Profit-Motive in Drug Industry Has Hampered Ebola Response
The head of the World Health Organization has said the pharmaceutical industry is partially to blame for the rapid spread of Ebola. Speaking at a conference in Benin, Margaret Chan said drug companies have shunned efforts to find a cure for Ebola because it impacts impoverished countries unable to afford expensive drugs. Dr. Margaret Chan: “The research and development incentive is virtually non-existent. A profit-driven industry does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay. WHO has been trying to make this issue visible for ages. Now people can see for themselves.” Chan also faulted the absence of effective public health systems in the West African countries worst hit by Ebola: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
[Problems of capitalism?]
Half a Million Dead Due to Iraq War
A new analysis in the journal PLOS Medicine says close to half a million people have died as a result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Based on a survey of 2,000 Iraqi households, researchers estimated 405,000 people had died from the occupation, plus at least 55,000 more deaths missed because families had left Iraq. More than 60 percent of deaths were attributed to violence, with the rest stemming from the devastation of infrastructure and other war-related causes. Some earlier studies have put the toll of the Iraq invasion even higher. A 2006 report in The Lancet found 655,000 people died in the first 40 months of the war.
Ocean acidification poses more serious threat than previously thought
The chief scientist of the United Kingtom, Mark Walport, has warned that acidity of oceans has increased by about 25 per cent since pre-industrial levels, mostly because of human-induced emissions, according to a BBC report. He warned that if carbon dioxide emissions continue at the same rate, it will have severe adverse impact on marine food webs and ecosystems. The oceans absorb about a third of the CO2 that is produced by industries. CO2 then reacts with the seawater to form carbonic acid.