Bereaved families bring case against government over prisoner suicides

Relatives of prisoners at HMP Woodhill who have taken their own lives are to bring a legal challenge against the institution’s governor and the justice secretary for allegedly failing to introduce basic safety measures. Eighteen prisoners have killed themselves at the jail in Milton Keynes since early 2013 despite repeated recommendations and guidance from coroners’ reports and official bodies that investigate deaths in custody.

The most recent death at Woodhill was before Christmas, shortly after the high court granted permission for the case to be heard. Deaths in custody reached a record high in England and Wales last year. In 2016, there were 119 self-inflicted deaths; the previous year there were 89.

The action has been brought by Pearl Scarfe and Julie Barber, the mother and sister of Ian Brown, who took his life in his cell in Woodhill on 19 July 2015, and Jamie Blyde, the brother of Daniel Dunkley, who died on 2 August 2016, four days after he was found hanging in his cell.

The families are seeking to persuade the court to order that the governor of Woodhill prison and the justice secretary, Liz Truss, take urgent action to reduce the risk of self-inflicted deaths in the future. Woodhill had the highest suicide rate of any prison in 2016; seven prisoners killed themselves there last year.

Barber said: “Ian was much loved. Our loss has been unimaginable. We all miss him every day. I believe if he’d had the help and support he needed he’d still be here. Every time I hear about another death in the prison, I think: ‘Why?’

“If lessons had been learned when my brother died, all those families would not have had to go through what we have had to go through. It’s hard for us to hear about more deaths. It makes me angry that suicides have happened that could have been prevented if changes had been put in place, as they should have been.”

The judicial review, to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, is being supported by Inquest, the organisation that helps relatives at coroners’ courts. Inquest says it is concerned about the lack of a national oversight mechanism to monitor, audit and follow up actions taken in response to recommendations by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and coroners.

Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, said: “The number of self-inflicted deaths occurring in prisons in England and Wales is currently at record levels. It is therefore more vital than ever that preventative actions are identified, changes implemented, and sustained improvements enforced to prevent future deaths.

“The current system for learning lessons and implementing changes arising from deaths in custody is not fit for purpose; it does not adequately prevent future deaths, meet the hopes and needs of bereaved families, or satisfy the wider public interest.

“The deplorable situation at HMP Woodhill is just one stark example of a much wider national problem. Deaths occur time and again as a result of repeated failings. Families are told that lessons will be learned, but nothing changes. The reality is that the Ministry of Justice has wholly failed to address the unacceptable rise in self-inflicted deaths.”

Jo Eggleton, a solicitor at the law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn, who represents the families of Brown and Dunkley, said: “[They] have shown great strength in bringing this claim. Despite the awful ordeal they have been through, they have put themselves on the line to try and protect others and prevent future deaths.

“They and the other families of men who have died at Woodhill that I represent share this common goal and have worked together to try and make it possible. They should be recognised and applauded for that. It’s just a shame that this claim has had to be brought at all.”

In a letter to Truss last week, the Labour MP Harriet Harman, the chair of parliament’s joint committee on human rights, called for a national oversight mechanism “with a duty to collate, analyse and monitor learning outcomes and their implementation arising out of deaths in prisons”.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.

Bereaved families bring case against government over prisoner suicides

Game of Thrones offers hope against Trump | Letters

Your article (Trump supporters in the heartland fear being left behind by GOP health plan, theguardian.com, 12 March) is unfortunately very consistent with a study that I recently commissioned looking at changes in white working-class death rates in California over the past 20 years. It showed that against a backdrop of improving white death rates in California, rural California is a veritable hot zone of white working-class mortality. Forty per cent of California counties (23 counties) voted for Donald Trump. Of those 23 counties, 21 of them are experiencing pronounced increases in death rates for whites aged 40-64. In some of these counties, white death rates have increased over 50% since the late 1990s.

This crisis of white premature death is being driven by alcohol and drug-related causes and includes a surge in suicides. These are the very types of health problems that are most amenable to high-quality mental health care and drug treatment services covered by Medicaid, which was expanded to millions of Californians under the Affordable Care Act. Our theory is that rapid shifts in the economy over this period without a meaningful social compact is the underlying cause of this epidemic of white death. These folks are watching the American dream slip further and further from their grasp and they are quickly losing hope. Tragically, their vote to repeal their healthcare access will likely exacerbate their pain.
Dr Anthony Iton
California Endowment, Oakland, CA, USA

• It’s reassuring to hear that Bernie Sanders is campaigning again (Journal, 11 March), but the examples given of his fightback are hardly likely to keep the light-sleeping President Trump awake at night. The usual emphasis on ever-more protests will soon meet the “too many marches” law of diminishing returns, as will I fear the hopes that his young supporters will still feel “the Bern” when the election is five years away rather than being imminent. His call for the Democrats to have a progressive platform geared more to the fears of steelworkers and less to the priorities of the liberal elites won’t on its own see off an increasingly authoritarian Trump. To do that it will need to include policies to cope with potential Democratic voters’ concerns about future immigration and to propose concrete steps to protect American jobs from imports.

This will require the Democrats to consider a progressive form of protectionism that will benefit all countries. Its core aim should be the nurturing and rebuilding of local economies not just in the US but worldwide. To adequately protect domestic jobs will need a permanent reduction in the level of international trade in goods, money and services and the prioritising of the ability of nation states to control the level of migration that their citizens desire. Without such an approach, Sanders could make more likely the ghastly prospect of an eight-year-long Trump reign.
Colin Hines
East Twickenham, Middlesex

• Trumps “Muslim ban 2” is planned to come into effect on Thursday 16 March. The ban, with very limited alterations, is just a repeat of the executive order that led to a global wave of protests. Islamophobia is at the heart of Trump’s agenda. The suspension of refugee programmes and the targeting of Muslim countries show just how far he is prepared to go to play divide and rule. We refuse to stay silent as Muslim communities are targeted and call on all those who oppose the ban to join us on the streets on Saturday 18 March as part of the global protests marking UN anti-racism day.
Dr Shazad Amin Mend, Abra Javid Rotherham 12 Campaign, Rashid Majid KhanSolicitors, Amal Azzudin Human rights activist, Tanzil Chowdhury Northern Police Monitoring Project, Nahella Ashraf Stand Up To Racism, Dr Amel Alghrani University of Liverpool, Dr Waqas Tufail Leeds Beckett University, Saleem Ahmed Bury Unison Black Members Officer, Maz Saleem Daughter of Mohammed Saleem, Sabia Kamali TV Presenter and Director of Sisters Forum, Vakas Hussain Barrister, Zlakha Ahmed Founder and manager of Apna Haq, Murad Qureshi Chair of Stop The War

• Rebecca Nicholson (Harry Potter and the Election of Horrors, G2, 14 March) tells an important story about the responses of Harry Potter fans to Trump’s election. She should certainly add to her account the case of the Harry Potter Alliance, the organisation of Rowling fans committed to acting out the values of non-discrimination and inclusiveness. But in just saying that each generation may have its effective “fictions”, she misses out the most important feature of this: that it is contemporary fantasy more than anything that is providing the means to this around the world.

It began with the Lord of the Rings films, which were accompanied for many by a picture of George W Bush wearing a gold ring with the slogan “Frodo has failed”. Then came Avatar, and the adoption of the Na’avis’ blue skin by environmental protestors. The Hunger Games provided anti-military protesters with the three-fingered salute of defiance. And of course Occupy borrowed heavily from V for Vendetta for its symbolism. But perhaps most interesting is the adoption by a number of anti-Trump protestors of the slogan “Winter is coming” from Game of Thrones. The difference being that on the face of it Game of Thrones is exceptional in being so dark and pessimistic. Yet it seems that it is helping people to feel hope within adversity. We are currently exploring this with our ongoing project, developed by 40 researchers in 12 countries. I hope some of your readers will be interested to visit, and perhaps contribute their views, at www.questeros.org.
Martin Barker
Emeritus professor, Aberystwyth University

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Game of Thrones offers hope against Trump | Letters

Novelist Marian Keyes reveals fight against constant "suicidal impulses"

The novelist Marian Keyes has revealed how she battled constant suicidal urges at the height of her mental illness.

The Irish writer opened up to Kirsty Young about her struggle with alcoholism and depression on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday.

At her worst – an 18-month period beginning in 2009 – Keyes said she struggled not to harm herself.

She had stopped being able to eat, sleep and interact with others, and was eventually hospitalised.

“Then the suicidal impulses started and it was very hard to physically to stop myself from going through with it,” she said. “For months and months, every day was an enormous effort not to do the acts of wounding myself.”

Her recovery was “really speedy”, but the experience altered her perception of what it meant to be depressed.

“Nothing worked but the passage of time … It’s an illness and it ran its course.

“I had always described myself as melancholy or depressive but I hadn’t a clue. Anything I had before was a blue day by comparison. This was altered perceptions, a mental illness.”

She wrote her novel The Mercy of Mystery Close in that period. She told the Guardian in 2013 that a scene in which the heroine planned to kill herself in a hotel room was inspired by her own experience.

“I had two goes going out assembling the whole kit and buying paper and Sellotape to write the note,” she said. “The conversation Helen has with the man in the shop, I actually had that, with him asking: ‘What is it you’re proposing to cut?’

“It was so bizarre to be standing in a DIY shop, buying a knife to open my veins with. I was absolutely going through who would find me, leaving money for her to apologise … I wasn’t in my right mind.”

Keyes, 53, also told Young about her experience of alcoholism while living in London in her 20s.

“Alcohol was the love of my life. It was my best friend and, in the end, my only friend … I had stopped eating, stopped hoping, I was constantly suicidal. There was only one way it would go. I couldn’t stop drinking and was preparing to go under.”

Writing was her “rope across the abyss”: she wrote her first short story, then a few months later began a rehabilitation program for alcoholism. She has now been sober for more than 20 years.

“It was that primal urge in all of us to stay alive, saying ‘I can give you this, will you live for this?’ It didn’t get me sober but gave me something to hope for.”

Keyes’ debut novel, Watermelon, was published in 1995.

Her 12 novels to date have sold 35m copies worldwide and been published in 33 languages.

Her 13th book, The Break, will be released in the UK and Ireland on 7 September.

• In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. Hotlines in other countries can be found here

Novelist Marian Keyes reveals fight against constant "suicidal impulses"

Hairdressers of the world unite against hidden dangers of the salon

Hairdressing is not an obviously dangerous occupation. Yet working in a hair salon or a barber’s shop can provoke skin conditions, musculoskeletal diseases such as arthritis and tendonitis and work-related asthma.

Now Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union which represents many of Britain’s estimated 140,000 hairdressers, is calling for a “new deal” to protect them. Paddy Lillis, the union’s deputy general secretary, said the government needed to give “proper protection” to barbers and hairdressers, the majority of whom are female and younger than 40.

A Europe-wide agreement on health and safety standards for the industry has been blocked by the European commission, under pressure from successive British governments. “It’s time we had a new deal for hairdressers,” Lillis said. “All too often the safety of shopworkers is overlooked in the mistaken belief they work in low-risk environments.

“This is a mistake the UK government made when they scaled back Health and Safety Executive inspections and slashed inspections by local authorities who enforce safety in shops, warehouses and offices. It is time that the government and the European commission took these risks to the health and safety of hairdressers seriously and gave them proper protection.”

Research indicates that hairdressers are at risk from seemingly innocuous activities such as washing hair, cutting hair and using hairspray. Repeatedly washing hands can lead to dermatitis, a non-contagious sensitivity to chemicals that causes painful cracked skin and bleeding, and research has shown that 70% of hairdressers have suffered from skin conditions.

Breathing in hairspray and other chemicals may be linked to asthma, according to some studies. Using scissors day in, day out can provoke arthritis and tendonitis in the hands and thumb, through loss of cartilage.

And hair dye has been blamed for a link between hairdressing and bladder cancer, although Cancer Research UK believes this is more likely to be the result of older hair dye ingredients which have been discontinued. Most of these issues could be solved by wearing appropriate gloves and taking regular breaks.

Rebecca Walker had been a hairdresser for nearly 10 years when she developed arthritis. The first signs were a “really stiff shoulder”. “I thought that maybe I’d been overworking it, but it didn’t go away and the pain moved to my elbow,” she said.

Within two months she had resigned because she was taking too much time off because of the pain in her wrists and hands. “I suppose I’m quite a determined person so I didn’t want to give up,” she said. So in 2011 Walker opened her own salon, quirkydo in Macclesfield, and now employs several other people.

“There have been times I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the day, but if I give myself a break for half an hour between clients, it’s OK,” she said.

The picture is different on the continent where hairdressers are more likely to be employees. Regina Richter has been a hairdresser in Leipzig for 51 years, but for the last 30 years she has suffered major back problems due to standing up for eight hours a day. “It seems to be affecting my younger colleagues more now,” she said. “After four or five years they are starting to experience pain. I think it is because the pressure has increased – now everyone has to cut hair as quickly as possible to get as many clients as possible.”

She believes that sometimes being able to sit down while cutting hair, and using ergonomic scissors and lighter hair dryers, would have prevented or delayed her condition.

In 2012, the union that represents about one million hairdressers across the EU, Uni Europa, was involved in drawing up an agreement for EU member states to sign up to shared health and safety standards for hairdressers. But since Jean-Claude Juncker became president of the European commission, the agreement has been blocked, under pressure led by Britain and some other parts of the EU, according to Oliver Roethig, regional secretary of Uni Europa.

“When we look at hairdressing, it’s the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Social legislation by the EU has been completely taken off the agenda by the Juncker commission. He said the EU must not be big on the smaller things. But we don’t think that hairdressers having to give up work is a small thing.”

In the UK, where nearly half of all hairdressers are self-employed, it can be difficult for individual stylists to raise health and safety issues in their salon, and given the role of Britain in obstructing progress at a European level, life after Brexit is unlikely to get any easier.

In 2009, the Health and Safety Executive handed over responsibility for its campaign on dermatitis to the Hairdressing and Beauty Industry Authority (Habia) and the National Hairdressers’ Federation.

However, Habia’s website refers to health and safety only from an employers’ perspective and does not offer guidance to hairdressers.

Hilary Hall, chief executive of the National Hairdressers’ Federation, said it did offer guidance to employers on contracting dermatitis and advised staff to wear vinyl gloves when washing hair.

“The directive pretty well captures what is available in the UK,” she said. “The difference is enforcement. The individual is responsible and they could be subject to inspections. We feel it is better to let people choose.”

THE DANGERS

Dermatitis

A study in 2004 revealed that 70% of hairdressers in Britain had suffered from work-related dermatitis, in the form of red, sore and sometimes itchy skin, mainly to the hands and fingers but also to the arms, face and neck.

Asthma

In France, a paper published in 2003 showed that 20% of women affected by work-related asthma were hairdressers, compared with 1% for the general population.

Arthritis

According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, musculoskeletal disorders are five times more prevalent among hairdressers than in the general population. Research published in the journal Work in 2009 showed that in a study of 145 hairdressers, 41% experienced ‘work-related upper limb disorders’.

Cancer

An analysis of 42 bladder cancer studies in 2010 showed that hairdressers faced a risk 30 to 35% higher than the general public. However, Cancer Research UK says that because cancer can take many years to develop, this may be due to exposure to older chemicals that are no longer used.

Hairdressers of the world unite against hidden dangers of the salon

New weapon in the global fight against fake malaria drugs: a cheap scanner

A new device that uses similar infrared light to TV remotes can accurately detect fake antimalarial drugs, according to a scientific paper published Monday.

The researchers revealed how they were able to use an optical scanner purchased online for $ 250 to distinguish perfectly between life-saving malaria drugs and deadly counterfeits.

Dozens of public health scientists declared in 2015 that a global crisis of fake drugs was undermining the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, particularly in the developing world.

The World Health Organization estimates that falsified medicines represent more than 50% of the pharmaceutical market in several African countries. Ineffective antimalarial drugs alone killed over 120,000 preschool children in Africa in 2013, according to research from the Center for Disease Dynamics.

“We’ve talked to several NGOs and government agencies who would like to do drug quality screening but can’t because they don’t have effective tools,” said Ben Wilson, a research scientist at Global Good, a collaboration between Bill Gates and the technology company Intellectual Ventures.

Wilson’s team, together with researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), set out to design an easy-to-use, portable scanner that almost any charity or rural pharmacy could afford.

Many fake drugs are almost indistinguishable from the genuine products, even down to convincing anti-counterfeiting holograms on their packaging. Testing the drugs currently requires laboratory tests with machines costing many thousands of dollars, operated by skilled technicians.

One testing process – spectroscopy – involves shining a light on a material, then analysing the light that comes back. Precise, powerful lasers allow researchers to identify every chemical in a pill, so they can determine which ones contain sufficient artemisinin – the active ingredient in most modern antimalarials.

But Wilson opted for a more rudimentary approach. He bought a spectrometer called Scio from the Israeli startup Consumer Physics, which had crowdfunded the production of the handheld device on Kickstarter. Instead of a laser, Scio uses a cheaper LED light – essentially a souped-up version of the infrared LED in a TV remote.

While infrared spectroscopy cannot pick out the individual drugs that make up a pill, it can capture a medicine’s overall spectral fingerprint. Wilson’s team scanned genuine drugs with sensitive lab equipment, then used machine learning to extract a unique algorithm for each.

Scio is used here in another capacity: to analyze food content. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Scio connects to a smartphone app that compares those fingerprints to a sample in front of it.

A paper published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene described lab tests of over 900 samples of antimalarial drugs purchased in Equatorial Guinea and Ghana, in which Global Good’s system detected every single fake.

Global Good and LSHTM want to get handheld scanners like Scio out to workers in the field, where they would connect with a smartphone app the organisation has also developed. Anyone from customs officials to aid workers would be able to scan a drug in seconds, getting an instant readout from the phone whether a medicine is genuine or not.

“Everything is hosted on the phone itself,” said Wilson. “This has to work in remote locations in India or Africa where there is no data service.”

Muhammad Zaman, professor of biomedical engineering and international health at Boston University, agreed that cheap, reliable scanning is essential. However, he argued that substandard drugs, whether the result of poor quality manufacturing or expired supplies, are as much a concern as counterfeit drugs.

“People envisage a mafia working in shadows but the problem is more complicated than that,” he said. “Sometimes good manufacturers make bad drugs because there is no regulation or quality oversight.”

Zaman is developing his own system, called PharmaChk, that squeezes an entire chemical lab into a suitcase. Unlike Global Good’s spectrometer, it destroys the pills it tests, requires a supply of chemicals to operate, and is likely to cost $ 5,000 or more. “But we can tell exactly how much artemisinin is in a sample,” he said.

Global Good’s system has trouble spotting some substandard antimalarials because they still carry the fingerprint of a reputable manufacturer. However, the organisation is already working with a more sophisticated scanner that should be better at identifying poor quality drugs and can even scan pills through a blister pack. If a trial of the new scanner in Laos goes well, Global Good and LSHTM hope to interest a large funding agency in rolling out the technology.

The US Food and Drug Administration is also developing its own handheld scanner to detect counterfeit medicines, and one Chinese company is even building infrared spectroscopy into an Android smartphone.

Ultimately, everyone could one day have the technology to check medicines in the palm of their hands. “The big effort is collecting the data,” Wilson said. “The way our system works, there’s no limit to how many drugs you can scan.”

The Guardian receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its Global Development site and homelessness project Outside in America. This news story is unrelated to either of those initiatives.

New weapon in the global fight against fake malaria drugs: a cheap scanner

Europe escalates action against UK for breaching air pollution limits

An EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK in applying environmental law, on the same day that the commission escalated its action against Britain for breaching air pollution limits.

Britain has been in breach of EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010, with London overshooting its annual air pollution limit for the whole of 2017 in just the first five days.

The Guardian understands that a “reasoned opinion” will now be sent on 15 February to the UK and four other countries: Germany, France, Italy and Spain. If a satisfactory response is not received within two months, a case at the European court could follow.

“In principle it could start later this year, but first we have to decide on a referral to court,” an EU source said. “Your goal is always to get them [infringing countries] to comply without taking them to court.”

An estimated 50,000 Britons die prematurely each year from diseases caused by air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, according to the review.

Six million working days are lost from pollution-related illnesses annually, at a cost of €28bn per year, it says.

News of the court move was welcomed by Seb Dance, the Labour MEP who was photographed behind Nigel Farage in parliament with a sign saying “he’s lying to you” last week. “It is great that the EU is doing this,” he said. “It shows the value of being in the union and having recourse to action when standards are breached.”

A high-profile environmental case against the UK at the European court of justice could inflame eurosceptic passions, as fears grow on the continent about the potential shock waves from Brexit.

Britain is already failing in its application of laws on air quality, water standards, and the conservation of several species, particularly marine porpoises, according to the latest review.

If Theresa May makes good on her threat to turn the UK into a low tax zone off the shores of Europe because a Brexit deal cannot be reached, environmentalists fear a further deterioration.

Pieter de Pous, the deputy director of the European environment bureau, said: “This review is the latest sobering reminder of the UK government’s shameful lack of ambition when it comes to environmental protection.

“Given Theresa May’s extremely worrying threats to turn the UK into a tax and deregulation haven post-Brexit, any future deal granting the UK access to the single market must come with strict conditions – and rock-solid guarantees from the UK – to ensure that it complies with existing and future EU environmental law.”

Commission sources said that Brexit would have “economic implications” for EU environmental policy, but that it was too early to speculate what they might be.

The Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said that May’s failure to include environmental protections among the 12-points of her Brexit white paper was “a clear indication that to be charitable, the environment is not at the top of her list and, to be more cynical, that Brexit is partly being driven by a desire to reduce environmental standards as part of a bonfire of the regulations”.

She said: “Using attempts to destroy our own standards as a bargaining chip is something I find extraordinary. It’s absurd. Who would go into a negotiation like that? Our weaknesses in leaving the EU throw us into the hands of the US when it is being run by a president and cabal who are deeply anti-environment and climate action. It leaves our environment very vulnerable.”

In an interview with Michael Gove last month, Trump railed against “environmental tricks” by the EU, which he claimed had prevented him from building a sea wall to protect a golf course in Ireland.

The construction works would have destroyed the natural habitat of the 2mm long narrow-mouthed whorl snail.

Conservatives hoping to lure the US into a rapid free-trade deal may be frustrated to discover that the UK is still obliged to draw up a strategy for protecting bats and the great-crested newt under EU birds and habitat laws, which will continue to apply until Britain has finally departed the union.

Full compliance with the EU’s waste recycling laws by 2020 could net €42bn of savings across Europe and create 400,000 new jobs, according to the EU study.

Europe escalates action against UK for breaching air pollution limits

Labour MPs urge Priti Patel to stand against Trump"s "global gag" rule

MPs are calling on Priti Patel to take urgent action to support charities that provide women with information on abortion in an effort to limit the impact of one of Donald Trump’s first acts as president.

Six Labour politicians have written to the development secretary suggesting Britain takes similar steps to the Netherlands, which is planning to form an overseas fund after the US ruled that it would stop providing aid to international groups working in this area.

“As we are sure you are aware, the new US president Donald Trump signed an executive order blocking funding for a number of international NGOs that support women’s rights and family planning,” the MPs wrote, about what has been dubbed the Mexico city policy, or global gag rule.

“We would implore you to take urgent steps on funding and policy as the Dutch government has and as the UK government has done so previously, to mitigate the impact of this decision.”

The group – Stephen Doughty, Stella Creasy, Gareth Thomas, Stephen Twigg, Luciana Berger and Anna Turley – praise Patel for championing the work of the Department for International Development (DfID) for women and girls in developing countries. They say it has focused on access to education, health services, family planning, better nutrition and water and sanitation.

“The department has been at the global forefront in helping poor women to lead healthy and productive lives, and to increase voice, choice and control for girls and women,” they add, warning that Trump’s decision could undermine DfID’s work.

They highlight the Dutch plans for a fund to help projects providing access to birth control, abortion and women’s education.

“If Britain is going to show the kind of global leadership the prime minister suggests, then we need to put our money where our mouth is and step in when others fall short” said Creasy, who helped organise the London Women’s March.

“Cutting funding for reproductive healthcare doesn’t end abortion, it ends safe abortions. Trump may not realise that but Britain does and should act accordingly.”

What is the ‘global gag rule’, and why does Trump support it?

Doughty, a former aid adviser who sits on the development committee, argued that Trump had delivered a “sinister start” to his presidency.

“At a time when Donald Trump is advocating torture and slashing contributions to the UN – they are also gagging women’s rights organisations,” he said, urging Patel and Theresa May to try to undo some of the damage.

Thomas, who is a former DfID minister, said he had previously been involved in a decision to set up a fund after George W Bush, the last Republican president, stopped US aid funding safe abortion and family planning.

“We worked with allies in other development agencies to try to ameliorate the consequences of George Bush’s decision,” he said. “Now that Trump has followed suit I hope Theresa May will instruct DfID to once more lead the development community to help close the gap and thus support the rights of women across the world to live the life they want to.”

A DfID source said. “The secretary of state has spoken about the fact that family planning in development is an important priority to her. We will continue to show global health leadership by working to deliver this‎.”

Labour MPs urge Priti Patel to stand against Trump"s "global gag" rule

HIV vaccine test hopes for breakthrough in combat against the virus

The first new trial of a potential vaccine against HIV in seven years has begun in South Africa, raising hopes that it will help bring about the end of the epidemic.

Although fewer people are now dying from Aids because 18.2 million are on drug treatment for life to suppress the virus, efforts to prevent people from becoming infected have not been very successful. The infection rate has continued to rise and experts do not believe the epidemic will be ended without a vaccine.

The vaccine being tested is a modified version of the only one to have shown a positive effect, out of many that have gone into trials. Seven years ago, the vaccine known as RV144 showed a modest benefit of about 31% in a trial in Thailand.

That trial was controversial because the vaccine was a combination of two, called AidsVax and ALVAC, which were already 15 years old when it began. One of them, AidsVax, had failed in a trial on its own. The RV144 trial was very large – more than 16,400 Thai men and women without HIV took part, randomly assigned to receive either the combined vaccine or a placebo injection. At the end of the three-year trial, 125 people had become infected – 51 who had received the vaccine and 74 who had not.

But researchers chasing the holy grail of a vaccine think they could have better success in South Africa, because of a number of modifications. The new trial, called HVTN 702, has just begun to enrol the first of 5,400 men and women aged 18-35.

“HIV has taken a devastating toll in South Africa, but now we begin a scientific exploration that could hold great promise for our country. If an HIV vaccine were found to work in South Africa, it could dramatically alter the course of the pandemic,” said Dr Glenda Gray, chief executive of the South African Medical Research Council, which is involved in the study.

“It’s an important trial to do. I’m very pleased that we were able to get it off the ground,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US that is co-funding the trial.

The Thai trial’s modest success was in people at low risk of HIV infection. “We have always said that if a vaccine is going to be ultimately effective, it is going to have to prove itself in a relatively high-risk group. So we always had the intention of extending and extrapolating the principle of the RV144 study to a setting such as southern Africa,” said Fauci.

The aspiration is to push the effectiveness up from 31% to between 50% and 60%, he said. “Obviously we’d like it to be 90% but that is probably asking too much given the complexity of HIV and the body’s immune response to it,” he said. If they could get a vaccine of at least 50% efficacy for use in combination with other prevention tools, such as condoms, antiretroviral drugs and circumcision, “that will be a major, major advance”, he said.

The modified vaccine uses an isolate of the virus that circulates in southern Africa, called the C clade. There will be more booster shots of the vaccine and the use of an adjuvant to enhance the response of the immune system. Volunteers will get five shots of the vaccine and three boosters – a schedule that the researchers will look to slim down for use in the real world if it is successful.

Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, of the University of Cape Town and president of the International AIDS Society, who is also involved in the study, said the result from the Thai trial, although only 31% “made those of us in the HIV vaccine world quite excited”. For the first time, it looked as though a vaccine was possible.

“Pretty soon after the trial, the world started to galvanise to decide what we needed to do,” she said. The epidemic in Thailand was abating, so with a low rate of new infections, it was not the best place to study the vaccine further. “We recognised we had to come to southern Africa to do the trial, so we had to modify the vaccine product.”

The aim of the new trial is to produce evidence for the regulators and obtain a licence for a vaccine. “Probably the magic number is 50% at three years,” she said. “I think nobody will be very interested in a vaccine that is less than 50%.” A vaccine with lower efficacy could be a problem if people assume they are protected and take no further precautions against HIV. But a vaccine with 50% efficacy could make a big impact, she said.

At least two-thirds of the participants will be women, who are more likely to get infected at that age than men. “The toolbox is in desperate need of something like this. We remain very optimistic,” said Bekker. “We are constantly aware of the desperate need and very excited that we are finally getting on and trying something again now.

“We’ve never treated our way out of an epidemic. There’s no doubt we have to have primary prevention alongside treatment in order to get HIV control, but we are not going to get HIV eradication without a vaccine. That is very clear.”

HIV vaccine test hopes for breakthrough in combat against the virus

Psychotherapist Warns Against Instant Mashed Potatoes This Thanksgiving

As a mother, award-winning author and licensed psychotherapist, I advise parents to prepare homemade recipes this Thanksgiving. When treating moody, hyper, anxious, sleepless and unfocused children, it is imperative to improve nutritional status and avoid chemicals.  Although appearing easier, convenient holiday foods can derail plans for a pleasant holiday get-together.

This is because processed food contains preservatives, artificial food dyes and neurotoxic chemicals, which can cause bad behavior.

The Ills of Instant Foods

My book titled, Healing Without Hurting reveals that instant foods are loaded with food additives, which cause and aggravate ADD/ADHD and behavioral symptoms. The chemical ingredients found in instant potatoes and instant stuffing mixes affect the nervous system and often make brain fog and hyperactivity worse. They are loaded with preservatives such as sodium bisulfate, BHA/BHT, and MSG. They also contain hydrogenated “GMO” soybean oil and corn syrup, maltodextrin (sometimes wheat-derived, causing concern for people with gluten intolerance), and dairy. Instant mashed potatoes and stuffing also include high sodium content and artificial flavors. 

Well known Food Babe blogger Vani Hari agrees. Her blog post about the chemical horrors in classic Thanksgiving meals discusses the harmful effects of Sodium Bisulfite, BHA and many of the other preservatives found in Betty Crocker’s Creamy Butter Potatoes, Hungry Jack’s Mashed Potatoes.  She writes, “No one should be consuming BHA. It is linked to cancer, fertility issues and kidney problems. It is also considered a carcinogen by U.S. Health and Human Services. Yet the FDA still allows it in our food.” 

As we can see, trying to save time and money is backfiring on us in a huge way. Our health is at risk.  Not only causing mental health issues, but many diseases as well.  

The Problem Continues

We then turn to potentially dangerous medication to address our symptoms. Medication that contains even more chemicals. This only adds to our toxic burden, which causes more symptoms. Thus, the vicious cycle continues. Therefore,  it is important that we leap out of the confides of conventional thinking and begin exploring other options. We must learn the benefits of healthy eating, nutritional balancing, Eastern Medicine practices like acupuncture, juicing, and plant medicine.

In fact, most people don’t realize that all medications are derived from plants, trees, stems, roots and leaves. Scientists recreate nature in a lab, add chemicals and call it medication – Hence the side-effects. It is time we return to tradition.

The Solution

It is time to begin buying whole food ingredients and cooking healthy meals instead of relying on boxed food. Let’s start this Thanksgiving!

I challenge everyone that was planning on opening a box this Thanksgiving, to check out these easy  homemade recipes instead. And, I also encourage everyone to read my book.

Healing Without Hurting is easy an easy read that uplifts and inspires. It offers non-pharmaceutical solutions that work. A finalist in in the 2015 USA Best Books competition in the category of Health: Alternative Medicine, and was rated #1 in New Releases – it is a must read. 

One mom writes, “I bought this book and I couldn’t put it down.  My son is now medication free and happy for the first time. He is now back in mainstream school thanks to this book.” Another mom writes, “These treatments significantly enhanced the life, health and happiness of my children, and their symptoms disappeared.”

“Pure excellence! If you are a family with a special needs child, this book will give you the answers you are looking for. A story of hope, a story of recovery – a story that should be shouted from the mountain tops. You can have your child back!” wrote Dr. Jared Skowron, Defeat Autism Doctor and best-selling author of 100 Natural Remedies for Your Child.

Healing Without Hurting: Treating ADHD, Apraxia, and Autism Spectrum Disorders Naturally & Effectively without Harmful Medication tells a true life success story and offers a well-researched, comprehensive step-by-step guide for parents, teachers, therapists and caregivers. It speaks directly to affected parents and provides natural and effective alternative solutions to toxic medications and focuses on the considerable impact of diet and nutrition.

Watch out for special deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Psychotherapist Warns Against Instant Mashed Potatoes This Thanksgiving

How KFC, Subway and McDonald’s can help the fight against antibiotic resistance | Letters

By 2050, drug-resistant infections are expected to cause 10 million deaths annually – becoming a bigger killer than cancer is today. By 2050, antimicrobial resistance is also expected to cost the world $ 100tn and could push more than 28 million people into extreme poverty.

Misuse of antibiotics in food animals is a major driver of resistance. Farm animals consume about two-thirds of the world’s antibiotics, with much of this added to feed or water to make animals grow faster or to counter unsanitary conditions in factory farming facilities. Between 2010 and 2030, it is predicted that antibiotic use in food animal production will increase by two-thirds.

In World Antibiotics Awareness Week, we are calling on KFC, Subway and McDonald’s to end the routine use of all antibiotics included on the World Health Organisation’s list of medically important antimicrobials, in all of their livestock supply chains. This means prohibiting suppliers from using these antibiotics for growth promotion or disease prevention and only using them when there has been a diagnosis of illness.

We welcome the progress that has been made by Subway and McDonald’s in North America and urge KFC to follow suit. But action in one region will not be enough. Consumers worldwide are becoming increasingly aware of the negative health impact of misuse of antibiotics in livestock farming. Drug-resistant infections do not respect national boundaries. We urge KFC, Subway and McDonald’s to make global commitments and develop timetables for action with targets.
Amanda Long Director general, Consumers International, Jean Halloran Director of food policy initiatives, Consumer Reports, Catherine Howarth Chief executive, ShareAction, Angus Wong Lead digital campaign strategist, SumOfUs, Steve Roach Food safety programme director, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Emma Rose Campaigns, lobbying and communications specialist, The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, Rosie Wardle Programme director, Jeremy Coller Foundation, Alan Briefel Executive director, FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return), Josh Zinner Chief executive officer, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Laura Rogers Deputy director,Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Anna Zorzet Head of ReAct Europe, Leslie Samuelrich President, Green Century Capital Management, Steve Blackledge Public health programme director, US Public Interest Research Group

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

How KFC, Subway and McDonald’s can help the fight against antibiotic resistance | Letters

Surgeon jailed over patient"s death wins appeal against conviction

A surgeon who served a jail sentence over the death of a patient at a private hospital has won an appeal against his conviction.

David Sellu, 69, was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in November 2013 and handed a two and a half year prison term at the Old Bailey.

On Tuesday, three court of appeal judges in London allowed his challenge against the conviction relating to the death of James Hughes, a father of six from Northern Ireland.

Hughes, 66, died at the Clementine Churchill hospital in Harrow, north-west London, after falling unexpectedly ill after surgery on his left knee.

The retired builder had a planned knee replacement on 5 February 2010. The operation went well, but he developed abdominal pain during his recovery and was transferred to Sellu’s care.

It was the standard of the doctor’s care of Hughes over a period of about 25 hours that formed the basis of the case against him.

At a recent hearing the appeal judges heard that the “essence” of the prosecution case was that the doctor, a “respected consultant colorectal surgeon”, should have performed an operation to repair a perforated bowel “at a much earlier time”.

But a QC argued on behalf of Sellu, who served 15 months before being released in February last year, that his conviction for gross negligence manslaughter was “unsafe” on a number of grounds.

Sellu, of Hillingdon, west London, was present in court to hear Sir Brian Leveson, who heard the case with Lord Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Globe, announce that the conviction should be quashed.

Leveson gave the prosecution 24 hours to make an application if they wished to seek a retrial.

Surgeon jailed over patient"s death wins appeal against conviction

Mosquitos to be infected with bacteria in fight against Zika virus

Mosquitoes in two large areas of Brazil and Colombia are to be infected with bacteria that deprive them of the ability to transmit viruses, in an attempt to check the spread of Zika, which has been held responsible for brain damage in thousands of babies.

Funding the ambitious plan are two philanthropic foundations – the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – together with the Brazilian, UK and US governments. The scheme will cost $ 18m (£14.7m) and is supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Wolbachia bacteria are carried by around 60% of the world’s insect species, but not by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits Zika, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya viruses to humans.

Researchers at Australia’s Monash University have been working for the past decade to infect mosquitoes with Wolbachia in an effort specifically to eliminate dengue, but the Zika crisis in Latin America has focused attention and now major funding on their work.

Following successful trials in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, including small-scale projects last year in Latin America, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes will be released across two large urban areas – in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and in Antioquia in Colombia, starting next year. The infected mosquitoes breed with local mosquitoes and pass the Wolbachia bacteria on to their offspring, so the project is self-sustaining. In those areas where trials have been done so far, transmission of the viruses has stopped.

“Wolbachia could be a revolutionary form of protection against mosquito-borne disease. It’s affordable, sustainable, and appears to provide protection against Zika, dengue, and a host of other viruses. We’re eager to study its impact and how it can help countries,” said Dr Trevor Mundel, president of the global health division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The World Health Organisation earlier this year called for large-scale pilot studies of the Wolbachia mosquito-control method and the Pan-American Health Organisation offered technical support in countries affected by Zika.

The idea emerged from the Grand Challenges programme backed by the Gates Foundation, which each year calls for scientists to bid for funds with creative new ideas to solve some of the world’s most pressing health problems. Prof Scott O’Neill’s team from Monash University proposed Wolbachia infection of mosquitoes to stop dengue transmission in 2005.

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, told the Guardian it was vital for the scientists to ensure they had local support for what will still be a trial. “Community involvement is absolutely fundamental,” he said. A huge amount of work, over years, had gone on to explain the project to people living in areas where earlier trials had taken place. “Get that sort of community intervention wrong and you never recover from that,” he said.

There are great hopes for Wolbachia but it is too soon to suppose this is the answer to the Zika and dengue epidemics. Farrar said he would wait to see whether it worked. “I’m in equipoise. I really hope it will, but I’d like to see the evidence at scale.”

Sue Desmond-Hellman, chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in London with Farrar for the latest Grand Challenges meeting where new projects are presented and funding awarded, said she agreed.

“What I feel most confident about is that it is safe,” she said. “We know that Wolbachia is already found in 60% of the world’s insects. Everyone in this room has probably been bitten by something with Wolbachia.”

Aedes aegyti mosquitoes are found across large areas of the world, including the southern part of the United States, parts of Asia and Africa. Methods to control the populations or limit the damage they can do in transmitting viral infections are urgently needed. The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that there was not yet a way to contain the spread of infections.

“Zika and other diseases spread by [the Aedes aegypti mosquito] are really not controllable with current technologies,” said Thomas Frieden. “We will see this become endemic in the hemisphere.”

More than 50 countries have experienced an outbreak of Zika virus infections since 2015, according to WHO data, and there have been nearly 2,200 cases of microcephaly – babies with brain damage – associated with Zika, 28 of which have been reported in the US. The vast majority – 2,033 – were reported in Brazil.

Mosquitos to be infected with bacteria in fight against Zika virus

Polish abortion law protesters march against proposed restrictions

Polish women have gathered in cities across the country to protest against a proposal to ban abortions in cases where foetuses are badly damaged or have no chance of survival after birth.

Many wore black, a symbol of mourning for the feared loss of reproductive rights, as they took to the streets of Warsaw, Gdańsk, Łódź, Wroclaw, Poznań and other cities and towns across the predominantly Roman Catholic nation of 38 million.

“Girls just want to have fundamental rights,” one banner proclaimed.

The protests on Monday follow a similar round of street demonstrations in early October, a reaction to a proposal for an even more restrictive law which would have banned abortion in all cases, including rape, and imposed prison sentences of up to five years on women and doctors involved in terminating pregnancies.

Massive so-called “black protests” forced lawmakers to abandon that proposal.

The women, joined by many men, have returned to the streets in response to a new proposal by Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party. Earlier this month, he said his party wants to ensure that even pregnancies involving a child “certain to die, very deformed, still end up in a birth, so that the child can be baptised, buried, have a name”.

In the weeks since the first round of protests, the grassroots movement advocating abortion rights has increased its demands. Those who turned out on Monday also called for better sex education and easier access to birth control while also demanding that the influential Roman Catholic church end its “interference” in political life and public education.

Clashes broke out between abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion activists outside a metro station in central Warsaw where demands were laid out in a petition that a steady stream of people lined up to sign.

“We want to live in a secular society,” said Agata Rybka, a 24-year-old student of biotechnology at Warsaw University who had volunteered to oversee the petition signing. “Right now religious issues dominate public discourse and we don’t like it.”

Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with terminations only allowed in cases of rape, when the foetus is irreparably damaged and when the woman’s life or health is in peril.

The new proposal would not amount to a total ban, and would still allow abortion in cases of rape or if the woman’s life or health is in danger.

Dorota Szumilak, a 44-year-old financial analyst, signed the petition, explaining that she did so because she saw in the abortion ban proposal an attempt to restrict women’s rights more broadly. A Lutheran, she said she feels discriminated against in a society where the Catholic church runs religion classes in the schools and is now supporting further restrictions on abortion.

“The role of the church is now too strong,” she said.

She was with a friend, Malgorzata Brendel, 53, who said the attempts to tighten the abortion law had prompted her to become one of a growing number of Poles who are now formally leaving the Catholic church.

Polish abortion law protesters march against proposed restrictions

Scottish court rejects appeal against minimum alcohol pricing

Scottish judges have rejected an appeal against the Holyrood government’s plans to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol.

The ruling by the court of session in Edinburgh is the latest in a long-running legal battle led by the Scotch Whisky Association after the Scottish parliament voted in favour of minimum pricing in 2012.

Ministers set the minimum price at 50p per unit of alcohol, a measure that would mean whisky could be no cheaper than £14 a bottle.

Last year the European court of justice ruled that the policy was in breach of EU free-trade laws. The European court of justice said the policy could be justified on health grounds under EU law only if it was more proportionate and effective than using general taxation.

However, in a written judgement issued at the court of session on Friday, the three judges ruled that the government’s policy was not illegal. In the judgement, Scotland’s most senior judge, the Lord President Lord Carloway, wrote that the policies didn’t contravene laws set by the ECJ.

Quoting from the judgement issued by the judge who earlier considered the matter, Lord Doherty, Carloway wrote that drinking was important to Scots.

“For many, the consumption of alcohol is a great social lubricant. It’s use in a responsible manner is an important and positive feature in Scottish culture. The general intent, as the Lord Ordinary noted (Opinion para 54) is to ‘get people to build a healthy and sensible relationship with alcohol’; not to stop them drinking altogether or even to drink moderately at all times.”

More details soon …

Scottish court rejects appeal against minimum alcohol pricing

Drink Hibiscus Tea To Reduce High Blood Pressure and Protect Against Heart Disease!

Hibiscus flowers are widely known for their tropical beauty. These large red, orange, pink, or yellow flowers can be worn in the hair or in bright leis around the neck. But many people may not realize that hibiscus also makes a wonderful tea. For example, hibiscus tea (or sour tea) is very popular in Mexico because it is medicinal, delicious, and easy to make.

Hibiscus tea has gained attention in the scientific community too. This is because hibiscus is rich in antioxidants, which protect against cell damage and heart disease, in turn. Considering the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease, hibiscus tea could be beneficial to many people who are interested in natural remedies for heart problems. In this article, I discuss studies, which have shown that hibiscus tea reduces high blood pressure and may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. I also provide a recipe for making hibiscus tea.

The research

A study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology was carried out to determine whether hibiscus tea reduces blood pressure among patients at risk for heart disease. Researchers tracked the blood pressure of patients who drank hibiscus tea vs. patients who drank ordinary tea for 12 days. Results showed that patients who consumed hibiscus tea had significantly lower blood pressure than those who drank the ordinary tea. The investigators concluded that hibiscus tea is an effective natural remedy for reducing high blood pressure and for preventing future heart conditions.

Similarly, an investigation from the journal of Circulation demonstrated that daily consumption of 3 cups of hibiscus tea reduced the blood pressure of pre-hypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults. Therefore, incorporating hibiscus tea into a daily routine may protect against the development of hypertension.

Yet another article from the Journal of Human Hypertension reported that drinking hibiscus tea two times a day for a month lowered the blood pressure of patients with mild hypertension and type II diabetes. As such, consuming hibiscus tea is a natural medicinal approach to regulating blood pressure, particularly for people who are managing serious physical health problems.

Taken together, this body of research suggests that incorporating hibiscus tea into a regular dietary routine can reduce high blood pressure and may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Safety and doses

Hibiscus is generally considered safe when consumed as a tea. However, we need more research to determine the exact amounts that are safe for pregnant women, children, and people with liver or kidney disease. Additionally, an article from the journal of Phytomedicine pointed out that more research is needed to understand the long-term effects of hibiscus tea on heart health.

How to make hibiscus tea

There are several recipes for making your own hibiscus tea. Here is one that I like. Hibiscus tea is naturally sour, so you can play around with healthy ways to sweeten it, such as adding raw honey or organic coconut sugar.

References:

Faraji, M. H., & Tarkhani, A. H. (1999). The effect of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on essential hypertension. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 65(3), 231-236.

McKay, D. L., Chen, C. O., Saltzman, E., & Blumberg, J. B. (2010). Hibiscus sabdariffa L. tea (tisane) lowers blood pressure in prehypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults. The Journal of nutrition, 140(2), 298-303.

Mozaffari-Khosravi, H., Jalali-Khanabadi, B. A., Afkhami-Ardekani, M., Fatehi, F., & Noori-Shadkam, M. (2009). The effects of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on hypertension in patients with type II diabetes. Journal of human hypertension, 23(1), 48-54.

Wahabi, H. A., Alansary, L. A., Al-Sabban, A. H., & Glasziuo, P. (2010). The effectiveness of Hibiscus sabdariffa in the treatment of hypertension: a systematic review. Phytomedicine, 17(2), 83-86.

Hibiscus tea recipe: simplyrecipes.com/recipes/agua_de_jamaica_hibiscus_tea/

About the author:

Dr. B is a health psychologist who writes for the health and medical website pdrmed.com. She is an expert in the effects of stress and nutrition on mental and physical health. Follow: @pdrmed and Contact: drb@earthlink.net

Drink Hibiscus Tea To Reduce High Blood Pressure and Protect Against Heart Disease!

Growing Up on a Farm May Help Protect Against Allergies

TUESDAY, Sept. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Growing up on a farm may help ward off allergies later in life, a new study suggests.

The study also found that women who spend their early years on a farm typically have stronger lungs than their suburban or city-dwelling peers.

Other research has suggested that exposure to germs and potential allergens in early childhood could protect people against allergies later. A team led by the University of Melbourne’s Shyamali Dharmage put this “hygiene hypothesis” to the test. Dharmage is a professor in the Center for Epidemiology & Biostatistics.

The team analyzed data from a survey of more than 10,000 adults in 14 countries in Europe, Scandinavia and Australia.

Nearly 64 percent said they spent their first five years of life in a rural village, small town or city suburb. About 27 percent lived in the city and about 9 percent grew up on a farm.

Kids who spent their early years on a farm were more likely to have had pets and older brothers or sisters. These kids also were more likely to have shared a bedroom but less likely to have had a close family member with allergies.

Though their study didn’t prove cause and effect, the researchers found that farm kids were less likely to have allergies, nasal symptoms or over-reactive airways as adults than people who grew up anywhere else.

Farm kids were also 54 percent less likely to develop asthma or hay fever and 57 percent less likely to have nasal allergies than city kids. Farm kids were also 50 percent less likely to have asthma than other groups.

The researchers noted that women in all 14 countries who grew up on farms had stronger lungs than those who lived in the city until 5 years of age.

The research was published online on Sept. 26 in the journal Thorax.

More information

The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology provides more information on risk factors for allergies.

Growing Up on a Farm May Help Protect Against Allergies

UK pledges £1.1bn to global aid fund against Aids, TB and malaria

Britain will contribute £1.1bn to a global aid fund to help fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria – but attach a set of “demanding” performance targets, Priti Patel has announced.

The international development secretary, who last week said too much of the UK’s aid budget is stolen or wasted, announced the three-year pledge alongside the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The investment in the Global Fund of about £366m a year will help the organisation save eight million lives from the diseases.

But it will be subject to a “performance agreement” – the first of its kind – which will see Britain monitor the fund’s work and withhold 10% of the money if targets are not met.

Patel said: “This latest round of UK investment demonstrates that Britain is keeping the promises it has made to the world’s poor while underlining the government’s commitment to tackle the great global challenges of our time, including disease, which is in the national interest. But even some of the best performing international aid institutions can improve and deliver better value for taxpayers and those in need.

“That is why we are using this investment in the Global Fund to secure a demanding performance agreement to make sure UK aid achieves the maximum possible impact. Performance agreements will become the norm for the Department for International Development’s engagement with international institutions, as global Britain uses its leadership to demand more for UK taxpayers and the world’s poorest.”

The money will fund 40m bed nets to tackle malaria, provide enough antiretroviral therapy for 1.3 million people with HIV and support the treatment of 800,000 people with tuberculosis. A proportion of the investment will be used to leverage £100m from the private sector specifically to tackle malaria.

Kate Osamor, the shadow international development secretary, said: “We welcome the government’s pledge of £1.1bn to the Global Fund, which has a remarkable record and powerful model for fighting Aids, TB and malaria across the world. However, it’s perplexing it comes at a time when we’re still waiting for the government to publish the multilateral and bilateral aid reviews, which are long overdue.”

UK pledges £1.1bn to global aid fund against Aids, TB and malaria

New inhaler protects lungs against effects of air pollution

An inhaler that protects the lungs against air pollution has been developed by scientists and could help the many millions of people affected by toxic air to avoid its worst effects.

The inhaler delivers a molecule, first found in bacteria in the Egyptian desert, which stabilises water on the surface of the lung cells to form a protective layer. It is expected to be available as an inexpensive, over-the-counter product.

Outdoor air pollution is a global health crisis that kills over 3 million people a year and it has long been linked to lung and heart disease and strokes. But research is also uncovering new impacts on health, including degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, mental illness and, this week, diabetes.

The impact of air pollution costs $ 5tn a year, according to a World Bank report published last week. In the UK, at least 40,000 people a year die prematurely from air pollution, with a cross-party committee of MPs calling it a “public health emergency”.

But the government’s plans to tackle the issue were heavily criticised this week, just as alerts were issued for extreme air pollution across much of northern England. A day later, it was announced that more ambitious plans for London from Mayor Sadiq Khan were overwhelmingly backed by the public.

Vehicles are a key contributor to air pollution but, a year after the VW emissions scandal broke, most new diesel cars still emit far more toxic nitrogen oxides on the road than the official lab-based limit.

Action to clean up air is urgently needed across the world, but cutting emissions for vehicles and other sources will take years, meaning ways to reduce the harm in the meantime could be vital. The new inhaler has been developed by German medical devices company Bitop and is based on a molecule called ectoine, discovered in the 1980s in a desert bacterium which uses the compound to conserve water in 60C heat.

“It is quite an inert molecule that does one main thing, which is bind water, which stabilises cell membrane tissues against physical or chemical damage,” said Dr Andreas Bilstein, at Bitop. “It supports the natural barrier.”

When inhaled, this helps prevent the damage caused by air pollution particles that can lead to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer, Bilstein said: “Damage cannot occur as strongly and there is less inflammatory response, and so disease progression is reduced. The perfect situation is that the patient inhales in the morning and evening at home.”

The inhaler has been tested in three small groups of patients particularly at risk from air pollution, due to asthma, COPD and bronchitis, with the positive results due to be published soon, Bilstein said.

Ectoine does not interact with cell receptors, so it is classed as a medical device rather than a drug. This means large clinical trials are not required for official approval and the inhaler could be on sale soon, at an estimated cost of £17 a month, after Bitop selects a marketing partner. A version of the product for use in nebulisers will be available this year in Germany and Poland, while an ectoine-based nasal spray for allergy relief is already available.

Bilstein said the inhaler could be useful around the world, as particulate air pollution is not just a European problem: “Especially in Asia – China in particular – the demand for such a product is even higher. I was in New York last week, and the air was also not very clean.”

The protective effect of ectoine was discovered by Prof Jean Krutmann and colleagues at the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, while investigating whether the molecule could protect skin against sun damage. Bitop funded a series of studies, now published in prominent scientific journals.

“The point that it can prevent the lung inflammation induced by ultrafine particles is established – there is no more doubt,” Krutmann said. Antioxidants can also provide some protection but there has been controversy over the effectiveness of such food supplements, he said: “Personally, I think it is much better to eat lots of vegetables and fruit rather than taking any supplements.”

Dr Richard Russell, a consultant respiratory physician in the NHS and medical advisor to the British Lung Foundation, who was not involved in the research, said the inhaler was both credible and promising: “Ectoine is a beautifully elegant molecule and it clearly works by helping water to stabilise, giving you a film of water in times of stress.”

“The work that has been published thus far, in credible, internationally recognised journals, show that this stuff has positive properties, protecting against triggered inflammation,” he told the Guardian. Russell, who also lectures at Imperial College and Oxford University, said it might also be useful for the treatment of asthma, COPD and other lung diseases, not only prevention. “It could potentially do so much more. It is actually quite exciting and there is clearly a lot more to come from this story.”

Krutmann said slashing air pollution remained paramount. “It is very nice to be able to protect people against the detrimental effects, but this should not be used as an argument that we can now stop working on reducing particulate [air pollution]. The best thing is that we have clean air because then we don’t need any prophylactic treatment. But on the other hand we have to be realistic and in many countries you cannot just switch traffic overnight to electric cars and do other drastic things.”

“It will take many more years, especially in countries like China, and I think there is an ethical need to provide something to the general population to protect them,” he said.

New inhaler protects lungs against effects of air pollution

Jeremy Hunt has won a battle against junior doctors, but not the war

Junior doctors are used to managing crisis situations. Lifesaving treatments, long hours, dealing with dying patients, and coping with poor resources are all situations they would expect to wrestle with during their training. These young men and women want to cure the world – this is ingrained in their excellent and rigorous training, which might take anything up to 15 years.

So why is this important? You don’t have to live on Mars to know that the British Medical Association (BMA) – specifically, the junior doctors’ arm of it – and the government, namely health secretary Jeremy Hunt, are at odds.

It has become increasingly clear that Hunt has won the battle. Negotiations with the BMA have not just stalled, they have broken down because they failed to deliver the contract junior doctors felt was right for them and safe for patient care.

Hunt has a different view – not only does he think it is safe for patients, but he believes that it doesn’t discriminate against female doctors (over 60% of doctors are women), it offers a good work-life balance, and crucially it will deliver a seven-day service. His case is enhanced by the fact that junior doctors’ leaders endorsed the contract before consulting committee members. To some this is a matter of pay and conditions, while to others (not just within the BMA) it is a broader issue involving the current state of the NHS.

So is all well in the Hunt camp? Probably, insofar as the imposition of the contract is concerned. On the other hand, the BMA came to a rather desperate juncture. Its highest body, the council, backed the junior doctors’ committee’s demand to run an unprecedented series of five-day strikes. There was frustration, anger and even desperation at the inability of the government to see their viewpoint, fuelled no doubt by Hunt’s reappointment as health secretary.

In the cold light of day, the BMA realised that it would fall foul of the very reasons it was against the contract imposition – it had given trusts very little time to put together a contingency plan to safely cover the five days of the September strikes. It risked harm to patients, the very issue its 170,000 members feel is sacrosanct. The General Medical Council waded in, as did some of the medical royal colleges, ensuring the divisions in the senior medical fraternity were played out in the public and the media. A rapid climbdown by the BMA was inevitable, leading to an announcement that the September five-day strikes were off, further playing into Hunt’s hands.

To his credit, Hunt has not been gloating in this victory. He has adopted a dignified approach, welcoming the decision by the BMA but remaining steadfastly rooted in his conviction that the contract imposition would remain regardless. Last week, at Expo 2016 in Manchester he was very cordial, courteous and in consolatory mood. He expressed his wish to move forward.

Even BMA stalwarts might reluctantly agree that he is winning the battle. The imposition will proceed, without any further changes, unless he softens his approach.

However, Hunt should have no illusions. This is a hollow victory. Juniors are now a disaffected, angry, disillusioned and frustrated lot. These are the consultants and GPs of tomorrow, the very doctors the government needs to fulfil its plans for a round-the-clock, stellar NHS. Many feel that their professionalism and dreams have been thwarted by the government, and those who are really hacked off have emigrated.

The dispute is being played out against a background of an escalating funding crisis, trusts being unable to meet increasing demand and a warning that the health service will experience “pockets of meltdown” this winter. We could go on.

In the face of such adversity, the NHS is hardly able to deliver a five-day service, let alone the seven-day NHS Hunt dreams about. He has wrongly aligned his aspirations for a seven-day service to delivering the junior doctors’ contract. The BMA has repeatedly asked him to define his vision to enable a constructive dialogue on what is evidence-based, and what is achievable. What is clear is that both the BMA and Hunt require a highly motivated, energetic and engaged medical workforce to deliver the high-quality care needed to manage complex illnesses and meet rising demand.

The government is responsible for creating the conditions for safe working of our juniors and for providing and delivering safe services. Hunt must work hard to win the hearts and minds of junior doctors to achieve the ultimate goal of providing safe, high-quality services seven days a week. Theresa May should conduct her own appraisal of the state of the NHS and the problems it faces, and make her priority settling this dispute and finding more money for the health service.

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Jeremy Hunt has won a battle against junior doctors, but not the war

MPs demand hard line against clinicians who do not report FGM

The government should impose harsher punishment on professionals who decide not to report female genital mutilation in children, saying they are “complicit in a crime being committed”, according to a group of MPs.

The failure of the UK to make a single prosecution against FGM despite changes in legislation that make it mandatory for professionals to report FGM is “beyond belief” and is leading to “the preventable mutilation of thousands of girls”, according to a damning report from the home affairs select committee.

The committee says it is alarmed by reports that clinicians are ignoring the requirement to report child cases of FGM to the police, which was put in place last year, and urges NHS employers and royal colleges to “take a hard line against such attitudes”.

It states: “Existing disciplinary procedures for professionals who ignore the duty on mandatory reporting are insufficient and ineffective and it is unacceptable that some clinicians appear to refuse to accept it as their responsibility. The duty to report must not be seen as optional. A decision not to report puts children’s lives at risk and is complicit in a crime being committed.”

The committee risks reigniting a row with health professionals, some of whom have argued that mandatory reporting is counter-productive and compromises patient confidence.

The first annual statistics gathered on FGM released in July revealed there had been 5,700 new cases of female genital mutilation recorded in England in 2015-16, and provided hard evidence that the practice was happening on UK soil, with 18 cases recorded as happening in the UK. There are an estimated 134,600 women with FGM born in countries where FGM is practised and living in England. More than 20,000 girls a year are thought to be at risk of FGM in the UK.

FGM – the practice of removing some or all of a girl’s outer sexual organs, which can lead to serious and lifelong health complications – has been illegal in the UK since 1985 but it took 29 years before the first prosecution was brought to trial. The defendants were found not guilty. Since 2010, only 29 cases of FGM offences have been referred to the CPS, with a number of cases still live. The report compared these result to other countries: in a similar period there have been 40 FGM-related trials in France, six in Spain; two in Italy and Sweden; and one each in the Netherlands and Denmark.

“It is beyond belief that there still has not been a successful prosecution for an FGM offence since it was made illegal over 30 years ago,” stated the report. “That is a lamentable record and the failure to identify cases, to prosecute and to achieve convictions can only have negative consequences for those who are brave enough to come forward to highlight this crime.”

There was a “strong case” for routine medical examinations of children deemed to be at particularly high risk of FGM, said the committee. The practice had resulted in “large number of successful prosecutions in relation to FGM in France” but would require “a radical change in practice in the UK” and risked being “unnecessarily traumatic”.

The report also criticised the quality of data being gathered on FGM, although some progress had been made. Despite publicity surrounding the Government’s Summit on FGM in 2015, there was still “a paucity of information on the scale of FGM, on its trends over time and on the number of girls at risk”, stated the report. It called for a government FGM Unit – similar in scope to the Forced Marriage Unit – to collect data and report on progress in police investigations.

Police said on Wednesday that 33 children had been referred to safeguarding services, an 11-year-old girl was taken into police protection and a man and woman detained at Heathrow airport following a police operation that targeted flights to countries with high rates of FGM. Officers spoke to 5,000 people about UK law during Operation Limelight, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, but the report said “much more needs to be done to detect and prevent girls from being taken out of the UK to undergo FGM”.

Alison Macfarlane, a professor of perinatal health at City University London and author of a report on the prevalence of FGM in the UK, said the current methods of collecting data on FGM were “completely meaningless”. She added: “Ferocious penalties against doctors who don’t report FGM gets nobody anywhere. It is a sideshow from the positive things that are being done to prevent FGM, and it will deter women and girls from going to the doctor for help they may need.”

The Royal College of Midwives said that while a prosecution was “an important element” in the fight against FGM, many survivors were finding it difficult to access health care and psychological support. “We must address the need for culturally appropriate physiological services for survivors of FGM,” said the college’s professional policy adviser, Janet Fyle. “They are not being provided at anywhere near the levels required,” she added.

Equality Now, which has advised the government on FGM policy, said it did not support medical examinations of girls and did not think an FGM unit would be beneficial as “past experience showed that this did not work very effectively”. Mary Wandia, End FGM programme manager, said: “Every girl at risk of FGM should be protected in every possible way – particularly by those with a duty of care. If there is a failure to prevent this – or any incidence of child abuse – then the person who failed should be held to account.”

Nimko Ali, an anti-FGM activist and survivor, said she was confident that data collection and mandatory reporting – as well as a raised awareness about FGM – would result in a prosecution and welcomed the call for professionals to face disciplinary procedures if they failed to report FGM. “That prosecution will take time, but what is more important is that these policies are preventing girls from being cut in the first place, she said.”

MPs demand hard line against clinicians who do not report FGM