Fill ‘er Up!
Jun 9 at 5:05pm by Aileen
…with Bug Juice, please.
When I started college in the late 1960s in Oklahoma, I could buy gas for my Volkswagon Bug for 19.9¢ a gallon. That’s 5 gallons for a dollar, enough to drive home to visit the folks, drive around town to see friends, and get back to college without having to stop at a gas station. This past weekend I drove our little pickup to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to see an old Navy buddy, a round trip equivalent to that past Oklahoma weekend trek. Gas for the journey cost us right around $50. A dollar’s worth won’t get me to the grocery store and back any more, and it doesn’t look like the price is ever going to come down.
The going price per barrel of petroleum is pushing $150 hard and will probably go over $200 before the end of the year. Diesel fuel is a dollar more expensive than gasoline, and the price of everything grown on a farm and transported by ship, train or truck must go up accordingly.
The good news - or, at least the hopeful news is that progress is being made in deciding what replacement fuels we should be developing. Most people are skeptical of corn-based ethanol and the diversion of food crops as well as crop land to biofuels. And while new techniques can make biofuels from native vegetation like switchgrass or even algae, the fact is that plants aren’t very efficient at converting solar energy into the biomass required.
Biotech researchers are now turning to engineered microorganisms as both helpers in turning biomass into fuels and as fuel themselves - photosynthetic bacteria that can capture sunlight energy 100 times more efficiently than plants - that can be grown in massive amounts without competing for cropland.
It does appear that the time has finally come when human civilization must change its ways, the only questions being how much it’s going to hurt regular people and which nations and/or multinational corporations will corner the markets. Perhaps biotechnology can be put to good use creating new fuel sources instead of turning staple foods into pesticides. That would be a positive change of focus, help get the tarnish of public resistance off the biotech bus, and maybe even save the planet.
But you and I will probably be paying at least $5 a gallon to fill our tanks, no matter what kind of fuels are developed. Just something we’ll have to get used to.
Links:
New Source for Biofuels Discovered
Harnessing Microbes to Meet Future Energy Needs
Are microbes the answer to the energy crisis?
Biotech Propaganda Meets Scientific Reality
Apr 29 at 6:06pm by Aileen
In its mad bid to privatize and control the world’s agriculture and food supply with its patented biotech seeds and cushy revolving door within governmental regulatory agencies, Monsanto cannot be very happy with a recent Soil Association report that shows GM crops decrease yields, whether it’s cotton or soybeans or corn.
As reported in The Washington Post, the biotech industry immediately released yet another bought-and-paid-for report claiming totally opposite conclusions (some things don’t change just because the science is against you). The Soil Association report took a serious look at reality, something quite refreshing in this field. The material included among other citations:
• a 2007 study from Kansas State University that showed Roundup Ready soy has suffered “yield drag” since it was introduced, producing an average of 9-25% less per acre than conventional soy.
• a rigorous independent US study under controlled conditions demonstrating that Bt corn yields up to 12% less than conventional corn.
• an article in Nature Biotechnology reporting that Bt cotton doesn’t even express the engineered pesticide in 25% of some varieties sold under exclusive license.
The crop failures and their tragic effects on farmers in poorer nations may be a product of the technology itself according to some analysts.
Read the rest of this entry »
Ebola Vaccines Successful in Primates
Mar 31 at 8:08pm by Aileen
Soon to enter human trials
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting this week that researchers from the US and Canada have successfully tested several vaccines for Ebola in primates, and are now seeking to modify them for human use.
This is a significant development not because Ebola in its natural habitat is such a grave danger to humanity, but because it’s got a 90% fatality rate and thus represents a threat to humanity as a bioweapon. While Ebola is not easily spread (direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or animal is required), officials have long been concerned that it could be “weaponized” - as has been done with anthrax, for instance - into a form that will be easily infective. There have been just over 1500 documented cases of Ebola in humans, and so far it does not seem to have been used as a bioweapon.
The Federation of American Scientists maintains an Ebola Fact Sheet indicating that the Soviet Union probably investigated weaponizing Ebola. There have been three reported incidents of researchers being infected after being stuck with contaminated syringes. Those in England and the U.S. recovered, one in Russia died. There is no effective treatment for the disease, and while the current research is hopeful, there is no vaccine to prevent it.
The biosafety threat level for Ebola is 4, a rating it shares with the 18 other hemorrhagic fevers it is akin to. Because the dead virus does not produce an effective immune response, researchers have been trying several different recombinant DNA techniques. The latest, most effective candidates are soon to be tested on humans. It is hoped that if the testing proves successful, the techniques will be as useful in developing vaccines for other hemorrhagic fever viruses, HIV and avian influenza.
Links:
Vaccine for Ebola Virus Successful in Primates
Ebola Fact Sheet
Genetically Engineered Corn Endangers Aquatic Ecosystems
Nov 15 at 7:07pm by Aileen
The Chicago Tribune reports this week that scientists at Loyola University have established that the pollen, leaves and other plant parts of corn engineered to kill the European corn borer with Bt toxins could endanger the American midwest’s aquatic ecosystems when washed into nearby streams.
When eaten by aquatic insects called caddisflies, the Bt toxin stunts growth and increases mortality. These insects are food for fish and amphibians in the ecosystem. The scientists reportedly ‘feel’ that such unanticipated effects of GE technology need to be investigated, but of course the EPA and USDA (and Monsanto) don’t feel that way at all.
It might be difficult to separate the effects of GE plant wastes from the general toxic overload caused by modern agribusiness mega-farming practices, which also cause death and deformity among aquatic life forms and amphibians in midwestern ecosystems. And while consumers at home and abroad have made it known that they do not wish to consume genetically engineered pesticides disguised as food, the new market for corn as ethanol fodder makes it unlikely that GM corn is going to be phased out any time soon.
Related Links:
Older farmers less likely to plant Bt corn
GM corn might affect ecosystems
Eat to Live: 1 million against GM food
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