Free Republic

Despite the “populist uprising” to block the economic bailout, President Bush signed a $700 billion rescue plan Oct. 3. The bailout spurred much debate, including a second dispute between financial analysts Peter Schiff and Stephen Leeb on CNN. CNN’s “Your $$$$$” hosted the heated discussion on Oct. 4. In it, Schiff and Leeb argued about the need for a bailout – which Schiff termed a choice “between freedom and socialism.” In contrast, Leeb referred to it as a choice between inflation and starvation. Delaying a bailout would cause “mass starvation, not just in this country, all over the globe,” according...

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

Cadbury recall all chocolate made in China over fears it may contain contaminated milk British chocolate giant Cadbury today ordered a recall of its Chinese-made products after revealing tests have ‘cast doubt’ on its safety. It is feared the sweets could contain melamine-laced milk, which has been blamed for killing four children in China and making around 50,000 ill. The 11 recalled confectionery items - made at Cadbury's factory in Beijing - are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. Doubts: 11 products distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia were recalled ....Authorities say suppliers might have added melamine, which...

<p>VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.</p>

/begin my translation A Puppy in Nanning Got Dozens of Kidney Stones: Contaminated Powered Milk Suspected Ms. Chen, a resident in Nanning, Guangxi Province, has a puppy with repeated serious illness, because, in less than a year, it underwent one surgery after another, taking out kidney stones three times. They numbered a few dozens in total, with varying size. On Sept. 26, this reporter personally saw the kidney stones taken out from the puppy ten days ago. "They are big stones," said Dr. Lian, the vetenarian, while staring at them. At present, Ms. Chen has stopped giving the puppy the...

CHINA'S toxic milk scandal escalated today as one of the nation's famous candy brands was pulled off shelves and four more people outside the mainland were thought to have fallen ill. The industrial chemical melamine has also been found in Heinz baby cereal and in potato crackers in the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong and officials ordered a recall of the products. In China, the maker of White Rabbit candy, given to US president Richard Nixon on a landmark 1972 trip, said it was halting domestic sales after its products were found to contain melamine, normally used to make...

European Union regulators Thursday ordered rigorous testing of imports containing at least 15 percent milk powder after concluding that food containing tainted milk powder from China may well be circulating in Europe and putting children at risk. The action, announced by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Commission, significantly expands the potential geographic reach of a milk adulteration scandal in China to now include a range of foods sold around the world. The Europeans said cookies, toffees and chocolates were the major concerns. The World Health Organization and the Unicef also expressed concern Thursday about the Chinese milk...

(LEAD) S. Korea finds harmful chemical in Chinese creamer product SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities said Friday they have found traces of a harmful chemical in a Chinese creamer product used in instant coffee mixes. The discovery of melamine, which can cause kidney problems and even death in severe cases, follows a confirmation by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) on Thursday that two types of snacks sold domestically contained traces of the industrial chemical. Both products were imported from China. Seoul started scrutinizing imported dairy products after several Chinese manufacturers were found to have...

Due to the fact that I am unsure about rules pertaining to AP articles, I am not including a snip from the article. Please click on the link to check it out.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human...

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to human...

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to human...

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

List of Nations Banning Chinese Milk Products Grows By VOA News 25 September 2008 South Korea is the latest nation to ban imports of Chinese dairy products after discovering Chinese-made snacks contained a chemical that has sickened thousands of children who consumed contaminated milk. The Korean Food and Drug Administration, KFDA, says tests on more than 100 products found the chemical melamine in two biscuit-type snacks. Officials ordered the products to be removed from store shelves and destroyed. More than a dozen governments in Asia, Africa and Europe have either banned or recalled Chinese dairy products since the scandal broke...

Government outlet provides safe, special food for the nation’s leaders BEIJING - While China grapples with its latest tainted food crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow. And it’s all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.

Australia and New Zealand issued recalls Thursday for an imported Chinese candy that was found to contain the industrial chemical melamine. New Zealand Food Safety Authority spokesman Geoff Allen said Thursday morning that he expected the White Rabbit Creamy Candies to be off shelves within 24 hours. "This product contains sufficiently high levels of melamine which may, in some individuals, cause health problems such as kidney stones," deputy chief executive Sandra Daly said in a statement posted Wednesday on the agency's Web site. "The levels we have found in these products are unacceptable."

South Korea Finds Melamine in Foods Imported From China Posted on: Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 12:00 CDT Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap [Yonhap headline: "(LEAD) Melamine Found in Imported Confections From China"] Seoul, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) - South Korea's food safety agency on Wednesday put a temporary import ban on Chinese products containing powdered milk after tests on two confections revealed traces of the toxic chemical melamine. Tests on "Misarang Custard" cake, which a Chinese firm produced on an original equipment manufacturing for South Korea's Haitai Confectionery and Foods Co., were undertaken by the...

VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to human...

An organic wine from Chile has oenophiles in San Francisco turning up their noses. But there’s nothing wrong with the wine. It’s the name that bothers them: Palin Syrah. The wine from a boutique vineyard in Chile was once a strong seller, but now it’s an outcast in the City by the Bay because its name comes way too close to a certain governor from the state of Alaska, says Celine Guillou, co-owner of the Yield Wine Bar.

An organic wine from Chile has oenophiles in San Francisco turning up their noses. But there’s nothing wrong with the wine. It’s the name that bothers them: Palin Syrah. The wine from a boutique vineyard in Chile was once a strong seller, but now it’s an outcast in the City by the Bay because its name comes way too close to a certain governor from the state of Alaska, says Celine Guillou, co-owner of the Yield Wine Bar. Palin Syrah — pronounced Pay-LEEN — takes its name from a ball used in a Chilean-style hockey game, and it has been...

Sanlu claims appalling if true: Fonterra 24th September 2008, 12:03 WST Claims a dairy company knew of China's tainted milk scandal eight months ago and lied about it would be appalling if true, Fonterra chief Andrew Ferrier says. At the release of Fonterra's annual results on Wednesday, Ferrier was swamped by questions about the Chinese dairy company Sanlu, which is 43 per cent owned by Fonterra. So far at least four children have died after drinking powdered milk tainted with the chemical melamine, 54,000 have fallen ill and about 13,000 have been admitted to hospital with kidney problems. A Chinese...

Tainted Milk Powder Scandal: Health Ministry National Internal Teleconference Reveals Top Secret By Translated by chinafreepress.org Sep 21, 2008 - 11:02:23 AM http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/09/200809202358.shtml Tainted Milk Powder Scandal: Health Ministry National Internal Teleconference Reveals Top Secret According to a boxun.com report, on Friday September 19 the Ministry of Health held a national internal teleconference. Every region's large hospital section chiefs and other concerned important officials participated. According to informed sources, this was the second time this month this type of conference was held. The teleconference revealed the true circumstances behind the tainted milk powder scandal. Milk powder factories have been illegally...

China's Tainted Food Products Only Harm the Average People, High-Ranking Officials Have Their Own Specially-Supplied Food Sources By Sep 20, 2008 - 7:22:49 PM China's Tainted Food Products Only Harm the Average People, High-Ranking Officials Have Their Own Specially-Supplied Food Sources While China's food security crisis has resulted in Chinese people fearing that nothing is safe to eat, a source has revealed that China has always had one special source of food and supply network: that which serves national Communist Party and government officials. This food is specially produced, transported, and examined, according to especially strict standards. On August 18,...

WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to...

Melamine in pesticides, human food chain - experts HONG KONG, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Melamine, a chemical that has tainted milk formula and made thousands of Chinese children ill, is used as an agricultural pesticide in China and may have been part of our food chain for a long time, experts said on Tuesday. Chan King-ming, associate professor of biochemistry at the Chinese University, said cyromazine, a derivative of melamine, was very commonly used in China as a pesticide. "It is absorbed into plants as melamine ... of course it is already in our food chain and animal feed," Chan...

Nearly 53,000 children in China have been sickened by milk powder contaminated by an industrial chemical, the government said Monday, dramatically ramping up its previous figures. Earlier the health ministry said 12,892 infants were in hospital with 104 babies in serious condition, according to the official Xinhua news agency. As the World Health Organization questioned Beijing's handling of the crisis, premier Wen Jiabao appeared on state television promising to head off further incidents. But a Hong Kong toddler also became the first child affected outside the mainland and more countries moved to bar Chinese milk products. The scandal stems from...

Nearly 53,000 children in China have become sick from milk powder contaminated by an industrial chemical, the government has said. A total of 52,857 children had been brought to hospitals after falling ill, a Health Ministry spokesman said. Most had "basically recovered" but 12,892 of them remained hospitalised, he added. The ministry said the toll of children ill from milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine had risen dramatically from the previous figure of 6,244. A further 39,965 children had "received clinical treatment and advice" before being sent home. More than 80 per cent of the sick were aged...

Climate change has brought new opportunities to Greenland that could secure its independence from Denmark Lasse Bjerge lives in a remote, sub-Arctic valley that is flanked by barren mountains, 20 miles by boat from the nearest town and perishing cold even on a bright September day. There, for the past two years, he has cultivated one of the world’s most improbable market gardens. As a bitter wind whistles past his red wooden cottage, Greenland’s first commercial vegetable farmer proudly lifts the synthetic sheeting protecting his crops to reveal rows of cabbages, cauliflowers and – appropriately – iceberg lettuces. This summer...

Nearly 13,000 children in China have been hospitalised due to tainted Chinese milk powder, officials say. China's health ministry said 104 out of 12,892 babies showed serious symptoms. Four infants have died after drinking the milk of the Sanlu Group containing the industrial chemical melamine, which could cause urinary problems. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, a toddler has been diagnosed with a kidney stone after drinking the powder - the first such case outside mainland China. A number of Asian and African countries have now banned Chinese dairy imports following the scandal. Chinese police have arrested 18 people in connection with...

- Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may already have entered the U.S. food supply, the Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products. The FDA said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe to eat as products obtained from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium that prevented the sale of clones and their offspring. "It is theoretically possible" offspring from clones are in the...

The path from the lab to the marketplace for genetically modified cows, pigs and chickens has been clearly spelled out for the first time....But the only engineered animal to reach consumers thus far is a pet fish that glows in the dark.

China's tainted milk crisis has spilled over the mainland's borders when supplies from international food giants were found to be contaminated with the poisonous additive melamine. Hong Kong authorities said it had found traces of melamine in Nestle's Dairy Farm milk produced for catering use by a company subsidiary in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, the site of the Olympics sailing events. Supermarkets in Hong Kong had already pulled Nestle's milk powder from the shelves amid media reports that the territory's government had found a sample that had been tainted. However Nestle released a statement said: ""Following press reports...

(ZHENGZHOU) -- As problems with baby milk products arouse worries of Chinese families over food safety, scientists say they are to invent a kind of paper to test food safety. The paper will work very fast and it will be inexpensive to suit household consumption, according to scientists at the 10th annual conference of the China Association for Science and Technology, held in Zhengzhou in Henan Province from Sept. 17 to 19. Shi Lei, professor with the South China University of Technology, said the testing paper targeting single toxicity has been invented long ago. Scientists are now working on the...

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has said that its laboratory test have shown that the "White Rabbit Creamy Candy" from China is also contaminated with melamine. Consumers who have bought the affected products are advised not to consume them, the AVA said in a statement. The latest test results bring the total number of milk and related products from China imported into Singapore that are found to be contaminated with melamine to three. The other two affected products are "Yili Brand" Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt Flavoured Ice Confection" and "Dutch Lady" brand of strawberry flavoured milk. All the...

(BEIJING) -- In the wake of the contaminated baby milk powder scandal, Chinese quality watchdog on Wednesday cancelled all kinds of national inspection exemptions previously given to food producers. "Considering the particular characteristics of food products and the complexity in the cause of food safety problems, and with a view to further enhancing supervision over food producers, ensuring food safety and protecting consumers' interests," said the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in an explanation of the move. It said relevant companies must stop activities of publicizing their national inspection exemption qualifications. The national inspection exemption labels...

When Cherida Cannon's labrador Teal chased and killed a hare, she set about preparing it for the pot. But there was a surprise in store. The hare turned out to be pregnant, and its unborn baby's heart was still beating. A frantic rescue mission was launched -- and today the tiny, helpless creature has grown into a bounding tame hare called Miracle. Describing the moment when Teal brought her his prey, Mrs Cannon, of Alton, Hampshire said: "The hare was so beautiful, I just couldn't bare to throw her away. I thought she'd make a nice meal so started gutting...

Mood moosic to get cows going   Calm ... Graham VallisSOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICE   By JOHN COLES Published: 20 Sep 2008     FARMERS are being encouraged to MOO at their cows — to boost milk production. It came after a dairy farmer reported getting six times more milk by mimicking his herd’s sound. Graham Vallis, 48, does meditation-style mooing for five minutes before milking — and said his cows fall into a relaxed state. Now the Federation of Organic Milk Groups is urging its 450 members to do the same. Graham, of Bradninch, Devon, said: “I often...

Financial crisis to boost prices on food 30 percent up 18.09.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/106392-financial_crisis-0 The current financial crisis will strike a significant blow on Russia, the former vice prime minister of the Russian government, Boris Nemtsov said in an interview with Novy Region news agency. The prices on basic foodstuffs may rise 30 percent, whereas small banks will go bankrupt, and many Russians will thus have to forget about consumer loans. September has become a black month for Russia, Nemtsov said. The politician advised all Russians should purchase foreign currency, particularly US dollars, to rescue their savings. The crisis...

Starbucks stops serving milk as China crisis snowballs by Fran Wang Fri Sep 19, 4:20 PM ET Starbucks stopped serving drinks with milk in many Chinese outlets Friday as a crisis over poisoned dairy products that have left four babies dead and thousands of others sick spiralled. The move by the US coffee chain came amid a government-ordered mass recall of dairy products after an industrial chemical, initially reported to be only in milk powder, was also detected in regular milk, yoghurt and ice cream. Supermarket shelves across the country were emptied of many products made by Chinese dairy giants...

Two fall sick after eating Chinese bean paste in Japan Sat Sep 20, 1:26 AM ET Two employees of a Japanese confectionery company fell sick after eating China-made bean paste in the latest apparent food scare here, police and the firm said Saturday. The workers at Marusei Honten confectionery in central Nagano prefecture noticed a strange smell like petroleum oil when they opened the five-kilogram (11-pound) package of red-bean paste on Friday, police said. They tasted it to check on the quality and felt sick soon afterwards, police said.

Oh, milk chocolate. Wherefore art thou? Apparently not in some Hershey’s products that contained milk chocolate for years, and that has passionate chocolate aficionados fighting mad. Products such as Whatchamacallit, Milk Duds, Mr. Goodbar and Krackel no longer have milk chocolate coatings, and Hershey’s Kissables are now labeled “chocolate candy” instead of “milk chocolate.” What’s going on here? On Friday, TODAY consumer correspondent Janice Lieberman reported that Hershey’s has switched to less expensive ingredients in several of its products. In particular, cocoa butter — the ingredient famous for giving chocolate its creamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture — has been replaced with vegetable...

CHINA'S poisoned milk disaster widened yesterday, with the Government's food safety agency announcing that 10 per cent of the liquid milk it has tested is contaminated, as well as 14 per cent of the baby formula. Hong Kong's food watchdog has also discovered pollutants in Chinese ice cream and yoghurt. China's whole food chain appears to be under some threat of contamination as a result, with tests now being extended to animal feed. A team of 31 lawyers operating in 14 provinces and cities of China yesterday offered to represent for free the parents of sick babies in legal actions...

HK and Seoul act on China baby-milk fears By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai Published: September 18 2008 09:09 | Last updated: September 18 2008 16:45 China’s tainted infant-formula scandal spread to other parts of east Asia on Thursday as food-safety officials in South Korea and Hong Kong said they would investigate or recall Chinese products. The Chinese government, which is scrambling to reduce damage to the image of “Made in China”, announced more arrests in connection with the milk-powder crisis, which claimed its fourth victim on Thursday.

BEIJING: Hong Kong has ordered the recall of a Chinese company's products after milk, ice cream and yogurt were found to be contaminated with melamine, the compound responsible for killing four children in a health scandal. Tainted milk powder produced in China has made thousands ill, and triggered sackings and detentions and rocked public trust already battered by a litany of food safety scares involving tainted eggs, pork and seafood in recent years. Now the scandal has spread to milk, ice-cream and yogurt ice-bars. Hong Kong ordered the recall of a Chinese company's products on Thursday after tests found that...

Two featherless chickens peck around in some grass May 22, 2002 at the Hebrew University in Rehovot. (Havakuk Levison/Reuters) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Genetically engineered animals moved closer to the dinner table on Thursday as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the process it will use to review new proposals public. > Genetically modified cattle, pigs, fish and goats are being produced for a variety of uses. Some produce pharmaceuticals in their milk or blood. Others are resistant to diseases such as mad cow or produce healthier meat or milk. "Many kinds of genetically engineered animals are in development, although...

Yeast strains used today to brew lager have two genetic ancestors, not one as previously thought. The discovery may explain the origins of the two major categories of lager today, described in the trade as the "Saaz" beers such as Pilsner and Budweiser, and the "Frohberg" beers such as Orangeboom and Heineken. It turns out that both probably owe their origins to laws in 16th-century Bavaria that banned brewing in the summer because scorching heat ruined the ale that was brewed before the emergence of lager. Forced to produce their beer in the winter, brewers accidentally created conditions favouring the...

The elixir of life may be a concoction of honey, cherries and secret herbs infused in a full Chianti wine, according to a centuries-old recipe discovered in one of Italy's oldest pharmacies. The 18th century-old recipe was discovered in an old manuscript found among the shelves of a pharmacy in Asciano near Sienna dating back to 1715. "My ancestors left several manuscripts with formulas for digestive drinks, but this one struck me because of its ingredients. I knew it had strong scientific basis," said pharmacist Giovanni De Munari, who found the old recipe from behind a small shelf in his...

LOL! Only in Europe would they even think of offering something so odd! hehe

A Swiss gastronomist has stirred a controversy in the tranquil Alpine republic after announcing that he will serve meals cooked with human breast milk. "We have all been raised on it. Why should we not include it into our diet?" Hans Locher, who has become Switzerland most controversial restaurant owner, said.