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TOKYO/ NEW YORK -- About 1.6 million doses of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine have been taken out of use in Japan because of contamination reported in some vials, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said early Thursday. Several vaccination centers have reported that vaccine vials contained foreign matter, according to an announcement from the ministry, which added it will seek to minimize the impact of the withdrawal on the country's inoculation program. The ministry said later in the day that the substance that had been mixed in may have been metal. "It's a substance that reacts to magnets," a ministry...

Japan's health ministry said Thursday foreign materials were found in some portions of the unused doses of Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine and the use of around 1.63 million doses manufactured in the same production line has been suspended as a precaution. Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., which is in charge of sales and distribution of the vaccine in the country, said it has yet to see any reports of safety concerns. The size of foreign substances confirmed in 39 vials is believed to be a few millimeters, with their elements being unknown. Moderna is conducting an investigation into the materials,...

The University of Washington School of Medicine went to extraordinary lengths to airlift tens of thousands of Covid-19 testing kits from China during a nationwide shortage of sampling swabs and the liquid that preserves specimens for diagnostic testing. In short: a Seattle importer used a business associate in China, who had a connection to a doctor in the province hardest hit by the disease, to secure testing kits from a Shanghai factory and then have them flown stateside as soon as possible on an Amazon-chartered plane. UW Medicine allocated US$125,000 to purchase the kits. The story of the testing swabs...

<p>WUHAN—In an alarming turn of events, workers at a Wuhan research lab were seen adjusting a sign that read “92 Days Since Accidentally Releasing a Virus,” taking down the 92 and replacing it with a zero.</p> <p>“Everything is still great here,” said President Xi Jinping to selected members of the press. “Nothing alarming has happened here... and certainly not for a second time.” Xi was wearing a hazmat suit, but he claimed that was because it was laundry day and that was the only thing he had left that was clean. The American press felt no need to ask any follow-up questions.</p>

The COVID-19 outbreak is giving new meaning to those “sustainable” shopping bags that politicians and environmentalists have been so eager to impose on the public. These reusable tote bags can sustain the COVID-19 and flu viruses—and spread the viruses throughout the store. Researchers have been warning for years about the risks of these bags spreading deadly viral and bacterial diseases, but public officials have ignored their concerns, determined to eliminate single-use bags and other plastic products despite their obvious advantages in reducing the spread of pathogens. In New York State, a new law took effect this month banning single-use plastic...

A forum to address information recently released in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Annual Site Environmental Report and other data concerning the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant will be held at 1 p.m. this Saturday, April 27 at the offices of the Pike County General Health District, located at 116 South Market Street, Waverly. According to the Pike County General Health District, which is hosting the forum, “community concerns have arisen regarding the detection of traces of Neptunium, a transuranic element and known carcinogen, at an air monitoring station on the grounds of the Zahn’s Corner Middle School.” The general...

A report said that fecal matter was discovered on every McDonald’s self-service touchscreen swabbed during an investigation in the United Kingdom. Samples were taken at six McDonald’s locations in London and two in Birmingham. The samples all revealed a contamination of coliforms, which are found in human fecal matter. “We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines. These cause the kind of infections that people pick up in hospitals,” said London Metropolitan University Dr. Paul Matawele, according to The Metro. “For instance Enterococcus faecalis is part of the flora of gastrointestinal tracts...

Living bacteria were found on the surface of the International Space Station (ISS), and they might have extraterrestrial origins, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov said. The microorganisms will be studied further on Earth. Shkaplerov, an ISS expedition flight engineer who will take his third trip to the ISS in December as part of the Expedition 54 crew, said that scientists found living bacteria while they were taking samples from the surface of the station. Speaking to TASS, he said that the microorganisms might have come from outer space. ... However, traces of bacteria originating on Earth – from Madagascar – and...

CHARLESTON, SC The brown liquid a man sprayed onto to some of the produce in a Charleston grocery store has been determined to be feces. Pau S. Hang, 41, is accused of spraying a brown liquid from a spray bottle on produce at a Charleston Harris Teeter on Oct. 15. The brown liquid has tested positive for components of fecal matter, according to the Charleston Police Department. Hang was originally charged with damage to personal property. An additional charge of tampering with human drug product or food item has been filed against Hang, according to public information officer Charles Francis....

**snip**Bees and other pollinators have been on the decline for more than a decade and experts blame a combination of factors: neonics, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply. Honeybees don't just make honey; about one-third of the human diet comes from plants that are pollinated by the insects. Bees pick up the pesticide when they feed on fields grown from treated seeds. **snip**"What this shows is the magnitude of the contamination," said study lead author Edward Mitchell, a biology professor at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, adding that there are "relatively few places where...

Microscopic pieces of plastic have infiltrated tap water systems around the world, according to new research on worldwide water systems. According to Orb Media, a non-profit data journalism newsroom in Washington, 83 percent of the tap water sampled globally was contained with microscopic plastic particles. The U.S. had the highest contamination rate at 94 percent, and water sampled from Europe to India and in parts of the Middle East had plastic contamination above 70 percent, according to the Orb study. Sites sampled in the U.S. included “Congress buildings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters and Trump Towers,” the Guardian reported....

Big scandal brewing in the EU involving tainted eggs. Turns out that Belgium officials knew about this for 2 months but sat on the info, as typical of the socialist oligarchs who only want to help you.

full title "Labor Department Whistleblower: Agency Officials Intentionally Denied or Delayed Pay-Outs to Nuclear Workers in Hopes They Would Die" [snip]...The attorney, Stephen Silbiger, says Labor Department leadership under former Labor Secretary Tom Perez ignored years of his complaints about the "open hostility" he said some officials exhibited toward claimants, many of whom are too poor and sick to fight the agency's denials and red tape in federal court.[snip]Government attorney who raised red flags said Perez, other Obama officials ignored his complaints about hostility toward nuclear-worker claims.Under the law, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), qualified workers...

“At this time, we believe this is a localized backflow issue from third party operations in the area of Valero’s asphalt terminal … We believe this issue is isolated to a lateral industrial line. Valero is offering its resources to assist the city in isolating the issue and to help confirm this has not impacted the city’s water supply.” The Corpus Christi legislative delegation released a statement saying two chemicals may have been released into the public water system, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The city previously identified Indulin AA-86, an emulsifying agent for asphalt, as the main hazard....

Officials told residents of a small Colorado community not to drink or shower in tap water Thursday because one of the town’s wells may have been contaminated with THC, marijuana’s intoxicating chemical. No illnesses have been linked to the water in Hugo, a town of about 730 people some 100 miles southeast of Denver, said Lincoln County Public Health Director Susan Kelly. THC was detected in tests conducted with field kits, although other field tests were negative, sheriff’s Capt. Michael Yowell said. More definitive laboratory tests were underway, he said. …

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"Our work shows that, for a frog, the suburbs are very similar to farms and sewage treatment plants," researcher Max Lambert said.NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Male frogs seeking a mate might have better luck in suburban ponds -- that's if they don't mind the risk of turning into females themselves. Researchers at Yale University found suburban ponds, near shrubs, backyard gardens and manicured lawns, feature higher ratios of female green frogs than do ponds surrounded by forest. The new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests higher levels of estrogen in...

Document ISGP-2003-00300134 contains Top Secret And Personal letters that carry Saddam orders to do radiation and biological testing on the Presidential sites that were attacked by the US in December 1998. Beginning of translation of the first top secret and personal memo In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate Top Secret And Personal The Republic of Iraq The Presidential Secretariat Number: 537304/1 18/12/1998 ORDER Mr. President The Leader (God Protects Him) Order: Form committees from the Ministry of Health and the Military Industrialization Commission and The Atomic Energy Organization and The Special Security Service with its...

Ebola Killed Off More American Lab Machines Than American Humans When physicians at the Nebraska Medical Center got their first Ebola case in September, they knew they'd rely heavily on sophisticated blood-test machines to monitor the man's condition. They didn't expect the virus might leave the machines incapacitated for longer than the patient. Several leading manufacturers of high-tech diagnostic devices have alerted hospital laboratories that they will restrict service, support and warranties for equipment used to test blood and organ functions for Ebola patients. Fearing infections, some decline to have their technicians perform tuning and maintenance the expensive devices often...

Muslim nurses in the UK have now been granted the option of participating in medical operations without washing their hands. If this gives you the willies and makes you feel a bit icky inside, it should. Washing hands is a basic tenet of good hygiene and helps prevent the spread of diseases and infections, especially to those most susceptible to them, such as individuals receiving an operation. Check out the reason given by these nurses to justify this insanity.