How grocery stores get shoppers in the door, entice them to spend more

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press

You've arrived at the store for a quick post-work grocery run, hoping to pick up a cheap, ready-made meal for dinner.

After finding a discounted pre-cooked chicken, you toss a bag of rice and veggies in your shopping cart too, even though neither were on your list.

Oh, and a six-pack of tissue boxes, since you notice they're on sale.

That behaviour plays into a strategy that grocery chains have long relied on to get customers through their doors, even if it means selling a certain popular item below cost, experts say. And with food prices continuing to rise even as overall inflation has slowed, shoppers could be even more vulnerable to overspending after finding a good deal.

Known in the industry as "loss leaders," those bargains are designed to appeal to the customer's desire for savings and convenience, while simultaneously piquing their interest in other products.

"It can entice a large number of customers to change their shopping behaviour once they've entered the store. With that saving in mind, they might be less price sensitive towards other items," said Andreas Boecker, who chairs the University of Guelph's food, agricultural and resource economics department.

"The overall strategy behind the loss leader is that the loss ... is more than compensated by the higher margins and the sales of the other products that are generated by attracting the customer to the store."

At $7.99, Costco's pre-cooked rotisserie chicken serves as one of the more recognizable loss leaders at grocery stores in Canada, while other chains often prioritize discounts on dairy or bread.

Subscription membership programs associated with various chains also increasingly offer deal pricing or points on certain items tailored to the consumer's purchasing trends.

With shoppers vulnerable to temptations, loss leaders are typically placed strategically "to guide the consumers through the store so that they have to pass by as many aisles as possible," said Boecker.

He said not just any product can serve as a hook to reel the customer into the store. One of the most important prerequisites for a loss leader is that it's perishable.

"If you can store it, then of course you would buy an awful lot of the product and then the company would incur a really big loss," he said.

But prioritizing staples for below-cost pricing may not be effective for stores over the long term, said JoAndrea Hoegg, a marketing and behavioural science professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

"Staples you have to buy anyway, so if they're doing that on a staple they're taking money off the table," she said.

"It would be something that you might not necessarily be buying. Like a rotisserie chicken might be something that's a nice to have; it's not something you're going to buy every week."

A 2014 study published in the journal Economic Letters also explored how loss-leader pricing is used to entice shoppers into purchasing a higher quality version of the discounted item.

Authors Younghwan In and Julian Wright said companies often advertise low prices for certain basic products to make a better quality product's price seem worth the extra money.

"Firms make a loss on some consumers (who buy the basic version of the good) and a profit on others (who buy the upgrade)," the study said.

The ability to take a financial hit on certain products so shoppers will be tempted to spend on others is a luxury that benefits the largest chains, according to a separate 2011 study published in the American Economic Review.

Authors Zhijun Chen and Patrick Rey argued the "exploitative use of loss leading … appears to be a robust feature in market environments where a few large retailers enjoy substantial market power over one-stop shoppers and compete with rivals that focus on narrower product lines."

The convenience factor plays an outsized role in why bigger stores use the strategy so effectively, said Boecker. A shopper may not sweat the extra $5 spent on a product they'll eventually need when they're already at the store.

"That is probably through all income levels, all price sensitivity levels, because we are all time-strapped," he said.

"Convenience really outweighs any cost calculations if you're under time pressure, for example, to get home from work and to have to prepare dinner."

Hoegg said that although a good deal can be hard to resist, it's important for shoppers to employ a certain level of skepticism to avoid getting sucked into an unnecessary shopping spree.

"Companies are not going to give things away unless it is beneficial to them, so it's just thinking it through from the firm's side, having that little bit of persuasion knowledge, (questioning) 'Why is this on sale?'" she said.

"If it seems too good to be true, then just be very careful that you're only buying that product and you're not getting caught up in that sort of shopping wave and spending more than you meant to."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2024.

 

Boom in southern Quebec mining claims, including under people's homes, causes anxiety

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press

When Ellen Rice-Hogan discovered that someone had bought a mining claim under her farm, she was shocked.

There's no mining around the Township of Low, Que., about 40 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, where she raises sheep and cattle.

"It was shocking, surprising, all of the above," she said in a recent interview. "We're a small community, the potential of this is huge and it's going to have a huge negative impact, I feel, on our territory."

A boom in mining claims is on in Quebec as prospectors anticipate explosive demand for minerals used in electric batteries. The rush has people laying claim all over — even under people's homes. In response, residents and municipalities are calling for the rules to be tightened.

While most mining in Quebec still takes place in the province's north, the demand for graphite and lithium — crucial components in electric vehicle batteries — has miners expanding their search to southern regions, where the industry is unfamiliar to residents and local governments.

Rice-Hogan's town council wants much of its territory to be designated by the province as incompatible with mining. And she's considering following the lead of some of her neighbours who are buying the mining rights to their land.

There were 112,477 mining claims approved in 2023, according to Quebec's Natural Resources Department, up from 72,631 the year before. In the Outaouais region, where Low is located, the number of active mining claims has more than doubled since 2019, when there were 20,006 claims approved.

"In areas where, historically, there hasn't been mining, we've seen an explosion in claim requests," said Manon Cyr, the mayor of Chibougamau, Que., and a member of an organization called the UMQ, which represents the province's municipalities.

In the past 60 days, more than 200 mining claims have been made in the Outaouais, and another 166 in the Laurentians region, which includes some of Montreal's northern suburbs and ski destinations like Mont-Tremblant; that region is also home to the only active graphite mine in North America.

Cyr said the current system is too easy: staking a claim online costs about $77 and gives the buyer exclusive rights to mine the minerals under a specific piece of land for three years. Mineral rights in Canada are separate from land ownership, and a claim can be purchased on public or private land. While exploration work is supposed to be done before a claim can be renewed, Cyr said that in reality, claim owners are often able to renew without doing any.

The easy access to claims allows people who aren't serious about mining to gain mineral rights, many of whom don't actually have the experience or means to launch a mining operation. But their actions strike fear in residents who think they may have to live above an active mine.

Cyr said the UMQ is calling for the cost of claims to be increased and for the requirement that people making claims show "a certain expertise."

Ironically, she said, people buying claims on their own land is making it more difficult to protect the territory because only land without active claims can be declared off-limits to mining.

Since 2016, 27 communities have asked the provincial government to declare parts of their territory "incompatible" with mining; 18 have been successful. Mining is also forbidden within the "urban perimeter" of cities. 

"What's difficult for some municipalities to accept is that they need to justify why they want this territory to be incompatible with mining," Julie Reid Forget, who has advised Quebec communities on mining development, said in a recent interview.

There's an imbalance in the law, which assumes that mining is the best way to use land, said Reid Forget, who conducted an information session for residents of Gatineau, Que., the province's fourth-largest city, earlier this year after mining claims were made in a residential area that hadn't officially been declared off-limits.

Alain Poirier, of Quebec's mineral exploration association — L’Association de l’Exploration Minière du Québec — said much of the concern about mining claims in southern Quebec comes from a lack of knowledge. 

"The sector isn't misunderstood, it's unknown," he said in a recent interview. 

Land owners, Poirier said, have to give written consent before mining-related work can begin on their property, even if they don't hold the mining rights. If a land owner doesn't want any exploration on their territory, "there's no problem, it's the law and the law is respected," he said.

Only around half a per cent of claims are explored with machinery, he said, and only around one mine a year opens in the province, a process that can take decades and requires consultation with the community at multiple steps. 

Poirier said that while communication could be improved, he doesn't think it's a good idea for the province to give municipalities more power to regulate mining, a decision he worries would create hundreds of different regulatory frameworks. 

"We find the current system of uniform regulation across Quebec works very well," he said, adding that more than one-third of Quebec's land is already off-limits due to the presence of national parks, wildlife reserves and other forms of protection.

The vast majority of mining claims and mineral exploration are still in traditional mining regions, he said. In southern Quebec, the competition for land is not coming from the mining sector, he added. "It’s agricultural land, it’s real estate development, it’s roads, it’s a package of different things that don’t necessarily have anything to do with mining exploration."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2024.

Manulife to cover specialty drugs at any pharmacy after backlash over Loblaw deal

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press

Manulife Financial Corp. says patients who require specialty drugs will be able to fill their prescriptions at any pharmacy after backlash sparked by the insurance provider signing an exclusive arrangement with Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

The insurance provider had told patients last month its specialty drug program would transition to being carried out "primarily" through Shoppers Drug Mart and other Loblaw-owned pharmacies. Manulife had previously also covered specialty drugs through national home and community health-care provider Bayshore HealthCare.

"We have listened to and are addressing the concerns we have heard over the past week," said Manulife Canada chief executive Naveed Irshad in a statement on Monday.

“Though this change impacts only a small number of our members, it helps ensure that all Canadians we support have choice, access, and flexibility in managing their health. We are proud to partner with thousands of pharmacies across the country and contribute to a strong and healthy Canadian healthcare system.”

Manulife's specialty drug program affects around 260 medications meant to treat complex, chronic or life-threatening conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension, cancer, osteoporosis and hepatitis C.

Patients covered under the program represent less than one per cent of all those insured through Manulife, the company said, adding that "across the rest of our business, we have always offered Canadians the option to choose their pharmacy."

Deals that provide exclusivity for a particular pharmacy to distribute drugs under an insurance plan are known as preferred pharmacy network arrangements. Researchers have said those arrangements are common in the U.S. and growing in Canada.

Manulife had previously said the shift to an exclusive agreement would give patients "more options" to receive their specialty medications, with patients able to pick up drugs from a Loblaw-owned pharmacy or have them delivered to their home.

Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said in a statement that Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies "will continue to support patients, providing a holistic approach to care for Canadians living with some of the most complex diseases."

"As we’ve said all along, our goal is to ensure patients have convenient access to care, and we believe strongly in choice," she said.

Some had expressed worry that specialty drugs could become less accessible to those in rural or remote regions who don't live near a Shoppers Drug Mart as a result of the previously announced deal.

Marc-André Gagnon, a professor at Carleton University who focuses on social, health and pharmaceutical policy, said he was surprised by the level of attention the deal received.

"Normally, this kind of stuff is always under the radar and basically nobody's asking questions about this," he said.

"I'm not surprised that with media coverage, the insurance company changed its decision because they were looking very bad in doing something like this."

In an update posted to its website, Manulife said it's implementing the change "swiftly."

Gagnon said that although Manulife reversed course, the issue isn't going away. He noted Quebec remains the only province in Canada where there are restrictions that prevent insurance providers from entering into preferred pharmacy network arrangements.

"It's not a one-time event, bad decision by a private drug plan," he said.

"You have structural issues and private drug plans will try to solve these structural issues in a way that will be satisfying for their shareholders to the expense of insurees."

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said last week he was concerned about the deal between Manulife and Loblaw, who "don't get the message" about the need for increased competition.

“I am glad to see that Manulife listened to Canadians’ concerns," he said in a statement on Monday.

"This is a step in the right direction.”

NDP MPs Don Davies and Brian Masse had also penned a letter to Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell requesting the Competition Bureau launch an investigation into the deal based on reporting by The Canadian Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2024.

 

Company behind lab-grown milk protein eyes Canadian animal-free dairy market

The Canadian Press

An Israeli food tech company says it now has the green light to sell its lab-grown milk protein to dairy manufacturers and food companies in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

An Israeli food tech company says it now has the green light to sell its lab-grown milk protein to dairy manufacturers and food companies in Canada.

Remilk said Monday it received a "letter of no objection" from Health Canada regarding its version of the BLG protein, which can be used as a non-animal source ingredient in products that look and taste like traditional milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

The protein is equivalent to its cow-derived counterpart but no animals are involved in its creation through a process called precision fermentation, the company said, adding that it's seeking a Canadian partner to help launch and distribute its product.

Animal-free dairy is more environmentally sustainable than traditional dairy production, and it also doesn't contain lactose, cholesterol or growth hormones, Remilk said.

A notice posted on Health Canada's website confirms the federal agency has no objection to the use of the animal-free milk protein in food, and no safety concerns.

Health Canada received a submission in 2022 to allow the sale of the BLG protein produced from a genetically modified yeast strain and scientists conducted a thorough analysis of the data Remilk provided, the notice said.

"Following this assessment, it was determined that the β-lactoglobulin protein produced in this yeast strain does not pose a greater risk to human health than whey protein from cow's milk that is currently available on the Canadian market," it said.

This protein "is no different in nutritional value compared to whey protein from cow's milk," Health Canada said.

It noted, however, that the protein may produce the same allergic response as milk when it's consumed, so all products containing it must be labelled accordingly.

“Canada is an important market for us, and we are proud to be the first to enter with an opportunity to deliver an unparalleled dairy experience for Canadians," Remilk said in a statement, noting it received a similar "no questions" letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and got regulatory approval in Israel last year.

"We are now ready to partner with leading food companies in the country and offer consumers a whole new experience of guilt-free indulgence."

Health Canada said Remilk's intent is to sell this protein in bulk to food manufacturers for use in a variety of products such as nutrition bars, plant-based beverages, dairy-based products, baked goods, sauces, condiments and soups.

The regulator said the protein is not intended for sale direct to consumers or for use in infant formula.

Suncor faces US$10.5 million fine over Colorado refinery pollution

Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg News

Suncor Energy Inc. must pay a record US$10.5 million fine for air pollution at its Commerce City refinery in Colorado, the latest setback for the Canadian energy company’s effort to improve its health and safety record.

The punishment stems from incidents between July 2019 and June 2021, and requires Suncor to prevent air pollution at the plant near Denver, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a release.

The agency also required the Calgary-based company that operates Alberta oil sands mines and wells as well as refineries across North America to double the number of air-pollution monitors at the plant. Many violations were linked to power disruptions.

The fine “is the largest our agency has ever reached for a single facility for air pollution,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the agency’s executive director. “The agency will continue to use every tool available to prevent Suncor from having future violations.”

As part of the agreement, Suncor agreed to pay $2.5 million in penalties and undertake electrical-reliability improvements at a minimum cost of $8 million, Suncor said in an email. 

“Suncor is committed to continuous improvement and meeting our regulatory requirements,” the company said.

Suncor’s Commerce City refinery has been plagued by breakdowns, fires and emissions in recent years including fires. The company’s environmental and safety lapses sparked an investor revolt lead by Elliott Investment Management LP that resulted in the appointment of former Imperial Oil Ltd. chief Rich Kruger as Suncor CEO a year ago. 

 

Australia Refuses Livestock Carrier to Sail Around Africa to Avoid Houthis

Bahijah (left) was permitted to dock to load supplies last week while a second livestock carrier (right) was also preparing for a trip to the Middle East (Fremantle port cam)

PUBLISHED FEB 5, 2024 3:56 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The saga of a shipload of sheep continues as Australian officials have now decided to deny a new export permit for the livestock carrier Bahijah to start a second voyage to Israel this time going around Africa to avoid the danger of a Houthi attack in the Red Sea. The ship has been loaded for more than a month with animal rights groups decrying the fate of the animals and slow decisions by the authorities saying it is further evidence why live export must be discontinued.

“The application submitted on 26 January 2024 for the re-export of livestock onboard the MV Bahijah to Israel via the Cape of Good Hope has not been approved,” Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said in a statement issued this morning, February 5. “The departmental regulator was unable to be satisfied,” they said that the export rules of Australia would be met by the importing country (Israel) and “the arrangements for the transport of the livestock to their final overseas destination are appropriate to ensure their health and welfare.”

The Bahijah, a 7,00 dwt livestock carrier built in 2010 and registered in the Marshall Islands loaded 12,000 sheep and 1,200 or more cattle at the beginning of 2024 and departed on January 5 for the Middle East. The vessel, however, paused in the Indian Ocean as the attacks intensified in the Red Sea and Houthis vowed to stop all Israeli-related shipping. The ship was rumored to be considering a trip around Africa when the Australian authorities recalled the ship to Fremantle. It arrived offshore Australia on January 29, where it was held for a regulatory ruling.

At the end of last week, the authorities briefly permitted the ship to dock to load additional supplies. In addition, they permitted the exporter to offload the cattle into a biosecurity situation where they are being monitored. The ship, however, then went back to sea for what the authorities called “routine cleaning,” but now they have ordered it to remain offshore.

Today’s decision not to permit the ship to sail around Africa to deliver the sheep to Israel raises further concerns over the fate of the animals. The authorities have reiterated that a veterinarian aboard reports the animals are in good health. Australia requires that a vet and animal handler accompany all live shipments.

“The next steps for the livestock onboard the vessel are commercial decisions for the exporter to make,” the authorities said in their latest statement. “A range of options remain available to the exporter, and the department stands ready to assess any future application submitted by the exporter.”

The Agriculture Department says it “supports a resolution to this matter as quickly as possible” and that it stands ready to respond to any further requests from the commercial exporter.

A second livestock carrier operated by a different company was scheduled to depart Australia at the end of last week also heading to the Middle East. Reports are that the exporter for that shipment has made contingency plans to offload the animals at an alternate location if the ship can not reach its destination.

 

NYK Repowers Japan's First LNG-Powered Tug to Run On Ammonia Instead

Sakigake, Japan's first LNG dual fuel tug, at delivery in 2015 (NYK)

PUBLISHED FEB 5, 2024 4:45 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Japanese shipowner NYK has taken delivery of an ammonia-fueled engine for use in a tug application, and it is tearing out the LNG dual-fuel engine of Japan's first LNG-powered tug to make a testbed. 

The tug Sakigake was the first LNG-fueled vessel of its kind in Japan. With support from the Japanese government, it was constructed by NYK's Keihin Dock Co. and delivered to NYK in mid-2015, and it was put into service in Tokyo Bay. At the time, it was considered a technical achievement, since fitting a complete LNG fuel storage and delivery system into the small hull of a tug is a difficult feat of marine engineering. 

For the new conversion, Keihin Dock Co. is cutting into the tug's engine room to remove the existing LNG-powered main engine. It will install a new ammonia-powered engine, supplied by IHI Power Systems, and the tug will be returned to service in June. 

IHI Power Systems’ Ota Plant began testing the 280mm-bore, four-stroke ammonia engine in April 2023. It is designed to run on 20 percent diesel / 80 percent ammonia, and it is paired with exhaust aftertreatment to eliminate unwanted nitrogen-based emissions from ammonia combustion. In particular, the testing verified near-zero emissions of dinitrogen monoxide (N2O) and unburnt ammonia. 

A parallel project aims to adapt the technology to a 250mm-bore engine for use on an auxiliary engine, which will be installed aboard an ammonia-fueled ammonia carrier, currently under development for delivery in 2026. 

IHI is developing a range of engines powered by ammonia, from diesel-cycle internal combustion engines up to gas turbines for powerplant applications. In 2022, it achieved the first trial run of a gas turbine on 100 percent pure ammonia. It is working on a commercialized version of the turbine system for sale by next year. 

In years to come, Japan is expected to draw down 20 million tonnes of green ammonia per year for consumption in its coal-fired powerplants, creating immense demand for the green hydrogen-derived fuel from a nascent global market.  

OECD ups world growth forecast but sees Middle East ‘risk’


By AFP
February 5, 2024

An intensification of the Israel-Hamas conflict and its spread through the Middle East region is a key short-term risk for the global economy, says the OECD 

- Copyright AFP Karim SAHIB

Ali BEKHTAOUI

The OECD raised its 2024 world economic growth forecast Monday but warned that the Middle East conflict posed a risk, with disruptions in Red Sea shipping threatening to increase consumer prices.

The OECD now expects a 2.9 percent expansion, up from 2.7 percent in its previous forecast in November, as it sharply lifted the outlook for the United States, the world’s top economy.

Global growth “proved unexpectedly resilient” in 2023, reaching 3.1 percent as inflation declined faster than anticipated, with strong growth in the United States and emerging markets offsetting slowdowns in European nations.

But indicators suggest “some moderation” of growth, with higher interest rates affecting the credit and housing markets while global trade remains subdued, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

While inflation is falling in major economies, “it is too soon to be sure that underlying price pressures are fully contained”, the OECD added in an update to its annual economic outlook.

The OECD highlighted the threats from the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemeni rebels who say they were targeting Israel-linked ships in solidarity with the Palestinians.

US and UK forces have responded with strikes against the Huthi rebels, who have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

“High geopolitical tensions are a significant near-term risk to activity and inflation, particularly if the conflict in the Middle East were to disrupt energy markets,” the report said.

“A widening or escalation of the conflict could disrupt shipping more extensively than presently expected, intensify supply bottlenecks, and push up energy prices if traffic is interrupted in the key routes for the transport of oil and gas from the Middle East to Asia, Europe and the Americas.”

Around 15 percent of global maritime trade volume passed through the Red Sea in 2022, according to the OECD.

The attacks have sharply raised shipping costs and lengthened delivery times of goods as companies have rerouted their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, increasing their journey by as much as 50 percent, it said.

Production schedules have been disrupted in Europe, notably for automakers, the report said.

The recent 100 percent increase in shipping costs, if persistent, could add 0.4 percentage points to consumer prices inflation after about a year, the OECD warned.

– ‘Lingering effects’ of rate hikes –

The organisation said monetary policy needs to “remain prudent” to ensure that inflationary pressure is “durably contained”.

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England raised interest rates sharply in efforts to rein in consumer prices that rose after the Covid pandemic and jumped further after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Growth could also be weaker than projected if the lingering effects from past policy rate increases are stronger than expected,” the OECD said.

The three central banks have recently paused their rate-hike campaigns and have kept them at high levels.

But markets are hopeful that policymakers will soon begin to cut rates as inflation has slowed in major economies, though it remains above two-percent targets.

Inflation this year is expected to slow to 2.3 percent in the United States, 2.6 percent in the eurozone and 3.6 percent in Britain, the OECD projected.

The US economy is forecast to grow by 2.1 percent percent in 2024, up from from 1.5 percent in the previous outlook.

But the eurozone’s outlook was downgraded to 0.6 percent growth from 0.9 percent previously.

The forecast for China, the world’s second biggest economy, remained unchanged at 4.7 percent.

Yang Jun: dissident Chinese-Australian writer handed suspended death sentence

By AFP
February 5, 2024

Australia's government said writer Yang Jun's suspended death sentence in Chinai is "harrowing news" - Copyright AFP Pedro PARDO

Peter CATTERALL

Chinese-Australian writer Yang Jun, who was handed a suspended death sentence in China, had gained a huge following in exile for his spy novels and calls for greater freedom in his homeland.

Yang — who also goes by the pen name Yang Hengjun — was born in China in 1965 and became an Australian citizen in the early 2000s.

He grew a readership in exile as the author of novels that drew on his experiences in his homeland.

He said he once worked for the Chinese foreign ministry, although Beijing has denied that.

Yang had a following of more than 125,000 on Twitter at the time of his arrest, frequently sharing calls for more openness and freedom in China.

In a 2021 letter from prison, Yang said it was still unclear who he is accused of spying for.

“This isn’t a crime of ideology. The charges are about espionage. But who did I work for? If this is a crime, and if I’m a criminal, then who did I work for? I didn’t work for Australia or the US,” he wrote.

“I’m only writing for people. Writing for rule of law, democracy, and freedom.”

– Detained –

Yang’s family say his health has deteriorated in prison and that they are fearful he will be “left to die”.

He was formally detained on espionage charges in 2019 while on a rare return to China from the United States, where he was living at the time.

Canberra said the claim he had acted as a spy for Australia was “absolutely untrue”.

It was not the first time that Yang vanished in China: he went missing during a 2011 trip but resurfaced days later, describing his disappearance as a “misunderstanding”.

No such release was forthcoming this time around, however, and a closed-doors trial was held in Beijing in 2021, although no verdict has yet been made public.

Officials have not provided details of Yang’s alleged spying, which Beijing defines broadly and for which it metes out harsh punishment, from life in prison to execution in extreme cases.

The writer has insisted he is “100 percent innocent”.

Yang previously told supporters he was tortured while at a secret detention site and that he feared forced confessions may be used against him.

Writing from prison in 2019, Yang pleaded to Canberra to put aside its economic reliance on China to help him go home.

A Chinese investigator “told me that Australia was small and wouldn’t care about me”, Yang said in the letter, obtained by national broadcaster ABC.

“He said Australia was dependent on China for its trade and economy, and Canberra wouldn’t help me, let alone rescue me. He said Australia wouldn’t help because I am not white.

“This is nonsense. He was wrong,” he said.

– ‘Cruel’ treatment –

Beijing’s foreign ministry has insisted that Yang’s rights are being respected and accused Canberra of interference.

Yang’s sons counter that he is being held in dire conditions.

They say he is being subject to “particularly cruel” treatment — deprived of his beloved books in a cramped cell in which he must “eat, drink, defecate and urinate”.

They urged Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last November to raise their father’s plight during his first official visit to Beijing. Albanese promised he would.

The release of fellow Chinese-Australian journalist Cheng Lei the previous month after a three-year detention had left them hoping for a “second miracle”, they said.

“Like Cheng Lei, our father cherishes the freedoms and protections that come with his Australian identity,” Yang’s sons said in a letter.

But no such miracle has occurred, with Australia’s top diplomat Monday describing news of Yang’s sentence as “harrowing”.

“We will not relent in our advocacy,” she promised.

US patient ‘happy again’ after brain implant treats epilepsy and OCD

ByAFP
February 4, 2024

Amber Pearson, who received a brain implant to treat her epilepsy and Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD), shows the approximate placement of a brain implant received at the Oregon Health and Science University

 (OHSU) hospital in Portland, Oregon - Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

Romain FONSEGRIVES

American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

But the repetitive rituals of her condition are largely consigned to memory, thanks to a revolutionary brain implant that is being used to treat both her epilepsy and her OCD.

“I’m actually present in my daily life and that’s incredible,” the 34-year-old told AFP.

“Before, I was just constantly in my head worrying about my compulsions.”

Brain implants have hit the headlines recently with Elon Musk’s announcement that his Neuralink company had placed a chip in a patient’s head, which scientists hope will ultimately allow people to control a smartphone just by thinking about it.

But the idea of inserting a device into the brain is not new, and for decades doctors have known that precisely applied electrical stimulation can affect the way the brain operates.

Such deep-brain stimulation is used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other conditions affecting movement, including epilepsy.

Pearson’s doctors offered her the 32-millimeter (just over an inch-long) device to treat her debilitating epileptic seizures, confident it would be able to detect the activity that causes the episodes and deliver a pulse to interfere with them.

It was then that Pearson herself had something of a lightbulb moment.

“It was her idea to say: ‘Well, you’re going into my brain and putting this wire, and I have OCD, so can you just put a wire for OCD?’,” recalls neurosurgeon Ahmed Raslan, who carried out the procedure at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland on the US West Coast.

“And you know, luckily, we took that suggestion seriously.”

There had previously been some study of the use of deep brain stimulation for people suffering from OCD, but, says Raslan, it had never been combined with treatment for epilepsy.

Doctors worked with Pearson to see exactly what happens in her brain when she gets trapped in an obsessive loop.

The technique involved exposing her to known stressors — in this case, seafood — and recording the electrical markers.

In this way, they could effectively isolate the brain activity associated with her OCD.

They could then configure her implant so that it would react to that specific signal.

– Hope –

The dual-program device now watches for brain activity associated both with epilepsy and with OCD.

It is “the only device in the world that treats two conditions,” says Raslan.

“And it’s programmed independently. So the program for epilepsy is different than the program for OCD.”

It’s a breakthrough he thinks only someone like Pearson could have come up with.

“This is the first time in the world that’s been done. Usually we think of devices either for OCD or for epilepsy.

“This idea sits outside of the box and would only come from a patient,” he says.

Raslan said a study is now under way at the University of Pennsylvania to see how this technique can be more widely applied, offering possible hope to some of the 2.5 million people in the United States who suffer from OCD.

For Pearson, there was an eight-month wait after the 2019 procedure to see any noticeable difference.

But gradually, the all-consuming rituals that had taken up eight or nine hours every day since her teenage years began to ebb.

The endless pre-bed checklists of window-shutting, and the constant hand-washing diminished to a manageable 30 minutes a day.

And the fear of contamination from eating with others is now gone.

“I’m happy again and excited to go out and live and be with my friends and my family,” she said.

That “was something I was cut off from for years.”