This past week, CBC did a series on North Atlantic right whales called Deep Trouble. I was able to comment on them until mid-day Thursday, Sept. 21st, 2017. I was most impressed by CBC's Nancy Russell (who covered part of this CBC series). She kept the facts straight. Quotes from her post: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/right-whales-searching-for-answers-1.4284212 "But Bourque said experts still can't say definitively what killed any of the whales ... I hope we get to the bottom of this, we are doing our absolute best to do that." This means that ship strikes or entanglements are not the main reasons these whales are dying. In fact, 3.8 whales per year get entangled (on average). So, 16 dead whales — when you include those found in U.S. waters — in two months clearly points to other causes. By Friday, a CBC author (or his editor) threw in a couple of misleading statements in part 5 of Deep Trouble: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/snow-crab-fishery-sustainable-right-whales-dying-fishing-gear-1.4297980 "It's believed some were killed by fishing gear entanglements." "Until each of those steps is triggered, the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery will remain MSC-certified sustainable seafood — even though snow crab gear has been found wrapped around dead endangered whales." Notably, the comment section was hardly commented on but someone who goes by "vladimir pucel (Putin not allowed)" stated: "It's believed some were killed by fishing gear entanglements." ???????? Somehow that one sentence pales the credibility of the story." Later that morning, a Facebook friend of mine started tagging me on this CBC series. And out-of-the-blue, another person chimed in and asked a very direct question. I had the sense that my theory had been thoroughly scrutinized since this one genetic analysis table was something I only got the gist of (or so I thought). I was completely "raked over the coals" and my point-blank response was: "Simple solution: just test them". Then, this person began using ALL CAPS so I had to block her on Facebook. Well, you'd think it would have ended there, but no, she started commenting on my YouTube video. This time, she sounded more civil (but I noticed she had "edited" her statements). So, I responded. Later I found out who she was. Watch the video (included in this petition update) or check out the comment thread starting with Liza Baskin (and my responses) on this PSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrSuDXGKaNY&t Lastly, some recent research findings to keep in mind: Complete ZIKV genomes must cover UTRs (untranslated regions). "We do not support the human WHO candidate reference strain KX369547 as preferred reference sequence for comparative genomics purposes." "Instead, we propose the use of the ZIKV genome sequence GAN KJ776791. This sequence matches well with temporal, geographical, and epidemiological characteristics of the WHO reference strain, but in addition, KJ776791 has complete UTRs." Source: http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006528 And more support for my theory that vertebrates are becoming infected with Wolbachia: 1) "Aerial insectivores fell 51 per cent, and shorebird populations declined by 43 per cent, even as waterfowl and birds of prey increased." Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/wwf-living-planet-index-1.4288173 2) Sperm counts have declined by more than half for Western men: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/sperm-count-declining-north-america-europe-australia-1.4220661 "Even though we did not study the causes, it's clearly not genetic causes," Levine said. "It must be the change in the modern lifestyle and the environment that we live." Worth repeating: the environment that we live. P.S. I have added two of the scientists and two of the pathologists who have been working on these whales to this petition because I think it's crucial for all of us who signed that we have confirmation (from them) that: 1) Zika, West Nile, and St. Louis encephalitis viruses have been tested for (and hopefully, ruled out). 2) Wolbachia has been looked for in the gonads, CNS, heart, brain, optic lobe, and retina of these mammals. For ZIKV, the Lanciotti E-, the Pyke E- and NS1-, the Bonn E- and the Bonn NS1-based assays are highly sensitive for the Asian Zika virus lineage and show few mismatches within genomic domains targeted by these assays. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153932 The book Immunology, Inflammation and Diseases of the Eye by E. Pearlman and K. Gentil (on page 91) states: Wolbachia "is most numerous in the mammalian host compared with the insect stage ... Elevated Wolbachia DNA and even intact Wolbachia are detected in the blood." Further along, it states "within 7 days in the mammalian host, bacteria numbers increased 600-fold." Thank you for caring and for sharing. Warmly, Rose Authors note: I cannot use italics or hyperlink. Ergo, links are not hidden. How your signature helps: each time a supporter signs our petition, an email is automatically sent directly to those being petitioned (governments, companies and individuals). When hundreds or even thousands of emails arrive in their inboxes, our message is impossible to ignore.