Junk Science Thirteen Years Ago

By Rich Kozlovich

I published this on Friday, November 24, 2011 calling it, This Week With Steve Milloy, saying:

My theme this week has been about alternative energy and what an abject failure it has been. All of which was perfectly predictable. We tried it during the Carter administration and it failed then. Did the technology get so much better that we would think it would work now? No! At least Carter had the excuse of ignorance…They just didn’t know then, although I have few doubts that those who worked with the engineering problems knew right from the beginning it was going to be a failure. However...this time we had some history... we knew this time it had to fail. There really is no fixing stupid. The articles linked here are a small part of what Steve and his staff link each week. I try to get the things that interested me the most. I you wish to see all of it go to Junkscience.com.

I have to point out this was 13 years ago and nothing has changed.  We know the scientific fraud perpetrated to promote global warming initiatives, we know alternative energy is a bust, we know the EPA is corrupt to it's core, we know sustainability is a code word for the imposition of big government tyranny, and we knew it 13 years ago. So why are we still listening to these misfits promoting it.  Nitwits like John Kerry who thinks the world would like Russia better if they were more concerned about emissions.  How delusional is this man?  However, we know two things for sure from that.  Kerry is a blithering idiot, and we dodged a gigantic bullet when it wasn't elected President.  We can thank the Swift Boaters for that, not Karl Rove.  

Also, I would like to throw in this July 14, 2014 piece by Hank Campbell entitled, Sexist Weather And Hermaphroditic Frogs: The Problem Of Faux Peer Review, and the reason why is I'm working on a piece highlighting the Lysenkoist mentality that permeates modern science today.  That politically motivated embrace of junk science has had a massively negative impact on humanity, whether its been about climate change, alternative energy, covid, or any number of junk science outrages they've embraced.  This is just another example of it.

Anthropogenic Climate Change Fraud

Climategate 2.0 is here!
More devastating Climategate e-mails were released today. We’ve covered juicy ones in the posts listed below. More on the way. Read ‘em all. They validate EVERYTHING the skeptics have been saying. Viva les sceptiques!

Green –Irrational, Corrupt and Misantropic

Lack of electricity, development, kills 1.5 million Nigerians annually
“Poverty is a death sentence” states whoever publicly released the Climategate e-mails and they are so right -WHO Projects 1.5 Million Cooking Stove Deaths In Nigeria — The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected 1.5 million annual premature deaths in Nigeria because of household air pollution from traditional cooking stoves, a Ministry of Environment official says. Quoting from a WHO report, Bahijjatu Abubakar, the National Co-ordinator of the Renewable Energy project of the ministry, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) here Tuesday that the projection could affect the world at large, especially sub-Saharan Africa. Abubakar said the WHO data also predicted that the premature death rate would be larger than that caused by malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Strassel: Stringing Up Gibson Guitar
Aren’t trees the ultimate renewable resource? Kim Strassel writes in the Wall Street Journal: On a sweltering day in August, federal agents raided the Tennessee factories of the storied Gibson Guitar Corp. The suggestion was that Gibson had violated the Lacey Act—a federal law designed to protect wildlife—by importing certain India ebony. The company has vehemently denied that suggestion and has yet to be charged. It is instead living in a state of harassed legal limbo. Which, let’s be clear, is exactly what its persecutors had planned all along. The untold story of Gibson is this: It was set up…

Is sustainability science really a science?
Past the fact that this is obviously a sad day for the once proud Los Alamos National Laboratory, “sustainability” is a really stupid and dangerous notion…..“Sustainability” is not a science; it’s an excuse not to growth and develop. Thomas Malthus trial-ballooned sustainability in the 18th century — and he was dead wrong. But at least he intended no malice. The modern Malthusians cynically use sustainability to thwart capitalism. We are aware of only one serious sustainability project that was ever attempted — and the enviros killed it.

Horner: A Summary of James E. Hansen’s NASA Ethics File
NASA records released to resolve litigation filed by the American Tradition Institute reveal that Dr. James E. Hansen, an astronomer, received approximately $1.6 million in outside, direct cash income in the past five years for work related to — and, according to his benefactors, often expressly for — his public service as a global warming activist within NASA.

Horner on EPA’s Jackson: Whoa! Which time are you lying?
Chris Horner points out the inconsistencies in Lisa Jackson’s rationale for EPA regulating greenhouse gases.

Alternative Energy

Allianz: ‘Green’ energy could trigger catastrophic blackouts
‘Unstable’ renewable energy sources increase the risk of ‘supra-regional’ electricity blackouts with multi-billion pound consequences, insurance giant Allianz has warned. ‘Unstable’ renewable energy sources increase the risk of ‘supra-regional’ electricity blackouts with multi-billion pound consequences, insurance giant Allianz has warned. Green energy could trigger ‘catastrophic’ blackouts – Solar panels and wind turbines are a “volatile” source of power with fluctuations in the electricity supply risking “grid instabilities” and triggering wide-scale blackouts. Ageing infrastructure and increasingly cross-border electricity networks have heightened the likelihood of a devastating collapse of power supplies lasting months and covering several continents, according to the joint report by Allianz and the Chief Risk Officer Forum. In eastern Germany, turbines in strong wind can produce more than all German coal and gas plants put together, while the need to switch off turbines in high winds causes a drop-off in electricity of 12GW – equal to two nuclear power plants. Outages are likely if there is too little demand or storage capacity to accommodate the jumps in supply.

Bill Frezza: Alternative Energy’s Alternate Reality
The “alternative energy” experiment is unraveling, having barely begun - Alternative Energy’s Alternate Reality – Creating a “green energy” economy may be the most daunting central planning task ever attempted. It entails nothing less than the reengineering of our entire energy infrastructure. And, like all central planning schemes, it is based on a roadmap that eschews real-world experience and sound economics in favor of utopian ideology driven by political connections. Now the experiment is unraveling, having barely begun. As the parade of government-subsidized failures like Solyndra, Stirling Energy, SpectraWatt, Evergreen Solar, Beacon Power, and others mount, now is a good time to look at how all the pieces of the alternative energy puzzle are supposed to fit together—and what happens when they don’t.

Experts fear cost of California renewable energy goals
California’s increasing use of renewable power is going to hurt consumers - California’s increasing use of renewable power will come at a price, pushing up electricity bills across the state. And while it’s impossible to tell how big the cost to consumers will be, some experts fear the total cost of renewable energy in California will be in the billions of dollars. In the next three years, many long-planned solar plants and wind farms will come online, bringing California closer to its goal of getting one-third of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020. As soon as they start delivering power to utility companies, the utilities’ customers will start paying for that electricity.

Of course it’s renewable energy – it just relies on fossil fuels
Although it sounds like an advertisement for ladies’ undergarments “firmed and shaped” actually refers to intermittent “renewable energy” made useful with fossil-fueled “spinning reserve” CleanPowerSF will still rely on fossil fuels despite claims – City officials boast that the proposed CleanPowerSF public power program will offer consumers 100 percent renewable energy, but for some that sounds a lot better than what is really behind the green label.

Reformed Leftie/Greenie challenges energy statism
Robert Bryce is a reformed Leftie/greenie. The solar array he installed on his roof was a bust, and he followed the logic of energy density to conclude that wind, solar, water, crops, plants, and wood would not allow energy to be mankind’s master resource.

Gas beats renewables: fund manager
As remarkable as it seems, energy-dense fuels are more value than dilute power sources

Royal Wind Slam Update: Duke ‘spot on’
“Former Chancellor Lord Lawson yesterday led the backing for Prince Philip after he branded wind farms ‘absolutely useless’.”

Big property rights victory at the Supreme Court

November 28, 2018  By Rick Moran
 

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a landowner who challenged the government's designation of 1,500 acres of land as "critical habitat" for an endangered frog species.

Edward Poitevent sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who said the land in question – in his family's possession for decades – was critical to the survival of the dusky gopher frog, even though the species had not inhabited the land since 1965.

Daily Caller:

"I am really overjoyed that an eight to nothing court agreed with me that the service's decision was absurd and nightmarish for property rights in the United States," landowner Edward Poitevent told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a Tuesday interview. 

"We all actually thought something like this would happen, but what's really stunning is this is an eight to nothing decision," Poitevent said. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service told Poitevent in 2011 his land, which has been in his family for generations, would be listed as backup critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog, which hasn't been seen there since 1965.  The only known domain of the frogs was a single pond in southern Mississippi as of 2001, but the government said the Louisiana zone was the only other possible habitat it could identify.

One small problem with Fish and Wildlife's decision: The land where the frog hadn't lived in more than 45 years had changed..............To Read More......

When 'reasonable' burdens aren't

November 27, 2018 By Gary M. Galles

While most eyes were on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination battle, the Supreme Court opened its term by hearing Weyerhaeuser v. Fish and Wildlife Services, a property rights case with substantial implications for Americans.

The case is an appeal of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling for the government involving about a hundred remaining dusky gopher frogs in Mississippi. The Fish and Wildlife Service designated 1,500 acres of privately-owned land in Louisiana as critical habitat for the frog. But the frogs have not lived in Louisiana for 50 years. The location’s loblolly pines would need to be removed and replaced with longleaf pines, which require periodic burning. Yet Fish and Wildlife has decided that forcing the owner to forgo other profitable opportunities and adapt his land for the frog is “reasonable” without even conducting an environmental impact study.

The case focuses on the “reasonableness” of designating as “critical habitat” private land which is not currently suitable for the frogs but could be made so at some cost. (Essentially most ownership rights would be transferred to the frogs.) Justice Samuel Alito captured the issue well when he said, “The question is who is going to have to pay and who should pay for the preservation of this public good.”............ To Read More

My Take - Another federal agency that needs to be seriously rolled back or even better yet - eliminated!  This agency, along with the EPA, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies  have done more to undermine Constitution rights than any reasonable person can find acceptable. 

Their actions, ignored by the Congress, promoted by almost every administration since 1960, heralded by a corrupt media, and enforced by a corrupt federal judiciary, clearly is a treasonous effort to destroy the Constitution by the leftists who've infested the federal government for over 100 years. 

Why is that so hard to grasp? 

Because it's was done slowly, and promoted to the public as being done to save the planet, and a large number of those involved are true believers failing to grasp the very real danger these agencies represent. 

Scientists discover the origin of the amphibian 'apocalypse' that's killing hundreds of species - and they say the Korean war could be to blame

So global warming is not to blame after all

By Mollie Cahillane For Dailymail.com and Afp May 2018 | Updated: 17:58 EDT, 11 May 2018

Scientists have traced a deadly fungus responsible for killing frogs, toads and newts worldwide to the Korean peninsula, sparking new calls for a halt to the international amphibian pet trade.  A dangerous infectious disease with the potential to drive species to extinction, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is also known as chytrid fungus.

It has already decimated more than 200 amphibian species and rewired echo systems all over the world.  Chytrid is passed from animal to animal and spreads rapidly in the wild, causing catastrophic mortality and declines in some species, while others are less affected.  The fungus causes a disease called chytridiomycosis, which attacks the animal's skin, affecting their ability to regulate water and electrolyte levels and leading to heart failure.

'Biologists have known since the 1990s that Bd was behind the decline of many amphibian species, but until now we haven't been able to identify exactly where it came from,' said Simon O'Hanlon, of the department of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, co-author of the report in the journal Science.............Read more

Endangered Species Act: The Frog That Jumped The Shark

By Hank Campbell — November 17, 2017@ American Council on Science and Health

Mississippi gopher frog. Credit: Wikipedia

The definition of "endangered" is vague but in no dictionary does it mean an animal that does not even live in a state must be placed there, with private landowners footing the bill for $20 million, in order to keep a creature from declining in population.

Yet that is exactly the bizarre case that the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear in January.

Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, et. al. (827 F.3d 452; 848 F.3d 635) is, on the surface, about the 2001 designation (66 Fed. Reg. 62993, Dec. 4, 2001) of the "Dusky Gopher Frog" as an endangered species in Louisiana. It's a little bizarre because the Dusky Gopher Frog is really just the rebranded Mississippi Gopher Frog, Fish and Wildlife Service changed the name of it in 2012, and it does not exist in Louisiana. It's slightly more bizarre that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated a tract of land in another state from where it now lives, outside New Orleans, as critical habitat for the frog. What is absolutely bizarre is that the land they said must now be used has never had the frog living there, and it never could.

That simply sounds ridiculous, like yet another "Golden Fleece" government boondoggle, and if that were the extent of it, I would just write a short article about government waste when it comes to pretending to care about environmental issues, like I have in similar cases. (1) Yet this is not a joke. Below the surface is a more important issue, one similar to what courts recently decided by blocking President Obama's expanded definition of "Waters of the United States (40 CFR 230.3(s)) to gain control over almost any body of private water in America. If this case stands as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled, the Fish and Wildlife Service will have demonstrated an ability to hijack any swath of public or private land in the country, exactly what the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government over water. If it fails, the federal government will once again be guilty of incredible overreach, this time under the guise of pretending to save animals, and their longstanding policy of collaborating with environmental groups on prearranged settlements may be over.

Now, no one is against the Endangered Species Act when they hear its vaguely-positive name. It has been with us since 1966 and there is no Big Extinction movement so siding with endangered species is as much of a no-brainer as being for clean water.  There are almost 1,400 species on the list. (2) Other than when squirrels cause science to stop, endangered species rulings don't get much attention so it has gotten a free pass from the public. Less well known is how easily it has been exploited by environmentalists. This frog designation smacks very much of environmental intervention rather than anything that will help our ecology.

There were only 100 of these Mississippi Gopher Frogs known by the time it became endangered, they existed solely in Harrison County, Mississippi. There hadn't even been a known sighting in the entire state of Louisiana since 1965. So this was not government biologists pushing an alarm button in Louisiana because an animal was dying out in its native habitat, the government initially had no interest in Louisiana at all. If we're being ecologically honest, 100 frogs were not making any kind of difference by 2001, it was instead an 'all frog lives matter' publicity stunt that succeeded as part of a "sue and settle" agreement with the activist group Center for Biological Diversity. "Sue and settle" is just what it sounds like, a prearranged lawsuit with a predetermined settlement that can bypass Congress. Because there really aren't many truly endangered critical species now, these designations are obscure and more political than scientific, it takes about 11 years to get listed. The way to circumvent that delay is to get an environmental group to sue. Then lawyers inside government settle the lawsuit under the previously negotiated terms, government or whomever government is sticking with the bill pays the lawyers of the environmental team and they all go out to dinner.

The original settlement, the endangered species listing, was negotiated during the Clinton administration and other than signing off on it not much happened during the Bush years. Suddenly, a few short weeks after President Obama was elected, Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of Mississippi Public Land sued again, saying the Department of the Interior had failed to determine a "critical habitat" for this Mississippi frog. Under the new administration, Fish and Wildlife Service quickly complied, saying they would generate what a critical habitat should be. By 2010 they did, saying this frog needs:

• “Ephemeral ponds” embedded in an open canopy forest for breeding
•  Open canopy forest upland from the ponds as non-breeding habitat
• “Abundant native herbaceous species” ground cover

And they had ideal land - where the frog actually lives. Plenty of land. They decreed 1,957 acres in Mississippi as “critical habitat” for the Mississippi Gopher Frog. That's 20 acres per frog, equivalent to giving a human 340 acres to raise a family.

Yet somehow by 2011 that was not enough. That is how we learn about the mysterious activists who are hired as "consultants" and secretly shape environmental law without any public oversight or accountability. In this case the hand-picked team to justify the conclusion was the well-connected, 100-person strong group named Industrial Economics, Inc. of Massachusetts. Fish and Wildlife Service sent them a document that was obviously pre-written to honor a prearranged settlement and Industrial Economics, Inc. dutifully wrote up the kind of thing they are paid to write. You may have seen the famed exhibition basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters, they do tricks and stunts with basketballs that are a delight. Obviously since it is a basketball show they need a team to oppose, and since the 1950s that team has been the Washington Generals, now known as the World All-Stars. The Generals are there to lose and to make the Globetrotters look good doing so. In the 2012 document, the Washington Generals are five tracts of land in the actual state where the frog exists, Mississippi. Listed first, however, is D-1, and that tract of land is the Globetrotters in our example, even though it's in Louisiana. It was guaranteed to win, but why? Who bought a ticket to see that show?

Unless a Freedom of Information Act request is honored we may never know. Fish and Wildlife Service suddenly said that there needed to be 7,015 acres, 60 acres per frog, in order for this creature not to die.  And they needed land in Louisiana, the suburbs of New Orleans, even though the critical habitat guidelines that Fish and Wildlife Service just created a year prior was not possible there.(3)

I will recap. Fish and Wildlife Service had sent a document to their hand-picked consultant who created the ecological equivalent of a sole-source contract - where Louisiana would win even though the state had not even submitted a bid. And then Fish and Wildlife Service pretended their hands were tied by the science finding, even though the land they chose “is not occupied by the species,” and “is not near areas inhabited by the species,” and “cannot sustain the species without substantial alterations and future annual maintenance.”

"Substantial alterations" is where the $20 million that the government refuses to pay comes in, and it could be as high as $34 million.

You read that right. The only way any of this makes sense is if it is part of a prearranged settlement with environmental groups representing a Mississippi frog. Otherwise, landowners in Louisiana would not be told they must pay to tear down their forest and put up another one, suitable for endangered frogs who have never lived there. The Department of the Interior is supposed to exclude creating habitats that are economically punitive but did not do so.

Naturally, a lawsuit was filed opposing it. These may be cozy arrangements between environmental lawyers and Fish and Wildlife Service but they still carry the full-force of the federal government if the owners of the land didn't comply. And the government carries M4 assault rifles. The government wasted no time in letting the landowners know what was going to happen if they didn't do as demanded. Despite conceding they can't "compel" them they asserted that if the owners in Louisiana didn't agree to spend at least $20 million to tear down one forest and put in another for this Mississippi frog, the government would make sure they could never develop any of the land. The broader impact is that all those people who want to move out of New Orleans before the next Katrina would be forced to pay higher costs because there won't be enough housing in the higher-elevation suburbs.

I don't need 340 acres to live much less 1020 and yet a frog can go from needing 20 to needing 60, in another state, with the touch of a consultant's keyboard.  No science study, no validation, just a ruling no one understands, including the people who will be out $20 million.

This isn't a one-off. Though it started with the best of intentions, the Endangered Species Act has been consistently manipulated and abused by lawyers for activist groups. If the Supreme Court hears the case, it could put an end to a lot of the abuse of this law. The Court might set limits on just how much bullying the federal government can do using current broad interpretation of endangered species designation criteria that have no scientific validity.

NOTES:

(1) I have written plenty about other "sue and settle" craziness, such as when the EPA declared water a pollutant as part of a settlement with a canoeing trade group that wanted nature to be nicer to its members on a river. And when that does not work, activist groups pit federal laws against each other so they can sue-and-settle over non-enforcement, such as when the Paiute cutthroat trout had to be restored "to its historical range" by the Endangered Species Act but could not be, because there are no power lines there and they needed an auger to geo-engineer the land. Except the Wilderness Act prevented a gas generator from being used in a designated wilderness. Wilderness Watch and two other activist groups sued to block the trout's restoration, claiming the use of the auger should not be exempted from the Wilderness Act. They eventually settled.

 (2)  The figure our government lists. Analyses have shown it has not helped species much. Despite generous funding (over $1.5 billion in the last reported year, 2015, and that's without land acquisition costs), numerous blockages of human development and awareness campaigns, almost all species listed are either static or still in decline. On the few occasions rebounds have happened, media is sure to gush about it as a win for environmental fiat.  Today, few things proposed as endangered actually are endangered. People are rushing to declare a new species of orangutan endangered even though it has just been discovered and has obviously lived for 200 million years without any government recognition at all. Most of the species that have gone extinct - 99.9999 percent - we have never identified.

(3)   I wrote Michael Donlan, the President of Industrial Economics, Inc., to ask in the interest of public transparency if they would share how their analysis was done and let me speak with the consultant who created the numerical model which determined the Louisiana land was not only essential, but passed government requires stipulating it be achievable without undo hardship, but no one from the company responded.  Fish and Wildlife Service has not ruled on my Freedom of Information Act request.

 

Colony Collapse Disorder: An Excuse, Not a Reason!

By Rich Kozlovich

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the term used to describe unexplained die-off of honey bee colonies. This has generated a great deal of speculation that was, and is, erroneous. Fortunately, information outlining how fallacious and unscientific are these claims by green activists, and their drive to ban neonicotinoids, is coming to the fore as more writers expose the lies behind this scaremongering. Paul Driessen recently wrote, To Bee or Not to Bee, Alan Caruba published , Another Environmental Lie Exposed: Bees are Thriving and Jon Entine, Bee Deaths Reversal: As Evidence Points Away From Neonics As Driver, Pressure Builds To Rethink Ban.

Neonicotinoids is a classification of pesticides used extensively in agriculture to provide protection against insects that would destroy our food supply, and we need to get over this silly mantra - “we don’t need pesticides” - from the green movement, because that would really lead to the starvation they claim to be so concerned about.

All this irrational speculation would almost make one want to laugh, except the consequences for listening to these loony ideas is so dangerous. For years the world’s media inundated us with scaremongering articles about CCD with headlines such as, “Are GM Crops Killing Bees?”; “As Bees Go Missing”; “Why the Honey Bee Decline?”; “Who Killed the Honey Bees?”; “Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons!”

Reading these biased and unscientific pronouncements from the media would naturally generate a serious level of concern in society. There’s only one problem. It’s all wrong!

I would like to pose a question. Does anyone think it’s a bit odd that everyone is so hot to proclaim total disaster would ensue without honey bees? Yet the European honey bee is an introduced species brought here by European settlers, hence the name “European” honey bee? So, since the European honey bee isn’t native to North America, how did everything get pollinated here for previous untold millennia? It would appear the level of hysteria over this is somewhat misplaced.

So, what is the cause? Initially the environmentalists and their acolytes found mankind was clearly to be blamed, i.e., cell phones, power lines, global warming, genetically modified crops, and of course – pesticides – above all –pesticides! But, as Benjamin Franklin noted; “Truth will very patiently wait for us. And of course, I always get the same idiotic question; what is truth? Well that’s actually quite easy. Truth is the sublime convergence of history and reality, so let’s take a quick look at the history of green activist’s claims and predictions versus reality. What we need to understand is green activist’s pronouncements, condemnations and predictions of doom have been so flawed they almost have a monopoly on being wrong.

At one point frogs, salamanders and other amphibians began to sprout extra legs, and naturally pesticides were immediately attacked without any evidence, and the studies that came out later supporting that view failed peer review and reality. Some were even found to be fraudulent as in the study conducted be“Steven R. Arnold, a former researcher at the Tulane University Center for Bioenvironmental Research. The Federal Office of Research Integrity found that Arnold had "committed scientific misconduct by intentionally falsifying the research results published in the Journal Science and by providing falsified and fabricated materials to investigating officials." Yet this work was foundational to parts of the Food Quality Protection Act and still remains in effect.

Although there is an article (Editor’s Note: This is an article worth exploring to find the logical fallacies and misrepresentations, asides and non sequiturs. Take the time to investigate this from both sides. You will find this an enlightening exploration, and remember this was written by one of the authors of Our Stolen Future. As I’m writing this I think perhaps I need to start a series on this subject once again.) supporting ED claims - by one of the authors of Our Stolen Future - and claiming the Tulane study had nothing to do with passage of FQPA, but Carol Browner, EPA administrator at the time, thought it was wonderful research, and Lynn Goldberg, EPA’s pesticide chief, said "I just can't remember a time where I've seen data so persuasive . . . the results are very clean looking.", although it hadn’t been peer reviewed and FQPA was passed before the peer review found it to be fraudulent. Goldberg claims she was taken out of context and expressed the need for validation through replication, however, no one waited for that to happen before FQPA was passed.

As for this study not playing a major role in FQPA’s passage - I think that is a load of rhetorical excuse making horsepucky. Science News ran pages on this, and in more than one issue, leaving everyone the impression it was fact, and in fact I was left a bit stunned by it all. After this was exposed as fraudulent I stopped subscribing to Science News since they refused to respond to my complaints and I never saw any kind of retraction. If there was a retraction it wasn’t anything on the order of the ED scare they promoted.

Dennis Avery pointed out in an article that;

“Minnesota school kids found deformed frogs in some local ponds, the finger of accusation was pointed at pesticides. Now, the deformities have been traced to a natural parasite, the trematode, which burrows into the just-forming leg joints of tadpoles. The absence of yellow-legged frogs in some California mountain lakes had been blamed on pesticide-laden dust rising from the intensively farmed San Joaquin Valley. However, when the fish management teams stopped stocking the mountain lakes with hungry trout, the frogs returned in large numbers.”

He further notes;

“Pesticides are still a favorite bogyman of concerned frog lovers, but the real-world Nebraska frogs thrived in the pesticide-tinged irrigation ditch until the farmer cut off the water. Meanwhile, frogs have been disappearing in lots of remote places where no pesticides are used.”

The real threat to amphibians and the main reason behind the worldwide decline in amphibians, which sees about one third of all species threatened with extinction, is chytridiomycosis, a frequently fatal disease caused by the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus – not pesticides!

This pattern of inaccurate pronouncements from the green movement plays out over and over again for every animal die off that occurs, and they’ve been largely wrong. So why should we believe anything they say? As for the recent die-off of bumble bees in multiple locations in Oregon? Well, in this case it really was caused by pesticides, but that event was a matter of misapplication, and was not associated with CCD. Initially the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) issued a temporary restriction on use of the two neonicotinoids used, or in this case, misused. After the investigation into this event the ODA allowed the temporary restriction to expire demonstrating confidence in the continued use of these products. There is a substantial difference between the misuse of a product and some sort of unidentified intrinsic, or systemic flaw in the product that has an overall detrimental impact.

There are some things we do know. We do know for sure this problem has nothing to do with cell phones, power lines, and pesticides have little to do with this increased level of die-offs within the honey bee population, and more officials are being made aware of that. We know the worldwide population of honey bees has increased during this so-called crisis; we know Canada uses a lot of neonicotinoids without any adverse effect on honey bees; we know parasites and pathogens play a massive role in these die-offs. Varroa mites are now known to carry tobacco ringworm virus, which is destructive to bee colonies.

We have to understand that no singular species is necessary for continued existence. In point of fact, the elimination of whole orders doesn’t matter either. James A. Marusek, a retired nuclear physicist& engineer for U.S. Department of the Navy wrote an impressive piece in 2004 called, “The Great Permian Extinction Debate”,where he lists all the ocean species that went extinct during that period.

During that period trilobites, which constituted 9 orders, more than 150 families, 5000 genera and over 15,000 species, were completely wiped out. All 9000 species of fusulinids ceased to exist, along with blastoids. Rugose and tabulate corals, and 90 percent of all brachiopod families and 95% of brachiopod genera went extinct, 98% of all crinozoa, 96% of all anthoaozans, 97 percent of ammonoids, 59% of all bivalves, 8 families of ostracods, 85% of the gastropods and 79% of bryozoans.

That didn’t include any land creatures, of which 70% of everything living on land died. Amazing!  All that devastation, destruction and extinction, and life still goes on!

As for the greenies who are so worried people will starve– that is an specious and emotional argument as an excuse to eliminate pesticides – all pesticides! They want to eliminate billions of people from the world’s population and the most radical of them want humanity totally eliminated. Their desire for the elimination of pesticides will go a long way toward attaining that goal. This issue with honey bees is just one more excuse by the environmental movement to ban more pesticides. Products we absolutely need to human existence. Once we get that firmly fixed into our heads clarity will follow. The bees are fine, these colonies will recover, we aren’t going to starve, pesticides are our friend, and soon the greenies will come up with a new or recycled scare. And based on their record for accuracy –another scare society can ignore with impunity.

American Council on Science and Health, 2011: Week 17

...

Editor's Note:  The presence of linked articles here are a way of showing what is going on, whether I agree or disagree with the positions presented or not.

I have highlighted what I think are "must read" articles with three asterisks. RK

***Still breathless: Asthma rates rising even as smoking and pollution decline Asthma rates in the U.S. have increased over the past ten years, according to the CDC.

***Does asthma crop up more on the farm? The results of a recent study of the epidemiology of asthma may come as a surprise to some of our readers.

***“Save the Frogs” campaign: Follow the money to an anti-pesticide ruse Two recent articles in The American Spectator and the Huffington Post, as well as a posting on JunkScience.com, have pulled back the veil of deception of the current "Save the Frogs" campaign; we'd like to praise Robert James Bidinotto, Jon Entine, and Steve Milloy, respectively, for these editorial contributions.

***Dr. Ross tells it like it is (and then some): people vs. pests — and “environmentalists” Remember all those environmental activist reports that cropped up around Earth Day, alleging that prenatal exposure to certain pesticides will decrease your child's IQ? Well, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross was sufficiently disturbed by the hype that he quickly decided to compose an op-ed pointing out the overwhelming body of evidence attesting to the safety of these pesticides for agricultural use.

Flame-retarded media continue to fan fears of chemicals An article yesterday in USA Today - which has apparently decided to become the bête noir of chemicals - demonstrates that even so-called "science journalists" are ill-informed about the risks (or, rather, lack thereof) associated with flame retardants used in household products.

Danes propose restrictions on certain phthalates Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency is calling for the restriction of four phthalates under REACH (the European Union's precautionary chemical regulation protocol).

Phony pharmaceuticals profusely propagating In yesterday's Los Angeles Times, William Weir offers a thorough overview of the dangers of increasingly prevalent counterfeit drugs.

***Narcotic overdoses in infants a real problem Disturbing new research by Dr. William T. Basco, Jr., director of the division of general pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, and colleagues finds that about 4 percent of kids up to the age of three were given an overdose of a narcotic-containing drug.

***More supplements bite the dust — this time for prostate cancerDespite hopes to the contrary, a new study demonstrates that neither Vitamin E, selenium, nor soy can prevent or even slow the development of prostate cancer.

Dr. Siegel hits two grand slams in doubleheader For the second time in as many days, we'd like to give a tip of the hat to ACSH advisor and Boston University School of Public Health Professor Dr. Michael Siegel for his essays on two different smoking-related policies.

NEJM lights up TPSAC’s menthol cigarette evaluation Two perspective pieces addressing the menthol cigarette problem appear in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

***Not always worth the wait: Prostatectomy for younger prostate cancer patients? today we learned that for younger men - those under the age of 65 - diagnosed with early prostate cancer, a prostatectomy may be better than watchful waiting (WW) when it comes to both prostate cancer-specific and all-cause (total) mortality.


Insurance coverage for exercise could work out for diabetics A new study published in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association lends credence to the idea of providing insurance coverage for exercise programs - at least for diabetes patients.

Take salt dogma with a grain or two Even though the American Heart Association is now advising that people ingest no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium daily, you don't have to throw away that saltshaker just yet.

Food stamp ban on soda purchases is flat-out paternalism In March, ACSH challenged the validity of a proposal by New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg to prohibit the purchase of sugar-sweetened beverages with food stamps.

Activist Attack on Coke’s Use of BPA Fizzles ACSH staffers would like to take our hats off to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, who announced in an annual company meeting Wednesday in Atlanta that he does not believe there exists sufficient scientific evidence to stop using BPA in the epoxy linings of the company's iconic cans.

Junk food ads for kids may fall under same restrictions as X-rated content
Four governmental agencies - the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - yesterday proposed voluntary guidelines for the food industry that would limit "junk food" advertisements aimed at children up to the age of 17.

Study yields more perspective on what kind of fruit you should resemble Let's talk fruit - in terms of body shape, that is. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic published a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggesting that being "pear-shaped" (carrying more fat in the hips, buttocks and thighs) is associated with a lower risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared to those who are apple-shaped (having excess fat around the midsection).

The Times column nukes its own anti-nuclear fallout Perhaps the folks who write for The New York Times should read each other's work! We'd like to note that a very informative article in today's The Times, "Drumbeat of Nuclear Fallout Doesn't Resound with Experts," resoundingly refutes yesterday's op-ed by Helen Caldicott.

In the sun or in a bed, excessive UV exposure produces (un)healthy tan  As summer draws near, a new survey from the American Academy of Dermatology reports that a striking number of young women tan despite the established health risks.

Fewer Mammograms, and no consensus yet on when to begin  The use of mammograms has decreased ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) made a controversial recommendation in 2009 advising women in their 40s to wait until age 50 to get routine mammography screenings, and then only every two years.

Minn. “anti-cloning” bills called anti-business: We call them monkey business  All the common misconceptions about stem cell research have reared their ugly heads in an ongoing dispute in Minnesota that pits businesses against a so-called anti-cloning proposal that we thought had died an ignominious demise when we last skewered it.

Federally-funded embryonic stem cell research may proceed In a victory for embryonic stem cell (ESC) researchers, a U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Obama administration may continue to federally fund ESC studies using embryos that would otherwise be discarded.

Hormone Replacement Therapy not deserving of bad rap — as we said  An article in today's Los Angeles Times reports that women who begin to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at the onset of menopause (often called peri-menopause), around age 50 or so, and take it for five years or less, run fewer risks than benefits, including relief from hot flashes and pain during sex, as well as reduced bone fractures.

Plan B is underused: maybe ‘behind the counter’ is one reason  A new study indicates that although the number of women who have used the "morning-after pill" - officially named Plan B - has more than doubled, relatively few women are actually using this emergency contraceptive (EC).

Some good news to stomach A 2009 report highlights the need to include a rotavirus vaccine in national immunization programs of the underdeveloped world.

Unusual dilemma for Genentech: Competing against itself  The results from a multicenter trial funded by the National Eye Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) demonstrate that after one year of follow-up, both Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab) had equivalent effects on maintaining or improving visual acuity in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly.

If there is a health scare today, the American Council on Science and Health will most likely have the answer by tomorrow; and for members it will appear in your e-mail. No effort on your part, except to read the answer. All that the ACSH is interested in are the facts and they are prepared to follow them wherever they lead. Who can ask for more?  Please Donate Now!

###

American Council on Science and Health, 2011: Week 16

ACSH welcomes new Director of Publications Today (Thursday 4/28/11) marks the arrival of our new Director of Publications Alyssa Pelish.

Anti-pesticide camps should be the ones accused of lower IQs Just in time for the 41st annual Earth Day last Friday, the news media went wild reporting on a trio of highly flawed studies published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a periodical now notorious for reporting on junk science research.

“Save the Frogs” campaign: Follow the money to an anti-pesticide ruse Two recent articles in The American Spectator and the Huffington Post, as well as a posting on JunkScience.com, have pulled back the veil of deception of the current "Save the Frogs" campaign; we'd like to praise Robert James Bidinotto, Jon Entine, and Steve Milloy, respectively, for these editorial contributions.

My Take - For over 40 years I have been hearing the greenies claim that mankind was killing the frogs with some chemical.  For 40 years they have been wrong!  How could that be?  Because everything the greenies tell us a lie; either lies of commission or lies of omission!  We need to "get that"  

Flame retardants pose lifesaving benefit, not risk The headline on a recent article screamed "UC flame-retardant study finds risks for kids." However, the article, written by Marla Cone in SF Gate, makes no such assertion, therefore, whoever wrote the misleading headline needs to be educated.

An indoor, smoke-free America in 2020? Give it another nine years or so and every state will have implemented an indoor smoking ban.

Wakefield to blame for measles outbreak in EU Hopefully the recent whooping cough epidemic in California and now a measles outbreak in Europe will convince anti-vaccine activists that their propaganda is putting thousands of lives at risk.

My Take - Recently one of my posts dealing with this issue was recommended by one of my favorite commentators, Patrice Lewis. One of her readers commented;

"...he doesn't hold back..." well that's putting it nicely…….. I definitely won't be visiting that blog again. He's just about as abrasive as a sandblaster. “

It fascinates me that some are so worried about the sensitivities of those selling death to children.  I absolutely wonder at people’s priorities....and their sanity. I commented back;

“As for being abrasive; how can someone be gentle with those who are promoting things that have such terrible consequences for so many innocent children? Much like the snake oil peddlers of 100 year ago, they are peddling death. If being as “ abrasive as a sandblaster “ will force people to think in order to save the lives of these poor innocent children; not to mention the pain, agony and self incrimination that parents must go through when their children die….then I say thank you. I accept!

Earth to Linn County: Even the FDA is OK with smokeless tobacco products The Linn County, Iowa Board of Supervisors will vote next month on whether to ban the sale of dissolvable tobacco products.

Death rates improved for high blood pressure patients — but still much higher than normal According to a new study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, mortality due to hypertension is decreasing, yet it's still greater in people with high blood pressure compared to those without.

Birth interventions: More or less sometimes equals the same In terms of interventions during labor and delivery to improve neonatal (birth) outcomes, today's mantra might be less is more. Or not.

Chernobyl 25 years later: Less cancer than feared –– but more PTSD Twenty-five years ago today, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian SSR in the former Soviet Union - near the Polish border - exploded, causing a global frenzy of fear and panic.

Danes propose restrictions on certain phthalates Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency is calling for the restriction of four phthalates under REACH (the European Union's precautionary chemical regulation protocol).

Activist Attack on Coke’s Use of BPA Fizzles ACSH staffers would like to take our hats off to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, who announced in an annual company meeting Wednesday in Atlanta that he does not believe there exists sufficient scientific evidence to stop using BPA in the epoxy linings of the company's iconic cans.

Unusual dilemma for Genentech: Competing against itselfThe results from a multicenter trial funded by the National Eye Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) demonstrate that after one year of follow-up, both Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab) had equivalent effects on maintaining or improving visual acuity in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly.

Junk food ads for kids may fall under same restrictions as X-rated content Four governmental agencies - the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - yesterday proposedvoluntary guidelines for the food industry that would limit "junk food" advertisements aimed at children up to the age of 17.

Quitting smoking difficult for all, especially the mentally ill The results of a small study on Pfizer's smoking cessation drug Chantix (varenicline) underscore the difficulties smokers face when attempting to kick the habit for good.

Cleveland misses two birds with one stone ACSH staffers would like to give two thumbs down to the Cleveland City Council for recently passing some "extraordinary" public health bills.

My Take - I talked to one of my restaurateur friends in Cleveland when this passed. He said this was a waste because they weren’t using trans fats anyway, but now it created more paperwork for his to show that he wasn’t using trans fats. We both agreed that this wasn’t their business. I have to wonder how many medical and scientific experts Cleveland has on the City Council. I also wonder who is really behind this measure.

Cleveland is a great town. We have more diversity than any city in the country per ratio…and for whatever problems we may have, we get along better than most others most of the time. Any kind of food from any area of the world you may want can be found in Cleveland, and we have pierogies. We have what is considered one of the great symphonic orchestras of the world, and Severance Hall, where they perform. We have the second largest theatre district in the country. We have the science museum, garden center, natural history museum and a wonderful art museum. And if it is your taste…the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We have some of the most fabulous medical facilities in the world here. We have plenty of great low cost golf courses and if you are into intramural sports we have all that also. We have water and snow skiing. We have plenty of great suburbs with great homes at a fraction of the cost of those in places like California and we are surrounded by a Green Ring of Metro Parks. And we have the Browns, the Indians and the Cavaliers to rally around….with great passion.

This problem In Cleveland is that by the time things like this make it to the local news rag the deal was already struck behind closed doors. I love this town and intend to spend my life here, but the fact remains; nothing has changed. The roads are still in desperate need of repair! That really is their job! I sure wish someone would tell them!

Seniors should take it one step at a time, literally Falls are the leading cause of injury among people over the age of 65, and according to the CDC, it affects one in three adults each year.

Ignore that quacking sound: Thermograms are not the new mammogram, no matter what Dr. Mercola says With his website ranked the 390th most popular, Dr. Joseph Mercola uses his online notoriety to tout thermograms as diagnostic screening tools for early breast cancer detection.

Gene therapy brings new hope for Tay-Sachs disease Tay-Sachs disease, a devastating congenital error in metabolism of central nervous system fats, is caused by a rare genetic mutation.

A heart-y affirmation: Current ICU interventions pump up heart attack survival A new Swedish study confirms the efficacy of current medical interventions for the emergency treatment of symptoms and signs of acute coronary occlusion (i.e. heart attack).

Greenpeace lawsuit could endanger stem cell research A new court ruling in Europe could bring the development of life-saving embryonic stem cell therapies to a halt.

FDA panel unanimously endorses Merck’s boceprevir for Hepatitis CAs most virology experts predicted (including ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom), an FDA advisory panel voted to recommend that Victrelis (boceprivir), the first specific antiviral drug for hepatitis C, be approved by the FDA.

Observations From the Back Row: 4-28-11

...
“De Omnibus Dubitandum”

The environmental movement I helped found has lost its objectivity, morality and humanity. The pain and suffering it is inflicting on families in developing countries must no longer be tolerated. Eco-Imperialism is the first book I’ve seen that tells the truth and lays it on the line. It’s a must-read for anyone who cares about people, progress and our planet. – Patrick Moore, Greenpeace co-founder

Dog lovers and baby killers 

A couple months ago, when its dog-sledding business lost customers, a Canadian company had a hundred of its dogs killed. The incident "shocked" and "angered" people. The employee who shot the dogs said he suffered "post traumatic stress" from killing them and wants compensation.

Animal activists used the incident in campaigns against dog sled rides. "I don't think society is willing to accept that animals should be killed just because they are surplus or don't suit the purpose they were born for," said one. "The magnitude of this atrocity is so shocking—our heads are reeling," another said……….

My wife Fiona Kobusingye lost her son, two sisters and four cousins to malaria. Her nephew is permanently brain-damaged because of it. Almost everyone I know has lost at least one child or sibling to this killer disease. Despite millions of bednets, malaria still kills more African children than any other disease. I cannot help thinking it would really be nice if, just once in awhile, animal lovers, environmentalists, journalists and other people would care half as much about African babies, children and families, as about dogs.

A hundred dogs are killed, and activists and newspapers make it a huge story. Last year, almost one hundred thousand Ugandan children and adults were killed by malaria. And yet, nobody seemed to care—certainly not enough to write a story about it, or get outraged that callous anti-pesticide activists lie about DDT risks and prevent the use of DDT and other insecticides that could prevent malaria, yellow fever and other diseases that cause so much suffering, poverty and death on our continent……….

Michael Mann may have something to hide Over the weekend on “The Score” radio show, we followed-up on the story of how Chris Horner, working with the American Tradition Institute, had filed a freedom of information request with the University of Virginia for emails and materials former UVA Prof. Michael Mann generated during his time at the school. What we learned from our interview with Horner is jaw-dropping……..So why are they fighting so hard? Horner said, referring to UVA’s legal bill. “they’ve given us half a million reasons to believe there’s something [in Mann’s emails] to hide.” Horner has been told that Mann’s own lawyer has contacted UVA asking whether the school intended to release the records, indicating that he is worried about what they may reveal if they are made public. We may know soon enough.

Mike Fox with some rational I-131 coverage - Media Hysteria and Radioactivity BY MICHAEL R. FOX PHD – The US media continues to issue 40 year old hysterical scary one-liners about radioactivity, especially as they relate to the Fukushima reactor failures in Japan. It is as if the media have yet to discover natural and man-made radioactivity and that many of these are a natural part of our environment.

Organic Valley identified as secret funder of ‘FrogTV’ pesticide scare campaign Is American agriculture facing yet another major attack on food safety similar to the 1989 Alar scare? At JunkScience.com, we take notice when certain tactics by activists and unscrupulous marketing interests repeat themselves. That is certainly the case right now vis-à-vis conventional crop protection products used by farmers and growing online advocacy and marketing campaigns seeking to tie these products to various human diseases and harms to our ecosystem

Stink Bugs Destroy Crops At Germantown Farm GERMANTOWN, Md. (WUSA) -- The Red Wiggler Community Farm in Germantown is infested with stink bugs. Founder Woody Woodroof says the stink bugs cause discoloration, changes the texture, and make crops inedible. He says his farm has lost 15 percent of its crops to the bug. It's a loss for the farm and for the people that work there. "We grow and sell vegetables as a framework for training adults with developmental disabilities," Woodroof says. He says they are using a floating row cover to protect crops from stink bugs. "We're a certified organic farm," Woodroof says, "What that means is we don't spray chemical based pesticides or herbicides." Woodroof says nothing else has worked, nor have any other insects prayed on the stink bug. He says other farms are seeing the same thing. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett says he will asking for $3 Million to help fund research to protect crops from the the stink bug.

My Take – Another three million wasted. There may be an upside to this though. Maybe as this problem expands we won’t hear as many pretentious attitudes of moral superiority and general horsepucky from this lot.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax -

Of cabbages and kings,

And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings."

###