Tens of thousands of farm animals are being slaughtered across the United Kingdom in a desperate effort to halt the spread of hoof and mouth disease.

The disease has reached the large Devon farming region, already hard-hit by BSE, and threatens to bankrupt large parts of British agriculture, and radically reduce meat supplies in the UK. It is probable that Britain will have to increase meat imports substantially to fulfill normal demand in coming months. Consumers are being urged not to panic buy.
read more

The food-irradiation industry got special-interest language put into the 2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill that seeks to force the FDA to replace the clear “Treated by Irradiaton” now on irradiated foods with a label that is vague and misleading, such as “Cold Pasturized.”

The industry, apparently taking its cue from the genetically engineered food business, is seeking to conceal its products from consumers by vague labeling. This is intended to remove from consumers the right to make a choice regarding the consumption of foods that have been sterilized by exposure to radioactive elements.
read more

I have been living with high-level strangeness most of my life. As a child, I took it for granted. When it re-entered my life in December of 1985, I was shocked to my depths.

Since then, the experiences have been a consistent part of my life, and in the past two weeks there has been a new sequence.
read more

Baffling boulders have been discovered on Mars by an international group of students who won the chance to look at Mars through the camera on board NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.

The students stumbled upon a surprising cluster of dark-colored boulders, situated in the middle of light-colored terrain. Their discovery has baffled Mars scientists, who don’t know how the boulders got there or what geological history they represent.

“It’s puzzling,” says Michael Carr of the U.S. Geological Survey. “I looked at a few pictures around [the area] and couldn’t find anything to explain it. Very puzzling! These are huge boulders. There are no indications of any outcrops that could shed such boulders.”
read more