What would Shakespeare have thought?

It was again the Soil Association that led me to articles in the news today concerning animal cloning in agriculture. The simple facts are that there are still many medical problems attendant on animal cloning, not to mention the stress caused to the individual and other animal welfare questions, the ethics of the practice itself and, of course, the ultimate question of 'where will it all lead?'. And this has to be addressed by all of us, including the scientists, producers and consumers - we can't just bury our heads in the sand.

The claim in many of the articles quoted, that you can't taste the difference between meat or milk from cloned animals, is to me ludicrous in its absurdity. Of course not, they're clones, so if the job's been done right, then the cloned animal would be a replica of the real animal who gave it its genetic and physical makeup.

But it's this wish to produce perfection in animals, disregarding any inherent genetic or other defects, for the good of mankind in order to provide perfect, cheap food from intensive farming, that concerns me. The much deeper ethical and philosophical questions of what we, mankind, are all about can't be ignored. I, and many others, object to genetically-modified plants more from an emotional, subjective stance rather than a purely scientific one. Statistics, in science as anywhere else, can be manipulated to prove a point, and of course Governemnts and the big producers who employ the scientists will want to produce more and more at a cheaper and cheaper rate, with less and less wastage, purely to increase their own profits or sense of well-being.

But GM crops are only a small step along the road to - what exactly? Man's domination of the environment and planet we have so grossly abused over the centuries?

And animal cloning is a much bigger step, followed by? Perfect human beings with no defects, or with built-in genetic pluses to meet our aspirations or dreams of what we would have like to have been?

Yes, it might be nice to have a clone of your long dead pet dog or cat, but would he or she react in the same way as your original given the changed environment in which the clone would find itself? I for one would hate to grapple with the ethical, emotional and family implications of cloning a loved one and bringing up that child in the image of that loved one, and being disappointed when that cloned husband, wife or child did not quite want to live with me in my nineties knowing where he or she came from) and why they were produced.

Coincidentally I listened last week to the futuristic, dystopian novel 'A Brave New World', published in 1932 by Aldous Huxley, on BBC Radio 7. Like many such books, much of what was written has echoes of things that happened not so long after the publication, and these echoes reverberate today in the fact that cloning of animals is accepted by many scientists as the way forward, despite, as said, the moral and ethical objections.

I feel sad that we live in a polarised society of extremes, and that such extremes can sometimes lead to opposition as expressed by violence or misguided liberation of animals from scientific laboratories, and wish that we humans could take a middle way, or act well before Science has produced what we wish it hadn't. But it's much easier for us to do nothing and think 'it'll never happen', and so we close our minds to what really goes on, in this instance to what is done to put our food on the table so cheaply.

We need to stay informed, express our opposition, and help those in whatever small way we can to keep Science from running away with itself in the cause of the greater good. Read Aldous Huxley and you may be shown an inkling of what the not-so-distant future might hold.

O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world!
That has such people in it!

(Quoted by John Savage in Huxley's novel, originally spoken by Miranda in Shakespeare's The Tempest).

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World of course takes things to the ultimate of control with every cloned creation having a predefined intelligence and purpose, all dictated in the belief that an happiness imposed from above is for the greater good of mankind. But happiness has to come from within (or from the spiritual if you believe that we're more than physical and emotional beings). And I for one don't think we have the right to create anything in the image of another human being, or animal for that matter. I leave the rest to your own beliefs.

RIP Marlene!

God, the Universe, Karma, Fate
or however else you name it,
works in a mysterious way.

After a pleasant chat and
interview with journalist
Amanda Griffiths from
Lancashire life yesterday
afternoon, my sister rang to
tell me that my cousin, Marleen,
had died that very same
afternoon.

A reminder indeed that we are
only hear for a relatively short
time, and, to me at least,
that there's more to life than
making money.

Yes, I know we all have to live,
but we need to stop and reflect
every so often on what we
actually have in life rather than
just getting caught up in the
day-to-day scramble for
business growth in financial
terms. It's our families, our local
community, the well-being of
our country and the world that
we mustn't let get drowned
out by the noise of our
everyday activities.

The main purpose, I believe, in
the business I run is to give
back something to the world, to
our local community, and to
those with health or other
needs. The benefits of essential

oils and nature's other
wonderful materials is well-
known, and I feel in a
very privileged position being
able to create useful and
beautiful products that will give

something back and be of
benefit to others.

Rest In Peace, Cousin Marlene, and may I wish all those who miss you a long life.

I will always remember you
with love as witty and vivacious
and a pleasure to be with when
I was growing up.

See us at upcoming craft fairs/markets

I was hoping to get the page up on the site, but in the meantime here's a list of upcoming events where you can see us and get superb bargains from Essentially Natural.

Fri 12 Nov 7.30 pm: 'Ladies' Night', Holy Trinity School, Littleborough, Rochdale

Sat 27 Nov 10.00 am-3.00 pm: 'Lancashire Day', Rawtenstall Public Library

Sun 28 Nov 11.30 am-4 pm: 'Clogs ont' Cobbles': A great fun day in Rawtenstall town centre. We'll be on Bank Street.


Sun 19 Dec 10 am-4 pm: Ramsbottom Christmas Market, Bridge Street, Ramsbottom (town centre).

So if you're looking for Christmas gifts that you no will be beneficial to your health or lifestyle, and, of course, to the wider environment, then we're sure you'll not be disappointed.

The end of an era - Jeeves (of AskJeeves) has retired

Thanks to Nigel Botterill for the following. Nigel is an entrepreneur from Yorkshire (now living in Sollyhull) well-known, amontst other things, for The Best Of network of businesses around the country that aims to promote quality local businesses, and also for his membership site for small/medium businesses.

I received this announcement from him as an email.

The closure of AskJeeves.com is sad indeed. I remember using the service (with the kids too) when we wanted to find something particular to England or the UK, or just to avoid the plethora of American search results on the other main search engine sites.

But, as Nigel says, ther's a salutary lesson for us all here - just because good old institutions have stood the test of time through customer loyalty and good service, we're living in a very changeable and fast-moving world these days.

Goodbye, Jeeves, and I'll raise a glass to you after I close the office door tonight. Please all join me if you can for that final toast to a service now no longer in existence.

BlogWriter on IPhone again

After having so much trouble with my P
c earlier today, I'm back on the IPhone using my ThinkOutside Bluetooth keyboard. I now have the full version of the app which has, at least in theory, much more to offer.We shall see if it's accessible using Apple's built-in screenreader, VoiceOver...
It looks as if it's doable, but not sure yethow easy it will be for me to copy and paste in links or other information from emails etc.
One other little thing - if anyone knows of an app - there's no way to rename the photos in your photo album on the IPhone to anything other than image-001, image-002 etc. OK, I know it's possible for this to be done at the computer, but it would be very useful for my sighted assistant to be able to take a picture, rename it, and then for me later to know what the photo is and do whatever I want with it from the IPhone.
So what's all this got to do with Ethical Living, or my business for that matterWell, in their way Apple are opening up the world of computing and mobile phones to those with little or no sight at an affordable price. And that's well worth shouting about. And, of course, the IPhone is the greatest thing I have when away from home (or when in bed as now) for my business, although I did originally buy it for personal use.
OK, readers.Have I strayed far enough away from this blog's title? Perhaps now the time has come to rename it to Essentially Natural to reflect the name of the Company, or perhaps something like 'Musings of a blind business owner'?
I really would love to know what you think.
There may even be a prize for the reader with the best suggestion or comment. :)
?

'Man cannot live by Sky alone' - or can he?

Well, I've always found it intriguing how the Soil Association and PR agencies glean quotes from the millions of spoken and written words that bombard us every day. And none more so than this one:
“Britons now spend more on Sky than on bread [more than £4bn Sky to £3.4bn bread].”
Lord Maurice Saatchi on the http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9116000/9116903.stm Today Programme.
He was, of course, referring to the influence of Rupert Murdoch on how you can changing the world against all probability, speaking at last night's Lady Thatcher Lecture launch.
I don't think there was any other green message there, but it still leaves food for thought, if you'll pardon the pun.
But there's lots more in todays Newsletter from the www.soilassociation.org Soil Association:
'No more beef and cheese: Go vegetarian' cries the http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322704/Go-vegetarian-order-Government-food-police.html#ixzz134qNWnNi daily mail;
An article on the real meaning of 'Green valleys: sustainable food in Wales' and the provision of food for the local community (from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/21/green-valleys-sustainable-food-wales The Guardian;
or, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8077258/Michelle-Obama-digs-for-victory-as-the-President-hits-the-campaign-trail.html The Daily Telegraph:
The First Lady’s White House harvest
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama harvests a pumpkin from her garden veg patch with local 5th graders as they participated in the White House Kitchen. The harvest of Hallowe'en pumpkins was part of the first lady's Lets Move! campaign to reduce childhood obesity.
The Daily Telegraph (22 October, p.21).
An interesting read!

Better look, more value!

We are pleased to announce our improved look, better value range of Reed Diffusers just in time for Christmas.

We are delighted to be able to offer our range of natural Reed Diffusers in a new, square bottle with 50% extra at the same price. Not only is the bottle more stylish, but it is more stable and so is less easily knocked over, lessening the risk of spills.

See here for details.