FONTERRA PUSHING THEIR LUCK A BIT...



First published at Qassia:



Fonterra pushing their luck a bit...

Fonterra is New Zealand's largest company and in the top six dairy companies in the world. It is no small fry in the wider scheme of things.

While Fonterra was embarrassed by its involvement in the Chinese melamine milk scandal in China last year, through its involvement with a Chinese dairy company, it was not actually involved directly in exporting dairy products to Chinese companies. However Fonterra paid out about $NZ200 million in compensation. Six babies died and about 36,000 others became seriously ill through the melamine contaminated milk powder their mothers gave them. The melamine caused kidney stones in thousands of Chinese babies.

Three Chinese nationals directly responsible for adding melamine to milk products received the death penalties, and others were imprisoned for an number of years or received life sentences. Melamine is normally used in plastic products and should not have been added to food products in any form at all.

Back in New Zealand Fonterra distributes and sells dairy products on behalf of its farmer producers; probably up to 95% of all dairy farmers are Fonterra's clients. It certainly didn't help the image of New Zealand overseas as well.

During recent times the dairy industry had been booming in New Zealand, with many farmers changing from meat and wool to dairy products. But the economic tsunami now sweeping the world has harmed Fonterra and its farmer clients in no uncertain terms as well. Dairy prices are plumetting and a few farmers may now be wishing they had stayed in the meat and wool industry, rather than switching to the dairy market.

The increasing returns for farmers in export markets in recent years resulted in soaring domestic prices at the supermarkets. Many customers switched to cheaper butter alternatives such as margerine. While some prices have fallen, they are not being reflected by any increases in demand for dairy products.

Fonterra

HYDROGEN GAS FROM WATER - A SCAM OR FACT...

First published at Qassia:

An Aucklander, Simon Cape, who has reportedly powered his house by using solar energy, is now fuelling his car with water.

His house featured on New Zealand television and in local newspapers. He has reportedly reduced his domestic power bill down to a mere NZ$55.00 per month and even sold excess electricity back to the national grid.

His latest project is also potentially controversial in its claims, something previously written off on the internet as scams; it has featured in a recent television news program here.

He claims to have modified a small hydrogen gas-making kit to fuel his Honda CRV and has slashed his petrol bill by 20% with just a capful of water per week.

While he actually discovered the concept of using hydrogen to supplement petrol 20 years ago, it has only been in recent times with petrol prices here in New Zealand soaring through the roof, he has given further thought.

He recently surfed the net to establish what technological advances had been made in the last two decades.

An electrician by trade,he imported a hydrogen gas-making device from the US, and applied a bit of Kiwi ingenuity to the task. While the finished kit owes more to No 8 wire than high tech, he has a glass jar filled with distilled water, with several wires attached alongside the engine of his car.

It allows a very small amount of electricity to be taken from his car battery to change the water into HHO gas(2 parts hydrogen to one part oxygen)which is then fed in with the fuel, something that reduces petrol use.

The driver of the car has the option to switch between full fuel petrol and the hydrogen supplement. In principle this is similar to the CNG and petrol concept.

Simon Cope claims the advantage of the kit is its easy installation, its cost effectiveness, and lack of any known negative effects on the car's engine.

He told a New Zealand Sunday newspaper he had been testing the kit(which he has named Water for Petrol) for the last two months. He is also selling the kit for NZ$350.00 and has 60 prospective customers. The greater the number sold will enable a better test result.

After reading the original article about Simon Cope's hydrogen water kit, I believe things need to be put into perspective - in what will be an evolutionary process, hydrogen gas is a supplement not a full substitute as many people believe. I can't speak with any authority about internet advertised hydrogen gas alternatives, but the NZ kit is a creditable work in progress and in the public domain. A progress report is anticipated in coming weeks, which should be reported by television and other media.

Despite this there are still those who claim a scam.I Wonder?

Read here