Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Wikinews interviewed author Marc Headley about his new book Blown for Good, and asked him about life inside the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base“, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California. Headley joined the organization at age seven when his mother became a member, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005.

Friday, February 2, 2007

An advertising campaign for shows on Adult Swim, a programming block on Cartoon Network, which is owned by Turner Broadcasting, gave local and federal law-enforcement a scare when devices were discovered on eight different bridges and roads.

The U.S. city of Boston was snarled in traffic jams January 31 as police investigated devices with flashing lights representing a cartoon character were placed around bridges and other areas throughout the city.

Different governmental agencies were brought in to help deal with the problem, which was later found to be no threat, as described by Boston Police Department spokesperson Eddy Chrispin. A bomb squad was deployed under supervision of the FBI, Boston police, the US Coast Guard, and different federal agencies.

The advertising campaign, for the widely popular program Aqua Teen Hunger Force, featuring characters from that series, was in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many other major US cities.

Two people have been arrested for alleged participation in this incident.

Turner Broadcasting Systems hired New York marketing firm Interference Inc. which in turn hired individuals in the various cities to place the devices promoting the cartoon’s fifth season, scheduled for a February 23 premiere. Road and rail traffic was disrupted by police as they investigated and removed the devices.

The mostly flat devices resemble two-foot-square Lite-Brites with batteries attached to the bottom and visible wires.

G4TV has dubbed the incident “Aquagate” on its broadcast of Attack of the Show segment The Feed.

It is not known why the devices took police several weeks to notice, nor why the devices were believed to be dangerous.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Around 17 people were arrested and a number of guns and weapons were seized earlier this morning (NZDT) at “terrorist” training camps and anarchist group homes following raids by the New Zealand Police around the country. The raids were under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 and Arms Act.

The raids, conducted by over 300 armed police officers, focused on indigenous M?ori and environmental activists, including activist Tame Iti. Iti faces eight counts relating to firearms, including having a semi-automatic shotgun and two molotov cocktails. He is well known in New Zealand for many high profile cases, including a sedition charge for shooting the New Zealand flag, for which he was later acquitted, during Waitangi day in 2005.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad said that those targeted were from various ethnicities and from different motivations.

Commissioner Broad said, “It was military-style activity they were training for”, adding that he did not believe “protest activity involves firearms or other weapons.” One training camp raided by police was “guerilla-style” in the Urewera mountain ranges. Guns, ammunition and grenades were found in the camp.

No one has yet been charged with a crime against the Terrorism Suppression Act, only with charges relating to the Arms Act. “[The Police] are proceeding with full care in talking to people and assessing information before we can determine whether there is sufficient evidence to seek the consent of the Attorney General through the Solicitor General to charge anyone under [the Terrorism Suppression Act],” Commissioner Broad said. “This is the first time that the Terrorism Suppression Act has been considered in terms of an operation.”

Warrants were executed in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland; the capital, Wellington; Christchurch; Palmerston North and towns in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region. The warrants were issued under the Summary Proceedings Act, which allows searching for evidence of committing an offence against the Terrorism Suppression and Arms acts.

The police were informed of the existence of the camps by hunters who stumbled across a training operation being conducted by the groups. The raids were undertaken after evidence was gathered during 2006 and 2007 and followed months of police work. Police had infiltrated the camps, and taken video footage of weapons training. Phone and text message communications and conversations between suspects were recorded. Commissioner Broad said, “Based on the information and the activity known to have taken place, I decided it was prudent that action should be taken in the interests of public safety.”. Reports have indicated a specific threat to the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, was involved.

Prime Minister Helen Clark was briefed on the raids last week by police but refused to comment to reporters earlier today.

Those who have been arrested and appeared in court today were given interim name suppression.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Sir Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970-1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965-1975, has died at his home in Salisbury just a week after his 89th birthday.

Heath implemented the decimalization of the British coinage, led the United Kingdom into the European Economic Community, attempted to end industrial unrest with the Industrial Relations Act, initiated a failed power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, and, in order to cope with a coal strike on top of the 1973 fuel crisis, instituted a three-day work week in the UK.

Today he was eulogised by fellow politicians, including Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who succeeded Heath after he was ousted from the Conservative Party leadership in 1975. She said that with Heath’s death Britain had lost a ‘political giant’. There was also praise, from Heath’s former political secretary Sir Douglas Hurd, for his contribution to the EEC.

‘He got us into the European Union,’ Sir Hurd said. ‘I mean that is a huge step, a very difficult one, which I doubt would have happened without his particular kind of thoroughness and determination. That was an amazing achievement.’[1]

Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a statement describing Sir Heath as ‘a man of great integrity and beliefs’.

Heath was offered the post of Ambassador to the United States in 1979, but declined. He continued to represent the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup as a backbench MP until his retirement in 2001. He was created a Knight of the Garter in 1992.