Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal charges over opioid sales

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, October 21, 2020 

Headquarters of Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin,
in Stamford, Connecticut

US drugmaker Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three criminal charges over its intense drive to push sales of the prescription opioid OxyContin, which stoked a nationwide addiction crisis, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. 

Purdue also agreed to $8.3 billion in fines, damages and forfeitures to settle the criminal case against it, the department said. 

In a separate agreement, the billionaire Sackler family, which built Purdue to a pharmaceutical giant on the back of lucrative sales of OxyContin, agreed to pay $225 million to resolve civil liability charges filed by the Justice Department. 

"Purdue, through greed and violation of the law, prioritized money over the health and well-being of patients," said FBI assistant director Steven D'Antuono. 

Purdue, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and two counts of violating kickback laws over its marketing and sales of OxyContin and two other hydrocodone-based treatments, which involved encouraging distributors and doctors to aggressively push the highly addictive drugs to consumers. 

Even after paying $600 million for falsely marketing the painkiller as "less addictive," the Justice Department said, Purdue ratched up its sales drive and developed new addictive applications which it marketed through a network of 100,000 prescribing doctors and nurse practitioners. 

Among them were thousands of hyper-prescribers that Purdue "knew or should have known were prescribing opioids for uses many of which were not for a medically accepted indication, were unsafe, ineffective, and medically unnecessary," or which were resold on the black market, the charges said. 

To encourage them Purdue had a program dubbed "Evolve to Excellence" which offered financial and other incentives, particularly offering doctors lucrative speaking gigs, which amounted to kickbacks for pumping out more prescriptions of the company's drugs. 

Its activities, combined with those of other prescription opioid producers and distributors, fed an epidemic of addiction. Millions of Americans became dependent on the painkillers while the drugmakers reaped billions of dollars in profits. 

Deputy US Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen(C) announces that Purdue Pharma 
has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges over its sales of the addictive
 prescription opioid OxyContin, which fed a national addiction epidemic

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 500,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses -- both prescription and non-prescription -- since 1999. 

In a statement, Steven Miller, Purdue's chairman since 2018, said the company "deeply regrets and accepts responsibility for the misconduct detailed by the Department of Justice." 

"Purdue today is a very different company. We have made significant changes to our leadership, operations, governance, and oversight," he added. 

Purdue also faces billions of dollars in claims from state and local authorities around the country, and in September 2019 filed for bankruptcy to fend off more legal claims against it. 

Because of the bankruptcy and competing claims from litigants and creditors, the Justice Department admitted it might not see all of the $8.3 billion the company agreed to pay on Wednesday. 

But the agreement mandated that the company be dissolved and its assets be placed in a new "public benefit company." 

"The PBC would be charged with providing its medicines in a manner as safe as possible, without diversions, while providing millions of doses of medicines to treat opioids addiction and reverse overdoses and otherwise taking into account long-term public health interests," said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. 

The Sacklers, he added, would have no role in that company. He added that the civil fine against the family did not preclude future criminal charges against them, amid public pressure to wrest back the profits they earned on the addiction epidemic. 

In a statement, New York state Attorney General Letitia James said her office will continue to pursue the family. 

"Today's deal doesn't account for the hundreds of thousands of deaths or millions of addictions caused by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family," James said in a statement. 

"While no amount of money can ever compensate the pain that so many now know, we will continue to litigate our case through the courts to secure every cent we can to limit future opioid addictions," she said.

Bayer pays $10 bn to settle weedkiller cancer cases

Yahoo – AFP, Michelle FITZPATRICK, Jun 24, 2020

Roundup weedkiller. The deal relieves a major headache for Bayer, going on since
it bought US firm and Roundup maker Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018
(AFP Photo/Odd ANDERSEN)

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - German chemical giant Bayer said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay more than $10 billion to end a wave of lawsuits from Americans who say their cancers were caused by its Roundup weedkiller.

The deal relieves a major headache for Bayer, which has been going on since it bought US firm and Roundup maker Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018.

"The Roundup settlement is the right action at the right time for Bayer to bring a long period of uncertainty to an end," said CEO Werner Baumann in a statement.

At the same time Bayer announced it had also agreed separate multi-million-dollar payouts to resolve longstanding legal issues involving other Bayer products, as the group tries to turn the page on its courtroom dramas.

Bayer's share price climbed nearly six percent to 74.06 euros in after-hours trading following the surprise announcement.

The Roundup deal would bring closure to around 75 percent of current litigation that involves roughly 125,000 filed and unfiled claims, the statement said.

It would also settle about 95 percent of the cases currently set for trial and establish "key values and parameters" to resolve the remainder of the claims, Bayer added.

- 'Hard-fought battle' -

Roundup is a flagship Monsanto product containing glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller that tens of thousands of plaintiffs say caused their illness -- with many suffering from the blood cancer non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Bayer suffered a clutch of financially painful setbacks in first-instance US court rulings last year, although the amounts awarded were later reduced.

The legal woes have weighed heavily on the group's share price with many observers and investors questioning the wisdom of the Monsanto takeover.

Jennifer Moore, a lawyer representing several Roundup plaintiffs, welcomed the deal.

"This settlement is significant for our clients because this has been a long, hard-fought battle and it brings justice for our clients," she told AFP.

Bayer maintains that scientific studies and regulatory approvals show Roundup's main ingredient glyphosate is safe, but said when it released first-quarter earnings data in April that it "continues to engage constructively in the mediation process".

The settlement announced on Wednesday consists of a payment of $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve the current Roundup litigation, Bayer said, and $1.25 billion to address potential future litigation.

Bayer stressed that the agreement would not cover three cases currently going through the appeals process.

They include the landmark first Roundup case brought by school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson who was eventually awarded $78.5 million.

Dicamba deal

In the same statement, Bayer said it would pay $820 million to settle decades-old complaints over Monsanto-made toxic chemicals known as PCBs that caused water contamination.

It also agreed to settle US lawsuits involving dicamba herbicide which has been blamed for wrecking crops in America, by drifting on to plants unable to resist it.

The group said it would pay up to $400 million to resolve pending claims in Missouri for the 2012-2015 crop years.

Bayer said it expects co-defendant BASF -- which also manufacturers a type of dicamba -- to contribute towards the settlement.

It comes after a US jury in February awarded $265 million to Missouri peach farmer Bill Bader who accused the two companies of encouraging farmers to use the weedkiller irresponsibly.

Bayer said the Bader case was not included in the proposed settlement.

"The company believes the verdict in Bader Farms is inconsistent with the evidence and the law and will continue to pursue post-trial motions and an appeal, if necessary," it said.

Bayer said it would make the first cash payments related to the mass settlements starting this year. Part of the funds will come from the sale of its profitable animal health unit.

"All three settlements are in the best interest of the company and our stakeholders," said supervisory board chairman Norbert Winkeljohann.

Ministry introduces code word ‘Masker 19’ for domestic abuse

DutchNews, May 1, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

As of Friday victims of domestic violence can use the code word ‘masker 19’ (mask 19) at pharmacies so staff can help them contact social services, the health ministry has announced. 

The same code is already being used in France and Spain. Although no figures are available as yet, help organisations in the Netherlands are afraid incidents of domestic violence have been increasing in the Netherlands over the past weeks because the lockdown is forcing people to spend more time in the home. ‘

Pharmacies provide a safe and trusted environment, pharmacy association KNMP chair Aris Prins told broadcaster NOS. ‘Questions about masks are common and if people ask for ‘masker 19’ it won’t attract much attention,’ he said 

The scheme will make it easier for people to ask for help, Prins said. If they are accompanied by others, staff will contact the relevant service on their behalf. 

Last week, the ministry launched an information campaign aimed urging victims to ask for advice by contacting domestic violence prevention organisation Veilig Thuis (0800 2000). The organisation has also added a chat function to its internet site. 

But not everyone is able to use the phone without alerting an abusive partner so a ‘low threshold method is needed to alert help victims of domestic violence in a particularly difficult time’, health minister Hugo de Jonge said. 

People who are in immediate danger must call the police at 112, the ministry said.

China revises up Wuhan toll as Germany declares outbreak 'under control'

Yahoo – AFP, Jing Xuan Teng, with AFP bureaus, April 17, 2020

A worker disinfects the floor of a supermarket in Kosovo (AFP Photo/Armend NIMANI)

Wuhan (China) (AFP) - The Chinese city at the origin of the coronavirus outbreak revised up its death toll by 50 percent Friday, as global criticism mounted over China's handling of the deadly pandemic.

Since emerging from Wuhan late last year, the coronavirus has embarked on a deadly march across the planet, killing more than 145,000 people and wrecking the global economy with more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- trapped indoors.

But some countries across Europe are starting to slowly ease back weeks-old restrictions after deaths and infections showed signs of stabilising, and the German health minister said Friday his country's outbreak was "under control".

While President Donald Trump announced a phased reopening of the United States, the economic devastation was clear to see in China, where gross domestic product slammed into reverse for the first time since records began.

Wuhan's city government added 1,290 deaths to its toll, bringing the total to 3,869 after many dead were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely, adding to growing global doubts over China's transparency.

Leaders in France and Britain joined Trump's broadsides against China, as two US media outlets reported suspicions the virus accidentally slipped out of a sensitive Wuhan laboratory that studied bats.

President Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times it would be "naive" to think China had handled the pandemic well, adding: "There are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about."

Beijing hit back on Friday, insisting there had been no cover-up.

"There has never been any concealment, and we'll never allow any concealment," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Life-and-death balance

World leaders are grappling with the question of when -- and how -- to reopen society, seeking a life-and-death balance between unfreezing stalled economies and preventing a deadly second coronavirus wave.

While Trump declared Thursday that the time had come for the "next front in our war" with a phased reboot of the US economy, others took the opposite path -- Japan, Britain and Mexico all expanded current restrictions.

Despite the United States suffering a staggering 4,500 deaths in the last 24 hours -- taking the national toll to almost 33,000 -- Trump proclaimed: "We're opening up our country."

The president's approach was a step back from previous hopes for a sudden reopening however, and state governors were given the freedom to set their own plans to resume business.

Lightly affected states can open "literally tomorrow", said Trump, while others would receive White House "freedom and guidance" to achieve that at their own pace.

In New York state for example -- where more than 11,500 have died -- Governor Andrew Cuomo extended a shutdown order until May 15.

In some of the world's most vulnerable economies, lockdown measures were starting to pinch.

Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe feared a delayed start to normally busy auction season, the lifeblood for thousands of growers in impoverished rural regions.

"This year our harvest hasn't been good at all... just average," farmer Shaw Mutalepo told AFP, as workers in face masks crunched cured leaves into large bales.

"We might have a delay (in selling) just because of the lockdown," he added. "It will affect our preparations for the next season."

'Lost decade'

Meanwhile, there were more signs the global economy is imploding.

China reported Friday its GDP shrank 6.8 percent in the first quarter, the first contraction since quarterly growth data started in the early 1990s.

In the US, another 5.2 million workers lost their jobs, bringing the total number of newly unemployed to a staggering 22 million since mid-March.

John Williams, a top Federal Reserve official, predicted it would take "a year or two" if not longer for the US to recover from what the International Monetary Fund has termed the "Great Lockdown" battering the global economy.

The virus could spark another "lost decade" in Latin America, the IMF warned, while experts cautioned that freezing debt for poor countries will not save many developing world economies.

And in Europe, automobile sales shrank 55 percent in March, according to the industry's trade association.

'It's awful'

Some European countries -- such as hard-hit Spain and Italy -- were embarking on a long road back to normality, with Venice residents strolling around quiet canals stripped of their usual throngs of tourists.

Switzerland, Denmark and Finland were among those gradually re-opening shops and schools.

In Germany, select small shops will be allowed to reopen Monday and some children could soon return to school within weeks.

Infection rates there "have sunk significantly" and the outbreak is "under control", Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday.

Germany's coronavirus deaths and infections have stood firmly below some of their worst-hit European neighbours, which experts say is in part thanks to widespread testing.

Spahn said Germany would produce up to 50 million masks a week starting in August, to fill a yawning gap in supplies prompted by the pandemic.

But Britain, which shut down later than continental Europe, extended its lockdown for at least three more weeks.

It announced close to 850 new deaths on Friday, a slight spike from previous days that saw fatalities start to draw down.

And in Russia, recorded infections topped 32,000 as President Vladmir Putin warned that "the risks surrounding the epidemic's spread are still very high, not just in Moscow but in many other Russian regions".

Around the world, people have come up with ingenious ways to bring back some semblance of normality -- and social connection -- to their upended lives.

In Rome an 18-year-old guitarist takes to his balcony every evening at sunset to play covers of Italian classics.

"We decided to lend a hand to Italians: a message of hope," Jacopo Mastrangelo told AFP from his patio.

"We are accustomed to always seeing Rome full, teeming with people. Now the grass is growing between the cobblestones, everything has been left abandoned, and we decided to help."

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"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

"Corona 2", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>3,12 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

Roche urged to share info with Dutch corona test labs: FTM

DutchNews, March 26, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche is unable to meet demand for coronavirus testing kits but is unwilling to share key information with labs to help them carry out mass testing, Dutch investigative website FollowThe Money said on Thursday. 

Most Dutch testing labs work with Roche equipment and depend on the Swiss firm for supplies. And due to special deals known as a ‘vendor lock-in’ they are not able to turn to alternative sources to stock up on essential items, FTM says. 

The Volkskrant reported earlier that most Dutch labs use Roche testing equipment and that the shortage of lysis buffer – a liquid used to break open cells – is one reason why the Netherlands is not carrying out mass testing. 

According to broadcaster NOS, Roche has 80% of the Dutch market. 

Commitment 

Roche told DutchNews.nl is a statement that it is committed to delivering as many tests as possible to areas where they can be most effective. However, to safeguard supply, the company said it strongly advised focusing testing on patients with symptoms, not with broad testing. 

‘Today, media in the Netherlands reported that Roche Netherlands is not providing enough test material to laboratories and asked Roche to publish the recipe for one reagent, called lysis buffer solution. We clearly state that this story is wrong,’ Roche said. 

‘There is no patent protection on lysis buffer itself. Roche will not guarantee safety and reliability of the quality and test results if the reagents required for the test are manufactured outside our own production network as well as those qualified production sites we are already working with. Safety and reliability of our components have been approved by regulatory authorities.’ 

Talks 

Meanwhile, health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament he is in talks with Roche about the recipe for making the liquid so that Dutch pharmacies can make it themselves and expand testing in the Netherlands. 

‘Talks are underway. We are doing all we can to get the formula,’ he said. 

The government has appointed Feike Sijbesma, the former chief executive of DSM, as its corona test expert. Sijbesma will focus on assessing and the availability of tests on the market and those being developed.

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Federation of Light channeled by Blossom Goodchild – 2 February 2020

Blossom Goodchild

Blossom: Hello there! Giving it another go, to see if we are able to communicate. So much going on for everyone. So many Energies of all Vibrations flying around and yet, onwards we march! How is it where you are and do you fancy a swap?

Federation of Light: Dearest Blossom. Welcome to you and may our Energies be compatible … Indeed, ALL Energies be compatible in order for us to chat and discuss as we like to do.

You are correct in saying about the different Vibrations. This is what is causing so much upheaval for everyone in these times. As the Vibration of your Planet is lifting into a more deserving position, it is rejecting Vibrational magnetic fields that ‘want to come along for the ride’. The struggle between the Higher and the lower frequencies is an unruly dance conducted by the lower sensations and this is what is causing so much ‘unforgettable’ disturbance.

Why do you say ‘unforgettable’?

Because is it not a term used to ‘remember’ if we look at it that way?

I guess so. Yet, I wouldn’t really want to remember this particular time as it is not one to put in the ‘Fondest memories’ album.

And yet WHEN THS IS ALL OVER … WHEN EVERYTHNG THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID AND DONE IS SAID AND DONE … you WILL remember it and look back fondly upon it because it is recognised as the ending process of the old … as you bring in the New.

The New shall bring such Strength and Happiness to all.

The New shall allow you to FEEL the YOU that you TRULY are.

Everyone, including myself, seems to be feeling so vulnerable. So much is happening to so many … is it absolutely necessary for this to take place on an individual, personal level? So many needing to be in hospital, so many being served up, what I consider to be unnecessary predicaments that are far from pleasant. I mean why does it have to be so personal when the clearing of Energies is ‘in the air’, if you get me?

Yet, you are all One and the same. That which one is experiencing … is experienced for the Whole.

ALL that is taking place in one person’s life is like ‘taking one for the team’. Everything that you are now working through, is ridding the planet of all the ‘stuff’ that HAS TO BE RELEASED in order for the pathway ahead to be clear.

With respect … Haven’t we been doing that for the last few decades and then some?

Keep in mind Blossom, you and everyone else aware of their Light, are not just dealing with a few fibs here and there, or a little bit of jewellery theft.

You are dealing with the dark side of the WHOLE! You are choosing to be part of the removal system of all that has fallen into the pit of misery, greed, hate, … shall we go on?

No need, yet, yes, please do, just out of interest.

Jealousy, lust, pride, deceit. ALL that is below the line of that which is acceptable.

We previously expressed to you that this coming year would be a most interesting one in many forms of itself. One thing after another shall be presented to you as those of lesser Light … much lesser Light … struggle to redeem their status of power and control over the populous.

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Corona virus?

This is its given name.

I felt you wanted me to look up the meaning of the word ‘Corona’.  (Gaseous envelope of the sun and other stars … or ‘of the crown’.)

Interesting name. Considering there is much talk of solar flares and the sovereignty of a country that is under much strain due to news that has been leaked out. All that you are told goes much deeper than has so far been offered. Yet, it shall be revealed and there shall be no stopping these condemnations as they flow forth.

So, the virus?

A decoy! Put in place to mask rescue missions of those ‘under the thumb!’

‘Under the thumb’ meaning being controlled or dominated by someone. So, to speak as it is … you are saying the virus was put in place to take the attention away from those of darkness who are about to be ‘caught’.

Correct, Blossom.

Yet, none the less the virus is a real thing that is killing people!

As with many viruses that have been concocted to cause great alarm and fear. There will always be ‘some medical situation’ that is made prominent at a time suitable for undercover agents to slip through the bar and slip away unseen.

So much that is presented in your world is that of a decoy nature. So much!

Then the fear that builds, feeds itself until this particular threat ‘dies down’ and those who created it, sit happily in the knowing that once again their mission was successful.

Most of you who are aware KNOW all this.

May we ask … whenever you have heard about this virus or anything else, or seen it on your news, what have you felt? How have you reacted?

Well, to be honest … I very rarely watch the news, yet, if someone mentions it, I feel very unsympathetic, for I know it is just a ploy. Even though people are dying, I feel unattached somehow. It is just another part of the game and I am on the winning team. Of course, the I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM. mantra comes into play at all times. For that which I cannot fully understand or accept is so very much ‘eased in strength’ by doing so. Saying this mantra allows me to stop questioning and pondering about it all and just BE (the Light and the Love.) Over and over again in every situation I say it and I know many, many are doing the same.

Yet, what you do not know, is the difference it is making to yourselves, each other and your Planet. When you continue to do so, you realise that you are not ‘falling for/under the spell’ that is deliberately designed to trap you. YOU ARE FREE OF IT … just by saying/feeling these few simple, yet so very Powerful words.

Dearest Blossom and all Souls of Earth who are struggling through these times … let the strength that lies within the coding of this mantra, guide you safely home. Use it as you are doing throughout … not just your daily circumstances … yet, use it throughout your Entire Being.

Let it become you. For you are THE LIGHT. THE LOVE. THE I AM presence in human form. Here to make the change into your Brighter world.

The particular Energies that are around at the moment shall subside and settle for a short time, yet, then, Dearest Ones …  A STORM OF GREAT MAGNITUDE SHALL BREAK and THEN shall you gather forces to see yourselves through.

I am assuming you mean storm, metaphorically?

Yes. Yet, when it arrives you will know why we used this as its sign.

Is this to come soon? I don’t believe I just asked that! I should know so much better.

We cannot give dates as you know. This ‘storm’ is a build up of events … and as each one ‘becomes exposed’ … the bigger the uproar which then leads to ‘the final straw’ … for want of an easy way of description.

Yet, it is to be this year?

We feel quite sure of this … yet, as you know Blossom … nothing is written in stone.

This year is to be the year of all years from the point of view of changes on a massive scale.

We trust your hats are firmly secured …

They will obviously need to be … judging from all that is going on for everyone in one way or another at the moment. It’s a strange feeling of surrendering to what is. No point in fighting it. It seems to be a one day at a time scenario and then I get into bed and the minute I close my eyes, my mind says, I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM … Happy to have got through another day … somehow. Yet, knowing also, this is just the beginning.

You Know your strength. Each one of you can FEEL it from deep within. You can FEEL now that al the preparation you have ‘endured’ was leading up to these times, as you walk into the unknown/known segments of this journey of your lives.

We LOVE you. We are excited to watch the Glorious outcome unfold.

And so many Love you. Hope to bump into you one day … perhaps hitch a ride? In Gratitude. In Loving service. I AM.

Herbal remedies for the coronavirus spark debate in China

Yahoo – AFP, Jing Xuan TENG,  February 2, 2020

Pharmacies in Beijing that AFP visited were sold out of "Shuanghuanglian",
a traditional remedy Chinese scientists claimed could "inhibit" the coronavirus
(AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Beijing (AFP) - A claim by Chinese scientists that a liquid made with honeysuckle and flowering plants could help fight the deadly coronavirus has sparked frenzied buying of the traditional medicine, but doubts quickly emerged.

As the death toll from the SARS-like pathogen sweeping the country continues to rise, shoppers have swamped pharmacies in search of "Shuanghuanglian".

The rush came after influential state media outlet Xinhua reported Friday that the esteemed Chinese Academy of Sciences had found the concoction "can inhibit" the virus.

Videos shared online showed long lines of people in surgical masks lining up at night outside drug stores, purportedly in hope of snapping up the product, despite official advice that people avoid public gatherings to prevent infection.

It quickly sold out both online and at brick-and-mortar stores, but responses to the remedy's supposed efficacy have ranged from enthusiasm to scepticism on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

And state media sounded a more cautionary note on Saturday, with broadcaster CCTV publishing an interview with Zhang Boli, one of the researchers leading outbreak containment efforts, who warned of potential side effects from the medicine.

Several countries have barred Chinese travellers due to fears about the coronavirus

(AFP Photo/Mark RALSTON)

The People's Daily newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said experts advised against taking traditional remedies without professional guidance.

But the claim comes as Beijing looks to incorporate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into its nationwide fight against the virus, which has killed more than 300 people and infected over 14,000 in the country. On Sunday the Philippines reported the first death outside of China.

Researchers at the state-run academy, a top government think tank, are also studying the potential use of a plant commonly known as Japanese knotweed to alleviate symptoms.

The National Health Commission on Tuesday said TCM practitioners were among nearly 6,000 reinforcement medical personnel being sent to Wuhan in Hubei province, ground zero of the outbreak.

'No difference'

The strategy has reignited fierce and long-running debate about the efficacy of TCM, which has a history going back 2,400 years and remains popular in modern-day China.

Marc Freard, a member of the Chinese Medicine Academic Council of France, told AFP he believed traditional formulations could be used to treat people with symptoms ranging from fever to thick phlegm.

Countries or territories with confirmed cases of the new coronavirus (AFP Photo)

But he warned that many remedies on the market were of questionable quality and admitted that TCM "lacks scientific standards of efficacy" because it relied on "individualised treatment".

Traditional medicines were widely used in China in conjunction with Western methods during the 2003 epidemic of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed 774 people worldwide.

But a 2012 study in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews found combining Chinese and Western medicines "made no difference" in battling the disease.

Nationalism

The Chinese government has increasingly promoted traditional medicine abroad in recent years, often with nationalistic undertones.

Beijing issued its first white paper on TCM in 2016, laying out plans to build medicine centres and dispatch practitioners to developing countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.

President Xi Jinping has called TCM a "treasure of Chinese civilisation" and said at a meeting in October that it should be given as much weight as other treatments.

Surgical masks are being worn across China as a preventative measure 

against the coronavirus (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

China is "working hard to spread the message internationally about its traditional culture", and medicine is a part of this, Freard said.

In 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) even added Chinese medicine to its "International Classification of Diseases" -- a reference document for medical trends and global health statistics -- after years of campaigning by Beijing.

But the move was slammed by members of the scientific community, with the European Academies' Science Advisory Council calling the decision "a major problem" due to the lack of evidence-based practice.

The WHO did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Fang Shimin, a prominent writer in China known for his campaigns against academic fraud, told AFP he believes the government's promotion of traditional medicine "panders to nationalism and has nothing to do with science".

It is an enormous industry in China worth more than $130 billion in 2016 -- a third of the country's entire medical industry -- according to state news agency Xinhua.

A Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of anti-virals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand's health ministry said
https://t.co/h1tfWCPJlw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 2, 2020

US unveils partial ban on flavored e-cigarettes

Yahoo – AFP, January 2, 2020

The 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that more than five million US
middle and high school students are e-cigarette users, with nearly one million
using daily (AFP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Washington (AFP) - The US government on Thursday announced it would soon ban most flavored e-cigarettes as it tries to curb a rising tide of youth vaping, but stopped short of the full ban promised in September by President Donald Trump.

The Food and Drug Administration said cartridge-based e-cigarettes in flavors "other than tobacco or menthol" would be illegal unless they receive specific authorization from the government.

Companies that do not cease making and selling such cartridges within 30 days will face punishment, the FDA said.

"The United States has never seen an epidemic of substance use arise as quickly as our current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes," Health Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.

Azar said prioritizing flavors most widely used by children would ensure e-cigarettes were a potential "off-ramp" for adult smokers but not an "on-ramp" to nicotine addiction for youngsters.

"We will not stand idly by as this crisis among America's youth grows and evolves, and we will continue monitoring the situation and take further actions as necessary," he added.

The 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that more than five million US middle and high school students are e-cigarette users, with nearly one million using daily.

"Additional data from another federal survey further underscore that youth are particularly attracted to e-cigarette flavors such as fruit and mint, much more so than tobacco or menthol flavored e-cigarettes," the Department of Health and Human Services said.

The flavor ban will exempt large, tank-based vaping devices, however, which are primarily sold in vape shops that cater to adult smokers.

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"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)

“…  The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”