đ Obesity can kill you in many ways; Food lobbies will find even more ways; A report says businesses will die if they kill nature
#592 | Birds take malaria places; Latin America's pesticides are actually deadly; You may never eat pizza ever again
Hello, and welcome back to The Kable this glorious Friday The 13th for more jump scares and heart breaks with nary an ounce of fiction in them.
Beginning with a little update from Gaza, where for so long the light at the end of the tunnel has been so dark, people have been finding ways to make their own light. And as the world âcelebratesâ World Radio Day today, a few brave people in Gaza have managed to re-open a radio station - Zaman FM, just one of 23 that were operational 850 days ago. That is the only light to be found in Gaza this week. Unless you count the light from aerosol bombs - US-supplied thermobaric weapons - that Israel used to evaporate more than 2,800 Palestinians. Gaza is also overrun with a mystery respiratory illness right now. And with lab supplies still mostly missing, doctors arenât able to even identify the nature of the illness, leaving them only treating symptoms. At least 10 people have died with 100s more sick. It is actually surprising that Israel, a world leader in organ donations, would leave healthy people to die with their organs intact.
Moving on to Africa, where hunger is rampant. In Kenya, with four consecutive wet seasons, including the last one which was the driest ever recorded, drought is threatening to leave over two million people without food. And water.
And that is not even the worst hunger crisis in Africa. Or even in the Horn of Africa. Nope. That place belongs to Sudan, home of the worldâs largest displacement crisis. For a country that was historically the breadbasket of the region, Sudan is now facing what a humanitarian group calls âfamine of Biblical proportions.â Unlike the drought in Kenya, which can be attributed to nature, the famine in Sudan, like most famines in Africa through history, is human in origin. Thanks to the arming of militia by vested interests seeking to dominate the gold trade. Who? Not entirely sure but it sounds a lot like you ay ee.
Alright, just because it is Friday the 13th doesnât mean you canât have some good news. And that good news comes courtesy of South Africa where Africaâs first Africa-led HIV vaccine trial is breaking new ground.
That is not the only vaccine news from South Africa. With foot-and-mouth disease running riot in cattle, the country is launching local vaccinations for that too.
In Nigeria, a doctor succumbed to Lassa fever last week, making it the first official death this year, to add to the 215 reported deaths from last year. The CEPI vaccine canât come here fast enough.
Elsewhere, with no acronyms for this partnership, the Africa CDC has linked up with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to work together on health initiatives for adolescents and women.
In more bad news for Africa, Burundi has become the 16th country to sign a bilateral health agreement with the US.
And without any further ado, the US has quickly moved to securing mineral supplies for itself, signing a flurry of trade deals for access to critical and rare earth minerals.
The US also announced a partnership with Hungary, that bastion of religious freedom, to promote religious freedom in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
The US doesnât believe in flu vaccines anymore. The US doesnât believe in the WHO anymore. But WHO officials believe the US will participate in the WHO meeting to decide the composition for the upcoming seasonâs flu shot. Faith can move mountains, they say.
India may have controlled its Nipah virus outbreak but a neighbouring country, Bangladesh, has seen one person die of it.
Taking a leaf out of the USâ aid playbook, the EU is likely cutting its contribution to the Global Fund.
In China, three new human cases of bird flu have been reported. But no, donât worry. Weâre all gonna die someday anyway.
Moderna and mRNA vaccines may have fallen out of favour in the US but in bad news for djchicus and other vaccine deniers on social media, Mexico is signing a long-term deal with Moderna for local production of mRNA goodies.
And finally, weâve been saying this many times, including here in The Kable. Coffee is good, no great, for you. Science backs it up. This new study says drinking coffee slows down brain ageing too. But yes, there is a real condition that affects some people who canât drink coffee. Itâs called low IQ. Itâs curable though. Grab a cup of joe.
Stories Of The Week
Obesity 1, Immunity 0. A new study in The Lancet has more bad news on the obesity front. People with obesity are 70% more likely to be hospitalised or die from infectious diseases, with one in 10 infection-related deaths globally linked to the condition. The study of over 540,000 people found that obesity significantly increases risk across a wide range of infections including flu, Covid, pneumonia, and gastroenteritis. Those with the most severe obesity (BMI â„40) face three times the risk. The researchers estimate that obesity may have contributed to around 600,000 of the 5.4 million infectious disease deaths worldwide in 2023. The solution? âPolicies that help people stay healthy and support weight-loss, such as access to affordable healthy food and opportunities for physical activity.â Not our words. Literally quoting the study. Because what could be more revolutionary than telling people to eat better and move more?
(The Lancet)
Lob, lob, lobbies. One of the reasons for increasing obesity around the world is the proliferation of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) and the preponderance of the lobbies behind it. And a new report from Harvard, University of Michigan, and Duke University reveals why these lobbies exist. For the same reason tobacco lobbies exist. Because UPFs have more in common with cigarettes than with actual food. These industrially manufactured products are engineered to encourage addiction and consumption, with marketing claims like low fat and sugar-free serving as health washing that stalls regulation, much like cigarette filter ads back in the day.
The study authors say that UPFs share characteristics with cigarettes in production processes and manufacturersâ efforts to optimise âdosesâ that act on reward pathways in the body. The researchers suggest lessons from tobacco regulation - litigation, marketing restrictions, structural interventions - could should (emphasis ours) guide UPF regulation. Because, unlike tobacco, just saying no is not an option here for consumers. The food you eat shouldnât be what you dig your grave with.
(The Milbank Quarterly)
Bottom line
Get rich or die trying. Yet another report about the harm that capitalism is causing to nature that businesses will ignore. Even if this report says that doing so will result in those businesses themselves going extinct. Because look at the words in the assessment approved by 150 governments. It says companies can either âlead the way or ultimately risk extinction... both of species in nature, but potentially also their own.â Companies will say âpotentiallyâ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Clean water, fertile soil, and a habitable planet for your business to exist is just too complicated for modern capitalism. The report might say that all businesses, even those âseemingly far-removed from nature,â rely on ecosystem services for free. But denial is free too. And for everything else, there is Mastercard.
(IPBES)
Malaria takes flight. It seems like we can hardly spend a week in peace without some mention of mosquitoes and malaria. And in Hawaiâi, itâs worse. It is birds who are acting as malaria vectors. A new study reveals that Hawaiâiâs birds arenât just victims of malaria, theyâre also helping it spread. Almost every forest bird species in Hawaiâi can transmit the disease, explaining why it shows up nearly everywhere mosquitoes live across the islands. The parasite was detected at 63 of 64 locations tested statewide, and infected birds can remain contagious for months or even years while appearing only mildly infected. The study examined blood samples from over 4,000 birds and found that both native and introduced species contribute to spreading the parasite. Even birds carrying very small amounts of the parasite were able to infect mosquitoes, meaning a wide range of bird communities maintain ongoing transmission. As if birds carrying bird flu wasnât bad enough. These are the times when we wish that birds arenât real guy was right.
(Nature Communications)
Not good enough for me but bom demais for thee. A new study doesnât bode well for agricultural produce in Latin America and consumers of said produce. Almost half (48.9%) of the pesticides authorised for use on major agricultural crops in eight Latin American countries are banned or not approved in the European Union due to health and environmental risks. Researchers identified 523 active ingredients approved for use in the regionâs ten main crops, with 256 of them banned in the EU. Costa Rica had the highest number of banned pesticides (140), followed by Mexico (135), Brazil (115), Argentina (106), and Chile (99). The study found that crops with the highest production and export value - soybeans, maize, wheat, and rice - contained a higher concentration of substances not permitted in the EU. Latin America has seen pesticide consumption increase about 500% between 1990 and 2019, making it the region with the highest growth in pesticide use. As expected, the human costs are devastating: research links chronic pesticide exposure to more aggressive breast cancer tumors, and pesticides have been detected in breast milk in at least ten Latin American countries. The authors recommend an âimmediate ban on the production, sale and use of all active ingredients classified as highly hazardous.â But that would mean putting people over profits, which is not how the world works.
(Proceedings of the Royal Society B)
Long reads
Dark clouds, silver lining. The Conversation has a piece on the future that climate change has for Africa when it comes to heat. Good news, no more heat waves. Bad news: it will be hot all the damn time.
(The Conversation)
Peace? Not on our watch. The Conversation again with a think-piece on the new peace plan for Sudan and whether it will work. Well, letâs see. Whoâs involved? The US. Saudi Arabia. UAE. Hell, yeah, this peace plan will work.
(The Conversation)
Even death wonât do us part. For Palestinians, death is not where Israeli torture ends. Their bodies are also not left in peace.
(The Baffler)
Pizza anyone? Not a long read, but a long watch. A really, long one. Like, two hours long. Of maggots eating pizza. 10,000 maggots. Enjoy.
(Science)
Oh, and Gopal Nair doesnât want you to see this.
Verymuch informative and guidance on UPF and use of EU banned pesticides in underdeveloped countries
Like to kniw What is the statstics in India? Please shade light on it. Thanks