Blog 15: Brazil Cracks Down on Animal Trafficking

Annually, about 38 million animals are poached from forests in Brazil and sold illegally on the black market. However, close to 90% of the animals die during transportation, and those that survive live in terrible conditions and are usually very sick and starved. Many animal traffickers don't mind these losses though because they are still able to make a profit, sometimes off of just a single sale. The illegal trafficking of animals is an ever-increasing industry that is worth an estimated $2 billion a year, but authorities are cracking down on it and becoming more stringent in enforcement. Each year, federal police seize about 250,000 wild animals being traded illegally. Ibama, the Brazilian environmental agency, rescues an additional 45,000 and helps to rehabilitate them at wildlife centers because many are ill and starving when they're rescued. Unfortunately, it is difficult to release them back into the wild because the animals are unable to fend for themselves, so only about 20-30% of them are successfully released. Even though it is illegal in Brazil to hunt or hold wild animals in captivity, poachers continue to do so, and it is contributing to the destruction of biodiversity and threatens hundreds of species. According to the records of the environmental agency, the number of endangered species has increased threefold in the past 15 years, and 627 species are now faced with the threat the extinction.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-brazil-lucrative-wild-animal.html

Blog 14: New Plant That Can Possibly Be Used In Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

 According to the CDC, each year about 44,000 cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed, and there is only a 20% survival chance for patients who are sick for over a year. It drops to a 14% survival rate after five years, and the current drug on the market for treatment, Gemzar, doesn't do much to combat the cancer. It's rather ineffective, and Vice Chairman of Research at the CDC, Ashok Saluja, even said, "It adds six weeks- it's nothing." There has been a need for a more effective drug treatment, and researchers think that the answer may be a drug made from a plant called "Thunder God Vine." The plant is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for rheumatoid arthritis. In a study conducted among lab mice with pancreatic cancer, after 40 days of treatment with the drug they showed no signs of tumors. Thunder God Vine, or its technical name Tripterygium wilfordii, contains the compound triptolide, which has shown to kill cancer cells in previous studies. Although there is no guarantee whatsoever that the plant will be effective in combating pancreatic cancer in humans, researchers hope to soon begin the first three stages of human clinical trials necessary before being approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and hopefully the results from the trials are successful.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-17/drug-from-chinese-thunder-god-vine-slays-tumors-in-mice.html

Blog 13: Controversial Population Control in India

Due to India's massive population of about 1.2 billion, the country has been trying to implement various ways to stabilize population growth. Attempted methods by the government include forced vasectomies in the 1970s, having parents sign written pledges prohibiting their daughter(s) from marrying before age 18, and, recently, even paying 5,000 rupees, or about $106, to couples who promised to wait until after saving up money and finishing schooling to have children. Almost every attempt by the government received some kind of backlash from the public for being an infringement upon personal rights, but the efforts have been met with some success, more so in some areas than others. But overall, the success has been limited especially outside of major, urbanized cities in India, like Kerala. Population control methods were met with hostility and resistance from many citizens, who viewed them as "top-down" coercive acts that targeted the poor. Despite limited success, these methods in the long run are not viable solutions to rapid population growth and more effective ways to control the population will have to be introduced.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/world/asia/22india.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Blog 12: World Not Ending Tomorrow - Shocker.

Throughout history, various groups or individuals have predicted the end of the world multiple times. As we can see, they were wrong. Their predictions were grossly inaccurate, but that didn't deter some groups from pushing the date back further and further. The prediction that the world is ending on December 12th, 2012 is another one of these misconceptions, this time based on how some interpreted the Mayan Calendar. However, there is an extremely slim chance the world will end on that date, seeing as it hasn't the other dozens of times an impending doom has been predicted.

http://www.businessinsider.com/december-21-2012-failed-doomsday-predictions-2011-12?op=1

Blog 11: Lizards Develop Resistance to Cane Toad Toxin Thanks to Invasive Plant

In an attempt to combat the massive number of cane grub beetles that broke out in Australia in the 1930s, cane toads were brought into the country with the hope that they would keep the beetle population in check. However, the toads did not prey upon the beetles and had their own devastating effects. The toads produce bufadienolides, which are a type of toxin that are deadly to many of the country's native species that feed on them. One of these species, Bluetongue Lizards, faced a dramatic decline in population due to the arrival of the toads, but there is hope for them. A recent study that was conducted showed that lizards living in areas infested with the toads were vulnerable to the toxins, yet those living in areas where they had never encountered the toad had resistance. It was concluded that, oddly enough, the resistance was derived from exposure to an invasive species of a plant, called Mother-of-Millions, which was introduced to the area approximately 70 years ago. It was brought over from Madagascar and used as a decorative plant. The Mother-of-Millions produces a toxin that is almost identical to that of the cane toad, and so after decades of being consumed by the lizards in parts of Queensland and New South Whales, they have been able to develop a resistance, protecting them from cane toads.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120222132936.htm

Current Events 10: Nonnative Red Alga Found Along Coasts of Maine

A nonnative species of seaweed, Heterosiphonia japonica, native to Japan has recently been found in the waters near Appledore Island, Maine, which is located just a few miles from the New Hampshire coast. The alga, brownish-red in color, has been commonly found in the intertidal transects on the island. It has been growing in the shallow waters near the coastline, and then it builds up in large, decaying mounds in the intertidal zone. The piles of alga give off a foul smell that threaten tourism of the beaches. It's also possible that they seaweed may out-compete native plant species, overwhelm local ecosystems, and damage commercial fisheries nearby because it may disrupt ecosystems. The alga was first spotted in the U.S. in Southern New England, particularly Rhode Island, in 2009. It's thought that the seaweed was brought here across the world unintentionally on boat hulls or shellfish aquaculture. The area is yet to have experienced any devastating effects from the alga, but the amount of it is quickly increasing and poses threats.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120913122842.htm

Current Events 9: Farmers Sue Monsanto and Tobacco Company For Being Forced to Use Deadly Pesticides

A group of farmers in Argentina working for Monsanto and leading cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris were coerced by the companies to use several pesticides and herbicides, including Roundup, on their crops. The local community and their own families suffered from the extensive use of chemicals and experienced major birth defects in children. The tobacco crop the farmers were growing required large amounts of highly potent and toxic pesticides and herbicides that had to frequently be applied. Both of the companies neglected to inform the farmers of the dangers the chemicals posed and how to properly administer and store them. Furthermore, Monsanto and Altria Group, the parent company for Philip Morris, were aware at all times that the farmers didn't possess any safety equipment or knowledge/skills regarding how to properly and safely use the herbicides and pesticides in a manner that would mitigate any harmful exposure. Nor did they educate the farmers about protective measures that could be taken. The companies required the farmers to spray excessive amounts of the chemicals on the tobacco crops, and as a result, many of the farmers' children suffer from diseases, such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, heart defects, Down Syndrome, blindness, and other life threatening disorders. Additionally, the improper and unregulated use of the pesticides and herbicides contaminated local water wells and food crops.

http://www.naturalnews.com/035592_Big_Tobacco_Monsanto_birth_defects.html