Health
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New disability payments system responsible for deaths in Britain By Dennis Moore
A new disability benefit, Personal Independence Payments (PIP), brought in by the UK government to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA), has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. In addition, many seriously ill people have been left without a payment months after applying. Continue reading
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Britain’s National Health Service “fraying at the edges” By Paul Mitchell
In 2012-2013, one in four A&E visits (nearly 6 million) took place after patients had been unable to get an appointment with a GP. Previous research has shown that the reasons include the change to GP contracts in 2004 allowing them to opt out of providing night and weekend cover, leaving it to other agencies… Continue reading
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Cameron is wrecking our world-beating health system By James Lazou
After all the negative headlines over the last few years you would be forgiven for thinking that the NHS was a mediocre, failing, bureaucratic service destined to collapse. That is the message that Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, would like you to believe. Since becoming Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt has seen it as… Continue reading
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Monsanto’s “Insidious” GM0 Food and its Dark Connections to the Military Industrial Complex
Monsanto, the world’s largest genetically modified (GM/GMO) seed producer, has been at the centre of controversy for decades as evidence of the harmful effects on humans of GM foods continues to mount. Joined with the likes of DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Syngenta, Monsanto and partners comprise the corporate nexus of Big-Agri, where the control… Continue reading
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Acquiescing to Big Biotech: Relentless Drive to Force GMO Crops into Britain By Colin Todhunter
A report just published by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee on food security in Britain supports Environment Secretary Owen Paterson’s plan to push ahead with growing genetically modified (GM) crops in England. However, it doesn’t mention which crops would actually be grown. Continue reading
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The Glyphosate Toxicity Studies You’re Not Allowed to See
On opposite sides of the globe, pesticide regulators are refusing to release to the public the key industry studies on glyphosate that underpin regulatory authorizations and safety limits set for the herbicide. Continue reading
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UK Parliament Meeting Brings ‘Dangers’ of Roundup into Public Focus
In what was one of the most comprehensive meetings ever held in Europe on Glyphosate and Roundup, experts from around the World gathered in London to share their expertise with the media, members of a number of UK political parties, NGO representatives and members of the general public. Continue reading
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UK Committee Tells Government to Push ‘Benefits’ of GM Crops
A report on Food Security published by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee today supports Environment Secretary Owen Paterson’s plan to push ahead with growing genetically modified (GM) crops in England, but is silent on the crops that would actually be grown Continue reading
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London: A talk on the politics of cancer in an age of austerity
On 2 July Wendy Savage and Hilary Wainwright join Mike Marqusee to launch his new book on the politics of cancer and NHS privatisation at Housmans bookshop in London. Continue reading
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Held hostage by Big Pharma By Mike Marqusee
In an exclusive extract from his forthcoming new book Mike Marqusee slams the drug companies exploiting his cancer to gouge the public purse. Continue reading
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Scots NHS satisfaction soars as England’s falls By Dave Watson
Since devolution, the NHS in Scotland has taken a very different path to that of NHS England. It has embraced co-operation rather than competition. And new figures show that Scots reckon that it delivers for them. Continue reading
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Nurses fight back against trade treaty that threatens NHS By Martin O’Beirne
The fight against an international trade treaty wrecking our NHS receives a boost from the nurses and activists, though most party leaderships are strangely quiet. Continue reading
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GMO: Republication of the Séralini study: Science speaks for itself
GMOSeralini.org welcomes the news of the republication of the chronic toxicity study on the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup and a commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize, Monsanto’s NK603, led by Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini. The republication restores the study to the peer-reviewed literature so that it can be consulted and built upon by other scientists. Continue reading
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The Complete History of Monsanto, “The World’s Most Evil Corporation” By E Hanzai
Of all the mega-corps running amok, Monsanto has consistently outperformed its rivals, earning the crown as “most evil corporation on Earth!” Not content to simply rest upon its throne of destruction, it remains focused on newer, more scientifically innovative ways to harm the planet and its people. Continue reading
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Vermont and the People are “Fighting Monsanto” for their Lives and For Now “They are Winning” By Joachim Hagopian
The world’s most powerful chemical manufacturer, Monsanto, and the powerful food and agri-industries have had their way in America for many decades. Through the power of lobbyists pouring money into the hands of corrupt lawmakers, US presidents, and federal agencies like the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), until just… Continue reading
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The Labour government was to blame for the NHS’s biggest disgrace – why should we listen to them now? By Caroline Molloy
The latest ex-Blair advisor to lambast the NHS for being ‘slow’ to adopt privatisation is Paul Corrigan. But his past hastiness had a little-noted role in the NHS’s darkest episode. If you were going to release a report arguing for the UK’s health system to become more like that of the United States, you probably… Continue reading
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Personal Health Budgets lead to individualism and isolation By Richard Blogger
A Thatcherite ‘voucher’ system is being imposed on the NHS is the worst way to deliver ‘personalisation’. From April 2015 all Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) must be able to offer Personal Health Budgets (PHBs) to all patients who have a long term condition (LTC). Personal Budgets were mentioned in the Conservative 2010 manifesto, but the… Continue reading
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How to commercialise and cut health and social care without anyone noticing By Jenny Shepherd
Plans to ‘create a local market’ in health and social care, including personal budgets, threaten to undermine our collective rights and our systems based on social solidarity. The final part in our View from the Grassroots series. Over the last week our ‘View from the Grassroots’ series has been looking at an interlocking set of… Continue reading
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What might a trip to your GP look like in future By Jonathan Tomlinson
The government’s plans for the future of primary care are long on gimmicks, but short on cash. Jonathan Tomlinson sees a more interesting vision of the future – if sufficient funding is there. Continue reading
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Will volunteers become the sticking plaster holding the NHS together? By Jenny Shepherd
Not a week goes by now without some part of the establishment warning us that the NHS is ‘unaffordable’ in its current form. This austerity mood music struck up in 2008 when New Labour asked the American management consultants McKinsey for advice on how to run the NHS more cheaply, after the government had spent… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 