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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

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The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Army Sergeant Travis Decker Murdered His Three Children After Being Denied Mental Health Care at JBL... Sat Jun 07, 2025 04:52 | JBLM Whistleblowers
A corrupt military police force and incompetent Commander who denied emergency mental health care and crisis counseling to an American service member resulted in the murder of the sergeant's three young daughters

offsite link Gaza doctor grieves her nine children killed in Israeli strike Sun May 25, 2025 20:00 | imc
Israeli regime continues it's slaughter
'The children were completely charred'

Paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar was treating victims of Israeli attacks when her children were killed by an Israeli strike on their home

offsite link British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ?slaughterhouse? Sat May 24, 2025 00:23 | imc
There?s no food getting in so people are starving,? surgeon Tom Potokar says
British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a ?slaughterhouse,? where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023,

offsite link It is time to talk about the Out of Control Immigration. Mon Mar 31, 2025 22:12 | imc
For the last few years since the CV19 scamdemic undocumented immigration into Ireland has surged. No one is allowed discuss it because they do not want any rational debate about it. If you do you are labelled an extremist. However this out of control immigration is fully facilitated by the Irish government and the EU and the shady figure behind the Neo Con movement pushing for endless war, wokeism and globalist agenda.

offsite link [Dublin] National Demonstration for Palestine: End Israeli Apartheid & Genocide Thu Mar 06, 2025 22:35 | ipsc
Sat, 22 March 2025, 13:00 Assemble at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by over 150 Irish civil society organisations, has called another National Demonstration for Palestine on Saturday 22nd March.

The march will begin at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm and finish outside the D?il on Molesworth Street/Kildare Street to bring our demands to the Irish government?s doorstep.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Kneecap ?Two-Tier Justice? Row After Glastonbury Case Dropped by Police Fri Jul 18, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
Police have closed the criminal investigation into Kneecap?s Glastonbury performance, where the band called for a "riot outside court", prompting criticism of "two-tier justice" by the Shadow Home Secretary.
The post Kneecap ‘Two-Tier Justice’ Row After Glastonbury Case Dropped by Police appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Epping Protesters Have Had Enough of Being Ignored and Lied To Fri Jul 18, 2025 15:00 | David Shipley
Last night's violence in Epping is the desperate cry of people who have been ignored for decades, says David Shipley. Violence must be condemned. But if the state doesn?t change course, and fast, we will see many Eppings.
The post The Epping Protesters Have Had Enough of Being Ignored and Lied To appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link From Vaccine Passports in 2021 to ?Britcard? in 2025 ? Why We Need a Digital Bill of Rights Fri Jul 18, 2025 13:00 | Alan Miller
From vaccine passports in 2021 to 'Britcard' digital ID in 2025, it's becoming clear we need a Digital Bill of Rights to protect us from being brought under the technocratic grip of a surveillance state, says Alan Miller.
The post From Vaccine Passports in 2021 to ‘Britcard’ in 2025 ? Why We Need a Digital Bill of Rights appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Why is Modernity so Ugly? Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:00 | Joanna Gray
Why is the modern world so unremittingly ugly, wonders Joanna Gray. As yet another interchangeable block of beige bricks springs up in town, the contrast with the glories of the structures our ancestors built is damning.
The post Why is Modernity so Ugly? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Climate Consensus Died in Parliament This Week Fri Jul 18, 2025 09:00 | Ben Pile
This was the week that the climate consensus died in Parliament, says Ben Pile. In the debate that followed Ed Miliband's statement on "nature and climate" something new was heard in the House of Commons: dissent.
The post The Climate Consensus Died in Parliament This Week appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Call for Government's Chief Scientific Adviser to resign

category national | sci-tech | news report author Friday July 18, 2008 15:55author by Michael O'Callaghan - GM-free Ireland Networkauthor email mail at gmfreeireland dot orgauthor phone +353 87 799 4761 Report this post to the editors

Prof Paddy Cunningham exposed as biotech industry lobbyist

Today’s Irish Times article by Dick Ahlstrom, “Use of GM foods inevitable – expert” (see below) quotes the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof Paddy Cunningham, who wants us to accept GM food against the wishes of the vast majority of EU farmers, retailers, and consumers.

Contrary to what Prof Cunningham implies, GM crops are grown on 0.21% of EU farmland, and leading EU retailers are beginning to extend their bans on food containing GM ingredients to also exclude meat, poultry and dairy produce from livestock fed on GM animal feed. Last year, one million citizens of EU member states signed a petition demanding mandatory labelling for the latter, based on the consumer's right to choose. And 43 EU Regions have already adopted quality agriculture strategies which avoid the use of GM animal feed.

Prof Cunningham is is a member of the biotech lobby group European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES), a task force of the European Federation of Biotechnology whose members comprise numerous biotech and pharmaceutical industry groups including Monsanto Europe, the Association of German Biotech Companies, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (USA), etc. He is also a member of the Irish National Council on Biotechics, whose 2005 report "Genetically Modified Crops and Food: Threat or Opportunity for Ireland?" was a masterfully crafted work of biotech industry spin which concluded that "the genetic modification of crops is not morally objectionable in itself". Cunningham is also the former Chairman of the EU Advisory Committee on the Future of Biotechnology, and a former member of the European Group on Life Sciences. He recently worked as a consultant for the US company Elanco (a division of the US pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly and Co. that markets Monsanto's GM-produced Recombinant Bovine Somatotrophin growth hormone Posilac, which is illegal in the EU.

Having a biotech industry lobbyist occupy the post of Chief Scientific Officer of Ireland is a conflict of interest. Prof Cunningham should be removed from his post.

The Irish Times' uncritical coverage of Prof Cunningham's advocacy of GM food and farming is to be expected, since the Chairman of the Irish Times Trust which owns the newspaper - Prof Prof David McConnell of TCD - is the Vice-President of the same lobby group, EAGLES.

In "Debating GM: An analysis of GM coverage in the Irish Times and the Irish Farmers Journal from March 2004 to February 2006", a Dublin Institute of Technology thesis by journalism student Emma Somers made a quantitative analysis of the sources, and a qualitative analysis of GM coverage in these two papers. The study revealed significant bias towards the biotech industry. Of the 48 articles published in the Irish Times, 65% quoted official sources, 13% quoted biotech industry sources, 10% quoted farming sources, and 6 % quoted biotech industry lobby groups. Only 21% quoted NGOs (which have the most expertise on the subject) and 10% quoted farming sources (which are most affect by GM policies). Most articles framed the issue as scientists versus Luddites. For details download GM-free Ireland press release "Irish Times slammed for bias on GM issues" (25 October 2007): http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI37.pdf

Disinformation of this kind - perpetrated through biased, misleading, irresponsible reporting - and the conflict of interest between Prof. McConnell's dual roles as Chairman of the Irish Times Trust and Vice President of the EAGLES biotech lobby group are not acceptable for the newspaper of record in Ireland's
"knowledge-based economy".

The paper’s demonstrable bias clearly violates the core object of the Irish Times Trust's Memoranda and Articles of Association, "to publish an independent newspaper primarily concerned with serious issues for the benefit of the community throughout the whole of Ireland, free from any form of personal or of party political, commercial, religious or other sectional control."

-----

Here is the text of the Irish Times article:

USE OF GM FOODS INEVITABLE IN EU - EXPERT

The Irish Times, 18 July 2008. By Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor.

It is inevitable that EU states will accept genetically modified foods, despite the fact that 70 per cent of people are opposed to them, the Government's chief scientific adviser has stated. Foods containing modified ingredients are already on our supermarket shelves and livestock here is being fed genetically modified feeds.

Prof Patrick Cunningham answered questions about the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods yesterday while attending the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment. He also handled questions on a range of subjects including future energy supplies, risks posed by overhead power lines and waste incineration and climate change.

Prof Cunningham issued a formal report to Government on GM foods last summer. It looked at safety, benefits and risks and, after assessing a range of studies on the issue, he believed GM was of value to Ireland. "The answer has to be yes," he told the Committee.

"[GM] is not going to go away and it is advancing at a hell of a rate," he said. Countries around the world were growing about 100 million hectares of GM corn, cotton, soyabean and rice.

Genetic modifications impart resistance to herbicides and insect attack, providing cost and yield improvement for the farmer, he said. "This has given a tremendous competitive advantage to those using [GM]."

We are already consuming foods with GM content, he said. About 60 per cent of products contain either corn or soya ingredients. "In fact, GM products are on the supermarket shelves," he said. "We are using approved GM corn in pig feed in Ireland today."

The safety of these products was a key element of the report, he said.

The results of a survey of the limited literature on the subject suggested that the consumption of GM foods did not pose a health risk.

Related Link: http://www.gmfreeireland.org
author by Mark Cpublication date Fri Jul 18, 2008 18:05author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Naomi Klien was, as ever, very interesting on Democracy Now on Tuesday talking about "Crises in Fuel, Food, Housing and Banking". In the interview she mentioned, regarding GM food, that Monsanto's aim is not to make GM food that can feed more people (i.e. higher crop yield) but rather to make GM food that makes production cheaper and, therefore, increases profits.

Pretty simple really.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/15/with_crises_in_fu...using

Mark.

author by Daivd Jonespublication date Fri Jul 18, 2008 18:25author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"It is inevitable that EU states will accept genetically modified foods, despite the fact that 70 per cent of people are opposed to them, the Government's chief scientific adviser has stated"

Incredible - What part of "no" don't these people understand - another lisbon perhaps!!!

author by GMO-OMGpublication date Fri Jul 18, 2008 19:50author address author phone Report this post to the editors

And the last one, Barry McSweeney got his Biochemistry PHD from a diplomamill.

http://diplomamillnews.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html

One Biotech shill science advisor is carelessness. Two is an agenda.

In the coming economic nightmare, all we will have left of tangible value to sell to europe is our organic high quality crops. GM would wreck even that possibility. What are our government thinking??

They give away our fishing and our gas. Next it's our agriculture. What's left to offer after that? cheap third world labour?

 
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