Nobel winner supports homeopathy

Dana Ullman, writing for the Huffington Post:

“Dr. Luc Montagnier, the French virologist who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering the AIDS virus, has surprised the scientific community with his strong support for homeopathic medicine.

In a remarkable interview published in Science magazine of December 24, 2010, (1) Professor Luc Montagnier, has expressed support for the often maligned and misunderstood medical specialty of homeopathic medicine. Although homeopathy has persisted for 200+ years throughout the world and has been the leading alternative treatment method used by physicians in Europe, (2) most conventional physicians and scientists have expressed skepticism about its efficacy due to the extremely small doses of medicines used.

Health officials and consumers disagree about raw milk risk/benefit analysis

From the “Life is Fare” blog:

“This just in from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “Many people believe that foods with minimal or no processing like organic and locally-grown foods are better for their health. But when people choose to drink raw milk, that is milk that has not been pasteurized, the impact on one’s health can be quite severe.”

It’s a timely article from the CDC since I just published a post about making ice cream with raw milk last week. Funny that I’m not sick from it.

This is the great debate: People who choose to drink raw milk argue that cows raised on pasture grass, rather than in pens eating corn, are healthy and pathogen-free, so it’s safe. And, when you pasteurize milk, the heating process actually kills off beneficial bacteria.

Libs and Grits trading players in leadup to the big game / election in October ’11

A few months ago we were astonished to see an ex-Liberal grab the Progressive Conservative nomination in Grey Bruce, ahead of popular favourite Michael Schmidt. Of course we all knew that Bruce Power was the 800 lb gorilla in the room, pulling strings to make that happen.

But now we see the pattern repeated as long-time Liberal Rocco Rossi has declared his intention to run for the PC party in the traditional Liberal stronghold of Toronto, raising the ire of many of his Liberal ex-friends in the process.

It will certainly be an interesting election come the fall, but floor crossings like these will only persuade more and more voters that there’s really not much to choose from between the two major parties.