Top 10 Scariest Food Additives

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding, ‘Yahoo Health’, posts on Sott.net:

There was a time when “fruit flavored” and “cheese flavored” meant “made with real fruit” and “made with real cheese.” Today? It’s artificial everything. Most of the food at your local supermarket is no more authentic than Snooki’s tan. Our fruit comes packaged in Loops, our cheese delivered via Whiz. Sure, it’s edible, but there’s no way your great grandparents would recognize this junk as food.

The problem with additives runs deep. The FDA currently maintains a list of ingredients called Everything Added to Food in the United States (EAFUS), which features more than 3,000 items and counting. Thankfully, most EAFUS ingredients are benign, but a few of them do have potentially harmful effects. Why they’re legal is a mystery to us. Some of them might be backed by powerful lobby groups, while others probably survive simply because some guy at the FDA has too much paperwork on his desk and hasn’t made time to adequately review the data.

Below are 10 of the most dubious ingredients hiding in your food, compliments of Eat This, Not That! 2011. Even if you’re not convinced of their danger, you have to admit this: The more filler ingredients you cut from your diet, the more space you have for wholesome, nutritious foods.

pringles

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Scary Ingredient #1: Olestra

A fat substitute synthesized by Procter & Gamble. Because human digestive enzymes can’t break down the big molecules, Olestra contributes 0 calories to your diet.

Why it’s scary: In the late ’90s, Frito-Lay released Olestra-enhanced WOW chips and Procter & Gamble introduced Fat Free Pringles. Both products were required to carry warning labels to notify customers about the risk of “loose stools.” Within 4 years, some 15,000 people had dialed in to a hotline set up specifically to handle adverse-reaction complaints. Apparently the complaints didn’t move the FDA, because in 2003, the administration revoked the warning-label mandate. If you want to take your chances with diarrhea, go ahead, but first consider this: Olestra also appears to interfere with the body’s ability to absorb some crucial nutrients like beta-carotene and lycopene. To counteract the effect, processers add some nutrients back, but it’s unlikely that all the blocked nutrients are adequetly replaced.

Furthermore, just last week I tweeted that an animal study at Purdue University found that fake fats like Olestra may cause more weight gain than real fat.

Where you’ll find it: Lay’s Light chips, Pringles Light chips

stuffing

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Scary Ingredient #2: Caramel Coloring

An artificial pigment created by heating sugars. Frequently, this process includes ammonia.

Why it’s scary: Caramel coloring shows up in everything from soft drinks and sauces to breads and pastries. When made from straight sugar, it’s relatively benign. But when produced with ammonia it puts off 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, chemicals that have been linked to cancer in mice. The risk is strong enough that the California government, a bellwether for better food regulation, categorized 4-methylimidazole as “known to cause cancer” earlier this year. Unfortunately, companies aren’t required to disclose whether their coloring is made with ammonia, so you’d be wise to avoid it as much as you can.

Where you’ll find it: Colas and other soft drinks, La Choy soy sauce, Stove Top stuffing mix

sweet & lo

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Scary Ingredient #3: Saccharin

An artificial sweetener discovered by accident in the 1870s.

Why it’s scary: Studies have linked saccharin to bladder tumors in rats, and in 1977, the FDA required warning labels on all saccharin-containing foods. In 2000, the agency changed its stance and allowed saccharin to be sold without warning labels. But that doesn’t make it entirely safe. A 2008 Purdue study found that replacing sugar with saccharin in rats’ diets made them gain more weight, proving once again that you should be aware of these faux fat foes.

Where you’ll find it: Sweet ‘N Low, TAB cola

Scary Ingredient #4: Potassium Bromate

A compound that conditions flour and helps bread puff up during baking.

Why it’s scary: Potassium bromate causes thyroid and kidney tumors in rats, and it’s banned from food use in many countries. In California, products containing potassium bromate are required to carry a cancer warning. Fortunately, negative publicity has made the additive relatively rare, but until the FDA banishes it, you should remain on the lookout.

Where you’ll find it: Johnny Rockets Hoagie Roll

orbit gum

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Scary Ingredient #5: Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

Petroleum-derived antioxidants and preservatives.

Why they’re scary: The Department of Health and Human Services says BHA is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” yet the FDA allows it to be used anyway. BHT is considered less dangerous, but in animal research, it too has resulted in cancer. Oddly, the chemicals aren’t even always necessary; in most cases they can be replaced with vitamin E.

Where you’ll find it: Goya lard, Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Orbit gum

McChicken

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Scary Ingredient #6: Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

A semi-solid fat created when food processors force hydrogen into unsaturated fatty acids.

Why it’s scary: Partially hydrogenated fats are the principle sources of trans fat in the American diet, and a Harvard study estimated that trans fat causes 70,000 heart attacks every year. The good news: Partially hydrogenated oils are beginning to slowly retreat from our food. Progressive jurisdictions like New York City are starting to restrict the allowable amounts in restaurants, and many chains are switching to healthier frying oil. Still, the battle isn’t over. At Long John Silver’s, for example, there are still 17 menu items with more than 2 grams of the stuff. According to the American Heart Association, that’s about the maximum you should consume in a single day.

Where you’ll find it: McDonald’s McChicken, Long John Silver’s Broccoli Cheese Soup

fig newton

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Scary Ingredient #7: Sulfites

Preservatives that maintain the color of food, and by releasing sulfur dioxide, prevent bacterial growth.

Why it’s scary: Humans have used sulfites to keep food fresh for thousands of years, but some people – especially asthma sufferers – experience breathing difficulties when exposed. In the 1980s, unregulated use resulted in at least a dozen deaths, prompting the FDA to slap warning labels on wine bottles and develop new guidelines for proper use. Now restaurants can no longer soak fresh ingredients in sulfites. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, there have been no known deaths since the new legislation took hold. The bottom line: If you’re among the majority of people not sensitive to sulfites, consumption won’t hurt you. If you’re not sure, ask your doctor for a test.

Where you’ll find it: Wine, Sun-Maid Mixed Fruit, Jolly Ranchers, Fig Newtons

dunkin bagel

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Scary Ingredient #8: Azodicarbonamide

A synthetic yellow-orange dough conditioner

Why it’s scary: This chemical is used most frequently in the production of industrial foam plastic, and although the FDA has approved its use for food in the States, the United Kingdom has labeled it a potential cause of asthma. In a review of 47 studies on azodicarbonamide, the World Health Organization concluded that it probably does trigger asthmatic symptoms. The WHO concluded, “exposure levels should be reduced as much as possible.” I’ll put it more concisely: Avoid it.

Where you’ll find it: Dunkin’ Donuts bagels, McDonald’s burger buns

creamsicle

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Scary Ingredient #9: Carrageenan

A thickener and emulsifier extracted from seaweed.

Why it’s scary: Seaweed is actually good for you, but carrageenan is a mere seaweed byproduct. Through animal studies, it has been linked to cancer, colon trouble, and ulcers. It isn’t certain that carrageenan harms humans, but avoiding it is clearly the safer option. Most studies examined degraded forms of the additive, and research from the University of Iowa found that carrageenan could be degraded through the normal digestive process.

Where you’ll find it: Weight Watchers Giant Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Bars, Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches, Creamsicles
Nature’s Own Bread

Scary Ingredient #10: Ammonium Sulfate

An inorganic salt that occurs naturally near active volcanoes and is used commercially to nourish yeast and help bread rise.

Why it’s scary: This nitrogen-rich compound is most often used as fertilizer, and also appears commonly in flame retardants. Thankfully, the ingredient only sounds scary – a 2006 Japanese rat study found the additive to be non-carcinogenic. Both the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the FDA deem it safe. ????? why is it bad?

Where you’ll find it: Nature’s Own bread, Subway rolls

 
US oriented but much in common with Aus. Certainly the suspect compounds are universally known and not safe.
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Monsanto’s Roundup linked to deadly diseases and birth defects, most people have no idea

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

naturalnews

 

A recent report put together by various professors, scholars and researchers affiliated with Earth Open Source, a collaboration group devoted to food issues, cites in great deal the multitude of peer-reviewed scientific studies which show that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide (glyphosate), which is applied to many genetically-modified (GM) crops, is responsible for causing birth defects, endocrine disruption, DNA damage, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and cancer — and yet government agencies around the world continue to ignore this crucial information, and withhold it from the public, as they push for its approval or expanded use.

One of the main studies highlighted in the report was published in the August 2010 edition of Chemical Research in Toxicology, and it showed that Roundup causes malformations in frog and chicken embryos at levels much lower than those used on agricultural crops. And since Roundup-ready GM crops are designed to tolerate the herbicide, not resist it, they literally absorb Roundup, which is then passed on in much higher levels to humans that eat the tainted crops.

Another study conducted as part of the Argentine government’s research group CONICET found high rates of the same or similar birth defect in humans living near GM soy crops that were routinely sprayed with Roundup, indicating a clear connection between the chemical and human birth defects. More than half of the growing land in Argentina is now dominated by GM soy, which is sprayed with about 53 millions gallons of Roundup every single year.

The authors of the report say that this and the bulk of other independent, indicting evidence against Roundup has been largely ignored by governments, including in the EU where new data requirements will demand that proper investigation into the safety of GMOs is conducted. Rather than rely on industry-funded pseudoscience that claims GMOs are safe, authors say those working for the people must rise to the occasion and take charge in having proper safety evaluations conducted on the safety of Roundup.

“The public … has been kept in the dark by industry and regulators about the ability of glyphosate and Roundup to cause malformations,” write the authors in their summary. “[T]he work of independent scientists who have drawn attention to the herbicide’s teratogenic effects has been ignored, denigrated, or dismissed … They have also contributed to the growing division between independent and industry science, which in turn erodes public trust in the regulatory process.”

Sources for this story include:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57277946/…

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Solar Max 2014, then Grand Minimum for perhaps 100 years

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

Reconstruction of solar activity over 11,400 y...

Image via Wikipedia

One of my favourite websites posted this. I am including it all because it has high relativity to my ‘Carbon Attack’ theme.  Hearty thanks to Chiefio, http://chiefio.wordpress.com/, whose post is referenced here.

It offers a serious assessment of the past relationship of ‘solar activity’ to Earth’s ‘Global Temperature‘ and more importantly, a forecast of significantly lower temperatures in the near future.

If true, we all will need to adapt to the opposite scenario to that forecast by the IPCC. They in turn, will need to adapt to a new science and new careers. IF is the operative word!

On the other hand, if not true, I will be happy to be warmer but will have to modify my science beliefs. Just my ego to nurse.  Included in the ‘Related Links’ below are a couple of detractors, just for balance.

” A very interesting presentation. Based on prior patterns of solar magnetic field, the predictions are that this Solar Cycle Maximum will come between 2013 and 2014, will be about 40 to 60 sunspot number, and then we will enter a Grand Minimum until perhaps as late as 2100 AD.  [my bold emphasis]

http://www.cdejager.com/film/   

Solar Activity and Climate from Lightcurve Films on Vimeo.

http://www.cdejager.com/2011/06/16/komend-groot-minimum-in-zonsactiviteit/

I’m not so good at Dutch, so here’s a Google Translation with some cleanup:

In de Volkskrant and NRC Wednesday, June 15 (and perhaps even more newspapers) there was an article derived from a U.S. press release, the sun will have about a ten year period of prolonged inactivity, we will have little or no sunspots to see, nor solar flares, explosions …. In the NRC, this appears as a new discovery and has failed to report that this expectation has been published for several years before in the scientific literature by De Jager and Duhau. See page so the Sun-Earth publications of this website.

In early 2011 started, at last, after three years of silence, the new 11-year solar cycle number 24. This happened some years later than expected under the ‘normal’ behavior of solar cycles. Based on the measured magnetic field at the poles several years ago we could predict that cycle 24 will be weak, weaker than we had experienced the last century. We also reported that two large magnetic fields of the Sun in 2009, the sun’s activity, had passed the Transition Point in the phase diagram, which means that a new episode of major change of the sun’s activity has come. The previous passage was in 1924 and was the exceptional Grand Maximum of the 20th century. The new episode is a deep minimum. It will look similar to the Maunder Minimum, which lasted from 1620 to 1720. (The NRC is the beginning year 1645 but said that based on outdated and inaccurate information). This new Grand Minimum will last until approximately 2100.

(I was pointed at this site by R. De Haan http://chiefio.wordpress.com/tips/#comment-19701 At any rate, I finally got time to watch it, so “H/T to R. de Haan”. It is a very nice presentation. IMHO, attributes a bit too much to water feedback as a GHG, not enough to volcanic linking, but that some “feedback” or “multiplier” is needed seems clear, and as long as it IS linked, knowing exactly which one is not as important as know that one does exist and has about that magnitude. You still get the same result. Headed to colder.)

This is now a third major scientist, from a third line of evidence, all ending up at the same conclusion. This one from solar magnetic history. One based on a Fourier Transform analysis of past solar cycles. And Habibullo Ismailovich Abdussamatov based on observations of changes of the solar size (the diameter changes slightly with activity).

IMHO “Third Times The Charm”…

With this much all stacking up the same way, the present “cold winter” aint nothin’ yet. We’re only 1/2 way into the Major Minimum and still have about a dozen years of “dropping” to go. At that point, we’re one large volcano away from The Year Without A Summer.  [My bold emphasis].

Plan accordingly…”

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Chinese coal blamed for global warming er… cooling

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

Andrew Orlowski at In The City 2009

I have to include this article in my ‘Carbon Attack’ theme as part of the evidence for the “settled science” claimed by the experts. I make no judgement but offer it to demonstrate the amount of uncertainty that exists overall in the debate about AGW.

Andrew Orlowski, The Register, has this posted on Sott.net.

Economists ride into sulphurous cloud of aerosols

The refusal of the global temperatures to rise as predicted has caused much angst among academics. “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t,” wrote one in 2009. Either the instruments were wrong, or the heat energy had gone missing somewhere.

Now a team of academics, after tweaking a statistical model to include sulphur emissions, suggest that coal power stations may be to blame for a lack of global warming since 1998. The IPCC’s 2007 assessment acknowledged the negative radiative forcing (aka, cooling effect) of both natural aerosols from volcanoes and manmade aerosols, but admitted the level of scientific understanding was low.

Kaufmann

© The Register
Economist Robert Kaufmann

A team of two geographers and two economists headed by Professor Robert Kaufmann at the Department of Geography in Boston publish their results in a new paper Reconciling anthropogenic climate change with observed temperature 1998-2008 [PDF], which includes manmade emissions of sulphur and simulates the flat temperatures since 1998. Kaufmann has a PhD in energy management policy. In this paper, he and his colleagues revisit “a simplified model” from 2006 (PDF) containing statistically estimated equations for three variables: global surface temperature, CO2 and CH4. The actual temperature differences described in the new paper are tiny – with variations from model predictions of 0.1°C.

“Results indicate that net anthropogenic forcing rises slower than previous decades because the cooling effects of sulfur emissions grow in tandem with the warming effects greenhouse gas concentrations. This slow-down, along with declining solar insolation and a change from El Nino to La Nina conditions, enables the model to simulate the lack of warming after 1998,” the team explains.

The model estimates a 0.06W/m2 increase in cooling since 2002. Declining sulphur emissions between 1990 and 2002 – caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the switch to gas – had a warming effect of 0.19W/m2.

Kaufmann et al declare that aerosol cooling is “consistent with” warming from manmade greenhouse gases. Recent studies suggest greenhouse gas emissions may be masking a long-term cooling trend as solar activity declines.

Climate scientist Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology, doesn’t find the economists’ statistical theatrics convincing. She wonders why the short-lived regional increases in particulates should have a global effect on temperatures. She also notes that there has been no increase in aerosols, either globally or over East Asia, from 2000 to 2006; Chinese emissions only rose in the period 2004 to 2007. Kaufmann et al do acknowledge that a La Nina weather pattern cooled the planet between 1998 and 2000, while a warm El Nino increased temperatures in 2002 and again in 2010.

“The political consequence of this article seems to be that the simplest solution to global warming is for the Chinese to burn more coal, which they intend to do anyway,” writes Curry.

Doubtless they will. First we blame them for warming the planet, but now we blame them for cooling the planet.

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Ballarat’s extinct volcanoes could pose risk, expert says

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

Volcanic material thrust high into the atmosph...

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Potential of Natural Disaster close to home, in Australia
 
Tom McIlroy
Courier
 

© Unknown
Our extinct volcanoes, including Mt Buninyong, suggest similar volcanoes could form in the area.

The Ballarat region could be at risk from new volcanoes forming as Victoria remains overdue for a volcanic eruption, a University of Melbourne geologist has warned.

Associate Professor Bernie Joyce said yesterday that most of Australia was unprepared for a volcanic eruption which could come without much warning.

Professor Joyce said extinct volcanoes, including Mt Warrenheip and Mt Buninyong, suggested similar volcanoes could form in the area.

“Because the volcanoes around the Ballarat area are not as young as others across western Victoria and Mt Gambier, you could expect a new volcano to come up in a cluster at some point in the future,” he said.

“It might not happen for many years, but when you look at areas like Mt Franklin, there is no reason why new volcanoes or eruptions might not happen.”

Professor Joyce said given the potential for volcanic activity, emergency authorities must better prepare themselves and the community to respond to it.

He said some cities had better levels of preparedness.

“The authorities in Auckland have brought together a team of experts to discuss different scenarios and how the city would need to respond,” Professor Joyce said.

“Australian governments need to consider doing the same thing.”

Professor Joyce said a small volcano could have a significant impact on nearby communities.

“Depending on what type it is and where it is located, you would expect to see ash which will make road and rail transport difficult and need to be cleaned up,” he said.

“Lava will affect water sources and ash is not good for breathing systems while ash will contaminate crops, grass and the food animals eat.”

Around Victoria there are nearly 400 extinct volcanoes.

The Ballarat region has volcanoes including Mt Blackwood near Bacchus Marsh, Mt Franklin near Daylesford, Mt Buninyong and Mt Warrenheip.

Mt Kooroocheang, north-east of Creswick, stands at 230m and is one of the largest volcanoes in central Victoria. Mt Warrenheip erupted a million years ago, while Mt Franklin, considered a young volcano, erupted 470,000 years ago.

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Bill Gates in global push to vaccinate every child on the planet

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

1802 caricature of Jenner vaccinating patients...

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By Jonathan Benson, staff writer, ‘Natural News‘.

 (NaturalNews) Microsoft guru Bill Gates is busy rallying the troops to bring about what he calls “vaccine equity,” which is his plan to vaccinate every single child in the world. Manipulating the heart strings of his listening audience, Gates stated at a recent Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) conference that “rich” kids take for granted the vaccines they receive, and that now is the time to provide the same vaccines for the world’s poorest children.

“It’s now that we’re gonna start to get the last two vaccines that rich kids take for granted, the pneumococcal and rotavirus, and over these next five years, get them out to every child everywhere,” said Gates. “That means for the first time ever that we have equity in vaccines.”

By structuring his statements this way, Gates first implies that vaccines are some type of precious commodity that “rich kids” take for granted, and that need to get into the hands of “poor kids” to create health care equality. He then beckons the nations of the world to use taxpayer dollars to fund this massive, multi-billion-dollar dream to “save the children” by injecting them with various mixtures of toxic chemicals.

We have heard it all before, especially from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been pushing for the whole world to be vaccinated for many years now (http://www.naturalnews.com/Bill_Gat…). It is clear that Gates and his supporters will stop at nothing until every nation in the world is funding his vaccine campaigns, despite the fact that many of the vaccines being pushed come with a whole slew of devastating side effects, and do not necessarily provide any proven benefit (http://www.naturalnews.com/vaccines…).

“Why are we lining the pockets of Big Pharma like this?” asked Daniel Berman, a vaccines expert from Doctors Without Borders, concerning the several developed nations that have already pledged billions to Gates’ agenda. “That just screams conflict of interest and corporate welfare to us.”

Sources for this story include:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com:80/032900_Bill_Gates_vaccinations.html#ixzz1RIcL1TDr

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There will be more TGR posts to come on this world vaccination theme, but relating to the potential harm to the world’s population from vaccination programs. Some TGR posts have already touched on it:

 

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What’s Going On With the Sun?

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

A ‘Physics World‘ article, posted on Sott.net:

Solar Flare

© NASA
A solar flare crackles from the site of a sunspot on the solar surface.

Earlier this month a lot of column inches were devoted to the news that the Sun continues to behave in a peculiar manner – and that solar activity could be about to enter a period of extended calm. The story emerged after three groups of researchers presented independent studies at the annual meeting of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, which appear to support this theory. But are the new findings really that clear-cut and what implications do they have for the climate here on Earth? Physicsworld.com addresses some of the issues.

Why the recent interest in the Sun’s activities?

Solar physicists agree that the Sun has been acting strangely of late. It relates to apparent abnormalities in the solar cycle, an approximately 11-year period during which the Sun’s magnetic activity oscillates from low strength to high strength, then back again. When the Sun’s magnetic activity is low, during a solar minimum, its surface remains relatively quiet, which leads to fewer sunspots. Then, as magnetic activity begins to increase, the surface becomes more dynamic and the sunspot numbers begin to increase in the lead up to a solar maximum.

But following the last solar minimum in 2006, solar physicists were surprised to observe that sunspot numbers were unusually slow to pick up. This led some to suggest that the next solar maximum, due in 2013, could be late and weaker than usual. Some see this as a sign that solar magnetic activity is slowing down and the Sun may be about to head into a prolonged period of magnetic weakness. Some have speculated that a weakened Sun could offset some of the effects of man-made global warming, or even counteract it entirely.

Sunspot Number

© Physics World
Extended solar minimum.

What was presented at the recent AAS meeting in New Mexico?

In one paper, Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and his colleagues argue that because a specific solar wind beneath the surface of the Sun has failed to appear during the present solar cycle it could signify that the next cycle will be delayed. Hill and his colleagues identified the wind flow – known as “torsional oscillation” – using data from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG). They believe that the migration of this flow from mid-latitudes to the equator is a precursor to new sunspot formation in each cycle. Because the wind is yet to appear during the present cycle, the researchers argue that the next cycle could be postponed to 2021 or 2022, or it may not happen at all.

In a second paper, Richard Altrock of the US Air Force Research Laboratory describes how a process known as the “rush to the poles” appears to be slowing down. This phenomenon describes how older magnetic activity is pushed to higher latitudes during new cycles as fresh magnetic activity emerges at about 70 degrees latitude. Altrock has observed, using data from NSO’s 40-cm coronagraphic telescope, that this rush has been more like a crawl during the present cycle. For this reason, he believes that we’ll see a very weak solar maximum in 2013 and if the rush to the poles fails to complete then it is not clear how the sun will respond.

In a final paper, Matt Penn and William Livingston of the National Solar Observatory, in Tucson, look more specifically at the nature of sunspots during the two most recent cycles. The magnetic field associated with sunspots is typically 2500 – 3500 Gauss, but Penn and Livingston believe that the field strength has been reducing of late. Using over 13 years of data collected at the McMath-Pierce Telescope at Kitt Peak in Arizona, the researchers found that the average field strength dropped by roughly 50 Gauss per year during the previous cycle and the trend has continued into the present one.

Has the Sun gone through quiet spells before?

Scientists have known about the solar cycle since the mid 18th century and they have been able to reconstruct solar cycles back to the beginning of the 17th century based on historic observations of sunspot numbers. (Some researchers have even attempted to catalogue earlier solar cycles based on indirect observations of Sun spots). The first thing to say is that although solar activity has consistently oscillated over an approximately 11-year period, the timings and characteristics of each cycle are far from exact and new cycles have been late on arrival in the past.

Solar physicists do agree, however, that there was a 70-year stretch beginning in 1645 when the Sun remained in an extended period of calm referred to as the Maunder minimum. This period coincided with the “Little Ice Age” during which parts of the world including Europe and North America, experienced colder winters and increased glaciation. There was another shorter minimum from about 1790 to 1830, known as the Dalton Minimum.

Sunspot Number_1

© Physics World
What role did the Maunder minimum play in the Little Ice Age?

So could we be heading for another Little Ice Age?

There are many uncertainties surrounding this question. Firstly, as explained in the previous answer, it is far from clear whether the Sun is headed for another period of calm. Recent research in the UK, predicts an 8% chance that we will return to Maunder minimum conditions over the next 40 years, based on past behaviour of the Sun over the last 9000 years.

Secondly, there are still debates over the details of the Little Ice Age and the role played by the Maunder minimum. In Europe, there were considerably more cold winters in this interval, but they were not unrelentingly cold as they were in an ice age. Also, the Earth’s climate is evidently a highly complicated system, involving interconnected feedback systems, so it is difficult to disentangle causes and effects. For instance, several recent studies have suggested that solar-induced changes to the jet stream in the northern hemisphere may cause colder winters in Europe but this would be offset by milder winters in Greenland.

Finally, even if the Sun were to head into a quiet period, others argue that the reduction in solar irradiance on Earth would still be small compared with the heating caused by man-made global warming. Mike Lockwood, a researcher at the University of Reading, estimates that the change in climate radiative forcing since the Maunder minimum is about one tenth of the change caused by man-made trace greenhouse gases.

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Flouridated Water – A claim that it is “The ultimate evil”

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

Putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. The toothp...

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This post is based on a ‘Sott.net’ article by Dr. Mark Sircus, “Dr. Sircus’ Blog”

This is a ‘full-on’ attack on the forcing of “medication” on the public by authorities, knowing that it is a disputed ‘science’ and, at the very least, potentially harmful.  The inclusion here are for those reasons. I am not endorsing any or all the claims but suggest that they should be given due consideration. The title itself is very provocative, therefore modified slightly.

Some extracts:

Water actually is a battleground between good and evil and we see this in the fluoridation issue. One cannot understand the universe of water without grappling with poisonous fluoride and its government-mandated entry into public water supplies in the United States, Brazil, and several other countries that have stupidly followed America’s lead in water fluoridation. Just because it’s invisible does not make it any less deadly in the long haul in terms of public health.

I have always liked all my dentists, trusting their competence more than doctors, but when I began to understand the twin dangers of fluoride and dental mercury amalgam I began to see that the entire profession has been duped, and that goes for most graduates of medical school. We first-world people like to think that our universities and medical schools are centers of higher learning and intelligence, but the fact is that they are intense conditioning machines that forcefully mind shape the brains of their vulnerable students who start out with good intentions.

Historically, fluoride was quite expensive for the world’s premier chemical companies to dispose of, but in the 50s and 60s, Alcoa and the entire aluminum industry – with a vast overabundance of the toxic waste – somehow sold the FDA and our government on the insane (but highly profitable) idea of buying this poison and then injecting it into our water supply as well as into the nation’s toothpastes and dental rinses.

Fluoride is a thyroid poison and because so many are so heavily exposed, the need for iodine supplementation is vastly increased.

Read the full article here.
 

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Australia: Victoria’s Overdue for Volcano – Warning

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

Tom Minear, Herald Sun, Australia, reports:

Mt. Kooroocheang

© Museum Victoria, Australia
Mt. Kooroocheang is a composite scoria/lava volcano 14km northeast of Creswick, Victoria. At 230m high it is one of the largest volcanoes in Central Victoria.

 

Scientist have told a conference it is only a matter of time before volcanoes erupt in Victoria, and warned there is no disaster plan for when it happens.

According to scientists at Melbourne University, a series of volcanoes in Victoria’s west are well overdue to erupt.

Eruptions should occur in the region about every 2000 years, but the south-east of the country hasn’t experienced any volcanic activity since Mt Gambier erupted over 5000 years ago.

Earth Sciences Professor Bernie Joyce said this means the chance of an eruption is high, and that while the scale of any activity is hard to predict, it “could cause devastation to thousands of people”.

It isn’t the eruption that would necessarily do the damage, Prof Joyce said, but if rising magma meets ground water it could cause steam explosions that would blanket the state in volcanic ash, leading to widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure and transport.

Lava flows would also represent a “major fire hazard on the dry grassland plains of summer in western Victoria”.

Professor Joyce said that an eruption would most likely be around Colac, Port Fairy, Portland or Mt Gambier, areas which do not have pre-prepared responses in place for volcanic activity.

The research will be presented today at the XXV International Congress of Geodesy and Geophysics in Melbourne.

This is of interest as a potential natural disaster of serious consequences. Not logically related to any suspect ‘Global Warming’ ramifications.  Pertinent because of its claim of non-readiness for a disaster such as this.

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Australia: Korumburra earthquake sparks earth tremors across Melbourne

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Ken McMurtrie

australian earthquake melbourne

© Herald Sun

Melbourne has been rocked by a series of earth tremors after a small earthquake hit Korumburra in Gippsland.

Geoscience Australia recorded the 4.4 magnitude quake as hitting at 11.37am.

The tremors, which lasted up to 15 seconds, were felt across Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.

So far there are no reports of damage.

Residents in suburbs including Rowville, Trafalgar, Kilsyth, Hawthorn, Elwood, CBD, Melbourne Airport, South Melbourne, Brunswick, Richmond, Lilydale, Fitzroy, Elsternwick, South Yarra reported feeling the tremors.

Residents told of hearing a loud bang when the quake hit, while tremors were felt across Melbourne.

Michael O’Keefe was in Warragul and said it’s the strongest he’s ever felt.

“It sounded like a truck was approaching up the street and then it was as if the truck had run into the building. Everything was rattling. It feels a bit like it’s not complete, like there is another one to come.”

Glenn Robins in Mt Waverly said he was sitting in his armchair when the tremor struck.

“I felt it through the chair and then saw all the photos on the TV unit rattling.”

Prof Ian Cartwright, of the School of Geoscience at Monash University, said earth faults that cause quakes do exist in Victoria but it was unusual for tremors to be felt across several suburbs.

“Even though we don’t have major faults in Australia, there’s always a little bit of movement on these faults and when they move we get small earthquakes,” he said.

“Most of the earthquakes in Australia tend to be 2, 3, maybe magnitude 4.

“It takes a few hours for the seismologists to get the details of exactly where it was located and how strong it was.

This report from  ‘The Telegraph’ per ‘Sott.net’

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