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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS GPS, OR "GOTTA PAY FOR SPEEDING" HRT HEALTH RISKS OUTWEIGH THE BENEFITS drugs most heavily marketed to con- sumers. (Sources: JAMA, 14 June 2001, http://jama- asan.org/; USA Today, 14 June 2001, www.usatoday.com/news/) hen James Turner signed Acme Rent-A-Car's rental agreement in New Haven, Connecticut, last October, he didn't notice the warning at the top of the contract: "Vehicles in excess of posted speed limit will be charged $150 fee per occurrence. All our vehicles are GPS [global positioning system] equipped." He also did not know that his van was equipped with a sophisticated device called AirlQ, manufactured by a Toronto- based, worldwide wireless application ser- vice provider. In addition to providing maps and loca- tion tools, AirIQ also allows rental car agents to "manage driver behavior by auditing location information" and "receive boundary crossing and excessive speed reports". An agent can even shut off a car by remote control if it's going too fast or heading into territory it's not supposed to be in. AirlQ's speed reports cost Turner US$450 in "fines", and the matter is likely to be in court for some time. (Sources: Stamford Advocate, Connecticut, USA, 14 June 2001, www.stamfordadvo - cate.com; CNN, I July 2001) ormone replacement therapy (HRT) (Sources: JAMA, 14 June 2001, http://jama- has been promoted for everything — asan.org/; USA Today, 14 June 2001, from protecting against heart attacks to — www.usatoday.com/news/) staving off Alzheimer's disease, but evi- dence is accumulating that women should TRANSGENICS COMPROMISE not count on HRT. For instance, four ran- ORGANICS STANDARDS domised clinical trials in the last few years hat is the gist of declarations by two found that HRT actually increased wom- organic agriculture organisations to en's risk of heart attacks and strokes during _ describe the effect of transgenic crop pro- the first year or two. duction on organic farming. As is the case Even the notion that HRT prevents with conventional soy, corn and canola, osteoporosis—the main reason why _ organic crops have tested positive for the women older than 60 who no longer have _ presence of foreign genetic material menopausal symptoms are prescribed it— because of cross-pollination and seed stock has been questioned by the Journal of the — contamination. The inability to segregate American Medical Association in its edito- transgenic crops from their organic and rial of 14 June. The comments accompany _ conventional counterparts during harvest, an analysis of 22 HRT trials by two British handling, transport and milling is also researchers who found a reduction in bone __ responsible for contamination. fracture risk only in women who started The Organic Federation of Australia treatment before age sixty. declared that contamination from trans- At the same time that HRT's benefits are genic crops in the United States has spread becoming murkier, the potential risks of to such a degree that it cannot verify the long-term therapy—mainly an increased _ purity of imported organic ingredients. risk of breast and ovarian cancer and blood Farm Verified Organic seconded that clots—are becoming more worrisome. . assertion. A press release from the North Apparently, though, the latest research Dakota certification agency stated: "...the about HRT's effects has not trickled down GM pollution of American commodities is to many doctors who care for post- now so pervasive, we believe it is not pos- menopausal women, nor, as a result, tothe sible for farmers in North America to women them- selves. In the North American Menopause Society's most recent survey of CuRRENCT A\ women aged 45 LERCH ANGE nCH Awe to 65, conducted in 1998, 34% of = a respondents sai they were on HRT. Premarin, the leading brand of oestrogen, remains one o the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, with annual sales totalling nearly US$2__ billion. Last year, Premarin in all its forms was among the top 10 prescription TRANSGENICS COMPROMISE ORGANICS STANDARDS hat is the gist of declarations by two organic agriculture organisations to describe the effect of transgenic crop pro- duction on organic farming. As is the case with conventional soy, corn and canola, organic crops have tested positive for the presence of foreign genetic material because of cross-pollination and seed stock contamination. The inability to segregate transgenic crops from their organic and conventional counterparts during harvest, handling, transport and milling is also responsible for contamination. The Organic Federation of Australia declared that contamination from trans- genic crops in the United States has spread to such a degree that it cannot verify the purity of imported organic ingredients. Farm Verified Organic seconded that assertion. A press release from the North Dakota certification agency stated: "...the GM pollution of American commodities is now so pervasive, we believe it is not pos- sible for farmers in North America to DOUBTS OVER CARBON DATING ACCURACY ritish and American scientists have found that radiocarbon dating, used to give a rough guide to the age of an object, can be wrong by thousands of years. It means that humans may have been on Earth for a lot longer than previously thought, and that accepted versions of early history could need a radical rethink. Experts have known for years that car- bon dating is inexact but, until researchers from Bristol and Harvard completed their study, no one knew by how much. The scientists calculated the age of ancient limestone formations in caves using carbon dating. The results were checked using a newer, more accurate method known as uranium dating. They found that the carbon dates were wrong by thousands of years and that the further back in time they went, the more out of date they were. The reason is that carbon dating mea- sures radioactive carbon, and there may have been much more of it in the distant past than previously thought. (Source: BBC News Online, 29 June 2001) NEXUS +7 AUGUST —- SEPTEMBER 2001 www.nexusmagazine.com