Tornado Damage to Major US Cities
14 Severe Drought in the United States
15 Asteroid Strike in February 2013
When I saw this story this morning I could hardly believe it was real. But I have checked and it is. You can click through to download the CDC .pdf report.
