Is your newest electronic toy stained in African blood ?

New Post (72) : Is your newest electronic toy stained in African blood ?

I found this shocking...so will you...

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You may not have heard of Coltan, but you have it in your cell phone, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices. It is important to everyday communication, but it is making the conflict in Congo more complicated.

What Is Coltan?
Columbite-tantalite — Coltan for short — is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of Congo. When refined, Coltan becomes metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. These properties make it a vital element in creating capacitors, the electronic elements that control current flow inside miniature circuit boards. Tantalum capacitors are used in almost all cell phones, laptops, pagers and many other electronics. The recent technology boom caused the price of Coltan to skyrocket to as much as $400 a kilogram at one point, as companies struggled to meet demand.

How Is Coltan Mined?
Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s. Dozens of men work together digging large craters in streambeds, scraping away dirt from the surface in order to get to the Coltan underground. The workers then slosh water and mud around in large washtubs, allowing the Coltan to settle to the bottom due to its heavy weight. A good worker can produce one kilogram of Coltan a day.
Coltan mining is very well paid in Congo terms. The average Congolese worker makes $10 a month, while a Coltan miner can make anywhere from $10 to $50 a week.

Financing the Conflict
A highly controversial U.N. Security Council report recently outlined the alleged exploitation of natural resources, including Coltan, from Congo by other countries involved in the current war. There are reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are involved in smuggling Coltan from Congo, using the revenues generated from the high price of Coltan to sustain their efforts in the war. By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months through the sale of Coltan, even though no Coltan is mined in Rwanda. All countries involved in the war deny exploiting Congo's natural resources.

Environmental Consequences
In order to mine for Coltan, rebels have overrun Congo's national parks, clearing out large chunks of the area's lush forests. In addition, the poverty and starvation caused by the war have driven some miners and rebels to hunt the parks' endangered elephants and gorillas for food. In Kahuzi Biega National Park, for example, the gorilla population has been cut nearly in half, from 258 to 130

Tracing the Source
The path that coltan takes to get from Central Africa to the world market is a highly convoluted one, with legitimate mining operations often being confused with illegal rebel operations, and vice versa, making it difficult to trace the origin.

To be safe, in recent months many electronics companies have publicly rejected the use of coltan from anywhere in Central Africa, instead relying on their main suppliers in Australia. American-based Kemet, the world's largest maker of tantalum capacitors, has asked its suppliers to certify that their coltan ore does not come from Congo or bordering countries.

But it may be a case of too little, too late. Much of the Coltan illegally stolen from Congo is already in laptops, cell phones and electronics all over the world.

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Charlie Brown

Science and Ethics of HESC and iPSC research.

New Post (71) : Science and Ethics of HESC and iPSC research.

Human embryonic stem cell (HESC) research offers much hope for alleviating the human suffering brought on by the ravages of disease and injury. HESCs are characterized by their capacity for self-renewal and their ability to differentiate into all types of cells of the body. The main goal of HESC research is to identify the mechanisms that govern cell differentiation and to turn HESCs into specific cell types that can be used for treating debilitating and life-threatening diseases and injuries. Despite the tremendous therapeutic promise of HESC research, the research has met with heated opposition because the harvesting of HESCs involves the destruction of the human embryo.

((( HESCs are derived in vitro around the fifth day of the embryo's development (Thomson et al. 1998). A typical day-5 human embryo consists of 200-250 cells, most of which comprise the trophoblast, which is the outermost layer of the blastocyst. HESCs are harvested from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, which consists of 30-34 cells. The derivation of HESC cultures requires the removal of the trophoblast. This process of disaggregating the blastocyst's cells eliminates its potential for further development. )))

Opponents of HESC research argue that the research is morally impermissible because it involves the unjust killing of innocent human beings.

Scientists recently succeeded in converting adult human skin cells into cells that appear to have the properties of HESCs by activating four genes in the adult cells (Takahashi et al. 2007; Yu et al. 2007). The reprogrammed cells — “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPSCs) — could ultimately eliminate the need for HESCs.

However, at present, the consensus in the scientific community is that both HESC and iPSC research should be pursued, as we do not yet know whether iPSCs have the same potential as HESCs or whether it is safe to transplant them into humans.

Thus, the controversies around HESC research will continue, at least in the near-term.

Charlie Brown