WHO launches genetic research register after designer-baby scandal

Yahoo – AFP, August 29, 2019

Chinese scientist He Jiankui, pictured in November 2018, altered the DNA of twin
girls in southern China by using molecular scissors -- ostensibly to prevent them
from contracting HIV (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Geneva (AFP) - The WHO announced Thursday it will create a global registry to track research into human genetic manipulation, after a call to halt all work on germline genome editing -- used in China last year to genetically modify twin baby girls.

"New genome editing technologies hold great promise and hope for those who suffer from diseases we once thought untreatable," the World Health Organization's Director General for told the body's genome editing oversight committee meeting in Geneva.

"But some uses of these technologies also pose unique and unprecedented challenges -– ethical, social, regulatory and technical,” he added.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui's announcement last November that he had altered the DNA of twins girls in southern China by using molecular scissors -- ostensibly to prevent them from contracting HIV.

He was then fired from his university, put under police investigation and ordered to halt his work.

But his announcement provoked a global backlash from scientists saying the untested procedure was unethical and potentially dangerous and in December the WHO set up an expert committee to look into the matter.

About 30 nations currently have legislation directly or indirectly barring all clinical use of germline editing.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that countries should not allow any further work on human germline genome editing "until the technical and ethical implications have been properly considered", the WHO said in a statement.

Accepting the recommendation of its 18-member expert committee, WHO announced plans for an initial phase of the registry to include both germline and somatic clinical trials

Somatic mutations occur in a single body cell and cannot be inherited while germline mutations can be passed onto offspring.

Related Articles:

China eyes bans for rogue scientists after gene-editing uproar

Chinese hospital denies approving gene-edited babies experiment

No single 'gay gene,' according to largest ever DNA analysis

Yahoo – AFP, Ivan Couronne, 29 August 2019

A DNA testing kit; part of the research was compiled by volunteers who
had signed up through commercial DNA testing company 23andMe

Like size or intelligence, sexual attraction isn't defined by one gene alone, but is instead the result of the complex interplay between multiple regions of the genome and hard to pin environmental factors.

That's the conclusion of an analysis conducted on half a million DNA profiles as part of a giant study by researchers in Europe and the United States published in the influential journal Science on Thursday.

Its authors hope to bury the notion, popularized in the 1990s, of the existence of an all powerful "gay gene" that determines sexuality in the way eye color is defined.

"We... found that it's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual behavior from their genome," said Ben Neale, a member of MIT and Harvard's Broad Institute, one of several organizations involved in the work.

Sexual orientation does have a genetic component, say the researchers, confirming previous smaller studies, notably on twins.

But the effect is mediated by a myriad of genes. "There is no single gay gene but rather the contribution of many small genetic effects scattered across the genome," said Neale.

Added to this are environmental factors: how a person is raised in childhood, where they live as an adult etc.

Take for example height: the genetic component is indisputable and linked to how tall your parents are or were. But other factors like nutrition during childhood play an important part.

The same is true for how likely you are to have a heart attack. Certain genes lead to a predisposition toward cardiac disease, but lifestyle and diet are ultimately more significant.

The new statistical analysis revealed five points in our chromosomes, called loci, which appear closely linked to sexuality, though each individually has a "very small" influence.

It also turns out that one of these markers is associated with hair loss, which suggests a link with the regulation of sexual hormones.

It's believed that these five markers could be just the beginning, with thousands more awaiting discovery in future.

Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a scientist from the company 23andMe which contributed to the study with the profiles of customers who had volunteered to participate, added: "Genetics definitely play a part, but nonetheless, it is possibly a minority part -- and there is an unexplained environmental effect that one can never put a finger on exactly."

The bulk of the data came however from the UK Biobank, mainly white people, among individuals responding to the question: have you had sexual relations with a person of the same sex?

Controversy

The authors were aware of the sensitivity surrounding the subject, with two of the co-authors mentioning that they themselves were gay.

Eager to avoid being misinterpreted, they also consulted with LGBTQ groups on the best way to communicate their findings, which they have summarized on a website geneticsexbehavior.info.

The LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD praised the work, saying it "provides even more evidence that that being gay or lesbian is a natural part of human life."

Back in 1993, a genetic study on 40 families claimed to have identified the Xq28 gene as defining sexual orientation, but the new analysis refutes this.

A figure produced by the study is likely to cause confusion: the scientists wrote: "When we analyze all common genetic markers together, they capture between 8 and 25% of the individual differences in same-sex sexual behavior."

But that figure is a statistical concept used by scientists when studying populations, and does not apply at an individual level.

The result also challenges the notion of sexuality as a continuum, as proposed by the Kinsey Scale that describes a person's attraction on a scale from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual.

"The genetics suggest that it is an oversimplification to assume that the more someone is attracted to the same sex, the less they are attracted to the opposite sex," the authors wrote.

Related Articles:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

Healthy minds? The Dutch are taking fewer pills than expected

DutchNews, August 27, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Despite the increase in the size of the population of the Netherlands, and the rise in the number of elderly people, the amount of medicine used by the Dutch last year barely rose, according to figures from drugs usage monitor SFK. 

The SFK had expected a rise in prescriptions and medicine usage of 1.5%, in line with the previous five years, but the actual figure was just 0.5%, the AD reported on Tuesday. 

Experts told the paper that the difference is likely to be due to increasing awareness of the implications of medicine usage and the phenomenon of ‘deprescribing’. 

‘We know now that sleeping pills are pointless because they increase the risk of falls and don’t work in the long term,’ pharmacist Bart van den Bemt told the paper. ‘That makes the cure worse than the problem. And whole groups of people used to take them.’ 

Groningen University professor Liset van Dijk told the paper that people may just becoming more reluctant to take drugs. In addition, we may be living in more healthy ways, which means we need to take less medicine, she said.

Related Articles:

Dutch deaths due to opioid painkillers rise 50% in four years - New
Dutch minister warns big pharma to come clean on drugs prices

Medical industry again increases sponsorship of doctors, hospitals

J&J ordered to pay $572 million for opioid addiction crisis 

Drug and consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson was the first pharmaceutical
company tried over the US opioid crisis (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

J&J ordered to pay $572 million for opioid addiction crisis

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, August 26, 2019

Drug and consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson was the first pharmaceutical
company tried over the US opioid crisis (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Washington (AFP) - An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered US health care giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million in damages for its role in fostering the state's opioid addiction crisis.

In the first civil trial of a drugmaker over an epidemic that has caused hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths, Judge Thad Balkman said prosecutors had demonstrated that J&J contributed to a "public nuisance" in its deceptive promotion of highly addictive prescription painkillers.

"Those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans," he said.

According to the ruling, the company and its Janssen pharmaceuticals division will fund an "abatement plan" for care for addicts, families and communities ravaged by the crisis.

"The defendants Janssen and Johnson & Johnson's misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance," Balkman said.

Landmark case

J&J was the first pharmaceutical company tried over the US opioid crisis, which fueled over 70,000 overdose deaths in 2017 alone.

But there are some 2,000 outstanding lawsuits against many drugmakers and distributors filed by state and local governments, many overwhelmed by the costs of an epidemic that has only slightly abated.

Most of those are being rolled into a case to go to trial in October in Ohio that will likely set the basis for potentially many billions of dollars in settlements across the country.

Prosecutors had sought $17 billion in damages against J&J for an abatement program to be spread over 30 years.

But Balkman said the state had not made a strong case for the future costs of the crisis to it and the community beyond one year, and so limited his ruling to that.

J&J's shares rose about two percent to $130 in after-market trade following the decision.

The company immediately said it would appeal the decision.

"Janssen did not cause the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and neither the facts nor the law support this outcome," said J&J executive vice president Michael Ullmann.

"The unprecedented award for the state's 'abatement plan' has sweeping ramifications for many industries and bears no relation to the company's medicines or conduct."

Company downplayed addiction claims

J&J argued that the law was being inappropriately applied and that its products had a very small role in the addiction epidemic in Oklahoma and nationally.

Balkman said J&J had promoted its drugs by telling doctors and patients that pain was not being treated enough and that "there was a low risk of abuse and a low danger" in the drugs themselves.

"The defendants used the phrase 'pseudoaddiction' to convince doctors that patients who exhibited signs of addiction... were not actually suffering from addiction, but from the undertreatment of pain," he said in his decision.

He also said the company consciously downplayed risks it knew were present, pointing to the 2007 $600 million fine in a Virginia trial of Purdue Pharma, one of the leading prescription opioid makers, for misleading the health industry and the public about the highly addictive properties of its Oxycontin painkiller.

J&J is the first drugmaker to go to trial and the case is seen as a bellwether for thousands of possible criminal and civil suits over the seeming uncontrolled distribution of highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, and J&J's Nucynta and Duragesic, between 2000 and 2015.

Two other major drugmakers accused in the same suit, Purdue Pharma of the United States and Israel's Teva, settled with Oklahoma before the case went to trial.

Purdue, which produced the widely abused opioid Oxycontin, agreed to pay the state $270 million in March and Teva negotiated an $85 million settlement.

Dozens of local and state governments across the country have also already exacted settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors to address their problems.

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

Dutch minister warns big pharma to come clean on drugs prices

DutchNews, August 27, 2019 

Photo: Ministerie van VWS/ Phil Nijhuis

Health minister Bruno Bruins has warned the pharmaceuticals industry that he considers the way drugs firms are not more open about why their prices are so high to be ‘unacceptable’. 

In an open letter in the Volkskrant, the minister said society ‘cannot accept that healthcare costs mount up so much as to be unaffordable’. Hospital spending on expensive medicines rose 10% in 2017 and has now hit €2.2bn. Treatments which cost €100,000 a year are no longer the exception, the minister said. 

‘What bothers me is that we are not allowed to know why we have to pay so much,’ the minister said. ‘We get no explanation. No insight into the price calculation. And I consider that to be unacceptable.’ 

Elsewhere in the health service, providers, patients and managers work together to keep costs in check, but it is ‘extremely bitter’ that such an important player as the drugs industry does not take sufficient responsibility, the minister said. 

The minister said he planned to hold talks in the coming weeks with an unnamed pharmaceuticals company which had put up the price of a medicine to some €150,000 per patient per year. 

Taxpayers are funding expensive drug development, report says

Big pharma firms criticise Dutch plans to slash drug prices

Without a proper explanation, the minister said he would take ‘steps’ which could include going public. 

The minister said that while he valued pharmaceutical firms’ work, they should show that they are socially responsible ‘in their own interests’. One primarily Dutch investor has already said it will no longer invest in pharmaceuticals firms with unclear prices, the minister said, adding ‘will more follow?’. 

Insurance companies VGZ and ASN have recently made that decision, the Volkskrant said. 

Amcham 

In February, foreign pharmaceuticals companies in the Netherlands said they are ‘concerned’ that the government is undermining the business climate by trying to force down the price of drugs. 

The companies, including MSD, Gilead and Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen, are all members of Amcham, the American chamber of commerce in the Netherlands, which wrote to Bruins calling for a rethink. 

The organisation says Bruins is not sufficiently aware of the investment needed to develop new drugs and that the return on investment in the sector has now shrunk to 1.9%.

J&J faces possible $17 billion payout for pushing opioids

Yahoo – AFP, August 26, 2019

US drug and consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson faces a possible $17
billion payout in Oklahoma's lawsuit over its alleged culpability in the opioid
addiction crisis (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Washington (AFP) - US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson faces a potential record $17 billion damages payout Monday when an Oklahoma judge rules whether its aggressive promotion of opioid painkillers was responsible for the state's addiction epidemic.

The first pharmaceutical company to go to trial over the US opioid addiction crisis, which fueled over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017 alone, J&J was accused by the state of "a cynical, deceitful multimillion-dollar brainwashing campaign" to sell opioids as a "magic drug."

Oklahoma aims to recover the costs of caring for a generation of addicts, families and communities affected by the crisis.

J&J is the first drugmaker to go to trial and the case is seen as a bellwether for thousands of possible criminal and damages suits over the seeming uncontrolled distribution of highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, and J&J's Nucynta and Duragesic, between 2000 and 2015.

Two other major drugmakers accused in the same suit, Purdue Pharma of the United States and Israel's Teva, settled with Oklahoma before the case went to trial.

Purdue, which produced the widely abused opioid Oxycontin, agreed to pay the state $270 million in March and Teva negotiated an $85 million settlement.

The state is relying on its "public nuisance" law to pursue J&J, a statute usually used for prosecuting people and companies that damage the interest or safety of the general public.

According to the state of Oklahoma, around 6,000 people there have died from opioid overdoses since 2000.

The state has asked the court to award it more than $17 billion in damages from J&J to be paid out over 30 years to address the epidemic and the fallout from it.

J&J argued that the law is being inappropriately applied and that its products, made by its pharmaceutical division Janssen, had a very small role in the addiction epidemic in Oklahoma and nationally.

The Oklahoma suit is "an unprecedented expansion of public nuisance liability against a single manufacturer whose specialized production made of a tiny fraction" of all opioid medications prescribed in Oklahoma, the company said in a statement to the court last month.

The Oklahoma judge's decision Monday afternoon could be an important precursor for a case to go to trial in Ohio later this year, in which nearly 2,000 lawsuits by cities, counties and other entities against companies involved in opioid production and distribution have been rolled together.

Dozens of local and state governments across the country have exacted settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors to address their local problems.

In 2007, Purdue pleaded guilty and was fined $600 million in Virginia over criminal charges that they misled the health industry and the public about the highly addictive properties of Oxycontin.

#BREAKING Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $572 million in opioids trial pic.twitter.com/6lfRXEljdg

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 26 augustus 2019

Women with heart failure benefit from lower drug doses: research

DutchNews, August 23, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Women with heart failure might need lower doses of drugs and beta blockers than men, according to a report by Groningen University researchers and published in The Lancet. 

The researchers looked at the standard doses of medicines for heart failures across two large patient groups – 2,500 from Europe and 4,000 from Asia. They found that despite differences in age, weight and bmi, both European and Asian women could be successfully treated with half the recommended doses of the drugs. 

Giving them more than 50% only increased the side effects, the researchers said. 

The research also brings into question what the true optimal medical therapy is for women versus men, the report’s authors said. 

Lead researcher Bernadet Santema told broadcaster NOS doctors are becoming more aware that the sexes need to have different treatments at times.

‘Traditionally, 75% to 80% of people in drugs trials are men,’ she said. ‘Here in Groningen, we do a lot of cardiology trials and we see the same.’

‘If you look back, it is remarkable that science has paid such little attention to the differences between men and women, when they are obvious for all to see,’ UMCG cardiology professor Adriaan Voors said in a press release. 

‘Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from the most minor questions. The results we are finding could apply across far more fields.’

More people ask for help to quit smoking, insurers say

DutchNews, August 19, 2019 

The number of people requesting help to stop smoking has soared, with the biggest three health insurance companies all reporting a sharp rise, the AD said on Monday. 

Last year, 40,000 people asked VGZ, CZ or Menzis to fund a course or medication to try to quit, the paper said. In 2012, just 3,200 people made a similar request. 

Research by the Trimbos addiction centre also shows more people are asking for help. Last year, some 37% of smokers had a go at quitting smoking, up from 34% in 2014. 

The Netherlands still has 3.1 million smokers, of whom 465,000 smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day. Some 20% to 30% of attempts to stop smoking after a course are successful. 

Trimbos spokesman Marc Willemsen said he expects the number of people asking their insurance company to pay for a course will soar in 2020, when help to quit smoking will be excluded from the €385 own risk element. 

‘That cost is a serious obstacle to people who need serious help,’ he said. ‘They cannot afford it.’

Low-skilled worker life expectancy is five years less than for graduates

DutchNews, August 16, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Today’s new pensioners with a college or university degree will live an average of four to five years longer than those with vocational qualifications, the national statistics agency CBS said on Friday. 

Men with a degree are now expected to enjoy 22 years of retirement, while men with few qualifications will live a further 17 years, the CBS said. In addition, the life expectancy gap for men has grown a full year since the period 2011 to 2014. For women, the gap remains four years. 

Lifestyle is likely to be behind the difference, the CBS said. ‘People with a lower level of education are more likely to be overweight and to smoke,’ a spokesman told news agency ANP. They are also more likely to have hearing, eyesight and muscle problems. 

In addition, people with degrees retire, on average, eight months before the low-skilled – meaning they enjoy both a corporate and state pension for longer. 

The FNV trade union federation, which is campaigning for early retirement to be incorporated in the current proposals to reform the pension system, said the new figures demonstrate the real need for change. 

‘The growing difference in life expectancy shows that the union is right to call for the state pension age to be frozen and to scrap the fines for early retirement,’ a spokesman told ANP.

Veggie burgers gain in popularity, meat sales down

DutchNews, August 14, 2019

Photo: Zwanenburg.nl

Meat substitutes are gaining in popularity with Dutch shoppers while meat sales are going down, broadcaster NOS reported on Wednesday. 

Figures from market researcher IRI show that the sale of vegetable-based meat substitutes went up 51% over the past two years while meat sales went down by 9%. 

Chicken proved the exception with an increase in sales of 2% but the first half of this year saw a 0.2% falling off signalling that it, too, is becoming a less attractive consumer option.

Supermarket leaders Albert Heijn and Jumbo supermarkets now stock 100 and 200 meat substitutes respectively, the broadcaster said. In total, €123m was spent on substitutes in the last year, some 4.5% of the total spend on meat products. 

Traditional meat product producers and butcher shops are – sometimes reluctantly- adopting the trend for less polluting food, NOS said. Meat substitutes are much less harmful for the environment than meat, with 1 kilo of beef, the worst offender, producing over 57.9 kilos of CO2 and a kilo of tofu coming in at only 5.8 kilos of CO2. 

‘You have no choice. But we butchers are an innovative lot so we will turn our hand to meat substitutes,’ butcher of 50 years Gerard Steltenpool told the broadcaster. 

In January, website Nu.nl said the Dutch are eating less meat, with two in five people saying they cut down on steak and burgers last year. Around one third of the 20,000 people polled said they ate meat every day, while one in 10 is vegetarian and 7% fully vegan. 

Industry 

The Dutch meat industry is also adapting. Last December, multinational Unilever said it is taking over the Dutch fake meat company The Vegetarian Butcher ‘in response to the growing trend among consumers to increasingly opt for vegetarian and vegan meals’. 

Brabant-based meat processing giant Vion said in March it is seriously considering moving into the market for meat replacement products and in the future half the turnover of Dutch meat producing giant Zwanenburg will be based on non-meat products. 

‘The takeover of the Unox factory is a big step towards this goal,’ a Zwanenburg spokesperson told NOS. ‘For Unox we are making vegetarian sausages, soups and sauces.’ Including the vegetarian products produced by subsidiary Kips, Zwanenburg, vegetarian food now accounts for 30% of total sales.

Two Ebola drugs found to increase survival rates

Yahoo – AFP, Issam AHMED, August 13, 2019

A girl receives a vaccine against Ebola from a nurse in Goma on August 7, 2019
(AFP Photo/Augustin WAMENYA)

Washington (AFP) - Scientists were a step closer to an effective treatment for Ebola after two drugs in a clinical trial were found to significantly boost survival rates, the US health authority co-funding the research said Monday.

The study began last November in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but its current phase has been halted and all future patients switched over to the treatments that have shown positive results, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said in a statement.

REGN-EB3 and mAb114 "are the first drugs that, in a scientifically sound study, have clearly shown a significant diminution in mortality for people with Ebola virus disease," Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told AFP.

Patients who were receiving two other drugs that are being discontinued, Zmapp and remdesivir, will now have the option at the discretion of their treating physician to receive the treatments that have been shown to work.

Fauci explained that the trial was designed to include 725 people, but was halted by an independent board when it had enrolled 681 people because at that point, one of the drugs, REGN-EB3 by Regeneron, reached a critical threshold in success, while mAb114 was not far behind.

Data has so far been analyzed for 499 people from the cohort of 681.

In this group, mortality dropped to 29 percent with REGN-EB3 and with mAb114 it fell to 34 percent, said Fauci -- compared to a rate of between 60 and 67 percent in the general population when the disease is not treated by a drug.

The rates for Zmapp and remdesivir were 49 percent and 53 percent respectively.

REGN-EB3, mAb114 and Zmapp are monoclonal antibodies that bind to glycoprotein on the Ebola virus and neutralize its ability to infect other cells.

Fauci added that the final analysis of the data, including the patients not yet processed, would occur in late September or early October, after which the complete results would be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed medical literature.

The NIH, Democratic Republic of Congo health authorities and the World Health Organization hailed the "extraordinary team of individuals who have worked under extremely difficult conditions to carry out this study," as well as the patients and their families.

Vaccine still key

Jeremy Farrar, director of Britain's Wellcome Trust research charity, said the development would "undoubtedly save lives," adding: "Thanks to this trial, we are starting to understand which treatments to offer to patients in this and future outbreaks."

More than 1,800 people have died in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since Ebola broke out there in August last year.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals, then spreads among humans through direct contact with the blood or other secretions of infected people or with surfaces contaminated with their fluids, according to the World Health Organization.

The latest trial demonstrates "you can dramatically diminish the mortality," said Fauci, "but getting rid of the Ebola virus becomes a (case of) prevention, of how you could prevent this from spreading."

"The best way to end the outbreak is with a good vaccine, as well as to do good contact tracing, isolation, and then, ultimately, treatment."

Health authorities are currently investigating several vaccine candidates.

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Ebola vaccine may be 'up to 100% effective': WHO

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”