North Carolina Hog Farmer To Pay Heavy Fines For Pouring Tons Of Waste Into River System

Freedman Farms has been sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines, restitution, and community service payments for violating the Clean Water Act for discharging tons of hog waste into a stream that leads into North Carolina’s Waccamaw River.

Browder’s Branch tributary of Waccamaw River. Photo by Capitol Broadcasting Co.

The river system begins at Lake Waccamaw and travels 140 miles through southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina draining into the Atlantic Ocean.

The river begins as a slow-moving blackwater river surrounded by huge expanses of wetlands and evolves into a faster moving river with sandy banks as it makes its way toward the ocean.

Evidence provided to the Eastern District Court of North Carolina showed that Freedman Farms discharged the tons hog waste  into the Browder’s Branch tributary of the Waccamaw River that flows through the White Marsh wetland area.

The Freedman case was investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal investigation division and the agency’s science and ecosystem support division. Also involved in the investigation were the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Freedman Farms. Photo from WWAY NewsChannel 3.

Freedom Farms is a corporate hog farm, located in Columbus County, N.C., raising about 4,800 hogs for market. The hog waste was supposed to be directed into two lagoons for treatment and disposal. Instead, the hog waste was released directly into Browder’s Branch tributary.

The Clean Water Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly or negligently discharge a pollutant into a water system in the United States.

In an order issued by the court, Freedman Farms will be required to pay restitution in the amount of $1 million – in five annual payments starting January 2013 – to the North Carolina Land Trust.

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Feds Seek To Force Kabco Pharmaceuticals To Stop Selling Possibly Contaminated Supplements

With failure to clean up its manufacturing practices after years of federal warnings, Kabco Pharmaceuticals is now facing an injunction to stop producing and selling its dietary supplements.

Manufacturing photo from Kabco Pharmaceuticals.

The U.S. Justice Department filed the injunction accusing the company of implementing inferior product safety and manufacturing practices, and producing dietary supplements that are potentially dangerous to people’s health.

The products produced by the company include: Brewers Yeast Tablets, Dandelion Root Capsules, Night-Time Herb Capsules, Inositol Calcium & Magnesium Capsules, Vitamin C-500 with Rose Hip Time-Released Tablets, and Joint All Capsules.

An investigation by the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration found that, “The company did not review and investigate product complaints, and Kabco also failed to hold dietary supplements under conditions designed to prevent product mix-ups.”

In November 2010, the FDA sent a warming letter to Kabco citing a number of violations. The allegations included that the company “did not perform identity testing on any of the dietary ingredients” received from distributors, such as valerian root (a sedative for sleep problems and anxiety) and ginkgo biloba (an aide for memory and concentration improvement).

The FDA also accused the company of failing to indicate what steps it would take “regarding already distributed dietary supplements” made from untested ingredients.

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Listeria Contaminations Causing Multiple Recalls of Meat and Produce in the U.S. and Canada

Over the last few weeks, a number of companies across the U.S. and Canada have been recalling one-to-several of their meat and produce products because they either tested positive for the Listeria bacterium or because their products had ingredients from other companies that tested positive.

Graphic courtesy of kmvt.com.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a person with the bacterium “usually has fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea, or other gastrointestinal symptoms. In addition to fever and muscle aches, symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions.”

“Pregnant women typically experience only a mild, flu-like illness. However, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn,” adds the CDC.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is monitoring the recalls, said that for a healthy person, the symptoms are “only short-term,” but a visit to the doctor with information about your possible exposure to the bacterium is recommended.

Among the companies testing positive for the bacterium is Enslin & Son Packing Co., which is recalling about 314 pounds of sausage product, commercially purchased as “Cedar Grove Red Hots,” in 1.5 lb. to 2 lb. packages.

The problem was discovered through a sample testing positive for the bacterium, but the products were shipped out prior to the company getting the test results back from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

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Fructose Sweeteners May Slow Brain Function Show Findings From a New UCLA Test Study

Most people use the occasional soda for a quick mental energy boost, but this may do more harm than good in the long run, according to test findings from a new experimental study done with rats at the University of California, Los Angeles, more popularly known as UCLA.

Photo courtesy of thearrowsoftruth.com.

The UCLA study actually had the dual purpose of showing “how a steady diet in high fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning, and how omega-3 fatty acids counteract the disruption.”

The UCLA study suggests eating “foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, walnuts, and flaxseeds, or taking a daily DHA capsule.”

(Author’s note: If you decide on taking vitamins, generally avoid drugstore off-the-shelf supplements. My father – in his late 70s – recently had problems with his memory, and when his neurologist ruled out Alzheimer’s, finding that my father had anemia and plague in his arteries, the doctor recommend high potency omega-3 and high potency multivitamins.

The doctor ordered supplements from a high quality facility, and said most over-the-counter supplements are largely fillers and ineffective. If you buy supplements, buy them online, and make sure that they are high potency, as natural as possible in origin, and don’t contain fillers. They will cost a lot more than over-the-counter supplements, but are worth it.

My father is feeling and looking much better. He has been taking the supplements for about two months. Also, if it makes you feel more comfortable, consult a doctor or nutritionist about recommendations for particular supplements.)

Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science, said “Our findings suggest that consuming DHA regularly protects the brain against fructose’s harmful effects.”

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The United States Experiencing The Second Widest Spread of Severe Drought in 12 Years

It’s getting hotter and hotter, and drier and drier for most parts of the world, and the United States is especially feeling it.

Photo by Mashid Mohadjerin from The New York Times.

The U.S. Drought Monitor has released mapping analysis for July, showing the month to have the “second largest” geographic expanse in severe to worse drought conditions,  since the mapping began about 12 years ago.

Many of us, especially if we live in metropolitan areas, don’t usually think about water until there is very little of it. In these times, we remember that it’s our most important resource for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing, etc.

In agricultural communities, water takes on the added importance of sustaining livestock and crops – and this is important to everybody because they feed us.

To understand the significance of the different drought terms, the drought monitor explains that, “Moderate drought’s telltale signs are some damage to crops and pastures, with streams, reservoirs or wells getting low.”

“At the other end of the scale, exceptional drought includes widespread crop and pasture losses, as well as shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells, creating water emergencies,” the monitor adds.

To give an understanding of the numbers we are dealing with, the monitor said, “The July 10 map shows 37 percent of the contiguous (adjoining) 48 states in severe drought or worse.” This is the second largest expanse since Sept. 10, 2002, when the drought area was at 38 percent.

Looking beyond the most severe conditions to the overall drought conditions, it’s a worse picture with the monitor saying, “Looking only at the 48 contiguous states (on the July 10 map), 61 percent of the country’s land area was in moderate drought or worse, up from 56 percent the week before. The previous record was 55 percent on Aug. 26, 2003.”

Michael Hayes, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, expressed concern, saying that, “The recent heat and dryness is catching up with us on a national scale.”

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