Wilf

I do not usually post up bits from the paper but I saw this on today's Guardian Website and wondered if, despite popular vote, I will outlive all of you after all?

Here is the start of the story:

Public health officials have ordered emergency action amid fears that hundreds of sheep farmers are illegally using pesticides on their animals which could be a hazard to human health.
The Guardian has learned that a team from the government's veterinary medicines directorate is being sent to farms in Wales to launch an investigation after being tipped off that more than 300 Welsh farmers have bought a chemical formulation to use as sheep dip that was designed only for use on crops.

Excessive exposure to the chemical, Cypermethrin, can cause disruption to the human hormone system.


IS THIS CERI's REVENGE????

Don

Well I'm still worried that Chernobyl falloff - those radioactive sheep in Wales all entered the food chain so we're probably all doomed anyway. I need mine to work for a bit more procreation.

Wilf

You are walking timebombs now eh Don?

What about that bloody asteroid as well? They reckon it is 300,000 blue peter annuals across, but apparently the one that killed the dinosaurs was 6 billion across so perhaps the new dinos like you and I will survive?

Don

It's apparently only going to destroy an area the size of Europe so as long as it lands in between Mexico and Canada it could indeed be a force for good.

But what about the prions?

Wilf

Good one.

The prions?

I feel they will invade once the rock has done its work. I will try to be prepared, Don, but there is only so much one man can do. Hope you and yours are in NZ before long, it may be the last place that we can hold out against these bastards. HG Wells knew it, Don, but would they listen? Would they fu...

deedee

theres a side to farming that most people who dont farm dont know!While the british government continue to destroy 1000 years of farming in those fine lands,and out price the farmers with cheap,poor quality meats from the third world,the hill farmers are just left to suffer with no income.unlucky some would say,but someone somewhere needs to make the food for the ever increasing population.The beef you eat in the UK most probably is of a far worse quality than anything home grown,but we accept this because its cheaper.You are what you eat!I could list 25 chemicals that are legal and used that unless your all vegitarian you DO eat!These do cause harm,not even mentioning what goes on the paddocks!so another pesticide is neither here nor there.Also,for all the people who eat chicken,hormones are used common place and the organic certification is quite simply a joke to suit the big fast food giants and whatever the UK needs to import and sell as healthy.As most people do,when your backs against the wall and theyre going to reposses your house you do whatever you can to survive,hill farmers are no exception.The British gov don't want farmers because they need all the land for a garden and the concrete urban jungle,900000 homes in the next 20 years on green belt?It ain't gonna help is it.
Cosumers eat and eat in the UK and when you ask them if they know where it comes from the usually reply with either tesco's or sainsburys.....thats the level of interest of the average UK consumer to what they put in their gutt.
However,i don't agree with any forms of pesticide,which is why we make no money from farming,but we farm organic!

JWW

I have a feeling that in years to come you will be the ONLY ones making money.

deedee

i feel the UK will soon have no one farming at all because no ones going to pay to do it!It will be just another thing the UK has to import,only this one,like water,is essential for life.
I find it amusing that the UK is so keen on developing new technologies,computing, science, health........but it buys in so much food,of which so much is utter crap,the lowest of the low quality.It has no interest in what it feeds its future generations,the fast food culture is here,with so many preservatives it'll still be fresh in 20 years.If a nation can't feed itself then it has no future control at all.Blighty can no longer feed itself,60 million people and the available lands,it needs to be good friends with France! no ones listening,they only think of now

JWW

It's much like coal, steel anything really. Its not until there is a war or imports dry up that anyone will notice. You could probably prove me wrong, but I have a feeling that if there were some catastrophic event, NZ would be one of the few countries in the world that could be completely self-sufficient.

deedee

it worked fine for the 1000 years prior to 1945....the last 30 years its all gone down the creek.The common agricultural policy should have been mudered before the 80's.The powers that be eh

Megalania

What gets Aussie farmers blood to the boil is that production is subsidized where the stated intention is preservation of farm incomes. Why the EEC can not just stop production subsidies and give the subsidies directly to the farmer as a form of dole is not understood.

EU finalises CAP Reform package

"A key element of the package is the decision partly to break the link between farm subsidies and production (called ‘decoupling’). Now non-production linked payments will be based on the subsidies a farmer received between 2000 and 2002. A wide range of flexibility has been introduced on what is decoupled, with different approaches applying in different sectors and different Member States."

EU finalises CAP Reform package

mr mover

ITS CALLED GREED ....or rationalisation, which ever comes first..... MM

deedee

yep,if borders were closed everyone would suffer but NZ would continue where as much of Europe would collapse.(only a hypothetical topic mind )
One interesting fact though,NZ has enough land available that should there be an oil war and production in the middle east was stopped we could grow enough oilseed rape to make bio diesel to keep everyone moving here and still have enough land left over to be self sufficient.(i dare say if that day ever came we'd have been invaded by a another country anyway )
Also,theres enough fossil fuel in NZ to power us for over 2000 years if we used no hydro to generate electricity.....but we do use hydro,so that last statement isn't pc....yet

As has been mentioned by myself on here before,water and water polution is one consumable that does not need a war to rear its dire problems,it here now.The state of the UKs water supply is bordering on disaster,although for political reasons these problems are quashed(even if it is owned by the french)The recycling system was never intended for the amounts been processed in the UK,and the 3% that is drinking water is not economical enough to have the female hormones from the conraceptive pill removed.Normal processing does not remove it.All who drink todays water in the UK drink down this hormone!The water may have no coliforms or other bacterias in it but it is still recycled sewage and is "dead" and as for males ingesting a female hormone.....need i say anymore!Another great british success.NZs water may have nitrates from farming in them but i'd rather take my chances here thanks.

mr mover

ITS CALLED GREED ....or rationalisation, which ever comes first..... MM

deedee

i ain't greedy,honest
i ain't rational either