Category: Uncategorized

TOBACCO COAT-TAILING FREE TRADE TALKS. "The tobacco industry has consistently abused international trade and investment rules to stall, block or roll-back implementation of the tobacco treaty. Trade is the strongest arrow in their litigation quiver, and TTIP as it is currently envisioned is a dream come true." https://lnkd.in/dtMxZcK View in LinkedIn

LOBBIES OVERTURNING PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY. "Trade bodies can overturn domestic public health and safety policies, in 2011 the WTO ruled against aspects of the U.S. ban against the sale of candy- and other sweet-flavored cigarettes (which often attract children to smoking) contained in the U.S. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009." https://lnkd.in/dZRfg_S View in LinkedIn

LAWSUITS AGAINST GOVERNMENTS. "TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) ... raises the prospect of Big Tobacco and other corporations bringing legal actions against governments that prioritise the health of their citizens over the profits of these companies." https://lnkd.in/dsTub_g View in LinkedIn

THE MODERN CIGARETTE is different. But quite how different is the issue. Engineered free base nicotine is comparable in addiction to illegal drugs today. These changes in tobacco have not needed to be disclosed, because it is unregulated, but they represent a remarkable change in the landscape. View in LinkedIn

A SUPERB ARTICLE on iridescence, coving the subject in sufficient technical detail for all of us to grasp and illustrating the lovely possibilities of learning from nature to create man-made new materials and effects. https://lnkd.in/d3_ruXz View in LinkedIn

SEE INFOGRAPHIC on TTIP. "As I am typing this, I am becoming more and more aware of how fantastical and exaggerated the potential implications of the TTIP could come across. It all sounds like the plot to a Marvel super-villain comic. In fact, this is probably one of the agreements best tools – it seems too crazy to be true. But this is reality." https://lnkd.in/d3KpSH4 View in LinkedIn

BEETLE MIMICRY. "Today, engineers are looking at how these random networks and particle arrays can give rise to strongly colored and high-opacity materials. Pete Vukusic ... (has) mimicked the cuticle of Cyphochilus beetles in random porous networks made from interconnected filaments of the minerals calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide." https://lnkd.in/d3_ruXz View in LinkedIn

NHS FAIR GAME FOR TRUBUNALS. "The TTIP negotiations threaten new powers, less accountability and a huge shift towards putting corporate profits before public health. Prime Minister David Cameron has explicitly ruled out excluding public services such as the NHS from its remit." https://lnkd.in/dsTub_g View in LinkedIn

LAZER CRYSTAL FABRICATION. "Being somewhat 'scaled-up' versions of the natural nanostructures, these had photonic band gaps in the infrared part of the spectrum. Current telecommunications operates mostly at infrared wavelengths, and these structures could find uses there." https://lnkd.in/d3_ruXz View in LinkedIn

CURRENT SECRET TRUBUNALS. "Tobacco companies are already using ISDS arrangements ... to bully governments. Philip Morris is using ISDS to sue Uruguay for increasing the size of the health warnings on cigarette packs, and to bring a case against Australia over its introduction of plain, standardised tobacco packaging two years ago." https://lnkd.in/dsTub_g View in LinkedIn