The pro-GMO health agency, WHO, has had an apparent change in heart as indicated by the following item. Be aware that Brazil and New Zealand basically submarined adoption of international standards on biosafety during a critical state in establishing the Cartegena Protocols on Biosafety. In effect, that leaves each country to establish their own rules and labeling systems: ---------------------------------------------------- Health effects of GM foods need further study, WHO says Food Navigator USA, 24 June 2005 http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=60866-health-effects-of A call by the World Health Organisation for further safety assessments on using genetically modified (GM) foods should give governments pause for thought before giving their approval for their wider use of the technology. The sale of GM foods has put nations at loggerheads with each other. The EU and Japan have enacted labelling and traceability requirements for GM food products, while the US and Canada believe the technology is safe and that such standards are not necessary. The US, Canada and Argentina have filed cases with the World Trade Organisation against the EU's requirements. The dispute leaves multinational food companies with having to deal with different sets of regulations to contend with depending on the countries in which they operate. In a report issued yesterday, the UN body finds that GM foods can increase crop yield, food quality and the diversity of foods [that's pure speculation] that can be grown in a given area but warns against rushing to introduce novel types of genes into the food chain. "However, some of the genes used to manufacture GM foods have not been in the food chain before and the introduction of new genes may cause changes in the existing genetic make-up of the crop," the WHO stated in its assessment. "Therefore, the potential human health effects of new GM foods should always be assessed before they are grown and marketed, and long-term monitoring must be carried out to catch any possible adverse effects early." The organisation calls for a case-by-case risk assessment of each new GM food on its effects on human health, on the food chain and on the environment rather than a general endorsement by governments on the use of the technology to create new types of crops or animals. WHO notes that pre-market risk assessments have been performed on all GM food products that are currently marketed [purely on the basis of the company's "data", and such assessments are voluntary in the US]. To date, the consumption of GM foods has not caused any known [how could they know without the most acute toxicity?] negative health effects. Currently, evaluations of GM primarily focus on the ecological and agricultural ramifications and on possible health effects. The organisation recommends such evaluations should be widened to include social, cultural and ethical considerations, to help prevent what WHO calls a "genetic divide" between groups of countries which do and do not allow the growth, cultivation and marketing of GM products. "Each country has different prevailing social and economic conditions, and the people have different histories of what they eat and what food means in their society," WHO stated. "All of these factors can affect how GM foods will be regarded, and taking proper account of these concerns will affect the long-term acceptance or rejection of GM foods and their possible health benefits and potential risks." There are now 15 international legally-binding instruments and nonbinding codes of practice addressing aspects of GM organisms. Many developed countries have established specific pre-market regulatory systems requiring the rigorous case-by-case risk assessment of GM foods prior to their release. Many developing countries lack the capacity to implement a similar system, WHO stated. In 2004 about 81m hectares of land was being used to grow GM crops by seven million farmers in 18 countries, mainly the US, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, China, Paraguay and South Africa. The first major GM food was introduced on the market in the mid-1990s and paved the way for the growing of strains of maize, soybeans, rapeseed and cotton. GM varieties of papaya, potato, rice, squash, sugar beet and tomato have been released in certain countries. WHO estimates that at the end of 2004 GM crops covered about four per cent of the total global arable land. Most of the GMOs commercialised so far in developing countries have been acquired from developed countries and focus on a limited number of traits, mainly herbicide tolerance and insect pest resistance, and crops such as cotton, soybean and maize. Research is also underway on GM seafood and animals. Many food-processing aids, such as enzymes, produced through the use of GM microorganisms have been on the market for over a decade and are used in a wide variety of processed foods. No live GM food microorganisms have been introduced onto the market yet, WHO stated. Current EU requires that all food be tracked and labelled if it contains 0.9 per cent or more traceable GM content, along with derivatives such as paste and ketchup from a GM tomato. Products derived from GM processing aids, such as GM enzymes or yeast, are not affected. Inciting strong criticism from environmental groups, this year a panel of scientists at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) cleared a variety of genetic maize known as 1507 for cultivation. Maize 1507 is made jointly by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont, and Mycogen seeds, a Dow AgroSciences unit. Biotechnology, in its technical sense, refers to plant and animal farming techniques that alter living organisms to make or modify food products. There are many possible products from transgenic plants, plant parts, and processed foodstuffs, including highly refined substances such as vegetable oil containing little or no detectable transgene-derived protein or DNA. Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, governments will signal whether or not they are willing to accept imports of agricultural commodities that include GMOs by communicating their decision via an Internet-based - http://bch.biodiv.org - Biosafety Clearing House. Here's one of the more accurate accounts of the newly-published report from the WHO: ----- Here is a link that might be useful: WHO report

However, Amtico has created a different line of flooring, called Stratica: "Stratica is our ground-breaking PVC-free range of sustainable floors, developed in response to demand for healthier indoor environments particularly from Healthcare and Education sectors." So, what does this mean for their other products, Amtico and Spacia? I also noticed that all their products passed testing for California indoor air quality, whatever that is worth.

Silver is actually a great natural antibiotic if you use the proper formulation. There is a product on the market called Silver Biotics that I use ALL the time and I wouldn't be without it. I've used it for my cat, he had a sore on his paw that was really infected and smelled really bad, after a few days of silver biotics, it was healed up and the infection was gone. I've used it several times when I felt something coming on. My point is I think you're safe with the silver care in your washer. Back in the older days there was a condition that caused your skin to turn blue/gray from people taking silver supplements but they were ingesting silver in very high concentrations. Another interesting footnote.....During the plague, a lot of the "rich" people seemed to survive and it was suggested that perhaps it was because they could afford "silver" utensils ...I've also heard where people who were sick would drop silver coins in a glass of water and drink the glass of water to fight infection. Silver is great if used properly.

We do need photos, so we can better advise you. First off, if this is a seedling, there is no graft - it would have been grown from a seed. So, it's either a grafted tree or a seedling tree, can't be both :-) And, you wouldn't need to cut anything off unless you are seeing sprouts coming from below the graft line, indicating you're having rootstock growth. If this tree is grafted (most likely, if it came from Lowe's, oranges would rarely be a seedling tree or even a rooted cutting), the rootstock most likely would be some sort of trifoliate, so very easy to identify any rootstock growth, as the leaves would be in a set of 3 leaves, instead of single leaves. Lastly, you have some sort of sucking insect infestation, if you're seeing "goo on the leaves and branches. Most likely either spider mites or scale, so treat accordingly, and many, many times, as both are rather difficult to eradicate. As far as branches that have split, please provide close up photos, as that is rather disconcerting. Not sure why branches would be splitting. Patty S.