Organic label rules may be changed
HARTFORD, Maine, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Legal challenges by a Maine organic blueberry farmer resulted in the U.S. federal government writing new regulations concerning organic food labeling.
Arthur Harvey sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002 alleging the organic food regulations were far more lax than the original legislation intended. The lawsuit failed, but Harvey won several points on appeal including limiting the use of non-organic agricultural products in food tabled "organic."
The National Organic Standards Board, which advises the Agriculture Department, is meeting Monday in Washington to discuss the ramifications of Harveys' lawsuit, reported the Chicago Tribune Thursday.
Under the existing rules, products must be 95 percent organic to be eligible for the Department of Agriculture's organic seal, but products with 70 percent organic ingredients can advertise that they have been made with organic ingredients.
Several organic manufacturers said they might switch to the "made with" organic ingredients label that could result in less organic ingredients used.
For example, organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm says it has no organic substitute for inulin, made from an artichoke root, and synthetic pectin so it might have to go with the "made with" label in which case they would use non-organic sugar and fruit because they're less expensive.
Siberian permafrost melting
TOMSK, Russia, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Russian scientists said the western Siberian sub-Arctic region -- a peat bog the size of France and Germany -- has begun to thaw.
The scientists warned the melting permafrost could unleash billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.
The 360,000 square miles of western Siberia may turn into a watery landscape of shallow lakes and it could release huge quantities of methane trapped in the frozen peat, according to researchers Sergei Kirpotin, a botanist from Tomsk State University in Russia, and Judith Marquand from Oxford University.
Kirpotin told New Scientist the western Siberian sub-Arctic region had begun to melt in the last three or four years in an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and undoubtedly connected to climatic warming."
Hot springs found in Norwegian Sea
BERGEN, Norway, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The world's northernmost underwater hot springs that sustains coral has been found in the chilly waters of the Arctic by Norwegian researchers.
Using a mini-submarine, researchers at the University of Bergen found the underwater hot springs this summer at a depth of 660 yards on the so-called Mohnsryggen north of the Arctic island of Jan Mayen, where Norway maintains a weather station and military presence, reported Aftenposten Thursday.
The researchers were stunned when the mini-sub glided into an underwater forest featuring pinnacles from which streamed water nearly 500 degrees F and saw sea life including shrimp, sea spiders, coral and eel.
"It was like looking into a fantasy world," said Rolf B. Pedersen, who led the international expedition. "Life that can adapt to extreme conditions can have extreme characteristics."
NASA probe launch scrubbed
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The Thursday launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Florida was scrubbed because of a fueling problem.
NASA is to make another launch attempt Friday if the problem has been resolved. The launch window would extend for two hours beginning at 7:43 a.m. EDT Friday.
The 2.4-ton, $450-million NASA probe will search for signs of water and landing sites on Mars in unprecedented detail from the top of the Martian atmosphere to more than a half-mile beneath its reddish-hued surface. The mission is scheduled to last five years. Then the probe will make the 310 million mile journey back to Earth.
"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a weather satellite, a geological explorer, a communications satellite and an exploration pathfinder hunting for landing sites of the future," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "It has got a critical strategic role."
In addition to taking photographs, the probe will have ground-penetrating radar look for layers of rock, ice and water beneath Mars' surface and a spectrometer will identify minerals that could indicate the presence of water.
China to send pork sperm on space flight
BIEJING, China, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The next manned space flight of China will carry capsules of pedigree pig sperm in a test that scientists hope will ultimately produce better quality pork.
The Shenzhou VI spacecraft will carry half an ounce of the sperm on its second mission, scheduled for October, to study whether exposure to outer space alters its genetic make-up, reported the Daily Telegraph Thursday.
"Exposed to micro-gravity, high levels of radiation and magnetic fields, the DNA of the sperm will genetically mutate," said Wang Jinyong, of the Chongqing Academy of Animal Husbandry. "There may be good and bad changes in the DNA -- our job is to keep the good changes and omit the bad so that we can improve the quality of the pig."
The sperm will be used to fertilize eggs and Wang will observe the extent of the mutation.
