ORAL FIXATIONS

Youth using e-cigarettes three times as likely to become daily cigarette smokers

Age at first use and number of tobacco products consumed also increases addiction risk

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

Research News

 

An analysis of a large nationally representative longitudinal study by University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science report that starting tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, before the age of 18 is a major risk factor for people becoming daily cigarette smokers.

Reporting in the January 11, 2021 online edition of Pediatrics, researchers found that in 2014 people age 12 to 24 who used e-cigarettes were three times as likely to become daily cigarette smokers in the future. Among those who reported using a tobacco product, daily use increased with age through age 28. Daily cigarette smoking nearly doubled between 18 to 21 year olds (12 percent) and 25 to 28 year olds (21 percent).

"This is the first paper that actually looks at progression to dependent cigarette smoking among young adults. In these data, e-cigarettes are a gateway for those who become daily cigarette smokers," said the study's first author, John P. Pierce, PhD, Professor Emeritus at Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. "The start product has changed from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, but the end product has stayed the same. When users become dependent on nicotine, they are converting to cigarette smoking."

Researchers used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a longitudinal study of tobacco use and its effect on the health of people in the United States. The PATH Study, undertaken by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the FDA Center for Tobacco Products under contract to Westat, enrolled a nationally representative sample of 12 to 24 year olds between in 2013 and 2014 and re-interviewed them annually for four years to explore progression to daily use among experimenters of 12 tobacco products.

In the first year, 45 percent of study participants reported using at least one tobacco product in their lifetime. By the fourth year, as participants aged, 62 percent reported some tobacco experimentation. Among those who have ever experimented with tobacco, 73 percent had tried cigarettes and 72 percent had tried e-cigarettes. Further, more than half tried hookahs and cigarillos. Traditional cigars, filtered cigars, smokeless products, pipes and snus were each tried by more than10 percent of study participants.

The analyses revealed that, by year four, 12 percent of participants were using tobacco products daily -- half of whom became daily users after the first year. Seventy percent of daily users smoked cigarettes and most of them (63 percent) used cigarettes exclusively. Of those who smoked cigarettes and used another tobacco product, half vaped e-cigarettes on a non-daily basis.

Among the 17 percent of daily users who were vaping every day, almost half were also non-daily cigarette smokers. Further follow-up will determine whether these young daily tobacco users continue to use both products or whether they settle on a single product, said Pierce.

"What we're seeing is that the proportion who are daily e-cigarette users did not increase with age. Whereas with cigarettes the number of users jumps up rapidly with age," said Pierce. "This rapid increase with age only occurred with cigarettes, not with any other tobacco products."

Less than 1 percent of study participants who experimented with just one tobacco product progressed to daily cigarette smoking. People who had tried five or more products increased their risk of becoming daily cigarette smokers by 15 percentage points.

"Trying e-cigarettes and multiple other tobacco products before the age of 18 is also strongly associated with becoming daily cigarette smoking," said senior author Karen Messer, PhD, professor at UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and director of biostatics at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

"We know that e-cigarette use among high school seniors, most under the age of 18, increased from 38 percent in 2016 to 45 percent in 2019. These results suggest that recent rapid growth in adolescent e-cigarette use will lead to increased daily cigarette smoking among young adults in the United States, reversing decades of decline in cigarette smoking."

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Co-authors include: Ruifeng Chen, Eric C. Leas, Martha M. White, Sheila Kealey, Matthew D. Stone, Tarik Benmarhnia, Dennis R. Trinidad and David R. Strong, all of UC San Diego.

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Study finds new evidence of health threat from chemicals in marijuana and tobacco smoke

Marijuana smoking found to raise levels of potentially harmful chemicals but to a lesser degree than tobacco smoking; Exposure to a toxic chemical associated with heightened risk for cardiovascular disease increases with tobacco smoking

DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE

Research News

 

IMAGE: MARIJUANA PLANT view more 

CREDIT: PEXELS

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have uncovered new evidence of the potential health risks of chemicals in tobacco and marijuana smoke.

In a study published online today by EClinicalMedicine, the researchers report that people who smoked only marijuana had several smoke-related toxic chemicals in their blood and urine, but at lower levels than those who smoked both tobacco and marijuana or tobacco only. Two of those chemicals, acrylonitrile and acrylamide, are known to be toxic at high levels. The investigators also found that exposure to acrolein, a chemical produced by the combustion of a variety of materials, increases with tobacco smoking but not marijuana smoking and contributes to cardiovascular disease in tobacco smokers.

The findings suggest that high acrolein levels may be a sign of increased risk of cardiovascular disease and that reducing exposure to the chemical could lower that risk. This is particularly important for people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, given high rates of tobacco smoking and the increased risk of heart disease in this group.

"Marijuana use is on the rise in the United States with a growing number of states legalizing it for medical and nonmedical purposes - including five additional states in the 2020 election. The increase has renewed concerns about the potential health effects of marijuana smoke, which is known to contain some of the same toxic combustion products found in tobacco smoke," said the senior author of the study, Dana Gabuzda, MD, of Dana-Farber. "This is the first study to compare exposure to acrolein and other harmful smoke-related chemicals over time in exclusive marijuana smokers and tobacco smokers, and to see if those exposures are related to cardiovascular disease."

The study involved 245 HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants in three studies of HIV infection in the United States. (Studies involving people with HIV infection were used because of high tobacco and marijuana smoking rates in this group.) The researchers collected data from participants' medical records and survey results and analyzed their blood and urine samples for substances produced by the breakdown of nicotine or the combustion of tobacco or marijuana. Combining these datasets enabled them to trace the presence of specific toxic chemicals to tobacco or marijuana smoking and to see if any were associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

The investigators found that participants who exclusively smoked marijuana had higher blood and urine levels of several smoke-related toxic chemicals such as naphthalene, acrylamide, and acrylonitrile metabolites than non-smokers did. However, the concentrations of these substances were lower in marijuana-only smokers than in tobacco smokers.

Investigators also found that acrolein metabolites - substances generated by the breaking down of acrolein - were elevated in tobacco smokers but not marijuana smokers. This increase was associated with cardiovascular disease regardless of whether individuals smoked tobacco or had other risk factors.

"Our findings suggest that high acrolein levels may be used to identify patients with increased cardiovascular risk," Gabuzda said, "and that reducing acrolein exposure from tobacco smoking and other sources could be a strategy for reducing risk."

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The first author of the study is David R. Lorenz, PhD, of Dana-Farber. Co-authors are Vikas Misra, MSc, Sukrutha Chettimada, PhD, and Hajime Uno, PhD, of Dana-Farber; Lanqing Wang, PhD, Benjamin C. Blount, PhD, and Vi?ctor R. De Jesu?s, PhD, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Benjamin B. Gelman, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas; Susan Morgello, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine; and Steven M. Wolinsky, MD, of Northwestern University.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01 DA040391 and DA046203); the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (grants U24MH100931, U24MH100930, U24MH100929, U24MH100928, U24MH100925, MH062512, HHS-N-271-2010-00036C, and HHSN271201000030C); the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grants U01- AI35039, U01-AI35040, U01-AI35041, U01- AI35042, and UM1-AI35043); the National Cancer Institute; National Institute on Drug Abuse; and National Institute of Mental Health. MACS data collection is also supported by UL1- TR000424.

'Say ahh': Chinese robots take throat swabs to fight Covid outbreak

In Shenyang, China, robots were deployed to take Covid-19 throat swabs as part of a mass testing campaign to stamp out local outbreaks STR AFP

Beijing (AFP)

A Chinese city deployed robots to take Covid-19 throat swabs on Wednesday, as the country ramps up mass testing to stamp out local coronavirus outbreaks.

In the northern city of Shenyang, robotic arms, built to collect samples quickly while lowering the risk of cross-infection between people, were used as part of a campaign to suppress a rise in cases in the surrounding province.

Seemingly unperturbed by the futuristic scene before them, people waiting in line placed their government identification cards in a scanner, before a recorded message in a polite female voice instructed them open up their mouths.

A robotic arm, sheathed in a layer of protective plastic, then extended a swab stick through a hole in a screen and towards their tonsils.

A human colleague in a hazmat suit controlled its movements from a safe distance away, guided by a camera on the robot.

China had largely brought the virus under control since it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan over a year ago.

But in recent weeks, China has seen fresh local outbreaks across the country, prompting localised lockdowns, travel restrictions and widespread testing of tens of millions of people.

More than 20 million people are now under some form of lockdown in the country's northern regions.

During the pandemic, robots have been used to replace humans in roles ranging from hotel porters to food delivery drivers, amid fears that contact with service workers could spread the virus.

© 2021 AFP

Poles on trial for 'desecrating' Virgin Mary with rainbow halo

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 
Article 196 of Poland's criminal code prohibits offending religious sentiment Wojtek RADWANSKI AFP/File
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Warsaw (AFP)

A Polish court on Wednesday began hearing charges against three gay rights activists accused of offending religious sentiment by putting up posters of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo.

The defendants -- identified as Elzbieta P, Anna P and Joanna G -- were present for the opening of the trial in the central city of Plock and face up to two years in prison if convicted of having desecrated the image of the religious icon in 2019.

Article 196 of Poland's criminal code prohibits offending religious sentiment.
BLASPHMEY LAW


The Polish Catholic church and governing nationalists oppose gay rights, which the rainbow flag symbolises.

"God forbid, no, I'm not pleading guilty to having offended religious sentiment," Elzbieta P told reporters before the hearing began.

"I don't believe that a rainbow can offend anything or anyone. I didn't commit a crime," she added, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.

The case dates back to April 2019, when the posters at issue appeared on rubbish bins and portable toilets near a church in Plock.

They showed a likeness of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, a revered icon of the Virgin Mary located in the devout Catholic country's Jasna Gora monastery.

Earlier that week, the leader of the governing PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, had denounced LGBT rights as a "threat" and called on Poles to respect the Catholic Church regardless of personal beliefs.

A small group gathered outside the regional court Wednesday in a show of support for the activists under the slogan "The Rainbow Doesn't Offend".

© 2021 AFP

New York to end contracts with Trump Organization over US Capitol siege, mayor says

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio helps paint a Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue on July 9, 2020. © Angela Weiss, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

New York City will sever three contracts with the Trump Organization, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday, accusing President Donald Trump of inciting the crowds that stormed the US Capitol last week.

“The president incited a rebellion against the United States government that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional transfer of power,” de Blasio said in a statement. “The city of New York will not be associated with those unforgivable acts in any shape, way or form."

On Jan. 6, Trump addressed thousands of supporters, reiterating his unsupported claim that his re-election was stolen. He urged them to march to the Capitol where Congress was affirming Joe Biden's election by the Electoral College.

The crowd quickly overwhelmed Capitol security, with many of them entering the building and forcing a halt to the proceedings as lawmakers took cover in a secure location. Five people died as a result of the rampage.

A criminal investigation is underway and charges have been filed against dozens of people suspected of having taken part.

The New York-based Trump Organization's contracts to operate a carousel in Manhattan's Central Park, skating rinks and a golf course in the Bronx are worth about $17 million a year, de Blasio said on MSNBC.

Cancelling the golf course contracts could take "a number of months", while the others could be severed in 25-30 days, the mayor's office said in a statement.

Following the Capitol riot, the PGA of America and the R&A both announced they would shun two golf courses owned by the president.

In addition, the New York Times reported on Tuesday that Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE will not do business in the future with Trump or his companies.

(REUTERS)

US must restore its human rights role — HRW

The Human Rights Watch accused US President Donald Trump of abandoning the fight for human rights and called for President-elect Joe Biden to reverse course.


HRW said the US should contribute to existing efforts rather than leading them

The US President-elect Joe Biden must restore his country's role in global human rights, the head of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday, as the organization released its annual report.

"[US President Donald Trump] completely abandoned the cause of human rights," HRW's Executive Director Kenneth Roth told DW, as Trump was facing backlash after his supporters attacked the Capitol.

Roth called for Biden, set to take office on Jan. 20, to reverse the course set by Trump both inside the US and through Washington's foreign policy.


"[Trump] cozied up to basically every friendly autocrat under the sun" Roth said.

Roth called for the US foreign policy to contribute to the advancement of human rights around the world. It should do so by joining existing collective efforts, rather than replacing them, according to the HRW executive.

"There is a more broader, global defense of human rights that we urge Biden to join and not supplant, to come in as a partner and not pretend that the US is suddenly going to be a leader," Roth said. 

HRW slams Trump on immigration, climate, BLM

On Wednesday, Biden announced he would be nominating Samantha Power, the former US Ambassador to the UN, as the new head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The announcement came shortly after HRW released its annual report.

In the document, HRW blasted Trump's domestic stances, accusing him of cracking down on immigration policies, undermining climate change and abolishing laws that protected LGBTQ communities and reproduction freedom.

The HRW annual report also called for justice for Black Lives Matter protesters, accountability for police brutality and reform in racist societal structures in the US.

Watch video 04:57 Human Rights Watch head Kenneth Roth: 'Trump has completely abandoned the cause of human rights.'

Rights in times of COVID-19

The 2020 report highlighted human rights violations during the coronavirus pandemic, addressing financial aid as a human right in times of crises.

While countries such as Germany and the Netherlands helped low-income earners, financial support in other countries, such as the US, was minimal or temporary, according to the report.

The organization also voiced concerns over mental health.

The practice of "shackling” was particularly concerning to HRW, where people with psychological disabilities are locked in small areas in response to their mental illness.

"COVID-19 marks a turning point for governments to pay greater attention to the importance of mental well-being and psychosocial support," the report said.
Germany in 2020

Berlin played a significant role in advancing human rights in 2020, Roth said.

The EU country "helped to rally governments to condemn China's repression" of Uighurs in Xianjiang and added to pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin "to stop the bombing of civilians in Idlib province in Syria," he added.

Germany's presidency of the EU addressed migration policy reform and EU sanctions against human rights abusers, although the bloc did not act as the rule of law declined in Hungary and Poland, HRW reported.

The activists also highlighted Germany's policies in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, with the biggest financial aid in the country's history distributed to lift the economy.

However, HRW raised concerns over the continued hate crimes in Germany, sparked by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism.

Watch video 04:16 Germany: Living with anti-Semitism

'Good news'

There were signs of hope in 2020, such as Latin American countries' commitment to tackle Venezuela's migration and humanitarian crises, Roth said.

"The good news is that the rest of the world didn't abandon human rights, just because Trump did," he added.

The HRW report also highlighted increased pressure on governments to fulfill their 2015 Paris climate accord plans before the summit in November 2021.

The activist organization said it was hopeful for climate action as the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the US, pledged in the end of 2020 to tackle the crisis.

Central American migrants hope Biden will support American Dream

Issued on: 13/01/2021

Hurricanes Eta and Iota destroyed numerous homes in Honduras 

Orlando SIERRA AFP

La Lima (Honduras) (AFP)

Emerson Lopez sells bananas on the side of a dusty road in northern Honduras -- but soon he is going to try his luck chasing the American Dream.

He is hoping the administration of US President-elect Joe Biden will be more welcoming to migrants than his predecessor Donald Trump.

Either way, he says he has no future in Honduras, where two hurricanes in November blew off the roof at the family home he shares with his parents and four siblings.

"We hope that will change and we'll benefit" from Biden's arrival, the 18-year-old told AFP.

Biden has promised "a fair and humane immigration system" and pledged to tackle the root causes of poverty and violence that drive Central American migration to the US by providing aid to the region.

Trump, on the other hand, froze a $750 million aid package agreed by his predecessor Barack Obama -- whose vice president was Biden -- and before being elected characterized immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" who were "bringing drugs" and other criminal activity with them.

Before the hurricanes, the coronavirus ended Lopez's hopes of earning a degree in information technology.

His town of La Lima, 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, still shows the scars of the destruction wrought by Eta and Iota when they ripped through the Sula Valley, the country's industrial heartland and economic motor.

The government says the two hurricanes and coronavirus cost the country, one of the poorest in Latin America, some five billion dollars.

"I haven't found work and how could I without experience and given I'm too young?" said Lopez.

A call went out on social media to form a new caravan, like the ones that so angered Trump, on January 15 -- just five days before Biden's inauguration.

But Lopez won't be joining it.

"If it goes well, most of us here will decide to go later," said Lopez.

- Difficulties mounting -

His neighbor Martha Saldivar is another ready to tackle the long journey, although not this time.

"We've heard that Biden will take down the wall," said the 51-year-old, whose home also lacks a roof.

"But I won't leave with this caravan because we don't know the people."

Since October 2018 more than 10 migrant caravans have been formed in Honduras, including at least four with more than 3,000 people.

But all of them floundered at the US border with Mexico. And the route is getting tougher.

Guatemala's government has warned that anyone wanting to pass through its territory must show a negative coronavirus test and have their papers in order.

Mexico's consulate in Honduras's second largest town, San Pedro Sula, from where caravans usually leave, warned that its government "does not encourage and will not allow the illegal entry of caravans."

More than a million Hondurans have fled poverty and violence with the majority now living in the US.

Last year they sent home to their families a record of almost $6 billion in remittances -- worth just over 20 percent of the country's GDP.

Money transfers by emigrants also hit a record in Guatemala in 2020 of more than $11.3 billion, or 14 percent of GDP.

In El Salvador, family members of the 2.5 million immigrants living in the US received $5.6 billion, some 16 percent of the country's GDP.

Cecilia Arevalo, 54, lives in California but is visiting family in a suburb of El Salvador's capital San Salvador.

She is hoping for "a change in migration laws with Biden, and that they're more humane."

That aspiration is shared by Mexican Cristian Panameno, a 42-year-old mechanic living just outside San Salvador.

He has already been expelled once from the US but has saved up some money to try again.

"I think with this new president things will change for undocumented migrants," he said.

"If I make it to the US I hope they'll give me the opportunity to work."

They may have to wait a while, though, as Biden has already admitted he will have to wait at least six months to roll back Trump's southern border security policies.

© 2021 AFP

Indigenous peoples wary of UN biodiversity rescue plan
  

Global leaders will meet for a critical biodiversity summit in Kunming, China to set new goals for protecting nature RAPHAEL ALVES AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

As crunch UN talks to reverse the accelerating destruction of nature loom, indigenous peoples are sounding an alarm over proposed conservation plans they say could clash with their rights.

The COP-15 UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China -- provisionally slated for early October -- will see nearly 200 nations attempt to thrash out new goals to preserve Earth's battered ecosystems.

To limit the devastating effects of species loss caused by pollution, hunting, mining, tourism and urban sprawl, the draft treaty proposes to create protected areas covering 30 percent of the planet's lands and oceans by 2030.


Global leaders from over 50 countries pledged on Monday at the One Planet Summit to back the plan, which could become the cornerstone of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meet in China.

But the past experience of indigenous populations has made them wary of the proposal.

Earlier efforts to create protected areas such as national parks sometimes led to their eviction from ancestral lands.

"By just setting a target without adequate standards and commitment to accountability mechanisms, the CBD could unleash another wave of colonial land grabbing that disenfranchises millions of people," said Andy White, coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative.

When the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was dramatically enlarged in 1975, for example, the Bambuti community lost more than access to the forest.

A whole culture intertwined with nature perished.

"We no longer have access to medicinal plants," said Diel Mochire, regional director of the Integrated Programme for the Development of the Pygmy People.

"Our diet changed. In the forest we had easy access to resources, now we have to buy everything."

-'Less biodiversity loss'-

Arguably, the first conservation-related evictions date back to the last 19th century, when the US government violently expelled native Americans from lands that became the Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks.

"That model was exported around the world," White told AFP.

It is still the dominant model today, he added.

The RRI, which defends indigenous peoples' rights, estimates that 136 million people have been displaced globally to date during the creation of the world's protected areas, which cover some 8.5 million square kilometres (3.3 million square miles).

It further calculates that over 1.6 billion people could be affected -- directly or indirectly -- by the so-called "30-30" initiative.

A UN report from 2016 concluded that some of the world's leading conservation groups had violated the rights of some indigenous people by backing conservation projects that ousted them from ancestral homes.

A 2019 Buzzfeed investigation implicated the World Wide Fund (WWF) in serious rights abuses -- including torture and murder -- carried out by rogue anti-poaching units in national parks in Asia and Africa.

An independent audit released in November found that none of the group's staff participated in any abuses, but that WWF should be "more transparent," and needed to more firmly engage governments to uphold human rights. WWF vowed to "do more".

Scientists and environmental groups alike are increasingly emphasising indigenous peoples' role in conservation.

At the same time, however, efforts to protect and restore nature on a global scale have failed spectacularly.

The planet is on the cusp of a mass extinction event in which species are disappearing at 100 to 1,000 times the normal "background" rate, most scientists agree.

The UN's science advisory panel for biodiversity, called IPBES, warned in a 2019 landmark report that one million species face extinction, due mostly to habitat loss and over-exploitation.

Indigenous peoples' know-how represents a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak picture, the same report found.

IPBES said at least a quarter of global lands are traditionally owned, managed or occupied by indigenous groups.

"Within that 25 percent, the lands managed by indigenous peoples tend to have less biodiversity loss," a lead author of the report Pamela McElwee told AFP.

- 'Bottom up' -

Research has shown that forests under indigenous management are more effective at storing carbon and are less prone to wildfires than many "protected areas" controlled by business concessions.

Private companies that manage huge tracts of forests under a UN-approved financial mechanism to curb deforestation -- known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) -- too often bulldoze the rights of forest-dwelling peoples, earlier research has shown.

Indigenous peoples are "disproportionately attacked for standing up for their rights and territories," watchdog Global Witness said in July.

In 2019, a record 212 environmental campaigners, nearly half from indigenous communities, were murdered around the world, according to the group's annual tally.

Major conservation groups ranging from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to WWF now emphasise the importance of indigenous peoples' role in conservation.

"WWF firmly believes that we will only be able to halt and reverse our unprecedented loss of nature if we work hand in hand with indigenous peoples and local communities," the group said in a statement.

IUCN Programme Development Manager James Hardcastle told AFP: "The biggest single determinant of success in conservation is ... having the rights included and having something that's bottom up.

"That's where you will be successful on all accounts -- you'll be able to defend the rights, territory, integrity, the ecological functions or species in the area."

Canadian Basile van Havre, co-chair of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) insisted that "the CBD makes ample room for indigenous peoples."

- Accountability mechanisms -

But indigenous leaders have yet to be convinced that a shift in narrative will translate into a change in practice.

"Until I see action I will not believe it," Peter Kitelo, a 45-year-old telecommunications engineer from the Ogiek community in Kenya told AFP.

"Most conservation organisations have perfected the art of public relations."

The draft treaty for the October "COP15" summit says 30 percent of the planet should be covered by "protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures".

For Hardcastle, "other effective" measures could include governance by indigenous communities.

Mochire from the DRC also said he is not necessarily opposed to expanding protected areas, but need to see how the measures would be carried out.

"We are currently putting forward proposals to the government on how to get there without damaging communities," he said.

The COP15 treaty should enshrine indigenous peoples' land rights and devise accountability mechanisms to ensure that expanded protected areas do not lead to human rights violations, said White from RRI.

"In many cases local people cannot complain to their own governments when they are abused by the national park service. So they have to have recourse through the international arena."

© 2021 AFP

EU food agency approves mealworms as human food

Mealworms, whole or as powder in pasta, have become the first insect-based food approved by the EU's food safety watchdog. The EU Commission has yet to endorse the decision.


The darkling beetle larvae are already commonly used as food for pet reptiles and fish

Mealworms got approval for EU plates Wednesday from the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), based in Italy's city of Parma — better known for its tasty pasta, tomatoes, ham and cheese.

Actually larvae of the darkling beetle (Tenebrio molitor) and typically fed to pet reptiles and fish, the yellow grubs could soon be the first "novel food" cleared for sale across the EU, assuming the European Commission adds its endorsement.

Rich in protein, fat and fiber, they could be eaten whole or as a powdered ingredient in snacks and noodles, assuming their original fodder was free of contaminants, concluded the Italy-based EU agency. 

Interest 'great' in food sector

EFSA food scientist Ermolaos Ververis said interest was high among the "edible insect sector" of the food industry and the scientific community.

Watch video 09:28 Plastic recycling with mealworms

Mealworms are the first species approved among 15 insects subjected to risk assessment procedures delegated to the EFSA in 2018 under a 2015 EU regulation.

The EFSA food agency has 156 applications for "novel food" on its plate. Those also include algae-derived edibles.
'Yuck factor' could dwindle

For many Europeans, eating insects still triggered a "yuck" reaction, said Giovanni Sogari, a consumer researcher at the University of Parma.

"With time and exposure, such attitudes can change," he speculated.

Elsewhere in the world, including Africa and Central America, chewing on insect crisps, cooking with them, even mealworm burgers, have long become norms, so-called entomophagy, alongside massive meat consumption blamed in part for climate change.

Two EU nations, Austria and Germany, already have special dispensations for insect-based snacks. 

Answer to food insecurity?

Around the world, thousands of insects are potential candidates —prompting the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2013 to speculate that "eating insects can help tackle food insecurity."

Watch video 07:06 Insects: Our future food?

Fed even on bio-waste, insects used significantly less water than livestock, and could be farmed more easily, said the FAO.

"For example, pigs produce 10-100 times more greenhouse gases per kilogram (pound) than mealworms, the UN agency said.

Experts warn that some insect species could become extinct globally over the coming decades — largely due to habitat loss as land is converted to intensive agriculture, as well as urbanization and the use of pesticides.

The EU's EFSA cautioned Wednesday that insect proteins were sometimes overestimated and a watch had be kept for potential allergies.

Edible insects move closer to European plates

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

Insect burgers containing protein-rich mealworm could soon be available in European Union countries

Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/File

Brussels (AFP)

The EU's food watchdog on Wednesday paved the way for diners across Europe to tuck into insects as it gave safety approval for human consumption of dried yellow mealworm.

The move by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the preliminary step needed before officials can decide whether to allow the beetle larvae to be sold to consumers across the 27-nation bloc.

The ruling is the first completed risk assessment of an insect food product application by the agency as it looks to approve a potential boom sector that could provide a sustainable source of protein.

It could "pave the way for the first EU-wide approval," Ermolaos Ververis, scientific officer in EFSA’s NUTRI unit, said in a statement.

"Risk evaluation is a decisive and necessary step in the regulation of novel foods by supporting policy makers in the EU in making science-based decisions and ensuring the safety of consumers."

The EFSA said it had found the mealworms -- or Tenebrio molitor larva -- were safe to be eaten "either as a whole dried insect or in the form of powder" after an application from French insect-rearing firm Micronutris.

"Its main components are protein, fat and fibre," the statement said, but warned that more research needed to be done on possible allergic reactions to the insects.

The burgeoning insect farming industy in Europe welcomed the decision and said they hoped to see authorities give permission for yellow mealworms to be marketed to the public by the middle of this year.

"The release of this document indeed represents an important milestone towards the wider EU commercialisation of edible insects," Antoine Hubert, president of the the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, said in a statement.

The Italy-based EFSA has more insect investigations on its plate and is also set to examine if crickets and grasshoppers are fit for consumption.

Insects are widely eaten elsewhere on the globe with an estimated 1,000 species finding their way onto dinner plates of some 2 billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

They are already available for human consumption in a small number of EU countries and are more widely produced for use in animal feed.

The industry says it expects the European market for insect-based food products to grow rapidly in the coming years and for production to reach some 260,000 tonnes by 2030.

© 2021 AFP

Uber and Lyft drivers challenge California 'gig worker' ballot

Issued on: 13/01/2021 - 

More than $200 million was spent promoting Proposition 22, which was heavily backed by Uber, while only a tenth of that amount was spent by labor groups opposing the measure Johannes EISELE AFP/File

San Francisco (AFP)

Drivers for ride-share and meal delivery apps filed a lawsuit Tuesday to nullify a referendum passed by California voters that lets such "gig workers" be treated as contractors.

Labor legislation known as Proposition 22 -- passed in November and heavily backed by backed by Uber, Lyft and other app-based, on-demand delivery services -- effectively overturned a state law requiring them to reclassify their drivers and provide employee benefits.

The lawsuit argued the measure is invalid because it usurps the power of state courts and legislators when it comes to worker rights and compensation.

The suit was filed directly to the top court in the state by a few drivers and the Service Employees International Union.

"The measure grossly deceived the voters, who were not told they were voting to prevent the Legislature from granting the drivers collective bargaining rights," the lawsuit argued.

The suit went on to argue that the initiative also precluded the state legislature "from providing incentives for companies to give app-based drivers more than the minimal wages and benefits provided by Proposition 22."

Defendants in the litigation were the state of California and its commissioner of labor.

The November vote came after a contentious campaign with labor groups claiming the initiative would erode worker rights and benefits, and with backers arguing for a new, flexible economic model.

The victory for the "gig economy" in California was expected to echo across the US, in a boon for app-based services while igniting fear that big business is rewriting labor laws.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has vowed to "more loudly advocate for new laws like Prop 22."

More than $200 million was spent promoting Proposition 22, while only a tenth of that amount was spent by labor groups opposing the measure.

Under the proposition, drivers remain independent contractors but Uber and Lyft are to pay them a number of benefits including a minimum wage, a contribution to healthcare and other forms of insurance. Critics of the measure said it failed to take into account the full costs borne by drivers.

Uber and Lyft claimed most drivers support the contractor model.

But the firms had been sued by the state which argued keeping that model violated California labor law. A Proposition 22 victory renders the court case effectively moot.

© 2021 AFP