Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Americans cannot prevent corporations from spending unlimited money to control elections, politicians, and policy. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the court ignored the fact that corporations are creations of state law with government-derived advantages and labeled them, in the words of Justice Anthony Kennedy, ‘voices,

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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is far from over, as new reports explains that water samples taken nearly 400 miles off the coast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean are showing radiation levels of up to 1,000 times higher than previous readings. Presenting their findings at the recent Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, Ut., scientists continued to claim these severely elevated radiation levels are not a significant health or environmental threat.

Back in June 2011, a ship carrying scientists traveled off the eastern coast of Japan collecting water samples at distances of roughly 20 miles to 400 miles from the coast. Upon analysis, these samples were found to contain elevated levels of cesium-137 at ten to 1,000 times higher than levels detected before the Fukushima disaster, which is highly alarming.

Included in the detections was the presence of radioactive silver, which is an obvious product of melted control rods at the nuclear facility. The mainstream media is claiming that this silver is simply a result of nuclear fission, but the reality of the situation is that this silver is evidence of a complete core meltdown at the facility, which is obviously having widespread repercussions.

Meanwhile, Hartmut Nies, an official from the […]

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Patients who’ve had celiac disease ruled out may have another form of gluten sensitivity, but there’s little clinical evidence to explain the latter condition, researchers said.

More patients have been reporting a resolution of symptoms with a gluten-free diet even though they have never tested positive for celiac disease, reported Antonio Di Sabatino, MD, and Gino Roberto Corazza, MD, of the University of Pavia in Italy, in the Feb. 21 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

But there is insufficient evidence in the literature on nonceliac gluten sensitivity or what may cause it, they wrote.

Meanwhile, they went on, patient groups, manufacturers, and the media have been touting a gluten-free diet as the answer to patients’ unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms.

Indeed, some marketers have touted a figure of 17 million Americans affected by gluten sensitivity, although there are no official data on its prevalence, according to Di Sabatino and Corazza.

”Sense’ should prevail over ‘sensibility’ to prevent a gluten preoccupation from evolving into the conviction that gluten is toxic for most of the population,’ they said. ‘We must prevent a possible health problem from becoming a social health problem.’

There have been many names for the syndrome, including gluten sensitivity, gluten hypersensitivity, nonceliac gluten intolerance and nonceliac […]

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In the latest dispatch from the Republican war on Planned Parenthood, on Thursday the administration of Texas Gov. Rick Perry enacted a new rule banning state funds from going to any health center at all affiliated with anyone who offers abortions. The measure would effectively end the Women’s Health Program in the state, because federal law prohibits states from discriminating against specific providers in the allocation of Medicaid.

The Texas Tribune reports that the move bans Planned Parenthood clinics and other ‘affiliates of abortion providers’ from taking part in the program:

The rule, signed by Commissioner Tom Suehs on Thursday, takes effect March 14. Unless some last-minute agreement is brokered, the program, which receives $9 in federal funds for every $1 in state funds, will be either phased out or cut off by the end of March. At least 130,000 poor Texas women will lose access to cancer screenings, well-woman exams and contraception.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richard said Perry has again ‘chosen politics over the lives of Texas women.’ This isn’t the first time the Perry administration has cut women’s health programs; last year, the governor and legislature axed two-thirds of the budget for those […]

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GATI, NEPAL — Climate change is altering the face of the Himalayas, devastating farming communities and making Mount Everest increasingly treacherous to climb, some of the world’s top mountaineers have warned.

Apa Sherpa, the Nepali climber who has conquered Mount Everest a record 21 times, said he was disturbed by the lack of snow on the world’s highest peak, caused by rising temperatures.

‘In 1989 when I first climbed Everest there was a lot of snow and ice but now most of it has just become bare rock. That, as a result, is causing more rockfalls which is a danger to the climbers,

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