Greene County Democrat

Tag: World Health Organization

  • Newswire : GMO’s that promote poverty and dependency gain a foothold in Kenya

    Oct. 10, 2022 (GIN) – Kenya has officially entered into the cultivation and use of Genetically Modified Organisms – known as GMOs – that have been banned in 26 countries.
     This month, Kenyan authorities announced plans to lift the country’s ban on genetically modified crops, in part to deal with a record drought that is causing hunger across the Horn of Africa. The move is opposed by those concerned about potentially harmful effects on health, the environment and small farms.
     Supporters maintain that lifting the ban will improve food security.
     The decision by the Cabinet, chaired by President William Ruto at State House, was made in accordance with the recommendation of the Task Force to Review Matters Relating to Genetically Modified Foods and Food Safety. The meeting was convened to consider the progress made in the response to the ongoing drought in the country.
     Speaking earlier this week, Kenyan President William Ruto said lifting the ban on GMOs is part of the government’s response to the drought ravaging the country.
     But critics counter that some GM crops can have negative impact on non-target organisms and on soil and water ecosystems. For example, the expansion of GM herbicide-tolerant corn and soy which are joined with herbicides, destroyed much of the habitat of the monarch butterfly in North America.
     Kenya prohibited cultivation of genetically modified crops and the importing of food crops and animal feeds produced through biotechnology innovation since 2012. The government’s move paves the way for the importation of GMO products, which the government says will help boost food security.
     GMOs have their defenders – mostly seed and chemical companies who claim that genetically engineered crops are good for the environment by reducing pesticide use and increasing crop yields.
     However, research indicates that GM crop technology can result in a net increase in herbicide use and can foster the growth of herbicide resistant weeds. In addition, there is concern that the use of GM crops may negatively impact the agriculture ecosystem.
     Countries that ban GMOs include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Turkey, among others
     Also gaining a foothold in Africa is Bayer Malawi, whose presence in Malawi originates from the late 1950s when the company was mainly known for its pharmaceutical products such as aspirin, and as a distributor for Farmer’s Organization and Shell Chemicals.
     “Today Bayer Malawi Ltd provides a full agricultural production service package to enable farmers to acquire not only high-quality seed but also quality crop protection solutions to combat plant diseases, insect pests and weeds.” (from the Bayer website)
     Last August, agricultural students at the University of Ghana held a teach-in to urge youth to support the adoption of GMO technology to help improve farm productivity and ensure food security. They held a debate competition but with few students willing to argue against GMO seeds, the pro-GMO seeds group was the hands-down winner.
     Meanwhile, in an article titled: “Twelve reasons for Africa to reject GMO crops,” Kenyan born Zachary Makanya writing for the newsletter GRAIN pointed out a growing list of organizations, networks and lobby groups with close ties to the GM industry, working to promote GM agriculture on the continent.
     While seed and chemical companies like Monsanto claim that genetically engineered crops  would be good for the environment by reducing pesticide use and increasing crop yields, the past 20 years have shown that they do nothing of the sort, Makanya said. Not only have GMO crops not improved yields, they have vastly increased the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and “probably carcinogenic to humans, according to the World Health Organization..
     Moreover, most GMOs have not been engineered to improve yields or make food healthier, but to be herbicide resistant. Corn, soybeans and other crops have been genetically engineered to withstand blasts of glyphosate. It kills all the weeds in the field, but the GMO crops survive.
     At least12 African countries are carrying out research on GM crops, including Egypt, Uganda, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Cameroon, and a long list of GM crops are in the pipeline for introduction in various African countries.
     Finally, a group of African environmentalists, in an article titled “GMOs promote poverty and dependency in Africa” they pointed out in Grain magazine: “The obsession in promoting GM crops in Africa diverts attention and resources away from a plurality of genuine and localized solutions and flies in the face of the recommendations of independent science

  • Newswire: Rich countries stock up on corona vaccine, leaving poor counties especially in Africa, without health saving supplies

    Vial of coronavirus vaccine


    Dec. 21, 2020 (GIN) – Shopping for an anti-coronavirus drug?
     
    Too late. A handful of rich countries have ‘cleared the shelves’ – buying up more supply than their populations actually need.
     
    Canada, with a population of 37.6 million, leads the pack, ordering enough vaccine for its population times six. The U.S., with a population of 328 million, has secured 100 million doses from Pfizer, 200 million from Moderna and 810 million doses from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Sanofi combined, for a combined total of 1.5 billion.
     
    Other wealthy nations have joined the U.S. in placing large preorders, often with options to expand the deals and acquire even more — undermining many countries’ ability to make timely purchases.
     
    “We are dealing with an incredibly competitive global environment,” said Canada’s minister of procurement, Anita Anand. “It’s very much the long game here.”
     
    To protect the rights of vulnerable groups in 190 economies, COVAX, an international body, was launched by the World Health Organization, the European Commission and France to ensure that people worldwide would get access to COVID-19 vaccines once they are approved.
     
    The aim is to have 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021 to protect high risk and vulnerable people as well as frontline healthcare workers. Some experts predict it will be 2024 before there is enough vaccine.
     
    As stark disparities in vaccine access become more visible, pressure will be mounting on wealthy countries to alter their plans. Lois Chingandu, a member of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said she lived in fear of contracting Covid-19 if her country, Zimbabwe, could not obtain enough vaccine.
     
    In the late 1990s, Ms. Chingandu worked in HIV prevention and watched thousands of people die from AIDS each day. Medicine was available to stop it – but only to those who could afford it.
     
    Ms. Chingandu and the People’s Vaccine want drug companies to share the intellectual property so that generic forms of the vaccine can be made.
     
    The World Trade Organization is undecided whether to waive intellectual property rules for Covid vaccines. The proposal has won support from some countries but is opposed by many Western countries.
     
    “People are going to die of Covid,” says Ms Chingandu in frustration, “while people in other countries are living a normal life… Eventually when the privileged decide that it’s time to save the poor people, then we will get the vaccine,” she told the BBC.
     

  • Newswire: U. S. upsets election of African candidate for top world trade post


     

    Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala


    Nov. 2, 2020 (GIN) – Backed by an overwhelming number of World Trade Organization delegates, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was on a fast track to become the head of the global trade group.
     
    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was set to become the first woman and first African to lead the global trade watchdog.  A selection panel of WTO trade ministers found she had far more support than a South Korean rival and it was expected that the Asian candidate would be withdrawn because the African candidate would be most likely to attract consensus among the members.
     
    But the historic appointment hit a stumbling block with last-minute opposition from the Trump administration and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer who threw their support to Yoo Myung-hee, the current Minister for Trade of South Korea, calling her a “bona-fide trade expert”, and suggesting that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was unqualified for the job.
     
    “The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field,” the U.S. office said.
     
    Molly Toomey, a spokeswoman for Okonjo-Iweala, rejected the comments, saying “WTO members wouldn’t have selected a Director General who is missing any skills or qualifications.”
     
    A Nigerian-born economist and international development expert, Okonjo-Iweala sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and has held several key positions at the World Bank. She says the WTO should play a role in helping poorer countries access COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.
     
    President Trump has shown animus to numerous world bodies and agreements, withdrawing from the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the nonbinding Global Compact on Migration, the U.N. Human Rights Council, UNESCO, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, NAFTA, and the Iran nuclear deal, among others.
     
    Trump has described the WTO as “horrible”, biased towards China and threatened to withdraw. Last month, the trade body found the U.S. had breached global trading rules by imposing multi-billion dollar tariffs in Trump’s trade war with China.
     
    “We’ll have to do something about the WTO because they let China get away with murder,” Trump grumbled after the ruling.
     
    The U.S. has paralyzed the WTO’s appellate body by blocking appointments to the seven-person panel for more than two years. A global court for trade, it has been unable to issue judgments on new cases since December 2019 because there aren’t enough active members.
     
    Yoo presents herself as a “bridge” candidate, aiming to overcome the divide between the United States and China, however she is reported to be having problems solidifying support from some major Asian members – including China and Japan. The deadline for the appointment is Nov. 7. w/pix of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala   

  • Newswire: Trump points the finger of blame at another Black man for COVID-19

    President blames the World Health Organization for not providing timely information, WHO says coronavirus was public health emergency in January

    By Frederick H. Lowe

    Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebryeyeous


    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com


    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Trump has found a Black man other than former President Barack Obama to point the finger at for his and his administration’s failings.
    Trump is now attacking Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian-born head of the World Health Organization, one of the go-to organizations dispensing important data concerning the coronavirus pandemic.
    The U.S. is a major WHO funder, and Trump has threatened to cut the Geneva, Switzerland-based organization’s funding, charging that the WHO “really blew it,” being persuaded by China to downplay the coronavirus outbreak.
    “They could have called it much earlier,” Trump said at a coronavirus task force briefing Tuesday evening. “When they call every shot wrong, that’s no good.” He charged that the WHO was very “China-centric. “Fortunately, I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on…Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?” Trump posted in an April 7 tweet.
    Nearly 40,000 people have flown from China to the United States since the president imposed travel restrictions between the two countries.
    And others have piled on with the blame. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, said on Fox News he will push to cut WHO’s U.S. funding unless there is a change in leadership. The U.S. provided $900 million in funding to the WHO in 2018 and 2019. Trump wants to cut it to $57.9 million and Graham wants to cut the funding to zero.
    During a virtual news briefing, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said it wasn’t the appropriate time to cut funding during the ongoing pandemic. Dr. Ghebreyesus warned Trump not to politicize the pandemic.
    “If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you do it. If you don’t want any more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it,” he said.
    Meanwhile, Dr. Ghebreysus released a timeline on WHO letterhead. The timeline begins on December 31, 2019, when China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province and the last date is March 18.
    The most important date is January 30, when the WHO declared the coronavirus a “public health emergency of international concern. The director general accepted the recommendation and declared a novel coronavirus outbreak.”
    On the other hand, President Trump confidently predicted the coronavirus did not present a serious threat to the U.S., assuring Americans: “It’s going to have very good ending.”
    Prior to January 30, the WHO issued dire warnings.
    On January 1, 2020, the WHO had set up the Incident Management Support Team across three levels of the organization: headquarters, regional headquarters, and country-level putting the organization on emergency status for dealing with the viral outbreak.
    From February 16 to 24, a WHO-China joint mission, which included participation from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Russia and Singapore, spent time in Beijing and also traveling to Wuhan where they talked to health workers and scientists. The joint mission released a report: //www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronavirus/who-china-joint-mission-covid-19-final-report.pdf.
    On January 5, 2020, WHO published in the first issue of Disease Outbreak News reporting on the new virus. This is a flagship publication that was given to the scientific and public health community as well as to the global media.
    There also is another racial component here.
    Dr. Ghebreyesus charged that Taiwan engaged in a racist smear campaign against him because
    he is Black, an accusation the country’s foreign minister has denied. He does, however, have strong support from Africa’s heads of state. Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, reaffirmed Africa’s support of WHO.
    Ethiopian President Sahle -Work Zewde, said “Our global priority is to save lives. WHO under
    Dr. Tedros’ effective leadership, is delivering on its mandate at a time we need them most.
    Dr. Ghebreyesus also has the support of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the White House’s point man on COVID-19.
    Trump, however, continues the game of shifting the blame on black men. He started blaming Obama for every Oval Office failing, and he hasn’t stopped.