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GLOBAL NEWS as the "principal investigator" for a program that studied the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines. Thorsen's research on autism is widely known in academic circles, where until this week he was a highly respected figure. A paper of his on the subject, which is known as "The Danish Study", is quoted extensively to refute the autism- vaccine connection." (Source: BlackListedNews.com, 22 May 2on, http://tinyurl.com/3mjmmts) seized 40 tons of beansprouts which had been treated with dangerous growth-promoting chemicals and hormones. In May, watermelons started exploding in the fields because they'd been treated with oo much accelerant. Amid the scares, it was reported hat China's government departments are running their own organic farms to feed staff, sparking criticism that officials were putting heir own safety before that of the people. "There are serious concerns about ood safety these days, so we decided to give it a go," said Yu Luping, a 74-year-old retired eacher, as she lovingly watered a ray of lettuce seedlings on the balcony of her 13th-floor apartment just off Beijing's second ring-road. “This way we can both beautify the apartment with something green and know that at least some [of] our vegetables are safe to eat. I'm new o all this, but if it works I'm going o try beans, tomatoes and even some peppers next year." rs Yu is one of 80 families in her block of flats who have started to experiment with balcony-gardening after posters appeared in her compound exhorting residents to grow their own vegetables—"fresh, healthy and with no pollution!" On a larger scale, organic farmers and a host of co-operative schemes that lease small parcels of land to urbanites who want to feel the soil under their fingernails—not unlike British allotment schemes—report that business is suddenly booming. (Source: The Telegraph, 29 May 20n, http://tinyurl.com/3h6dquz) FRANCE BANS FRACKING ER though the nation sits atop what many analysts believe are some of the most potentially productive natural gas fields in the world, the French Parliament has voted to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, making France the first nation in the world to do so. (Source: NaturalGasWatch.org, 7 July 2on, tinyurl.com/6fgqzz6) URBAN CHINA GOES ORGANIC At years of nerve-racking food scares from "melamine milk" to "glow-in-the-dark pork" and "exploding watermelons", urban China is starting to embrace the shoots of a new, green revolution and is going organic. n recent years, China has been hit by a number of food scandals and fears about safety have lingered. n 2008, 300,000 babies became seriously ill and six babies died after being given formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. n March this year, health officials discovered pork that glowed an iridescent blue in the dark because of contamination with a particular type of bacterium. In April, police FUKUSHIMA: THE SAD TRUTH Tr nuclear industry will continue to expose humanity to the sad events seen in Fukushima, Japan, where hundreds of thousands o people have received dangerously high doses of radiation exposure. These levels of exposure will cause the Japanese people thousands o cancer-related illnesses for generations to come. As of this writing, three reactor cores have melted down and radiation continues to poison people in Japan and around the world. Many governments continue to downplay the severity of this even as they move aggressively forward with the planned construction o dozens of reactors, while other countries like Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Malaysia have voted to phase out all nuclear power. Three days after the Fukushima disaster began, Chris Huhne, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, worked with nuclear officials from Westinghouse, Areva and EDF in developing a PR campaign designed to downplay the severity of the disaster. Many countries have performed ED = me rvi//e Somerui[/e 8 * NEXUS AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2011 www.nexusmagazine.com