FUSF Green

It's The Meat, Stupid

DONATE SIGN THE PETITON TELL A FRIEND   SIGN THE PETITION AND TELL A FRIEND During the current salmonella outbreak, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration, an agency within HHS, have focused Americans’ attention first on tomatoes and now on jalapeño peppers as a likely source of the infectious bacteria. However, contaminated produce is only the last link in a chain that begins with the meat industry. It is essential for consumers to know that burgeoning meat consumption has caused a massive overproduction of chickens, cows, pigs, and other animals, leading to unprecedented production of feces that end up in rivers, streams, and irrigation water, and contaminate otherwise healthful produce. Salmonella are intestinal organisms. Needless to say, tomatoes and peppers do not have an intestinal tract. When feces end up in irrigation water, salmonella can contaminate the surfaces of plants and can apparently pass into their rootlets, ending up inside produce. Infectious bacteria from animal feces also contaminate agricultural fields, workers’ hands, retail shelves, and kitchen surfaces. Join PCRM in calling for the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the source of the contamination—the root of the problem lies in the meat industry! We need your help today. Click here to sign our petition and add your name to our list of outraged citizens. Help us provide a wake up call to HHS and demand it starts protecting our food supply.  Best regards, Neal Barnard, M.D. PCRM President
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400 Washington, DC 20016	Phone: 202-686-2210 E-mail: info@pcrm.org

Maine Passes GE Crop Bill to Protect Farmers

(Beyond Pesticides, April 14, 2008) After almost a year and a half of debate on genetically engineered (GE) crops, the Maine Legislature passed a bill last week to protect farmers from genetic trespass. According to Protect Maine Farmers, the bill prevents lawsuits for patent infringement against farmers who unintentionally end up with GE material in their crops; ensures lawsuits that do occur will be held in the state of Maine; and, directs the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources to develop and implement specific practices, or Best Management Practices, for growing GE crops. One component of the bill that was supported by many Maine farmers but failed would have required all businesses selling GE seeds in Maine to report their annual sales data to the Maine Commissioner of Agriculture.

“Maine’s farmers now have some substantial assurance that if they save seed that has been contaminated by [GE] varieties, they are not at risk for a lawsuit,” states Logan Perkins, the lead organizer for Protect Maine Farmers. “Hopefully, the development of these Best Management Practices will give farmers the information they need to make good decisions about how to protect themselves, their livelihoods and their neighbors when using [GE] crops.” North Dakota, South Dakota and Indiana have already passed similar legislation.

Think Hybrids Are Slow, Underpowered and Dull? Think Again!

Let’s face it; everyone wants a fun, fast, good looking car to drive, even us ‘greenies’.  However, the current hybrid ‘thinking’ is focused primarily on utilitarian service; just moving people from point A to point B.  Sure it is a step in the right direction, but the public continues to buy gas guzzlers, even when gas reached $3 a gallon.  Well, let’s see if a 640hp, 0-60 in 4 seconds BMW Mini Cooper will catch the publics attention!

 

A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.

The benefits of PML in-wheel drive technology are;

* It is adaptable to other vehicle chassis
* It eliminates the need for gearing and mechanical drive train
* It allows more space inside the car

The vehicle has three driver-selectable modes of operation:

* Eco mode for town/city frequent start-stop driving;
* Normal mode for daily commuting and ICE- equivalent operation, and
* Sport mode for super car performance.

Read more at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php