Humans

In this Communiqué, ETC Group identifies the major corporate players that control industrial farm inputs. Together with our companion poster, Who will feed us? The industrial food chain or the peasant food web?, ETC Group aims to de-construct the myths surrounding the effectiveness of the industrial food system. ETC Group has been monitoring the power and global reach of agro-industrial corporations for several decades – including the increasingly consolidated control of agricultural inputs for the industrial food chain: proprietary seeds and livestock genetics, chemical pesticides and fertilizers and animal pharmaceuticals. Collectively, these inputs are the chemical and biological engines that drive industrial agriculture. This update documents the continuing concentration (surprise, surprise), but it also brings us to three conclusions important to both peasant producers and policy makers. 1. Cartels are commonplace, 2. The “invisible hold” of the market is growing, and 3. Climate research shows that we don’t know (that) we don’t know our food system.

All around him, even in a place as beautiful as the Little Qualicum River estuary, his office for 30 years as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service, he sees the unravelling of "the web of life." "It's happening very quickly," he says. Registered Professional Biologist Neil Dawe has written over 80 papers on birds, ecology and the environment. He received Environment Canada's Regional Citation of Excellence Award for his work in co-founding and co-chairing the Brant Wildlife Festival. He received the Outstanding Service Award from the Federation of B.C. Naturalists and the Ian McTaggart-Cowan Award of Excellence in Biology from the Association of Professional Biologists of B.C. In 2006, he retired from the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, after 31 years of managing National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries on Vancouver Island. He is President of the Qualicum Institute: www.qualicuminstitute.ca.

For more than 15 months, officials have tried to determine what sparked the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). They have identified bats with similar viruses in Africa and Eastern Europe, but had not yet found an exact match to MERS. In a report released published Aug. 21 in Emerging Infectious Diseases, an international team of doctors from EcoHealth Alliance and Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity pointed to the Egyptian tomb bat, an insect-eating bat that does not typically bite humans or come near human food supplies. Researchers collected about 100 fecal samples from seven species of bats living in three locations, veterinary epidemiologist Jonathan Epstein, of EcoHealth Alliance, explained to CBSNews.com. One of the bats was a perfect match for the MERS coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause conditions ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people during a 2003 pandemic.

Leipziger Wissenschaftler haben die extreme Belastung eines sächsischen Landwirts mit dem Pflanzengift Glyphosat festgestellt. Sie liegt um ein Tausendfaches höher als in durchschnittlichen Vergleichsproben, so die Veterinärin und Mikrobiologin Prof. Monika Krüger von der Universität Leipzig gegenüber dem MDR-Nachrichtenmagazin "exakt". Prof. Monika Krüger bezeichnet die ermittelten Werte im Urin des Landwirts als besorgniserregend. Glyphosat ist der weltweit am häufigsten eingesetzte Unkrautvernichter. Tausende Tonnen davon werden allein auf Feldern in Deutschland versprüht. Umweltverbände warnen seit Jahren vor möglichen gesundheitlichen Schäden durch Glyphosat und seine Zusatzstoffe. Gegenüber "exakt" bewertete die Referentin für Gentechnik und Naturschutz beim NABU, Steffi Ober, den Einsatz von glyphosathaltigen Mitteln als einen "Blindversuch an der gesamten Bevölkerung". Experten vermuten, dass die Vergiftung mit Glyphosat gefährlichen Botulismuserregern den Weg ebnet; Bakterien, die normalerweise gesunden Menschen nichts anhaben können. Der Landwirt in dem aktuellen Fall leidet seit längerer Zeit an massiven Nervenstörungen. Möglich erscheint nun, dass die Krankheitssymptome des Landwirts aus einer gleichzeitigen Vergiftung durch Glyphosat und Botulinumtoxin zu erklären sind. Prof. Monika Krüger: "Das ist unsere erste Vermutung, dass hier eine solche Wegbereitung durch das Glyphosat eintreten kann."

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a known neurotoxicant. Emerging evidence indicates it may have adverse effects on the neurologic and other body systems at common low levels of exposure. Impacts of MeHg exposure could vary by individual susceptibility or be confounded by beneficial nutrients in fish containing MeHg. Despite its global relevance, synthesis of the available literature on low-level MeHg exposure has been limited. We undertook a synthesis of the current knowledge on the human health effects of low-level MeHg exposure to provide a basis for future research efforts, risk assessment, and exposure remediation policies worldwide. We reviewed the published literature for original human epidemiologic research articles that reported a direct biomarker of mercury exposure. To focus on high-quality studies and those specifically on low mercury exposure, we excluded case series, as well as studies of populations with unusually high fish consumption (e.g., the Seychelles), marine mammal consumption (e.g., the Faroe Islands, circumpolar, and other indigenous populations), or consumption of highly contaminated fish (e.g., gold-mining regions in the Amazon). Recent evidence raises the possibility of effects of low-level MeHg exposure on fetal growth among susceptible subgroups and on infant growth in the first 2 years of life. Low-level effects of MeHg on neurologic outcomes may differ by age, sex, and timing of exposure. No clear pattern has been observed for cardio-vascular disease (CVD) risk across populations or for specific CVD end points. For the few studies evaluating immunologic effects associated with MeHg, results have been inconsistent. Studies targeted at identifying potential mechanisms of low-level MeHg effects and characterizing individual susceptibility, sexual dimorphism, and non-linearity in dose response would help guide future prevention, policy, and regulatory efforts surrounding MeHg exposure.

Assessment of whether pesticide exposure is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in children can best be addressed with a systematic review of both the human and animal peer-reviewed literature. This review analyzed epidemiologic studies testing the hypothesis that exposure to pesticides during pregnancy and/or early childhood is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. Studies that directly queried pesticide exposure (e.g., via questionnaire or interview) or measured pesticide or metabolite levels in biological specimens from study participants (e.g., blood, urine, etc.) or their immediate environment (e.g., personal air monitoring, home dust samples, etc.) were eligible for inclusion. Consistency, strength of association, and dose response were key elements of the framework utilized for evaluating epidemiologic studies. As a whole, the epidemiologic studies did not strongly implicate any particular pesticide as being causally related to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants and children. A few associations were unique for a health outcome and specific pesticide, and alternative hypotheses could not be ruled out. Our survey of the in vivo peer-reviewed published mammalian literature focused on effects of the specific active ingredient of pesticides on functional neurodevelopmental endpoints (i.e., behavior, neuropharmacology and neuropathology). In most cases, effects were noted at dose levels within the same order of magnitude or higher compared to the point of departure used for chronic risk assessments in the United States. Thus, although the published animal studies may have characterized potential neurodevelopmental outcomes using endpoints not required by guideline studies, the effects were generally observed at or above effect levels measured in repeated-dose toxicology studies submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Suggestions for improved exposure assessment in epidemiology studies and more effective and tiered approaches in animal testing are discussed.