New studies reveal extent and risks of laughing gas and stimulant abuse among young people

by European Academy of Neurology

The extent and risks associated with recreational abuse of laughing gas and psychostimulants by young people have today been revealed in two studies reported at the European Academy of Neurology Virtual Congress.

In one study, researchers from Turkey reported increasing stimulant use among medical students approaching their final exams, despite the substantial risks to their health. In the second study, researchers from the Netherlands detailed the neurological outcomes associated with recreational use of laughing gas (nitrous oxide), suggesting that, for some individuals, permanent neurological damage can occur.

Increasing use of psychostimulants among medical students:

The increasing and widespread use of psychostimulants among medical students as they progress through their training has been revealed by a team of researchers from Istanbul in Turkey.

The team studied 194 medical students who completed an online survey evaluating their stimulant use, side effects, and academic performance grades. First-year students (n=93; control group) were compared with fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students (n=101; study group).

"Non-medical use of prescription stimulants has become a growing public health concern on university campuses over the past two decades," explained Dr. Suna Ertugrul from the Demiroglu Bilim University in Istanbul, Turkey, who presented the results of the study. "Medicine is one of the longest and most competitive degrees to study for and many students believe that using stimulants helps to enhance their academic performance and live an active life."

The Turkish researchers found that 16.1% of their study group were using psychostimulants such as methylphenidate and modafinil compared with 6.8% of the control group. Three-quarters of the study group reported experiencing side effects, including insomnia, high heartrates and agitation. No differences were observed in the academic performance between the stimulant users and non-users.

"Our study confirms that stimulant use increases during the course of studying for a medical degree, but that this does not improve academic performance as these students believe," said Dr. Ertugrul.

Recreational use of laughing gas:

The recreational use of laughing gas, which is used as an anaesthetic agent in dental practices and during labour, is on the increase, resulting in growing numbers of patients with neurological problems reporting to specialist outpatient clinics and emergency rooms.

"In our neurologic practice, we are seeing more and more patients with neurological problems resulting from recreational use of laughing gas," explained Dr. Anne Bruijnes from the Zuyderland Medical Center in Heerlen, Netherlands, who presented the study findings at the meeting. "We saw our first patient in 2017, and since then the number has increased steadily, so we decided to conduct a retrospective study to describe the clinical features and outcomes of the patients we've seen."

According to the study team, 13 patients with an average age of 21 years were treated at the medical centre between 2017 and 2019. The most common symptoms reported were paresthesias (tingling and numbness in the hands, legs, arms and feet) and lower limb weakness. Eight patients (62%) were given a clinical diagnosis of axonal polyneuropathy, two (15%) showed evidence of spinal cord degeneration, and three (23%) showed clinical symptoms of both polyneuropathy and spinal cord degeneration (myelopolyneuropathy). All patients received vitamin B12 supplementation and were advised to stop using laughing gas.

Laughing gas usage is thought to be on the increase with one in 11 young people aged 16-24 using it annually. Many users are unaware of potential consequences, which can also include paranoia, breathing problems and even death.

"Most of our patients made a full recovery, however, some continued to have minor symptoms and three experienced difficulties with everyday activities and were referred to a rehabilitation physician," she said.

Dr. Bruijnes believes the true extent of the laughing gas problem may not be known, with many abusers failing to seek medical help. "This is a major cause for concern," she said. "Whilst this study is on a relatively small sample, we know that laughing gas use is on the increase. We now know that it causes a vitamin B12 deficiency, which can affect the spinal cord and lead to permanent damage if not treated promptly."

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SEE
Antarctic Penguins Emit so Much Laughing Gas in Their Feces Scientists Studying Them Went 'Cuckoo'
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/antarctic-penguins-emit-so-much.html

No joke: Denmark to cut kids off from laughing gas

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More information: References:

1. Bogle KE, Smith BH. Illicit methylphenidate use: a review of prevalence, availability, pharmacology, and consequences. Curr Drug Abuse Rev 2009;2(2):157-76.

2. McCabe SE, Knight JR, Teter CJ, et al. Non-medical use of prescription stimulants among US college students: prevalence and correlates from a national survey. Addiction 2005;100(1):96-106.

3. Teter CJ, McCabe SE, LaGrange K, et al. Illicit use of speci?c prescription stimulants among college students: prevalence, motives, and routes of administration. Pharmacotherapy 2006;26(10):1501-10.

4. Conjaerts SHP, Bruijnes JE, Beerhorst K, Beekman R. Nitrous oxide induced polyneuropathy. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2017;161:D204.

5. Lan SY, Kuo CY, Chou CC, et al. Recreational nitrous oxide abuse related subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord in adolescents - A case series and literature review. Brain Dev 2019;41(5):428-35.

6. The Guardian, Nitrous oxide users unaware of health risks, nurses warn, 21 May 2019.

7. Choi C, Kim T, Park KD, et al. Subacute combined degeneration caused by nitrous oxide intoxication: a report of two cases. Ann Rehabil Med 2019;43(4):530-34.

8. De Bruin, et al. Subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord due to recreational use of nitrous oxide. Tijdschr Neurol Neurochir 2019;120(2):68-72.

Provided by European Academy of Neurology

Lidar used to track mosquito activity in Africa to help combat malaria

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress

MAY 14, 2020 REPORT

Culex on milimeter paper. Credit: Mikkel Brydegaard

An international team of researchers has used lidar to track mosquito activity levels in Africa as part of an effort to combat malaria. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes how the lidar was used and what was learned from their study.

Lidar is a light detection and ranging system similar to radar, but instead of using sound, it uses light from a laser. Its precision allows for a wide variety of applications. In this new effort, the researchers used it to detect mosquito activity. Their work involved setting up a lidar system close to a village in Tanzania—the system scanned the surroundings continuously for five days and four nights, counting the number of mosquitoes it detected. The system was able to differentiate mosquitoes from other insects by counting wing beats—mosquitoes flap their wings at different rates than other insects. The lidar system was able to count mosquitoes for distances up to 596 meters. 

The study was conducted as part of an ongoing effort to battle malaria—a disease that kills approximately a half-million people each year, mostly in Africa. Scientists believe that through study of mosquitoes and the parasites that cause malaria, they will be able to develop new and better ways of combating the disease. One such area of study surrounds their activity—pinpointing times of highest activity would help to better direct pesticide application and other efforts.

The lidar system used by the researchers counted over 300,000 insects, enough to provide the researchers with sufficient data to see patterns. They found that mosquitoes, as suspected, travel mostly during the morning and evening hours.

The researchers also wanted to know if the mosquito activity was part of a circadian rhythm, or if it was simply a reaction to light conditions. To find out, they carried out an experiment similar to the first, but conducted during a solar eclipse. The lidar showed the mosquitoes changing their behavior to suit the low-light conditions—they became more active, proving that their behavior is based on light conditions.

LIDAR VIDEOS https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-lidar-track-mosquito-africa-combat.html

Video: Can coronavirus be transmitted by mosquitoes?

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More information: Mikkel Brydegaard et al. Lidar reveals activity anomaly of malaria vectors during pan-African eclipse, Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay5487

Journal information: Science Advances 

© 2020 Science X Network

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Multiple sclerosis risk 29% higher for people living in urban areas, new research reveals

Air pollution could be a risk factor for the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study conducted in Italy has found.

by European Academy of Neurology MAY 23, 2020

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Air pollution could be a risk factor for the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study conducted in Italy has found.

The research, presented today at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Virtual Congress, detected a reduced risk for MS in individuals residing in rural areas that have lower levels of air pollutants known as particulate matter (PM). It showed that the MS risk, adjusted for urbanisation and deprivation, was 29% higher among those residing in more urbanised areas.

The study sample included over 900 MS patients within the region, and MS rates were found to have risen 10-fold in the past 50 years, from 16 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1974 to almost 170 cases per 100,000 people today. Whilst the huge increase can partly be explained by increased survival for MS patients, this sharp increase could also be explained by greater exposure to risk factors.

The analysis was conducted in the winter, given that this is the season with the highest pollutant concentrations, in the north-western Italian region of Lombardy, home to over 547,000 people.

Commenting on the findings at the EAN Virtual Congress, lead researcher Professor Roberto Bergamaschi explained, "It is well recognised that immune diseases such as MS are associated with multiple factors, both genetic and environmental. Some environmental factors, such as vitamin D levels and smoking habits, have been extensively studied, yet few studies have focused on air pollutants. We believe that air pollution interacts through several mechanisms in the development of MS and the results of this study strengthen that hypothesis."

Particulate matter (PM) is used to describe a mixture of solid particles and droplets in the air and is divided into two categories. PM10 includes particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres of smaller and PM2.5 which have a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller.

Both PM10 and PM2.5 are major pollutants and are known to be linked to various health conditions, including heart and lung disease, cancer and respiratory issues. According to the World Health Organisation, 4.2 million deaths occur every year because of exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution.

Three different areas were compared within the study region based on their levels of urbanisation, of which two areas were found to be above the European Commission threshold of air pollution. "In the higher risk areas, we are now carrying out specific analytical studies to examine multiple environmental factors possibly related to the heterogeneous distribution of MS risk", added Professor Bergamaschi.

The number of people living with MS around the world is growing, with more than 700,000 sufferers across Europe. The vast majority (85%) of patients present with relapsing remitting MS, characterised by unpredictable, self-limited episodes of the central nervous system. Whilst MS can be diagnosed at any age, it frequently occurs between the ages of 20-40 and is more frequent in women. Symptoms can change in severity daily and include fatigue, walking difficulty, numbness, pain and muscle spasms.

Air pollution linked to hair loss, new research reveals

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Provided by European Academy of Neurology

Race and Mass Incarceration,

in the time of COVID19

 Monday, May 25th 9-10:30pm ET; 6-7:30pm PT

"If you think a cruise ship is a dangerous place to be during a pandemic, consider America's jails and prisons.. .

it has become equally important for all of us to ask what steps are being taken to protect the health of people in jails and prisons, and the staff who work in them." Amanda Klonsky MARCH 16, 2020/NEW YORK TIMES

  

Sponsored by Liberation Road and CCDS Socislist Education Committee

Featuring Amanda Klonsky and Rafael Pizarro, interviewed by Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Rafael Pizarro, Co Chair CCDS. 

Rafael is a long time activist and labor organizer.  Presently he is heavily involved in his community of New Bedford, MA with Bristol County for Correctional Justice (BCCJ) fighting for justice forimmigrant detainees and decarceration during this time of COVID 19.  He and BCCJ Have involved in tremendous and hard work and have had some victories.  

Amanda Klonsky Ed.LD., MSW

Dr. Amanda Klonsky has worked as an educator in jails and prisons for more than 15 years and speaks widely on issues of education and incarceration. Her work focuses on expanding access to education for people who are impacted by mass incarceration. More recently, Amanda has been engaged in the efforts to respond to the crisis of COVID-19 in jails and prisons, contributing editorials and commenting in media venues including The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, and PBS News Hour.

Amanda earned a Doctorate in Education Leadership at Harvard University (2018) and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago (2011). Her doctoral thesis traces the stories of young men in Chicago who were detained in the Cook County Jail during the period of emerging adulthood.

Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Bill Fletcher Jr has been an activist since his teen years. Upon graduating from college he went to work as a welder in a shipyard, thereby entering the labor movement. Over the years he has been active in workplace and community struggles as well as electoral campaigns. He has worked for several labor unions in addition to serving as a senior staffperson in the national AFL-CIO.

Fletcher is the former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; an editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com; and in the leadership of several other projects. Fletcher is the co-author (with Peter Agard) of "The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941";the co-author ( with Dr. Fernando Gapasin)  "Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice"; and "'They're Bankrupting Us'-and 20 other myths about unions".  Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and regular media commentator on television, radio, and the Web.

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Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbBnvTysTh 

The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism is a national organization, united by a common commitment to struggle for democracy and socialism. CCDS embodies the legacy of the great social movements for peace, freedom, and democracy led by the working class, and racially and nationally oppressed people. CCDS carries forward the courageous traditions of the democratic socialist and left leaders and activists of the USA." CCDS Goals and Principles The Mobilizer is the newsletter of the CCDS and the above spirit should be reflected in it. It is a great tool for communication within our organization and it is hoped that we can put this out more frequently. We will use this to share reports from the NCC meetings. But we want this to be a two way street and want to hear from you. We encourage you to share what is going on in your area whether it be a mass action or study group, etc. One thing we often hear from members is wanting to know more about what is going on in other areas. Writing up your experiences also a good way to reflect on it and sum it up.  We encourage a broad sharing of ideas. You are encouraged to also send comments of other articles written. So let us hear from you. Material can be sent to Janet Tucker at jlynjenks@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Anti-viral drug remdesivir effective against coronavirus, study finds

EXPECT GILEAD SHARES TO RISE 

Remdesivir, injected intravenously daily for 10 days, accelerated the recovery of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, a study found

Anti-viral drug remdesivir cuts recovery times in coronavirus patients, according to the full results of a trial published Friday night, three weeks after America's top infectious diseases expert said the study showed the medication has "clear-cut" benefits.

Complete results from the research, which was carried out by US government agency the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), were published by leading medical periodical the New England Journal of Medicine.

The United States authorized the emergency use of remdesivir in hospitals on May 1, followed by Japan, while Europe is considering following suit.

The study found that remdesivir, injected intravenously daily for 10 days, accelerated the recovery of hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to a placebo in clinical tests on just over a thousand patients across 10 countries.

On April 29, NIAID director Anthony Fauci, who has become the US government's trusted face on the coronavirus pandemic, said preliminary evidence indicated remdesivir had a "clear-cut, significant and positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery."

The National Institutes of Health, of which the NIAID is a part, said Friday in a statement online that investigators found "remdesivir was most beneficial for hospitalized patients with severe disease who required supplemental oxygen."

But the authors of the trial wrote that the drug did not prevent all deaths.

"Given high mortality despite the use of remdesivir, it is clear that treatment with an anti-viral drug alone is not likely to be sufficient," they said.

About 7.1 percent of patients given remdesivir in the trial group died within 14 days—compared with 11.9 percent in the placebo group.

However, the result is just below the statistical reliability threshold, meaning it could be down to chance rather than the capability of the drug.Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: John H. Beigel et al. Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19—Preliminary Report, New England Journal of Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2007764

Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine © 2020 AFP

Alberta unions urge Kenney government to delay re-opening the economy by one month

Before the government’s announcement Wednesday, public and private-sector union presidents voted to send a letter to the premier and Labour Minister Jason Copping saying that more needs to be done to guarantee the safety of workers and patrons in Alberta workplaces. The AFL is saying the government needs to embrace the Precautionary Principle, which is the foundation of workplace health and safety best practice. The Precautionary Principle stipulates that when lives are on the line, we should err on the side of caution.  Read our news release.

The government’s “guidance for employers on the subject of reopening the economy is weak, vague and often unclear,” said AFL president Gil McGowan. Read news story. 

Where’s the proof that UCP-approved masks will actually keep Albertans safe?

Health and safety advocates are worried that UCP Labour Minister Jason Copping is potentially putting Albertans at risk by using his emergency powers to unilaterally amend the Occupational Health and Safety Code to allow employers to use masks that have not been properly vetted or approved.

In a letter to Minister Copping on Tuesday,  Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan expressed grave concerns about Copping’s Ministerial Order, which was quietly released on May 3, 2020 without notice to media or consultation with stakeholders. Read our news release.

And just yesterday, Health Canada has issued a recall of KN95 respirators manufactured by dozens of Chinese companies because they "pose a health and safety risk to end users."  Read news story.

Tell Kenney to STOP firing workers and start helping to save Albertans’ lives

Kenney and the UCP government are planning to continue cutting public schools and services. Use our email tool to tell Kenney to STOP firing workers and start helping to save Albertans’ lives.  If you haven't yet, sign up for our #KenneysCuts campaign to join the fight.

Politics after the pandemic: can good follow bad?

Duncan Cameron

May 12, 2020

ENVIRONMENT

An important body of thought warns us what to expect as the coronavirus pandemic fades from view: After a crisis, a bad situation gets worse. 

The captains of corporate globalization turn the screws on workers, shred remaining environmental protections and play the political system to their advantage.

In a body of work, Philip Mirowski has explained how neoliberalism turns changed circumstances into new opportunities for capital. 

Shoshana Zuboff, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, captures how neoliberalism is getting hyped up to cement class divides and exclude citizens from essential services. 

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein detailed how capitalists take advantage of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicolas Hulot -- the prominent French environmental activist who was appointed minister of ecological and solidary transition by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, only to resign 15 months later -- adopts a different approach. He wants good to follow bad. 

On a bilingual website, Hulot presents 100 principles the world should adopt now to reorganize itself politically, socially and economically to deal with the climate emergency and remedy the economic failures exposed by the coronavirus epidemic.

Hulot comes across as an over-the-top optimist. For instance, the first of his five immediate policy proposals -- the creation of a "European recovery and ecological transformation fund of several thousand billions of euros" -- looks impossible to be adopted since it requires approval from a backward European Council and unheard of sums of money. 

But before rejecting Hulot as an out-of-touch dreamer, it is worth considering where he comes from and what he has in mind. 

Speaking with C politique, a Sunday night French television program, Hulot pointed out that we have known for decades that corporations have been protecting humongous taxable revenues from national treasuries through financial trickery and the use of tax havens. 

In other words, political parties of all stripes and governments have been complicit in a gigantic rip-off that continues today, and costs thousands of billions of dollars or euros that could be redirected to a recovery and ecological fund.

In the world Hulot -- like Klein, Zuboff and Mirowski -- describes, the biggest prevailing untruth is that capitalism serves the common good because it enriches society. 

Yes, capitalism is better than what preceded it, feudalism. 

More to the point, society subsidizes capitalism through underpaid and unpaid labour; socializing corporate losses and environmental destruction; educating and keeping healthy workers and consumers; providing public contracts; and direct subsidies.

For fossil fuels alone, the IMF projected worldwide public subsidies in 2017 to total $5.2 trillion!   

Putting a stop to thievery on a mass scale by companies pirating private information, desecrating the environment, endangering survival of the species and corrupting public life will take a revolution, which is what Hulot is proposing.

Call it as he does an amicable revolution -- or a peaceful revolution -- Hulot argues a major transformation of society is an idea whose time has come.

No revolution is possible without ideals. The 100 principles Hulot puts forward are assembled to inspire a democratic makeover of political life and an integration of the economic into an ecological worldview.  

More importantly, as Greta Thunberg has said, for several months now the world has been a living example of how seriously world carbon footprints can change in response to scientific reasoning.

Physical distancing, school and commercial closures, self-isolation, and attention to personal hygiene took over most of the world in order to avoid immediate danger from the spreading infection. 

By governments' responses to the pandemic, people have seen that living differently must be possible, since they have been doing it.

A move from very bad living for precarious workers and the poor to an ecologically sustainable existence for all needs new thinking about what paths lead to the common good.

To reject a total change in the way public affairs are run means either to see no future for emancipatory politics, or to deny the true state of the world today.

Hulot is undoubtedly an idealist. Like Klein, Zuboff and Mirowski, he sees how things have gone wrong. By announcing an amicable revolution, Hulot is appealing to the better side of human nature: The educated, reasoning capacity that co-exists with the nasty, dangerous side of human nature, dominated by passions without judgement.

Hulot speaks to both hearts and minds: calling out to us to seize the moment, marshal everything we know and have learned makes sense, and act together now, to make a better world.

Duncan Cameron is president emeritus of rabble.ca and writes a weekly column on politics and current affairs.

Image: Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme/ Flickr

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As pandemic restrictions ease, Canada should replace its capitalist system with a Scandinavian-style alternative

Ed Finn

May 11, 2020

ENVIRONMENT

POLITICS IN CANADA

Ed Finn grew up in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, where he worked as a printer's apprentice, reporter, columnist and editor of that city's daily newspaper, the Western Star. His career as a journalist included 14 years as a labour relations columnist for the Toronto Star. He was part of the world of politics between 1959 and 1962, serving as the first provincial leader of the NDP in Newfoundland. He worked closely with Tommy Douglas for some years and helped defend and promote medicare legislation in Saskatchewan. The post originally appeared on Ed's personal blog.

As some Canadian provinces (and American states) prepare to relax their pandemic-driven social and economic constraints, many thousands of hitherto housebound citizens are flocking to stores, playgrounds and beaches.

Governments are urging these suddenly mobile people to maintain their self-distancing and keep wearing masks in crowded assemblies. But the enforcement of such restrictions is clearly impossible. Now, free from weeks of home confinement, many -- perhaps even the majority -- will be inclined to gleefully mingle and frolic.

This reduction in anti-virus safety measures, of course, is much too premature, as is the outburst of glee by the pleasure-seekers. With thousands still dying from the pestilence, and millions more infected, COVID-19 is far from being overcome. The provinces and states that are "opening up" their economies because the virus has so far killed relatively few of their citizens are risking a new and deadlier wave in the future.

Looking at the overall situation from a climatic rather than human standpoint, the likelihood of such an ongoing plague has some redeeming features. As is now evident, the sharp reduction in air, water and soil contamination induced by COVID-19 has cleansed the atmosphere and temporarily reduced global-warming oil and gas development.

Also curtailed has been the dominant global economic system, and with it capitalism's further infliction of poverty, inequality, ill-health, greed, pollution and planet-wrecking climate change. These, too, appear to be the outcome of a return to a pandemic-free capitalist economy.

Contemplating a perilous future

Replacing a virus that kills hundreds of thousands of people with a catastrophic business system that impoverishes and kills millions -- and, left unchecked, will eventually destroy most sentient life on the planet -- surely can't be considered a worthwhile prospect.

The pandemic has bankrupted many thousands of small and medium-sized business firms, but the big banks and other large corporations, although their profits have been trimmed, remain as powerful and influential as ever. They patiently await the waning of the coronavirus so they can resume their voracious consumption of Earth's non-renewable resources.

There may well be further waves of COVID-19 before an effective vaccine is discovered, but the cohorts of capitalism will ride them out, as they have the current outburst.

If we had a sane society, the many economic crises triggered by neoliberal capitalism would by now have exposed its devastation and lunacy, and prompted its abandonment. Instead, as Guardian columnist George Monbiot has pointed out, "The greater the failure, the more extreme the ideology becomes. Governments use neoliberal crises as both excuse and opportunity to cut taxes, privatize remaining public services, rip holes in the social safety net, deregulate corporations and re-regulate citizens."

COVID-19 has temporarily interrupted capitalism's reign of terror, but the reprieve is already being impaired. Probably well before the end of this year, the corporations will again be free to run amok -- to pursue economic growth and profits by any means they choose.

Profits at any price

Anything that can be developed, produced and sold for a profit keeps getting produced and sold, regardless of the ruinous long-term consequences. On the other hand, if something is actually needed to enhance public welfare, but would not be profitable, it doesn't get produced.

In such a ruthless capitalist system:

• Extracting and selling global-warming fossil fuels is profitable.
• Pillaging non-renewable resources is profitable.
• Deforestation is profitable.
• War, and the manufacture of tanks, warships and military hardware is profitable.
• Offshore tax havens are profitable.
• Poverty and inequality are profitable, at least for the millionaires and billionaires.
• Ill-health is profitable for the big pharmaceutical companies.
• Hooking kids on junk food is profitable.
• Low wages and unsafe workplaces are profitable.
• Purchasing politicians is very profitable.

Conversely, anything that would benefit most people, but be unprofitable or less profitable, is seldom undertaken. Reducing the high rates of disease caused by poverty and malnutrition, for example, would lower health-care costs, but would not be nearly as profitable as waiting for people to become ill so they can be treated with expensive and often debilitating drugs.

A grossly inequitable world

This is the pernicious and grossly inequitable world we are now forced to live in. It is a world in which billions of people suffer in abject poverty and squalor. It is a world in which millions are compelled to earn their living as employees of the planet-wrecking business barons. They have no choice if they want to keep feeding their families.

Most of them would much prefer to earn a living that doesn't involve extracting more climate-heating oil, more deforestation, more air and ocean pollution. But a pernicious global economy ruled by autocratic capitalists obsessed with aggrandizing their wealth and power does not offer them such benign and constructive employment.

Workers in the public sector, too, don't like helping their political bosses help the corporate marauders. But all these workers -- and their unions -- are hostages to a destructive international economic system. They see no better alternative than capitalism, and accept its blights of poverty and inequality as unavoidable.

They remain unaware that a much more benign and progressive economic and social form of governance has prevailed in the three Scandinavian countries plus Finland for decades. The citizens of these countries enjoy a fair distribution of income, completely full and free health-care, month-long annual vacations and a substantial guaranteed pension. Their living conditions may not be idyllic, but are far, far superior to those in other countries, including Canada.

Maybe, while waiting for the pandemic to subside, Canadians with an open mind may take a more critical look at the horrific capitalist system that afflicts them in so many ways. They could seriously explore its replacement with the kind of equitable, first-rate economic system that the Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and Finlanders have enjoyed for so long.

Of course, that also entails the replacement of our current decadent capitalist political system with a Scandinavian-style alternative.

Okay, so I'm dreaming in technicolour. But, occasionally, if rarely, some dreams do come true.

Image: La Citta Vita/Flickr​

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COVID-19

CAPITALISM

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

CLIMATE HOPE 2020