Health
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The fight against TTIP is also a fight for public services everywhere By Ruth Bergan
The 1999 Battle for Seattle was a moment of triumph for trade campaigning. Activists from across the world came together with developing country governments and stopped the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from agreeing damaging trade rules. Through the 2000s campaigners continued to mobilise against the WTO and Europe’s unfair trade deals with the world’s poorest… Continue reading
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If Owen Paterson was your GP, would you look for a new one? By David McCoy
Paterson, as Secretary of State for the Environment, leads on government policy on climate change. His reaction to the latest report on the physical science of climate change by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raises questions about his fitness to play this vital role. If his attitude towards the care of the planet… Continue reading
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Hunt seeks to shed his duty to keep our medical data safe By Benedict Cooper
Last week in a public committee session of the Care Bill, MPs grilled Conservative ministers within the Department of Health over the dangers of the “unintended consequences” of changes to the way data is handled which could, they said, lead to private providers and insurance companies gaining access to confidential records. Continue reading
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GM Maize 1507 Safety Scandal Erupts ahead of EU Vote
Ahead of an important EU vote regarding the possible authorisation of GM Maize 1507 on February 11, meta-analysis has shown the data is insufficient to make a decision on the safety of the plants. Continue reading
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Care.data questions mount – just who’ll get our medical data? By Jane Fae
Official attempts to inform patients about what will happen to their data when the new care.data database is implemented are inadequate and, on the latest evidence, seriously misleading. In August of last year, the Information Commissioner warned GPs they’d likely breach Data Protection Act if they allowed their patient data to be uploaded to care.data… Continue reading
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Pesticide evaluations dishonest and misleading, new study shows
Does the fact that a pesticide is approved by regulators mean it is safe? A new study suggests not – and casts into question the assumptions on which all regulatory authorizations of pesticides are based. Continue reading
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1,400 Sue General Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi for Fukushima Disaster
We’ve previously noted that General Electric should be held partially responsible for the Fukushima reactor because General Electric knew that its reactors were unsafe: Continue reading
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‘Doing more with less’, the low paid and the unpaid By Shibley Rahman
Re-engineering the health system has become a hobby of thinktankers, in the best spirit of the blind watchmaker. But policy wonks are still unable to escape from the fact that the NHS is not a widget factory. The management school of Frederick Taylor is unfit for purpose in considering outcomes rather than outputs. It can… Continue reading
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New chief executive calls for “opening up” of Britain’s National Health Service By Ben Trent
Incoming National Health Service chief executive Simon Stevens has called for the “opening up” of healthcare and “reshaping our care system”. Continue reading
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NHS: GP surgeries MUST DO BETTER on data handling, says ICO By Kelly Fiveash
A number of GP surgeries in England allowed their employees to have unrestricted internet access – thereby increasing the risk of data being leaked, hacked and targeted by viruses, Britain’s information watchdog warned today. Continue reading
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GM Purple Tomatoes Set for EU Legal Problems over Human Testing
The GM tomatoes contain the pigment, known as anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant and claims have been made suggesting that they could help fight cancer. These claims are based on the results of a small scale test on mice which has been refuted or questioned by experts, including the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and… Continue reading
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The Seeds Of Suicide: How Monsanto Destroys Farming By Dr. Vandana Shiva
“Monsanto is an agricultural company. “Producing more, Conserving more, Improving farmers lives.” These are the promises Monsanto India’s website makes, alongside pictures of smiling, prosperous farmers from the state of Maharashtra. This is a desperate attempt by Monsanto and its PR machinery to delink the epidemic of farmers’ suicides in India from the company’s growing… Continue reading
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Genetic Engineering Companies Promised Reduced Pesticide Use … But GMO Crops Have Led to a 25% Increase In Herbicide Use
One of the main selling points for genetically engineered crops is that they would use substantially less pesticides than conventional crops. However, it turns out that GE crops need a lot more herbicides than conventional ones. Continue reading
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Campaigning Lewisham GP to stand in Euro elections for new National Health party By Caroline Malloy
London GP Louise Irvine, who led the successful ‘Save Lewisham Hospital’ campaign, is standing for European parliament for the National Health Action Party in a bid to stop privatisation and NHS cuts. Continue reading
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High Risk GMOs Set to Benefit from TTIP EU-US Free Trade Deal
23 January 2014 — Sustainable Pulse Today, Testbiotech has published a new report on future developments in agro-biotechnology and genetic engineering. It focuses on genetically engineered organisms pending for market authorisation in the EU and those that are in the pipeline and might soon be on the market. Continue reading
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Sleepwalking into an information grab by private health? By Jane Fae
NHS England has still not done enough to inform patients of the privacy-busting implications of the new ‘care.data’ scheme, former home secretary David Davies tells openDemocracy. One of the most ambitious privacy-busting information grabs of the new century looks set to resume shortly. Following a minor reverse last year, the way is once more being… Continue reading
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Charges for migrants and visitors set precedent for wider assault on Britain’s NHS By Tony Robson
The UK Conservative-Liberal Democrat government is set to introduce, for the first time, charges for accident and emergency (A&E) treatment for temporary migrants and overseas visitors. Until now, charges have only applied to subsequent treatment as an inpatient or outpatient. Continue reading
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Video: Alive Inside: How the Magic of Music Proves Therapeutic for Patients With Alzheimer’s and Dementia
The clip begins with video of Dryer looking largely unresponsive to the outside world. Then he was given a pair of headphones to listen to Cab Calloway, his favorite artist. The music energizes him, awakens him and helps bring back old memories. We play clips from the film and speak with Cohen about his project,… Continue reading
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Mental health – a Cinderella service no more? By Alex Langford
Acknowledging the need to improve mental health services by any politician is a positive step. For such a policy to attract the Deputy Prime Minister himself is even better. So why has the reaction from mental health professionals been at best cautiously muted, and at worst dismissive? Continue reading
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Séralini study retraction intended to shut down possibility of long-term GMO tests forever
“It must be as if the study had never happened,” said French MEP Corinne Lepage, who also challenged EU science adviser Anne Glover over her conflicts of interest with industry. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 