Japan researchers close in on stem cell trial

Google – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa (AFP), 14 February 2013 

A scientist is pictured on August 27, 2010 working on stem cells at

a US university (Getty Images/AFP/File, Spencer Platt)

TOKYO — Researchers in Japan have moved one step closer to clinical trials using adult stem cells in a therapy they hope will prove a cure for common sight problems, an official said Thursday.

The ethics committee at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation in Kobe, west Japan, on Wednesday approved a trial treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells.

The trial is aimed at creating retinal cells that can be transplanted into the eyes of patients suffering from AMD, a presently incurable disease that affects mostly middle-aged and older people and can lead to blindness.

The institute, together with the government-backed research institute Riken, "will submit an application for a clinical trial with Riken to the Health Ministry by the end of next month," hospital official Kosuke Nagi told AFP.

If a clinical trial using iPS cells is approved, it "would be the first ever", a health ministry official said, adding a trial using embryonic stem cells -- harvested from human embryos -- had been undertaken by a US firm.

Stem cells for eye malady (AFP/Graphic)

The ministry's deliberation process will take a few months before approval, the official said.

Stem cells -- infant cells that develop into the specialised tissues of the body -- have sparked great excitement because they offer the chance of rebuilding organs damaged by disease or accident.

Until fairly recently, the only way to obtain stem cells was to harvest them from embryos.

Shinya Yamanaka receives the Nobel 

Physiology or Medicine prize in Stockholm,

 Sweden on December 10, 2012 (AFP/File,

Jonathan Nackstrand)

Religious conservatives, amongst others, have objected to research on human embryonic stem cells because they hold that the destruction of a foetus, necessary for the harvest, is wrong.

But pioneering work done in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, a Nobel Laureate in medicine last year, succeeded in generating stem cells from skin tissue.

Like embryonic stemcells, iPS cells are also capable of developing into any cell in the body, but crucially their source material is readily available.

Yamanaka has called for the government to support his research financially, running in a charity marathon to raise funds in 2011, but his Nobel Prize has significantly boosted his clout and the issue enjoys widespread public support in Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last month his government will earmark 110 billion yen ($1.18 billion) for research towards the clinincal use of iPS cells.

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Quantum biology: Do weird physics effects abound in nature?

"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

"..... Cell Division - a Static process ? 

Let me take you to the cellular division process. We've said this before, but you need to hear this to understand how it works. A cell is ready to divide. The Human body is designed to rejuvenate... all tissue. You've been told that there's some tissue that does not rejuvenate, but that is incorrect. It all rejuvenates at different speeds at different times and in different ways. It rejuvenates. So now you know that the Human body is designed to live a long time. Unfortunately, the energy that you have created on this planet and what you've gone through, has beat it up. You don't live much more than 80 years. That was not the design.

The Biblical personalities were sometimes prophets and sometimes masters and sometimes just there... and lived for hundreds of years. Did they really? Or perhaps this is that just a metaphor? Did they get that right in the Bible without a error in transcription? I'm going to tell you the truth. It's very accurate. Thousands of years ago you lived a very long time, Lemurian. If you knew your lifespan, you'd gasp. But not anymore. Instructions have been given over time to DNA, literally, by the energy of the planet... en energy that you have created through consciousness.

A cell divides. Right before it divides, it needs the blueprint to clone itself. The blueprint is available from the stem cell. The stem cell gets its information from the quantum part of the DNA, which has never changed since you were born. It's remained static, since nothing has ever changed it... and the fact that you don't believe it's changeable and have just accepted aging. There's not a conscious effort to do anything with it, and it just lays there like it always did.

The diving cell "talks" to the stem cell and says, "Do the same thing you always did? Change anything?" And the stem cell talks to the cell that is dividing, saying, "Make another one just the same." Then you rejuvenate just like the last one, accepting everything you received when you were born. ..."

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

”… There are several things that are going to happen in mainstream science. First, you're going to find some secrets of DNA and they're going to be embryonic. Start watching scientists discover the embryonic cells and the magic within them. You already know that unusual stem cells exist in the placenta. You also know that the pre-programmed adult stem cells are still there in the body. But what about the DNA of the unborn? (Intellectuals, please keep reading, for to stop now will create unrest.) Second, your work today Yawee, will represent "the perfect template" without using what you did in Lemuria. That's why you're the Human who will do this. It's an extension of why you came here, and is perfect for 2012 and beyond.

These embryonic cells of the unborn are untouchable by society, and they might as well be on Mars, for no science is going to try to use these cells in a 3D manner, which is all you know how to do at this point. If they try, it won't work anyway. There are quantum processes you are learning about that are not only non-invasive, but actually helpful and that can transfer attributes from one biological cell to another and from one Human to another. Think "wireless" [Kryon human again]. What you thought would take wires over 1,000 miles long is now done with satellites. It's an analogy that shows you that you are moving into totally new understandings of the transfer of energy. Let's discuss the mother in that temple for a moment. …”


"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

Prince's charity lobbied government to water down homeopathy criticism

Foundation for Integrated Medicine persuaded officials to neuter advice about homeopathy on the NHS Choices patient website

The Guardian, Sarah Boseley, health editor, 13 February 2013

Draft guidance stated: 'There is no good quality evidence to show that homeopathy
is more successful than placebo.' Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Draft guidance for the website NHS Choices warning that there is no evidence that homeopathy works was suppressed by officials following lobbying by a charity set up by the Prince of Wales.

Homeopathy, which involves the use of remedies so heavily diluted with water that they no longer contain any active substance, is "rubbish", said chief medical officer Sally Davies in January to the House of Commons science and technology committee. She added that she was "perpetually surprised" that homeopathy was available in some places on the NHS.

But the government's NHS Choices website, which is intended to offer evidence-based information and advice to the public on treatments, does not reflect her view. A draft page that spelled out the scientific implausibility of homeopathic remedies was neutered by Department of Health officials. It is now uncritical, with just links to reports on the lack of evidence.

Lobbying by opponents, and the response from DH officials who did not want to take on Prince Charles's now defunct Foundation for Integrated Medicine and other supporters of homeopathy, is revealed in correspondence from the department discussing the new guidance. It was released under the Freedom of Information Act to Prof David Colquhoun of University College London, a Fellow of the Royal Society and prominent science blogger.

There is no evidence that Prince Charles was involved personally in the lobbying.

The editor of the draft advice, David Mattin – who has now left NHS Choices – said in a statement to Colquhoun, published on his blog, that the DH had failed patients. "In causing NHS Choices to publish content that is less than completely frank about the evidence on homeopathy, the DH have compromised the editorial standards of a website that they themselves established and that they fund. They have sold out the NHS Choices editorial team who work tirelessly to fulfil their remit. And, most seriously, they have failed the general public, by putting special interests, politics and the path of least resistance (as they saw it) before the truth about health and healthcare."

NHS Choices has offered information on homeopathy since at least 2007, but it has been heavily criticised for its failure to state that there is no proof that homeopathy has anything other than a placebo effect on patients.

The page was taken down early in 2011, pending what a statement on the site said would be "a review by the Department of Health policy team responsible for complementary and alternative medicines". But critics were disappointed by the page that went up in October 2012, which still does not raise any issues about effectiveness.

What had been happening behind the scenes in the couple of years before the disappearance of the page and during its absence is revealed in the correspondence between NHS Choices, department officials and the foundation.

Mattin's original draft said: "There is no good quality clinical evidence to show that homeopathy is more successful than placebo in the treatment of any condition … Furthermore, if the principles of homeopathy were true it would violate all the existing theories of science that we make use of today; not just our theory of medicine, but also chemistry, biology and physics."

But the homeopathy lobby was in close contact with the department. In December 2009, an official from the department wrote to NHS Choices asking to see "the articles you're writing" and announcing that he had called "an exploratory meeting with the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health and the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council … so that we could start to piece this particular jigsaw together."

On 29 December, a letter was sent from the foundation to the department expressing strong feelings about a draft document. "It was just a bit horrifying as it was not only anti-complementary medicine and patients who might use it but clearly drawn up by someone who had no knowledge of this field and was largely factually incorrect," said the letter.

In January, further emails from the foundation strongly opposed the involvement of the Exeter-based professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst – now retired and a strong critic of homeopathy – as an adviser.

The documents reveal subsequent changes to Mattin's draft by DH officials. The draft stated: "A House of Commons science and technology report said that homeopathic remedies perform no better than placebos and that the principles on which homeopathy is based are 'scientifically implausible'."

That critique disappeared. A comment in the margin, apparently from somebody in the department, says: "Can we remove this statement? This report is really quite contentious and we may well be subject to quite a lot of challenge from the homeopathic community if published."

A further intervention by the DH also removed the statement that "a 2010 science and technology committee report said that scientific tests had shown that homeopathic treatments don't work."

Mattin says officials were more worried about potential political fallout from homeopathy supporters than about publishing evidence-based information. He says his draft was delayed and then suppressed.

"My strong impression was of DH civil servants who lacked the courage and, frankly, the energy to stand up to the criticism from special interest groups that they anticipated would arise because of the article; and that indeed did arise when a draft of the article and other draft content on complementary and alternative medicines fell into the hands of the Prince's Foundation and other [complementary and alternative medicine] groups."

The department did not respond to a request to comment. The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health was closed in 2010 following allegations of fraud and money-laundering that led to the conviction of a charity official for stealing more than £250,000.

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"The Recalibration of 'Shoulds' " – Jan 26, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)

“… In this new energy, there is something else that you can try if you are in this category. Do the following with safety, intelligence, common sense and logic. Here is the challenge: The principle of homeopathy is that an almost invisible tincture of a substance is ingested and is seen by your innate. Innate "sees" what you are trying to do and then adjusts the body's chemistry in response. Therefore, you might say that you are sending the body a "signal for balance." The actual tincture is not large enough to affect anything chemically - yet it works!

The body [innate] sees what you're trying to do and then cooperates. In a sense, you might say the body is healing itself because you were able to give it instructions through the homeopathic substance of what to do. So, why not do it with a major drug? Start reducing the dosage and start talking to your cells, and see what happens. If you're not successful, then stop the reduction. However, to your own amazement, you may often be successful over time. ...”

Is Margarine More Lethal Than Butter?

Lifehacker, Chris Jager, 11 February 2013

Butter picture from Shutterstock

A new study by the US National Institute of Health based on prior Australian research has cast fresh doubts on whether margarine is healthier than butter. For decades, butter’s more spreadable cousin has been considered a better option for weight-watchers trying to reduce fatty acids from their diet. However, according to the new report, margarine eaters are actually more likely to die from a heart attack than people who stick to butter.

The research team based its findings on a recently unearthed Australian heart study from the 1960s and 70s, which monitored the dietary effects of two types of fats on 458 males between the ages of 30 and 59.

The test subjects, all of whom had suffered from a previous coronary event, were divided into two groups. One group was instructed to limit their intake of saturated animal fats in favour of omega 6 linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated vegetable fat commonly found in margarines). The other group was given no dietary advice at all. Over the course of the study, deaths caused by heart-related issues were significantly higher in the first group.

“In this cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats increased the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease,” the report stated.

The study concludes that worldwide dietary guidelines need to rethink the “saturated fat bad, omega 6 good” dogma when it comes to processed foods and cooking ingredients.

However, before you toss out that tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better, it’s worth noting that the above findings are far from unanimously supported.

Bill Shrapnel, deputy chairman of the Sydney University Nutrition Research Foundation, has fired out at the US report which he claims is based on data from outmoded food manufacturing practices.

“The authors [of the US report] state that the [Australian] study assessed the effects of replacing saturated fat in the diet with omega 6 polyunsaturated fats, but it doesn’t,” Shrapnel explained in a public statement.

“The [original] study used Miracle margarine as a source of polyunsaturated fat. In the 1960s, when this study began, Miracle margarine contained approximately 15 per cent trans fatty acids, which have the worst effect on heart disease risk of any fat. The adverse effect of the intervention in this study was almost certainly due to the increase in trans fatty acids in the diet.”

As Shrapnel goes on to explain, trans fatty acids were largely removed from Australian margarines in the mid-1990s when their dietary dangers were discovered.

In other words, while margarines of the past may well have been worse than butter, the brands on today’s supermarket shelves are not quite as artery-clogging. The relatively small size of the study (just 63 total deaths) is also worth taking into consideration.

So is margarine better than butter? It seems we still won’t have a definitive answer until a thorough study into the dietary effects of polyunsaturated fats is conducted.

Related Article:

At last, the truth: Butter is GOOD for you - and margarine is chemical gunk

UK vets have 'repeatedly raised concerns' over bute in food

BBC News, Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent, 8 February 2013

One scientist called racehorses from the US "walking pharmacies"

An independent veterinary committee had "repeatedly expressed concern" about a drug found in UK horsemeat destined for export, the BBC has learned.

The discovery of horsemeat in UK foodstuffs is raising big concerns that UK testing regimes are not sufficient.

There are worries that if unregulated horsemeat is substituted for beef it could expose people to a drug called phenylbutazone - often called "bute".

Once used as an anti-inflammatory, its toxicity to some people led to a ban.

The drug in rare cases caused a serious blood disorder known as aplastic anaemia.

But it is still used widely to treat horses. Once treated these animals are not supposed to enter the food chain.

'Big trade'

In the UK about 8,000 horses a year are slaughtered for human consumption. This meat is then exported to other European countries. Under EU regulations, it must be tested for a range of substances including bute.

Last July the UK's Veterinary Residues Committee, which carries out that testing, issued a report. In it, they showed that among 60 samples of horsemeat destined for export in 2010, there were five positive results for bute.

The independent committee said that it had "repeatedly expressed concern over residues of phenylbutazone entering the food chain".

"The number has gone up a little over the past three or four years," committee chairman Dr Dorothy Craig told BBC News.

"We're finding a rate of about 5%. It's banned, so the number of non-compliant samples should be zero."

Since 2005, horses are required by law to have a "passport" that contains a declaration as to whether the horse is intended for human consumption.

These passports are also used to record if an animal has been treated with bute; most of the UK positives have come from difficulties with these documents.

"That's really where the problems come from - either a genuine error or where there's deliberate fraud going on," said Dr Craig.

In June 2012, the European Commission's Directorate General for Health and Consumers issued its summary of an audit of abbatoirs in Italy - the EU's biggest consumer of horsemeat. In it, they noted "numerous shortcomings were detected in the passports".

But the global nature of the horsemeat business is also causing problems in tracing exposure to bute.

Using bute on horses for human consumption is banned in the EU, but thousands of tonnes of horsemeat is imported from the US, Canada and Mexico where practices are different.

Many of the animals killed for food in these countries were once racehorses, and the use of bute at racetracks across the US is so widespread that one scientist speaking to the New York Times called these horses "walking pharmacies".

Research published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology in 2010 highlighted this risk, and EU officials warned last year about serious problems in verifying whether horses killed in Mexico were drug-free.

"This is a very big trade," says Mark Jones from Humane Society International.

"The potential is there for quite significant contamination and residues, given that the route by which this meat is moving is very far from watertight."

A man poses holding a Findus beef lasagne frozen readymeal

 near Sunderland, UK on February 8, 2013 (AFP/File, Andrew Yates)

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Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa

Deutsche Welle, 7 February 2013

STOPPING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

• The fight against female genital mutilation
• It happens at night: Genital mutilation in Egypt
• Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa
• Classrooms in London schools tackle genital mutilation
• Mali: Women feel caught between modernity and tradition
• Film director raises awareness about female genital mutilation

Today (06.02.2013) is the International Day of Zero Tolerance on Female Genital Mutilation. Every eleven seconds, a girl is subjected to the brutal practice. But Togo has outlawed the practice.

Some two million girls around the world every year become victims of female genital mutilation (FGM). It is an extremely painful experience. Knives are used to remove their external sexual organs, either partially or completely. This frequently leads to painful inflammation - some girls bleed to death. Those who survive suffer pain for the rest of their lives, both physical and mental.

The international community has been struggling to curb down the practice since 1997. But the UN General Assembly didn't accept a resolution on the elimination of FGM until December 2012.

The battle to end this brutal tradition, which is widespread in Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America, is long and complicated. NGOs estimate that between 130 and 150 million of the world's female population have been subjected to FGM. Exact figures are hard to come by as it remains a taboo subject in many countries.

But now the opponents of this tradition are celebrating a major success. Togo has officially ended the practice.

This young girl waits for the
physical wounds to heal

This is the culmination of years of work by Togolese activists and the German NGO (I)ntact. The organization was founded in 1996 by Christa Müller, the wife of the then premier of the German state of Saarland.  Since 2006 it has received support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Contact is the key

Eight years ago, the NGO (I)ntact began its work in Togo. Shortly afterwards, the anti-FGM activists were able to register progress in neighbouring Benin when a ceremony was held to mark the end of female genital mutilation there. Today, the number of girls subjected to FGM in Benin is close to zero, according to figures from the Demographic and Health Survey.

In Togo, the situation was as difficult as it once was in Benin. According to a study conducted in the 1990s, the rate of female genital mutilation among certain ethnic groups was as high as 90 percent. But the human rights activists succeeded in persuading people to abandon the practice. "The real success lay in the fact that we included FGM's main participants, the female circumcisers and traditionalists, in the project," (I)ntact's deputy chairman Detmer Hönle told DW.

The term "traditionalists" applies above all to the village elders. They have the greatest influence on their communities and lay down what is right and what is wrong.  It was not easy for the NGO activists to get close to them. First they had to explain who they were and what they wanted. That was the task of Fati Gnon, a Togolese woman responsible for coordinating the work of local NGOs which work together with (I)ntact.

 "We established contact by going from house to house. That way we could increase awareness of the topic and build up an atmosphere of trust," Gnon said.

 Jawahir Cumar offers counselling
to FGM victims in Germany

"Once we had won over the women who did the cutting, they helped us convince the masses."

Fourteen years ago Togo passed a law criminalizing FGM but it had little effect. In fact, it brought about just one conviction.  "In Africa, tradition is an unwritten law that is older than the laws passed by today's governments," said (I)ntact's Detmer Hönle. That is why it was so important to get the village elders and circumcisers on board. Former mutilators receive a small loan from the organization to help them find new sources of income. In this way, they retain the social status which they formerly enjoyed as a result of their traditional occupation. According to a survey carried out in Togo by (I)ntact, FGM is no longer regarded as a social norm, although it cannot be ruled out that individual cases still occur.

Lifelong pain

Worldwide, the battle against FGM is far from over. It is also being fought by Jawahir Cumar from her new home in Germany.  She became a victim of FGM at the age of five in her homeland, Somalia.  Today, in the German city of Düsseldorf, she counsels women who have suffered a similar fate. "These women suffer pain during sexual intercourse, while urinating, during menstruation; they endure pain every single day."

Jawahir Cumar's organization is called "Stop Mutilation" and offers women victims a gynaecological examination free of charge. Cumar also works to increase public awareness of the negative effects of FGM. In 2011 she was awarded Germany's highest honour, the Federal Order of Merit. Every year some two million women and girls still become victims of this brutal tradition. As long as this is so, there is a need for organizations such as "Stop Mutilation" and (I)ntact to continue their work.

Related Articles:

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Reversing female circumcision remains taboo

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Female genital mutilation (WHO)

German Cardinal says yes to 'morning-after pill'

Deutsche Welle, 2 February 2013

Two Catholic hospitals in Cologne declined to give emergency contraceptives to a rape victim. The archbishopric in Cologne has now changed its mind - and has also shown an impressive capacity for contraceptive nuance.

That the Catholic Church intends unequivocally to protect conceived life is nothing new. What has changed is how Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner approaches the "morning-after" pill.

Through his spokesman Christoph Heckley, the Cardinal issued a personal explanation on Thursday (31.01.2013) which read: "If, after a rape, a supplement is used with the intend of preventing fertilization, that is in my view justifiable." Heckley reiterated once again, however, that everything which is abortive in nature is not allowed.

Cardinal Meisner's change of heart is the result of consultations with specialists. He now understands that certain forms of the "morning-after" pill prevent conception and are not technically abortive. This suggests that the Cologne church leader previously believed that all kinds of pills which could be taken by a woman after intercourse prevented an already fertilized egg cell from implanting in the uterus.

The morning after

The pill's effect is, in medicinal jargon, "anti-ovulatory." It prevents ovulation and thus the chance that an egg cell will be fertilized, resulting in conception. The active hormonal ingredient, levonorgestrel, is comparable to traditional birth-control pills but is simply taken in higher, post-coital doses.

The morning-after pill has been
accompanied by controversy

"The Catholic Church already had a problem with that one," says Antonio Autiero, a professor of moral theology at the University of Münster, in a reference to the traditional pill.

"Artificial contraceptives" have been prohibited by the Catholic Church ever since Pope Paul VI published an encyclical, "Humanae Vitae," in 1968. "Nothing has changed doctrinally to this day," Autiero said.

When does life begin?

Yet what happens when ovulation occurs just before unprotected sex and the pill's "anti-ovulation" effect doesn't serve its purpose? Then the pill's "anti-nidative effect" comes into play, preventing the fertilized egg from settling on the surface of the uterus. "Whether the morning-after pill inhibits ovulation or nidation, it still lacks a final safety mechanism. If that's the case then we're heading more toward abortion," Autiero said.

"The doctrinal outlook is very clear in that the fusion of egg and semen cells constitutes life and human dignity. That is why it is seen as a form of abortion when one prevents fertilized egg cells from nidating," Autiero said.

Abortion, or the ending of human life - even a life so tiny - is something with which the church doctrine can find no accord. "There's no room for discussion within Catholic doctrine," Autiero said. The termination of a pregnancy would never be carried out at a Catholic hospital - not even in the first few hours or days of a pregnancy.

Ethical absolutes

Or that is the principle, at least. So are there exceptions? What happens in cases of extreme bodily harm or emotional emergencies, such as when a woman has been raped?

"For the church the answer is clear," Autiero said. "Abortion and contraception are condemnable in and of themselves, and there is no situation where they can be ethically justified."

 Antonio Autiero: Nothing has
changed doctrinally

This "normative ethic," which allows no exception to the highest principles, has "radicalized" over the years, he said.

Yet in moral theological science there is also an ethical counterweight that "depends on objectives and the context of an action." And this is where, beyond the untouched highest principles, even more questions come into play.

They relate to concrete medicinal and emotional situations, human empathy, companionship, one's own conscience and professional ethics. "Are we a church of ethics or are we a church of compassion?" Autiero asked.

'Deep shame'

The cardinal's new position gives a sense of clarity to the work of Catholic hospital doctors. Previously they had feared that they would be drawn into conflict with their employer.

In all likelihood they would have previously found themselves in situations where they would have had to discuss the morning-after pill with patients - something that would have been difficult for them to justify to their hospitals before Cardinal Meisner's recent clarification.

As for the treatment - or lack of treatment - two Catholic hospitals in Cologne gave to the allegedly raped woman, Meisner had already apologized publicly. "This incident shames us deeply," he said, "since it contradicts our Christian duty and self-image."

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Archangel Michael: The Declaration of Human Freedom

“… No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give. …”

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

China's farmers breaking boundaries with internet shopping

Want China Times, Xinhua 2013-01-31

A farmer in Shandong takes photos of cabbages for his online store.
(Photo/Xinhua)

A farmer shows off his online produce
store. (Photo/Xinhua)

Housewife Wang Sijia has been busy picking out food for the coming Spring Festival holiday, sourcing peanuts, chicken, dates and other goodies from regions around the country.

But Wang hasn't had to travel a single mile to purchase her goods. In fact, she hasn't even had to leave her bedroom.

"With a single click of the mouse, specialty foods from around China can be put in my online shopping basket. Most importantly, they are authentic, organic and quality-ensured," the Beijing native said with a smile.

Hundreds of miles away in the village of Zhangjiagou in north China's Shanxi province, farmer Wang Xiaobang is smiling too. Sales at his online farm produce shop have been soaring, with the number of transactions reaching 200 per day.

Wang opened his online shop in 2008 after working as a migrant worker in Beijing for six years. With monthly net profits of 80,000 yuan (US$13,000), Wang has become a successful online farm produce vendor.

"I didn't expect agricultural products to sell so well online. I just wanted to bring fresh produce grown by our villagers to more customers," said the 36-year-old Wang. "Now I am convinced that the online market is really huge and the internet can play a big role in the countryside."

WIN-WIN DEAL

The story of the two Wangs is just one example of China's booming online farm produce market. More and more urbanites are shopping for groceries online to ensure a healthy diet.

A report released by the Alibaba Group in January revealed that sales of agricultural products on Taobao and Tmall, the country's biggest online retail stores, totaled 19.8 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) in 2012. An average of 20,000 Chinese families buy farm produce online everyday.

Tea is the most popular item, according to the report, with daily trade exceeding 7 million yuan (US$1.1 million). Tea is followed in popularity by dates, nuts and honey products. Fresh fruit and seafood have registered the fastest growth, with annual sales quadrupling last year.

The number of farmers who have chosen to hawk their products online has grown as well, with 1.71 million online farm produce vendors by the end of 2011, according to a report from the Information Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"This is a win-win situation, both for customers and farmers," said China E-Commerce Research Center analyst Zhang Zhouping. "On the one hand, it can satisfy urban consumers' desire to eat safely and healthily; on the other hand, it can further promote the use of technology in rural areas and increase farmers' incomes."

A series of food safety scandals that have shattered consumer confidence have made it difficult for consumers to trust street vendors or even established brands.

"Online shopping can actually increase transparency and mutual trust," said Wang Sijia. "You can tell where and how the products are made through online videos, pictures and farm licenses posted by the farmers themselves, all of which are unavailable when purchasing through traditional means."

The direct link between buyers and producers also helps both sides get rid of intermediary surcharges, which have pushed up food prices while gobbling up the bulk of farmers' profits, she added.

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The surge in the number of online customers has changed the lifestyles of farmers and sped up the application of modern technology in rural areas. For years, Chinese farmers drove their three-wheeled vehicles to sell produce in outdoor markets. Now, they take to their computer keyboards to sell their wares.

"Farmers used to be vulnerable to market forces, since information was controlled by agricultural traders in big companies. Through e-commerce, farmers can have direct access to information and a wide channel to sell their products. This business mode is the basis of modern Chinese agriculture," said Wang Xiangdong, director of the Research Center of Information at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

After internet access was made available in his village, Wang Xiaobang learned how to open his own online shop, create photo feeds for customers and cooperate with express delivery companies to transport fresh produce. He also trained local villagers to help him expand his online business.

The village of Qingyanliu in the coastal city of Yiwu is home to many farmers like Wang Xiaobang. Known as China's "biggest e-commerce village," the area is home to nearly 2,000 online shops and about 20 express delivery companies that transport goods across the country.

The online trading boom in Qingyanliu has also attracted many migrant workers, who have learned about e-commerce in big cities in order to return home and ride the online wave.

"The local government needs to further improve information technology infrastructure in rural areas to encourage the sustainable development of rural e-commerce while providing more internet training courses for farmers," suggested Wang Xiangdong.

"As more urbanites benefit from purchasing agricultural products across the country, farmers are also benefiting from accessing information through e-commerce like city dwellers," he said.

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