Royals launch campaign to get Britons talking about mental health

Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have enlisted a rapper, a Royal Marine and a Labour spin doctor to try to push stigma about discussing mental health beyond what they believe is a “tipping point” and into public acceptability.

The royals are trying to use their high profile to convince the public that “shattering stigma on mental health starts with simple conversations”. The rapper Stephen Manderson, known as Professor Green, and the comedian Ruby Wax have joined other public figures and individuals who have suffered mental illness to make short films for their mental health campaign, Heads Together, and talk openly about their experiences of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

“Attitudes to mental health are at a tipping point,” the royals said in a joint statement. “We hope these films show people how simple conversations can change the direction of an entire life.”

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Alastair Campbell and Fiona Millar discuss mental health

In the clips Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former director of communications in Downing Street, discusses his depression and breakdowns with his wife, Fiona Millar, including recalling how he got so low he punched himself in the face repeatedly. In another encounter the former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff told Manderson: “The hardest thing for me initially was talking. I’m not a big talker. I’m from the north of England. I’m from a working-class family. We don’t talk about our feelings.”

“It was no different for me growing up in a council estate in east London,” replied the rapper. “It is just not something you spoke about.”

The royals also released the largest ever survey of public attitudes to mental health, conducted by YouGov, which found almost half the population had a conversation about mental health in the last three months. Women are more likely to talk about the issue than men and young adults are almost twice as likely to discuss it than people aged over 65.

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Freddie Flintoff and Professor Green

However, very few of the 5,000 surveyed – just 3% – said they had approached someone from a local support organisation, and a similar amount, 2%, spoke to someone in the human resources department at work about the issue, despite almost 12m working days being lost to work-related stress, anxiety and depression in 2015-16.

Heads Together is a coalition of eight mental health charities, including Mind and the Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), organised from Kensington Palace. Prince Harry is championing the issue after fellow servicemen suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and following his time volunteering in the army’s personnel recovery units. Prince William is understood to have been motivated after attending several suicides as an air ambulance pilot, and the Duchess of Cambridge is said to be interested in how mental health affects family life.

By campaigning for people to help each other by talking more, the royals hope to avoid a more politicised issue: claims that funding for NHS mental health services is being effectively cut. Last November an analysis by the King’s Fund thinktank showed 40% of mental health trusts saw their income fall in 2015-16. This was despite the government’s commitment to parity of esteem for mental health and assurances from NHS England that almost 90 per cent of plans submitted by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) last year included mental health funding increases.

[embedded content]

Ruby Wax and producer Ed Bye

Heads Together will be the London Marathon’s lead charity this year, and the former England footballer Rio Ferdinand and the comedian Stephen Fry have also recorded testimonies set to be released next month.

People from other professions have also contributed. Phil Eaglesham, a Royal Marine who completed tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, is filmed talking with his wife, Julie, about how his struggle with a debilitating illness resulted in him trying to take his own life, although he told no one.

“I was ashamed,” he said. “There’s a stigma around mental health and how that was perceived and at that point I felt I was weak.”

When he finally did speak out, “things improved and I got help”.

“There is no way out without talking,” he said.

The TV journalist and newscaster Mark Austin discusses with his daughter Maddy how he handled her anorexia.

“I couldn’t even come to terms with how to stop it or how to help you,” he told her. “It was like you were determined to kill yourself. I remember at one stage saying if you want to go ahead and starve yourself to death, you go ahead. I obviously didn’t mean it but I was so helpless.”

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. Hotlines in other countries can be found here

Royals launch campaign to get Britons talking about mental health

Four select committees launch joint inquiry into UK air pollution crisis

MPs from four influential committees are coming together to launch a joint inquiry into the scale and impact of the UK’s air pollution crisis.

In an unusual development, the environmental audit committee, environment, food and rural affairs committee, health committee and transport committee will hold four sessions to consider mounting scientific evidence on the health and environmental effects of toxic air.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the health committee chair, said poor air quality was “affecting the health of millions of people across the UK”.

“Our joint inquiry will include an examination of the scale of the harm caused and the action necessary to tackle it,” she added.

Last month, the Guardian revealed the risk to children’s health posed by air pollution, identifying 802 educational institutions in London where pupils as young as three are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.

The government says toxic air causes up to 50,000 early deaths – 9,000 of them in the capital – and costs the country £27.5bn each year.

The government’s own statistics show 38 out of 43 UK “air quality zones” breach legal limits for air pollution and last year the high court ruled ministers must cut the illegal levels of NO2 in dozens of towns and cities because their current policies to improve air quality were so poor they were unlawful.

The government has to announce its new plans before 24 April and the inquiry will examine whether these proposals go far enough to cut pollution “not only to meet legal limits but also to deliver maximum health and environmental benefits”.

Mary Creagh, chair of the environmental audit committee, said: “The UK courts have twice found that the government has failed to deal with our air pollution problem properly. Now ministers will face unprecedented scrutiny in parliament to ensure they finally step up to the mark to ensure adults, and children in particular, do not have their health damaged by filthy air.”

Much of the most dangerous pollution comes from diesel vehicles and there is growing pressure on the government to introduce a diesel scrappage scheme to encourage people to swap polluting diesel vehicles for cleaner alternatives.

Louise Ellman, chair of the transport committee, said the UK economy depends on an “efficient and flexible transport system” but added: “Emissions from vehicles are a significant problem and the standards that governments have relied on have not delivered the expected reductions. We will be asking what more can be done to increase the use of cleaner vehicles as well as to encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport.”

Neil Parish, chair of the environment, food and rural affairs committee, said the joint inquiry was unprecedented.

“The solutions to cleaning up our air are not the responsibility of just one minister. That’s why we have taken the unprecedented task of convening four select committees so we can scrutinise the government’s efforts from every angle and look for holistic solutions that are good for health, transport and the environment.”

Four select committees launch joint inquiry into UK air pollution crisis

Medical couriers launch case challenging self-employed status

Couriers carrying emergency blood supplies to hospitals and samples to laboratories are to challenge their self-employed status in the first gig-economy test case to hit the healthcare sector.

The five cyclists, motorcyclists and van drivers, who all work for The Doctors Laboratory, a company which provides pathology services to the NHS, argue that they are employees and not independent contractors.

“I risked my life every day to get emergency blood to people, but the company won’t even recognise my basic employee rights without a fight,” one claimant, Ronnie De Andrade, said.

“I have been working for them for over five years and I don’t see my life progressing like this. I can’t get a mortgage, I have no pay when I go on holiday and I can’t get sick because I won’t get paid.”

TDL said it had not received formal notification of any employment tribunal claims brought by any of its couriers.

“We keep the working arrangements of our couriers under constant review to ensure that we comply with the latest standards and legal requirements,” a spokesperson said.

The couriers’ claim for employee status, which was filed on Tuesday at the London central employment tribunal, goes a step further than previous gig-economy cases – against taxi hailing app Uber and courier firm City Sprint – which both successfully argued drivers were officially “workers”.

Workers, who are employed under a contract in which they must always turn up for work even if they don’t want to, are entitled to employment rights including the national living wage, holiday pay and protection against discrimination, and may also miss out on other benefits including sick pay and maternity leave.

Employees have those additional rights guaranteed as well as protection against unfair dismissal, statutory redundancy pay and the right to request flexible working.

A self-employed person receives no entitlement to employment rights, beyond basic health and safety and anti-discrimination framework.

Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, said the TDL case was a “black and white example of bogus employment status”, as the couriers were required to work regular shifts dictated by the company, had to request time off and were not allowed to reject deliveries they were told to do. They are also not allowed to take outside employment while working for TDL.

The case has emerged as employment experts call on the government to tackle exploitation of the lower paid by abolishing different categories of worker after a string of scandals concerning the treatment of lower paid workers in the UK. The chancellor Philip Hammond is also expected to announce a consultation on the taxation of the self employed in Wednesday’s budget.

Speaking on Tuesday at the first hearing into the future world of work by the Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee,

Hannah Reed, a senior policy officer at the Trades Union Congress, said: “There should be a floor of rights for all working people – a single worker definition.” Sue Tumblety, founder and managing director of the employment human resources consultancy HR Dept Ltd, added: “I would like the ‘worker’ category to go.”

Moyer-Lee said there was clarity between the different classes of worker but there needed to be better enforcement of the rules. He said: “I’m not in favour of eliminating worker status. I think there are are people who are in between an independent contractor and an employee.”

He added that getting rid of worker status might also make it harder for those currently classed as self-employed to win more rights from their employers – because the hurdle of proof was higher.

Medical couriers launch case challenging self-employed status

Police launch inquiry into death of woman ‘refused’ an abortion by Sicilian doctors

Italian police are investigating a dozen doctors at a Sicilian hospital after the family of a 32-year-old woman who died after a miscarriage claimed she was not given adequate medical attention. The family says that her doctor had professed moral objections to abortion.

The death of Valentina Milluzzo, who was five months pregnant with twins when she miscarried and fell ill, has reignited a debate across Italy about the high number of gynaecologists and obstetricians who refuse to provide abortions. As a result, women may not get the medical attention they require in emergency situations.

The investigation into the Cannizzaro obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Catania on the east coast of Sicily was opened after the family of Milluzzo, who became pregnant through in-vitro fertilisation, said a doctor refused to intervene even though her life was at risk.

Milluzzo had been admitted to the hospital two weeks earlier, after going into premature labour. After the death of one of the foetuses, Milluzzo reportedly became very ill and her blood pressure dropped rapidly. Her family asked for the other foetus to be aborted but say her doctor refused. Milluzzo died within hours on 16 October of septic shock.

Milluzzo’s partner, Francesco Castro, told reporters that his wife was “screaming in pain for nearly 12 hours” when he asked the doctor to intervene. Milluzzo had already given birth to one foetus, which was stillborn, but Castro said the doctor told him he could “not intervene” because he objected to abortion and the other foetus still had a viable heartbeat.

Milluzzo’s parents have backed her husband’s recollection of events but the hospital has disputed the account, saying that an abortion would not have been necessary in Milluzzo’s case because she was already miscarrying.

Paolo Scolio, a doctor at the Cannizzaro, admitted that all of the doctors in the hospital were conscientious objectors to abortion but that other specialists could technically have been called in if required.

Catania’s prosecutor is now investigating a dozen doctors, which could lead to charges of manslaughter, according to Italian press reports.

Beatrice Lorenzin, the Italian health minister, said doctors were permitted to conscientiously object to performing voluntary abortions on patients, but that doctors were not allowed by law to withhold medical treatment when women’s lives were at risk. This point was reiterated by a national association of Catholic doctors, who said they had to do whatever was necessary to save a woman’s life it if was in danger.

Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the rules surrounding the medical procedure are stringent. Under Italian law, doctors can perform an abortion during the first 90 days of pregnancy. But after that a woman must either be physically or mentally at risk because of the pregnancy or have evidence of a serious problem with the foetus.

The most recent government figures show that about seven in 10 Italian gynaecologists refuse to carry out abortions on the grounds of conscientious objection. The proportion of doctors who object has risen from about 59% in 2005 to 70% in 2013.

The health ministry had previously denied that the increasing number of doctors in Italy who were refusing to perform abortions posed any risk to women, because the number of abortions was decreasing.

When the health ministry was asked earlier this year whether Italy could ensure that women had access to safe abortions given the high rate of objectors, the ministry said that the workload of doctors who did perform abortions was sustainable.

The number of doctors who object differs from region to region, but Sicily is among the areas with the highest number of doctors who will not carry out abortions, with a rate of about 87.6% of gynaecologists in the region refusing to perform the procedure.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation, a global group that supports abortion rights, said the case had eerie echoes of the death in 2012 in Ireland of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar, who was admitted to Galway University clinic with severe abdominal pain and high fever but was denied an abortion. She died of septicaemia.

“Italy is not Ireland and abortion has been legal in Italy for 40 years,” the group said. “The tragic death of Valentina highlights the brutality of a system that permits objecting health care providers to disrespect the law.

“Far too many doctors and medical staff put their personal conscience before a woman’s conscience, life and dignity.”

Police launch inquiry into death of woman ‘refused’ an abortion by Sicilian doctors

Police and charities launch anti-FGM campaign at Manchester airport

At 3am on Thursday morning, a group of police, border officers and charity workers joined the throng of holidaymakers at Manchester airport of to begin their summer campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM).

Photograph: Greater Manchester police

Sometimes known as the ‘cutting season’, the school summer holidays are the most common time for girls in the UK to be taken abroad, usually to their family’s country of origin, and subject to mutilation.

Operation Limelight will see Greater Manchester police and their partners speaking to outbound passengers in July about FGM and again to inbound passengers at the end of August and into September.

Travellers will be made aware of the signs that indicate someone could be at risk and informed that it is illegal for UK nationals or permanent residents to perform FGM in the UK or abroad, with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.

The facts you should know about female genital mutilation

The first ever FGM figures in England were released last week showing that there have been nearly 6,000 new cases in the last year and that a further 65,000 girls under the age of 13 are at risk of the procedure, which can result in severe pain, shock and death as well as psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

People who carry out the procedure, or ‘cutters’ are also known to come to the UK during this time to carry out FGM in the UK.

Now in its third year, Operation Limelight was designed to coincide with the school holidays of Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas of Liverpool, Yorkshire and Lancashire, which are also served by the airport.

‘Spread the word: it’s child abuse’

Detective Inspector Nathan Percival, Greater Manchester’s lead on FGM, has overseen a change in approach to FGM in the area.

“For so many years the police have gone off and done their own thing but we don’t do that anymore,” he told the Guardian. “We don’t charge in, but have a softly, softly approach. We’re learning each day from charities and voluntary sectors on how to approach – police shouldn’t be the baddies.

We need friends, siblings and community members to come forward

DI Nathan Percival

“For FGM it’s never just the police deciding we need to make arrests. Policy dictates now that FGM work should be multi-agency so we share information with partners at a strategy meeting to discuss the best thing for the child. We always aim to support the child and the family involved.”

Operation Limelight focuses more on raising awareness than chasing convictions (of which there have been none for FGM in the UK so far). All passengers are approached, without families being isolated. “It’s just basically chatting to people. We explain who we are, and ask whether they’ve heard of FGM or cutting. My tagline has always been: Spread the word: it’s child abuse, it’s illegal and there are serious health implications. If a criminal investigation springs, that is all well and good, but child safety is always the priority.”

In 2015, new FGM laws came into force in the UK. Under the Serious Crime Act, FGM protection orders can now be issued whereby potential victims or third parties can apply for an order to protect the person at risk. These orders can include the confiscating of passports. It is now mandatory for health and social care professionals and teachers to make a report to the police if they learn that a girl under 18 has been subject to FGM.

Percival believes mandatory reporting especially has helped to protect girls and Greater Manchester police has seen an increase in reports made to them of FGM – only nine reports were made to them three years ago, but last year, there were 94. The taboo nature of FGM remains one of the biggest obstacles to eradication, however.

“We need friends, siblings and community members to come forward, people who know that this child will be at risk this time of year. This is what we cry out for – for people to please come forward. It’s hard though, people have been carrying out FGM for thousands of years and believe that not doing it will bring shame on the family. We rely on partnerships and voluntary sector, charities like Afruka and Nestac who work in communities. These agencies work on a cultural level. They know they have a police officer who is really passionate about combatting FGM. I try and understand and put myself in their shoes. You have to with child abuse.”

Angie Marriot, a former nurse and independent consultant in honour based violence, forced marriage and FGM, worked on Operation Limelight for the first time this year.

“It’s been excellent to give out information and target a diverse population of people coming through the airport,” she said. “The opportunity is absolutely outstanding. We’re targeting everybody. I would say that 85% of people have been very positive endorsing the information they’ve been given.”

“Some of the people who’ve taken leaflets have said: ‘Oh we’ve heard about that’ and others have said: ‘What’s this? so we still know there’s a lot of work to do. There are lots of professionals out there who still don’t know about FGM. They don’t feel confident to report and overcome those cultural barriers and lots of people are fearful about being accused of being racist.

“There’s also an issue with funding. We hear about this 80 million pounds for violence against women, unfortunately that’s not trickling down to BME groups or specialists who’ve got that expertise.

“To see the police embrace a sensitive issue openly is remarkable, and GMP need to be commended for the outstanding work they’re doing here today.”

Everyone involved in the operation (police, border agents, consultants and charity workers) have volunteered their time for free.

Signs that a child may be at risk of undergoing FGM include

• being taken ‘home’ to visit family
  


• a special occasion to ‘become a woman’
  


• an older female relative visiting the UK

Signs that a child may have recently been a victim of FGM include

• the child is frequenting the toilet
  


• the child is complaining of pelvic pain
  


• a change in behaviour after going on holiday. For example, becoming suddenly submissive or anxious.

Anyone with concerns is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or the FGM Helpline on 0800 028 3550. You can also contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

Police and charities launch anti-FGM campaign at Manchester airport

Remote-managed contraceptive microchip could launch by 2018

Fighting above the remote manage could soon end up in much more than just a channel-hopping battle, if researchers at MIT have their way. In the Bill Gates-funded quest for the up coming form of contraception, a Massachusetts startup has come up with a small remote-controlled chip, like a digital wifi edition of the pill, that will allow females to switch their fertility on and off at the touch of a button.

The chip is implanted underneath the skin and releases modest doses of the contraceptive hormone levonorgestrel on a everyday basis, with ample capability to final 16 years. About the identical dimension as a Scrabble tile, it houses a series of micro-reservoirs covered by an ultra-thin titanium and platinum seal. The hormone is launched by passing a modest electric present from an internal battery by way of the seal, which melts it temporarily, enabling a thirty microgram dose of levonorgestrel to seep out every single day. And it can be basically switched off by a wireless remote, staying away from the clinical procedures essential to deactivate other contraceptive implants.

“The capacity to flip the device on and off gives a specific ease issue for individuals who are planning their loved ones,” says MIT’s Dr Robert Farra, incorporating that “the idea of making use of a thin membrane like an electrical fuse was the most difficult and the most inventive issue we had to remedy.”

Remote birth manage … How the micro-dispensing chip works. Photograph: Microchips

But just as teenage pranksters can hack into wifi remotes to operate neighbours’ garage doors and flip their Tv channels, could a remote-controlled contraceptive open the floodgates for a new kind of ovarian hacking? May possibly Anonymous a single day flip their hand to subversive family members organizing?

“Someone across the room can not reprogramme your implant,” says Farra. “Communication with the implant has to happen at skin get in touch with-degree distance. Then we have secure encryption. That prevents someone from making an attempt to interpret or intervene in between the communications.”

The idea for micro-dispensing chips was initial produced in the 1990s by Professor Robert Langer at MIT, the founder of innumerable biotech firms and holder of far more than 800 patents, recognized in the market as “the most cited engineer in history”. His lab caught the attention of Bill Gates in 2012, in the course of his search for a revolution in birth control (which has already spawned programs for a graphene condom), and Langer subsequently leased the engineering to Microchips, a organization currently operating on a micro-dosing implant for osteoporosis.

Two years on, Microchips says that the implant could be accessible by 2018, if clinical trials launching up coming yr in the US are effective, and that the gadget will be “competitively priced”. Customers will have the choice of possessing the chip implanted in the abdomen, upper arm or buttocks – in which case just be cautious not to sit on the remote.

Remote-managed contraceptive microchip could launch by 2018

The Ladies Who Launch: The Forbes Women"s Summit

Far more than 500 people attended Forbes’ Women’s Summit in May possibly. On the agenda: “The Entrepreneurship of Everything.”

(one) Attendees of the Forbes Women’s Summit in New York City included (two) Jessica Simpson (3) Diane von Furstenberg (4) Standable Inc.’s Lyndsey Scott (5) Goldie Hawn (6) Tory Burch (7) Carly Fiorina, head of Carly Fiorina Enterprises (eight) Navy Vice Admiral Michelle Howard (9) Khalida Brohi (proper), founder and executive director of the Sughar Empowerment Society (10) Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair ?Foundation for Females (11) Felicity Huffman, actress and founder of WhatTheFlicka.com (12) Kathy Ireland
(13) Theresia Gouw, cofounder of Aspect Ventures.

Observe the video for a very first look at ForbesLife.com, coming in September.

The Ladies Who Launch: The Forbes Women"s Summit

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Health and fitness apps booming ahead of Apple"s iOS 8 launch

Usage of wellness and fitness apps on Apple’s iPhone and iPad is booming in 2014, in accordance to a review launched by mobile analytics company Flurry.

The company tracks more than six,800 apps in the overall health and fitness group, and claims that usage – measured by the number of occasions folks open and use the apps – has grown by 62% this yr, in contrast to 33% for apps in general.

Flurry says that this compares to 49% usage growth for overall health and fitness apps in 2013, versus 115% for apps total that year.

2014′s development comes ahead of the release of Apple’s iOS 8 application, which will include a committed Overall health app to track people’s well being data, and an initiative called HealthKit to integrate apps from other developers.

“A glance at wellness and fitness equipment retailed by Apple in the US is a excellent indication on how a lot of overall health, fitness and vital sign monitoring products the iPhone can change. These accessories come with applications that are designed for everyday use,” wrote Flurry’s chief executive Simon Khalaf in a site post.

“2nd, there has been a great deal of innovation in the apps themselves above the past two many years, specially when it comes to integration with Facebook and other prominent social networks… This innovation has enhanced the viral distribution of these apps by means of the social networking channel.”

Flurry claims that a new demographic of “Fitness Fanatics” is driving the growth of this certain app class, suggesting that 62% of these men and women are girls, skewing in the direction of the 25-34 and 35-54 yr-outdated age groups.

“We have a pretty great image of Fitness Fanatics. They are predominantly women age 25 to 54 who are sports activities supporters and lead wholesome lifestyles, and who are probably to have kids,” wrote Khalaf.

Flurry expects these individuals to be among the earliest adopters of wearable devices, like smartwatches and action-monitoring bands.

Although Apple is getting ready to launch Well being and HealthKit, rival Google is anticipated to unveil its very own Google Fit service for Android devices later this month.

Investigation company IHS Technological innovation recently predicted that global revenue of sports activities, fitness and activity-monitoring gadgets will grow from $ 2.2bn in 2014 to $ two.8bn in 2019, with the quantity of gadgets in use increasing from 84m in 2013 to 120m by 2019.

• Unfitbit: when fitness monitoring goes incorrect

Health and fitness apps booming ahead of Apple"s iOS 8 launch

Thalidomide victims launch substantial court battle for compensation

Thalidomide tablets. The drug was utilised by pregnant females to ward off morning sickness in between 1958 and 1961. Photograph: Reuters

Thalidomide victims have mounted a new bid for compensation from the drug’s producer and distributor a lot more than 50 many years right after they were born.

Papers have been filed at the high court on behalf of eight people whose mothers took the anti-morning sickness drug when pregnant in the late 1950s and early 1960s, law firm Slater and Gordon said.

They are in search of compensation from the drug’s German maker Grünenthal, and Diageo, which now owns the drug’s United kingdom distributor, Distillers Co (Biochemicals).

Lorry driver Brian Davies, 53, from Gwynedd, Wales, who was left with deformed feet, is a single of these in search of compensation, having been refused underneath a 1970s strategy since his arms had been not affected.

The father of two said: “It really is a disgrace that so numerous people have been denied justice in this way.

“In my eyes it was basically the drug businesses hunting to conserve funds and ignoring the duty of care they have to individuals whose lives they have ruined.

“Ever considering that I was a child I have missed out on each day pleasures, like enjoying football with friends or swimming, factors other folks consider for granted.

“Every day I am in soreness and each day is a struggle. I hope that now we finally get the justice that we have been demanding for so numerous many years.”

Amongst 1958 and 1961 thalidomide was utilised by expectant mothers to handle symptoms of morning sickness.

It was originally prescribed as a “wonder drug” for morning sickness, headaches, coughs, insomnia and colds.

Thalidomide infants usually suffered missing or deformed limbs and intense shortening of arms and legs, but the drug also triggered malformations of the eyes and ears, genitals, heart, kidneys and digestive tract.

By the time safety fears led to it currently being pulled from sale thousands of babies worldwide had been impacted.

According to survivors’ charity Thalidomide Uk, there are 455 victims in the United kingdom but it is estimated about forty% of victims died before their very first birthday.

In 2012 Grünenthal apologised for the drug for the very first time, with chief executive Harald Stock saying: “We have been silent and we are really sorry for that.”

Final year Diageo paid A$ 89m (£49m) to just in excess of 100 further Australians broken by the drug, in a deal that led to a claim towards Grünenthal being discontinued.

Fraser Whitehead, a attorney at Slater and Gordon, explained: “Grünenthal and Distillers have constantly claimed that the thalidomide disaster was an unavoidable tragedy and that they did every little thing expected of drug firms at the time. Our investigation has demonstrated that is nonsense.

“The two organizations knew their drug was leading to severe nerve harm and both have been explicitly warned of the likelihood thalidomide might result in significant malformations. Nevertheless the drug was left on the market for several months afterwards.

“It is time individuals accountable are last but not least held to account for the blunders of the past. Grünenthal, in specific, has accomplished minor to make good the immense damage that it has accomplished and it has to accept accountability for people affected in the United kingdom.”

Thalidomide victims launch substantial court battle for compensation

How Marlboro income paid for Commons launch of tobacco review

Launch funds: Philip Morris’ Marlboro cigarettes. Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP

The chairman of an influential Home of Commons decide on committee investigating the tobacco trade hosted a parliamentary reception funded by a cigarette giant, the Observer has established.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee (HASC), held a reception to launch a report funded by Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris Global (PMI) which warns that plain packets for cigarettes will motivate smuggling, an argument described by wellness campaigners as a scare tactic to derail an initiative that will make smoking less desirable to youthful men and women.

Vaz has spoken in parliament on plain packaging, suggesting smuggling presently expenses the Treasury a lot more than £2bn a year – a line promoted by the industry. He was amid 72 MPs who signed a letter to Jeremy Hunt, the wellness secretary, saying that plain packaging will increase the illicit trade in cigarettes.

Earlier this yr he wrote to the prime minister urging him not to attain a decision on plain packaging until finally his committee had reported on its inquiry into tobacco smuggling. Many of the claims suggesting the introduction of plain packaging will encourage smuggling stem from a report, The Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in the United Kingdom, which was launched by Vaz in January 2013 at a reception for 100 influential guests in parliament’s Terrace Pavilion.

The event was attended by MPs and members of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Treasury, the Severe Organised Crime Agency, Border Force and Trading Specifications. The report by Transcrime, a thinktank, was sent to each MP. A week right after the reception, Vaz announced that his committee was to investigate tobacco smuggling.

His determination to launch the inquiry into tobacco smuggling so soon after hosting a tobacco sector event has been condemned by health campaigners. Below Globe Overall health Organisation suggestions, signed up to by Britain, politicians involved in policies that could have an affect on cigarette companies ought to “establish measures to limit interactions with the tobacco business and make certain the transparency of individuals interactions that arise”.

“Mr Vaz ought to not place the interests of tobacco firms above people of his constituents, the bulk of whom support the introduction of plain packaging,” mentioned Deborah Arnott, chief executive of overall health charity Ash.

On 24 February this yr, as the government-commissioned Chantler report into plain packaging was finished, Vaz wrote to the prime minister: “I am writing to ask that no selection on the introduction of plain packaging be taken until finally the committee has finished its inquiry and the government and the Residence has had the advantage of our report.”

Arnott stated it was tough “to comprehend” why Vaz would publish such a letter that some MPs on the HASC stated they did not know had been sent in their name. “This seems to be like a last-minute try to cease standardised packaging by the back door,” Arnott mentioned.

Transcrime strongly rejects claims that its study is compromised by tobacco money. It says its perform is at all times independent. PMI says it did not see the analysis until it was published, and insisted that there was total disclosure that it had funded the report and the parliamentary reception.

“As a concerned stakeholder in the fight against the illicit trade in tobacco, Philip Morris Ltd paid for the refreshments and reception fees for this occasion,” a firm spokesman mentioned. “In line with our inner protocols, we acknowledged this on the invitation to the occasion and the backdrops at the occasion. Our funding for the analysis itself is acknowledged by Transcrime in the report.”

Vaz explained that it was the practice “to publish to acceptable ministers if we are conducting an inquiry into a subject and a government choice is imminent, to ask the government to wait till HASC publishes its report.” He mentioned committee members received copies of all letters and replies sent by him. And he rejected tips he was pro-tobacco. “I do not assistance any line from any group or organisation,” Vaz stated.

Any delay in the introduction of plain packaging would be welcome information for the tobacco market. Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco have hired companies to acquire signatures from the public to oppose the initiative. According to the EU lobbying register, all 3 organizations have considerably enhanced their spending on lobbying in the last two many years as they have sought to derail moves to introduce plain packaging.

How Marlboro income paid for Commons launch of tobacco review

Excellent And Poor In The Samsung Galaxy S5 Launch

Samsung designed a reduced essential launch for its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5.  The telephone was unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) last week with an equally minimal crucial message – consumers are not interested in whiz-bang technology. How did it work out?

Samsung’s need to shift the target away from tech specs to computer software and companies is understandable – it’s a trend. Businesses want more solutions. It is a key plank of innovation simply because it will permit Samsung to diversify revenues away from its factories. That in turn produces really different investment and return profiles for a business.

Samsung has, specifically, tried to direct focus for the S5 towards its health companies (S wellness, a support introduced in the S3, and the heart fee keep track of at the back of the telephone) as well as the peripherals – the Gear watches and the Gear Fit match-band, which won “Best Mobile Device” at the MWC.

If Samsung translates this modify of emphasis into recurring revenues rather than just product sales it would be a extremely public and visible transformation of an industry foremost, large enterprise. And not numerous big ones transform successfully.

Initial however, how effective has the launch been?  Prior to it, I signaled the reality that search curiosity in the S5 was reduce than for the launch of the S4 a 12 months earlier, even though this caught up by the 24th February, the day of the unveil.

But these are rough and prepared measures of a campaign’s effect so I wished to follow up with some social media analytics. United kingdom-primarily based Media Measurement (MM) agreed to run the data.  MM are a long-standing metrics company. They have been about when media metrics meant counting newspaper articles or blog posts, but they are now one of the top companies for on the web campaign measurement.

They tracked conversations for me on English language social media platforms for the period from two^nd January 2014 to two^nd March 2014 for the S5, and the equivalent period for the Samsung Galaxy S4, which was 21^st January 2013 to 21^st March 2014. These signify the commence dates of on the internet conversation with a tracking time period of two months.

What comes out of it? The initial metric is fairly blunt – total the S5 has produced less conversation.

The conversation degree around the S5 is 15% beneath that generated by the S4.

That doesn’t need to have to be catastrophic for Samsung even if it translates into 15% fewer revenue above time. The organization has enviable adaptability in its manufacturing choices, and can switch minimal cost elements into distinct units in the same mobile phone variety to compensate for lost revenues on volume.

There is some devil in the detail however. No doubt Samsung is previously poring over it to adapt its advertising and marketing ideas.

The first observation from MM’s Siobhan Rafferty is that the “speculation period” leading up to the launch has been extremely elongated with the S5. Important amounts of conversation about the S4 started only 17 days ahead of the launch whereas in the case of the S5 it has been closer to 47 days.

“One of the causes for some of the disappointment surrounding the reveal of the S5 could potentially be attributed to the truth that there have been this kind of higher ranges of speculation for this kind of a prolonged time period of time before the reveal, that the model inevitably failed to live up to the expectation that  designed.”

And Siobhan located that on balance sentiment veered towards disappointment like this quote from CNET:

Regardless of amazing specs, including a fingerprint scanner and heart rate sensor, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 can’t beat its very own hype.

Odd in reality that I noticed really tiny hype close to it but I did uncover the Samsung teases – movies and the invites that recommended an S5 launch but unnecessarily stored it vague – did suggest that there was a huge new technologies to unveil.

Media Measurement also found that the fingerprint scanner, while being the most talked about technical characteristic, designed privacy issues simply because Samsung was very likely to make it offered to developers (this kind of as PayPal).

The improved camera in the S5 was also a speaking level.

Perhaps most disappointing from a support viewpoint is that only 13% of posts that talked about a specific attribute targeted on the heath app S Well being.

That adds up to just five% of all S5 references and of people 5% only 15% have been constructive – the huge bulk had been neutral. Possibly that’s to be expected. Handful of people have had a opportunity to attempt it out even though it has evolved from the S4 and S3 so it is not a new support.

Excellent And Poor In The Samsung Galaxy S5 Launch

Amid Obamacare Rollout, Hospice Suppliers Launch 2014 Schooling Campaign

In an work to boost awareness about hospice and palliative care, the sector is launching a very first-ever nationwide training and marketing campaign this 12 months.

The Nationwide Hospice and Palliative Care Organization  (NHPCO) is launching a very first-ever marketing and advertising and educational campaign about hospice and palliative care. (NHPCO photograph)

The yearlong blitz by the Nationwide Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which organizers say will be a “multi-million-dollar” effort, will start this month with a grassroots campaign to get stories from hospice patients and their families. This kind of stories will then grow to be portion of a multi-media campaign to educate Americans about hospice and palliative care and spur a “national conversation on the worth of hospice and palliative care.”

It’s the forty^th anniversary of hospice in the U.S. The 1st hospice was started out in Connecticut in 1964 and coverage of this kind of solutions started two decades later on below the Medicare health insurance coverage program for the elderly and disabled.

But most Americans really don’t realize what hospice offers unless they have had a personal experience, analysts and providers say.

“What we are striving to do is begin a national conversation on palliative and hospice care earlier,” mentioned Anita Brikman, NHPCO’s senior vice president of strategic communications explained in an interview with Forbes. “By documenting and sharing real-existence stories in an trustworthy, emotionally candid way, we hope to motivate families to contemplate or look for out a hospice or palliative care provider three to 6 months just before the end of life, not in the ultimate days.”

The hospice market has a monetary stake in the campaign’s success, notably as far more Americans get medical care coverage this yr below the Affordable Care Act and a population of child boomers ages. For example, more and a lot more healthcare care companies are incorporating end-of-daily life care into accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are contracting with Medicare, Medicaid and personal insurers to obtain greater outcomes.

A lot more than five.3 million Medicare beneficiaries will be acquiring care from these ACOs, according to an announcement final month by the Centers for Medicare &amp Medicaid Services, which runs the Medicare system.

The government-led program performs with Medicare contracting with medical doctors and hospitals through an ACO which, in flip, pushes large quality, less pricey care rather than today’s payment technique that typically prospects to extreme care by having to pay for every single treatment method or method that isn’t usually greater. The providers in an ACO are responsible for managing the care of the well being program enrollees and are financially rewarded if the enrollees, or sufferers, remain out of the far more pricey hospital.

ACOs are contracting with private insurers like Aetna Aetna (AET), Cigna Cigna (CI), Humana Humana (HUM), UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield ideas.

The hospice business sees its service in maintaining with the ambitions of the well being law and this kind of trends in healthcare care reimbursement that emphasize lower costs and high quality like ACOs and the patient-centered health-related house. Hospice, they say, is significantly less high-priced and what the patient desires as opposed to inpatient hospital care.

Hospice is usually considered health-related care supplied in a patient’s residence for these dealing with sickness near the end of their lives. Such care can also be supplied in a center, hospital, nursing residence or other long-term care facility.

“Never prior to has the significance that hospice plays in our healthcare system been clearer,” Donald Schumacher, president and chief executive officer of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization stated in a statement to Forbes. “As a lot more and more infant boomers are dealing with the end of their lives, the timely and suitable referral decreases household burden and supplies the patient the possibility to say excellent bye with peace, comfort and dignity.”

However the association’s personal data shows the number of patients served by hospice has jumped 25 percent to far more than 1.five million in the final five years from 2008, health-related care suppliers say the sufferers or their households usually don’t recognize hospice was an choice significantly later on in a patient’s “life-limiting” illness.

“People want to be, as much as achievable, at home . . . pain free and surrounding by family and buddies,” Brikman said.

Amid Obamacare Rollout, Hospice Suppliers Launch 2014 Schooling Campaign