Semen Has Anti-Aging Benefits? Heather Locklear Says So... -

Semen Has Anti-Aging Benefits? Heather Locklear Says So... - 


It's already been proven that Heather Locklear is doing a bang-up job aging with grace. (Seriously, she looks the same age as her 15-year-old daughter.) So when the 51-year-old actress offered up the secret to her great skin, we listened closely... and were subsequently grossed out.

In an on-camera conversation with TMZ reporters, she was asked if she had any recommendations for anti-aging skincare products. Her reply? "You just put semen on your face."

Leaving aside the fact that we can't tell if she's kidding, we have reason to actually take this one seriously. Sure, the thought is gross (as are TMZ's puns on the matter -- "shot to the face," anyone?) but the research is there: Semen may have anti-aging benefits.

Semen as an anti-aging treatment saw a spike in popularity (or at least curiosity) around 2009. Turns out spermine, one of the components of semen, is high in anti-oxidants and can be used to smooth out wrinkles. An enterprising Cosmo reporter even went and got a sperm facial at a swanky New York spa, confirming that her skin did feel smoother afterwards.

None of which convinces us to start incorporating spunk into our beauty routines. But hey, have you seen Heather Locklear lately? Her skin looks amazing.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/semen-anti-aging_n_3101168.html

Iceland Incest App Determines If Couples Are Too Closely Related To Have Sex -

Iceland Incest App Determines If Couples Are Too Closely Related To Have Sex - 



Avoiding incest in Iceland just got easier. A new app determines if hookups on the close-knit island nation are sharing too many roots in the family tree, News Of Iceland reports.

The "Islendingabók" ("Book of Icelanders") app allows amorous users to tap into a bloodline registry that judges whether romance is advisable.

The app's slogan, "bump the app before you bump in bed," invites would-be couples to bump their smartphones together for a verdict to prevent problems later.

Watch a demonstration of the app, above.

The database, which draws from 1,200 years of genealogical info, has been around since 1997, according to the New York Daily News. Before the app was developed, couples in Iceland had to search the database by typing in their names and Icelandic ID numbers. In the heat of the moment, that might be difficult.

Now, all it takes is a phone kiss.

As previously reported, the possibility of romancing a too-close relative is relatively high in Iceland, given that the island has around 300,000 mostly native residents.

According to GlobalPost, a little verbal investigation also helps to avoid inbreeding. "Hverra manna ert þú?" ("Who are your people?") is a common question exchanged.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/iceland-incest-app_n_3102152.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Google Glass will SELF-DESTRUCT if flogged on eBay - Techno-specs are for life, not just for Christmas -

Google Glass will SELF-DESTRUCT if flogged on eBay - Techno-specs are for life, not just for Christmas - 



Buyers of Google Glass have been warned they cannot sell their pricey new techno-spectacles on eBay or anywhere else.

In terms of sale posted on its website, the advertising giant said a Google Glass was for life, unless you wanted to give it away for nothing. Anyone who failed to follow the rules will have their devices remotely shut down.

The first Google Glass Explorer editions are rolling off the production lines and into the hands of early adopters who each paid $1,500 for an early version of the headgear. The hardware projects information into the wearer's field of view.

Google stated: "You may not commercially resell any device, but you may give the device as a gift. Recipients of gifts may need to open and maintain a Google Wallet account in order to receive support from Google. These terms will also apply to any gift recipient."

Then, tucked away in the footnotes, the Chocolate Factory added: "Unless otherwise authorized by Google, you may only purchase one device, and you may not resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person. If you [do this] without Google’s authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the device will be entitled to any refund, product support, or product warranty."

Google Glass is about as powerful as a mid-range smartphone. Although details of which processor its uses have not yet emerged, we do know it has a 5-megapixel camera, can shoot 720p video and features about 12GB of usuable storage from a total of 16GB. A battery charge will last the best part of a day, unless the wearer conducts video chats or records a lot of footage.

Apparently, the display is equivalent to watching a 25-inch television from eight feet away, we're told. Perhaps its strangest feature is its bone-conduction transducer, which generates sound by sending vibrations through bones in the ear.

It has already been banned from several places, including some strip clubs, over fears it could be used to film people without their knowledge.

A group called Stop the Cyborgs has launched a campaign against Google Glass after warning the device will create a world where "privacy is impossible and corporate control total".

Google is reportedly planning to set up stalls in America to sell Glass and big up the web giant's other products.

Read more -

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/18/google_glass_sales/

US Mint Sells Record 63,500 Ounces Of Gold In One Day - a whopping 2 tons on April 17th, 2013 -

US Mint Sells Record 63,500 Ounces Of Gold In One Day - a whopping 2 tons on April 17th, 2013 - 


One of the more curious revelations of the New Normal is the fundamental dichotomy when investing between paper "investors", or those who chase returns based on intangible, fiat-based and central bank-backed promises, such as capital appreciation or cash flow streams, and those who would rather convert their paper money into hard assets, even if said assets can not be, in the immortal words of Warren Buffett, fondled, or otherwise generate a cash-based return. Such as gold.

Today provides perhaps the perfect example of how the former increasingly trade on nothing but momentum and speculative mania (such as the previously reported record inflow of foreign capital into the Japanese stock market well after the bulk of the easy upside has already been made and at this point there is mostly downside) and where buying begets only more buying, while rampant selling only leads to liquidations, while those who invest in hard assets (and thus have little to no leverage) have become the true value investors, purchasing more as the price of the underlying asset drops. Yes, a novel concept to most High Frequency Trading vacuum tubes, and the momentum-chasing, equity trading "expert" du jour, but nothing new to Indians, Australians, Chinese or the Japanese.

And apparently to at least some Americans.

According to today's data from the US Mint, a record 63,500 ounces, or a whopping 2 tons, of gold were reported sold on April 17th alone, bringing the total sales for the month to a whopping 147,000 ounces or more than the previous two months combined with just half of the month gone.

Punchline number one, as the chart below shows, is that the more the price of gold fell, the more aggressive the purchases of physical gold through the Mint became, rising to 96,500 oz in the last two days alone. Buying more of something you want when the price drops: what a stunning concept - explain that to the algos who nearly crashed the German stock market overnight.

Punchline number two, of course, is that the US mint charges a hefty premium for purchases: much more so than traditional vendors like Apmex or Gainesville Coins, and is usually the last resort for when nobody else has any physical at a lower premium to spot (or any metal in inventory).



So how long until the US mint "runs out" of American Eagles and Buffaloes in inventory, along with the depletion of all other precious metal vendors? And what happens if the price of paper gold hits zero (or goes negative) courtesy of bank and financial institution liquidation selling of paper derivative contracts nebulously referencing some yellow metal somewhere, even as suddenly there is no physical to be delivered to anyone, anywhere?

Inquiring minds really want to know.

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-17/us-mint-sells-record-63500-ounces-gold-one-day

Gold Buying Frenzy Continues: China, Japan, And Australia Scramble For Physical -

Gold Buying Frenzy Continues: China, Japan, And Australia Scramble For Physical - 


We noted here that the plunge in the paper price of gold (and silver) had prompted considerable renewed demand for physical and now it seems the scramble among the "more stable investor base" is increasing. The shake out of ETFs and futures has left the Australian mint short of deliverables and Japanese and Chinese gold retailers seeing a "frenzied" surge in demand. The customers are not just the 'rich' or 'elderly'; in China "they tend to wear water shoes and come directly from the market...;" in Australia, "the volume of business... is way in excess of double what we did last week,... there’s been people running through the gate," and Japanese individual investors doubled gold purchases yesterday at Tokuriki Honten, the country’s second-largest retailer of the precious metal. The panic selling by a weaker 'imminent inflation-based' investor base has sparked physical shortages - "there’s been significant sales made as people see this as great value." It seems our previous discussions of a rotation from paper to physical were correct and this physical demand will eventually leak back into the paper markets.



Australia (via The Age):

Gold sales from Perth Mint, which refines nearly all of the nation’s bullion, have surged after prices plunged, adding to signs that the metal’s slump to a two-year low is spurring increased demand.

“The volume of business that we’re putting through is way in excess of double what we did last week,” Treasurer Nigel Moffatt said, without giving precise figures. “There’s been people running through the gate.”

...

“There’s been significant sales made as people see this as great value,” Mr Moffatt said. “Gold owners are very reactive to significant market movements.”

...

The Perth Mint’s sales of gold coins climbed 49 per cent to 97,541 ounces in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier
China (via China News):

Beijing gold store two hours to sell 20,000 grams of gold bullion trading volume of nearly 200 million
and (via YCWB):

People have to rush to buy gold, ... gold bullion out of stock yesterday, investors yesterday to spend as much as 600 million yuan to buy 20 kilograms of gold bars

The mad pursuit gold insufficiency is not just a game for the rich. Yesterday, the Yangcheng Evening News reporter learned from the East flowers to Bay store, many growers, pork traffickers, fishmonger recently put down his job went straight to the mall to buy gold.
Japan (via Reuters):

Some Japanese also harbor fears that the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies dubbed "Abenomics", coupled with a national debt more than twice as large as annual economic output, could trigger a crisis down the line.

Skeptics about the radical attempt to reflate the economy -- or those simply worried that a slide in the yen that began in anticipation of Abe's election victory last December will continue unabated -- are still buying gold, dealers say.

"Investors in gold are convinced that Japan's fiscal position will get worse," said Wakako Harada, general manager of Japan's top bullion house, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo.

"What I see at our counter is that more people are getting worried about Japan. That's why we are seeing a lot of buying."

...

"In contrast this time, we are seeing interest to buy on dips to take exposures to gold,"

...

"Investors are using this opportunity to buy gold to diversify beyond bonds, stocks and the yen currency as Japan's fiscal situation could deteriorate."
(via The Age):

Japanese individual investors doubled gold purchases yesterday at Tokuriki Honten, the country’s second-largest retailer of the precious metal.

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-17/gold-buying-frenzy-continues-china-japan-and-australia-scramble-physical

Florida battles giant stucco-eating Snails - can grow as big as a Rat -

Florida battles giant stucco-eating Snails - can grow as big as a Rat - 


South Florida is fighting a growing infestation of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.
More than 1,000 of the molluscs are being caught each week in the Miami-Dade area and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state’s rainy season in just seven weeks, Feiber said.
The snails attack “over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that’s in their path and green,” Feiber said.
In some Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, which are overrun with the creatures, the snails’ shells blow out tires on the highway and turn into hurling projectiles from lawn mower blades, while their slime and excrement coat walls and pavement.
“It becomes a slick mess,” Feiber said.
A typical snail can produce about 1,200 eggs a year and the creatures are a particular pest in homes because of their fondness for stucco, devoured for the calcium content they need for their shells.
The snails also carry a parasitic rat lungworm that can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis, Feiber said, although no such cases have yet been identified in the United States.
The snails’ saga is something of a sequel to the Florida horror show of exotic species invasions, including the well-known infestation of giant Burmese pythons, which became established in the Everglades in 2000. There is a long list of destructive non-native species that thrive in the state’s moist, subtropical climate.
Experts gathered last week in Gainesville, Fla., for a Giant African Land Snail Science Symposium to seek the best ways to eradicate the molluscs, including use of a stronger bait approved recently by Washington.
Feiber said investigators were trying to trace the snail infestation source. One possibility being examined is a Miami Santeria group, a religion with West African and Caribbean roots, which was found in 2010 to be using the large snails in its rituals, she said. But many exotic species come into the United States unintentionally in freight or tourists’ baggage.
“If you got a ham sandwich in Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, or an orange, and you didn’t eat it all and you bring it back into the States and then you discard it, at some point, things can emerge from those products,” Feiber said.
Authorities are expanding a series of announcements on buses, billboards and in movie theatres urging the public to be on the lookout.
The last known Florida invasion of the giant molluscs occurred in 1966, when a boy returning to Miami from a vacation in Hawaii brought back three of them, possibly in his jacket pockets. His grandmother eventually released the snails into her garden, where the population grew in seven years to 17,000 snails. The state spent $1 million and 10 years eradicating them.
Feiber said many people unfamiliar with the danger viewed the snails as cute pets.
“They’re huge, they move around, they look like they’re looking at you ... communicating with you, and people enjoy them for that,” Feiber said. “But they don’t realize the devastation they can create if they are released into the environment where they don’t have any natural enemies and they thrive.”

Read more -

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/14/florida_battles_giant_stuccoeating_snails.html

Kidney grown in lab successfully transplanted into animal - a major step towards personalised transplant organs -

Kidney grown in lab successfully transplanted into animal - a major step towards personalised transplant organs - 


Scientists have grown a kidney in a laboratory and shown that it works when implanted into a living animal. The work is an important step towards the longer-term goal of growing personalised replacement organs that could be transplanted into people with kidney failure.

More than 51,000 people are treated every year in the UK for end-stage kidney failure and 90% of those are on the waiting list for organs are waiting for kidneys. A shortage of organs means that every year fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out, however, while more than 3,000 people die waiting for a transplant.

There is no cure for kidney failure. The only available treatments – dialysis or receiving a transplant – just buy a patient more time but come with considerable limitations on quality of life. A patient on dialysis is advised to drink less than a litre of fluid per day, for example. And kidney transplants only last between 10 to 15 years on average, in addition to any complications caused by immune rejection.

Finding a new source of replacement organs that could be grown using the patient's own cells and that could last a lifetime would, therefore, be a big leap forward.

In the latest work, Harald Ott of Massachusetts General hospital led a team of scientists who grew a kidney by using an experimental technique that has previously been used to create working hearts, lungs and livers.

Ott first took a rat kidney and stripped out its functional cells using a solution of detergent. That left behind a white cellular matrix, the collagen scaffold that gives the organ its three-dimensional structure.

His team then introduced kidney and blood vessel cells from newborn rats onto the scaffold and cultured the growing organs for 12 days, until the cells had grown to cover the scaffold. The team then implanted the organ into a living rat, where it successfully filtered the animal's blood and produced urine. The work is published on Sunday in Nature Medicine.

The work builds on methods pioneered by the American bioengineer Doris Taylor, who first used it in 2008 to grow whole, beating hearts. She described the collagen structure left behind after the bleach had done its work as being like the "gristle" in a steak.

According to Ott, further refinement of the technique would be needed, but it could lead to bioengineered kidneys one day replacing diseased or damaged kidneys in the same way that donor kidneys via transplant do now. Ideally, the engineered kidneys would be grown from a patient's own cells, thereby removing the need for the patient to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives.

Elaine Davies, head of research operations at Kidney Research UK, called Ott's work "fascinating science", which would provide hope for kidney patients and those at risk of kidney disease.

But she cautioned that patients should not expect imminent human trials. "This whole regenerative medicine approach is still really in its infancy in terms of kidney disease," she said.

"Predominantly, it's just the fact that the kidney is a much more complex organ in terms of being able to replicate its anatomy and physiology when you compare it to other organs like skin or heart. It has many different types of cells within it and it has a very complex structure in terms of the different functions it performs.

"There's hope with a caution. I'm not saying we won't get there but it could be in [many] decades' time."

According to Davies, not enough patients are diagnosed early in primary care, which would allow preventive measures such as lifestyle changes to delay or avoid kidney failure. "It's a growing health burden."

"We're predicting that there are 3 million people at risk of kidney disease in the UK," she added.

Read more - 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/14/kidney-grown-lab-transplanted-animal

Study Finds New Way to Clear Cholesterol from Blood -

Study Finds New Way to Clear Cholesterol from Blood - 


Scientists led by Prof David Ginsburg of the University of Michigan’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute inhibited the action of a gene responsible for transporting a protein that interferes with the ability of the liver to remove cholesterol from the blood in mice. Trapping the destructive protein where it couldn’t harm receptors responsible for removing cholesterol preserved the liver cells’ capacity to clear plasma cholesterol from the blood, but did not appear to otherwise affect the health of the mice.

In the research, scientists found that mice with an inactive SEC24A gene could develop normally. However, their plasma cholesterol levels were reduced by 45 percent because vesicles from liver cells were not able to recruit and transport a critical regulator of blood cholesterol levels called proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9).

PCSK9 is a secretory protein that destroys the liver cells’ receptors of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol), and prevents the cells from removing the LDL.

“Inhibiting SEC24A or PCSK9 may be an alternative to statins, and could work together with statins to produce even greater effects,” said first study author Dr Xiao-Wei Chen from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “Also, they might be effective on patients who are resistant to or intolerant of statins.”

Initial studies of anti-PCSK9 therapies in humans have shown that eliminating PCSK9 can lower cholesterol dramatically and work with statins like Lipitor to lower it even further. The new study points to a new area for study: rather than inhibiting PCSK9 itself, perhaps future therapies could block the transport mechanism that allows the destructive protein to reach the LDL receptors.

The study explains the mechanism by which cells transport PCSK9. Vesicles transport proteins in the cell – Prof Ginsburg’s team focused on a specialized type of vesicle packaged by the Coat Protein Complex II, which regulates the metabolism of cholesterol, among many other things. These vesicles selectively transport cargo proteins including PCSK9.

Without those LDL receptors (LDLR), liver cells are not able to remove LDLs from the bloodstream, so protecting the LDLR from PCSK9 would allow the receptors to continue to remove cholesterol.

“Without SEC24A, much of the PCSK9 couldn’t make its way out of the cells to destroy the LDLR, which then clears cholesterol from the blood,” Dr Chen said.

The part of the vesicle that selects which proteins to transport is SEC24. By blocking SEC24A gene, the researchers disabled the vesicle’s selection of PCSK9. The destructive protein remained trapped within the cells, leaving the LDLR intact and enabling the liver to clear the body of cholesterol that otherwise could accumulate in arteries.

“We have no reason at this point to expect that this strategy will be any better than anti-PCSK9 therapy for treating high cholesterol, but it would be another alternative approach, and it’s hard to predict which drugs will work the best and be the safest until we actually try them out in people,” Prof Ginsburg said.

Read more -

http://www.sci-news.com/medicine/article00997.html

Interest on Student Loans to Give US Government $34 Billion a Year in Revenue -

Interest on Student Loans to Give US Government $34 Billion a Year in Revenue - 


Even as the economy struggles to recover from the bursting of the sub-prime mortgage debt bubble in 2008 a new debt crisis over student loans looms on the horizon, and this time the federal government is actually profiting off of debtors. If a coming interest rate increase is not averted by Congress, millions of student borrowers could be thrown into default, with devastating consequences not only for themselves but for the economy as a whole.

At present, student loan debt stands at $1.1 trillion, more than all other consumer debt except for home mortgages. Some experts, including those at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research, warn that student debt is a potential threat to financial stability that could depress demand for home mortgages and reduce consumption.

Meanwhile, the federal Department of Education is making big money from student loan payments. Its direct loan program yielded a $27.5 billion profit on loans made in 2011, $24 billion on loans made in 2012, and is expected to earn $33.5 billion on loans made in 2013. All told, over the last five years the government has earned $101.8 billion in profit from student borrowers, thanks to differences between the government’s low borrowing costs and students’ fixed interest rates.

Read more -

http://www.allgov.com/news/where-is-the-money-going/interest-on-student-loans-to-give-government-34-billion-dollars-a-year-in-revenue-130414?news=849733

Poison Apples: “Organic” Fruit can be Tainted by Antibiotics until Fall 2014 -

Poison Apples: “Organic” Fruit can be Tainted by Antibiotics until Fall 2014 - 


There’s a dirty little secret in some organic fruit orchards.

That juicy apple or pear that you just paid triple the price for may have been sprayed with antibiotics.

Yep – that’s right.  The USDA has approved “new options for organic producers and processors.”  

Last August, the USDA quietly released this ruling:

The National Organic Program published a final rule today that addresses the use of three substances in organic agriculture with specific limitations that would support production and processing of organic products.
Effective August 3, the allowance for the use of tetracycline in organic apple and pear production will be extended until Oct. 21, 2014, providing two years for the development of alternatives for fire blight control. Additionally, producers will have the option of using formic acid as a means of controlling varroa and tracheal mites in organic honey bee operations, while processors will have the option of using attapulgite, a nonsynthetic processing aid, for purification of plant and animal oils.
So those outrageously expensive organic products may have been treated with tetracycline, formic acid, and attapulgite, none of which really sound that organic to me.  (Formic acid and attapulgite will be discussed in upcoming articles).

The tetracycline came into use as a disease called “fire blight” has swept through the nation’s orchards. It has been allowed to be used in  orchards bearing organic certifications since 2002.  I thought that avoiding conventionally farmed meats would be enough to protect us from random doses of antibiotics, never considering that the fruit I purchased would have been treated with them.  In a world that is hurtling towards an antibiotic apocalypse, this is an outrage.  Lizzie Bennett wrote:

The message the article contains is blunt, unequivocal and terrifying. Professor Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England said:

It is clear we might never see global warming. The apocalyptic scenario is that when I need a new hip in 20 years I’ll die from a routine infection because we’ve run out of antibiotics”

20 years. Two decades. Our lifetime.
The World Health Organisation has also issue a warning saying that the world is moving towards a ‘post antibiotic era’ unless urgent action is taken.

According to the Organic Consumers Association, the practice of spraying fruit with antibiotics is a real concern.  ”Use of antibiotics on fruit trees may not play as important a role in antibiotic resistance as the rampant use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in livestock, but it does have an impact on the pool of antibiotic-resistant bacteria – something organic agriculture should not be a part of…Every time you eat an organic apple or pear, you risk exposing your gut flora to measureable levels of streptomycin and tetracycline. This increases your chances of developing resistance to these important antibiotics, both of which are essential to treating human disease.”

Tetracycline is the weapon of choice against fire blight, a serious disease that can wipe out entire orchards in one season. It has proven effective in treating the trees.  However, according to a report by the Cornucopia Institute, “Medical experts testified that environmental contamination, by using air blast sprayers to apply the same antibiotics as humans depend on, over wide acreage, is a significant danger in developing antibiotic resistant bacteria.”

According to Wikipedia, “ Tetracycline is a broad-spectrum polyketide antibiotic produced by the Streptomyces genus of Actinobacteria, indicated for use against many bacterial infections.”  WebMD discusses some of the problematic side effects of tetracycline:

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, mouth sores, black hairy tongue, sore throat, dizziness, headache, or rectal discomfort may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur:sunburn (sun sensitivity), nail discoloration, muscle pain, difficult or painful swallowing, change in the amount of urine, brown/gray tooth discoloration, numbness/tingling of the hands/feet, unusual fatigue, new signs of infection (e.g., persistent sore throat, fever, chills).
Tell your doctor immediately if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur: hearing changes (e.g., ringing in the ears, decreased hearing), persistent or severe headache, vision changes (e.g., blurred vision), easy bruising/bleeding, severe stomach/abdominal pain, yellowing eyes/skin, dark urine.

This medication may rarely cause a severe intestinal condition (Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea) due to a resistant bacteria. This condition may occur during treatment or weeks to months after treatment has stopped.. Do not use anti-diarrhea products or narcotic pain medications if you have the following symptoms because these products may make them worse. Tell your doctor immediately if you develop: persistent diarrhea, abdominal or stomach pain/cramping, blood/mucus in your stool..

Use of this medication for prolonged or repeated periods may result in oral thrush or a new yeast infection (oral or vaginal fungal infection). Contact your doctor if you notice white patches in your mouth, a change in vaginal discharge or other new symptoms.

A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include: rash, skin lesions/sores, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing, new or worsening swelling/pain in the joints, chest pain, fast/irregular heartbeat.

This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.

As someone who grows food for my own family, I certainly can’t argue with the fact that a farmer would not want to lose an entire orchard.  In the same situation, I would probably treat my fruit trees, albeit grudgingly.  BUT I WOULD NOT CALL THE HARVEST “ORGANIC” and therein lies my issue with the treatment of organic fruit.

So how is it that these fruits still bear an organic label?  The USDA explains it:

While organic principles require the use of biological, physical or mechanical methods or natural controls to prevent or control crop pests, weeds, and diseases, the organic regulations permit use of carefully evaluated inputs when natural methods are insufficient to address critical issues of production.
Not only do we have to worry about our own antibiotic resistance when consuming fruit, the blights themselves are becoming resistant to the antibiotics.  Initially they were treated with a different antibiotic, streptomycin.  Fire blight is now resistant to that drug and that’s why farmers are using tetracycline.  Clearly there’s a pattern developing, and they will have to step up to an even stronger antibiotic in the future.  “To the degree that fire blight is becoming resistant to these antibiotics, it’s their own race to the bottom,” says Consumers Union’s Urvashi Rangan, director of consumer safety and sustainability.

Read more -

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Poison_Apples%3A_%E2%80%9COrganic%E2%80%9D_Fruit_can_be_Tainted_by_Antibiotics_until_Fall_2014/25317/0/38/38/Y/M.html