Biotech companies are acting with impunity as cases of genetic engineering contamination continue on a global scale, a new report launched today reveals.
GM Contamination Register Report 2007, by Greenpeace International and GeneWatch UK, details 39 new instances of crop contamination in 23 countries over the past year. Most of the contamination involved such staple crops as rice and maize, but also included soy, cotton, canola, papaya and fish. Since 2005, the GM Contamination Register has recorded 216 contamination events in 57 countries since GE crops were first grown commercially on a large scale in 1996.

This year’s annual report on the Register is released on the same day a GE scandal in Kenya is exposed as Kenyan environmental and farmers’ organisations confront the government and United States seed giant Pioneer Hi-Bred with evidence of GE-contaminated maize seed in their country, and Greenpeace activists in the Netherlands protest shipments of illegal GE-rice varieties to Rotterdam.

“The contamination documented in the report is just the tip of the iceberg. Genetic polluters must pay. If a company contaminates our food and our environment, it must pay for the clean-up, compensate farmers, traders and consumers. We need international liability standards under the Biosafety Protocol to hold biotech companies to account,” Greenpeace International agriculture campaigner Dr Doreen Stabinsky stressed.

In Kenya, Greenpeace, in cooperation with local organisations, commissioned independent tests of maize seed varieties sold commercially. Pioneer’s seed maize PHB 30V53 was found to contain MON 810, a GE variety which has no approval for planting in Kenya and is banned in several European countries.

In the Netherlands, rice shipped from the US to Rotterdam was found to be contaminated with GE varieties not permitted for consumption outside of the US. Greenpeace Netherlands’ genetic engineering campaigner Marietta Harjono says Rotterdam harbour is one of the world’s biggest “GE contamination hotspots”, due to its role as first port of entry for much of the GE contaminated foodstuffs that enter Europe from the US. 

“Ongoing GE contamination in the world’s major food crops, particularly in rice and maize, shows genetic engineering companies are failing to keep control of their artificial genes. Without decisive government action, the world’s food and seed supplies will be under threat,” Stabinsky warned.

49,243 teens polled on their views towards environmental issues ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali from 3 to 14 December

A new survey of nearly 50,000 teenagers from around the world today reveals that 74 per cent of teens believe that global warming is a serious problem and are more concerned about it than any other issue including drugs, violence or war. The results are being released as governments meet in Bali, Indonesia, for one of the most important UN conferences ever held on climate change.

The research conducted jointly by Habbo, the world’s largest virtual world for teens, and Greenpeace International examined the attitudes and behaviour of the global teen population towards environmental issues and gave teens a chance to speak out on the most pressing problem facing the world.

Governments come under scrutiny in the survey: teenagers believe that governments are lagging behind them in their level of concern over climate change.  Whereas the teens surveyed regard climate change as more important than terrorism (56 per cent versus 46 per cent, respectively) they think that governments consider climate change a lower priority.  33 per cent think governments are ‘very concerned’ about climate change compared to 42 per cent who see governments being ‘very concerned’ about terrorism.

North America has come under the most fire, with 39 per cent of teens citing the continent as being responsible for the majority of greenhouse gases, followed by Europe (24 per cent) and Asia (19 per cent). Despite teens in every country pointing fingers at North America for the crisis (except in Asia where they blame themselves), a quarter of North American teens are still not sure if global warming is even a problem.

“The response from the teens to this survey conducted in Habbo is phenomenal and really highlights the concern felt around the world,” explains Timo Soininen, CEO of Sulake.  “Giving teens a voice on this matter is essential and we need to find practical ways to work together and engage our youth to help combat this problem.”

Although 64 per cent of teens believe it’s still possible to stop global warming, nearly 40 per cent don’t actually know what’s causing it or how to prevent it. One thing is clear though: teens do not regard this as a future problem; two thirds of those polled believe that global warming will affect their lives in a negative way.

“Today’s teenagers are tomorrow’s decision makers. They are ‘Generation C’ – the generation that has to beat climate change,” said Gerd Leipold, Greenpeace International Executive Director. “It will be up to them to create a revolution in non-polluting, renewable energy to prevent global warming from affecting the lives of billions of people and threatening the survival of countless species of animals and plants.”

Scientists of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say that emissions of greenhouse gases need to be halved globally by the middle of this century to avoid severe impacts such as water shortages, floods and the spread of diseases.

The 49,243 teens participating in the November 2007 Habbo survey came from 18 countries. Those completing the survey were given the option of finding out more about climate change at the ‘Habbos against climate change’ campaign group page. 16,000 Habbos registered as the supporters of the group.

Notes to Editor
About the research
The research was conducted within the virtual world, Habbo, and the total amount of respondents (after data cleaning) was 49,243. The research was conducted in November 2007. 18 countries were surveyed and statistical weighting was employed to give all participating countries an equal weight in the global results. Research is available on request.

About Habbo
Habbo is a richly colorful, multi-dimensional virtual community and game environment for teens. Users join by creating a fully-customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public hang-outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Currently there are Habbo communities in 31 countries on five continents. To date, over 82 million Habbo characters have been created and 6 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo each month (source: Google Analytics). www.habbo.xx.xx

About Sulake
Sulake is an online entertainment company focused on virtual worlds and social networking. Sulake’s main product is Habbo, one of the world’s fastest growing virtual worlds and online communities for teenagers. There are localized Habbo communities in 31 countries on five continents. To date over 82 million Habbo characters have been created and 6 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo each month (source: Google Analytics). Habbo brand is being extended to include mobile games and content as well as real-life products.
Sulake was established in 2000 and it has almost doubled its annual revenues each year. The main shareholders in Sulake include Taivas Group, Elisa Group, 3i Group plc, and Benchmark Capital followed by Movida Group (in Japan), the company’s founders Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä, Sulake’s CEO Timo Soininen and other personnel.
Sulake has offices in 15 countries. Headquarters is situated in Helsinki, Finland. Currently the company has over 300 employees worldwide. www.sulake.com

Greenpeace’s activities related to Bali
Follow progress at the Bali climate conference and join in Greenpeace’s activities at www.greenpeace.org/bali-action
Further contact information for reporters to get video, photos or report details
Accompanying graphs from the research are available on request. General Sulake and Habbo press images can be downloaded from: www.sulake.com/press/image_bank . For background photos regarding climate change, contact the Greenpeace International picture desk. Tel: +31 20 718 2058        

Amsterdam, International — Apple’s iPhone contains hazardous chemicals and materials, according to the results of scientific tests commissioned by Greenpeace and released today. This is the first testing of an Apple product following the commitment by Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, to a ‘Greener Apple’, in May 2007.

An independent scientific laboratory tested 18 internal and external components of the iPhone and confirmed the presence of brominated compounds in half the samples, including in the phone’s antenna, in which they (1) made up 10 per cent of the total weight of the flexible circuit board. A mixture of toxic phthalate esters (2) was found to make up 1.5 per cent of the plastic (PVC) coating of the headphone cables.

The insight into the components of the iPhone is presented in the Greenpeace report, ‘Missed call: the iPhone’s hazardous chemicals’ (3). This is the third time that Greenpeace has tested an Apple product since 2006. Similar analyses of a MacBook Pro and an iPod Nano also revealed the presence of brominated flame retardants and PVC in some components.

Apple launched the iPhone into the US market in June 2007. The discovery of hazardous chemicals suggests that Apple is failing to make early progress, even in entirely new product lines, towards achieving its commitment to phase-out all uses of brominated compounds and PVC by the end of 2008.

 “Steve Jobs has missed the call on making the iPhone his first step towards greening Apple’s products” said Zeina Alhajj, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. “It seems that Apple is far from leading the way for a green electronics industry as competitors like Nokia already sell mobile phones free of PVC.”

Dr. David Santillo, Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, co-ordinated the project and deconstructed the iPhone for analysis. He said, “Two of the phthalate plasticisers found at high levels in the headphone cable are classified as “toxic to reproduction, category 2” because of their long-recognised ability to interfere with sexual development in mammals. While they are not prohibited in mobile phones, these phthalates are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe. Apple should eliminate the use of these chemicals from its products range.”

During its analysis, Greenpeace also found that the iPhone’s battery was, unusually, glued and soldered in to the handset. This hinders battery replacement and makes separation for recycling, or appropriate disposal, more difficult, and therefore adds to the burden of electronic waste.

“Apple needs to re-invent its iPhone…in green,” continued Alhajj. “The company needs to design out all hazardous substances and materials from its products so that a real solution is found for the growing mountain of e-waste,” concluded Alhajj. “Whether the iPhone model due for European release in November 2007 also relies on brominated internal components and PVC is a question Steve Jobs needs to answer.”

Homo sapiens neanderthal lived between 130,000 and 35,000 years ago. Europe was the center of their range. Some have been found as far south as Gibraltar, even down to Israel and the Near East. They were bordered on the north by glaciers, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

Height: Average around 5 foot 8 inches.

Fossils: Part of a skeleton - a thick skull cap and a number of arm and leg bones were uncovered in the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany. Two more skeletons were found in a cave in Spy, Belgium.

Brain capacity: Neanderthal's brain on average was slightly larger than our own. However, everything about them was big. Proportionally, their brain was roughly equivalent to modern humans.

During the 19th century, authorities commonly dismissed neanderthal as a "primitive brute," much too odd to be an ancestor of mankind. Over the years conventional wisdom changed. The popular cliché became: Dress a neanderthal in a suit and he could go unnoticed through the streets of New York City. Perhaps he would be a bit shorter than average; maybe his features would be a little on the heavy side. Squatter? Yes. More muscular than most? Yes, indeed. But on the whole, he would blend in nicely.

Opinions have changed again on this sub-species. Paleontologists now believe neanderthal was a very distinct group designed for cold weather with their stout, pear-shaped bodies which reduced the lost of heat.

Their physique is completely opposite that of the rather slender Homo erectus, who was much more at home in the warmer climates. Surprisingly enough, neanderthal is also strikingly different from early modern Homo sapien sapiens who lived during the same period.

Artists have had a field day with neanderthals. At times, they have been presented as primitive ape types; other times they resembled modern humans. It depended on the whim of the artist and the audience he wished to please.

The truth is no one knows what neanderthals looked like; nor for that matter, what Homo erectus looked like; nor Homo habilis; nor the australopithecines either. Fleshy parts have not been preserved. Leaving portraits aside, however, we do know quite a few facts about neanderthal.

They were a formidable sub-species. We find sizable skeletons with thick arm and leg bones and good evidence of the muscle power which moved them. Their limbs and joints were bigger, thicker, and more durable than Homo sapien bones.

Granted, those features might not draw much attention in a crowd today, but they had other characteristics which would stand out as -- different. The hip sockets face sideways rather than forward. That feature suggests neanderthal neither walked nor stood like a modern sapien.

It's hard to confuse a neanderthal face with a sapien, erectus, habilis or anything else. Their jaws and nose protrude, and the noses are huge. Don Johanson tells us that the nose stuck out almost perpendicular to the rest of the face. Their heads are long and narrow with a bulge in the occipital region, commonly called a "bun"; prominent brow ridges over high, round eye sockets (Cro-Magnon's sockets were low and square); swept back cheekbones; and no bony chin.

Those are distinctions with a difference, but here is an oddity. We use our molars for crushing food, but evidently neanderthal didn't chew like us. His front teeth are the ones with larger crowns and roots compared to his other teeth. These front teeth are often eroded down to the roots in adult neanderthals. Researchers conclude neanderthal used his front teeth for chewing.

Paleontologists have listed quite a few interesting facts about Homo sapien neanderthal. Their tool production, which paleontologists label the Mousterian or Middle Stone Age, remained unchanged for their entire 100,000 year life span. It is seen as a technological advancement over Homo erectus' Acheulian industry.

Johanson points out that neanderthal produced different flint tools for different purposes: "such as meat cutting, hide scraping, and woodworking." Authorities think that they, like erectus, consumed quite a bit of meat. Some stone points may have been fitted onto a wooden shaft and used as a spear. Impact fractures suggest their use as projectiles.

Judging by the numerous hearths in their caves, apparently, neanderthal had learned the art of making fire. Fire pits were found where they had roasted meat and wild peas. Paleontologists see signs of long term illnesses and injury in a number of neanderthal skeletons. That, they say, is ample proof this sub-species took care of each other when the need arose. And neanderthals buried their dead. Inside of several of their caves, we have uncovered neanderthal skeletons buried in flexed positions.

Did they speak? In Israel at a cave called Kebara, a 60,0000 year old almost complete skeleton was uncovered. Among the bones was found a U-shaped hyoid bone which is very much like our own hyoid. That finding may indicate neanderthals were capable of speech.

The hyoid bone anchors muscles that connect to both the larynx and the tongue. The hyoid is an important part of our physical anatomy which allows speech. Still, it's a matter of debate among the experts whether neanderthal had a language.

The question remains: Who were the ancestors of neanderthal? And was this sub-species one of the direct ancestors of Homo sapien sapiens? Or were they merely another dead end species? As for the first question, the fossil record has no answer.

It is a puzzle. Homo erectus was around before them, but they were dramatically at odds in physique. The "handy man" Homo habilis supposably was extinct hundreds of thousands of years before neanderthal arrived on the scene. Besides, physically, habilis was even more distant from neanderthal than erectus. Consequently, neanderthals have no clear predecessors.

What about their descendents? Therein lies a deep split among the prehistory scholars. The ones who argue against neanderthal's inclusion in our ancestry seem to have the upper hand in the dispute.

Modern people do not share neanderthal's distinctive traits of a narrow-shaped head with protruding jaws and a perpendicular nose, no chin, and a bun on the back of the skull. We don't chew with our incisor teeth, and our hip sockets face forward rather than veering toward the side.

Since people today don't have those traits, we suspect they died along with neanderthal. Moreover, since perfectly normal-looking sapiens were already present during neanderthal's period, it's reasonable to conclude - they, not neanderthal, were our ancestors.

The degree of anatomical differences between modern humans and neanderthal has prompted some to question neanderthal's classification as a sub-species with sapiens. Paleontologist Yoel Rak believes neanderthal is a separate species. Rak claims that the differences between neanderthal and sapiens are greater than those found in chimpanzees, which are divided into separate species, and in hyenas which are even given separate genena.

Species is commonly defined as groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups. Considering that neanderthals unique traits are no longer with us, evidently sapiens were not interbreeding with neanderthals. Rak and other conclude we are looking at a separate species.

Then what can we make of neanderthal? Here we find a creature with a brain as large or larger than our own, walking around on two feet. We find evidence that they hunted, knew the art of starting a fire, cooked meat and vegetables, helped their sick and invalid, and buried their dead. Sounds very human, doesn't it? But yet, something is missing. A major piece of the puzzle doesn't quite fit.

Homo sapien neanderthal, we find, is an enigma, just as Homo erectus was before it. Both were stuck in a rut. Although erectus lived over one, perhaps two million years and spread over three continents, his Acheulian stone culture remained what it was. It varied little from place to place and didn't improve at all over time. From this and some speculation about lack of breath control, paleontologists decided erectus couldn't speak. If they were exchanging ideas on their stone techniques, we should expect some improvement over a couple of million years.

While it is true neanderthal wasn't around nearly as long as erectus, still 100,000 years is a very long time to go without advances in their Mousterian stone kit. If neanderthal's hyoid allowed him speech, his lack of progress becomes all the more difficult to explain.

Unlike erectus with its mere 850 to 900 c.c brain capacity, we cannot dismiss neanderthal's lack of innovation due to a small brain. Evidently, there is more to being a human than just quantity of brains.

How does neanderthal fit into evolution? It doesn't; it's another dead end. This group appears suddenly without any known ancestors and leaves no obvious descendants. The experts don't even agree on how they should classify neanderthal.

Jerry Boone, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, United States webmaster@merechristianity.us Mr. Boone is a sailor, author, and webmaster of merechristianity.us with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Georgia State University. His works include: Mere Christianity.us and SAFETY LINE - EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN, an apologetic study published 1998.