Cancer Causing Roundup Maker Monsanto Must Pay $2.25 Billion in Damages

Bayer, the corporate owner of Monsanto, must pay $2.25 billion in damages due to Monsanto’s product called Roundup. The chemical spray kills insects very quickly (which is really bad for the planet) and due to it being permitted to use on residential properties the harm it has caused seems pretty great. One regular user of the chemical soup got cancer due to it and sued the company, thus leading the court ordering the payment. The lesson here: don’t use pesticides on residential properties. It’s good to see a massive corporation being held to account for its damaging actions.

“The jury’s punitive damages award sends a clear message that this multi-national corporation needs top to bottom change,” they said, calling the verdict “a condemnation of 50 years of misconduct by Monsanto.”

The claims rest on the ingredient glyphosate, introduced as a herbicide by Monsanto in 1974, which inhibits a certain enzyme in most plants, preventing them from growing. Monsanto also introduced genetically modified crops that are resistant to glyphosate.

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Engineered Stone Banned Down Under

AI generated image of energy efficient home

If you don’t work in one of the building trades then you might not know about engineered stone, but you have definitely seen it and probably touched it. It’s a type of stone made of crushed silica that is pressed together to make a new, and equally durable, stone (it’s like plywood made of stone). Many new builds use this type of modern manufactured stone for countertops and decorative surfaces. Australia has found that people working on this type of stone tend to develop health issues that can be life-ending, so the country has decided to ban the stone to protect those in the industry. This is a good thing to see and hopefully other countries will copy Australia’s new policy.

Trade unions, health organisations and personal injury law firms have all welcomed the ban, saying it will save lives.

“Engineered stone is a fashion product that is killing the workers who make it,” Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Liam O’Brien said.

“With alternatives readily available, why are we risking the lives of tradies for a fashionable finish in our kitchens?”

Dr Hoy said broader change was needed to make sure a similar crisis did not happen again.

“We can’t be waiting until people develop disease and they die from conditions related to work before we start acting,” he said.

“We really need to change the ways to identify problems at work, and act before people become sick.”

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Memes Saved the Lives of Anti-Vaxxers

Covid-19 Transmission graphic

COVID brought forth more than just a disease of the body, it also raised the profile of anti vaxxers so much so that they shut down Canada’s capital for weeks on end. How can we get this group of people who are opposed to critically thinking to actually, well, think? We can use memes. Memes literally saved lives by convincing anti vaxxers to get the jab; in particular humours memes were the most effective. For the next pandemic maybe we should put more effort into meme production so we can stop the spread before it becomes endemic.

“Little is known about the extent to which memes can shift beliefs or intentions,” Geniole told PsyPost. “Our studies provided some preliminary evidence that memes about vaccination — specifically, memes that were supportive of vaccination or unsupportive of antivaxxers — may increase the viewer’s intentions to be vaccinated. In other words, our studies suggest that exposure to memes, under certain circumstances, may actually shift beliefs or intentions.”

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Working Out Helps You Work it Out

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Going for a walk can help you settle down your overactive brain and help you see things positively, and best of all it’s free! Anxiety and depression rates are increasing in North America for a variety of legitimate reasons; however, we a little working out can bring those rates down. A very effective treatment for anxiety and depression is to use your body and workout. There’s no a growing movement in the english speaking world to get medical professionals prescribe exercise as part of a treatment plan.

“Physical activity can be an effective treatment for mental health problems,” says Ben Singh, lead author and research fellow at the University of South Australia. He thinks it works in several ways: by releasing endorphins and boosting our mood, improving sleep, reducing stress, supporting self-esteem and confidence, and making us feel accomplished and purposeful.

The findings suggest that exercise is particularly helpful in certain situations. While the type of exercise didn’t matter, people got more mental health benefits out of higher-intensity exercise. If you’re doing something that makes you breathe hard, in other words, that’s a good sign.

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Transit Hub Addiction Clinics Benefit Everyone

When social services are difficult to get to then their services are used less, it sounds obvious but in too many places social services are very difficult to get to. Car centric urban designs further exacerbate inequality by limiting mobility options, or to put it another way: cars limit freedom of access and opportunities.

In order to best help everyone in our communities we should ensure that social services are accessible and what better way than at transit hubs? Many people suffering from addiction also suffer from economic problems so ensuring that they can easily get to treatment centres can help them recover. Early research is proving that accessible treatment centres help everyone.

“What we’re finding is that there’s this significant relationship between being close to these new transit start ups … and costs, operating costs are significantly less,” said Cohen.

“The other thing that we’re finding is that there’s a relationship between equity and access to treatment.”

The research looked at addiction and mental-health clinics that were within half-a-mile, or approximately 800 metres, of a new transit route. Cohen considered that basically walking distance, and compared results with those from clinics further afield.

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