Category: Business

Rock Salmon? WTF!

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The majority of chip shop fish sold under generic names like huss, rock salmon and rock eel turned out to be spiny dogfish — a species of shark which is endangered in Europe and classed as vulnerable worldwide.

Scientists used DNA barcoding to take samples of shark products from fishmongers and chip shops, as well as shark fins from an Asian food wholesaler in the UK…

The research was carried out at the University of Exeter and the scientists are calling for more accurate food labelling so people know which species they are eating.

Dr Andrew Griffiths said: “The discovery of endangered hammerhead sharks (and others…like spiny dogfish) highlights how widespread the sale of declining species really is — even reaching Europe and the UK.

Same old story. Folks in business who decide profit at any price write the rules. Change the name of your product to fool the folks who never read the fine print. Presuming government watchdogs require the fine print to be the truth.

India’s Dangerous Generic Drugs

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Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

For a nation that seeks to claim the mantle of “pharmacy to the world,” India is scandalously short on regulatory oversight. In the last six months alone, its generic cough syrups have killed dozens of children, its eye drops have caused blindness and its chemotherapy drugs have been contaminated.

The children who died — mostly under the age of five years — were given Indian-made over-the-counter products contaminated with industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that are fatal in even small amounts. The eye drops that contained extensively drug-resistant bacteria? So far 68 patients across 16 US states have been affected. Three people died, several had to have their eyeballs removed, some went blind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on March 21. The Indian company, Global Pharma Healthcare, issued a voluntary nationwide recall for the drops.

India is the largest provider of generic medicines, producing 20% of the world’s supply, according to the government’s Economic Survey. Its $50 billion drug-manufacturing industry exports medicines to over 200 nations and makes 60% of all vaccines. It boasts “the highest number” of US Food and Drug Administration compliant plants outside America, and indeed, some of its generic pharmaceutical companies produce high-quality medicines.

That may well provide consumers with a level of comfort, but history suggests it is unwise to trust that feeling.

Millions of Solar Panels Aging Out. Recycling’s a Problem Big as Profits.

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The prospect of a future glut of expired panels is prompting efforts by a handful of solar recyclers to address a mismatch between the current buildup of renewable energy capacity by utilities, cities, and private companies—millions of panels are installed globally every year—and a shortage of facilities that can handle this material safely when it reaches the end of its useful life, in about 25 to 30 years…

The area covered by solar panels that were installed in the US as of 2021 and are due to retire by 2030 would cover about 3,000 American football fields, according to an NREL estimate. “It’s a good bit of waste,” said Taylor Curtis, a legal and regulatory analyst at the lab. But the industry’s recycling rate, at less than 10 percent, lags far behind the upbeat forecasts for the industry’s growth…

A startup called SolarCycle estimates that recycling each panel avoids the emissions of 97 pounds of CO2; the figure rises to more than 1.5 tons of CO2 if a panel is reused. Under a proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission rule, publicly held companies will be required to disclose climate-related risks that are likely to have a material impact on their business, including their greenhouse gas emissions…

SolarCycle is one of only five companies in the US…capable of providing recycling services. The industry remains in its infancy and is still figuring out how to make money from recovering and then selling panel components, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. “Elements of this recycling process can be found in the United States, but it is not yet happening on a large scale…“

By current standards, the tech isn’t overly difficult. Over time, with competition expected to grow trying to meet existing demand, I expect there will only be improvements in both the recycling processes and marketing those portions sold on for use separate from reintroduction to their original purposes…generating electricity from sunlight.

Yes, I am concerned over investment in this recycling need getting off the ground early and efficiently enough to keep up with what will be dynamically expanding for years to come.

Here comes the media copout!

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America’s TV favorites say, “Blame the hardware!”

People in this nation leap to ignorant, uninformed, ill-gotten conclusions. They lap up handy solutions offered by all the professional apologists for mediocre education, reactionary politics.

That presence in American telecommunications is a given. They maintain a thread of analysis with the basic premise – Don’t change anything utilized to support the profit and income stream dedicated to the status quo owners of communications, law and politics. “Don’t worry about that!” And, in turn…the creeps and crawlers of American media will provide us with convenient answers that change nothing essential. Might even rhyme.

Take a moment – as I did, this morning – to peer into the solutions starting to be offered by the tastemakers, the profiteers of the visual and voices side of American media. MORNING JOE’s solution to all of our problems, this morning? Ban the iPhone!

It’s just a fucking device, you incompetent! The medium ain’t the message. The message is always just as corrupt as the people who control the media utilized to communicate with – and control – the populace in general. Changing the hardware doesn’t change the message. Jerk!

Why the French Want to Stop Working

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If you want to understand why the French overwhelmingly oppose raising their official retirement age from 62 to 64, you could start by looking at last week’s enormous street protest in Paris.

Retirement before arthritis read one handwritten sign. Leave us time to live before we die said another. One elderly protester was dressed ironically as “a banker” with a black top hat, bow tie, and cigar—like the Mr. Monopoly mascot of the board game. “It’s the end of the beans!” he exclaimed to the crowd, using a popular expression to mean that pension reform is the last straw…

France is not alone with this problem. Rich countries everywhere are facing similar demographic challenges, and pushing up their retirement ages to cope. The advocates of reform in France should have more room to maneuver than most, because retirements here last an average of about 25 years, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That’s among the longest in Europe, where retirements even out at about 22 years, and well above the average retirement duration in the United States, where people now live for about 16 years after they stop working…

Well-written with reasonable explanation(s). Europeans will – I think – get it before many Americans. But, that ain’t the point either. Reflect upon the article’s conclusions – especially the direction presumed of a changing and growing economy.

Egg prices have soared 60% in a year. Here’s why!

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The rising cost of eggs in the U.S. is denting household budgets. Americans in recent years have increased the number of eggs they consume while reducing their intake of beef and venison, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Egg consumption has grown in part because more families are eating them as their main protein substitute, Los Angeles Times reporter Sonja Sharp told CBS News. “Each of us eats about as many eggs as one hen can lay a year,” she said.

As demand for eggs has risen, production in the U.S. has slumped because of the ongoing bird, or “avian,” flu epidemic. Nearly 58 million birds have been infected with avian flu as of January 6, the USDA said, making it the deadliest outbreak in U.S. history. Infected birds must be slaughtered, causing egg supplies to fall and prices to surge…

Egg prices in December rose 60% from a year earlier, according to Consumer Price Index data released Thursday. Across U.S cities, the average price for a dozen large grade A eggs was $4.25 last month, according to figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis…

Sharp said prices will likely not fall again until after new chickens are born without the infection and grow to egg-laying age. More than 300 flocks of farm-raised poultry have been hit by the outbreak as of last Friday, according to USDA data.

And don’t hold your breath waiting for prices to return quickly to the “good old days” following a return to previous production scale. There isn’t an oversupply of producers or distributors in the GOUSA willing to be the first to give up inflated prices.