Willie Nelson Joins Suit Against Agro Giant Monsanto
The singer Willie Nelson has joined with 300,000 other activists in a lawsuit against the U.S. agricultural giant Monsanto, citing the companys practice of suing small farmers whose fields have been contaminated by Monsantos genetically modified seeds. The suit was filed as part of the “Occupy the Food System” campaign protesting the corporate takeover of small farms and the use of harmful pollutants like Monsantos “Roundup” herbicide.
TEPCO facing difficulties in water injection at Daiichi plant
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Friday continued to face difficulties in controlling the amount of water being injected into the three crippled reactors at the plant, which is critical to keeping the melted fuel inside cool. The amount of water injected into the reactors dropped below the minimum required level twice on the previous day. Workers have operated valves to increase the coolant, but the water flow is falling from time to time compared with the initially set level. Tokyo Electric Power Co. has yet to nail down the cause, but it suspects something may be stuck inside the pipes, hampering the flow of water.
Smoking kills friendly bacteria
It’s no secret cigarettes can yellow your teeth. But tobacco smoke has another, unseen effect. It can wipe out the healthy bacteria in your mouth, leaving the field open for pathogenic bugs—like the kind that cause gum disease. So says a study in the journal Infection and Immunity. Researchers gave a complete dental cleaning to 30 volunteers, half of whom were regular smokers. Then, as bacteria moved back in, they took plaque samples and sequenced the DNA in those scrapings. And they found that non-smokers tended to have stable bacterial communities, dominated by a few benign species. That’s good, because a healthy biofilm educates your immune system—preventing unnecessary attacks and inflammation—and it keeps bad bacteria at bay. Smokers, on the other hand, had wildly transient populations, with species moving in and out—which opened up real estate for the bad bugs. Smokers also had higher levels of inflammation, which can destroy friendly bacteria, too. The researchers aren’t sure yet why smoking has this effect. But if you’re looking for a new reason to quit, how about avoiding your dentist?