Australia cautiously enters medical marijuana market

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel DE CARTERET, July 12, 2017

Recreational marijuana use is illegal in Australia but laws were passed last year
permitting medical use, with a dozen licences since issued for a range of uses
including cultivation and manufacturing (AFP Photo/Saeed KHAN)

Melbourne (AFP) - At a secret location in Australia's southeast, Peter Crook delicately tends to a two-month-old cannabis cutting.

Barely knee high, it is one of about 50 government-sanctioned "mother plants" to be cloned for future generations of crops for the country's fledgling medicinal marijuana industry.

"I think we'll see Australia punch above its weight, both in agriculture research as well as medical technology," says Crook, the chief executive of Cann Group Limited, the firm granted Australia's first commercial grower's licence.

"As different conditions come online we are going to see the market grow rapidly."

Following Canada, Israel, and more than half the US states, who through varying approaches have legalised medicinal marijuana, Australia has signalled its intention for a homegrown industry.

But a patchwork of regulations that guard access for many desperate patients, and a lack of confidence among doctors in prescribing the drug, are acting as impediments.

While recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Australia laws passed last year permit medical use, with a dozen licences since issued, ranging from cultivation and research to manufacturing.

At least 10 sector-related firms have listed on Australia's stock exchange, while tens of millions of dollars has been pledged for clinical trials investigating treatment for conditions including epilepsy and relief for the terminally ill.

Driven by a growing recognition of treatment for chronic pain, arthritis and migraines, the global market is estimated to reach US$55.8 billion by 2025 with the US, Canada and Israel leading the way, US-based analyst Grand View Research says.

'Conservative government'

But unlike those markets, which have liberal patient-access, Australia has a "very conservative government" that wants a regulatory framework in place up front, says Adam Miller, founder of medical cannabis start-up BuddingTech.

"They're doing things by the book so that when they have the evidence required to satisfy not only Australia's but other countries' governments, and medical bodies, they will be able to export those products to those countries," he added.

Last year, researchers at the University of Sydney estimated a legal domestic medical market would initially be worth more than Aus$100 million (US$75 million) a year.

Miller, who was drawn to the industry after researching alternatives for his seriously-ill mother, says unlocking the local market requires easing patient access and educating doctors.

But not at the expense of the pharmaceutical industry's integrity.

"Any new products that are going to be distributed to a large number of patients need to go through the same mechanism that any other drug would go through, and cannabis is no different," he says.

Five-year-old Arielle Harding, who had her first epileptic seizure at 15 months, 

now shows few signs of her condition after her parents started giving her small 

doses of a non-psychoactive marijuana derivative (AFP Photo/Peter PARKS)

Doctors acknowledge the plant's potential in palliative care, epilepsy and spasticity but remain guarded in its broader use, citing limited scientific proof.

"It’s been around since pre-history and if it was the panacea for a whole range of medical conditions it was claimed to be by some advocates, then we would have been using it for a long period of time,” says Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon.

'Pretty angry pretty quickly'

But for many, change is too slow.

Arielle Harding had her first epileptic seizure at 15-months-old. Suffering from about 100 a day, treatment with traditional drugs made things worse.

Her desperate parents recently tried small doses of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive marijuana derivative in liquid form and Arielle, now five, shows few signs of her condition.

"At first we were just overjoyed that that had happened but you also find that you get pretty angry pretty quickly, when you realise that we could have had this three years ago and what a difference that would that have made," her father Tim recalls.

The legal CBD oil he purchases is not an elixir, but like thousands seeking cannabis treatment in Australia, Harding says he is unable to explore the drug further for fear of breaking complicated laws.

A 2015 Roy Morgan poll found more than 90 percent of Australians support legalising marijuana for the seriously ill, but advocates say it struggles for recognition because of its "demonised" past.

"It is really important to realise that you can get the medicinal benefits from cannabinoids without necessarily being intoxicated," says Iain McGregor, academic director at the University of Sydney's cannabis research hub.

"We can actually pull apart the intoxicating recreational effects from the therapeutic effects, and again that allows doctors to prescribe with more confidence if it is a non-intoxicating cannabinoid."

As attitudes change, encouraging more research, McGregor is optimistic about the plant's potential "to produce incredible therapeutics for a whole range of diseases that are currently very difficult to treat".

Radboud develops quicker prostate cancer test

DutchNews, July 10, 2017 

Cancer cells. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Radboud MC teaching hospital in Nijmegen has developed a faster way to diagnose prostate cancer, reports NOS. 

The process used to take months – with an ultrasound scan and testing of 12 random samples of prostate tissue – but now doctors can apparently reach a diagnosis in two weeks. 

Urologist Michiel Sedelaar told NOS Radio 1 Journaal that they will now do an MRI scan to see whether there are changes in the prostate, and can give an all clear the same day. 

Only if there are doubts will a tissue sample be taken, and results given in a week. 

Sedelaar claimed that this method would be cheaper than the current test, which is used in 40,000 men a year. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in Dutch men.

Six-year-old boy who raised millions with nail polish campaign dies

DutchNews, July 7, 2017

NLD/Amsterdam//20170530 –
Young Impact Celebration 2017  
Photo: Hollandse Hoogte 

Six-year-old Tijn Kolsteren, who raised more than €2.5 million in a nail-polish campaign, has died of a rare form of brain cancer, reports 3FM radio station. 

He had volunteered to raise money by varnishing people’s nails for 3FM’s Serious Request campaign in Breda. The money was to go to support families affected by disasters and conflicts. 

Comedian Youp van ‘t Hek and presenter Wendy van Dijk then started a ‘Lak door Tijn’ campaign, with Stichting Semmy, to raise money for new treatments for Dutch children with the same sickness as Tijn. They started a line of polish, Tijn chose the four colours, and it raised more than €1 million. 

According to the NOS, throughout Europe about 400 children a year are diagnosed with cancer of the brainstem (DIPG), and there is no cure. 

In April, the boy received a papal blessing from Pope Franciscus, after a pastor from Nijmegen made a request on his behalf. 

Radio station 3FM said, in a message online, that Tijn was ‘a sweet and playful young man with an exceptionally warm heart.’ It added: ‘With his nail polish campaign, he gave thousands of children a future, although his own future was so uncertain. Tijn is an example to us all.’ 

The boy died on Thursday night.

ABN Amro severs ties with tobacco industry after striking deal with heart foundation

DutchNews, July 5, 2017

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Dutch bank ABN Amro is closing its door to the tobacco industry. As of now the bank will no longer invest in tobacco firms, nor will it accept new clients from the sector. 

According to a statement by the bank reported in Trouw, ‘the core activity of the tocacco industry is not compatible with the core values of the bank.’ ‘Current contracts will be honoured but there will be no extensions or new contracts,’ a spokesman said. 

The bank is the first systemic bank in the country to turn its back on the tobacco industry. Although the bank’s tobacco investment portfolio is not a large one – its business partners include none of the big tobacco firms – it is thought the decision may force other banks and investment funds to follow suit. 

On Tuesday the bank signed an agreement with the Dutch Heart Foundation, which campaigns against the use of tobacco. The foundation is moving half of its capital, some €35m, to the bank which has pledged to help it raise funds and participate in health care projects. 

Smoking is the main avoidable cause of illness and death in the Netherlands. Every year some 20,000 people die from the effects of smoking. The bank’s economic research unit has calculated that smoking is costing society €2,000 per head of the population. 

The Heart Foundation still has business relations with other banks investing in tobacco, such as Rabobank, ING and Van Lanschot but are currently discussing the matter with them as well. 

Heart foundation director Floor Italianer, who praised the bank’s ‘commitment’, told the paper it is ‘sadly ironic and short-sighted’ that civil service pension fund ABP, which is currently investing over €1 billion in the tobacco industry, will not follow in the bank’s footsteps. 

The ABP, however, said it will not terminate its investments because it is one of many industries that are perceived as socially undesirable. But according to Italianer the ABP has not understood what the discussion is about. 

‘Tobacco is on a par with the arms industry’s cluster bombs which pension funds have stopped investing in a long time ago. This industry knowingly makes a product which kills people prematurely on a big scale. A sector which continues to do that deserves to be banned,’ he told Trouw. 

The news comes at the same time as the government clamps down on the sector by minimising the visibility of cigarettes. On Wednesday the health ministry announced that cigarettes must be kept out of sight by 2020, with a ban on cigarette machines two years from then.

Related Article:

"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. …”

'High demand' as Nevada becomes latest US state to legalize marijuana

Yahoo – AFP, July 2, 2017

A clerk at a marijuana dispensary serves a customer Saturday, the first day that
recreational marijuana became legal in the state of Nevada (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller)

Los Angeles (AFP) - Long lines snaked out of marijuana dispensaries in Nevada on Saturday, as the western US state became the latest to legalize recreational pot.

Nevada joins Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska as states where recreational marijuana sales are permitted. While pot is legal in several other states, it is governed by complicated local laws and still illegal according to federal law.

Legal marijuana sales are sure to be a boon to the economy of Nevada's largest city, Las Vegas, bolstering its reputation as an "anything goes" party town for millions of visitors from around the world.

"I'll bet the state makes a cool million $ this weekend," tweeted Democratic state Senator Tick Segerblom, a longtime advocate for legalization of marijuana.

"This is a game-changer for Las Vegas and tourism here as far as I'm concerned," he told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, adding, "Amsterdam on steroids."

Destiny Diaz was in line for nearly three hours at the Jardin Premium Cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas, waiting for the law to go into effect at midnight on Saturday.

Edible cannabis products, like these ones displayed at Essence Vegas Cannabis 

Dispensary, were in high demand as recreational marijuana became legal in the

state of Nevada on Saturday (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller)

"It's a great day and something people have been waiting a long time for," she told the Sun. "We weren't going to miss this.

Under Nevada's new law, adults 21 and older can purchase up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana or up to one-eighth ounce of marijuana concentrates per day.

Las Vegas police posted a list of dos and don'ts in the newly marijuana-friendly state.

"Know the law! Here's a few things to remember," it said, pointing out that it is illegal to smoke or consume pot in public, to drive while high, or to give or sell it to those under age 21.

Africa gets generic version of most effective HIV drug

Yahoo – AFP, June 28, 2017

A nurse takes a blood sample on March 8, 2011 in a mobile clinic set up to test
students for HIV at Madwaleni high school near Mtubatuba in Kwazulu Natal,
South Africa (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Nairobi (AFP) - The generic version of the most advanced drug against HIV has been introduced in Kenya, a first in Africa where more than 25 million have the disease, the NGO Unitaid said Wednesday.

The drug, Dolutegravir (DTG) is the anti-retroviral drug of choice for those living with HIV in developed countries, but its high price has put it out of reach for most struggling with the disease in Africa.

"The generic DTG has two advantages: on the one hand, it is very good from a pharmaceutical point of view. On the other hand, it is much cheaper," said Robert Matiru of Unitaid, which works to reduce the costs of medicines treating AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria.

He described the drug as "the most effective HIV treatment currently on the market."

A box of 30 pills of DTG, which lasts a month, costs between $25 (21 euros) and $50. The generic version only costs $4.

Kenya has already started rolling out the new drug, which will initially be provided for free to 27,000 people living with HIV who are intolerant to the side effects of the current best drug used in the country.

It will become available nationwide later in the year, and will also be rolled out in Nigeria and Uganda.

The drug is easier to take than those currently on the market, requiring only one pill a day, causing fewer side effects, and patients are less likely to develop resistance, said Matiru.

Around 37 million people live with HIV/AIDS around the world, 70 percent of them in Africa, according to 2015 statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

Dutch food producers agree to stop adding sugar to jars of vegetables

DutchNews, June 27, 2017

Photo: Despositphotos.com

Food producers have reached agreement with supermarkets to stop putting sugar in jars of summer vegetables from next year, following pressure from consumer groups. 

Jars of sweet corn, peas, carrots and marrowfat peas currently have added sugar but this will stop next year. Producers have also agreed to reduce the salt content of jars of French and runner beans and look into reducing the amount of sugar and salt added to winter veg such as red cabbage. 

The deal covers both branded and own label products. 

Food lobby group Foodwatch published research last year showing sugar was added to 79 out of 170 different jars and tins of vegetables found in Dutch supermarkets, including organic products. 

Absurd

The organisation welcomed the industry change of heart, describing it as ‘absurd’ to add sugar to the most healthy part of a meal. 

The sugar reduction is part of a wider agreement between the food industry and government to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and fat in processed food. 

The agreement is self-regulatory and in April, the public health institute RIVM said not enough had been done to cut back on salt, despite earlier pledges.

Pharmaceutical production weak in NL due to public focus on cheaper medicines

DutchNews, June 8, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Despite its ageing population and consequent increased need for medicines, the pharmaceutical industry is losing ground in the Netherlands, the Financieele Dagblad said on Thursday. 

This is in sharp contrast to neighbouring countries where pharmaceutical production is blossoming. Accountancy firm PwC said there was a direct link to the Dutch government’s focus on cheaper medicines in a report commissioned by the innovative medicines association (VIN), a sector organisation representing the Dutch pharmaceutical industry. 

The authors of the report noted there was one bright spot in that many new biotechnology companies are now developing new medicines in the Netherlands. There has been substantial growth of young firms in this sector PwC said. 

The report said more effort should be made to attract international companies to set up production facilities. given the good infrastructure and the large skilled labour market. The pharmaceutical industry presently employs 65,000 people.

The Netherlands no longer has any large home-grown pharaceutical companies. The largest producer is US-based MSD in Oss. Others include Teva in Haarlem, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen in Leiden and Astelllas in Meppel.

Related Articles:

Ex-finance minister proposes cap on pharmaceuticals industry profits

"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS" – Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text Version)

“…I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. Paradigms that have not yet been thought of, which don't represent any system that currently exists, will be created and developed by young minds who have concepts that the seniors don't know about. Things that don't have integrity today will fall over tomorrow. Just get ready. It's all part of what's on the other side of the bridge. And the old energy won't like it, and they will object. …”

Tobacco kills 7 million a year, wreaks environmental havoc: WHO

Yahoo – AFP, Nina LARSON, 30 May 2017

Tobacco kills 7 million a year, wreaks environmental havoc: WHO

Smoking and other tobacco use kills more than seven million people each year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, also warning of the dire environmental impact of tobacco production, distribution and waste.

The UN agency said tougher measures were needed to rein in tobacco use, urging countries to ban smoking in the workplace and indoor public spaces, outlaw marketing of tobacco products and hike cigarette prices.

"Tobacco threatens us all," WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.

"Tobacco exacerbates poverty, reduces economic productivity, contributes to poor household food choices, and pollutes indoor air," she said.

In a report released ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, WHO warned that the annual death toll of seven million people had jumped from four million at the turn of the century, making tobacco the world's single biggest cause of preventable death.

And the death toll is expected to keep rising, with WHO bracing for more than one billion deaths this century.

"By 2030, more than 80 percent of the deaths will occur in developing countries, which have been increasingly targeted by tobacco companies seeking new markets to circumvent tightening regulation in developed nations."

Tobacco use also brings an economic cost: WHO estimates that it drains more than $1.4 trillion (1.3 trillion euros) from households and governments each year in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, or nearly two percent of the global gross domestic product.

In addition to the health and economic costs linked to smoking, the WHO report for the first time delved into the environmental impact of everything from tobacco production to the cigarette butts and other waste produced by smokers.

'Overwhelmingly damaging process'

"From start to finish, the tobacco life cycle is an overwhelmingly polluting and damaging process," WHO Assistant Director-General Oleg Chestnov said in the report.

The report detailed how growing tobacco often requires large quantities of fertilisers and pesticides, and it warned that tobacco farming had become the main cause of deforestation in several countries.

This is largely due to the amount of wood needed for curing tobacco, with WHO estimating that one tree is needed for every 300 cigarettes produced.

WHO also highlighted the pollution generated during the production, transport and distribution of tobacco products.

The report estimates that the industry emits nearly four million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually -- the same as around three million transatlantic flights.

And waste from the process contains over 7,000 toxic chemicals that poison the environment, including human carcinogens, WHO said.

Once in the hands of the consumer, tobacco smoke emissions spewed thousands of tonnes of human carcinogens, toxic substances and greenhouse gases into the environment.

Cigarette butts and other tobacco waste make up the largest number of individual pieces of litter in the world, the agency said.

Two thirds of the 15 billion cigarettes sold each day are thrown on to the street or elsewhere in the environment, it said, adding that butts account for up to 40 percent of all items collected in coastal and urban clean-ups.

WHO urged governments to take strong measures to rein in tobacco use.

"One of the least used, but most effective tobacco control measures... is through increasing tobacco tax and prices," Chestnov said.

Related Articles:

Doctors and physiotherapists join Dutch law suit against big tobacco

Doctors help finance lawsuit against tobacco companies

"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. ...”

Syrian hospital saves lives by going solar

Yahoo – AFP, May 30, 2017

This file picture shows a Syrian nurse standing next to incubators with newborns
at a children's hospital on June 9, 2016 (AFP Photo/KARAM AL-MASRI)

Beirut (AFP) - Neo-natal wards and emergency rooms in a northern Syrian hospital will from Tuesday have uninterrupted electricity for the first time in years thanks to new solar panels, a charity said.

Hospitals in rebel-controlled Syrian territory face life-threatening power outages due to air strikes or shortages of the precious fuel used for their generators.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) hopes their new solar project can circumvent both challenges.

The UOSSM has installed 480 solar panels at a large hospital in opposition-controlled territory in northern Syria since December, it said, and the project officially went online on Tuesday.

The medical charity declined to specify the hospital's location out of fear it would be targeted by bombardment.

"Our goal was to install a solar energy system that can provide clean, reliable and low-cost energy to Syrian emergency hospitals," said Tarek Makdissi, who directs UOSSM's Syria Solar project.

"Patients in this hospital should never be hurt again because of a power cut," said Makdissi.

The World Health Organization has called Syria the world's most dangerous place for health workers, and hundreds of medical facilities have been destroyed in the six-year war.

Some of the most infamous attacks on medical infrastructure took place as government forces tried to retake second city Aleppo from rebels last year.

'Living under bombardment'

One attack there in August left four newborn babies dead after the force of the blast cut off the oxygen supply to their incubators.

Last month alone, medics said air strikes knocked seven hospitals and clinics out of service in the northwestern province of Idlib.

According to UOSSM, the panels will help their facility save more than 7,000 litres (1,850 gallons) of expensive diesel each month -- amounting to an average of 20-30 percent of its energy costs.

They will help power care for between 700 and 800 patients.

And in case the power cuts completely, wards like the neo-natal facility, intensive care units, and emergency rooms can still run independently, said Shadi Alshhadeh, head of UOSSM's Switzerland branch.

The hospital's medical staff first thought of installing solar panels in 2014.

"When I first heard the idea, I thought these guys were crazy -- they're living under bombardment and thinking about clean, alternative energy?" Alshhadeh told AFP.

"But in reality, this isn't just about energy or the environment. This will allow all critical departments to keep working if there's bombing near the hospitals or if the power cuts," he said.

UOSSM will now seek about $1.5 million to fund solar panels at five more hospitals in rebel-held areas of northern Syria.

The conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011 with widespread anti-government protests, but it has since evolved into a multi-front civil war.

More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions displaced by the violence.

Cannabis extract cuts seizures for epilepsy patients: study

Yahoo – AFP, May 24, 2017

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants, but does not cause users
 to get high The company procudes high cannabidiol (CBD) content cannabis
with THC (psychoactive component) content below the Swiss legal limit.
KannaSwiss sell medicinal oil and flowers to smoke. (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

Miami (AFP) - The first large-scale clinical trial of a cannabis derivative known as cannabidiol shows it was able to cut the frequency of severe epileptic seizures by 39 percent, researchers said Wednesday.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants, but does not cause users to get high.

The study in the New England Journal of Medicine comes after years of anecdotal evidence of cannabidiol's effects.

It focused on young patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy.

"Cannabidiol should not be viewed as a panacea for epilepsy, but for patients with especially severe forms who have not responded to numerous medications, these results provide hope that we may soon have another treatment option," said lead investigator Orrin Devinsky, professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center.

"We still need more research, but this new trial provides more evidence than we have ever had of cannabidiol's effectiveness as a medication for treatment-resistant epilepsy."

Researchers used an experimental liquid form of CBD, called Epidiolex, which is manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals.

It has not been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

A total of 120 children and adolescents, aged two to 18, with Dravet Syndrome were randomized to receive either a placebo or CBD, in addition to their usual treatment.

The trial took place at 23 sites in the United States and Europe over the course of 14 weeks.

"Seizure frequency dropped in the CBD-treated group by 39 percent from a median of nearly 12 convulsive seizures per month before the study to about six," said the study.

"Three patients' seizures stopped entirely."

The placebo group saw a much smaller 13 percent reduction in seizures.

Most patients reported side effects, most commonly vomiting, fatigue and fever.

A total of 93.4 percent of patients in the CBD group and 74.6 percent of those treated with placebo experienced side effects, which were generally reported as mild or moderate.

But eight patients in the CBD group withdrew from the trial because of side effects, compared to one participant in the placebo group.

Light cigarettes linked to specific form of lung cancer

Yahoo – AFP, May 22, 2017

"Light" cigarettes were once marketed as safer, but researchers now believe they
 are behind a rise in a type of cancer that frequently occurs in deeper parts of
the lungs (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Miami (AFP) - So-called "light" cigarettes with holes in the filter could be the reason why a specific kind of lung cancer has been on the rise in recent decades, researchers said Monday.

Adenocarcinoma is the most common form of lung cancer and occurs deep in the lungs.

While other kinds of lung cancer have declined along with diminishing numbers of smokers in the past 50 years, cases of lung adenocarcinoma have climbed.

Researchers believe that the higher rates of lung adenocarcinoma are due to filter ventilation holes, "which allow smokers to inhale more smoke that also has higher levels of carcinogens, mutagens and other toxins," said the report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"The filter ventilation holes change how the tobacco is burned, producing more carcinogens, which then also allows the smoke to reach the deeper parts of the lung where adenocarcinomas more frequently occur," said lead author Peter Shields, deputy director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Our data suggests a clear relationship between the addition of ventilation holes to cigarettes and increasing rates of lung adenocarcinoma seen over the past 20 years," he said.

"What is especially concerning is that these holes are still added to virtually all cigarettes that are smoked today," he added, calling on US regulators to ban the practice.

Manufacturers began issuing cigarette filters with holes in them some 50 years ago, marketing them as "light" and claiming these were "low-tar."

"This was done to fool smokers and the public health community into thinking that they actually were safer," said Shields.

Instead, the current study confirms previous research showing that light cigarettes are actually not better for the health than stronger varieties, said the report.

"These cigarettes have actually caused more harm," it said.

The study was based on an analysis of existing literature, including chemistry and toxicology studies, human clinical trials and epidemiological studies.

Researchers looked at peer-reviewed scientific literature and internal tobacco company documents.

More than 36 million Americans smoke, and about 40 percent of cancers are linked to tobacco use, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Related Articles:

Doctors and physiotherapists join Dutch law suit against big tobacco

Doctors help finance lawsuit against tobacco companies

"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. ...”