Trouble With Biofuels

The Trouble With Biofuels

By BRYAN WALSH Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008

The cornfield at Didier Farms in Prairie View, Illinois.

Tim Boyle / Getty

Related

Audio

Bryan Walsh talks to Nature Conservancy scientist Joe Fargione about his research, which argues that many biofuels may be worse for the climate than the fossil fuels they are meant to replace

Download | Subscribe

More Going Green

• In Geneva, Designing a Global Climate-Alert System

• Four Years Later, New Orleans' Green Makeover

• The Four-Day Workweek Is Winning Fans

• Better Bulbs

More Going Green

But according to a pair of studies published in the journal Science recently, biofuels may not fulfill that promise — and in fact, may be worse for the climate than the fossil fuels they're meant to supplement. According to researchers at Princeton University and the Nature Conservancy, almost all the biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels, if the full environmental cost of producing them is factored in. As virgin land is converted for growing biofuels, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere; at the same time, biofuel crops themselves are much less effective at absorbing carbon than the natural forests or grasslands they may be replacing. "When land is converted from natural ecosystems it releases carbon," says Joseph Fargione, a lead author of one of the papers and a scientist at the Nature Conservancy. "Any climate change policy that doesn't take this fact into account doesn't work."

Many environmentalists have been making the case against biofuels for some time, arguing that biofuel production takes valuable agricultural land away from food, driving up the price of staple crops like corn. But the Science papers make a more sweeping argument. In their paper, Fargione's team calculated the "carbon debt" created by raising biofuel crops — the amount of carbon released in the process of converting natural landscapes into cropland. They found that corn ethanol produced in the U.S. had a carbon debt of 93 years, meaning it would take nearly a century for ethanol, which does produce fewer greenhouse gases when burned than fossil fuels, to make up for the carbon released in that initial landscape conversion. Palm tree biodiesel in Indonesia and Malaysia — one of the most controversial biofuels currently in use, because of its connection to tropical deforestation in those countries — has a carbon debt of 86 years. Soybean biodiesel in the Amazonian rainforest has a debt of 320 years. "People don't realize there is three times as much carbon in plants and soil than there is in the air," says Fargione. "Cut down forests, burn them, churn the soil, and you release all the carbon that's been stored."

Worse, as demand for biofuels go up — the European Union alone targets 5.75% of all its transport fuel to come from biofuel by the end of the year — the price of crops rises. That in turn encourages farmers to clear virgin land and plant more crops, releasing even more carbon in a vicious cycle. For instance, as the U.S. uses more biodiesel, much of which is made from soybeans or palm oil, farmers in Brazil or Indonesia will clear more land to raise soybeans to replace those used for fuel. "When we ask the world's farmers to feed 6 billion people and ask them to produce fuel, that requires them to use additional land," says Fargione. "That land has to come from somewhere."

Industry groups like the Renewable Fuels Association criticized the studies for being too simplistic, and failing to put biofuels in context. And it's true that the switch to biofuels can have benefits that go beyond climate change. Biofuels tend to produce less local pollution than fossil fuels, one reason why Brazil — which gets 30% of its automobile fuel from sugar-cane ethanol — has managed to reduce once stifling air pollution. In the U.S., switching to domestically produced biofuels helps cut dependence on foreign oil, and boosts income for farmers. But in all of these cases, the benefits now seem to pale next to the climate change deficits. Fargione points out that if the U.S. managed to use 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015 — as is mandated in last year's energy bill — it would still only offset 7% of projected energy demand. That won't put Venezuela or Iran out of business.

This is all depressing news, especially if you're a corn farmer. Biofuels are one of the few alternative fuels that are actually available right now, but the evidence suggests we be better off not relying on them. But even Fargione doesn't argue that we should ditch biofuels altogether. Biofuels using waste matter — like wood chips, or the leftover sections of corn stalks — or from perennial plants like switchgrass, effectively amount to free fuel, because they don't require clearing additional land. "There's no carbon debt," notes Fargione. Unfortunately, the technology for yielding fuel from those sources — like cellulosic biofuels — is still in its infancy, though it is improving fast. In the end, the right kind of biofuel won't be a silver bullet, but just one more tool in the growing arsenal against climate change

climate change the truth is coming out

New study to force ministers to review climate change plan

Official review admits biofuel role in food crisis

Britain and Europe will be forced to fundamentally rethink a central part of their environment strategy after a government report found that the rush to develop biofuels has played a "significant" role in the dramatic rise in global food prices, which has left 100 million more people without enough to eat.

The Gallagher report, due to be published next week, will trigger a review of British and EU targets for the use of plant-derived fuels in place of petrol and diesel, the Guardian has learned.

The study marks a dramatic reversal in the role of biofuels in the fight against global warming. As recently as last year, corn ethanol and biodiesel derived from vegetable oil were widely seen as important weapons in that fight - and a central plank of Gordon Brown's green strategy. Now even their environmental benefits are in question.

A panel of government experts, chaired by Professor Ed Gallagher, head of the Renewable Fuels Agency, has said that far more research is needed into the indirect impact of biofuels on land use and food production before the government sets targets for their use in transport.

The first such target is already in place. Since April, all petrol and diesel in Britain has had to contain 2.5% of biofuels, a stepping stone towards a 2010 target of 5%. The EU is contemplating a 10% target by 2020. The new report means all those goals will have to be reconsidered.

A government official familiar with the Gallagher review said: "Simply setting a target without stipulating what kind of biofuel is to be used in what circumstances can have all sorts of unintended consequences."

John Vidal on a report that says biofuels have caused world food shortage Link to this audio
Another official said: "The review has thrown up the likelihood of significant impacts. UK and EU targets will have to be addressed."

The report says there is a place for biofuels, both as an alternative to fossil fuels and as a source of income for poor farmers with marginal lands. But it says a distinction must be drawn between "first-generation" biofuels, which use food crops such as corn, rapeseed, palm and soya, and experimental "second-generation" fuels based on fibrous non-food plants which could theoretically be grown without displacing other crops and raising food prices. Criteria to guide fuel policy would consequently have to be drawn up.

It was unclear yesterday whether Britain had left it too late to influence EU biofuel targets, after the government failed to raise objections in a succession of votes in European environment and industry committees. British officials believe the issue can still be revisited in Brussels.

The transport secretary, Ruth Kelly, ordered the review in February, at the height of the food price crisis, but the panel only began work in March and was asked to deliver its conclusions three months later. "There was so little time, I expected it would just be a review of the literature, but it has gone much further than I expected. It has substantive things to say," said a government official involved in drafting the report.

The role of biofuels, which pits concerns over climate change against the need for food security for vulnerable populations, was the most controversial issue at a summit on the food crisis earlier this month in Rome. The US and Brazil, both large-scale biofuel producers, argued fiercely against any hint of criticism of their cultivation in the conference's final statement, which called only for "in-depth studies".

An American claim that biofuels contributed less than 3% to food price rises was widely derided. The IMF estimates their impact as 20-30%, and other estimates are even higher. Over a third of US corn is used to produce ethanol, while about half of EU vegetable oils go towards the production of biodiesel.

After the Rome summit, a British government team involved in the Gallagher review visited the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to consult specialists who had drawn up UN recommendations on biofuel use. They emerged saying their views were "identical". The FAO recommendations advised against a moratorium on biofuel use or the continuation of "business as usual" under existing policies, calling instead for a set of international standards to ensure plant-derived ethanol and biodiesel did not harm the food supply. Keith Wiebe, a senior agricultural economist at the FAO, said: "There is a push towards the development of these liquid biofuels that is in advance of our understanding of their impact. We need to know more about those impacts, before pushing too hard."

The UN's World Food Programme has called the food crisis a "silent tsunami" which is pushing more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger.

· This article was amended on Monday June 23 2008. We should have said that the EU is contemplating a target of 10% for the proportion of biofuels to be contained in diesel and petrol by 2020, rather than 2010. This has been corrected.

whalemeat trade

Iceland plans big whalemeat trade

Hvalur's catcher boats pulled in 125 fin whales this year

The company behind Iceland's fin whaling industry is planning a huge export of whalemeat to Japan.

This summer, Hvalur hf caught 125 fins - a huge expansion on previous years.
The company's owner says he will export as much as 1,500 tonnes to Japan. This would substantially increase the amount of whalemeat in the Japanese market.
The export would be legal because these nations are exempt from the global ban on trading whalemeat, but conservation groups doubt its commercial viability.
Last year, Hvalur hf exported about 65 tonnes of whalemeat to Japan, a consignment that owner Kristjan Loftsson described as a "loss-leader".
But following this year's huge catch, he believes the next one can make money.

This is our best year yet - we're very happy about that Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson Icelandic minke whaler

"We'll get a good price - we're intending to make a profit, that's for sure," he told BBC News.
Mr Loftsson said he had now suspended fin whaling for this season, having caught 125 from a quota of 150.
The remaining 25 can be carried over into next year's hunting season.
This compares with a total of seven caught in the previous three years.
The fin is globally listed as an endangered species, though Icelandic marine scientists maintain stocks are big enough locally to sustain a hunt of this size.
EU centre
New quotas were controversially set by the government of Geir Haarde just before it left office in January.
The new left-green coalition government has promised to review the situation, but has so far chosen not to revoke the five-year quotas set by its predecessor.

Johanna Sigurdardottir's government is to review whaling policy

The government has formally applied to join the EU, and it is entirely possible that the EU would demand an end to whaling as a condition of Iceland's entry.
The application still has to be endorsed in a referendum - and some conservationists believe Mr Loftsson is using whaling as a way to lobby against EU membership.
"I think he is holding Icelandic politicians hostages to fortune," said Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association (INCA).
"He's saying that 'unless I can do this, you would be denying Iceland $40m in export income' - and how can you argue against that if you're a politician?"
The $40m figure was cited by the Fisheries Ministry under Mr Haarde's government, said Mr Finnsson, as being the size of the potential annual export market.
Election issue?
Along with other conservation organisations, INCA is adamantly opposed to trading in whalemeat, which they see as something with the potential to increase hunting in various parts of the world.
The trade is generally banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway Scientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat

But Iceland and Japan - along with a handful of other countries - lodged reservations, as the treaty permits, and so are exempt.
Conservation groups doubt that such a huge export of meat to Japan can be profitable.
A consignment of anything approaching 1,500 tonnes would mark a major expansion of the amount of meat available on the Japanese market each year.
The exact tonnage caught by Japan's whale and dolphin hunts varies each year, but 4,000 tonnes would be a reasonable ballpark figure.
Conservationists have raised the possibility that Japan's new government will re-address its whaling policies.
But Yukio Hatoyama's pre-election position appears close to that of his predecessor, holding scientific whaling to be a sovereign right and promoting the resumption of commercial whaling on abundant stocks.
Fresh supplies
Hunting for the much smaller minke whales in Icelandic waters, meanwhile, will probably end next week, with 80 caught so far.
"This is our best year yet - we're very happy about that," said Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, head of the minke whalers' association.
"We didn't start freezing any meat before around 15th/20th August - we sold it all fresh - now we're just freezing so we have something for restaurants and stores over the winter."
Mr Jonsson said the minke whalers were also interested in exporting if the fin whale consignment proved successful

Dramatic rise in C. diff deaths

rise in C. diff deaths

Tackling hospital infections is a top government priority

The number of deaths linked to hospital bug Clostridium difficile has soared in England and Wales, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Between 2005 and 2006 the number of death certificates which mentioned the infection rose by 72% to 6,480, most of which were elderly people.

In over half of cases, it was listed as the underlying cause of death.

It is thought that some of the increase may be due to more complete reporting on death certificates.

How numbers have changed

Deaths involving C. difficile increased by 77% in men, and 66% in women between 2005 and 2006.

Since 2006 we have taken significant steps to tackle infections Professor Brian Duerden, Department of Health

Rates in both sexes have gone up dramatically since 2001, when there were only 1,200 mentions of the infection on death certificates.

The ONS figures also showed deaths involving MRSA remained roughly the same between 2005 and 2006 - at around 1,650.

C. difficile usually affects the elderly, and can prove fatal if antibiotic treatment fails to kill all the spores in the gut, and they take hold again before the patient's own gut bacteria have had chance to mount a resistance.

It is also very difficult to eradicate from the ward environment, which means it is easy for other patients to become infected.

MRSA figures

Professor Brian Duerden, chief microbiologist at the Department of Health, said in July 2005 they called for more accurate reporting of infections such as MRSA and C. difficile on death certificates.

"These statistics from 2006 show that this move has worked and our figures are now in line with other developed countries.

"Since 2006 we have taken significant steps to tackle infections.

"These include stringent hand-washing guidance for the NHS, a bare below the elbows dress code, putting matrons back in charge of cleanliness on their wards and an ongoing deep clean of every ward."

And he added hospital infection rates were now falling.

The Health Protection Agency reported in November 2007 that rates of C. difficile infection may be levelling off with the number of new cases down 7% to 13,660, while MRSA cases are falling.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "These figures beg the question of why it took so long for the government to realise the seriousness of deadly infections such as C. difficile.

"Recent successes in keeping infection rates down are down to the hard work of NHS staff, who are up against enormous pressure to hit targets while keeping their wards infection-free."

Shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "Almost three times as many people are now killed by hospital infections as are killed on the roads each year.

"The overall scale of infection is unacceptable and the need for a comprehensive infection control strategy, including improved antibiotic prescribing and access to isolation facilities, hand hygiene and cleanliness is paramount."

He added: "An expert told the Department of Health last week that it was the government's failure to implement guidelines since as far back as 1994 that has contributed to the recent rise."

C. diff rise due to 'gene switch'

Most deaths from C. difficile occur in the over 65s

The rise in Clostridium difficile infections in recent years is due to genetic changes rather than dirty hospitals, say UK researchers.

Comparison of an historic strain and a strain from the outbreak at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 2003 found it had evolved to be more virulent.

It can spread more easily and cause more severe symptoms, the team reports in Genome Biology journal.

NHS trusts have a target to cut C. difficile infections by 30% by 2010/11.

The bacteria are present in the gut of as many as 3% of healthy adults and 66% of infants.

It rarely causes problems in healthy people but can lead to illness when the normal balance of bacteria in the gut is disrupted, for example with use of certain antibiotics, and it is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhoea.

The deep clean programme was never going to work against this organism in the long term Professor Brendan Wren

In the past five years, a new group of highly virulent C. difficile strains has emerged - PCR-ribotype 027 - which cause more severe diarrhoea and a higher rate of deaths.

Analysis of the full genome of the "hyper-virulent" strains and an older strain showed the bacteria have acquired genes which enable them to survive better in the environment, spread more easily and make patients more severely ill.

In all, five different genetic regions appear to have accumulated in the bacteria in past couple of decades, the team reported in Genome Biology.

Fighting back

The number of cases of C. difficile has risen dramatically since the 1990s, although latest figures show cases are now consistently falling.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital saw two major outbreaks of C. difficile between 2003 and 2006 that caused 35 deaths.

Study leader Professor Brendan Wren, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the study would help scientists understand how C. difficile became so aggressive.

"These strains came from nowhere and the sudden rise in C. difficile was due to their spread.

"The bugs are fighting back and the one clear thing that comes out of this study is it is not down to cleaning but that the strain has evolved with new chunks of DNA.

"The deep clean programme was never going to work against this organism in the long term."

Hygiene measures are still needed to keep the infection under control, he added.

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency said it closely monitored the evolution of C. difficile strains.

"All strains of C. difficile require intervention and control - the intervention involved when dealing with the 027 strain is no different than how any other strain is treated.

"All C. difficile requires treatment and vigilant infection control procedures in order to reduce rates of infection."

Legends of the Beetroot

THE BEET GENERATION

Legends of the Beetroot
- by Chas Saunders and Peter Ramsey

BEETROOT has a hard time. It's unfashionable, it's boring, and no-one really likes it much. But all that's set to change with our amazing beetroot research. We've discovered that the humble beet has some amazing properties and may just change your life!

It all started when we came across Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (see below). A gripping, hilarious novel about the quest for immortality, this book is so full of beetroot references that reading a page feels like consuming a vast bowl of borscht. Always alert to the mythology of everyday life, we thought Tom might be onto something and decided to investigate...

Two hearts beet as one

APHRODITE, the Greek Goddess of Love, was exquisitely beautiful. She was sexy, snugglesome and could melt hearts with the flick of a holy eyelid. And to what did she attribute her romantic powers? It wasn't lipstick, perfume or a little black dress. It was beetroot. She couldn't get enough of the stuff.

In fact, beetroot has a legendary connection to affairs of the heart. With APHRODITE as patron and unofficial Beet Goddess, the word spread that beetroots could enhance beauty and provide aphrodisiac properties. (APHRODITE's beauty is universally acknowledged but we haven't tested the beet's erotic properties under lab conditions yet.) The Oracle at Delphi claimed that beetroots are worth their weight in silver, second only to horseradish in mystic potency. And the Oracle certainly knew a thing or two.

The belief persists to this day that if a man and a woman eat from the same beetroot, they will fall in love. (With each other, presumably.) That's something many of you can take advantage of, and we wish you every happiness. These beliefs may simply be from association with APHRODITE, but we have a better theory. The beetroot is roughly the same colour and shape as the organ of love, the heart. And that raises the humble beet from a boring vegetable to a Symbol.

So when women of the early Celt cultures used powdered beetroot as rouge and lipstick, they weren't just making themselves red in the face. They were taking on the romantic aura of the hearty beet. Beetroots were even featured on early Valentine cards, such as the one by E. Curtis pictured here. Some of the puns on 'beetroot' were truly appalling.

Beetroot appears in several Talmud ceremonies to ward off disease and obtain God's favour. The Hebrew word for beetroot appears to resemble the word for 'banish'. It's probable that the blood-red colour also has some health/military significance. If you have healthy beet-powered blood, you'll quickly dispatch your enemies. Particularly if their unrighteous blood is turnip-colored.

Beetroots were also used in some cultures to colour hard-boiled eggs, making them bright red. These were eaten as symbols of the Sun God to give prosperity, health and other benefits.

Finally, check out KVASIR, the Norse God of Inspiration. There's a strong beetroot connection here as Kvas, the staple drink of the Slav and Nordic peoples, is made from fermented beet juice and comes straight out of the mythology. KVASIR can be found in our Top Gods department here.

A whiff of Immortality

Beetroot seems to have inspired Tom Robbins, author of Jitterbug Perfume, a very entertaining read. This should be a scratch'n'sniff book for adults but the cost would no doubt be prohibitive. Even without, the words fizz and bubble off the page.

This is a book that bounces to a beetroot beat with a boofy base. The God PAN makes an entrance and wails on the wild side to a Bandaloop bounce. It travels through time and around it from Tibet to New Orleans and beyond.

The thread that binds it together is the quest for immortality by Alobar, the ruler of a Bohemian tribe. He is sentenced to extermination for having grey hairs in his beard, as this is the sign for replacement by someone younger. Being still full of vigour he is not at all ready to go and manages to outwit the system by a feigned death, enabling him to escape and flee the area but then having to live on his wits.

Realising in time the world is so much larger than he envisaged and finding it to be 'Roundo' he sets off to round up ways to increase his life span and live life to the full.

Beetroots crop up constantly in his ever-lengthening life and jasmine wafts its way through the pages with great regularity. Along the way the secrets of Life, Death, Love and Happiness are revealed... Jitterbug Perfume is touching, blitheringly funny and as profound as you want to make it.

We can't tell you more as we have foolishly lent out our copy, and it is not the sort of book to come back. You will have to buy your own. Thankfully Jitterbug Perfume is still very much in print.

Dinosaurs had 'earliest feathers'

By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC

An artist's impression of how these creatures may have looked

Exceptionally well preserved dinosaur fossils uncovered in north-eastern China display the earliest known feathers.

The creatures are all more than 150 million years old.

The new finds are indisputably older than Archaeopteryx, the "oldest bird" recognised by science.

Professor Xu Xing and colleagues tell the journal Nature that this represents the final proof that dinosaurs were ancestral to birds.

The theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs has always been troubled by the absence of feathers more ancient than those on the famous Archaeopteryx.

All over the skeleton, you see feathers Xu Xing

This has given critics room to question the idea.

But the new fossils, which come from two separate locations, are in most cases about 10 million years older than the primitive Archaeopteryx discovered in the late 19th Century.

One of the new dinosaur specimens, named Anchiornis huxleyi, is spectacular in its preservation.

It has extensive plumage covering its arms and tail, and also its feet - a "four-winged" arrangement, says Professor Xu from the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.

'Immensely exciting'

"The first specimen we discovered earlier this year was incomplete," he told BBC News.

"Based on that specimen, we named it Anchiornis; and we thought it was a close relative of birds. But then we got a second specimen, which was very complete - beautifully preserved.

The privative Archaeopteryx marks the transition between birds and dinos

"All over the skeleton, you see feathers.

"Based on this second specimen, we realised that this was a much more important species, and definitely one of the most important species for our understanding of the origin of birds and of their flight."

Professor Xu believes the four-winged shape may have been a very important stage in the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds.

Details of the latest discoveries have been presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, being held this year at the University of Bristol, UK.

The renowned Bristol palaeontologist Michael Benton said the announcement was immensely exciting.

"Drawing the tree of life, it's fairly obvious that feathers arose before Archaeopteryx appears in the fossil record," he told BBC News.

"Now these fantastic new discoveries by Professor Xu Xing prove that once and for all.

"These new discoveries are maybe 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx."

Some of the fossils are exceptionally well preserved

http://www.richimag.co.uk/

Wind farms 'displace' rare birds

Hen harrier are among species researchers believe affected

Some of Scotland's rarest birds are being displaced by wind turbine developments, a study has suggested.

Hen harriers and golden plovers were among the birds found to be breeding in fewer numbers close to wind farm sites.

RSPB Scotland, which part-funded the study, said the findings showed turbines should not be sited near vulnerable bird populations.

The research, newly published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, looked at 12 upland wind energy sites in the UK.

The distribution of birds across each wind farm was compared with that on similar nearby sites without turbines.

Seven species - buzzard, hen harrier, golden plover, snipe, curlew, wheatear and meadow pipit - were found less frequently than would be expected close to the turbines.

RSPB Scotland said breeding densities of these species were reduced by between 15% and 53%, within 500m of the turbines.

SNH welcome the publication of this important paper Andy Douse Scottish Natural Heritage

However, lead author James Pearce-Higgins, senior conservation scientist with RSPB Scotland, said the displacing of species could extend as far as 800m.

He said: "There is an urgent need to combat climate change, and renewable energy sources, such as wind farms, will play an important part in this.

"However, it is also important to fully understand the consequences of such development, to ensure that they are properly planned and sited.

"That is why we conducted this research which to our knowledge is the first multi-site assessment of the effect of wind farms on a wide range of upland bird species."

Andy Douse, ornithological policy and advice manager with Scottish Natural Heritage, said it was an outstanding piece of research.

He said: "SNH welcome the publication of this important paper, it provides us with unequivocal evidence of both the nature and scale of bird displacement at operational wind farms.

"It will allow us to make better, more informed assessments of proposed wind farms in future and so reduce some of the uncertainty that has existed about potential impacts."

The research was funded by RSPB Scotland, the Scottish government, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Mountaineering Trust.

'Salt on food key' to a long life

http://www.richimag.co.uk/food/page25.html

'Salt on food key' to a long life

Mrs Brown said plenty of salt on her food was the key to her 110 years

Never driving and plenty of salt on food is the key to longevity according to one of Britain's oldest women. Mary Brown, of Godalming, Surrey, celebrated her 110th birthday on Wednesday surrounded by four generations of her family.
She was born on a farm in Kilmalcom, Scotland and said the arrival of electricity at the farmhouse was the biggest change in her lifetime.
Mrs Brown also attributes her age to a positive attitude and inquiring mind.
'Smaller world'
The former teacher said: "The world has become a smaller place for the young with all the opportunities to travel.
"But I'm not sure that I would have been adventurous enough if it had been available in my time."
She said everything should be taken in moderation apart from family and friends.
"A sense of humour is important and trying to stay positive," Mrs Brown added.
12 great-grandchildren
Mrs Brown spent most of her life in Guildford where she moved after meeting and marrying her husband John.
She has played an active part in the local community, distributing powdered milk and orange juice to mothers and babies during World War II.
Following the death of her husband in 1950 she took over his position on the Guildford Rural District Council.
Her 78-year-old son George, five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren helped mark her milestone at the Eastlake Residential Home in Godalming where she now lives.

salty

Read the labels to check exactly what you are buying, say advisers

People choosing wheat or dairy-free products could be risking their heart health because many are loaded with salt, a study reveals.

Consensus Action on Salt and Health surveyed 71 own-label "free from" products from five leading supermarkets in the UK.
Over half contained more salt than the retailer's standard version of the product. Some had six times as much.
Experts urged consumers to always check the labels.
Less than a third of the "free from" products studied had lower levels of salt than equivalent standard products.

Check the labels. Be savvy about what you buy A spokeswoman from the British Nutrition Foundation

Sainsbury's Free From Jaffa Cakes have 0.67g of salt per 100g, compared with 0.1g of salt per 100g in standard Sainsbury's Jaffa Cakes.
This is more than six times the salt level of the standard version.
Morrison's standard Chocolate Chip Cookies contain 0.5g of salt per 100g, while their Free From version contains 1.5g per 100g - three times as much.
ASDA Free From Double Chocolate Muffins have over three times as much salt as ASDA Double Chocolate Muffins, 1g per 100g as opposed to 0.3g per 100g.
Tesco's Free From Victoria Sponge has more than double the amount of salt as its standard cousin, 1.4g per 100g compared with 0.6g of salt per 100g.
All of the five supermarkets, which included Waitrose, did have some "Free From" foods that fared better than standard products on salt levels.
Health risks
This, says CASH, shows that there is no technical reason why "free from" products have to have higher salt levels.
Graham MacGregor, chairman of CASH and professor of cardiovascular medicine said: "In general, it has been the supermarket own-label products that have led the way in salt reduction, but it seems that own-label products for people with existing health problems have not been a top priority for the retailers.
"They must now reformulate the higher-salt products immediately, so that people suffering from Coeliac disease or other related conditions do not have to put their health in further jeopardy."
He said people should aim to keep their salt consumption below the recommended maximum limit of 6g a day.
Too much salt in the diet raises the risk of heart disease.
A spokeswoman for the British Nutrition Foundation said: "The advice for people selecting 'free from' foods is the same as for other consumers buying any foods - check the labels. Be savvy about what you buy.
"There are different varieties available, with different ingredients."
Victoria Taylor, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The high levels of salt found in these products is concerning as the products looked at include basic foods - like bread - that are eaten on a daily basis.
"Eating too much salt on a regular basis is linked to raised blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease."
Mike Rich, of the Blood Pressure Association, said eating less salt was one of the easiest ways to reduce high blood pressure.
He said: "Many people buy 'free from' products to avoid having health problems, so it's very disappointing that so many have been found to be loaded with unnecessary salt."
In a statement, Sainsbury's said: "We take salt reduction very seriously, and are actively working on reducing the salt levels in our free from range.
"As of January 2010 all Sainsbury's 'free from' products will meet the FSA's 2010 or 2012 salt targets and will be nutritionally comparable to the equivalent products in our main ranges."

'Deaths rise' with junior doctors

Earlier studies on the influx of new doctors have been inconclusive

http://www.richimag.co.uk/healthy/page10.html

Researchers say they have found a small but statistically significant increase in the number of patients who die each year when junior doctors start work.

An Imperial College team looked at 300,000 emergency patients admitted to English hospitals between 2000 to 2008.
They compared death rates between the first week of August, when new doctors arrive, and the previous week in July.
After adjusting for various factors, they report in PLoS One that the August patients were 6% more likely to die.
The period when an influx of newly qualified doctors enters the wards has sometimes been dubbed the "killing season", but studies to establish whether there is any truth to this have been inconclusive.
The researchers from Imperial College London stressed they were unable to draw firm conclusions about the reasons for the increase, but that it was significant, if small.
Comparisons of the raw figures showed little difference, but when factors including age, sex, socio-economic deprivation and existing medical problems were taken into account, a discrepancy began to emerge.
'Rigorous training'
The differences were most pronounced among medical patients - those not requiring surgery and not suffering from cancer. For this group, death rates increased by 8%.

Our study does not mean that people should avoid going into hospital that week. This is a relatively small difference in mortality rates, and the numbers of excess deaths are very low Dr Paul Aylin Imperial College

"Our study does not mean that people should avoid going into hospital that week. This is a relatively small difference in mortality rates, and the numbers of excess deaths are very low," said Dr Paul Aylin, from the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College.
"It's too early to say what might be causing it. It might simply be the result of differences between the patients who were admitted."
But the report notes that if these differences are due to the changeover of hospital staff, "then this has potential implications not only for patient care, but for NHS management approaches to delivering safe care".

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

Doctors' representatives sounded a note of caution.
"This study has to be judged alongside many previous studies looking at mortality rates before and after junior doctors start their new jobs, which have not shown any differences," said Dr Shree Datta, chair of the junior doctors' committee at the British Medical Association.
"Clearly even a small increase in death rates is of great concern and we need further research to see whether this is a real effect or an anomaly."
Hugh Williams, of Action Against Medical Accidents, said: "I think some junior doctors are thrown in the deep end and are expected to get on with it.
"It would be interesting to know how quickly this effect wears off and how different hospitals deal with the intake of junior doctors every August."
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "Patients should be reassured that junior doctors undergo rigorous training and they undertake direct clinical care in areas where they have been trained and assessed as meeting the required competency.
"Local hospitals must ensure that they responsibly manage the introduction of new junior doctors each August by providing appropriate senior cover and supervision."

Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches

Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is spreading around the world and destroying the lives of millions of people, experts said on Wednesday. The experts -- United Nations officials, civil society representatives from affected countries and non-governmental organisation (NGO) specialists working on the issue -- urged governments to acknowledge the extent of the persecution. "This is becoming an international problem -- it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe," Jeff Crisp of the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organised by human rights officials of the world body. Aides to U.N. special investigators on women's rights and on summary executions said killings and violence against alleged witch women -- often elderly people -- were becoming common events in countries ranging from South Africa to India. And community workers from Nepal and Papua New Guinea told the seminar, on the fringes of a session of the U.N.'s 47-member Human Rights Council, that "witch-hunting" was now common, both in rural communities and larger population centres. Gary Foxcroft of British-based charity Stepping Stones- Nigeria said children living homeless on the streets in many countries had been driven out by families or communities because they were suspected of being witches. But increasingly children suspected of witchcraft -- usually on the basis of vague accusations -- were being killed because their parents feared they would have to take them back if the authorities identified them. Ulrich Garms from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the seminar that there were no reliable statistics on how many women and child "witches" were killed annually around the globe. Other U.N. officials tracking the problem said deaths ran into at least tens of thousands, and beatings, deprivation of property and banishment and isolation from community life meant victims of "witch frenzy" ran into millions. Speakers at the seminar agreed that poverty, exacerbated by the current world economic crisis, often lay behind the phenomenon as people sought to find scapegoats for their misfortunes and the illnesses they suffered. But some preachers of major religions and governments were also responsible, they said.

Source: Reuters

New breed of chicken

http://www.richimag.co.uk/chickenoregg/

Ghana's Animal Research Launches New Chicken Breed - 23 September 2009 11:47:55 GMT

Animal Research Institute (ARI) of the CSIR has introduced a new breed of chicken, combining the characteristics of fast growth with adaptation to the harsh environmental conditions, in order to reduce the country's dependence on imported breeding stock. Peace FM reports statistics released by the Veterinary Services Directorate indicate that 219,240 hatching eggs and 1,413,920-day-old chicks were imported into the country in 2008. The information said this came about due to the high cost of poultry produced in the country, the taste for foreign broilers by Ghanaians, and the high inputs used in the production of poultry in Ghana, leading to high cost of production. Speaking during the introduction of a new poultry breed (Aribro broilers) developed by the Animal Research Institute (ARI) of the CSIR on 22 September, Dr Abdulai Baaba Salifu, Director-General of CSRI said the 'Aribro' was a new kind of breed for the production of day-old chicks for broilers in the country. "With this development, it is now possible to produce 'parent lines' which hitherto would have been imported at a minimum of €3 per parent chick," he said. He said the 'parent lines' developed, would be used for the production of commercial broilers and that day-old chicks would be supplied to commercial poultry farmers in the country and also to the sub-region at a relatively lower cost. He intimated that by this feat, the importation of broiler nucleus, grandparents and parents lines would gradually be curtailed. Dr Salifu cited fast growth, higher life span and adaptability to harsh local environmental conditions as compared to the foreign ones as some of the characteristics of the Aribro breed. He praised the CSRI for being the largest scientific research organization in the country with 13 research institutes and over 500 researchers, who were of varied specialised disciplines and expertise playing significant roles in ensuring food security in the country. Dr Kwame Boa-Amponsem, the project Leader, told Peace FM that under normal circumstance, the research should have taken about four years but due to lack of research materials, it took ARI about 30 years to come out with the Aribro breed. He said the Aribro breed, which had some of the features of the foreign broilers came about after certain poultry (both and female) with specific genes were selected and made to mate. He said the Aribro breed was already on the market and that the ARI at the moment produces about 2,300 Aribro chicks a week for the market, adding that, if the institute received all the needed assistance from the government, it would be able to produce more. He urged government to reduce the prices of major broiler feeds such as cereals and soybeans to enhance the competition on the market between the cheaper foreign breeds and the local ones. "Policy-makers should also monitor the effects of fertiliser subsidy and the breeding work at the ARI to curtail the huge market captured by foreign imports," he added. Dr. Percival Kuranchie, Chairman for the function, appealed to the CSIR to come out with initiatives that would help the organisation, according to Peace FM

electric for green muslims

Pig Farm Receives Grant To Reduce GHG Emissions - UK

A Scottish pig farm has received a grant to turn manure into electricity as part of a new government scheme to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from farming. Ruchlaw Produce Company of Dunbar has secured a grant of £560,308 from Rural Priorities – part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme – to convert waste from its pig farming operation into electricity. This funding represents 36 per cent of the overall cost and the electricity will be used to power the operation and halve the smell associated with the pig farm. The business, which employs 45 people will also be using an anaerobic digester to convert pig slurry into methane and carbon dioxide. The methane will then be pumped into a biogas plant to generate electricity and hot water for heating systems throughout the plant.
This is an example of a scheme set up as part of a new action plan to help cut GHG emissions from across the agricultural sector, which was launched by the Scottish Government on 21 September.
The five-point plan will help farmers increase productivity and tackle climate change.
Farming for a Better Climate (FBC) is funded by the Scottish Government and a dedicated web site [click here], hosted by the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), will offer advice on cost-effective ways to benefit business and the environment.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead said: "Our farmers can lead the fight against climate change and not only help our environment but help their businesses at the same time. By adopting these five simple steps, farming will become part of the solution to climate change.
"Their dependency on the environment puts farmers on the front line and if expected changes to weather patterns are not considered now it could spell disaster for the industry in future.
"Scotland has some of the most ambitious climate change legislation in the world and there has already been a great deal of innovation within the farming sector. I am confident that these practical cost-effective measures will be welcomed.
"Farmers getting involved will not only help agriculture thrive they will be creating a healthier climate – a win-win situation for us all."
Graham Kerr, who leads SAC's Farming for a Better Climate programme, said: "We are delighted to support the Scottish Government in this initiative. This is an issue that challenges us all and land managers can play their part in reducing carbon emissions. Through this programme all parts of SAC are committed to helping both industry and policy makers. We hope to increase their knowledge of climate change and the practical steps that can be taken to reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to Scotland's changing climate.

coryza in Holland

Infectious Coryza Outbreak - The Netherlands - 22 September 2009 12:29:08 GMTl

The Animal Health Service Deventer in the Netherlands has reported an outbreak of infectious coryza in 6 layer farms. Farmers are anxious because the bacterium seems very contagious. Normally merely 1 or 2 cases of infectious coryza appear in the Netherlands per year. The disease occurs predominantly in warm climates for instance as in South America, Africa and the Middle and Far East. Amongst the 6 infected farms are regular as well as free-range farms. No indication exists that there is a difference in infection risk between these types of farms. The disease causes a decrease in egg production and mortality sometimes up to 100%. Treatment with tetracyclines has shown good results. However, eggs from treated animals are not to be delivered for four weeks