Orcas visit a Beach on Canada’s West Coast for a Scratch

Take a break from the news and views to check out this chance sighting of a group of killer whales, scratching themselves in the shallow water of one of the Discovery Islands in British Columbia.  The Orca Network posted Chris Wilton’s vid on their Facebook page, Jan 30, 2015.  They appear to know the big male Orca personally, as A66, born in 1996.

The beach massage is said to be a behavior specific to this particular group of whales.

Stories From the World of Third Party Reproduction

Alana S. Newman is amassing the stories of children resulting from third party reproductive agreements, as well as those of donors and recipients.  These are contributed anonymously to protect privacy and relationships among those involved in the complex transactions.

Learn a bit more about the ‘brave new world’ of reproduction using sperm and egg donation, and its real effects on all of those involved at the Anonymous Us Project.

Petition Merck to Produce Ethical Vaccines

There are no ethical alternatives to the current Rubella, Hepatitis A and Varicella Vaccines, all of which are produced using cell cultures derived from killed humans.  A petition on Change.org has been placed to persuade Merck to revive its older mumps and rubella vaccines so that those with religious objection to abortion could have their kids vaccinated using ethically produced vaccines.   THe author of the petition points out that better vaccine compliance could be obtained by addressing  legitimate (first amendment protected) religious objections.

Please visit the petition site HERE.