Pedigree dogs are suffering from genetic diseases following years of inbreeding, an investigation has found.

A BBC documentary says they are suffering acute problems because looks are emphasised over health when breeding dogs for shows.

The programme shows spaniels with brains too big for their skulls and boxers suffering from epilepsy.

The Kennel Club says it works tirelessly to improve the health of pedigree dogs.

Pedigree animals make up 75% of the seven million dogs in the UK and cost their owners over £10m in vets' fees each week.

Poor health

The programme, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, says dogs suffering from genetic illness are not prevented from competing in dog shows and have gone on to win "best in breed", despite their poor health.

It says physical traits required by the Kennel Club's breed standards, such as short faces, wrinkling, screw-tails and dwarfism, have inherent health problems.

Other problems occur because of exaggerations bred into dogs by breeders trying to win rosettes, it adds.

The end of our little rock...?

Be a bit of a pain if it did, wouldn't it? And the most frustrating thing is that we won't know for sure either way until the European laboratory for particle physics (Cern) in Geneva switches on its Large Hadron Collider the day after tomorrow.

If you think it's unlikely that we will all be sucked into a giant black hole that will swallow the world, as German chemistry professor Otto Rössler of the University of Tübingen posits, and so carry on with your life as normal, only to find out that it's true, you'll be a bit miffed, won't you?

If, on the other hand, you disagree with theoretical physicist Prof Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of the UK Atomic Energy Agency, who argues that fears of possible global self-ingestion have been exaggerated, and decide to live the next two days as if they were your last, and then nothing whatsoever happens, you'd feel a bit of a fool too.

Rössler apparently thinks it "quite plausible" that the "mini black holes" the Cern atom-smasher creates "will survive and grow exponentially and eat the planet from the inside". So convinced is he that he has lodged an EU court lawsuit alleging that the project violates the right to life guaranteed under the European Convention of Human Rights

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When Oppenheimer blew up the first atom bomb in the Nevada desert, there was a similar fear. Would the nuclear reaction stop at the fissile material or spread through the fabric of other matters beyond human control? Lucky, although it is possible to destroy the core nucleus of non-fissile material, there is not enough energy in an atom bomb to crack anything beyond our stupidity. But we'll give it a good try... We might be lucky with the new nut cracker, no black hole will form. Or black holes may have a critical size before they start becoming the relentless sewer of light and matter. We think we know they have a critical large (small pin head) size at which they start spewing their breakfast on the sideral pavement...

I don't think we should try to find out by smashing something, without insurance.

Warning sounded on web's future
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web.

Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.

Sir Tim was speaking in advance of an announcement about a Foundation he has helped create that he hopes will improve the World Wide Web.

Future proof

Sir Tim talked to the BBC in the week in which Cern, where he did his pioneering work on the web, turned on the Large Hadron Collider for the first time.

The use of the web to spread fears that flicking the switch on the LHC could create a Black Hole that could swallow up the Earth particularly concerned him, he said. In a similar vein was the spread of rumours that the MMR vaccine given to children in Britain was harmful.

Sir Tim told BBC News that there needed to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources.

"On the web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable," he said. "A sort of conspiracy theory of sorts and which you can imagine spreading to thousands of people and being deeply damaging."

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No... we would not do that? 

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Though the Large Hadron Collider's infiltration by hackers did not disrupt the $6 billion project, experts warn that its computer systems are vulnerable -- though at least their exploitation won't destroy Earth.

Shortly after physicists activated the Collider on Wednesday, hackers identifying themselves as Group 2600 of the Greek Security Team accessed computers connected to the Compact Muon Solenoid detector, one of four key subsystems responsible for monitoring the collisions of protons speeding around the 18-mile track near Geneva, Switzerland.

A few scientists had worried that the experiment could inadvertently create a planet-swallowing black hole. Physicists called this impossible, or at least extraordinarily unlikely. But the hack raises a different sort of worst-case scenario: the largest and most complicated science experiment in history, intended to reveal basic information about the composition of matter, derailed by malevolent intruders.

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As long as we don't have to live in net-rooms, like some people do in Japan, all's fine in the finest of the worlds... But then we're told there is a zillion piece of information out there that we should know about, doubling every week or so... In fact, there may be only one ugly bit useful and half a piece close to the relative truth...

Sure there is plenty of blogs and sites about the "absolute truth" of god, thus see my drift... At least some science is still investigating...

Some special entities still on the net might have to rely in the future on private networks supplying special cables or bandwidths that are not connected to the WWW. Thus outsiders can have no part in hacking from the comfort of their armchairs. They would need to find buried entry points beyond their reach. I believe such non-aligned parallel networks already exist but are not listed or known.

Actually they might have existed for a very long time... In the sixties, spies used some various bandwidth to transmit crude data at high speed. For example a machine would send a few minute-long recording in ten seconds. Then, it was hard for other spies agencies to detect as bandwidths would be changed daily or hourly and transmission would appear like unformatted "industrial noise" should they be intercepted.

These days, despite the encryption of data on the WWW, a computer hacker with proper programming skills can unravel most stuff within a hour. Of course a lot of serious data is encrypted in various format every thirty seconds, but the safest way in delicate or secret operations is not to be connected to the WWW.

Most likely some financial institutions, the CIA and some governments around the world have their own communication networks with super-encryption to boot, separate from the rudimentary WWW.

WWW is for clods like us... WWW is for the proletariat, for the masses, more entertaining slosh than real clout...

Still WWW is worth it's weight in megabytes despite its idiosyncrasies and weaknesses.  It allows us to communicate beyond our villages to the rest of the world. And stuff the secret bizos!!!.... They will never surpass the devious ingenuity of the common human.

Hopefully we still be able to collect real information away from the entertaining fodder sloshing on the WWW...

Rules on Bioengineered Animals

FDA to Release Guidelines for Stages of Genetic Modification

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2008; A02

The Food and Drug Administration will release today long-awaited regulatory guidelines governing genetic engineering of animals for food, drugs or medical devices.

Although none of the provisions is likely to surprise the biotech industry, their formal appearance after years of discussion is expected to energize a field whose commercial potential is huge but so far unrealized.

The agency's regulatory control of animals will be considerably stronger than its oversight of genetically engineered plants and microorganisms. The latter -- or substances derived from them -- are on the market and, in some cases, have proved controversial.

The guidelines tell companies what the FDA wants to know about their work at virtually every stage of creating an engineered animal.

For example, biotech firms will be asked to provide the molecular identity of snippets of DNA inserted in an animal's genome, as well as where the genetic message lands and whether it descends unaltered through subsequent generations. The FDA also wants to be told how the genetic alterations might change an animal's health, behavior and nutritional value.

The companies also should inform the agency how they will keep track of animals, prevent them from mingling with their non-engineered cousins and dispose of them when they die.

Genetically engineered animals -- salmon, pigs, cows and goats are in development -- are expected to have two main uses. Some will be food animals whose new genetic endowment makes them disease-resistant, faster-growing or more nutritious. Others will be genetically engineered to produce medically useful substances, such as hormones or antibodies, in their organs or body fluids.

Pigs that are able to more easily absorb phosphorus, and therefore need less feed supplementation, are being developed in Ontario. Goats that produce spider silk in their milk are being made in Wyoming.

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As mentioned below the toon at top, disaster beckons...

Celtic revolt against Westminster over GM crops

Scottish ministers plan to link up with Wales and Northern Ireland to head off attempts to grow modified food on home soil

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Scotland has vowed to remain GM-free

Ministers are facing an unprecedented Celtic revolt from their Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts as they launch a new campaign to plant GM crops in Britain.

All three devolved governments have declared themselves implacably opposed to any modified crops in their territory, setting the scene for one of their sharpest-ever confrontations with Westminster. And their opposition is likely to have an impact throughout Europe, sapping the UK's hitherto obdurate support for the introduction of the technology throughout the Continent.

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Good one... Praise these governments and see the toon at top.

The F.D.A. and Engineered Food

To the Editor:

Re “Coming to a Plate Near You” (editorial, Oct. 4):

We agree with you that the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed regulation of genetically engineered animals is more rigorous than its regulation of genetically engineered crops or cloned animals. Unfortunately, however, the F.D.A. will not be as rigorous as it needs to be.

The agency may assess environmental impact, but it is not required to prohibit an animal that causes environmental damage.

Although the F.D.A. says it will protect the animal’s health, we note that it approved the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals even though the data show that more than 50 percent of cow clones are born with an abnormality known as large offspring syndrome, which adversely affects their health.

Perhaps more important, the F.D.A. proposal has one glaring defect: there is no requirement to label food that comes from genetically engineered animals. Surveys clearly show that the vast majority of Americans want genetically engineered animals to be labeled as such. By not requiring labeling, the F.D.A. will take away a consumer’s right to know and right to choose what she eats.

Michael Hansen
Senior Scientist, Consumers Union
Yonkers, Oct. 6, 2008

•

Europe's secret plan to boost GM crop production

Gordon Brown and other EU leaders in campaign to promote modified foods

By Geoffrey Lean
Sunday, 26 October 2008
GM corn growing in France, which has since suspended cultivation of modified crops

Gordon Brown and other European leaders are secretly preparing an unprecedented campaign to spread GM crops and foods in Britain and throughout the continent, confidential documents obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveal.

The documents – minutes of a series of private meetings of representatives of 27 governments – disclose plans to "speed up" the introduction of the modified crops and foods and to "deal with" public resistance to them.

And they show that the leaders want "agricultural representatives" and "industry" – presumably including giant biotech firms such as Monsanto – to be more vocal to counteract the "vested interests" of environmentalists.

News of the secret plans is bound to create a storm of protest at a time when popular concern about GM technology is increasing, even in countries that have so far accepted it.

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Gus: on this site we have exposed the many problems associated with GM crops, including the fact that — unlike GM animals (another abomination) — once in the open fields, their corrupted genes will enter the entire food chain rapidly. Corn, cotton (cotton seed oil).

Independent tests have show there is no advantage with GM crops, except on the yeild which can be 100 per cent harvested "clear of weed and pests" as strong insecticides and herbicides can be used to grow then. Meanwhile the planet is loosing its insects, its birds and being poisoned with Roundup — and other nasty substances in the millions of tonnes.

As well, independent studies have shown that GM food may not be as healthy as tooted by the manufacturers. Some degeneration of liver and kidneys have been noted in mice when feed GM food

Other studies have shown that home grown "organic crops" could easily feed Africa without resorting to food donations or industrialisation of monoculture on this continent, should there be no wars. 

The major purpose of GM crops is for multinationals to hijack the production of food worldwide by providing "designer" seeds that are copyrighted for centuries to come — and new "minute modifications" can extend the value of patents beyond time we can imagine. The same applies to GM and cloned animals, except breeding can be more controlled, unlike seeds and pollen that can contaminate "clean organic crops" — this "accidental" contamination being a big part on the wish list of multinationals... Should your crop be "contaminated", they can then claim infringement of copyright... You're screwed...

So, are we going to let multinationals destroy nature from the genes upwards, eventually? The end game?: Money. Control.Denaturisation

Meanwhile some artitsts push our buttons...

Yes! We need to wake up from our comfort zone... and stop exploiting the convenience of being fat and lazy bums... or overdoing the calorie burning... NO TO GM CROPS!!!

Toughen up GM food labelling, say scientists
KELLY BURKE

State and Federal governments have promised an independent review of food labelling laws, which will revisit the "traffic light" system of labelling for salt, sugar and fat content.

The review was agreed to in principle at the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council in Adelaide on Friday and will also examine the issue of labelling all food sourced from genetically modified crops.

The decision coincided with an open letter signed by 15 internationally recognised scientists protesting over Australia's comparatively lax labelling laws for GE [genetically engineered] food, sent to the federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, last week.

The letter calls for an urgent independent review of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, noting that the authority is one of only a few regulators in the world to have approved every single application it has received for GE products.

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NO TO GM (or GE) CROPS!!! 

Gordon Brown and other European leaders are secretly preparing an unprecedented campaign to spread GM crops and foods in Britain and throughout the continent, confidential documents obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveal.  

The documents - minutes of a series of private meetings of representatives of 27 governments - disclose plans to "speed up" the introduction of the modified crops and foods and to "deal with" public resistance to them.  

And they show that the leaders want "agricultural representatives" and "industry" - presumably including giant biotech firms such as Monsanto - to be more vocal to counteract the "vested interests" of environmentalists.

News of the secret plans is bound to create a storm of protest at a time when popular concern about GM technology is increasing, even in countries that have so far accepted it.  

Public opposition has prevented any modified crops from being grown in Britain. France, one of only three countries in Europe to have grown them in any amounts, has suspended their cultivation, and resistance to them is rising rapidly in the other two, Spain and Portugal.  

Europe's Secret Plan To Boost GM Crop Production