[TheForge] OT: GM foods OT:

[CGRAF]

On 5/27/2011 7:32 AM, Bruce Freeman wrote:
> Again, I'm no expert, but two more contributions:
>
> The hole in the ozone is getting smaller.  The ban on Freons seems to
> be working.  And this was not just a guess or groping for an industry
> to blame.  Atmospheric science got serious in the '60's with work on
> LA smog, and has got better over the years.  I don't know for sure but
> I expect the possibility of Freons being the cause of the destruction
> of ozone was proven in the lab -- not easy science to be sure, but
> certainly possible.

It is shrinking. From what I remember about how long the stuff lingers, 
and what I know about how much is still out there, it is debatable as to 
whether or not an actual closure from the ban is likely at this point.
The best we should get is less of an expansion.
Looking for other causes might be good science. I can not even rule out 
natural cycles at this point.
>
> Also, there has been work showing that antibiotic resistance in
> microorganisms can be reversed.  I don't have the article within
> reach, but at least two such articles have shown up in C&EN of the
> ACS.  A small molecule is able to destroy the resistance of
> microorganisms to (some?) antibiotics.  In principal, then, this
> molecule could be used in combination with antibiotics for treating
> antibiotic-resistant diseases.  I am not up on this topic, but the
> obvious catch is that there's no saying that the first such molecules
> developed are suitable to this task.  They might be toxic, for
> example, or have unacceptable side effects.  But the principal has
> been developed, and it is likely that it is being followed up on in a
> search for useful "drug enhancers."
>
>

It still would be simpler if we had used antibiotics only when really 
needed and then used them as they were intended.
In the mid sixties I went to a country doc who had a five gallon jar 
FULL of penicillin pills he gave out like candy. Unless you stopped off 
on a purely social call you were almost assured of leaving with a little 
cardboard box with a dozen tabs inside. Quack, probably did a lot of 
damage . When my cousin had his appendix go bad, they had to scramble to 
find an antibiotic that worked for him.

I guess I am just a minimalist at heart.

Mike Graf