Health secretary on Obamacare website: 'You deserve better'

Google – AFP, Michael Mathes (AFP), 30 October 2013

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies before the 

House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing about the troubled launch of 

the Healthcare.gov website October 30, 2013 in Washington, DC (AFP, Karen Bleier)

Henry Waxman:Washington (United States) — President Barack Obama's health secretary publicly apologized Wednesday for the rocky rollout of the US health care law's new website, stressing that citizens "deserve better" from the system.

But while Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius regretted that navigating HealthCare.gov has been a "miserably frustrating experience" for many, she insisted that so-called "Obamacare" has been working well for millions of Americans.

For his part, Obama was to travel to Massachusetts later in the day to defend his signature reforms in the state where his former Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney adopted a similar system in 2006.

"Today, 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance coverage and the primary attacks against this law -? many of which we are hearing again today about the ACA ?- never proved true," a White House official said.

Health and Human Services Secretary

 Kathleen Sebelius is sworn-in at the

 beginning of the House Energy and 

Commerce Committee hearing about

 the troubled launch of the Healthcare.gov

 website October 30, 2013 in Washington,

DC (AFP, Karen Bleier)

The pointwoman for the new health care law, however, sounded chastened about the trouble-plagued online portal through which millions are expected to register for health insurance.

"Let me say directly to these Americans: You deserve better. I apologize. I'm accountable to you for fixing these problems," Sebelius, the seniormost administration official to testify before Congress on the health care law, told a closely-watched House panel.

And when Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn grilled her and suggested the secretary was seeking to pawn off responsibility on contractors like Verizon, where a breakdown took the site offline last weekend, Sebelius interrupted to say she herself would take the heat.

"Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible," she said.

HealthCare.gov, which allows access to exchange marketplaces where Americans can purchase private insurance, debuted on October 1.

Committee chairman Fred Upton said he has seen little improvement in the website's performance since then, noting that his staff was "hit with an error message" even as they tried to use the page early Wednesday.

"Sadly here we are now five weeks into enrollment and the news seems to get worse by the day," Upton said.

"After more than three years to prepare, malfunctions have become the norm."

Sebelius's appearance marked the third congressional hearing in a week addressing the faulty start to Obamacare.

Critics like Blackburn have focused on how the health care law is booting millions of people off their plans, years after Obama told Americans that if they liked their health plan, they could keep it.

Sebelius countered that insurance companies routinely alter coverage in the individual market, and that people on these plans often hold them for less than a year.

And skeleton policies that do not measure up to Obamacare's rules, including not providing free mammograms or charging women 50 percent more than men, will need to be changed to conform to the law.

"If someone is buying a brand new policy... they will have consumer protections for the first time," Sebelius said.

With Republicans seizing on the policy cancellations letters, Sebelius pushed back, saying it was insurance companies altering their inadequate plans in order to conform with Obamacare.

"This market has always been the Wild West," she said of the individual marketplace.

Republican Joe Barton, a fervent opponent of the health care law, took a swipe at Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, by suggesting she might be in over her head.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," Barton told her.

Health and Human Services Secretary

 Kathleen Sebelius testifies before the

 House Energy and Commerce Committee

 hearing about the troubled launch of the

 Healthcare.gov website October 30, 

2013 in Washington, DC (AFP, Karen

Bleier)

"Some might say we are actually in 'Wizard of Oz' land given the parallel universes we appear to be habitating."

But Democrats like Henry Waxman rode to Sebelius's rescue.

"I would urge my colleagues to stop hyperventilating," he said.

"The early glitches in this rollout will soon be forgotten... and then every American will finally have access to affordable health insurance."

Last week the lead contractors, which collectively have been paid hundreds of millions of dollars to create and manage the website, said there was insufficient testing of the online portal.

Asked directly if the two weeks of end-to-end testing was enough, Sebelius replied "clearly not."

"We did not adequately do end-to-end testing," she added. "The products were not locked and loaded into the system until the third week of September."

As critics pounced on the website's shortcomings, Democrat Eliot Engel noted the irony of Republicans who abhor the premise of Obamacare yet were making a "big show" about how many Americans can not get access to the health care options fast enough.

"You're really on the wrong side of history here," Engel told his Republican colleagues.

Related Articles:

Obama 'not happy' about glitches with health website

Opposition to President Obama and the Transition to Uncorrupted Governments

goldenageofgaia.com, Steve Beckow, An Hour with an Angel, September 30, 2013, with Archangel Michael

"... SB: Oh! Very good! Okay.  I think I recall you mentioning Medicare in Canada. Canada has a wonderful system of universal medicare. When will the United States enjoy the same quality of medicare? Or other nations, for that matter.

AAM: You see, this is one of the fundamental rights, and your United Nations has just begun to peek at this.  All of your — yes, all — of your medical systems have been based on false grids that you are eligible for disease. Many, many industries have grown up around this belief system.

Now, we would not dismantle this in a day, because the displacement would be very large, but you have already begun to see the shift to wellness, to healing centers, to alternative methods of energy healing. And with the arrival of your star brothers and sisters this will become even more so.

So not only universal medical care, but universal healthcare and the right to wellness is going to become the simple stand-alone fact over the next year to two years. Oh, and it will happen much more quickly in the United States.

SB: Oh, that’s good to hear. So many people are bankrupted by a sudden illness. And it never should be that way.

AAM: It is an atrocity that one may suffer and die because one does not have adequate money. That is absurd.  ..."

Germany to allow third gender option at birth

Google – AFP, Carolyn Beeler (AFP), 30 October 2013

A new born baby takes the finger of its mother after the delivery on September 17,

2013 at the Lens hospital in northern France (AFP/File, Philippe Huguen)

Berlin — Germany on Friday will become the first European country to allow babies born with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female.

Parents will be allowed to leave the field for gender blank on birth certificates, effectively creating a category for indeterminate sex in the public register.

"This will be the first time that the law acknowledges that there are human beings who are neither male nor female, or are both -- people who do not fit into the traditional legal categories," University of Bremen law professor Konstanze Plett told AFP.

The change is intended to remove pressure on parents to quickly make a decision about controversial sex assignment surgeries for newborns.

A premature newborn lies on a cot in
the neo-natal ward of the Delafontaine

hospital in Saint Denis near Paris on
March 19, 2013 (AFP/File, Joel Saget)

But even as the law takes effect November 1, there are questions about what it will mean to live with no legal gender.

German passports, which currently bear an "M" for male or "F" for female, will soon be allowed to have an "X" in the gender field, according to a spokesman for the interior ministry.

According to Plett, a specialist in human rights for intersex people, regulations for other personal documents will need to follow suit.

"We will have fellow human beings with no sex registered," Plett said. "They can't be forced into either one of the traditional sexes in these other contexts."

Lawmakers have yet to make clear how the change will impact marriage and partnership laws.

In Germany, marriage is reserved for a man and a woman, and civil partnerships are reserved for two people of the same sex.

The law's narrow focus is targeted at parents of newborns and "is not adequate to fully resolve the complex problems of intersex people", including marriage and civil partnerships, according to the interior ministry spokesman.

A more immediate concern for intersex advocates is how children "outed" at birth will fare in a world that operates largely on a gender binary.

"Schools have toilets for boys and toilets for girls. Where will the intermediate child go?" said Silvan Agius, policy director at ILGA Europe, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights group.

"There are separate sports activities for boys and for girls, and so many other things like this," Agius said.

"The law doesn't change that. It does not immediately create a space for intersex people to be themselves."

Europe lags behind on gender identity rights, Agius said.

Earlier this year Australia began allowing individuals to identify as intersex on personal documents, and added gender identity as a protected category under federal anti-discrimination laws.

The German law follows a 2012 report by the Ethics Council, an independent body of experts, concluding that people with 'Differences of Sex Development' suffer in the face of "widespread societal ignorance" and "a lack of respect on the part of the medical profession."

Personal testimony from the report quoted a subject born in 1965 with no clear gender-defining genitalia who was castrated as an infant without parental consent.

"I am neither a man nor a woman," the person said.

"I will remain the patchwork created by doctors, bruised and scarred."

Experts estimate the population of intersex people at one in 1,500 to 2,000 births. But advocates say the number is much larger partly due to difficulties in defining intersexuality physically or hormonally.

The new law has already raised the profile of this small population, which could prompt increased awareness, but, some fear, could also trigger discrimination.

"It is an absolute must that parents, teachers and doctors be educated about the lives of intersex people," said Lucie Veith, head of an intersex support group in Germany.

"The government must take measures to ensure that no children are discriminated against because of this new law."

Related Articles:

New Australian passports allow third gender option

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

Beef seized in Taipei over banned drug concerns

Want China Times, CNA 2013-10-30

City officials check beef at Mayfull Foods in Taipei. (Photo/CNA)

Taipei health authorities seized over 300 kilograms of beef potentially containing a banned drug Tuesday from a city importer accused of providing tainted beef to a local restaurant chain.

The officials raided Mayfull Foods in the city's Neihu district earlier in the day and seized the beef.

A nationwide recall of the questionable beef followed the discovery of the leanness-enhancing drug zilpaterol in beef when Taoyuan county health authorities checked an outlet of the Yuanshao restaurant chain in the northern county.

Yuanshao is a barbeque restaurant chain owned by Wowprime, a leading operator in Taiwan with interests spanning hot pot stores, the high-end Wang Steak brand, and Chamonix teppanyaki restaurants.

Wowprime said it had recalled and returned all of the questionable beef sold at Yuanshao stores nationwide, estimated at 203.4kg in total, to Mayfull by Oct. 26.

The Taipei health officials said all the seized beef at the Mayfull warehouse will be destroyed.

The beef found in the Taoyuan store was part of batches totaling 361.25kg imported by Mayfull from the United States in January, all of which was sold to Wowprime, according to Chiu Hsiu-yi, head of the Food and Drug Division under Taipei's Department of Health.

Wowprime said the questionable beef was sold only at Yuanshao outlets.

The group also said that only 33kg of the questionable beef had been sold since Sept. 2.

Taiwan only allows the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine in US beef with a cap of residue levels at 10 parts per billion (ppb).

Zilpaterol is more toxic than ractopamine and may not be easily metabolized by animals, according to the health department, but it has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a supplement for cattle.

In the latest case, the residue level found in the tainted beef was a marginal 0.5 ppb and should pose only a low hazard to human health, the department said.

Related Article:

US beef suppliers to face strict checks amid banned drug scare

Ex-VP's daughter apologizes for involvement in Taiwan drug scandal

Want China Times, Hsu Tzu-ching and Staff Reporter 2013-10-28

The weight-loss capsules. (Photo/Chang Li-hsun)

Lien Hui-hsin, the eldest daughter of Taiwan's former vice president Lien Chan, has offered apologies for "creating societal unrest" after her alleged involvement as a shareholder in a company caught in a pharmaceutical drug scandal, according to our sister newspaper China Times.

Three top executives from both Geneherbs Taiwan and Wellcare Pharmaceutical, the two companies involved, were released on bail Oct. 26 after being questioned by Taipei district prosecutors overnight on findings that their weight-loss product contained an unapproved drug.

Tseng Hsin-yi, general manager of Geneherbs Taiwan, was required to pay bail of NT$2 million (US$68,000) after being accused of selling a questionable supplement in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. As well, Huang Chen-kang, owner of Wellcare Pharmaceutical, was released on a bail of NT$3 million (US$102,000) and Wellcare's R&D division chief Yeh Mei-keng on NT$2 million (US$68,000).

Lien claimed she was unaware that the weight-loss capsules she was promoting in TV commercials contained unapproved substances. Since she is believed to be a Geneherbs stockholder, investigating authorities may call her in for questioning.

Information showed by Lee Ying-yuan, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, suggests that Lien could be the company's CEO, giving her managerial rights and direct responsibility for such a problem.

Lee claimed Lien took part in forums, seminars, banquets and contract-signing ceremonies as a representative of Geneherbs, according to information he obtained. Lien's attorney has denied the accusations.

Her brother, Lien Sheng-wen, is a hopeful in the KMT race for Taipei mayor candidacy. Lien Hui-hsin's involvement in the case could tarnish her brother's reputation and his chances at succession.

Lien Hue-hsin said investing in Geneherbs was of her own initiative. Her brother is not involved. She also promised to take full responsibility for whatever happens as a result of the scandal.

Prosecutors said they will investigate whether or not Lien Hui-hsin played a role in Geneherbs management as a shareholder.

Alzheimer's study reveals new genes implicated in disease

Largest study yet into genetics of Alzheimer's disease identifies double the previous number of genes associated with disorder

The Guardian, Ian Sample, science correspondent, Sunday 27 October 2013

Alzheimer's disease affects one in 14 people over 65 in the UK, causing memory
 loss and confusion and ultimately leaves patients needing full-time care. Photograph:
AFP/Getty Images

Researchers have taken a major step towards understanding the causes of Alzheimer's disease with the largest study yet into the genetics of the disorder.

Findings from the international team suggest at least 20 genes play a role in the common late-onset form of Alzheimer's, more than double the number scientists had previously identified.

The work gives researchers an unprecedented view of the biological pathways that drive the neurodegenerative disorder, and raises the prospect of a test that could determine a person's susceptibility to the disease. Such a test could be helpful in the future if preventative drugs become available.

Researchers led by Philippe Amouyel at the Pasteur Institute in Lille used genetic information from more than 74,000 Alzheimer's patients and healthy controls to find regions of DNA that were more common in people who had the disease.

The scientists found many genes already implicated in the disease, including APOE4, which is strongly linked to late-onset Alzheimer's. But 11 of the gene regions had never before been linked to the disorder.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and affects around 500,000 people in Britain. An irreversible degenerative disorder, the condition takes hold when areas of damage and tangles form in the brain that cause nerve cells to die off. The disease causes memory loss and confusion and ultimately leaves patients needing full-time care. One in 14 people over the age of 65 are affected.

The findings reveal a complex disease that is driven by changes in inflammatory responses, the immune system, the way proteins are handled in the brain and how neurons talk to one another.

Among the most intriguing results from the study published in Nature Genetics is the discovery of a risk-raising gene involved in the immune system which is already thought to put people at greater risk of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. "This helps us understand the pathophysiology of the disease," said Amouyel.

"If we are able to develop preventative treatments for Alzheimer's disease, they would need to be used very early on," said Amouyel. "This could help us identify people who are more prone to the disease by estimating their individual risk."

James Pickett, the head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said the work opened up new avenues to explore in the search for treatments for the condition.

"This truly global effort has doubled the number of genes linked to Alzheimer's and showed what can be achieved when researchers collaborate. We now need continued global investment into dementia research to understand exactly how these genes affect the disease process," he said.

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dearest Kryon: I've read the question and answer on people with diseases of the mind - for example, Alzheimers and dementia. But I have more questions. You say that people have chosen this path and that the lessons are for us. As I work with these people, I'm wondering if there is any stage where there could be a reversal of the condition, and if so, with what methods? The people in the hostel are so drugged up, and there's a mind-set with the authorities that no "alternate" therapies work - although they're using colored lights. (Sadly, the diversional therapist told me she doesn't know what color therapy is.)

From a spiritual point of view, what is the best way to work with these people - talk to them as though they were normal, or go along with their imaginings? I've been told that they need to be kept quiet, especially toward evening. However, I've found that with one woman who mostly paces saying very little, the more childlike I am (dancing and singing makes her happy), the more she talks. I could go on and on - could you please enlighten me further?

Answer: I will answer the second part first. Love those who are in this condition. Find out what makes them smile... and then make them smile. The best you can do in a facilitation of this condition is to somehow create joy. Even in their confusion they can laugh at situations and be creative. They'll also remember you better as the one who creates this emotion. Each is very different, but in general, try to find their "happy" button and push it as often as you can. They will remember that.

Right now you're perched upon some important discoveries that will be able to reverse these conditions to a large degree. But just as the paraplegic who regains their nerve connections must than relearn how to walk, suffering much pain, there will be this attribute with a regeneration of the mind. Even if new cells are created, they won't necessarily have the old memories, but they can be trained to be healthy and be ready for new memories.

So someday these will have the ability to halt the progress of the degeneration of cells that are being taken, and instead grow new pathways around them. Some will be able to "reconnect" to certain kinds of memories (like recognition) but will have to relearn what the association of recognition actually means. So history and events might have to be studied and relearned... sometimes even things like reading, also. The pain will be that the individual will regain mental health and will realize exactly what has happened.

Your stem-cell research is very important, and you're reaching a point where you'll be able to use birth cells that aren't embryonic, but every bit as potent for research... thereby sidestepping all moral issues. Look for this in the next few years. 

Temple Grandin's story on overcoming autism in her mother's words

Heartland Connection, Vanessa Alonso, 10.10.2013

Temple Grandin is well known for her work regarding animal behavior in the livestock industry. She is also one of the most famous autistic activists in the world. Diagnosed at age 2, her mother Eustacia Cutler, who came to Kirksville recently as the keynote speaker at the 5th annual disABILITY Awareness Day, believes autism was always there, it just wasn't recognized.

Temple Grandin's Mother, Eustacia Cutler,
 talked to KTVO's Vanessa Alonso about
 how her daughter came over autism
 and how they are helping others.

"We called them retarded and we tucked them away in intuitions. We didn't know what it was neurologically. Temple when she was little she didn't speak she didn't play. I knew something was wrong. Temple has worked hard since the age of 2 and on to learn different things," Cutler said.

Cutler said life wasn't very easy for Grandin until she went to high school. At the school there was a farm with horses and it was there that Grandin discovered she had an interest in agriculture. At that same time, Grandin met a science teacher who gave her the inspiration to go to college and work in the ag industry. Cutler said that social interaction and friendship has helped Grandin come a long way.

"Looking back on Temple's life is all the people who helped her, who guided her, who supported her, and who taught me. We both had to learn along the road together. We're social creatures. We're dependent on each other to complete us," Cutler said.

Today, Grandin and her mother are now activists for the disorder that affects hundreds of children every year. They stand up for those families who need a voice.

"They need help and affection along the way. They can't do it alone. Nobody can do it alone," Cutler said.

Cutler also said no matter what we are and what we do, we never stop changing, growing, and learning.

"What is normal? Depends what you want to do. What makes character is experience because our genes change depending on external experience and external experience is us. We change all our life," Cutler said.

Click here to see Vanessa's full interview with Eustacia Cutler.

Related Articles:

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National Turkey Federation, American Meat Institute present Temple Grandin-Hosted Video of Turkey Farm and Processing Plant

Chairman of edible oil company indicted, faces stiff penalty

Want China Times, CNA 2013-10-26

Kao Chen-li, chairman of Chang Chi Foodstuff in Changhua County,
Oct 21. (Photo/China Times)

The head of a Taiwanese company involved in a major food safety scandal was indicted Friday on eight counts of fraud, with the prosecutor seeking the confiscation of more than NT$1.8 billion (US$60 million) in illegal gains.

The Changhua District Prosecutors Office asked the court to give Kao Chen-li, chairman of Chang Chi Foodstuffs in Changhua County, the maximum penalty for his alleged violation of both the Criminal Code and the Act Governing Food Sanitation. Two of the company's workers were also indicted, although the prosecutor asked that they be given lenient treatment as they were merely following orders when they put a banned coloring agent in the company's oils and added cheaper oil to higher-priced products. The indictment came just 10 days after police, tipped by a whistle-blower, raided the company's factory.

Chang Chi is one of Taiwan's major manufacturers of edible oils and it sells hundreds of tons of Tatung-branded olive oil, sesame oil and other cooking oils to the military, schools and households each year. According to the prosecutor, 48 of Chang Chi's products were adulterated or outright counterfeits. They include olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, camellia oil and hot pepper oil, which were labeled as "pure". In fact, the prosecutor said in the indictment, many of them contained cottonseed oil, which changed the nature of the products without the knowledge of consumers. Cottonseed oil, if consumed regularly, is believed to cause health problems, including infertility and cancer.

In order to add color and flavor to the products, Kao also ordered his workers to add chemicals, including copper chlorophyllin, to the products, without the approval of the authorities. The substance was put in Tatung olive oil and grapeseed oil to give them a darker, and presumably purer, appearance. Copper chlorophyllin is banned from food products and is believed to cause liver problems if ingested over a long period of time. Prosecutors said, however, it was difficult to determine the effects of such substances on consumers' health.

Nonetheless, Kao's actions have angered the Taiwanese public, as the case was the latest in a recent string of cases involving potentially unsafe ingredients being added to food products.

In the edible oils scandal, people were duped into thinking they were buying quality oil when they were actually paying for low-quality products that could potentially harm their health. In terms of the grapeseed oil sold by the company, the prosecutor said the actual content of grapeseed oil in products labeled as pure was around 9% and the rest was sunflower oil. The prosecutor asked that the court confiscate NT$1.85 billion (US$62 million) in illegal gains Kao had made from his actions over the last seven years.

Kao was released on bail on Oct. 18 after being questioned.

Related Articles:

Executives at Taiwan sesame oil firm charged with fraud

Government has failed Taiwan's public in cooking oil scandal

Pesticide illness triggers anti-Monsanto protest in Argentina

Deutsche Welle, 25 October 2013

Monsanto pesticides are causing birth defects and cancer in Argentina, according to a new report. In a farming community near Córdoba, residents say they have been poisoned by pesticides used in soy fields.

Sofía Gatica sits in the sun on a café patio in the Argentine city of Córdoba. She talks about raising her three children in Ituzaingó, a Córdoba suburb surrounded by soy fields. In the mid-1990s her oldest son became extremely ill.

"When he was four years old, he came down with the illness that left him temporarily paralyzed," she recalls. "He was admitted to the hospital. They told me that they didn't know what was wrong with him."

The Gatica family lived just fifty meters from fields planted with genetically-modified soy. Planes regularly flew overhead, spraying the plants with the herbicide glyphosate. Slowly, the entire suburb started getting sick.

Argentina is the world's third-largest
soy producer

"Children were being born with deformities," Sofia says, "little babies were being born with six fingers, without a jawbone, missing a skull bone, with kidney deformities, without an anus - and a lot of mothers and fathers were developing cancer."

In 1999, Sofía Gatica gave birth to her fourth baby, a little girl. Three days later, the baby died of kidney failure. The loss of her child prompted Gatica to take action. She decided to find out what was happening in her neighborhood.

"I went door-to-door and did a survey - asking each mother for the sick person's name, address, clinic, everything. And each mother sent me to another, and to another, and so on."

Major health consequences

Soon Sofia Gatica was joined by others. "The mothers started to come help me, to tell me, 'Look, I have another sick person.' They came to me by themselves and decided to join the struggle."

The group named themselves the Mothers of Ituzaingó. They took their survey to the government and demanded an immediate investigation. In 2002, the government agreed.

The introduction of patented seeds and chemicals has transformed Argentina's
agricultural sector

The results were alarming. The area's water supply was polluted, and eighty percent of the neighborhood's children had agrotoxins in their blood.

Around this time, a doctor at the University of Buenos Aires - Andrés Carrasco - proved that the herbicide glyphosate can cause birth defects in vertebrates. "In most cases, the fetus dies before birth because of its deformities," Carrasco explain said in an interview with DW. "The inhalation or the introduction of these agrotoxins kills the embryo."

According to a new report from the Associated Press, there are similar cases being recorded across Argentina. Monsanto herbicides and pesticides are drifting into residential communities and seeping into water sources, farmers are using the chemicals without proper protective gear and discarded pesticide containers are being used to store water and other farm goods.

The report signals growing concern among doctors, who warn that these chemicals may be the cause of rising cancer rates, birth defects and respiratory illness. Cancer rates in Santa Fe are reportedly two to four times higher than the national average. In Chaco, birth defects quadrupled in the ten years after biotechnology for improving crop yields was introduced.

Pesticides for food security

In the mid-1990s, Monsanto introduced soybean seeds engineered to resist herbicide. Argentine farmers were quick to start using it in their fields, which improved productivity and eventually turned the country into the urned the country into the world's third largest soy producing nation. Despite the growing anti-pesticide and anti-GMO movements, many farmers remain convinced that Argentina’s economic stability and future food security depends on the continued use of Monsanto’s products.

César Soldano has been farming in Córdoba and the nearby province of Santiago del Estero for three decades. He plants soy and corn in the spring and summer, and wheat and garbanzo beans in the winter. The land where he now farms wasn't productive until he started using genetically-modified soy beans and the glyphosate herbicide.

"This was all scrubland," Soldano says, gesturing to his fields and adds that glyphosate enabled him to transform the landscape.

"Monsanto's 'Roundup-Ready' soy means that the soil doesn't have to be turned," Soldano continues. "The glyphosate destroys all plant growth except the soybean. This makes it possible to conserve water and grow crops."

Argentine soy is considered essential
for food supply as the global population
grows

Soldano drives around his fields, describing his irrigation system and explaining that today's green shoots will soon become garbanzo plants. Before the arrival of glyphosate, he says, farming techniques caused erosion, depleted the region's water supply, and polluted the environment with chlorine-based weedkillers, which have now been internationally banned.

"Our crops were not productive. And when this technological change came about, everything changed radically," Soldano notes. "The person who was able to alter the plant's nucleus in order to improve our food crops deserves a Nobel Prize."

Soldano points out that genetically-modified soy has also made an important impact on Argentina's economy. Almost ten percent of the national government's budget comes from taxes on soy.

Attacks on anti-pesticide campaigners

Sofía Gatica, however, doesn't believe the short-term economic benefits make the long-term damage worthwhile. Her continued protests against genetically-modified crops and the pesticides used with them has made her a target. She was harassed for two years by a woman who met her at the bus stop and insulted her for the entire forty-minute bus ride to work.

Once, Gatica says, a man appeared at her home and threatened her with a shotgun, telling her to give up the fight against soy farmers. "Then the threatening phone calls began. They told me that I had three children and that I would end up with two. And it was awful not to know if your child would come home."

But Gatica has continued to speak out against pesticides and GMO crops. And slowly, she and other activists are gaining support. "Everyone is demanding pesticide-free borders - for agrotoxins not to be sprayed near people. Some places now have 1,500-meter (4,921-feet) borders, others 2,500 meters," Gatica says.

Soy is broadly used as animal feed,
tofu and biodiesel

"And now we've got clean water in Ituzaingó, where before we didn't have potable water. And Córdoba has started a tumor registry; before there wasn't a registry of people with cancer," she says.

In a landmark case last year, a soy farmer and the pilot of a fumigation plane were found guilty of spraying harmful herbicides near residential areas, says Enrique Viale, the president of the Argentine Association of Environmentalist Lawyers. "A court in Córdoba gave a verdict that, for the first time, punished a farmer for the crime of polluting with agrotoxins," Viale says. "The verdict is the product of the struggle by citizens, by women like Sofía Gatica, by the Mothers of Ituzaingó. It's helpful and valuable as a precedent, but it's not widespread yet."

Sofía Gatica says she wants Argentina's government to strictly control the activities of soy farmers. She wants genetically-modified soy and all the associated chemicals banned - and the multinational companies that sell them to leave Argentina. "The multinationals come here to steal our land, to kick out the people who live on the land, to steal our water, and to sow death," she says.

But the world's population is growing and soy from the farmlands of Argentina is considered essential for ensuring food security for the future - making the battle between anti-GMO campaigners and soy farmers far from over.

Elon Musk: oil campaign against electric cars is like big tobacco lobbying

Tesla chief executive likens attacks on electric cars to campaigns of misinformation by big tobacco and climate sceptics

The Guardian, Adam Vaughan, Thursday 24 October 2013

Elon Musk in the new Tesla Model S high performance electric car in the
showroom at Westfield London. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Attacks on electric cars by the oil industry are on a par with misinformation campaigns promoted by big tobacco companies and vested interests undermining climate science, according to Elon Musk, the serial entrepreneur who founded PayPal and the brains behind both the space exploration company SpaceX and the electric sports carmaker Tesla Motors. The oil giants, he reckons, are attempting to sow the seeds of doubt.

Speaking before the opening of Tesla's new luxury store in the Westfield shopping mall in Shepherd's Bush, London, last night, Musk told the Guardian: "It's kinda like the battle against 'big tobacco' in the old days, and how they'd run all these ads about how tobacco's no problem.

"Ninety-nine per cent of scientists can agree on one thing, but in the public mind [lobbyists] try to convey that scientists disagree. Technically true, but absolutely misleading," he said.

Tesla has cornered the high end of the electric car market in the US, selling more than 14,000 of the base-priced $62,400 (£38,609) Model S in the past year. The car will be delivered to UK customers next spring, and is expected to cost between £55,000-£85,000, depending on the model's specifications.

That is substantially more than the £16,000-£30,000 price range at which most other electric cars have been pitched. But Musk still has his eye on the mass market. The next Tesla car, currently dubbed "Gen3", would cost less than £35,000 and will probably arrive within three years. The Model S, he said, would subsidise that car's development.

"When somebody buys a Model S they're helping pay for that in a way that buying an Aston Martin or Ferrari is not. Aston Martin is going to make more Aston Martins, Ferrari is going to make more Ferraris, but what we're trying to do is make a compelling mass-market electric car."

Musk, who is said to have inspired the character of the charismatic genius Tony Stark in the Iron Man films, does not think governments are doing enough to support the electrification of cars, despite a grant scheme that knocks £5,000 off the price of new plug-in vehicles.

"If we start seeing bazillions of electric cars on the road, then maybe we can reel back the incentives. The acid test is are there tons of electric cars on the road? Well, no, probably the incentives aren't strong enough."

Musk is standing by recent comments that hydrogen fuel-cell cars are not a plausible rival to battery-powered models like those made by Tesla. "They're like obviously bullshit, it's not even a question mark in my mind … In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, take the current state of the art, and compare how much space, weight and cost is associated with the powertrain of a fuel cell, and compare that with the Model S … it loses on every category."

Musk, 42, considers himself an environmentalist, but says he is not "ultra hardcore".

"That's not me," he says. "I sort of think we should figure out how to enjoy life and not have environmental catastrophe."

He rates himself as "greenish" in his personal life. He switches off lights when he leaves a room, and has installed solar panels on his home, but "it's not like I've got LED lights everywhere, and I'm not a vegetarian.

"Trying to convince the population to have some monk-like existence is simply unrealistic," he says.

Born in South Africa, Musk was a teenage computer nerd with degrees in physics and business when he moved to California to study for a PhD at Stanford. He then quit within days of embarking on his studies to become an entrepreneur.

His first venture was an internet city guide, which he sold aged 28, banking $20m. Paypal followed, which eventually brought him an even larger fortune, and then came SpaceX, which aims to send people to Mars within 20 years.

Tesla Motors, which takes its name from the 19th-century physicist, Nikola Tesla, was venture number four. Musk joined as an investor in its early days, and the firm made its first production vehicle – the two-seater Roadster – in 2006.

The company, based in Palo Alto in California's Silicon Valley, was listed on Nasdaq in 2010 and the Model S hit the road in 2012. Celebrity owners Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Stephen Spielberg and Demi Moore have generated publicity, as have the firm's "stores" – in premium shopping districts rather than traditional dealerships. The shares have nearly quadrupled in value this year.

The new electric high performance Tesla car in the mini showroom at
Westfield London. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

A few weeks ago the company's image took a hit when footage emerged of a Model S on fire after a piece of metal had gone under the car and made contact with the battery.

The driver escaped unharmed, but the incident led Musk to take to his blog in defence of the car, which has been billed as one of the safest ever made. "Had a conventional gasoline car encountered the same object on the highway, the result could have been far worse," he wrote.

Musk told the Guardian that the company was committed to Europe, and he expected to be manufacturing electric cars in Europe "probably" within five years. They are currently made in Fremont, California, with some assembly carried out in the Netherlands. "It's a bit silly transporting cars across the Atlantic," said Musk, who also envisages a new European technical centre, focused on research and design.

The firm also plans to build a network of "superchargers" in the UK – charging points that can replenish the battery within 30 minutes – ready for when its right-hand drive Model S cars are delivered to customers in spring next year. The cars will eventually be powered by solar panels, he said, which should generate more power than is used by the cars recharging.

"What we're trying to convey is that, if you have Tesla Model S, you'll be able to drive for free, for ever, on sunlight."

Tesla's Model S

When you drive the Model S, it quickly – very, very quickly – becomes clear that it's the opposite of the electric car stereotype of a Noddy car that doesn't go very fast or very far. It's packed to the gills with state-of-the-art technology, from the enormous string of batteries that make up the entire floor and enable its 300 mile-plus range, to the in-car entertainment and navigation system whose touchscreen makes an iPad look positively puny.

The exterior is classy and understated, rather than screaming, "No combustion engine!" as, say, the G-Wiz and BMW's new i3 do. Tesla's other car, the Roadster, is the sort to turn heads and attract Instagramming hordes, but the Model S barely raised eyebrows during a few hours in central London.

More than anything, the car is memorable for its astonishing acceleration. Unlike conventional cars, electric cars give instant torque and that, combined with the powerful motor here, means that putting your foot down results in a truly exhilarating rush.