Modern Farmer, By: Elizabeth Royle, 12/12/2013

One mainstream farmer is returning to conventional seed and he’s not alone. Buying seeds used to be a fairly simple matter. Farmers picked four or five varieties offered by a regional dealer, and that was that. But in the mid-1990s, biotech companies started producing seeds genetically modified with traits from other organisms. One trait made soybeans resistant to the herbicide glyphosate; another, using a protein from the soil bacterium Bt, helped corn fend off the insects rootworm and European corn borer.

Huegerich’s father eagerly embraced the new genetically modified (GMO) seeds. They cost more, but he could save money on herbicides and pesticides. His yields and profits went up, helped in part by good weather and favorable market conditions. But as revenue rose and the years passed, trouble was looming.

For more on this story visit www.wakingtimes.com

By: Rich R., 12/16/2013

This morning fifty pro-renewables campaigners delivered a 17 metre, 1.5 tonne wind turbine blade as “Christmas gift” for fracking company IGas. The entrance to the Barton Moss test site has been blocked, to prevent drilling vehicles from entering. At 5.30 this morning (Monday 16th December 2013), fifty people blocked the entrance to IGas’s exploratory drilling site in Barton Moss with a giant wind turbine blade. The campaigners arrived at the site in Salford in Greater Manchester, proceeded to unload and assemble the 17-metre blade from its three component segments. They were spotted by a security guard who called the police, but the officers who arrived on the scene were too late to prevent the blockade from being set up.

For more on this story visit www.nodashforgas.org.uk

The Guardian, By: Terry Macalister, 12/13/2013

Anti-fracking protesters clash with police at drilling site near Manchester. The FDA, which first proposed a ban in 1977, has told pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medically important antibiotics given to animals to voluntarily withdraw them from use as growth promoters. The manufacturers have three years to change labels on the antibiotics and other antimicrobials to state that they can only be given to animals for veterinary reasons, and prescribed by a vet.

For more on this story visit www.theguardian.com

The Huffington Post, By: Roque Planas, 12/14/2013

After more than 50 years leading the fight to legitimize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Keith Conners could be celebrating. Severely hyperactive and impulsive children, once shunned as bad seeds, are now recognized as having a real neurological problem. Doctors and parents have largely accepted drugs like Adderall and Concerta to temper the traits of classic A.D.H.D., helping youngsters succeed in school and beyond.

But Dr. Conners did not feel triumphant this fall as he addressed a group of fellow A.D.H.D. specialists in Washington. He noted that recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the diagnosis had been made in 15 percent of high school-age children, and that the number of children on medication for the disorder had soared to 3.5 million from 600,000 in 1990. He questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.”

For more on this story visit www.nytimes.com

Natural News, By: Jonathan Benson, 12/13/2013

(NaturalNews) Despite its relentless attempts, the corrupt Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has once again failed to maliciously destroy the business of dairy farmer Mike Hartmann, who freely exercises his right to sell raw milk and raw milk products directly from his farm in Gibbon. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) reports that Sibley County District Court Judge Erica H. McDonald recently dismissed five of six phony criminal charges brought by the state earlier this year against Hartmann, who has been a target of the state for several years.

For more information visit www.naturalnews.com