India halts genetically modified food crops

Citing concerns for human health and the environment, the government of India has decided not to introduce genetically modified brinjals (eggplant), the nation’s third most important crop after potatoes and tomatoes.

India’s Environment and Forestry Minister Jairam Ramesh stated that although the measure was proposed as a way to stabilize food prices and ease impacts of climate change such as declining yields, concerns expressed by environmentalists and farmers as well as the potential hazard to public health made it too large a risk.

Research thus far has shown that besides human health risks, genetically modified crops also require increased application of pesticides and have not been noted to produce higher crop yields.

We thank Your Excellency and India for your careful consideration and wish to safeguard human health. Wishing that organic plant-based farming may continue to flourish in India, providing wholesome nourishment for all.

In a March 2009 videoconference in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai cautioned about the effects of such practices as genetic modification, offering an alternative that also addresses climate change.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Genetically modified food is not very good for health. We don't need that. If we don't raise animals, we have enough food, extra for everybody.

Even to feed freely to the hungry people, free of charge. And still have 1 billion portions left over. And organic farming yields plentiful food and, at the same time, absorbs 40% of CO2.

So, organic farming is good for everything and good for us, and good for the farmers to have a new job, good for our health, good for the planet.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748704140104575058383515565108.html
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964217,00.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3zjL-uMZ2_dQ6fh0YeAm7YMPMlQD9DT2D205
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61F0RS20100216
http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=110107

Aquaculture endangers wild fish

According to recent research led by Professor Rosamond L. Naylor of Stanford University in California, USA, more than 50% of fish consumed by humans now comes from fish farms, or aquaculture.

The report, authored by Dr. Naylor and other international scientists, indicated that between 1995 and 2007, production of farmed fish around the world nearly tripled in volume.

However, along with the rise in aquaculture has been a corresponding increase in fish meal used to feed the farmed fish, with five pounds of wild fish being consumed, for instance, for every pound of farmed salmon produced. Even vegetarian fish such as Chinese carp and tilapia are now given fish meal garnered from wild ocean fish, thus furthering endangering species such as anchovies and sardines.

The researchers warn that this exponential rise of aquaculture, once thought to relieve pressure from depleting wild fish, is now being seen as an additional threat to their survival.

Dr. Naylor and international team of scientists, we appreciate your factual account of the true cost of farmed fish. May we all be reminded that our planet depends on the oceans’ vibrant life and choose from the wide assortment of healthful and delicious plant-based foods. Concerned for our fragile ecosphere, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted again the critical need for the more considerate care of our fish co-inhabitants during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Fish farms are like on-land factory farms. They have similar problems environmentally, with impacts that include polluting the bodies of waters. The farmed fish are contained in big netted areas off the ocean shores with uneaten food, fish waste, antibiotics, or other drugs and chemicals that pass into the surrounding waters where they harm our ecosystems and pollute our drinking sources.

Depleting wild fish stocks also. Fish like salmon that are eaten by humans are usually fed huge amounts of other fish like anchovies. This practice also endangers sea animals, like sea lions and birds

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Fish are God’s creations that we should also care for, respect, protect, not to eat. We should be looking for ways to help the fish, to protect them and all the marine life from the devastating effects of climate change. Once we start thinking in this way, we are in a better position for ourselves, for the fish and for the planet.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028059_salmon_fish_stocks.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090907162320.htm
http://www.ratical.com/renewables/TherapHoil.html

“Global Warming and Health” Summit held in Formosa (Taiwan)

Findings on climate change presented by Dr. Liu Shaw-Chen, Director of the Environmental Change Research Center of Academia Sinica in Formosa showed that the duration and intensity of typhoons and rainstorms on the island have doubled within 45 years, while the rate of sea level rise in Formosa is higher than the world’s average.

In response to the urgency of these and other global warming effects, the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch and the Yunlin County government held their first climate change forum in Yunlin.

Participants called on the government and medical professionals to act decisively in reducing meat consumption to halt global warming, while also averting a human health crisis.

Ming-Been Lee, President of Taiwan Medical Association, Formosa (M): From the medical field, we already found out that meat-eating is one of the factors that affects global warming. So as we talk specifically about health issues,of course we should emphasize vegan, plant-based food.

Dr. Rui-Yun Xu – Attending physician, Hua-Lian Tzu Chi Hospital , Formosa (F): Vegetarians have a purer and healthier body. We see that from many of our past surveys and many medical reports.

VOICE: Initiatives to encourage the veg trend, such as that already launched by the Yunlin County government, were also discussed.

Zhi-Fen Su, Yunlin County Magistrate, Formosa (F): We encourage all schools to go meatless at least one day a week. From Meatless Mondays, we gradually promote and extend to two days a week. We hope this would allow all of us humans to focus on our own health as well as the harmonious relationship with natural resources, and begin to take this kind of issue seriously.

VOICE: National Taiwan University Hospital, Yunlin County government, and all summit dignitaries and participants, many thanks for your efforts to encourage society toward the manifold benefits of the plant-based diet.

May everyone swiftly turn to this nutritious fare to halt climate change in time and ensure the health of all. As mentioned on previous occasions in addressing the urgent state of our Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong of the personal and planet- saving benefits of the
organic vegan lifestyle.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Everybody knows organic vegetables are very healthy. You see, if you eat organic vegetables, you will hardly have to go to the hospital and all the money we can save to better education for the children, better care for the elderly, and building more beautiful roads, more equipment, inventions, and use it more for sustainable energies, for free for everybody. The benefit has no ends.

It’s high time we turn away from the harmful, unsustainable meat business and go toward a more civilized, more efficient, more sustainable, more humane means, namely organic vegan. And it will save the planet.

In a letter to the United Nations, US climate envoy Todd Stern confirms the United States’ goal of reducing emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

http://www.france24.com/en/20100128-us-affirms-climate-goals-un

UK unveils 20-year plan for low carbon agriculture

British Secretary of the Environment Hilary Benn announced on January 5 long-term agricultural policies to achieve both food security and sustainable farming practices that can mitigate the effects of climate change.

Hilary Benn: Agriculture needs to be at the heart of our efforts to adapt to a changing climate.”

Hilary Benn: The soil, the water, the air, the plants, the forests are the very foundation on which our food and therefore our existence as human beings depends. So in meeting demand today, we must ensure that we do not destroy our ability to feed ourselves tomorrow. It’s not about either environmental sustainability or production, it has to be both.

The plan encourages consumers to eat less red meat and dairy so as to reduce the amount of methane produced by cows, and consume more locally-sourced seasonal fruit and vegetables.

Classes will be offered to teach people how to cook with fresh vegetables. Green labels on food will also display the 'carbon footprint' in manufacturing and transporting products. Secretary Benn highlighted the importance of consumer involvement in achieving a sustainable food system during every phase.

For example, every household would collect food waste to be composted, and more people would grow fruits and vegetables, with gardens also being planted at schools and hospitals along with courses to teach crop growing skills.

Your Excellency and United Kingdom, we applaud your vision for a sustainable future by making sound food choices. May many other leaders be similarly inspired to bring greater health to fellow citizens and the planet. Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently spoken of the need for governments to implement wiser, plant-based food policies to reduce global warming, as in an interview published in the September 2009 edition of the British Parliament's The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The government can support organic vegan farming through subsidies. They can also redirect the funds away from the meat industries and instead toward encouraging citizens to plant, to buy and to choose organic vegan food.

And when they do, we will soon have a lot of healthy, happy, productive people, a restored green environment, and minimum climate mitigation costs – something all governments can look forward to and gain the enthusiastic support of all citizens.

If humans switch to the vegan diet, the Earth will begin cooling immediately and many of these dilemmas can even be reversed. So please, be veg and do good, to save the planet and all the beings on it, including you and me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6932602/Restaurants-and-takeaways-to-provide-health-warnings-on-menus.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/05/uk-farming-2030-food-report

Plant-based foods may prevent flu by preserving lung health

Although many cases of swine flu have been relatively mild, for some people, the disease is severe and deadly. Researchers have found that those losing their lives to the flu typically have faced respiratory complications and difficulty absorbing oxygen. According to scientists in Alabama, USA, flu viruses damage the lungs through a component of their M2 protein that prevents fluid from being removed from the lungs, thus creating conditions for pneumonia.

However, when the researchers injected the M2 protein into human lung cells along with a substance known to remove oxidants, the M2 protein no longer damaged the lungs. Study co-author Sadis Matalon stated, “The recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza and the rapid spread of this strain across the world highlights the need to better understand how this virus damages the lungs and to find new treatments.

Additionally, our research shows that antioxidants may prove beneficial in the treatment of flu.” Antioxidants are found in plant foods and are known to help fight disease. Researchers at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA stated that red beans, pinto beans and black beans are some of the most antioxidant-rich foods, followed by many vegetables such as artichoke hearts, sweet potatoes, spinach and eggplant.
These new findings may offer hope for US citizens amidst a shortage of vaccines in the country.

In additional findings, US researchers discovered the first cases of a Tamiflu-resistant version of swine flu jumping person-to-person, which could make the anti-viral medication less useful, while another study found that some children continue to spread the virus a full two weeks after the first appearance of symptoms.

Swine flu deaths continue to grow around the globe, as the confirmed global death toll has risen to over 6,051. The countries with the highest number of reported fatalities areBrazil at 1,368 deaths, followed by the United States with 1,004 and Argentina at 585 lives lost to swine flu. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that since the pandemic began, 114 children have perished with 19 of these deaths occurring in the past week alone.

From China to France, swine flu vaccination programs have begun in countries worldwide, but infections are still far more widespread than can be officially counted. We sorrow for growing number of families and nations in grief and fear of this tragic pandemic. We appreciate the researchers for their findings on the potential protection from antioxidants and pray that people turn more and more to the wholesome plant-based diet for protection, along with the elimination of virus-breeding facilities, namely the animal farms.

Reference
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/antioxidant-superstars-vegetables-and-beans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029125538.htm
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