Free Republic

Attention is paid to hair. In our culture the hair industry is huge — shampoos, conditioners, coloring, cutting, shaping, styling. For “hair-loss treatment” alone, Google conjures up 749,000 references. Some people undergo surgical procedures, sometimes uncomfortable and expensive, to implant hair. Total hair loss is often an unfortunate and undesirable complication of the agents used to treat and cure cancer. Yet baldness — the hairless look — can for some represent spirituality and religion, or for others may suggest that they are athletic, smart, cool, reeking of testosterone. Depending on where you are in your life, what you are doing,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it was recommending new restrictions on thousands of uses of pesticides because of their adverse effects on public health. “Whether planting crops, de-bugging a home, working in the garden or just sitting down at the dinner table, Americans can now be assured the pesticides used in the U.S. meet the highest health standards in the world,” Stephen L. Johnson, the agency administrator, said in a statement announcing the completion of a 10-year review, ordered by Congress, of pesticide chemicals. The study, which focused on more than 230 chemicals...

US in U-turn over Gulf war syndrome 19:00 03 November 04 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. Terence Walker is one of the lucky ones. On 19 January 1991 he was with 6000 British troops at Al Jubayl in Saudi Arabia, as the first Gulf war was beginning. At around 3am there were loud bangs and flashes, and troops scrambled into gas masks as chemical detector alarms sounded. Some detectors in the area registered the nerve gas sarin, but the UK’s Ministry of Defence later said that these alerts were false alarms. Since Walker...

Americans May Have Found Mustard Gas V CORPS HEADQUARTERS, in northern Kuwait, April 7 ? American soldiers searching an empty military training camp in the Karbala area have found several drums that, according to preliminary tests, may contain deadly nerve agents and mustard gas. Officials here promptly notifed the Defense Department about the discovery, which was made on Sunday. "We're treating it as real, we're reporting it as real," said Col. Tim Madere, the top chemical warfare officer in the V Corps of the Army. But additional tests must be conducted before the possibility of a false reading can...

ABUL MUHAWISH, Iraq - More than a dozen soldiers of the Army's 101st Airborne Division underwent chemical weapons decontamination on Sunday after they exhibited symptoms of possible exposure to nerve agents. Preliminary tests indicated that nerve agents were present, but subsequent tests were negative and additional testing is under way. Nevertheless, a Knight Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman and two Iraqi prisoners of war also were hosed down with water and bleach. U.S. soldiers found the suspect chemicals at two sites: an agricultural warehouse containing 55-gallon chemical drums and a military compound, which soldiers had begun searching on Saturday....

ALBU MUHAWISH, Iraq - This small village on the Euphrates River could turn out to be the site of the first confirmed discovery of banned chemical agents that were the U.S. justification for invading Iraq. Field tests Monday confirmed the presence of toxic nerve and blister agents at an agricultural warehouse. Maj. Bryan Lynch, chemical officer for the 101st Airborne Division, said samples taken from barrels in the warehouse, about two miles from a military compound, are being flown to the United States to determine of they are of weapons grade. The discovery is the strongest indication so far...

Great job as usual Sabertooth...quick effective and to the point..How did all those officials miss the newly found WMDS?

Breaking news ... nothing follows

Mad cow cause may be related to ogranophosphate usage in pesticides John A. An organic farmer from Somerset has gathered convincing evidence to suggest that the outbreak of BSE in the UK was a direct result of a commercial pesticide. Si Mitchell talks to a man who despite being shot at and having his house burnt down, persists in attempts to expose the commercial cover-up. Whoever the monkeys have been at the top of the tree, the Party line has remained the same. The official line of course is that Mad Cow Disease (BSE) came about because scrapie-infected sheep meat...

Since 1986, the infamous neurodegenerative syndrome known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has blighted the heartbeat of British Agriculture. The disease has led to the annihilation of thousands of cattle, whilst its human analogue, new-varient Creutzfeld Jakob Disease (vCJD), has blighted the lives of a growing number of young people. Moreover, the spongiform epidemic has created a fierce battleground between nations, vested interests, political parties, farmers, victims and consumers. But despite the severity of the BSE legacy, little genuine attempt has been made to crack the causal riddle of these diseases, thereby leaving us devoid of insight into measures that...

Nerve agent (excerpt) Nerve agents are organophosphate compounds. Nerve agents are normally divided into G-agents (fluorine- or cyanide-containing organophosphates) and V-agents (sulfur-containing organophosphates). The principal nerve agents are tabun (GA), sarin (GB), soman (GD), cyclosarin (GF), and VX Nerve agents are all viscous liquids, not gases per se. However, the vapor pressures of the G-series nerve agents are sufficiently high for the vapors to be rapidly lethal. GB is so volatile that small droplets released from a shell exploding in the air may never reach the ground. This total volatilization means that GB is largely a vapor hazard. G-agents are...