VAPING IS A BETTER WAY TO SMOKE POT

Study: More than 1 in 7 teens, adolescents in U.S., Canada have vaped pot


Marijuana vaping is becoming increasingly common among adolescents and teens in the United States and Canada, according to a new analysis. 

Photo by 1503849/Pixabay

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- More than one in seven adolescents and teens in the United States and Canada has vaped marijuana in their lifetimes, an analysis published Monday by JAMA Pediatrics.

Pooled results for nearly 200,000 people ages 11 to 18 from 17 studies indicates that 14% used e-cigarettes to smoke the drug, also known as cannabis, at some point as of 2019-20, the data showed.

This is up from 6% between 2013 and 2016, the researchers said.

In 2019-2020, an estimated 13% of people in this age group vaped marijuana during the previous 12 months, up from 7% in 2017-18, according to the researchers.

RELATED Study: Marijuana vaping more common among Hispanic, Black youths

And just over 8% had used the devices to consume the drug over the previous 30 days in 2019-20 compared to fewer than 2% between 2013-2016.

"Adolescent cannabis vaping is becoming more common in the United States and Canada," study co-author Carmen Lim told UPI in an email.

"Not only is it linked to poorer cognitive development in adolescents, [but] it could increase risk of dependence, other substance use and many other health, social and behavioral problems later in life," said Lim, a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Previous studies indicated that as many as one in five adolescents and teens in the United States regularly use e-cigarettes, or vaping devices, to smoke marijuana, and that the habit is more common among people in this age group who are Hispanic than those who are White or Black.

This is despite links between the use of illegal marijuana vaping devices and serious lung injury.

For this analysis, Lim and her colleagues analyzed data from 17 studies that collectively tracked the marijuana vaping habits of 198,845 adolescents and teens in the United States and Canada.

RELATED Vaping-linked lung injury less common in states with legalized marijuana

In addition to identifying the increased use of these devices for marijuana within the age group, the findings also suggest that cannabis oil, as opposed to dried leaves, now may be the preferred option, particularly in the United States, the researchers said.

"Cannabis vaping is a new phenomenon, [but] we can draw examples from global tobacco and alcohol policy, both of which have achieved successes in reducing prevalence and minimizing harms," Lim said.

"For example, cannabis marketing and advertising of THC products through targeted ads on the internet should be strictly regulated. Policy makers can also consider imposing a potency- and weight-based tax defined by THC levels," she said.

BY VAPING POT YOU INHALE 99.9% VAPORIZED SMOKE WITH NO PARTICULATE MATTER UNLIKLE OTHER FORMS OF SMOKING

GOOD NEWS SMOKERS
Study: 87% of excess lung cancer risk eliminated if smokers quit before age 45

By Amy Norton, HealthDay News


If people who smoke cigarettes quit by age 45, they could eliminate 87% of the increased cancer risk they face as smokers, according to a new study. 

File Photo by Pexels/Pixabay

Smokers who kick the habit before age 45 can nearly eliminate their excess risk of dying from lung or other cancers, a new study estimates.

It's well-established that after smokers quit, their risk of tobacco-related cancers drops substantially over time.

Researchers said the new findings underscore the power of quitting as early as possible. Among more than 400,000 Americans they followed, smokers died of cancer at three times the rate of nonsmokers. However, smokers who managed to quit by age 45 lowered that excess risk by 87%.

And if they overcame the habit by age 35, their excess risk of cancer death was erased, said Blake Thomson, a researcher at the American Cancer Society who led the study.

He stressed that it's never too late to quit. Smokers who quit in their 50s to early 60s also substantially lowered their excess risk of cancer death.

But the findings do underscore the power of kicking the habit as early as possible.

"If you're a smoker in your 30s, hopefully these findings will speak to you," Thomson said.

The study was published this month in the journal JAMA Oncology. It looked at data on more than 410,000 Americans who entered an ongoing federal health survey between 1997 and 2014.

Around 10,000 participants died of cancer during the study period. And on average, smokers were three times more likely to die of cancer -- most often lung cancer -- compared with people who'd never smoked.

Much, however, depended on age -- the age at which smokers both started and quit.

The younger people started smoking, the greater their risk of eventually dying from cancer. Among those who started before age 18, the risk of dying from cancer was increased at least three-fold.

When people started smoking before age 10, their risk of cancer death was quadrupled versus lifelong nonsmokers.

It may sound surprising, Thomson noted, but there are smokers who get hooked that early in life.

For people who pick up the habit at a tender age, "it's imperative that they quit as soon as possible," Thomson said.

That's because overall, his team estimates, smokers who quit before age 35 wiped out their excess risk of dying from cancer. Meanwhile, those who quit before age 45 slashed their excess risk by 87%.

The outlook was also good for smokers who quit later. If they managed to do so between the ages of 45 and 54, their excess risk was cut by 78%, and by 56% if they quit between the ages of 55 and 64.

"The take-home message is that it is never too early and never too late to quit," said Dr. David Tom Cooke, a volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association.

He said doctors should help patients kick the habit as early as possible, but also "never give up" trying to quit.

"Sometimes an individual has to quit multiple times to stay off tobacco products permanently," said Cooke, who is also a professor of general thoracic surgery at the University of California, Davis Health.

In general, he said, smokers fare better when they get some help in the effort, whether from their doctor or through free government "quitlines," which operate in every state. In a recent study, Cooke and his colleagues found that participating in California's free quitline boosted quit rates among smokers seen at their clinic.

That kind of support, Thomson said, can help people sort out their smoking-cessation options. These include two prescription medications and over-the-counter nicotine replacement products, like gums and patches.

Smoking raises the risk of numerous cancers, Thomson noted -- including colon, kidney, bladder, stomach and pancreatic cancer. But lung cancer is the top cancer killer among smokers.

Some former smokers who've quit within the past 15 years still qualify for annual CT scans to screen for lung cancer -- depending on their age and how heavily they smoked in the past.

"I would encourage any current or former smoker to talk to their primary care provider and find out if they are eligible for lung cancer screening," Cooke said.More information

The American Lung Association has resources to help smokers quit.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

FBI: Hate crimes against Asian Americans higher in 2020 than first reported


The FBI said in an update that more than 60% of hate crimes nationwide last year were motivated by race.

 UPI Photo

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Hate crimes against Americans of Asian descent increased in 2020 even more than federal authorities first reported, the FBI said in an update on Monday.

The FBI said the figures it reported in August were incomplete due to an error in statistics from the state of Ohio. At the time, the bureau said crimes against Asian Americans increased 70% last year. Monday's update pushed that figure to 76%.

The FBI said it corrected the error in the Ohio reporting.

Jay Greenberg, deputy assistant director of the FBI's criminal division, said that the increase occurred mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Because a hate crime is defined as a violent or property crime with a bias motivation, that crime could be categorized a number of different ways," Greenberg told ABC News.

"We would like the public to reach out to us if they believe that they are a victim of a hate crime. It's not for the public to make that determination; we will work with our state and local partners and help determine how best to investigate that."

The FBI update said more than 60% of hate crimes nationwide were motivated by race.

The bureau noted that one-fifth of hate crimes in 2020 were motivated by sexual orientation and 13% were attributed to religious bias.

SPACE RACE 2.5 CAPITALI$M IN SPACE
Blue Origin, partners announce plans for private space station


Blue Origin's founder Jeff Bezos (R) greets "Star Trek" actor William Shatner as he emerges his space trip on October 13. 

Photo by Blue Origin/EPA-EFE



Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos announced plans on Monday for Blue Origin to run the world's first private space station called the Orbital Reef, which would serve as a space business park and a regular destination for space tourists.

Blue Origin will partner with a Sierra Nevada Corp. subsidiary called Sierra Space, along with Boeing, Redwire Space and Genesis Engineer to make the space station happen.

While not giving a date for when the Orbital Reef would be operational, participants said it will create business and research opportunities and should be attractive to industrial, international and commercial customers.

"For over 60 years, NASA and other space agencies have developed orbital space flight and space habitation, setting us up for commercial business to take off in this decade," Brent Sherwood, Blue Origin's senior vice president of advanced development programs, said in a statement.

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"We will expand access, lower the cost and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize space flight. A vibrant business ecosystem will grow in low Earth orbit, generating new discoveries, new products, new entertainments and global awareness."

The Orbital Reef business model will provide an avenue for countries without a space program to participate in space research, along with investors, travel companies, entrepreneurs and investors.

Janet Kavandi, Sierra Space president and a former NASA astronaut, said her company is supplying its Dream Chaser spaceplane, the space module and additional space technologies for the space station.

"As a former NASA astronaut, I've been waiting for the moment where working and living in space is accessible to more people worldwide, and that moment has arrived," Kavandi said in a statement.

Blue Origin would provide core modules and the launching system, while Boeing would add a science module and provide station operations, maintenance engineering and its Starliner crew spacecraft.

Partner Redwire Space would provide microgravity research, development, manufacturing and payload operations, while Genesis Engineering Solutions would offer a new single-person spacecraft for routine operations and tourist excursions.

Arizona State University is to lead a global consortium of universities that provide research advisory services and public outreach.

"The single-person spacecraft will transform spacewalking," said Brand Griffin, program manager for Genesis Engineering Solutions. "Space workers and tourists alike will have safe, comfortable and quick access outside Orbital Reef."

Blue Origin, Boeing chart course for 'business park' in space


(Reuters) - Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin on Monday unveiled plans to develop a commercial space station called "Orbital Reef" with Boeing, aiming to launch the spacecraft in the second half of this decade

.

© Reuters/Isaiah Downing FILE PHOTO: Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos addresses the media about the New Shepard rocket booster and Crew Capsule mockup at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs

The venture will be built in partnership with Sierra Space, the spaceflight wing of defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp, and will be backed by Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions and Arizona State University.

Orbital Reef will be operated as a "mixed use business park", and plans to provide the infrastructure needed to scale economic activity and open new markets in space, Blue Origin and Sierra Space said.

"Seasoned space agencies, high-tech consortia, sovereign nations without space programs, media and travel companies, funded entrepreneurs and sponsored inventors, and future-minded investors all have a place on Orbital Reef," the companies said in a statement.

Sierra in April announced plans to offer the first free-flying commercial space station. (https://bit.ly/2ZlJ8g3)

In July, Blue Origin had a successful debut space tourism flight, with Bezos and three others aboard. Earlier this month, 90-year-old U.S. actor William Shatner - Captain James Kirk of "Star Trek" fame - became the oldest person in space aboard a rocketship flown by Blue Origin.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

#ABOLISHCBP

Report: Border Patrol agents who made bigoted posts received reduced discipline

By UPI Staff

U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2018. File Photo by Mani Albrecht/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. House of Representatives agency found that over 130 Border Patrol agents who made bigoted posts against migrants in secret social media groups received reduced disciplinary measures.

An internal investigation launched in 2019 by the Committee on Oversight and Reform shows that a secret group called "I'm 10-15" had more than 9,500 members in July 2019 who took to the group to express job dissatisfaction among other things.

The committee said that the Trump administration blocked access to the group's records and that Customs and Border Protection began producing documents in February 2021.

"Documents obtained by the Committee show that although CBP was aware of misconduct on 'I'm 10-15' since August 2016, the agency took minimal action to strengthen social media training or guidance after the media began reporting on agents' misconduct and the Committee launched its investigation in 2019," the report stated.

RELATED CBP nominee Chris Magnus: No single solution for 'perfect border security'

Of the 135 employees the committee looked into, 60 agents were subjected to discipline. Of those, two were fired, 43 were suspended, 12 were given letters of reprimand, and three were issued other disciplinary action.

Some misconduct included a sexually explicit doctored image and derogatory comments about a member of Congress. The employee was given a suspension and given back pay. Another Border Patrol supervisor who posted a video of a migrant falling off a cliff to their death faced a 30-day suspension.

The committee said that the CBP had weaknesses in its disciplinary process to hold its employees accountable and that there is a lack of social media guidance and training given to agents.
RELATEDDHS says it will restart Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy next month

The report also stated that CBP employees have low morale, causing them to post their frustrations on the Facebook group. Federal surveys have shown that employees view the agency as having a "poor organizational climate."

The committee recommended CBP leadership to demonstrate social media accountability, to provide social media training, screen applicants with records of discrimination, make disciplinary records available, and address issues of poor morale.

Tsitsi Dangarembga: 'There is no freedom of expression' in Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean author and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga has received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She tells DW about the issues affecting literature in her home country



Novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga was already a guest at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2018


Tsitsi Dangarembga, born in 1959 in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), studied psychology in her home country and later at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.

Today she is one of the most important filmmakers in Zimbabwe. In her films, she has dealt with socially relevant topics such as AIDS and violence against women.

She also actively supports young women filmmakers in her country and founded her film production company, Nyerai Films, in 1990.

Nervous Conditions was listed as one of the BBC's top 100 books that changed the world

As a writer, she gained international recognition with her trilogy of novels, Nervous Conditions (1988), The Book of Not (2006) and This Mournable Body (2018), which were written over three decades and follow a young woman's struggle for independence.

Dangarembga is also involved in the discussion surrounding looted colonial art in Berlin's museums.

In Zimbabwe, she actively campaigns against corruption and was briefly arrested in July 2020 for protesting against the government. Proceedings are currently still pending against her.

On October 24, Tsitsi Dangarembga will be honored with the 2021 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

DW spoke to her ahead of the award ceremony.

DW: You are the first woman from sub-Saharan Africa to be awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. How does that make you and other female writers from the African continent feel?

Tsitsi Dangarembga: I am thrilled and I am delighted. For me, it has been quite a long road to this level of recognition and appreciation, and so I'm doubly grateful.

I think that seeing somebody that one can identify with, doing their thing and doing it well and succeeding and having the good achievement recognized, is always encouraging to other people.

After the fall of Former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe dies and the accession to power of his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in 2017, your home country, Zimbabwe, remains mired in a deep crisis. The population suffers from the socioeconomic situation and massive human rights violations. How difficult is the situation for freedom of expression?

I think of freedom of expression in two ways. I think of it in the way that it is normally thought about, which is: When somebody has said something, what are the consequences of that expression? So, indeed, we have repression with respect to freedom of expression.

We have a joke in Zimbabwe: There is freedom of expression, but there is no freedom after expression.

So people are aware that, if you say certain things, there might be repercussions from the state. Or if the state gets to know about it, which they often do, because it seems that there are people who are willing to inform the state about what people do and say.

Riot police in Zimbabwe violently clamping down on opposition supporters in 2019

For me there is another kind of freedom of expression: One can only express oneself if one has the means to do it, and this is increasingly difficult. People can often not go on social media to express their views simply because data is so expensive.

Literature requires a lot of time for writing. And, because of the crisis in Zimbabwe and the fact that every day is such a grind to find just the basics for survival, people do not have the time and the leisure to sit down and reflect in peace to write what they might want to write.

To film is even more difficult because it takes a lot of financial resources now. Financial resources in Zimbabwe are regulated by the state. In one way or another, all businesses have to register with the state. So, those bigger companies who might wish to maybe support creative narrative have to be careful about which narratives they support, because, if there are narratives that do not support the state, then they could also get into trouble.

So there is a level at which there is no freedom of expression because people, the resources, are withheld from certain groups of people.

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FILMMAKERS: NAMES TO REMEMBER

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Dangarembga is not only a filmmaker but also successfully writes novels and screenplays, including for the film 1993 "Neria" that went on to become the most-watched film in Zimbabwe. In 2020, Dangarembga was arrested in Harare at a protest against government corruption and still faces trial a year later.

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Does that situation influence your work?

Yes, the situation does influence my work. This is why, in fact, I have not produced a film of my own for many, many years. And, in terms of writing, that is why it takes so long.

There is just so much else to do to manage to survive, to make sure that there's food on the table, that I don't have the space to sit down and write in the peace and quiet that I need.

Dangarembga's latest novel was nominated for the Booker Prize

After independence in 1980, there were many very good and independent publishers and bookstores in Zimbabwe. Maybe the best book fair in Africa was held in Harare. All that came to an end. How hard is it to simply gain access to books at the moment?

Access to books in Zimbabwe is very difficult. Books are now taxed when they come into the country. They are exceedingly expensive, and very few people have the credit cards that are necessary to buy books. And so, in fact, people are reading less and less.

People are still interested in producing narrative, but the publishing industry has collapsed alongside the other industries in the country and certainly the creative industries.

There are very few industries in Zimbabwe that are still functioning, and so it is very difficult for any young person in Zimbabwe to think about a career in writing. We find that the writers are tending to move to other countries, where there are industries in books and literature that they can participate in, and so, really, the idea of literature and writing is not receiving support from the government or from any of the sectors that are actually still thriving.

From time to time you will find that NGOs will publish a book. It might be fiction, it might be nonfiction but it is always within the context of the development narrative that casts Africa as a problem: "Africa is undeveloped." Therefore, it has this problem, which we have to tackle in this story. It therefore makes the problem the protagonist, and it collapses the space between the individual in the story and the problem.

So it is actually a kind of narrative that has the effect of making African people identify with themselves as problematic, and so while I believe such narratives are produced in good faith, they do not in fact have a positive impact on the communities and societies that they are intended for. So, it is very difficult at the moment for people to participate in the literary creation or to access books.

Dangarembga was arrested in July 2020 for attending a small anti-corruption march

You stood up for more freedom, for more democracy in your country, and you were arrested. You appeared before court in September, and you need to get back in December. How dangerous is the situation for you?

My situation in Zimbabwe is not particularly serious. Yes, I was arrested last year on the 31st of July after demonstrating peacefully with two posters and a friend.

I have been to court several times, over 10 times now, and in September, the state was not ready to prosecute. That simply means that they had not done the work necessary to be able to say yes, this case is now going to trial, and so I will have another hearing on the 15th of December to find out what happens from there.

The award ceremony for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade will take place on Sunday, October 24, 2021, in Frankfurt.

Exposed: How big farm lobbies undermine EU's green agriculture plan

Farmers and lobby groups are split on an EU agricultural reform that may increase farmers' incomes and consumers' prices. A DW joint report reveals a rift between farmers and the groups purporting to represent them.



An EU proposal has called for a more sustainable agriculture policy, but who will benefit from it most?

It is a long way from the farms and fields of Sezze in central Italy to the halls of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. But the decisions made at the European assembly this week can directly impact the lives of farmers like Valentina Pallavicino. Her farm southeast of Rome is the kind that is often cited by policymakers and lobbyists when seeking support for changes to Europe's complex, subsidy-heavy agricultural system.

Pallavicino, like most Europeans, does not follow every twist and turn of farming reform debated by politicians in Brussels and Strasbourg, but she does discern two central aspects of the agricultural landscape with clarity: cheap food has been a boon for big, industrial farms and many farmers support sustainable farming.

"What they ask for we already do," she says when presented with some of the key elements of a new "green" strategy for the future of European farming, known as "Farm to Fork," which aims to slash pesticide and antimicrobial use, set a threshold on food waste, and rely on renewable energy to create a sustainable food system. "We don't use antibiotics, preservatives, or chemicals," she added.


Pallavicino says she is also wary of the organized lobby organizations claiming to speak in her name. It seems obvious, she says, that the big players do not like this kind of policy because it will increase costs and "they win if prices are lower."

Although they have never met, Polish dairy farmer Alina Lis has reached the same conclusions at her 30-hectare (74-acre) farm in western Poland, where she rears 40 cows.

"I believe agriculture in Europe should be sustainable for the sake of nature and food security," Lis says.

Lis has seen the margins on her milk fall as she competes with intensive farms that rely on heavy use of chemical fertilizers and antibiotics.
Who represents EU farmers?

The battle over who represents the true voice and interests of farmers like Pallavicino and Lis, and the millions of Europeans they feed, reaches a climax this week as the European Parliament prepares for a vote on a radical new direction for farming in the EU. Any changes the legislative body introduces require approval from EU member states before taking effect.

Farmers will receive support from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget, the EU's huge farming subsidy program that has paid out more than €50 billion ($58 billion) every year since 2005. Of the funding, 80% goes to 20% of the biggest farms in the EU.

Proponents of the Farm to Fork strategy, including green groups, say it will reduce farming's share of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions while keeping food affordable. An assessment by the Commission's in-house scientists found the strategy could support farmers and cut agriculture-related emissions by 20% across the EU.

Yet, it has come under fire from the powerful agribusiness lobby that says the proposal is not scientifically viable, will push up prices for consumers and goes against the interests of EU farmers.

Documents reviewed by DW showed these groups want to get rid of specific targets for reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, references to health risks associated with intensive farming, requirements to increase transparency by labeling products, and the ability of member states to impose higher taxes on unsustainable products.

But the same interest groups have also been accused of abusing science, skewing media coverage and failing the farmers they claim to represent.
Big lobbies, small farmers

In a monthslong joint investigation, investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports, DW, Follow the Money, Mediapart and Domani spoke to nearly 30 farmers, politicians, scientists, lobby groups and experts and scanned confidential communications to reveal lobbying organizations' scope and influence.

What emerges is a portrait of wealthy industrial pressure groups — from petrochemical companies and multinational meat-packing giants to pharmaceutical businesses — that have a stubborn hold over EU policy as well as critical differences with the family farmers whose welfare they say they aim to defend.

A rift has emerged within the farming community, between those who want to continue expanding an industrial farming model, which experts say is damaging the environment, and others who prefer a smaller-scale, more ecologically friendly form of agriculture.

How is EU agricultural money spent?

Most independent farmers say they welcome the price increases that would result from focusing on the environmental costs of agriculture and fair trade practices. Many also say the big lobby groups do not speak for them.

"I do not feel represented by farmer lobby groups... small farms in Poland are collapsing," said Lis.

Marcin Wojcik, who owns a 270-hectare farm in the Low Beskid mountains in Poland, agreed.

"For two years, I was vice-president of Narodowy Fundusz Promocji Mięsa Wołowego, but I resigned because I didn't relate to those people and what they do," he says. "It was more of politics. It was unclear where the money was going."

Farm to Fork a 'win-win for total society'

Farming lobby groups including Copa-Cogeca, Liaison Centre for the Meat Processing Industry in the European Union (Clitravi), European Livestock Voice, European Dairy Association and CropLife Europe have commissioned studies that attack the Farm to Fork strategy.

A study financed by the Grain Club, an alliance of German grain companies, and carried out by the University of Kiel, shows implementing the Farm to Fork plan would cause Europe's agricultural production to decrease, prices to rise and the EU to become more dependent on imports.

Copa-Cogeca has used the study to criticize the Farm to Fork strategy without mentioning that the report also shows the income and welfare of farmers, especially livestock farmers, could be significantly improved.

The study's author, scientist Christian Henning, pointed this out in an interview with DW: "The green deal is potentially a win-win situation for total society as the benefits more than compensate for losses from reduced conventional farm production."

The green deal Henning refers to is a set of proposals adopted by the European Commission on July 14 to ensure the EU's climate, energy, transport and taxation policies reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Farm to Fork is "at the heart" of the Green Deal, the Commission has said, adding that farming is responsible for 10% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions.

Watch video04:51 Farming in Italy is at a crossroads

Another publication commissioned by CropLife, which lobbies on behalf of pesticide manufacturers and other players in the agri-food industry, and used by Copa-Cogeca, comes from the Netherlands' Wageningen University. It concludes that if Farm to Fork is implemented, prices will rise and meat production will fall by 10% to 15% and crop production by 10% to 20%.

Jean-Baptiste Boucher, Copa-Cogeca's communications director, told DW such studies showed "many blind spots" of Farm to Fork and accused NGOs of "a deliberate attempt to trigger a media backlash" for speaking out against the strategy.

However, the research did not address "the positive impact of the Farm to Fork strategy on climate change," the proposal's main objective, admitted Johan Bremmer, an author of the Wageningen report.
Paid for Farm to Fork disinformation?

In the span of two days, the Wageningen report was presented at a conference on the media platform Euractiv, which produced sponsored content articles critical of the Farm to Fork initiative, and at a special event organized by pro-meat group European Livestock Voice.

CropLife paid for the Euractiv event. A scan of the platform's website showed that of the seven events organized by Euractiv with "Farm to Fork" in the title over the past two years, six were sponsored by the agri-food industry.

Chris Powers, communications director of Euractiv, says that while the organization was paid to host the events, Euractiv values impartial, inclusive and constructive debates.

Watch video42:36 Farming policies for sale?

Small-scale farmers left in the dark

The sustained campaign against Farm to Fork has confused small-scale farmers who were already struggling to stay profitable and are unsure whether to welcome all the proposed measures.

Dutch dairy farmer Peter Gille says low margins have made it difficult for many farmers like himself to secure their future. He has set up side businesses, including a nursery, a camping site and a restaurant, to supplement his income.

Susan Malhieu, a 29-year-old dairy farmer in Ypres, Belgium, said while some of the strategy's policies will work, environmentally friendly farming will cost money.

"I am a bit concerned this has not been addressed very well in Farm to Fork," she said. "I am fine with having environmental targets ... but to meet the targets, will the monetary help be delivered?"

Italian farmer Emanuele Pullano thinks raising awareness amongst consumers is crucial.

"We need to make people understand that they might be spending those extra two euros but buying a product that is healthy for themselves and for the environment. In this way, the price increase can be digested."

Celine VanKerschaver, 29, international representative for Grone King, the organization for young farmers in Belgium, said Farm to Fork could help the EU achieve more coherence within the food chain and improve the social and environmental aspects of farming. But politicians should listen to farmers, not just lobbies, she says.

"We want more recognition for young farmers because they are the next generation," she says. "There is a lot of talking about farmers but not with farmers."

Ahead of COP26, focus turns to climate finance

Amid dire warnings that time is quickly running out, delegates in Glasgow are set to make further binding pledges to radically reduce emissions. But without the funds to help countries adapt, they won't be much use.

Climate protesters have not let up in their demands for change

Climate experts have stressed that the upcoming UN climate conference, COP26, is the "last, best chance" for the world to come through with a plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) and help countries move to net-zero emissions.

Managing the green transition and heading off the worst effects of climate change won't be an easy task, neither in terms of policy, nor coming up with the necessary funds to make sure these promises have a chance of success.

"Finance is essential to accelerating the transition to net-zero and achieving the full ambition of the Paris Agreement," said Mark Carney, the COP26 finance adviser to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in the lead-up to the pivotal summit. The COP26 website lays it out in stark terms: "To achieve our climate goals, every company, every financial firm, every bank, insurer and investor will need to change."

Watch video01:43 Climate campaigners push for bolder action

How much money is needed?

Developing nations trying to transform their carbon-based economies and find ways to adapt will be looking for the world's richest nations, which are responsible for most of the global carbon dioxide emissions, to make good on an overdue promise of $100 billion (roughly €86.2 billion) a year to help them fund climate finance. And that's just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg.

Negotiations at COP26 will be focusing on raising even more money after 2025 because $100 billion isn't nearly enough, according to Pablo Vieira, global director of the NDC Partnership, which helps countries achieve their national climate commitments.

"It needs to be considerably more. How are we going to get there if we can't deliver on the easier pledge that has been around for a long time?"

But as of 2019, the last year for which data is available, wealthy nations had yet to even meet their original goal, contributing just under $80 billion according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Estimates from the UN, World Bank and the OECD have shown it will take $6.9 trillion every year until 2030 to meet the world's climate and development objectives. And that was published in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vieira said even though the original $100 billion isn't enough, it's still crucial that it be met because it will help developing countries unlock additional funds from other sources like international climate funds, development banks and the private sector.

"The $100 billion is almost symbolic, and even being symbolic, it's not being met," said Maria Laura Rojas, executive director of the Bogota-based environment nonprofit Transforma and part of ACT2025, a global group aiming to inform the UN climate talks. "So, you start to see how that gets really frustrating for developing countries."
Not meeting funding pledge would 'undermine trust'

"Climate finance is going to be one of the big issues [at COP26], because it's about confidence building," said Simon Wilson, head spokesperson for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He said a failure to come through with the funding pledges would "undermine trust" in the rest of the negotiations.

"The whole idea of the Paris Agreement was to have this mutual agreement that everyone would make these commitments and ramp up their ambition over time. But to get developing countries to do that, they need to have the confidence that there will be support for them."

The Philippines, for example, is aiming for a 75% emissions cut by 2030 — but its national climate plan has said the country can only achieve about 3 percentage points of that commitment on its own. And at a meeting with international climate envoys in Johannesburg at the end of September, South Africa said it would need billions of dollars to replace its polluting coal power plants — which produce 80% of the country's power — with clean energy.

"While South Africa is committed to a just transition, we need certainty and predictability [of financing] … to accelerate this transition," said the environment department. "We do need an irrevocable agreement that we can sign at COP26 where our commitments, as all parties, are clear." As Mining and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe pointed out at a mining conference a few days later, "We are not a developed economy: We don't have all alternative sources."

Coal power plants still account for 80% of South Africa's power

"It's difficult to make those long-term plans unless you have some idea of what's going to be available to you in terms of in terms of finance," said Wilson. He said the GCF has also increasingly focused on making sure adaptation efforts in the least-developed regions in Africa, or island nations in the Pacific and Caribbean, are getting their fair share of cash. For its part, the GCF has allocated over half its funding for adaptation projects, among them sustainable agriculture in Thailand and water security for communities in Kenya.

Adaptation vs. mitigation

At an emergency summit in Milan, Italy, at the end of September, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the need for predictable funding for developing nations, 50% of which would be earmarked for "adaptation and resilience" to the climate crisis.

"Adaptation needs are increasing every year," he said. "Developing countries already need $70 billion for adaptation, and that figure could more than quadruple to $300 billion a year by the end of this decade."

For the most part, he said, those funds should come from grants, which do not have to be paid back.

Recent data from the OECD showed that just a quarter of the nearly $80 billion committed in 2019 was for adaptation, with Asia and Africa benefiting from more than two-thirds of the funds. Most of the remaining funds went toward mitigation efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"Adaptation activities will require grant funding because they will not generate revenue," said GCF spokesperson Wilson. "They're about protecting people from the devastating impacts of extreme weather, or climate change leading to sea level rise, or flooding and drought. And it will always be difficult to do that."

7 WAYS AFRICA IS ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Feeding frenzy

Locusts, boosted by drought, heavy rains and warm temperatures, have devastated crops in East Africa. Pesticides can help, though they're not exactly environmentally friendly. Scientists in Nairobi have experimented with fungi and other microbes to make safer poisons. They've also used the locusts' unique smell, which changes as they mature, to break up swarms and even drive them to cannibalism.

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Ahead of COP26, NDC Partnership, with the support of the German government, has helped 67 countries update their long-term goals to reduce emissions known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Global director Vieira said they've noticed a substantial shift in the focus on adaptation. He added, however, that funding adaptation projects was more challenging, as it wasn't so easy for potential investors to see the end goal, as compared with lowering emissions.

"It's clear that the majority of [global] funding is going to renewables projects rather than going to adaptation," said Wilson, pointing out that it's easier to attract investors with single large-scale projects like solar plants, for example, which can guarantee a profit, rather than efforts to plan for the wide-ranging health impacts of a climate change.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has proposed a Resilience and Sustainability Trust that will offer up to $50 billion in funding to help low-income countries "build economic resilience and sustainability" in the face of both climate change and pandemics. The goal is to "help countries transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient, smart, inclusive economies," said IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, adding that climate will be more fully integrated into IMF lending programs.
Still 'a lot of work' ahead

Wilson, Vieira and Rojas were cautiously optimistic about recent moves by the Biden administration and other world leaders to increase their funding pledges. But they stressed that much more needed to be done — including bringing in the private sector and making funds easier to access for smaller players on the regional and local level.

Rojas said there was still "a lot of work" ahead, not just in terms of providing climate finance but also in making sure governments and investors move away from supporting fossil fuel.

"When you look at how much money is flowing into climate action, you might get a little bit hopeful. But then when you look at what's still flowing to fossil fuels and exploration and extraction, that really needs to change or else we're not doing what needs to be done."

Who are Germany's extreme-right group 'the Third Path'?

Members of the neo-Nazi party the Third Path were stopped over the weekend attempting to turn themselves into an anti-migrant border patrol. Who is the small but very active extremist group?


The Third Path extremists are strong in Germany's far eastern regions

FORMER STALINIST EAST GERMANY

The small German neo-Nazi party the Third Path, which numbers just a few hundred members, attracted international attention this weekend when it rallied people to the German-Polish border in the state of Brandenburg in an attempt to stop migrants entering the country.

Police seized a number of weapons from the more than 50 people it stopped — including pepper spray, batons, a machete and a bayonet — and ordered them to clear the border area.

Foundation and membership

The Third Path was founded in the southwestern German city of Heidelberg in September 2013 as a splinter of the far-right nationalist National Democratic Party (NPD).The party's founder and national leader is Klaus Armstroff, a former NPD official who fell out with the party over its ideological direction.

Armstroff is reported to have actively recruited members from a neo-Nazi group known as Freies Netz Süd (Free Network South), which was active in Bavaria before being banned in 2014. Armstroff is considered well-connected, with ties to neo-Nazi groups outside the political system.

Counter-demonstration: Antifa protesters held a vigil against the ultra-right Third Path vigilantes in Guben this weekend

In its latest report, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), says the party has only 600 members across Germany, but this is deliberate: the Third Path considers itself a small hardcore unit that has less interest in expanding membership than engaging in political activism.
Nazi ideology

The Third Path derives its name from the so-called "Third Way" in German politics. As the party's first point on its ten-point program puts it: "The aim of the party Der Dritte Weg is the creation of a German socialism far away from exploitative capitalism as well as egalitarian communism."

The party is considered affiliated with the "left-wing" branch of historical Nazi ideology and is in favor of nationalizing all of Germany's key industries, as well as its public services and social welfare, banks, and major companies. 

But its brand of socialism is decidedly nationalist and racist in tone, close to the aims of Adolf Hitler's original Nazi party: Its program includes "the rigorous funding of families with many children to prevent an imminent extinction of the German people," and "the preservation and development of the biological substance of the German people."

Moreover, the Third Path openly questions the legitimacy of Germany's post-war borders, demanding "the peaceful restoration of Greater Germany with its original borders."

Strategy and methods

In its latest report, the BfV has noted an increasing professionalization in the Third Path over the last few years. In 2019, the party realigned its structures to suit German electoral rules, helping to make it eligible to run in both national and regional elections. The BfV says the party has around 20 bases across Germany and is most politically active in seven of Germany's 16 states, including Brandenburg — where the vigilante activities were stopped — Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.

During Germany's recent 2021 federal election campaign, the Third Path was prosecuted for putting up posters emblazoned with the slogan "Hang the Greens" in Munich and Saxony. German courts eventually decided the posters did in fact break the law and had to be taken down.

The party says it has divided its activities into three "struggles": The "political struggle," "the cultural struggle" and the "struggle for the community." The political struggle includes electioneering and the cultural struggle is defined as "the preservation of customs."

The struggle for the community involves a number of charitable efforts, including help for the homeless (though only those considered German) and organizing local sports activities, especially martial arts.

The Third Path also took part in a number of demonstrations against the German government's coronavirus lockdown measures and spread theories downplaying the pandemic on its website. In one article posted on its website in 2020, the Third Path claimed the pandemic was being exploited by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and the European Central Bank (ECB) to accelerate the abolition of cash, and claiming that ECB head Christine Lagarde had Jewish roots. The BfV describes the Third Path as antisemitic and racist.

Not unlike its calls to vigilante groups in Brandenburg, the BfV also noted that in 2020 the Third Path assembled "national patrols" in German towns, supposedly to protect German people from foreign criminals, on the grounds that "the German people have been declared free game."

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society, with an eye toward understanding this year's elections and beyond. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing, to stay on top of developments as Germany enters the post-Merkel era.

Migrant encounters at US-Mexico border are at a 21-year high

Issued on: 25/10/2021 - 

The Border Patrol made about 1.66 million arrests of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border illegally since the begining of 2021, the highest annual number ever recorded in 20 years, according to figures released Friday by US Customs and Border Protection. FRANCE 24's Fanny Allard and Kethevane Gorjestani reports from the Rio Grande Region.