Zika Virus

[madmug]

It scary how little control over spread of disease we have

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Pandemic.

If only people realised how close we are to a disaster world wide. Our overuse of antibiotics has put us all at risk. We are even less able to fight Viruses as yet.

So keep drinking & bonking, you never know when it will all end

 

[Taylor]

These sort of things will always get more airtime when a nation that will pay for it's children to be cared for when disabled is effected by it.

While children are born disabled in nations that couldn't care less about them, no coverage. As soon as an advanced nation starts to see big bills in the future, it gets knocked on the head.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Our overuse of antibiotics has put us all at risk. We are even less able to fight Viruses as yet.

um, antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and disease, they've never been able to fight viruses

while you are correct that an over-use of antibiotics is reducing their effectiveness, all we're really seeing is a change to the relevant timescale. ie it is inevitable that at some point antiobiotics will cease to be useful. we will always be in a game of one-upmanship with the tiny nasties we share the planet with. they mutate, adapt and evolve and antibiotics can't compete with that forever even if their use is judicious.

 

[WA ROO]

So keep drinking & bonking,

Sounds like a plan

 

[nut]

Monsanto upto it again.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/12/larvicide-cause-not-zika/

 

[catstorm]

It's all just a little ridiculous isn't it, every year a new pandemic for people to be scared of.

SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, Zika it's just fear mongering and will fizzle out like all the others.

The real question is who is benefiting from disseminating this fear?

 

[EagleShore]

People need to really stop freaking out about this kind of thing just because of a few scary images on mainstream news programs. It is not the most likely cause of the spate of microcephalic infants.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/1...-of-brazils-microcephaly-outbreak-doctors.htm

Also:
https://www.corbettreport.com/zika-fear-falters-as-false-flag-fraud-fizzles/

 

[EagleShore]

Monsanto upto it again.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/12/larvicide-cause-not-zika/

I am so sick of everyone dumping on Monsanto - they're a wonderfully benevolent organisation that is only trying to feed our "overpopulated" world!

 

[Long Live HFC]

It's all just a little ridiculous isn't it, every year a new pandemic for people to be scared of.

SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, Zika it's just fear mongering and will fizzle out like all the others.

The real question is who is benefiting from disseminating this fear?

it's awfully nice in your rich, western bubble hey?

 

[catstorm]

it's awfully nice in your rich, western bubble hey?

Nice straw man, questioning a fear inducing narrative does not diminish the suffering of those who have the disease nor the hardship of their individual lives. These diseases are billed as global pandemics and they simply aren't.

They are minor and isolated, over the course of the entire Ebola pandemic through 2014-15 11,000 people died globally and that is a terrible thing. In comparison in 2013 in the USA alone a western bubble 53,000 people died of pneumonia.

Stop being roped in by propaganda, maybe question a narrative rather than accept appeals to emotion.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Nice straw man, questioning a fear inducing narrative does not diminish the suffering of those who have the desease nor the hardship of their individual lives. These deceases are billed as global pandemics and they simply aren't.

They are minor and isolated, over the course of the entire Ebola pandemic through 2014-15 11,000 people died globally and that is a terrible thing. In comparison in 2013 in the USA alone a western bubble 53,000 people died of pneumonia.

Stop being roped in by propaganda, maybe question a narrative rather than except appeals to emotion.

I wasn't making a strawman I was making a judgment that it's pretty easy to roll your eyes at a pretty awful virus when you're viewing it from our privileged vantage point. but now you've elaborated I see I was too quick to judge, so i retract my retort

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

Any source for this?

Would be better to ask 'Any credible source for this?'

 

[Long Live HFC]

I am so sick of everyone dumping on Monsanto - they're a wonderfully benevolent organisation that is only trying to feed our "overpopulated" world!

is this where i point out that monsanto neither owns sumitomo nor manufacturs/sells larvicides?

 

[EagleShore]

is this where i point out that monsanto neither owns sumitomo nor manufacturs/sells larvicides?

Correct, but they are an affiliated company. And Sumitomo is associated with Monsanto's weed killing glyphosate research, which of course you'd be happy to spray in your own garden where your children play. I wouldn't.

So Monsanto of course are not directly implicated. The type of products that these companies manufacture bring potentially significant risks to humanity, and their power is such that many such risks are glossed over through effective PR and misleading advertising - or perhaps even covered up.

These companies may be considered by many as providing great advantages to humanity, and in some cases this could be legitimately argued. But to suggest blindly that they are completely ethical and beyond reproach is naive. Do you know about the established correlation between power and corruption? And no, I do not mean to imply that every large corporation in every instance is completely corrupt. But you seem to deny the existence of any level of corruption, whether it be governmental or corporate.

OF course it's fine, LLHFC - it takes all types and ultimately we can only live our own truth in relation to our unique perspectives on the world. I live on the more skeptical side of the spectrum than yourself

Jumping on board early to blame "the usual suspects" often involves making assumptions that may turn out to be incorrect, and in this instance, consider me schooled

 

[Long Live HFC]

Correct, but they are an affiliated company.

This has little to do with you (and others here) accepting BS at face value without even bothering to check whether the claims were true. you claim to be “sceptical” below; this is the opposite of scepticism. Scepticism shouldn't be confused anti-establishment partisanship.

And Sumitomo is associated with Monsanto's weed killing glyphosate research, which of course you'd be happy to spray in your own garden where your children play. I wouldn't.

Again, so what? you realise pesticides/herbicides are supposed to be toxic, right? You realise that glyphosate is actually a lot safer and less dangerous to humans/the environment than the poisons used before it? just about any pesticide or herbicide is going to dangerous at some degree of exposure. and i doubt you know much about it beyond "OMG Monsanto are poisoning us!" as per the original post i quoted.

These companies may be considered by many as providing great advantages to humanity, and in some cases this could be legitimately argued. But to suggest blindly that they are completely ethical and beyond reproach is naive.

Please quote a single person in this thread (or the GMO one if you want) who has said anything resembling that. who are you arguing with exactly?

Do you know about the established correlation between power and corruption?

Yawn. As fun as banal truisms can be, do you have anything of substance we can get stuck into?

And no, I do not mean to imply that every large corporation in every instance is completely corrupt. But you seem to deny the existence of any level of corruption, whether it be governmental or corporate.

Actually, all I do is point out the narratives chosed by certain idiots lack merit and credibility. There’s actually a whole world of corruption out there, it’s just that the narratives so popular with people on messageboards tend to be bullshit.

OF course it's fine, LLHFC - it takes all types and ultimately we can only live our own truth in relation to our unique perspectives on the world. I live on the more skeptical side of the spectrum than yourself

As above; being a partisan hack does not make you a sceptic.

 

[EagleShore]

Actually, all I do is point out the narratives chosed by certain idiots lack merit and credibility. There’s actually a whole world of corruption out there, it’s just that the narratives so popular with people on messageboards tend to be bullshit.

Fair enough. It just seems to be the case that you accept and defend the mainstream view of most issues. You even jump onto the threads such as the income inequality/62 people have more wealth than half the world's population...and criticise people expressing views of contempt toward the patterns of economic inequality simply because they are relatively "rich" by virtue of the fact they live in Australia. Fallacious logic abounds and you're not innocent, though likely moreso than most.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Fair enough. It just seems to be the case that you accept and defend the mainstream view of most issues.

yeah that's a fair assessment given my posting history i guess. though i think it's more accurate to say that i am more likely to post about certain subjects that draw my ire (conspiracy theories/new age bollocks/magical thinking/pseudoscience), where i am mainsteam.

You even jump onto the threads such as the income inequality/62 people have more wealth than half the world's population...and criticise people expressing views of contempt toward the patterns of economic inequality simply because they are relatively "rich" by virtue of the fact they live in Australia. Fallacious logic abounds and you're not innocent, though likely moreso than most.

well yeah, the OP of that thread and i have a bit of a history coz i can't stand his sophistry and slacktivism (and there's nothing particularly substantive in that thread that warrants too much consideration imo). my point was meant to be that many of us enjoy amazing privileges compared to most and that doesn't necessarily make us bad people or the system that supports us inherently wrong. you can be pretty sure that were the Great Redistribution Fairy to come knocking the OP and others like him wouldn't take too kindly to their assets being shared with the less fortunate.

but im sure that got lost due to my tendency to ridicule as i am a bit of a s**t bloke like that

 

[Long Live HFC]

(and for that it's worth, i am very interested in the larvicide angle in this topic, even if we can't pin it on the great agricultural satan )

 

[Subutai]

I am so sick of everyone dumping on Monsanto - they're a wonderfully benevolent organisation that is only trying to feed our "overpopulated" world!

Sacramento, CA — California just dealt Monsanto a blow as the state’s Environmental Protection Agency will now list glyphosate — the toxic main ingredient in the U.S.’ best-selling weedkiller, Roundup — as known to cause cancer.

Under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 — usually referred to as Proposition 65, its original name — chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm are required to be listed and published by the state. Chemicals also end up on the list if found to be carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — a branch of the World Health Organization.

In March, the IARC released a report that found glyphosate to be a “probable carcinogen.”

Besides the “convincing evidence” the herbicide can cause cancer in lab animals, the report also found:

“Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the U.S.A., Canada, and Sweden reported increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustments to other pesticides.”

California’s decision to place glyphosate on the toxic chemicals list is the first of its kind. As Dr. Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity said in an email to Ecowatch, “As far as I’m aware, this is the first regulatory agency within the U.S. to determine that glyphosate is a carcinogen. So this is a very big deal.”

http://www.theeventchronicle.com/ne...irms-roundup-will-be-labeled-cancer-causing/#

 

[Long Live HFC]

see what I mean?

 

[EagleShore]

see what I mean?

Can you elucidate? Is it the sources used that are problematic or that the information itself isn't pertinent to the thread? I won't defend Monsanto, but I think sound logic should be used at all times in these discussions which you help to enforce, LLHFC! Which isn't a bad thing.

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

Can you elucidate? Is it the sources used that are problematic or that the information itself isn't pertinent to the thread? I won't defend Monsanto, but I think sound logic should be used at all times in these discussions which you help to enforce, LLHFC! Which isn't a bad thing.

I don't claim to speak for LLHFC!, but there are a number of tin foil hat wearing nutbags (or possibly one with multiple aliases) who pop up in threads like this where everything the West does is bad or wrong and everything a company with more than four employees does is bad and wrong.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Can you elucidate? Is it the sources used that are problematic or that the information itself isn't pertinent to the thread?

It can be both, but basically all he ever does is post other people’s ideas, never sticks around to justify/defend/retract his posts and has never displayed an ounce of understanding about anything he’s copy-pasted. Not even once.

I won't defend Monsanto, but I think sound logic should be used at all times in these discussions which you help to enforce, LLHFC! Which isn't a bad thing.

In this instance he’s pointed out that roundup has been classified by the WHO/EPA to be in the same group of carcinogens as bacon, and in a lesser category than alcohol *cue spooky music*

I mean, we’re talking about a poison for *’s sake- no kidding it’s dangerous! But true to form, he posts something that isn’t particularly relevant and about something he doesn’t possess even the most basic knowledge in. for instance, the fact that roundup is actually less dangerous than the herbicides that were being used prior to its development. It has benefits like binding to soil, which keeps it from contaminating groundwater etc. He pretends to care about the little man and scorn evil big business, but doesn’t even get that the little guys that are routinely exposed to these chemicals, the ones that use it on a regular basis, are actually putting themselves at less risk than they were 50 years ago, and have freely chosen to use the product for this and other reasons.

but oh no, let’s post something stupid because we’re too ******* lazy to bother getting even a basic understanding. In anything. Ever.

 

[Long Live HFC]

2 new studies adding to the evidence.

Zika virus kills the type of tissue found in the developing brain, researchers have shown.

It was able to destroy or disrupt the growth of neural progenitor cells, which build the brain and nervous system, in lab tests.

The discovery, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, adds weight to claims that Zika is causing brain abnormalities in babies.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35725744

Despite mild clinical symptoms, ZIKV infection during pregnancy appears to be associated with grave outcomes, including fetal death, placental insufficiency, fetal growth restriction, and CNS injury.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1602412?query=featured_home&