Response to "a silver (actually cesium) lining: traces of Fukushima disaster fallout help scientist track tuna

Response to "a silver (actually cesium) lining: traces of Fukushima disaster fallout help scientist track tuna

The article listed above is a perfect representation of the shortsightedness of Western thinking. In addition the article is a microcosm of the manner in which Western Political, Economic and Social Structures operate.

The article traces Bluefin Tuna off the coast of California by following the levels of radioactive isotopes. And the article argues that the levels of radioactivity are not harmful and could actually aid conversation efforts.

The argument listed by Marissa Fessenden, the author of the article, is representative of the West's "bomb to safety, war for democracy, humanitarian military aid, ect." First they create the condition- in this case it's nuclear power and/or large scale commercial fishing, second problems arise- nuclear power disaster and/or over-fishing and third the solution is provided with the same thinking in order to maintain the status quo.

No where is this article do we find a critique of nuclear power or over-fishing. In addition readers are left with little understanding of the long term implications of radioactive oceans that are over-fished. Rather we are left with the last line of the article stating, "The fallout from the disaster could unlock secrets of ocean life."

This article reads like propaganda and employs the narrow-minded viewpoint that created the conditions we now live in...a destroyed ocean/s.

The following is a response to an article written on 23 February 2014 titled, "Acupuncture Calms Anxiety Disorder."

The said article uses meta-analysis and bio-medically based studies to explore the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) when treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).  

The research concludes TCM demonstrates a clear ability to benefit the brain, bodily biochemistry and produces positive outcomes when treating both depression and anxiety.  In general the article is favorable to TCM and stays honest to its framework. It even goes so far to describe TCM treatment based on meridian theory, five-element theory and uses TCM pattern language to explain the treatments applied. 

However studying TCM scientifically through western practices and using points of reference like glutamic acid circulation, transduction cAMP-CREB-BDN, ect. is incredibly problematic. First, it promotes a sense of western supremacy given that thousands of years of "clinical study" is forced to fit within the framework of biochemistry, rather than the other way around. By setting the study in this manner, TCM will be validated only if the results of the biochemistry follows with positive outcomes. Second, the discussion will limit TCM to biochemistry's inherit limits as well as those of western scientific experiments.  Again, we will see TCM acknowledged only for those treatments that biochemistry and western science can provide evidence for through their own frame of reference. 

This sort of logic leaves TCM with a medicinal practice limited to the validations of a completely different school of thought while helping to uphold western supremacy.