FDA panel to review Tamiflu's effect on
brain
November 25, 2007, USA
Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-25-tamiflu-brain_N.htm

A Food
and Drug Administration panel ... will review reports of abnormal
behavior
and other brain effects in more than 1,800 children who had taken the flu
medicine Tamiflu since its approval in 1999, including 55 in the USA.
Twenty-two of the U.S. reports were considered "serious," with symptoms
such as convulsions, delirium or delusions, says Terry Hurley, spokesman
for drugmaker Roche Laboratories. None of the U.S. cases resulted in
death.
But in Japan, Hurley says, five deaths have been reported in children
under
16 as a result of neurological or psychiatric problems. "Four were fatal
falls, and one was encephalitis in a patient with leukemia," he says. In
addition, in people ages 17 to 21, there were two deaths in Japan, one a
"fatal accident with abnormal behavior," Hurley says, and the second as a
result of encephalopathy, a brain infection. Seven adult deaths
attributed
to neuropsychiatric problems also have been reported in Japan. The
possible
association between Tamiflu and neuropsychiatric effects was first
reported
in Japan, and in March, the Japanese government issued a safety warning
restricting the drug's use in adolescents. Japan has been the major
market
for Tamiflu, accounting for 75% of the 48 million prescriptions written.
The drug's Japanese distributor, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., announced
this
month that it would cut by half the supply it had been planning to sell
this winter, from 12 million to 6 million courses of treatment. In a
statement, the company says demand dropped after reports in February that
"several teenage patients with influenza who were also taking Tamiflu had
fallen from buildings after taking the drug." A year ago Roche
added a warning to its package insert label saying "people with the flu,
particularly children, may be at an increased risk of self-injury and
confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu," and their behavior should be
monitored.
Note:
For numerous powerful reports on health issues, click here.




A little risky business
November 22, 2007, The Economist
magazine

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10171212

Waving a
packet of carbon nanotubes accusingly at the assembled American
politicians
during a hearing last month in Congress, Andrew Maynard was determined to
make a point. The nanotechnology expert ... had bought the tiny tubes on
the internet. They had arrived in the post along with a safety sheet
describing them as graphite and thus requiring no special precautions
beyond those needed for a nuisance dust. Dr Maynard's theatrics were
designed to draw attention to a growing concern about the safety of
nanotechnology. Carbon nanotubes may be perfectly safe, but then
again, they may have asbestos-like properties. Nobody knows. Indeed,
industry, regulators and governments know little about the general safety
of all manner of materials that are made into fantastically small
sizes. In the past few years the number of consumer products
claiming to use nanotechnology has dramatically grown—to almost 600 by
one
count. Patents are rapidly being filed. For a product to count as
nanotechnology, it ... is enough merely for some of the material to have
been tinkered with at a small scale. Often that can involve grinding down
a
substance into particles that may be only a few nanometres big—a
nanometre
is a billionth of a metre—about 100,000th of the thickness of a sheet of
paper. Despite hundreds of years of experience in chemistry, it is not
easy
to predict how a substance will behave when it is made extremely small.
That means, you cannot be sure how it will affect health. Nanoparticulate
versions of a material can act in novel ways. When they are very, very
small, materials, such as copper, that are soft can become hard.
Materials,
such as gold, that would not react to other substances become reactive.
And
when they have been shrunk, materials, such as carbon, that are perfectly
safe might become unsafe. Plenty of research suggests that nanoparticles
of
harmless substances can become exceptionally dangerous.


Brazil announces new oil reserves

November 9, 2007, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7086264.stm

The
Brazilian government says huge new oil reserves discovered off its coast
could turn the country into one of the biggest oil producers in the
world.
Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, says it believes the offshore
Tupi field has between 5bn and 8bn barrels of recoverable light oil. A
senior minister said Brazilian oil production had the potential to match
that of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. The state-controlled company says the
results show high productivity for gas and light oil - the best quality
oil
- which is more valuable and cheaper to refine. Petrobras says the find
has
the potential to move Brazil into a position where it is one of the top
ten
oil reserves in the world. Brazil currently has proven oil
reserves
of 14 billion barrels, over half of which have been discovered in the
past
five years. Most of Brazil's oil is heavy and found at great
depth
but even so its reserves have almost doubled in the last ten years, as
has
output. With the Tupi field potentially equal to 40% of all oil ever
discovered here, it seems by any standards a significant moment for
Brazil.


Note:
Many fear that oil production could drop drastically within the next 10
to
20 years. In actuality, there are many large untapped oil fields which
have
not been economically feasible to tap because of their lower quality oil.
Once the price of oil reaches a certain threshold, like $150/barrel, many
of these fields will then be profitable. Because of this, it is highly
unlikely there will be a sudden oil shortage (unless prices are
manipulated
as in the great oil crisis of 1973). For lots more on the unlimited
potential for cheap energy, click here.



The White House Coup
July 23, 2007, BBC Radio

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

Document
uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing
American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D
Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The
plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in
America (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell [House] and George
Bush’s grandfather, Prescott [Bush]) believed that their country should
adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great
depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known
about
this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.

Note:
Click on the article link above to listen to this important radio
documentary. General Smedley Butler, author of War is a Racket,
was approached by the plotters for assistance, but he stopped them by
reporting their plans to the government.


Fascist America, in 10 easy
steps
April 24, 2007, Guardian (One of
the U.K.'s leading newspapers)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html

Last
autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup
took
a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list.
In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed
down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into
residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions
on
the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists
into
custody. They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If
you
look at history, you can see that there is essentially a
blueprint
for turning an open society into a dictatorship. It is very difficult
and
arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that
closing
one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10
steps. As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if
you
are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been
initiated
today in the United States by the Bush administration. Because Americans
like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that
it
is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other
nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system
of
government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been
outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals
such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognise the checks and
balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being
systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European
history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember
who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells
it
might have. George Bush and his administration are using time-tested
tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to
think the unthinkable - that it can happen here. And that we are further
along than we realise.

Note:
This important article is well worth reading in its entirety. It
carefully
analyzes the ten steps that turn a democratic into a fascist society,
including 1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy; 2. Create a
gulag; 4. Set up an internal surveillance system; 8. Control the press;
9.
Equate dissent and treason; and 10. Suspend the rule of law. Click on the
article link above to read about all ten steps that have already been
taken in the U.S..


For this club, life begins at 50
(%)
July 29, 2007, Boston
Globe

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/29/for_this_club_life_begins_at_50_/


When David Ludlow's wife died in a climbing accident 11 years ago, her
death transformed him into a multimillionaire: He inherited Vanda
Sendzimir's share of her family fortune, a $5 million trust that
generates
an annual interest of about $300,000. Then a freelance photographer with
a
passion for social justice issues, the Jamaica Plain man was plunged into
a
swirl of shock, guilt, and confusion.
"I've always been very left-wing politically and all of a sudden I was
living incredible inequality," said Ludlow, 64. "Suddenly I was
in
the upper 1 percent of the population in terms of wealth, and I felt
terrible about that for a long time." So he did something radical, and
something that many people might consider insane: He decided to give away
half his annual income. In doing so, Ludlow joined a small,
unusual, and growing community: The 50%
League, an Arlington-based group of people who contribute at least
half
their income, business profits, or net worth to charity. Members from
across the country have been welcomed into an elite circle of givers and
asked to share their stories publicly, even if anonymously, to inspire
other givers. Their motivations are manifold: Some give out of a sense of
fairness, personal satisfaction or a desire for simplicity; others are
driven by religious faith or dedication to a cause. Many are anonymous
philanthropists, and not all of them have great wealth: Some are members
of
the middle class, but have chosen to survive on less so they can give
more.
Above all, they aim to stand as role models, and to encourage others of
all
income levels to think about their giving potential. "I feel incredibly
privileged, and I still feel guilty about that," said Ludlow, who has
used
much of the money he inherited from his late wife ... to fund grass-roots
groups led by low-income people of color.

"But it's given me tremendous meaning in my life to give as much as I can
away."

Note:
The wonderful man featured in this article, David Ludlow, is a major
supporter of our work in the form of a large monthly donation (http://www.peerservice.org/donations#monthly).
This is a powerful example of how one inspired individual can make a big
difference in the world. Let us all do our best to use our money in
support
of personal and global transformation to the best of our ability. We also
invite you to make a difference by donating to support our empowering
work
at http://www.peerservice.org/donations.



Special
Note: For the long-awaited video Loose Change Final
Cut,
exposing little-known facts on 9/11, click
here. For a media video clip showing just how much power an electric
motor can have, watch an electric car beat a Ford Mustang and reach over
100 mph in the quarter mile by clicking here.
Fortune magazine is jumping on the green bandwagon, with a new
"Going Green" issue. To read about many different businesses' programs to
benefit the environment, click
here.



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for an abundance of uplifting material.




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