More ineffective advocacy from PETA

Posted on By David Shiffman 20 Comments on More ineffective advocacy from PETA
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First they paraded half-naked women around in cities (including Charleston, right across from the building where I teach) holding signs that said “I’d rather be naked than wear fur” (Link NSFW). Then they had the “vegetarians have better sex” commercial that the Super Bowl refused to air (Link also NSFW). Now PETA is at it … Read More “More ineffective advocacy from PETA” »

A thought provoking quote about conservation

Posted on By David Shiffman 4 Comments on A thought provoking quote about conservation
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I recently heard an excellent quote about conservation issues. The source of this quote is, of all people, my new home state’s embattled Governor. Mark Sanford, prior to his “hiking the Appalachian Trail” scandal, was a well-respected small government conservative. During a speech about his views, he stated that “the issue of environmental conservation sits … Read More “A thought provoking quote about conservation” »

Roundup, Parasites, and Fish, oh my!

Posted on By Amy Freitag 1 Comment on Roundup, Parasites, and Fish, oh my!
Conservation

parasitic trematode
Telogaster: ubiquitous parasitic trematode helped out by a little Roundup, thanks indiana.edu

It takes a team from New Zealand to figure out that the US has its pesticide regulation wrong: toxins don’t act in the wild as they do in the carefully controlled and designed lab dosings.  Sounds reasonable, right?  Well, a recent article in the Journal of Applied Ecology by Kelly et al. was the first to describe Roundup’s ability to act synergistically with a parasitic worm.  Commercial formulations of Roundup, the most commonly used herbicide in the world, were found to increase the production of a parasitic worm’s (Telogaster opisthorchis) while at the same time decreasing a fish’s (Galaxias anomalus) immune system’s ability to fend off the parasite.

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