Tobacco firms who bribe retailers can expect hefty fines

DutchNews, December 6, 2019 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Product safety board NVWA is going to clamp down on tobacco manufacturers who are bribing tobacconists to sell more cigarettes, the Telegraaf reports. 

The illegal bonuses can go up to as much as €3,000 a year if tobacconists manage to sell a previously agreed number of cigarettes, the paper said. 

The practice is illegal, the NVWA said, because it contravenes the advertising ban on cigarettes. The watchdog found out about the illegal payments last year when journalists queried tobacconists in Nijmegen and Amsterdam about the practice. 

Tobacco firms can expect an initial fine of €45,000 and repeat offenders can be fined up to €450,000. The NVWA will also be looking possible illegal deals with petrol stations and supermarkets, the organisation said in a statement. 

Junior health minister Paul Blokhuis said the practice is ‘worrying as it is aimed at keeping smokers addicted’. He said  he is happy the NVWA is giving off a clear signal that the illegal contracts between retailers and manufacturers will not be tolerated. 

Of the ten tobacconists involved in the scheme, most were franchises of big chains, which, apart from bonuses to the shopkeeper, were given an additional payment in the form of free cigarettes. They will escape a fine, however, because the initiative came from the manufacturers, the paper said. 

Teenagers 

The NVWA does have the tobacconists in its sights for selling cigarettes to people under the age of 18, however, and is planning to continue to use mystery guests to check if retailers stick to the rules. 

Earlier experiments showed that 17-year-olds, despite showing an ID, were sold cigarettes in 35% of cases. Tobacconists who transgress can expect fines from January 1 2020, the NVWA said. 

The Dutch government is trying to discourage smoking and among the measures in the prevention programme Preventieakkoord is the closure of designated smoking spaces in public buildings and companies, which will come into effect in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Five things to know about fentanyl, America's deadliest drug

Yahoo – AFP,  Issam AHMED, August 2, 2019

A December 2018 report found that fentanyl use has surged in recent years because
of heroin and prescription pill shortages, and because it is cheaper for drug wholesalers
to produce than heroin (AFP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump has repeatedly hit out at China for failing to curb the export of illegal fentanyl to the United States.

The powerful painkiller is the primary synthetic opioid available in the US, a class of drug that was responsible for almost 32,000 overdose deaths last year.

But why is fentanyl's threat growing, and can Beijing help America cure its addiction to its deadliest drug?

What is fentanyl?

Fentanyl was first developed in 1959 and introduced to the US market in the 1960s as an intravenous anesthetic.

A hundred times more potent than morphine, it is used to manage severe pain, for example among cancer patients or those receiving end-of-life care.

But it is also produced illegally and trafficked into the US -- primarily from China and Mexico -- in the form of powder or tablets, and sometimes gets mixed with heroin and cocaine.

Why is it spreading?

A report published in December by researchers at University of California San Francisco found that fentanyl use has surged in recent years because of heroin and prescription pill shortages, and because it was cheaper for drug wholesalers to produce than heroin.

"Very little drug slang has developed to describe fentanyl, which lends support to the notion that this is not a demand-driven epidemic," said Sarah Mars, a UCSF researcher.

Users are often unaware the products they are consuming contain the drug, and a key market is people who turn to counterfeit medicines for cost reasons.

"Traffickers are exploiting high consumer demand for illicit prescription painkillers, tranquilizers, and sedatives by producing inexpensive counterfeits containing fentanyl," said a report by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

In 2016, counterfeit prescription painkiller Norco, which actually contained fentanyl, was responsible for at least 14 deaths in California.

How deadly is it?

Fentanyl can be lethal in a dose of as little as two milligrams, equivalent to a few grains of sand.

But it is not just deadly to users and can threaten anyone who intercepts it such as postal workers, law enforcement officers, first responders and even sniffer dogs, according to the DEA.

In 2015, New Jersey law enforcement officers carrying out a narcotics field test on what turned out to be fentanyl experienced shortness of breath, dizziness and respiratory distress, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Where does it come from?

Powdered fentanyl can be bought on the dark web or even business trading sites like Weiku.com, according to Roger Bate, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who published a report on the drug this week.

A kilo sourced from China can be purchased in the US for as little as $1700, which is then used to create up to a million pills that when sold for $10 to $20 each generate millions in revenue, according to the DEA.

Bate's report found that poorly policed free trade zones in places like Singapore and Dubai help bring the products into the US market.

Mexican gangs also play a large role in producing and distributing the drug, with precursor chemicals first smuggled into Mexico via the southwest US.

Some illicit fentanyl products are also brought into the US via Canada, which until 2017 did not allow authorities to open the contents of mail weighing less than 30 grams.

Can China help?

Trump issued his latest missive at China over its alleged inaction Thursday, tweeting: "My friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States – this never happened, and many Americans continue to die!"

China has in fact already made some efforts to crack down on suppliers, leading to transshipment via Vietnam, said Bate, but it could apply much more pressure to major players in its chemical industry that would yield some results.

But he warned action by Beijing could be limited because the government may not be fully aware of the activities of the tens of thousands of smaller chemical producers operating throughout the country.

What's more, even if its efforts prove successful, other countries with manufacturing capacity like Russia or India could step in as new suppliers.

"It's quite difficult for a few guys in the garage to make, but not difficult for legitimate chemical plants to make," Bate said.

He advocates instead for measures to fund drug and mental health programs so that fewer people become addicted, and greater availability of the drug naloxone to treat those who have overdosed.

Massive lawsuit says Sackler family broke laws to profit from opioids

The Guardian, Joanna Walters in New York, Fri 22 Mar 2019

Group of more than 500 cities, counties and tribes accuses family of helping to create ‘worst drug crisis’ in US history

Photographer Nan Goldin leads a protest out of the Guggenheim Museum in
Manhattan, New York, against its funding by the Sackler family, the owners of
Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue. Photograph: Yana Paskova/The Guardian

A group made up of more than 500 cities, counties and Native American tribes across the United States has filed a massive lawsuit accusing members of the Sacklerfamily, who own the maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, of helping to create “the worst drug crisis in American history”.

The lawsuit represents communities in 26 states and eight tribes and accuses Sackler family members of knowingly breaking laws in order to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died.

“Eight people in a single family made the choices that caused much of the opioid epidemic,” the lawsuit, filed earlier this week in federal court in the southern district of New York, states.

The same eight members of the family had recently been added to a small number of lawsuits that are underway against a string of opioid-makers, including the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company the Sacklers wholly own, Purdue Pharma, but they have not been sued as individuals on anything like this scale before.

“This nation is facing an unprecedented opioid addiction epidemic that was initiated and perpetuated by the Sackler defendants for their own financial gain, to the detriment of each of the plaintiffs and their residents. The ‘Sackler defendants’ include Richard Sackler, Beverly Sackler, David Sackler, Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, Jonathan Sackler, Kathe Sackler, Mortimer DA Sackler, and Theresa Sackler,” this week’s lawsuit states.

The eight are the most high-profile members of a family which has long been known for prolific philanthropy to famous arts and education institutions, including the Metropolitan and Guggenheim museums in New York, which have faced fierce recent protests against the taking of Sackler money. Other institutions include Columbia, Yale, MIT, Tufts and other US universities, and, in the UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Serpentine Gallery, Glasgow University and other recipients.

Earlier this week Britain’s National Portrait Gallery decided not to take up the offer of a £1m Sackler family grant and, in the US, Columbia University and the University of Washington, which have both received Sackler donations in the past, have announced they are not now accepting gifts from the family.

Court documents accuse the eight family members of purposely playing down the dangers of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, which is more potent than heroin or morphine. They are accused of deceiving doctors and patients and directing sales and marketing techniques that drove huge over-prescribing and ever stronger doses for many patients who should never have been prescribed the pills in the first place.

“The defendants’ actions caused and continue to cause the public health epidemic…caused deaths, serious injuries, and a severe disruption to public peace, order and safety, it is ongoing and it is producing permanent and long-lasting damage,” the court documents allege.

Many of the allegations have already been made public in a lawsuit naming the same eight family members in Massachusetts, and are contained in court documents in the multi-district litigation taking place in a federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, which has been brought against Purdue and other companies, though no members of the Sackler family individually, by more than 1,200 cities and counties.

The family and Purdue deny wrongdoing.

“This complaint is part of a continuing effort by contingency-fee counsel to single out Purdue, blame it for the entire opioid crisis in the United States, and try the case in the court of public opinion rather than the justice system,’’ Robert Josephson, a Purdue spokesman, said in an emailed statement to the Bloomberg news agency.

“These baseless allegations place blame where it does not belong for a complex public health crisis, and we deny them,’’ the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler families said in a statement. They also noted OxyContin sales “represented a tiny portion of the opioid market”.

The lawsuit filed in New York on 18 March is extraordinary because it focuses almost entirely on the individual Sacklers.

Richard and Jonathan Sackler are sons of the late Raymond Sackler, one of the founding brothers of Purdue. Beverly is Raymond’s widow and David his grandson.

Ilene, Kathe and Mortimer David Alfons are children of the late Mortimer Sackler, another of the founding brothers of Purdue, and Theresa is his widow.

The only other defendants named in the lawsuit are the family trust connected to Raymond Sackler’s branch of the family and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by the Sacklers that produces generic opioid painkillers.

Other cases focus mostly on Purdue and other well known pharmaceutical giants involved in opioid production, such as Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.

The lawsuit in the southern district of New York has been brought by city and county authorities across America, including, for example, 42 counties and cities in Alabama, 31 counties in California, 21 cities and counties in Florida, 28 counties in Illinois, 51 cities and counties in Kentucky, more than 100 towns and cities in Massachusetts and dozens of cities and counties in other states including Wisconsin, Virginia, Utah, Tennessee, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Indiana and Michigan.

Among the eight Native American tribes suing the Sacklers are parts of the Cherokee, the Chippewa and the Sioux, the Oneida Nation and the Blackfeet.

Drug overdoses now kill more than 72,000 people in the US a year, according to government figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 49,000 of those are caused by opioids.

Purdue’s business has attracted a wave of lawsuits alleging deception about the safety of OxyContin, which the company had admitted misbranding in a 2007 criminal case.

Purdue has not ruled out filing for bankruptcy, which would cause a hiatus in the civil cases brought against it, but also indicates it could be short of the kind of funds that would be needed for a massive settlement or a fine at trial in the cases against it, to compensate communities for the cost of the crisis.

But a victory in the latest lawsuit against the Sacklers would give the plaintiffs access to the Sacklers’ personal fortune.

Related Articles:

Louvre museum removes Sackler name amid opioid controversy - New

Canadian province sues opioid makers, distributors

Oxycodone overdoses in the Netherlands soar as prescriptions rise

Painkiller overdose deaths up 5x among US women

Dutch Seroxat teen users to sue drug maker for side effects

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)

Anti-tobacco groups threaten court to get ‘too unhealthy’ cigarettes banned

DutchNews, August 1, 2018

Photo: DutchNews.nl 

Ex-smokers and medical associations are threatening legal action to ban cigarettes that exceed European norms for nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide, Trouw reported on Wednesday. 

Results from a recent test on 100 cigarette brands show that the amount of tar can be up to 26 times the official norm. Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels are also far too high in most brands. 

The test, published by the public health institute RIVM in June, was conducted by covering the small ventilation holes in the filter paper, a method that approaches the way cigarettes are actually smoked. 

The official test leaves these holes, put there by the tobacco industry, uncovered. But smokers compress the holes with their lips and fingers and thus inhale much more of the carcinogenic and addictive substances. 

Both the RIVM and health and safety watchdog NVWA pulled out of a commission which designed this controversial European measuring method because 10 of the 12 members worked in the tobacco industry. 

In a reaction market leaders Philip Morris and British American Tobacco said their cigarettes comply with European norms and national Dutch legislation regarding tobacco. 

Peter van den Driest, spokesperson for Philip Morris, said the European test was never meant to measure ‘actual exposure’ of smokers to tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. 

‘It was meant to enable to compare brands of cigarettes that are smoked in an identical way,’ he told the paper. Tobacco producers say it is up to governments to decide which testing method to use. 

The organisations’ first port of call is health and safety watchdog NVWA but if it fails to enforce the tobacco legislation, they will go to court. Doing nothing would constitute an infringement of human rights, a lawyer for the organisations claims.

A new weapon against sexual assault: Dutch police dogs trained to sniff out sperm

DutchNews, May 15, 2018

Police dogs have many roles. Photo: Graham Dockery

Dutch police have a new weapon at their disposal in the hunt for rapists – a dog which has been trained to sniff out sperm outdoors, RTL Nieuws said on Tuesday afternoon. 

The two dogs have been involved in 80 cases and the trial was so successful that four more dogs will be trained to work in places where sexual assaults have taken place, RTL said. 

In two cases, the dog’s evidence was instrumental in solving two sex crimes – one of which involved a young girl who was knocked off her bike and raped. 

The dogs are able to identify specific sperm up to a week after the incident. This, says RTL, saves on laboratory time because technicians can identify the sperm sample’s dna straight away, rather than test all sorts of different items for potential evidence. 

The sperm dogs are part of a team of 120 sniffer dogs, all trained to focus on specific smells, such as drugs or money. 

Last year, the police abandoned plans to train up sniffer rats. They were going to be used to detect illegal fireworks, fake cigarettes and human bones but the plan was dropped because they could not be made ‘operational’.

Belgium admits it kept quiet about 'tainted' eggs probe

Yahoo – AFP, August 5, 2017

A laboratory assistant for the Dutch food safety board carries out tests on
eggs on August 1, 2017 (AFP Photo/Piroschka van de Wouw)

Brussels (AFP) - Belgian officials admitted Saturday they knew in early June there was a potential problem over insecticide-contaminated eggs but kept it secret because of an ongoing fraud investigation.

"We knew since early June there was potentially a problem with fipronil in the poultry sector," Katrien Stragier, a spokeswoman for Belgium's food safety agency (AFSCA), told Flemish television VRT.

"We immediately launched an investigation and we also informed the prosecutor because it was a matter of possible fraud," she added.

"From that point on the secrecy of the inquiry took precedent. We understand that people have questions about public health and we are trying to answer them," she added.

Contacted by AFP over the past few days, the prosecutor in Antwerp handling the case refused to give out any information on the specific orders of the investigating judge.

Belgian supermarkets have cleared eggs from the shelves of supermarkets as a precautionary measure while awaiting the results of tests.

In Germany and the Netherlands several million eggs from Dutch farms have already been recalled.

German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt pressed the authorities, particularly in Belgium and The Netherlands, to clear up the situation.

"Someone has clearly proceeded with criminal intent to contaminate (the eggs) with a banned product," Schmidt told the daily Bild.

Dutch officials closed down 180 businesses earlier in the week and after tests, the Dutch food authority (NVWA) said 138 poultry farms -- about a fifth of those in the country -- would remain closed.

One batch of eggs posing in particular posed "an acute danger to public health", the agency said.

Eggs from another 59 farms contained high enough levels of the insecticide, fipronil, for the food authority to warn against any children eating them.

Fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks. It is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption, such as chickens.

In large quantities, the insecticide is considered to be "moderately hazardous" according to the World Health Organization, and can have dangerous effects on people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.

Farmers throw eggs at a poultry farm in Onstwedde, Netherlands, on August 3, 2017
after the Dutch Food and Welfare Authority (NVWA) highlighted the contamination of
eggs by fipronil, a toxic insecticide outlawed from use in the production of food (AFP
Photo/Patrick HUISMAN)

Related Article:

Tainted Dutch eggs scandal widens across borders

US charges 412 people for health fraud, opioid scams

Yahoo – AFP, July 13, 2017

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced what he called the largest ever
 health care fraud enforcement action, with 120 of the 412 defendants charged with
 opioid-related crimes (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG)

Washington (AFP) - US authorities announced charges Thursday against more than 400 people, many of them doctors and nurses, over health care scams worth $1.3 billion including the wrongful prescription and distribution of opioids.

The Justice Department called it the largest ever enforcement action of its kind and said 120 of the 412 defendants had been charged with opioid-related crimes.

Providing details on some of the scams, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said a rehab clinic in Palm Beach, Florida, for instance, allegedly recruited opioid addicts with gift cards, visits to strip clubs and even drugs. This allowed the clinic to bill for more than $58 million in false treatment and tests, said Sessions.

And a clinic in Houston allegedly sold prescriptions for opioids in exchange for cash, with one doctor there giving out prescriptions for more than two million doses, Sessions said.

"While today is a historic day, the department's work is certainly not finished. In fact, it is just beginning," Sessions said.

The barely controlled pumping of hundreds of millions of doses of opioids into US communities during the past decade is blamed for a sharp surge in addiction and overdose deaths which totaled an estimated 60,000 last year.

Cannabis: the new Californian gold rush

Yahoo – AFP, Jocelyne Zablit, September 18, 2016

Adelanto councilman John "Bug" Woodard, Jr. stands on undeveloped desert land
 in the "green zone", an area designated by the city for industrial scale marijuana
cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Adelanto (United States) (AFP) - Two years ago, the city of Adelanto, a crumbling outpost in California's Mojave desert, was facing a bleak future as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and struggled with double-digit unemployment.

"We were about to vanish, to be incorporated into another city," says councilman John "Bug" Woodard Jr. "The place was dying and in total despair."

Today, however, the once-desolate town is firmly back on the map, having joined a handful of communities in California in embracing large-scale commercial cannabis cultivation -- a move that smells of success as the state prepares to vote in November on legalizing the use of recreational marijuana.

Though California already allows the use of medical marijuana, the initiative to fully legalize the drug -- seen as likely to succeed -- is expected to transform the most populous state in the US and one of the world's largest economies into a new epicenter for cannabis, bringing in billions in revenue.

According to the Arcview Group, a cannabis investment and research firm based in California, medical and recreational marijuana sales are expected to more than double to $6.5 billion in the Golden State by 2020 if the drug becomes fully legal after November.

Nationwide, the legal cannabis market -- which stood at about $5.7 billion in 2015 -- is projected to reach more than $23 billion by 2020, according to Arcview.

Apart from California, several other states including Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will also vote on legalizing recreational marijuana on November 8, at the same time as casting ballots in the presidential race.

A similar ballot measure in California failed in 2010 but support has grown since, with Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker among backers of the latest initiative, which has the support of 58 percent of voters according to a recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

The High Desert Detention Center sits across from a future marijuana farm

 in the "green zone," an area designated by the city of Adelanto for marijuana 

cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Celebrities join scramble

For Adelanto, the signs pointed to an opportunity too good to pass up.

Last November, the town became among the first in California to permit medical marijuana cultivation.

The decision to welcome marijuana growers led to a flood of high-end investors rushing to the town of 32,000 residents to buy up warehouses and plots of land in two so-called "green zones" earmarked for cannabis cultivation, local officials say.

"All of a sudden, we have people driving over here in Bentleys to look at property," said Woodard, 57, a real-estate agent with wispy shoulder-length hair who organizes an annual jazz festival in the desert.

"Here you have a building that was bought for $725,000 a couple years ago and now it's worth four million," he added, pointing to an expanse of land dotted with warehouses surrounded by Joshua trees and brush.

"When you say Adelanto now, everybody knows where it is."

Among the celebrities who have reportedly joined the mad scramble to snag a producer license in the city, Woodard says, are rapper Snoop Dogg, one of reggae legend Bob Marley's sons, Ky-Mani Marley, and actor Tommy Chong, of cult comedy duo "Cheech & Chong."

City officials said they expect cannabis production to easily reach 100 tons annually once farming gets fully underway, bringing in much-needed tax revenue to the decrepit town until now known more for its three prisons than for being pot-friendly.

The decision by Adelanto city officials to allow marijuana cultivation led to a flood 

of high-end investors rushing to buy up warehouses and plots of land in

"green zones" earmarked for cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Blossoming industry

"We are on the precipice of taking over the industry," Jermaine Wright, a former pastor and member of the city council, said assuredly. "We're doing what no other city has done when it comes to marijuana and this is going to bring in other businesses and manufacturing."

The city's cannabis ordinance stipulates that 40 to 50 percent of the workforce must be drawn from the local population, a measure that should significantly reduce unemployment, local officials say.

So far Adelanto, which means progress in English, has issued 35 licenses to grow cannabis and expects to hand out more in coming months, Woodard said.

Dan Olson, who owns a company that manufactures air filtration equipment in one of the "green zones," said he has seen the town transform as it prepares for the expected windfall from cannabis farming.

"I go out for a walk in the desert every morning and I can see the change," said Olson, whose company has been in the city for 12 years. "You now see all these cars with black tinted windows driving around and you see all these warehouses where the weeds have been pulled and you know it's going cultivation."

Christopher Goodman, 59, who is in the process of purchasing several warehouses in the city, said he expects to reap millions from his investment.

"The demand is here and the more people get educated about cannabis the more people will use it," said Goodman, who was in the auto business before turning to cannabis farming several years ago.

"I'll tell you what, I'd much rather smoke cannabis than drink beer and I mean that wholeheartedly."

Baby left with charity for abandoned babies for the first time

DutchNews, May 17, 2016

Photo: Depositphotos.com

A baby has been handed over to a special charity for mothers who want to give up their children and keep the birth secret for the first time since it was founded, broadcaster NOS says on Tuesday. 

The child was taken last week to one of four locations set up by the charity where babies can be left safely by their mothers, NOS says. It is a criminal offence in the Netherlands to abandon a baby.

In this case, the mother got in touch with the confidential helpline run by the Stichting Beschermde Wieg or ‘protected cradle foundation’. The baby was then handed over in secret to foundation volunteers in Groningen.

The sex of the child is being kept secret but the baby has been checked over in a hospital and is in good health, NOS says. The mother has a six-month period during which she can change her mind about giving the child away, before it is adopted. 

The mother has left information about herself in a sealed envelope which is being kept by a lawyer. The child can ask for the information on reaching the age of 16. 

NOS says the police have been in touch with the foundation but it is not yet clear if the charity will face prosecution. 

One or two babies are abandoned by their mothers in the Netherlands every year. 

The child protection council said it was aware of the case but wants to know exactly what happened.

Global police crackdown nets record catch of illicit food and drink

A global police operation has seized a record amount of illicit food and drink, including monkey meat, painted olives and sugar with fertilizer. Fake food and drink is a multi-billion euro criminal industry.

Deutsche Welle, 30 March 2016

Law enforcement from 57 countries seized 10,000 metric tons of food and 1 million liters of drink in a crackdown on criminal networks that pose a threat to public health, Interpol said on Wednesday.

"Fake and dangerous food and drink threaten the health and safety of people around the world, who are often unsuspectingly buying these potentially dangerous goods," said Michael Ellis, head of Interpol's Trafficking in Illicit Goods unit.

#Fake alcohol, adulterated honey & meat unfit for human consumption amongst products seized in Operation #Opson V https://t.co/eSyEmxB64q

— STOP ILLICIT TRADE (@INTERPOL_TIGC) March 30, 2016

Dubbed Operation Opson V, the joint Interpol-Europol operation conducted between November 2015 and February 2016 targeted criminal networks concerned only about "making a profit, no matter what the cost to the public," Ellis said.

Officers seized nine tons of sugar contaminated with fertilizer in Sudan, 85 tons of olives painted with copper sulphate in Italy and 70 kilograms of chicken guts preserved in the prohibited additive formalin.

Customs officers at Belgium's Zaventum airport found several kilograms of monkey meat, while in France officers seized 11 kilograms of locusts and 20 kilograms of caterpillars.

In Thailand, police seized 30 tons of illegal beef and buffalo meat unfit for human consumption and in Bolivia the operation found thousands of cans of sardines with fake labels of a famous Peruvian brand.

The operation also yielded dangerous fake alcohol across the globe.

Five prisons to close as falling crime rate leaves cells empty

DutchNews, March 21, 2016

3,000 ‘spare’ cells. Photo:
Depositphotos.com

More prisons will close in the next few years as the government looks to cut the cost of hundreds of empty cells, justice minister Ard van der Steur has told parliament. 

The Telegraaf says it has obtained internal documents revealing that the government plans to shut five prisons, with the loss of 1,900 jobs. A further 700 staff will be given ‘mobile’ positions, though the exact meaning of this is unclear. 

The downward trend in crime, which has fallen by an average of 0.9% in recent years, is expected to mean 3,000 prison cells and 300 youth detention places will be surplus to requirements in five years’ time. 

Van der Steur also said that judges were imposing shorter sentences, meaning criminals were spending less time on average in jail. More serious crimes are also becoming less common, he added. 

After finalising plans to close 19 prisons last year, the justice ministry said there were no plans for further cuts, but Van der Steur said the empty cells were costing the state too much. 

Socialist Party MP Nine Kooiman said it was a ‘scandal’ that the government was breaking its earlier promise. ‘If this cabinet was really working to catch crooks, we wouldn’t have this problem of empty cells,’ she said.

The Dutch government has reclaimed part of the cost by importing prisoners from countries with a surplus. Last September the first of 240 Norwegian convicts were transferred to Veenhuizen jail, in Drenthe, under a deal between the two governments for an initial period of three years.

Related Articles:

Fewer crime suspects, but one in six is now over the age of 50

Burglary rate drops, fewer Dutch feel unsafe

Amsterdam crime rate drops, despite gang wars
Dutch murder rate drops to a 22-year low

Dutch feel there’s less vandalism: police say they are right

Police figures show 4% drop in recorded crime, more bikes stolen

New York goes a record 11 days without a murder

Tough case to crack: the mystery of Britain's falling crime rate


"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - New


"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… "Wow, Kryon, how long is that going to take?"

The Humans in the room control that and those listening later and reading. When you leave this room, what are you going to do? Go home, report this, rub your hands together, and wait for it to happen? It won't. For the Humans in the room and the old souls hearing and reading have got work to do, and I've told you this before. You've got work to do.

There's an alliance that you're going to have to create with one another and with another group - the young people of Earth. The youth of this earth are changing the way things work. Can you see it? You're not supposed to sit around and watch them either, because they need you, old soul.

It's time for you to align with the indigos and the concepts of the youth of the planet. Do not think for a moment that their age shows their wisdom. These two attributes are not commensurate with one another; they're not linear. These young people may be older souls than you are! Don't think that because they've got technology that you don't understand that you can't be one with them. Their technology is social networking, the very thing we are talking about, where everyone can talk to everyone. The new consciousness on the planet starts in two areas - the children and the old souls.

Conclusion

This is the message of the day. The recalibration of awareness is going to change systems, education, government and finance. Those who don't choose to be spiritual at all will still move with a new awareness, for they will be aware of something that they are not aware of now - a softer way of living.

We close with a trite statement that we've given before, but that many have stated in jest: "If women ran the world, they would never send their sons to be killed on a battlefield."

Many laugh. How trite, how simple minded. Indeed, there have been women leaders who have put wars together; they had to. They sent their sons, so that's not really a correct statement. However, it's more right than you may think, dear ones.

So now I will make the statement I have made over and over in these recalibrated channellings: "When recalibrated Humans run the world, there will come a day when they will never send their sons into the battlefield." You see, awareness will change all of that. They will eventually see the wisdom of unification, new ways to settle issues, and the intuitive attribute of putting things together instead of tearing them apart.

There will be a time when government armies will not need to be large, and weapons will not be as powerful. Slowly, government won't need them. Slowly, slower than you want, these things will happen as the old soul carries his light and looks at the masters of the planet and emulates them.

You've all heard it: There will come a time when the masters will come back to Earth, and there are many who are waiting for this. However, it has already happened! They couldn't come back until the alignment was right and now it is right. This is what you are feeling in 2012 and beyond. It's starting to happen, and they're back. But they're not back as corporeal Human Beings. They're back as the energy of recalibrating of the awareness of God.

I wouldn't say these things unless they were true. Watch for these things, dear ones. Remember where you heard them first and when some of them start to occur in your news. And when you see the earth working in this fashion, dear one, maybe you'll realize that what I have given today is real.

Be circumspect. There is no perfect timing. Humans will create all this at their own pace. Do not be in fear of the things that might follow, for I say it yet again that the old energy will show itself soon in survival mode and it won't be pretty.

In this beginning of new energy, stand tall and turn on your light. Darkness will shirk before you. That is the truth of the day.

I am Kryon, in love with humanity.

And so it is.

KRYON.