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Protest Songs, Rocker Neil Young Celebrates Food Democracy with New Album Tour

Legendary musician Neil Young and his new band, Promise of the Real, featuring Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah Nelson, are calling out agribusiness giant Monsanto’s practices with a new album and summer concert tour. The band’s Rebel Content tour to support their new album The Monsanto Years will kick off on July 5 in Milwaukee and includes Young’s first-ever concert in Vermont, in Essex Junction, on July 19, a state that passed a law requiring food companies to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients.

Young, a longtime critic of big agribusiness, has sharply criticized efforts by the Grocery Manufacturers Association to block the Vermont GMO labeling law. “Whatever you think of GMOs,” he maintains, “corporations should not be using massive lawsuits to overturn legitimate, democratic decisions that have strong public backing.”

The tour also encompasses Denver, July 8 and 9; Lincoln, Nebraska, July 11; Cincinnati, July 13; Clarkston, Michigan, July 14; Camden, New Jersey, July 16; Bethel, New York, July 17; Wantagh, New York, July 21; Great Woods, Massachusetts, July 22; and Oro-Medonte, Ontario, July 24. Other dates may be added.

For more information, visit NeilYoung.com.

Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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