Portugal's drug decriminalization 'bizarrely underappreciated'

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Portugals_drug_decriminalization_bizarrely_underappreciated_Greenwald_0406.html

Champions of harsh drug criminalization laws as the best solution to curbing drug use will be chagrined to find that Portugal’s eight year history of decriminalization has led to lower drug usage rates.

According to a new report entitled, ''Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies'', while drug use across the European Union has risen steadily since 2000, Portugal, which has the most liberal drug laws of any country, has actually seen its prevalence rates decrease in various age groups since it decriminalized all drugs in 2001. Prevalence rates measure how many people have consumed drugs over the course of their lifetime.

“I think it’s bizarrely underappreciated what’s been done in Portugal,” said Salon writer Glenn Greenwald, who authored the report. Greenwald, who speaks fluent Portuguese, traveled to Portugal in 2008 to study the affects of drug decriminalization in the country.

You must read more about this here...

More CO2 stimulates wetlands

http://heliogenic.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-co2-stimulates-wetlands.html

"The team conducted their study for two years (2006 – 2007), during which they focused on the role that organic matter, both growing and decaying, plays on soil elevation in wetlands and the effect CO2 has on this process. Coastal wetlands must build upward through the accumulation of mineral and organic matter to maintain a constant elevation relative to water levels; otherwise, they will drown and disappear. ... "Our findings show that elevated CO2 stimulates plant productivity, particularly below ground, thereby boosting marsh surface elevation," said Adam Langley, the paper's lead author. Patrick Megonigal, the paper's corresponding author, added "We found that by stimulating root growth, thus raising a marsh's soil elevation, elevated CO2 may also increase the capacity for coastal wetlands to tolerate relative rises in sea level." Both scientists are ecologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md. ...

To examine how CO2 may interact with other factors that will accompany sea-level rise, the authors also manipulated CO2, salinity and flooding in a companion greenhouse study. ... "Elevated CO2 doubled the short-term rate of elevation gain in our marsh." [To find the back-up resource, read NASA's own Earth Obsevatory's march 23, 2009, piece:] ''Scientists Find Climate Change to have Paradoxical Effects on Coastal Wetlands''.

Vid...

El Borrego - Café Tacuba (1994)

El Borrego

Soy anarquista, soy neonazista.
Soy un esquinjed y soy ecologista.
Soy peronista, soy terrosrista, capitalista
y también soy pacifista.

Soy activista, sindicalista, soy agresivo, y muy alternativo.
Soy deportista, del Rotarac, politeísta
y también soy buen cristiano.


·Y en las tocadas la neta es el eslam·
·pero en mi casa si le meto al tropical·


Me gusta el jevimetal, me gusta el jarcor.
me gusta Patric Miler y también me gusta el gronch.
Me gusta la Maldita me gusta la Lupita
y escucho a los Magneto cuando esta mi noviecita

Me gusta andar de negro con los labios pintados.
pero guapo en la oficina siempre and bien trajeado.
Me gusta aventar piedras, me gusta recojerlas,
me gusta pintar bardas y despues ir a lavarlas.

Obama’s Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private “Security” in Israel and Iraq

http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/obamas-blackwater-chicago-mercenary-firm-gets-millions-for-private-security-in-israel-and-iraq/

Federal records obtained by AlterNet reveal a multi-million dollar contract for a private U.S. paramilitary force operating out of Jerusalem.

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama’s advisers said he “can’t rule out [and] won’t rule out” using mercenary forces, like Blackwater. Now, it appears that the Obama administration has decided on its hired guns of choice: Triple Canopy, a Chicago company now based in Virginia. It may not have Blackwater’s thuggish reputation, but Triple Canopy has its own bloody history in Iraq and a record of hiring mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records. What’s more, Obama is not just using the company in Iraq, but also as a U.S.-government funded private security force in Israel/Palestine, operating out of Jerusalem.

Read more...

Whistleblower testimony: An electrical engineer on 2012-2013

http://projectcamelot.org/electrical_engineer.html

6 April 2009
We[projectcamelot.org] have been contacted by the wife of an electrical engineer who has been officially briefed about a serious major threat to infrastructure in a few years' time.
We[projectcamelot.org] believe this information is credible and important but the contact may now have been lost. Therefore we are publishing what we have - with many questions unanswered.
This is the first message we[projectcamelot.org] received:
·27 March
Hello Bill & Kerry,
My husband is an electrical engineer for a national power company. He has just been told that they are expecting an event in the next 3-4 years[???] that will render every transformer in the world useless. They are desperately trying to find a solution to the problem. If they don't, the entire global electrical system will go down[!!!!!]. I know this fits in with some of your research. Have you[projectcamelot.org] heard about this?

[A side-note before you continue reading.....]

[.....what is this H.A.A.A.R.P. thing really for, anyway?]

So, to continue reading the rest of the message, go here...

[But, yet another electricity related news piece; however, in this one there's.....spionage!]
Electricity grid in U.S. penetrated by spies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html

WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

"The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians."

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year."

Read more about this penetration here...

A new path for Europe[a.k.a. the Globalist 'Staged' Manifesto]

·Society led by markets and profits has failed [...this is how they appeal to you]. We[the globalists] are offering an alternative for the democratic left. [...be very careful reading this!]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/08/g20-capitalism-john-cruddas-andrea-nahles

The economic wreckage of market failure is spreading across Europe. The G-20 summit has begun a global effort to repair the system, but there must be no going back to business as usual. Neoliberal capitalism is destructive and unsustainable - we must create a new economy that is secure, green[hum, this sounds fishy already...] and fair. To this end, we are launching our declaration for a social Europe: Building the Good Society: The Project of the Democratic Left.

Ten years ago, Tony Blair[bilderberger, CFR, trilateral, 33º freemason,...] and Gerhard Schröder[bilderberger, CFR, trilateral, 33º freemason,...], the then German chancellor, published their declaration for a European Third Way. Social democrats were in government in almost all the EU countries. Economies were booming, and neoliberal capitalism was uncritically embraced. Today, social democrats are out of government almost everywhere and the neoliberal model is in crisis. The era of the Third Way is over, and class inequality remains the defining structure of society[...and they love it!].

Read more, at your own risk, here...

Associated Press declara la guerra al pillaje de noticias en internet

·La agencia combatirá el uso sin permiso de sus contenidos por parte de webs y blogs[...oh! no!]
http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=602103&idseccio_PK=1021&h=

Una vez que se ha llenado la mesa de comida gratis es difícil pedirle al comensal que pague, y encima por un menú reducido. Esa es la realidad a la que se enfrentan varias industrias[ay! qué cruda realidad], incluida la de los medios de comunicación tradicionales. Sumidos en una crisis nacida en gran parte por la fuga de publicidad, periódicos y agencias de noticias apuntan a internet como una de las causas de la radical transformación de su relación con el público. Y ahora, uno de los gigantes de la industria, Associated Press (AP), ha decidido declarar la guerra alegando apropiación indebida de sus contenidos.
La agencia, principal proveedora de noticias del mundo, intenta frenar el uso de sus teletipos en buscadores como Google y Yahoo, portales de noticias, blogs[!] y otras páginas web. Quiere que todos aquellos que cuelguen sus informaciones obtengan antes el permiso para hacerlo y, tan importante o más, que compartan los beneficios[que perros...si además redirigimos tráfico en su dirección...les damos publicidad gratis!]. Y AP piensa desarrollar un sistema para seguir la pista a sus artículos, ver dónde se cuelgan y determinar si su uso viola los derechos de autor [#&@!!!].

Leer más...

25 años de prisión para Alberto Fujimori!

El Supremo de Perú condena a 25 años de cárcel a Fujimori por violación de Derechos Humanos.
·El Supremo de Perú le declara culpable de crímenes de Estado y contra la humanidad.
http://www.lavanguardia.es/internacional/noticias/20090407/53676896009/el-supremo-de-peru-condena-a-25-anos-de-carcel-a-fujimori-por-violacion-de-derechos-humanos-peru-amn.html

Alberto Fujimori, quien durante diez años (1990-2000) fue dueño y señor de Perú, es probable que pase el resto de su vida entre rejas. En un fallo histórico, un tribunal lo condenó a 25 años de cárcel (la fiscalía pedía 30 años) tras declararlo culpable de ser el autor intelectual de la muerte de 25 personas en dos masacres perpetradas durante su presidencia por un escuadrón del ejército. La sentencia pone fin simbólico a uno de los períodos más tenebrosos de Perú.

Leer más en LaVanguardia.com...

La justicia peruana condena a Fujimori a 25 años de cárcel.
·El tribunal carga al expresidente la muerte de 24 adultos y un niño, de 8 años.
·Las matanzas de La Cantuta y Barrios Altos son crímenes 'contra la humanidad'.
http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=602080&idseccio_PK=1007

Alberto Fujimori, presidente de Perú (1990-2000) que quiso permanecer eternamente en el cargo, fue condenado ayer a 25 años de prisión por homicidio calificado y por la muerte de 25 personas. El tribunal consideró que las matanzas de La Cantuta y Barrios Altos, perpetradas por un escuadrón de la muerte autorizado por el político cuando estaba en el poder fueron "crímenes contra la humanidad". La sentencia, calificada de histórica, es la primera que condena a un presidente elegido en las urnas en Latinoamérica. Después de 484 días de un proceso intachable, el Chino también fue encontrado culpable de los secuestros del periodista Gustavo Gorriti y del empresario Samuel Dyer. "Los cuatro cargos se encuentran probados más allá de toda duda", dijo el juez César San Martín, presidente de la Sala Especial de la Corte Suprema.
"Esto ha sido una venganza", aseguró Keiko Fujimori, su hija y heredera, al salir del tribunal. Los fujimoristas juraron vengar a su líder.

Leer más en elPeriódico.com...

Fujimori fué condenado a 24 años de prisión por crímenes de lesa humanidad.
http://peru21.pe/noticia/270109/juicio-alberto-fujimori-llega-hoy-su-punto-final

La Sala Penal Especial halló culpable, como autor mediato, al ex presidente de las matanzas de Barrios Altos y La Cantuta y los secuestros en los sótanos del SIE. La Fiscalía había pedido 30 años de cárcel. Tras escuchar su sentencia, el ex gobernante anunció que impugnará el fallo.

Leer más en peru21.pe...

La condena a Fujimori debería ser una lección para la clase política.
http://peru21.pe/noticia/270271/condena-fujimori-deberia-leccion-clase-politica

El ex presidente Alejandro Toledo dijo que los gobernantes deben entender que deben respetar los derechos humanos. En tanto, el jurista Enrique Bernales opinó que el fallo de 25 años de prisión al ex mandatario se dio en el marco de un debido proceso.

Leer más en peru21.pe...

Fujimori iría a la justicia internacional
http://peru21.pe/noticia/270294/fujimoristas-analizan-recurrir-justicia-internacional

No existieron las condiciones para un juicio imparcial, consideró el congresista Rolando Souza, mientras la legisladora Lourdes Alcorta, de Unidad Nacional, consideró un exceso la condena de 25 años de prisión contra el ex presidente.
El condenado ex presidente Alberto Fujimori recurrirá a los tribunales internacionales de derechos humanos para reclamar justicia, dijo el congresista Rolando Souza, quien consideró que no existieron las condiciones para un juicio imparcial en el Perú.

Leer más en peru21.pe...

You are being lied to

http://books.google.es/books?id=KALsz08ijnkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=you+are+being+lied+to

[...or at least most of the book is previewed! So, go ahead and print it out or whatever. This here's just the front cover, so hit the link!]



[...and the extended 'You Are Being Lied To', is out! Although not easily accessible... :) ]


[...sorry, no link for this one...saying it's 'commercially' available... :( ]

What Does a Trillion[*] Dollars Look Like?

[*en castellano, un billón!]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/07/What-Does-a-Trillion-Dollars-Look-Like.aspx

Last week the Federal reserve decided to inject ANOTHER trillion to buy treasury bonds and mortgage securities. In another words they simply decided to print another trillion dollars. So I [Mercola.com] thought you would really enjoy this graphic illustration to help you put that number into perspective.

$100

Start with a simple $100 bill.

$10,000

A packet of $100 bills worth $10,000 is less than 1/2 inch[1,25 cm.] thick.

$1,000,000

This little pile of cash can easily fit into any backpack and weighs just about 22 lbs[10 kilos].


$100,000,000

$100 million fits neatly on any standard pallet, weighing in at a little over one ton.

$1,000,000,000

$1 billion[mil millones] is ten pallets worth of cold, hard cash.

$1,000,000,000,000

Finally, here’s one trillion[1 billón] dollars:

[ ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ]

An IQ of 47, and a prison sentence of 100 years

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-paris7-2009apr07,0,6948133.story

Aaron Hart's sexual assault case in Paris, Texas, has left court officials pondering if justice was served. A new attorney will seek a new trial with testimony about the teen's mental disability.

Reporting from Houston -- The crime Aaron Hart confessed to was undeniably repellent.

In September, the 18-year-old was charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old neighbor boy behind a tool shed in the small east Texas town of Paris. A relative of the victim said she walked outside and saw Hart with his pants pulled down, standing next to the boy.

Police read Hart his Miranda rights, and he quickly admitted his guilt. On Feb. 11, Hart's court-appointed attorney entered guilty pleas to each of five related felony counts, a jury recommended multiple sentences, and a judge ruled that the prison terms be served consecutively, for a total of 100 years.

That might have been the end of Cause No. 22924 in the 6th Judicial District Court of Lamar County, Texas. Except that now, every court official who had a hand in the case seems to agree that Hart doesn't belong in prison for the rest of his life.

That's because Hart has an IQ of 47, and his parents say he functions at the level of a 9-year-old. The boy he confessed to molesting is mentally disabled as well.

Read more...

Public Policy That Makes Test Subjects of Us All

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/science/07tier.html?hpw

Suppose you wanted to test the effects of halving the amount of salt in people’s diets. If you were an academic researcher, you’d have to persuade your institutional review board that you had considered the risks and obtained informed consent from the participants.

You might, for instance, take note of a recent clinical trial in which heart patients put on a restricted-sodium diet fared worse than those on a normal diet. In light of new research suggesting that eating salt improves mood and combats depression, you might be alert for psychological effects of the new diet. You might worry that people would react to less-salty food by eating more of it, a trend you could monitor by comparing them with a control group.

But if you are the mayor of New York, no such constraints apply. You can simply announce, as Michael Bloomberg did, that the city is starting a “nationwide initiative” to pressure the food industry and restaurant chains to cut salt intake by half over the next decade. Why bother with consent forms when you can automatically enroll everyone in the experiment?

And why bother with a control group when you already know the experiment’s outcome? The city’s health commissioner, Thomas R. Frieden, has enumerated the results. If the food industry follows the city’s wishes, the health department's Web site announces, “that action will lower health care costs and prevent 150,000 premature deaths every year.”

But that prediction is based on an estimate based on extrapolations based on assumptions that have yet to be demonstrated despite a half-century of efforts. No one knows how people would react to less-salty food, much less what would happen to their health.
Read more...

Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip&poe=HFMostPopular

A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

Workers with dwindling wages are paying for groceries, yoga classes and fuel with Detroit Cheers, Ithaca Hours in New York, Plenty in North Carolina or BerkShares in Massachusetts.

Ed Collom, a University of Southern Maine sociologist who has studied local currencies, says they encourage people to buy locally. Merchants, hurting because customers have cut back on spending, benefit as consumers spend the local cash.

Read more...

Hora Cero: Hoy sentencian a Fujimori por delitos de lesa humanidad

http://peru21.pe/noticia/270109/juicio-alberto-fujimori-llega-hoy-su-punto-final

La sentencia por el caso de violación de los derechos humanos será leída desde las 9:00 a.m. La pena no sería alta pese al pedido de 30 años de prisión del Ministerio Público.[Qué raro...por acá no se dice nada.]

A las 9 de la mañana de hoy, tras más de 160 audiencias, Alberto Fujimori, ex presidente de la República, estará en el banquillo de los acusados, listo para escuchar la sentencia de la Sala Penal Especial que, por 16 meses, lo ha juzgado por los crímenes de Barrios Altos y de La Cantuta y por los secuestros del empresario Samuel Dyer y del periodista Gustavo Gorriti.

Aun cuando se desconoce la decisión de los vocales, el fallo ya ha sido calificado de “histórico” y, qué duda cabe, sentará un precedente internacional pues es la primera vez, en este lado del hemisferio, que un ex mandatario civil es sentenciado por crímenes de lesa humanidad.

Si bien ha trascendido que el tribunal condenará a Alberto Fujimori, la pena no sería alta pese al pedido de 30 años de prisión del Ministerio Público. Hasta el cierre de esta edición, las especulaciones crecían en torno a la cantidad de años que se le impondrían.

Leer más, por favor...

Violento despertar del [volcán chileno] Llaima provoca emergencia agrícola por aluviones y cenizas

http://diario.elmercurio.com/2009/04/07/nacional/nacional/noticias/AE77CB1D-EAE2-4A56-9F1B-88D750CCED98.htm?id={AE77CB1D-EAE2-4A56-9F1B-88D750CCED98}

·Vulcanólogos dicen que el comportamiento del nevado es impredecible
·Diez mil agricultores de cinco comunas son los potenciales afectados, de persisitir la emisión de lava y de cenizas volcánicas

[Llaima lanzando lava y ceniza, volcán a 700 kms. al sur de Santiago, Chile.]

TEMUCO.– Los aluviones provocados por el derretimiento de las nieves del volcán Llaima aumentaron ayer los daños causados por la erupción que comenzó la noche del viernes. El arrastre de material volcánico, rocas y troncos, destruyó puentes y caminos, y ocasionó además de la acumulación de cenizas daños en suelos agrícolas, principalmente praderas que sustentan ganado y cultivos, lo que hizo al Gobierno declarar en emergencia agrícola a las comunas de Vilcún, Cunco, Melipeuco, Curacautín y Lonquimay.

La medida anunciada por la ministra de Agricultura, Marigen Hornkohl, responde al plan de contingencia diseñado para enfrentar potenciales efectos que podría ocasionar la nueva fase eruptiva. Ésta muestra signos de ser más violenta que la del 1 de enero de 2008 y se caracteriza por explosiones, emisión de lava y cenizas, más deshielos que generan aluviones volcánicos (lahares) y que ya han destruido un puente de madera en el sector del río Calbuco y tres kilómetros de caminos al interior del Parque Nacional Conguillío, en el área del río Captrén.
Leer más...

Going for a more expensive song: iTunes raises prices

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6051017.ece

Apple introduced variable pricing to its iTunes online music store today, raising the top price for a song to 99p[25% increase!!].

Most songs used to cost 79p, and some still will, but the company's new three-tier pricing system means some will also be sold for 59p.

In the US, the prices will be $1.29, 99 cents and 79 cents. Anticipating a backlash before the announcement, Apple pointed out that for every one song they raise to $1.29 they will be reducing 10 songs[which 10 songs might they be? hum?] to 69 cents. All tracks are also now DRM-free, and so can be played on all types of music player.

The new price changes are the first big test of how much fans are willing to pay for digital music[...aahhh, the truth!]. Record labels have been lobbying Apple to raise the top rate of tracks, which in the US has been 99 cents since the iTunes store was launched in 2003. Apple previously rejected their pleas saying a price rise would dent sales.
Read more...

Legalisation of drugs could save UK £14bn, says study

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/07/drugs-policy-legalisation-report

[Front page from July/August, 2001 issue of The Economist.]

The regulated legalisation of drugs would have major benefits for taxpayers, victims of crime, local communities and the criminal justice system, according to the first comprehensive comparison between the cost-effectiveness of legalisation and prohibition. The authors of the report, which is due to be published today, suggest that a legalised, regulated market could save the country around £14bn.

For many years the government has been under pressure to conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of the current drugs policy, but has failed to do so despite calls from MPs. Now the drugs reform charity, Transform, has commissioned its own report, examining all aspects of prohibition from the costs of policing and investigating drugs users and dealers to processing them through the courts and their eventual incarceration.

As well as such savings is the likely taxation revenue in a regulated market. However, there are also the potential costs of increased drug treatment, education and public information campaigns about the risks and dangers of drugs, similar to those for tobacco and alcohol, and the costs of running a regulated system.

The report looked at four potential scenarios, ranging from no increase in drugs use to a 100% rise as they become more readily available.

"The conclusion is that regulating the drugs market is a dramatically more cost-effective policy than prohibition and that moving from prohibition to regulated drugs markets in England and Wales would provide a net saving to taxpayers, victims of crime, communities, the criminal justice system and drug users of somewhere within the range of, for the four scenarios, £13.9bn, £10.8bn, £7.7bn, £4.6bn."

Read more...

Satélites de la NASA revelan la persistente reducción del hielo en el Ártico

[ATENCIÓN: para una visión 'diametralmente' opuesta a la contenida en este artículo, ver el post de marzo del 2009, Rise Of Sea Levels Is Greatest Lie Ever. Pero mejor visitar el blog Heliogenic.]

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=601904&idseccio_PK=1021

Imagen captada por satélite en la que se observa la extensión máxima del hielo sobre el mar en el período 2008-09. Foto: EFE / NASA HANDOUT

Las últimas imágenes de los satélites han revelado que los hielos marinos y la plataforma gélida del Ártico continúan reduciéndose como resultado del aumento global de las temperaturas, según ha informado la NASA.

El hielo espeso y antiguo ha comenzado a disminuir y está siendo sustituido por hielo nuevo y delgado que es mucho más vulnerable, según ha indicado la agencia espacial estadounidense.

El anuncio de la reducción de la masa de hielo ártico ha sido difundido tres días después de que el Instituto Geológico de EEUU (USGS) informara de que el cambio climático está derritiendo los glaciares antárticos mucho más rápido de lo que se creía hasta ahora.
Si quieres saber qué más tiene que decir la NASA sobre esto, continúa aquí...

[Además, por si hacía falta, los de LaVanguardia no se querían quedar atrás y publicaron su propio artículo titulado (con la misma fecha!), La NASA revela la persistente reducción del hielo Ártico.]

[ATENCIÓN: para una visión 'diametralmente' opuesta a la contenida en estos artículos, ver el post de marzo del 2009, Rise Of Sea Levels Is Greatest Lie Ever. Pero mejor visitar el blog Heliogenic.]

Pfizer pagará 55 millones por sus experimentos mortales en Nigeria

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=601806&idseccio_PK=1021&h=

[...algo es algo.....en fin.]
La farmacéutica indemnizará a las familias de 11 menores para evitar el juicio
La empresa ensayó, sin permiso, un nuevo fármaco contra la meningitis en 200 niños

Después de negarlo durante más de una década; de afirmar que aquellos niños no habían fallecido por culpa de su fármaco sino por las enfermedades que entonces, a mediados de los 90, hacían estragos entre la población nigeriana; de, según denunciaron los abogados de las víctimas, dilatar y seguir dilatando el proceso judicial hasta el cansancio, la multinacional farmacéutica Pfizer ha reconocido --al menos tácitamente-- que actuó al margen de la ley cuando en 1996 mandó a un equipo a Nigeria a probar un medicamento para curar la meningitis. El irresponsable arrojo de la compañía estadounidense, que utilizó sin permiso a 200 niños, acabó con la muerte de 11 de ellos y toda clase de gravísimos problemas para los demás: ceguera, sordera, lesiones cerebrales y parálisis.
Ese reconocimiento tácito ha quedado consignado en la decisión de la empresa, hecha pública el viernes, de pagar 55 millones de euros --poco más de la mitad, para las familias, y el resto, para la reconstrucción de un hospital-- con la condición de que los afectados retiren la causa. El estado de Kano, de donde procedían todos los pequeños utilizados en el experimento, reclamaba 2.000 millones, así que, al menos comparada con esos objetivos iniciales, la indemnización es exigua. Pero la causa que abrió más tarde el Gobierno nigeriano, pidiendo 7.000 millones, sigue abierta.

[Esquema de ganancias de Pfizer...queda claro su motivación]

Leer más...

Sweet dreams are made of geomagnetic activity

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16871-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-geomagnetic-activity.html

Looking for an explanation for recurring nightmares of leaving the house without your trousers on or losing your teeth? New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, rather than a repressed childhood.

Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space Medicine in Berlin, Germany, found a correlation between the bizarreness of his dreams, recorded over eight years, and extremes in local geomagnetic activity.

Other studies have tied low geomagnetic activity to increases in the production of the melatonin, a potent hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock. So, based on anecdotal evidence that melatonin supplements used as a sleeping aid can cause off-kilter dreams, Lipnicki wondered whether local magnetic fields could induce the same effects.

Journal reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com

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