THE TRASH THAT IS OVERWHELMING THE PLANET-AN OCEANIC PROBLEM!

Modern day ocean waters have some strange company joining them uninvited and sure they do not make  the waters happier compared to what they were 100 years ago before the industrial revolution. to day's ocean waters have become so polluted that these natural water bodies are no more friendly to thousands of creatures which had made them their home for millions of years. The major culprit is a group of man made materials every body knows by that ubiquitous name Plastics. If environmentalist are to be believed millions of pieces of plastic materials in different sizes, colors and shapes find their way into the seas and oceans and there is very little that is being done to prevent this blatant destruction of natural environment and resources. Half way measures like banning plastics, a variety of recycling programs, development of sustainable plastics and financial and policy incentives are not touching even the fringe of the problem, let alone solving it. Isolated groups of people interested in doing some thing to stem this undesirable and dangerous trend have their own way to contribute to lessen the burden on the sea. Here is a critique on the tragedy of plastics.

"The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that over 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square mile of ocean. Some researchers calculate that 4.7 million tons of plastic waste reaches the sea annually, swept from mundane terrestrial existence into swirling adventure via rivers and sewage drains, or dumped from ships.Toothbrushes, syringes, dentures, Lego blocks, lighters. These are just a few of the plastic players that frolic in the waves, catching a lift on oceanic currents to eventually find their way to the ever-growing plastic trash party known as theGreat Pacific Garbage Patch, the "plastic soup" of waste that now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States. But then there are the strays, the rebellious pens and bags and bottles that take a turn away from a future as marine detritus and instead find refuge on the sandy shore. Washed up like castaways, they bake in the sun and wait to return to the sea or some other unknown fate. Which is where Willis Elkins – artist, environmentalist, urban kayaker, documenter of debris, savior of trash – enters the picture. Like a Victorian collector of natural specimens, Elkins searches out and catalogues the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life. His trash-scouting adventures and the fruits of his labor are chronicled at outerspacecities.com, where his logs and archaeological surveys of mostly ocean debris are kept – like the New York City Lighter Log, which follows 1900 disposable plastic cigarette lighters, collected, mapped, and photographed, from 47 different waterfront locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City."

Trash in any form is not a material that can be strewn around because of many predictable consequences arising out of possible decay and decomposition due to the action of sun, rain and wind. Plastics pose much more danger because they are practically indestructible for ages, average life being 800 years and the decomposition products of plastics are generally toxic to all living creatures on this planet. Most plastics leach out chemicals which often act as endocrine disruptors causing hormonal imbalances and consequent health impairment in many people. There are also reports that plastic pieces are increasingly being found inside the fish posing further dangers to humanity besides affecting the fish reproductive cycle. Unless the world wakes up to these dangers and takes serious steps to address this problem, the consequences of ignoring it may be too heavy for future generations.    

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE FAST FOOD "CONUNDRUM"-HOW SAFE ARE FAST FOODS?

Whether it is really a scoop or was already known to many people, the so called expose by a whistle blower regarding some of the practices being indulged in by restaurants and fast food chains may yet persuade some consumers to cut down their frequency of eating out side. Recycling old foods is a practice followed by many restaurants due to economic considerations though there are countless others who are scrupulous in rejecting any old foods, not sold within a few hours after its preparation. Of course food spoilage might not be an issue in recycling prepared old foods but flavor and taste can be affected to some extent due to repeated exposure to heat during reformulating and preparing another product from the old one. The advanced refrigeration system and facilities available to day make it possible to keep foods for relatively longer periods without any major deterioration and there fore consumers should not have any worries about safety aspects. Nonetheless if restaurants claim that their preparations are made from fresh ingredients, they must avoid the temptation of recycling old foods which should be donated to the local Food Banks. After all to day's consumer attaches great value to freshness and the faith he reposes on the restaurant for transparency and fair play should not be violated  Here is a gist of the expose which made headline news recently.  

"While the way that Wendy's recycles overcooked hamburgers into the next day's vat of chili may be frugal, Cozmo23's description of it isn't exactly appetizing. (Though the rest of the thread, with riffs on British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's possible reaction? Awesome.)  It's not limited to Wendy's, either: Lethal_Lunacy77 reports that the Chick-Fil-A he worked at did something similar with their chicken salad, stripping old chicken patties of their breading before chopping them up and mixing in mayo. And fast-food places aren't the only ones that recycle, apparently. "Being a dishwasher in an Italian eatery, i am instructed to throw garlic bread that looks untouched after being put out on the customers table into a separate bin where they are taken from, then used in meatballs," writes Burkey217. "Years ago my older brother was a busboy at a local well-respected restaurant. He let me know that the uneaten dinner rolls that were brought to each table (in a basket w/ packages of butter) were saved and placed into new baskets to go out to guests later in the evening," Chef_Brokentoe adds". 

In India where there are millions of small restaurants, operating on a limited budget, recycling is a big temptation too good to be resisted. Since almost all foods are heated to high temperatures before consumption, here again danger from microbiological hazards, per se, is very remote. However there is one area of danger in foods offered in Indian restaurants which involves the quality of cooking oil used for preparing fried and roasted products. Deterioration of cooking oil when exposed to temperatures as high as 180-200C is an established fact and some of the artifacts generated during prolonged exposure to heat can pose health risks with serious short term and long term health consequences. Scientific advise that heated oil should not be reused is not taken seriously and no restaurant seems to be willing to discard the frying oil after a couple of use considering the high prevailing prices for edible oils in the market. Fortunately the predominant cooking medium happens to be Palm oil and Palmolein, both relatively stable fats compared to others. Why the recycling may not become a controversial issue is due to the market reality that restaurants indulging in such practices, offering foods with reduced quality due to recycling, will be in danger of being elbowed out of the market place over a period of time.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HDL CHOLESTEROL BENEFITS UNDER THE SCANNER-A PERPLEXING SCENARIO

Cholesterol is a dreaded word for many people because of its perceived association with atherosclerosis and heart attack.  Some people are aware of the differentiation between High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) and Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL). Lay man recognizes HDL as good cholesterol and LDL as its bad cousin, with the latter causing heart disease. Even many physicians advise their clients to work for increasing the HDL level as high as possible imagining that it can protect the heart. There are millions of dollars of investment riding on the above hypothesis to develop drugs that can boost HDL levels in the blood though no appreciable success has yet been achieved. Against such a background comes an earth shaking finding that a high HDL level need not be a guarantee against heart disease and those with high HDL inherited genetically cannot be considered as less prone to heart attack. Here is a take on this new revelation which seems to have turned the clock back regarding the current knowledge about the role of lipo proteins on human health.   

"Now, a new study that makes use of powerful databases of genetic information has found that raising HDL levels may not make any difference to heart disease risk. People who inherit genes that give them naturally higher HDL levels throughout life have no less heart disease than those who inherit genes that give them slightly lower levels. If HDL were protective, those with genes causing higher levels should have had less heart disease. Researchers not associated with the study, published online Wednesday in The Lancet, found the results compelling and disturbing. Companies are actively developing and testing drugs that raise HDL, although three recent studies of such treatments have failed. And patients with low HDL levels are often told to try to raise them by exercising or dieting or even by taking niacin, which raised HDL but failed to lower heart disease risk in a recent clinical trial. "I'd say the HDL hypothesis is on the ropes right now," said Dr. James A. de Lemos, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Michael Lauer, director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, agreed. "The current study tells us that when it comes to HDL we should seriously consider going back to the drawing board, in this case meaning back to the laboratory," said Dr. Lauer, who also was not connected to the research. "We need to encourage basic laboratory scientists to figure out where HDL fits in the puzzle — just what exactly is it a marker for." But Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, who is helping conduct studies of HDL-raising drugs, said he remained hopeful. HDL is complex, he said, and it is possible that some types of HDL molecules might in fact protect against heart disease".

The million dollar question is whether high HDL level in blood is maintained due to good health or lower level of HDL heralds changes that lead to heart associated problems. It looks like HDL may not be a sure marker any more for insurance against heart disease while LDL certainly is a marker for bad health. Probably the present approach to cholesterol management will undergo dramatic changes if the above findings are confirmed by future studies. One question that naturally arises out of this development is whether the multi billion dollar Statin drug industry is going to be adversely affected. According to the authors of the above study, it is always healthy if LDL levels are controlled and those who cannot reduce the same will have to resort to drug intervention using Statins.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

SEDENTARY LIFE STYLE-A CURSE OF THE MODERN SOCIETY!

It looks so simple when experts say that a minimum physical exercise that does not take more than 2-3 hours a week can keep away most diseases those are causing rampage in the modern world but what is shocking is that there are almost 1.5 billion people on this great planet leading a sedentary life without taking an effort to do what is recommended. Why should it be a "trauma" for people to go for a brisk walk for half an hour every day or even running for a few minutes on alternate days? There is a school of thought which feels that people in many urban townships do involuntary exercise at least during the working days in a week through their daily routine to reach the work place or mothers who must be walking all the day between the kitchen and the dining room. But is it enough? Probably with personal transport a feature of modern industrialized society, where is the need to walk or run? Or with ready to eat foods flooding the market and family income soaring, why should to day's typical house wife run around the kitchen and the dining room? Probably the exercise regime is targeted more at those who do not have to raise a finger for getting every thing done with least physical discomfort. If one third of the world is being condemned as over weight or obese, what about the other two thirds who do not have this problem? Unfortunately out of this more than half do not have access to affordable and balanced food and therefore can never become obese! Those who are able to keep obesity at bay are the real stars of this planet! Here is a commentary on this issue which may be trivial at first sight but a serious problem facing humanity.  

"Are you an adult? Check. Are you from a wealthy country? Check. Are you from planet Earth? Check. Unfortunately, you're most likely to be one of the nearly 5 million people that die each year from physical inactivity, according to a new study published in the medical journal The Lancet and reported on Yahoo News. One third of the world's population doesn't get enough exercise and the problem is even worse in wealthier nations. We're not talking a marathon here either--researchers consider ample physical activity as 30 minutes of moderate activity five times per week or vigorous physical activity three times per week. This means walking for 30 minutes five times per week or running for 20 minutes three times per week. Couch Potato Lifestyle Spreads to Our Children. As we age we do less and less, so starting off inactive increases the problem. "Roughly three of every 10 individuals aged 15 years or older -- about 1.5 billion people -- do not reach present physical activity recommendations," the study said in a report that described the problem as a "pandemic." This results in deadly often preventable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer. Specifically, "[l]ack of exercise causes an estimated six percent of coronary heart disease cases, seven percent of type 2 diabetes (the most common form) and 10 percent of breast and colon cancers."

It is terrible to hear that millions of people are dying, not because of hunger but due to physical inactivity which after all can be easily addressed by all the countries through better education and environment. Is it not an irony that a country like the US with thousands of miles of well laid, citizen friendly side walks available for walking, not even a fraction of the population use these facilities regularly! Besides there are thousands of recreation parks in all states with facilities for playing different games and for children to indulge in variety of physical activities. All it requires is a renewed commitment on the part of the citizens to use them while controlling the diet which only can lessen the unbearable burden posed by wide spread obesity that is tending to become endemic if recent trends are any indication.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"FOIE GRAS"-MAN'S CRUELTY AGAINST ANIMALS

Modern society is much more sensitive to the sufferings of animals which are used for producing a number of foods for omnivores and carnivores whose population outnumber herbivores by almost 9 to 1. Whether it is breeding, raising, handling or butchering, well established universal guidelines are followed to be as humane as possible. It is another matter that many practitioners in the animal food production sector get away with frequent violations of these standards though humane society campaigning for a better deal to animals always keeps a watch over the industry. One is impressed by the sustained campaigns to change the highly congested cage system in the poultry industry to provide more space to the birds while free grazing cows are encouraged in the beef industry. A not commonly known food from Geese and Duck known as 'Foie Gras", most popular in France is made by fattening the liver of these birds, generally through force feeding  and is considered a delicacy by many food connoisseurs. There is a strong movement which opposes continued practice of this cruel practice by pleading for its ban globally. Many countries like Israel, Turkey and some in Europe have already banned its production and sale and the latest to join this group is the State of California in the US which has promulgated law for punishing those indulging in production or sale of Foie Gras beginning July 1 this year. Here is more on this development which has made news recently.       

"This is the last week for legal foie gras in California. A law to shut down the making, cooking and selling of super-fatty goose or duck liver takes effect July 1. Chow hounds from Chico to Chula Vista have been opening their wallets for restaurants' foie gras menus, gorging themselves like birds before the winter migration. The law's purpose is to end gavage, the ancient practice of forcing grain down the throat of a goose or duck until its liver is grossly enlarged. The law's critics say gavage is hardly more stress-inducing than the many other things humans do to the animals they eat. The corporate operations that grow and slaughter pigs, poultry and cattle represent animal cruelty on an immense scale, they say, about which the foie gras ban does nothing. But the law's supporters argue that even small steps toward humaneness are important, and point to several countries in Europe that have banned foie gras. It is not known how energetically the state will enforce the ban and if any restaurant chefs will be willing to risk a $1,000 fine. Chicago enacted a foie gras ban in 2006. It was widely mocked and flouted and, after a couple of years, repealed. Chefs in California are already pushing for a repeal bill. Meanwhile, "faux gras" recipes are proliferating on the Web. One chef suggests soaking chicken livers overnight in milk with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, searing them briefly, then puréeing them in a food processor with half their weight in soft butter. It's your basic chicken-liver mousse, not foie gras but good. "You could mix almost anything with half its weight in butter and have a very nice spread," said Mark Bittman, one of The Times's experts on such things".

Out of about 25000 tons of Foie Gras produced annually more than 70% is in France whose population love to have this specialty product during Christmas season. It appears many reports regarding wide scale prevalence of forced feeding seem to be misleading because birds like Geese and Ducks have a tendency to feed more than what they really need and if suitably designed feed is provided ad libitum they will develop fatty liver in no time obviating the need for forced feeding. Some of the producers claim that they do not cause any discomfort to the bird and replaced the metal tubing for force feeding with softer ones. A relevant question is why the product itself is banned if there are alternative methods available to make it and why such ban is not confined to the production technique deployed. After all Foie Gras has a 2500 years of history behind it and it is closely linked to the French culture. As a measure to discourage meat consumption it may be a welcome move, as such bans remove one particular meat product from the dining tables of at least a few families.   

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE NEW GENERATION WIND MILLS-WILL IT MAKE THEM POPULAR?

Wind mills are offering a feasible option in the search of sustainable energy sources and already a significant part of global energy produced comes from this sector. However high cost of investment, unbearable noise generation and bird-unfriendly features are still hampering its progress in spite of its pollution free clean credentials. With cheap wind mill systems coming from China considerable boost has been received recently with many countries going ahead in this area aiming to shift a significant part of their energy grid from fossil fuel generation to wind generated energy. It is universally agreed that wind energy can spare the planet pollution to the extent of 1500 tons of CO2, 6.5 tons of SO2, 3.2 tons of NO2 and 27 kg of Mercury spewed out into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are used to generate 1 MW energy. No wonder that more than 65 million MW of energy is produced using wind mills, of which almost 45% is accounted for by Europe though other countries are catching up fast. Though wind mills were known for almost 2000 years, significant development in designing better and more efficient wind power generating systems has taken place after 1970 due to the fossil fuel shock which saw the price of crude oil literally hitting the roof. Most of to day's wind mills are of horizontal axis type but there have been references to vertical axis type also which some how did not seem to have found favor with the energy industry. Now comes the news that commercial scale vertical axis machines are being offered with some superior features. Here is a peep into this new development. 

"Designing and building the new McCamley vertical axis wind turbine took decades, but it may have been well worth it, as the company believes their innovative design could revolutionize urban wind power. The McCamley MT01 Mk2 is designed to be easy to install, without any need for a tower, on urban rooftops, and is claimed to be able to operate with minimal noise and vibration and be able to self-start (no grid power input) at low wind speeds. The McCamley turbine was specifically designed to work in the variable and turbulent winds typically found in the city, and because it can continue to operate in extremely strong winds, may be able to harvest energy from a wider range of wind conditions than other designs.The lightweight turbine is mounted on multiple legs, cutting down on vibration and stress on the roof, and the rotor design is said to be "bird and bat friendly". The Mk2 self-starts in winds as low as 1.8 meters/second, and a self-regulating speed system allows the turbine to continue to operate efficiently in gusting and turbulent winds by keeping the rotor at a consistent speed. The turbine's direct-drive design also eliminates the need for a gear box, simplifying the maintenance or repair of the units". 

One of the good features of the above variant is that it is much less noise polluting and more easy to be installed and maintained. One of the inconveniences of the present generation windmills is the irritating noise generated by the rotating turbine blades which can be extremely annoying to residents nearby. According to the manufacturers of vertical mills the noise generation is not an issue at all with their system. Similarly wind mills are known killers of birds and according to statistics more than 20 to 30 thousand birds are killed every year due to their crossing the path of the turbine blade but vertical wind mills are not as lethal when it comes to bird fatality. If all these claims are true vertical axis wind mills may become very popular especially for small sized power generation with relatively low investment. Countries like India which has thousands of miles of coastal lines, vertical wind mills can make a big difference, especially during summer time when acute power cuts are common due to perennial shortage.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

VEGETABLES FROM "HEAVEN"-EVER EXPANDING ROOF GARDENING

Urban agriculture is a hot topic in some countries because of the supposed advantages for vegetables from such endeavors in the form of lesser carbon emission, freedom from pesticides, relatively lesser from pathogens. Though it started in a very small way twenty years ago, recent developments in this sector is raising the possibility that urban gardens may play a critical role in meeting the requirements of vegetables for a significant segment of the city population without depending on arrival from far away places or from other continents. There is even a more friendly version of urban gardening where fresh produce retail shops are installing such gardens in the same building for the customers to pluck their need directly from the plants. It is amazing that a city like New York with a mega population and sky rocketing real estate prices is leading in establishing urban gardens on roof tops which is considered a far sighted development initiative. Here is a report on this interesting phenomenon.

"Today, she could have had both. New York City (the stores!) is suddenly a farming kind of town (the chores!). Almost a decade after the last family farm within the city's boundaries closed, basil and bok choy are growing in Brooklyn, and tomatoes, leeks and cucumbers in Queens. Commercial agriculture is bound for the South Bronx, where the city recently solicited proposals for what would be the largest rooftop farm in the United States, and possibly the world. Fed by the interest in locally grown produce, the new farm operations in New York are selling greens and other vegetables by the boxful to organically inclined residents, and by the bushel to supermarket chains like Whole Foods. The main difference between this century and previous ones is location: whether soil-based or hydroponic, in which vegetables are grown in water rather than soil, the new farms are spreading on rooftops, perhaps the last slice of untapped real estate in the city. "In terms of rooftop commercial agriculture, New York is definitely a leader at this moment," said Joe Nasr, co-author of "Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture" and a researcher at the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University in Toronto. "I expect it will continue to expand, and much more rapidly, in the near future." For city officials, the rise of commercial agriculture has ancillary benefits, as well. Rooftop farms have the potential to capture millions of gallons of storm water and divert it from the sewer system, which can overflow when it rains. And harvesting produce in the boroughs means fewer trucks on local roadways and lower greenhouse gas emissions, a goal of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration. Community gardeners and educators have tended plots and grown food for years. But they have only recently been joined by for-profit companies intent on getting back to the urban land. Gotham Greens began harvesting from its hydroponic greenhouse on a rooftop in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn last year; it plans to open three more next year in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The existing operation, with 20 employees, grows bok choy, basil and oak leaf lettuce, and sells to retailers like Whole Foods and FreshDirect. Brooklyn Grange, another farming operation, incorporated with the intention of finding a site in Brooklyn. But two years ago, a one-acre rooftop became available instead in Long Island City, Queens. The partners, led by Ben Flanner, the president and head farmer, spread out 1.2 million pounds of soil and started planting. This spring, Brooklyn Grange finally made good on its name, starting a second farm on a 65,000-square-foot roof at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where more than 100 rows feature pattypan squash, scallions and beefsteak tomatoes. Mr. Flanner pointed out two benefits to an agricultural aerie — plentiful sun and an absence of pests. "There are a number of parallels with regular agriculture," he said. "What we don't have are deer or foxes or rodents".

A garden friendly policy like that is in place in New York goes out of the way to help potential "gardeners" to establish such productive system and added to this the city itself is offering the roof tops of its own buildings for gardening at reasonable contract fees. The changing attitude of established and reputed retailers towards produce grown in urban gardens is encouraging many citizens to enter this area. These retailers are tying up with those growing salad vegetables for marketing locally and thus create a win-win situation for both. Though all urban structures are not suitable for raising roof top gardens, there are still millions of such apartments and building complexes which may eventually get into this loop. Probably future designs of urban dwellings may incorporate gardening features, suitable for raising small gardens either as a part of the individual units or as a collective roof top facilitiy.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com