Swedish officials announced that they have at least one case of the deadly e.coli that can not be connected to Germany or France. Sweden does have 53 cases where a link has been established.
The problem with this latest case is that they can’t trace it. The Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control says there are no signs that the infected individual got the e.coli from Germany or France.
So far 47 people have died in Germany, and one in Sweden. There are almost 4,000 cases in Germany.
Efforts to find the origins of a deadly e.coli strain (that some scientist say was engineered in a lab) continues, as more people get sick.
France has eight people in the hospital. Seven of them ate sprouts at an open house party. The sprouts were not grown in Germany, but in France. The seeds for those sprouts came from a company in the United Kingdom, a company called Thompson & Morgan.
Understanding how e.coli works makes it difficult to suspect seeds, however, if this strain of e.coli was engineered in a lab, then anything is possible.
A Turkish news source says the Turkish government has agreed to allow NATO to increase troop strength in Turkey. Turkey is a member of NATO.
Currently there are about 400 NATO personnel at the Turkish Izmir Air Station, but that could increase to the thousands as NATO personnel from Germany and Spain are moved in.
Western media is showing Turkey as helping Syrian refugees, and seemingly taking a neutral stand on events in Syria. Reports in Middle Eastern news sources say otherwise. There is growing evidence that the weapons being used by Syrian “protestors” are coming from Turkey. Several times Turkish warplanes have crossed into Syrian airspace.
NATO is reporting the build up of personnel in Turkey as part of plans to “…make NATO leaner, more flexible, and better able to deal with future challenges.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General
“Now we have the proof that in this case a human passed on the germ to the vegetables and then it was passed to other humans.”-Daniel Bahr, Germany’s health minister
German health officials are saying they have proof a kitchen worker passed on the deadly strain of e.coli. Officials say at least 20 of the e.coli cases can be traced to an infected woman who works for a catering company. The woman claims to have eaten sprouts, which might be one of the sources for the bacteria. Check my June 9 posting.
Local officials are now investigating a sewage treatment plant near Frankfurt. They say a stream running nearby has a high level of e.coli. Local residents have long complained of intestinal problems, and routinely seek medical treatment.
In France, officials are now worried because several cases have shown up there. One boy became infected after eating a partially cooked hamburger, made with frozen beef. In Europe, it’s actually normal to eat ground beef raw. The frozen beef comes from France, but is sold by a grocery chain store owned by a German company. The beef sold at the Lidl supermarkets is being recalled.
So far 40 people have died, and thousands are in hospitals.
“The whole thing is a big scandal. People were very unsettled. Every day something different was announced. Now I hear on the radio that it was the sprouts. But people were even buying less fruit. That is simply insane.’’ Riza Cetinkaya, Berlin grocer who says sales have dropped 70%
Out of frustration the German health officials are back to blaming sprouts for the deadly e. coli outbreak. The problem is that they are simply guessing, again.
Officials say the sprouts are the ‘most likely’ source, but at the same time admit the produce has tested negative for e. coli.
How did they come to their conclusion? They made a map showing the concentration of infection cases, then basically concluded that the sprout farm near the center ‘must’ be the source. Police detectives know you can’t rely solely on lines drawn on a map.
Consumer Protection officials then announced that they had found a contaminated container of sprouts, in the trash can of a family that is infected. The officials concluded that it was ‘proof’ that the sprouts were the cause. Is it possible the sprout container itself is the source of contamination? Remember e. coli is spread by contact with fecal matter, or animal/human waste. What else was in the trash can?
One government official, Reinhard Burger, of the Robert Koch Institute, admitted that the window of opportunity to link fecal waste and contact with produce, was gone. So all officials can do now is guess.
The sprout farm, in Lower Saxony, has been shut down and sealed off.
First Germany blamed Spanish cucumbers; wrong! Then Germany blamed locally grown sprouts; wrong! Now Germany is facing a lawsuit by Spain, and German vegetable growers are tossing tons of fresh produce in the trash. On top of that people are still dying!
By June 8, 25 people in Germany, and one person in Sweden had died. More than 2,600 people in Germany are sick.
A new twist; back to cucumbers. This time German health officials say they’ve found traces of the new strain (similar to 0104:H4) on cucumber leftovers belonging to a family that was among the first to get sick.
Here’s an issue: E. Coli (Escherichia coli) does not originate on vegetables! It comes from the intestines of animals (humans included). Vegetables would only get infected if they came into contact with infected fecal matter (i.e. crap).
Some possibilities: Vegetables were for some reason being shipped along side products containing infected fecal matter? Some Fertilizers used on crops contained infected fecal matter? How about someone infected didn’t do a good job of cleaning themselves up after taking care of business, and, didn’t wash their hands thus spreading their particular strain of E-Coli to others, by handling produce being eaten by a lot of people (a modern day Typhoid Mary)? Maybe German officials should be looking at people who handle fresh produce prior to it being sold to consumers (specifically someone who handled cucumbers)?
European-Iranian Trade Bank AG (EIH Bank), based in Hamburg Germany, says it will not abide by European Union sanctions against Iran.
Earlier in the week the EU froze the bank’s assets. Bank officials say it will not stop them: “Nothing has changed; the same Bundesbank office which approved our transactions during the investigation will continue to approve our transactions under sanctions.”-Norbert Eisenmenger, EIH finance and marketing
Last year the United States blacklisted the EIH bank, saying the bank was providing financial services for other banks doing business with Iran.
“It remains the case that a way must be found for us to leave nuclear power behind as soon as possible.”-Norbert Rottgen, Environment Minister
Because of the ongoing nuke disaster reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, Germany ordered ‘worst case scenario’ testing of all its nuclear plants. They all FAILED!
The report was published by Der Spiegel. It was discovered that all of Germany’s nuke plants lack the “required safety features” to withstand a level three disaster. Not only that, but four of the plants failed simulations involving small aircraft crashing into them.
The highest safety standard rating for nuclear plants in Germany, is a level three rating. The report says most of the plants can’t even meet level two safety standards.
“We oppose the death penalty in all cases and are clear that British drugs should not be used to carry out lethal injections.”-Vince Cable, British Business Secretary
Mississippi has joined the growing list of U.S. states forced to use drugs used to put down animals, to execute prisoners. Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina have also begun using pentobarbitol.
The United Kingdom has already banned drugs sent to the U.S. for lethal injections. Germany is pushing the European Union to do the same: “We have to make sure that no drugs from Germany or the EU will be used to carry out executions.”-Markus Loening, German Human Rights Commissioner
U.S. prisons can’t get their usual death drug, thiopentol sodium, because the only U.S. maker of the drug stopped making it in January.
Amnesty International says the only countries using lethal injections are China and the United States.
But prisons could also see a shortage of pentobarbitol, because the only FDA approved maker of it, Lundbeck, has publicly denounced its use for lethal injection in humans: “Lundbeck does not condone the use of [pentobarbitol] or any other product for capital punishment.”
Lundbeck officials say they have already sent letters of complaint to the states that are now using their drug to kill prisoners. Lundbeck will now look at ways to blockade access to their drug by prisons.
Argentina is demanding help from the United Nations, in helping to fight slave trades, run mainly by organizations from the United States.
Argentina claims that U.S. organized crime is using Argentina as a recruiting grounds, and transit point, for human trafficking. Poor people are promised well paying jobs in the U.S., but end up working for little pay, if any, and long hours.
The workers, men, women and children, not only work in industries like textiles, but, according to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics 80% end up as sex workers in the United States.
Other countries that are destination points for human trafficking are Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, Japan and Thailand.