Continuing study: Tel Aviv University researchers identify the pathogen causing sea urchin mass mortalities in the Red Sea; The epidemic has spread to the Indian Ocean possess an eminent threat to coral reefs

From local epidemic to deadly global pandemic

TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

INFECTED SEA URCHIN ON REUNION ISLAND

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CREDIT: JEAN-PASCAL QUOD

• Sea urchins are considered protectors of coral reefs. The researchers warn: This is a global pandemic – which might impact coral reefs all over the world.
• The Tel Aviv University research team that first discovered the phenomenon in Eilat was able to identify the pathogen responsible for the epidemic which is killing sea urchins in the Red Sea, and now threatens the entire populations of sea urchins across the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific.

A continuing study from Tel Aviv University has found that the deadly epidemic discovered last year, which has essentially wiped out Eilat's most abundant and ecologically significant sea urchins, has spread across the Red Sea and into the Indian Ocean. According to the researchers, what appeared at first to be a severe but local epidemic, has quickly spread through the region, and now threatens to become a global pandemic.

 

Link to the research Video

The researchers estimate that since it broke out in December 2022, the epidemic has annihilated most of the sea urchin populations (of the species affected by the disease) in the Red Sea, as well as an unknown number of sea urchins, estimated at hundreds of thousands, worldwide. Sea urchins are considered the 'gardeners' of coral reefs, feeding on the algae that compete with the corals for sunshine – and their disappearance can severely impact the delicate balance on coral reefs globaly. The researchers note that since the discovery of the epidemic in Eilat's coral reefs, the two species of sea urchins previously most dominant in the Gulf of Eilat have vanished completely.

 

The study was led by Dr. Omri Bronstein from the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History (SMNH), together with research students Lachan Roth, Gal Eviatar, Lisa Schmidt, and May Bonomo, as well as Dr. Tamar Feldstein-Farkash from the SMNH. Research partners throughout the region and Europe also took part in the study, which encompassed thousands of kilometers of coral reefs. The alarming results were published in the leading scientific journal Current Biology.

 

In addition, by using molecular-genetic tools, the research group at TAU was able to identify the pathogen responsible for the mass mortality of sea urchins of the species Diadema setosum in the Red Sea: a scuticociliate parasite most similar to Philaster apodigitiformis. The researchers explain that this unicellular organism was also responsible for the reoccurring mass mortality of Diadema antillarum in the Caribbeans about two years ago, following the notorious 1983 sea urchin population collapse there which led to the a catastrophic phase shift of the coral reef.

 

As noted, in December 2022, Dr. Bronstein was the first researcher to identify mass mortality of sea urchins of the species Diadema setosum – the long-spined black sea urchins that were very common in the northern Gulf of Eilat, Jordan, and Sinai. Dr. Bronstein and his team also found that the epidemic was lethal for other, closely related sea urchins from the genus Echinothrix. These results suggest that the once most abundant and significant seabed herbivores in the region are now practically gone. Thousands of sea urchins died a quick and violent death – within two days a healthy sea urchin turns into bear skeleton with no tissues or spines, and most were devoured by predators as they were dying, unable to defend themselves. According to estimates, today only a few individuals of the affected sea urchin species remained throughout the coral reefs of the Gulf of Aqaba.

 

Dr. Bronstein explains that sea urchins in general, and specifically diadematoids (the sea urchin family affected by the disease), are considered key species essential for the healthy functioning of coral reefs. Acting as the reef's 'gardeners', the sea urchins feed on the algae that compete with the corals for sunshine, and prevent them from taking over and suffocating the corals.

 

According to Dr. Bronstein, the most significant and widely studied mass mortality of sea urchins to date occurred in 1983, when a mysterious disease spread through the Caribbeans, killing most sea urchins of the species Diadema antillarum – relatives of Eilat's sea urchins. Consequently, the algae spread uncontrollably, blocking the sunlight from the corals, and the entire reef was transformed from a coral reef into an algae field. Moreover, even though the mass mortality event in the Caribbeans occurred 40 years ago, both the corals and the sea urchin populations never fully recovered, with repeated mortality events observed through the years.

 

The latest Caribbean outbreak in 2022 killed surviving populations and individuals from the former mortality events. This time, however, researchers had the scientific and technological tools to decipher the forensic evidence. A research group from Cornell University was able to identify the responsible pathogen, a scuticociliate parasite.

 

Dr. Bronstein emphasizes: "This is a growing ecological crisis, threatening the stability of coral reefs on an unprecedented scale. Apparently, the mass mortality we identified in Eilat back in 2023 has spread along the Red Sea and beyond - to Oman, and even as far as Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

 

The deadly pathogen is carried by water and can affect vast areas in a very short time. Even sea urchins raised in seawater systems at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, or at the Underwater Observatory, were infected and died, after the pathogen got in through the recirculating seawater system. As noted, death is quick and violent. For the first time, our research team was able to document all stages of the disease – from infection to the inevitable death – with a unique video system installed at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat.

Moreover, until recently, only one species of sea urchins was known to be impacted by this pathogen – the Caribbean species. Today we know that additional species are susceptible to the disease – all belonging to the same family of the most significant sea urchin herbivores on coral reefs."

 

Dr. Bronstein adds: "In our study we also demonstrated that the epidemic is spreading along routes of human transportation in the Red Sea. The best example is the wharf in Nueiba in Sinai, where the ferry from the Jordanian city of Aqaba docks. When we published our report last year, we already knew of sea urchin mortalities in Aqaba, but had not yet identified signs of it in Sinai. The first spot in which we ultimately did identify mortality in Sinai was next to this wharf in Nueiba. Two weeks later the epidemic had already reached Dahab, about 70km further south. The scene underwater is almost surreal: seeing a species that was so dominant in a certain environment simply erased in a matter of days. Thousands of skeletons rolling on the sea bottom, crumbling and vanishing in a very short time, so that even evidence for what has occurred is hard to find."

 

According to Dr. Bronstein, there is currently no way to help infected sea urchins or vaccinate them against the disease. We must, however, quickly establish broodstock populations of endangered species in cultivation systems disconnected from the sea – so that in the future we will be able to reintroduce them into the natural environment.

 

"Unfortunately, we cannot repair nature, but we can certainly change our own behavior. First of all, we must understand what caused this outbreak at this time. Is the pathogen transported unknowingly by seacraft? Or has it always been here, erupting now due to a change in environmental conditions? These are precisely the questions we are working on now."

 

Link to the article in PDF version.

 

Link to the images in High-resolution.

 

Sea urchin mortalities on Reunion Island 

Sea urchin mortalities on Reunion Island

CREDIT

Jean-Pascal Quod

n Diadema setosum before (left) and after (right) mortality. The white skeleton is exposed following tissue disintegration and loss of spines.

CREDIT

Tel Aviv University

Diadema group Zanzibar

The research team 

CREDIT

Tel Aviv University

Dead and dying long-spine urchins in Dahab (00:00 – 02:43) and in Réunion Island (02:44 – 02:54).

Dead and dying long-spine urch [VIDEO] | 

CREDIT

Credit: Annalena Barth and Jean-Pascal Quod.

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JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.057 

SIXTY YEARS LATE

A promising approach to develop a birth control pill for men

GET DONE AND THE GOP WILL MAKE IT ILLEGAL

BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

The world’s population has increased by more than 2.6-fold in the last 60 years. The growing trend continues – projections indicate that the number of people living on our planet will grow to 9 billion by 2037 from 8 billion in 2022. These numbers underscore the need for considering family planning; however, there have been limited breakthroughs in contraception in recent decades. Specifically for men, there are no oral contraceptive pills available.

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions show in animal models that a novel, non-hormonal sperm-specific approach offers a promising option for reversible human male contraception.

“Although researchers have been investigating several strategies to develop male contraceptives, we still do not have a birth control pill for men,” said corresponding author Dr. Martin Matzuk, director of the Center for Drug Discovery and chair of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Baylor. “In this study we focused on a novel approach – identifying a small molecule that would inhibit serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33), a protein that is specifically required for fertility in both men and mice.”

Previous research has shown that STK33 is enriched in the testis and is specifically required for the formation of functional sperm. In mice, knocking out the Stk33 gene renders the mice sterile due to abnormal sperm and poor sperm motility. In men, having a mutation in the STK33 gene leads to infertility caused by the same sperm defects found in the Stk33 knockout mice. Most importantly, mice and men with these mutations have no other defects and even have normal testis size.

“STK33 is therefore considered a viable target with minimal safety concerns for contraception in men,” said Matzuk, who has been on faculty at Baylor for 30 years and is Baylor’s Stuart A. Wallace Chair and Robert L. Moody, Sr. Chair of Pathology and Immunology. “STK33 inhibitors have been described but none are STK33-specific or potent for chemically disrupting STK33 function in living organisms.”

Finding an effective STK33 inhibitor

“We used DNA-Encoded Chemistry Technology (DEC-Tec) to screen our multi-billion compound collection to discover potent STK33 inhibitors,” said first author Dr. Angela Ku, staff scientist in the Matzuk lab. “Our group and others have used this approach before to uncover potent and selective kinase inhibitors.”

The researchers uncovered potent STK33-specific inhibitors, from which they successfully generated modified versions to make them more stable, potent and selective. “Among these modified versions, compound CDD-2807 turned out to be the most effective,” Ku said.

“Next, we tested the efficacy of CDD-2807 in our mouse model,” said co-author Dr. Courtney M. Sutton, postdoctoral fellow in the Matzuk lab. “We evaluated several doses and treatment schedules and then determined sperm motility and number in the mice as well as their ability to fertilize females.”

Compound CDD-2807 effectively crossed the blood-testis barrier and reduced sperm motility and numbers and mice fertility at low doses. “We were pleased to see that the mice did not show signs of toxicity from CDD-2807 treatment, that the compound did not accumulate in the brain, and that the treatment did not alter testis size, similar to the Stk33 knockout mice and the men with the STK33 mutation,” Sutton said. “Importantly, the contraceptive effect was reversible. After a period without compound CDD-2807, the mice recovered sperm motility and numbers and were fertile again.”

“In our paper, we also present the first crystal structure for STK33,” said co-author Dr. Choel Kim, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Our crystal structure showed how one of our potent inhibitors interacts with STK33 kinase in three dimensions. This enabled us to model and design our final compound, CDD-2807, for better drug-like properties.”

“This study was a tour de force by our team in the Center for Drug Discovery at Baylor and our collaborators,” said co-author Dr. Mingxing Teng, assistant professor of pathology and immunology and of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at Baylor. Teng also is a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas Scholar and a member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Starting with a genetically validated contraceptive target, we were able to show that STK33 is also a chemically validated contraceptive target.”

“In the next few years, our goal is to further evaluate this STK33 inhibitor and compounds similar to CDD-2807 in primates to determine their effectiveness as reversible male contraceptives,” Matzuk said.

Additional co-authors of the paper affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine are Kiran L. Sharma, Hai Minh Ta, Kurt M. Bohren, Yong Wang, Srinivas Chamakuri, Ruihong Chen, John M. Hakenjos, Ravikumar Jimmidi, Katarzyna Kent, Feng Li, Jian-Yuan Li, Lang Ma, Chandrashekhar Madasu, Murugesan Palaniappan, Stephen S. Palmer, Xuan Qin, Zhi Tan, Yasmin M. Vasquez, Jian Wang, Zhifeng Yu, Qiuji Ye and Damian W. Young. Co-authors Matthew B. Robers and Jennifer Wilkinson are affiliated with Promega Corp., and Banumathi Sankaran is affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

For financial support for this work, see the publication.

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JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adl2688 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Reversible male contraception by targeted inhibition of serine/threonine kinase 33

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-May-2024

OH YEAH THIS IS WHY THE DELAY

Kinase inhibitor induces reversible contraception in male mice

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)

An inhibitor that targets the kinase STK33 – a protein essential for male fertility in humans and mice – effectively induces reversible infertility in male mice without toxicity or other adverse effects on reproductive function, researchers report. The findings underscore the potential of STK33 as a druggable target, offering a promising avenue for the development of nonhormonal and reversible male contraceptives. Contraception is crucial for family planning, allowing individuals to choose if and when to conceive and how many children to have. However, advancements in contraception have been limited in recent decades, particularly for men. Currently, there are no effective oral contraceptives for men. Although hormonal-based approaches for male contraception are being investigated in clinical trials and have shown some promising results, none have been approved for general use. Nonhormonal targets present a promising avenue with potentially fewer side effects. However, few small-molecule nonhormonal inhibitors have been developed, and even fewer have demonstrated contraceptive efficacy in preclinical models. The homozygous serine/threonine kinase 33, also called STK33, is essential to male fertility. Previous studies have shown that mutations to STK33, in both mice and men, result in infertility due to defective sperm motility and morphology without other significant health issues, suggesting STK33’s use as a viable target for male contraception. To identify STK33-specific inhibitors, Angela Ku and colleagues performed a large-scale drug screening using a multibillion-compound collection of DNA-encoded chemical libraries. After uncovering several potent STK33-specific inhibitors, Ku et al. obtained crystal structures of STK33 with some of the identified compounds and used the information to assist in structure-guided molecule design. One of the most promising compounds – CDD-2807 – was shown to reduce fertility in vivo in male mice. According to the findings, CDD-2807 exhibited no toxicity, efficiently crossed the blood-testis barrier, did not accumulate in the brain, and induced a contraceptive effect that mirrored genetic STK33 perturbations without altering testis size. Importantly, Ku et al. found that the inhibitor’s contraceptive effects were reversible, and mice recovered their fertility soon after the treatment was discontinued. “Any potential contraceptive drug must undergo extensive testing to show very high efficacy and rule out adverse effects on hormone levels, overall reproductive function, and impact on offspring. Additionally, long-term studies are necessary to evaluate potential risks associated with prolonged use,” write Jerrett Holdaway and Gunda Georg in a related Perspective. “Nevertheless, the findings substantiate the essential role of STK33 in male fertility and provide compelling evidence that this target is druggable and results in reversible male infertility.”

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JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adl2688 

ARTICLE TITLE

Reversible male contraception by targeted inhibition of serine/threonine kinase 33

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-May-2024

 

Charting a pathway to next-gen biofuels

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING SCHOOL

 

IMAGE: 

CHRISTOS MARAVELIAS HEADSHOT.

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY DAVID KELLY CROW.

From soil to sequestration, researchers at Princeton University and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center have modeled what a supply chain for second-generation biofuels might look like in the midwestern United States.

These next-generation biofuels are emerging as a more sustainable substitute for fossil fuel-derived gasoline and diesel that, if carefully managed, could remove more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than they emit over the course of their lifecycle. And unlike conventional or first-generation biofuels, which are produced from crops like corn and sugarcane that could otherwise be used for food, second-generation biofuels are derived from agricultural waste or non-food crops grown on low productivity or recently abandoned land.

Yet as a still-nascent technology, these next-generation fuels must contend with considerable uncertainty about their role in a low-carbon energy future.

Previous studies on biofuels tend toward two extremes, either focusing on the ‘bio’ — incorporating crop growth, productivity, and land use data without considering downstream supply chain concerns in detail — or the ‘fuels’ — mapping out a supply chain and biorefinery design using overly simplistic land and crop data.

The Princeton study unites the two perspectives to provide a more comprehensive forecast of a supply chain for biofuels across an eight-state region in the Midwest, grounded in highly detailed data. Their findings were published May 22 in Nature Energy.

“What we’re doing with this study is bringing together two different approaches to studying biofuels,” said Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor of Energy and the Environment and professor of chemical and biological engineering. “A lot of high-quality data at fine spatial scales went into our analyses, giving us a much more holistic view of these systems.”

Optimization from crop growth to sequestration site

Supply chains for biofuels are complex. Feedstocks for biofuels must be grown and harvested from a fragmented network of land. Those feedstocks must then be transported to a centrally located refinery. At the refinery, several different technologies could convert the plant matter into liquid biofuel, and any carbon emissions produced through the conversion process can be captured and subsequently sequestered offsite.

Consequently, decisions made at every point along the supply chain could result in systems with widely diverging costs and emissions impacts, from the crop chosen as a feedstock to the distance between field and refinery and the technology used to convert the plant into biofuels.

“Even seemingly isolated or unrelated decisions, like how much incentive you plan to provide for carbon capture or which conversion technology you favor, can have dramatic impacts on the landscape design of a bioeconomy,” said co-author Caleb Geissler, a graduate student in chemical and biological engineering.

Thus, Geissler said, the optimal landscape design depends on the starting goals: what quantity of biofuels should be produced, at what cost, and at what carbon intensity?

While the researchers cautioned that their model was not designed specifically as a decision-making tool, Maravelias said it provides valuable insights into the economics and environmental impacts of a future bioeconomy. And since second-generation biofuels have yet to achieve widespread commercialization, proactive research now can inform efforts to ensure the fuels are meaningfully implemented into the future energy system.

“The model accounts for all the components of the system, so we can use it to answer many different types of questions,” said Maravelias. “We can use it to identify the optimal way to produce a certain quantity of biofuels while minimizing economic costs. We can use it to identify the system that produces the same amount of fuel while minimizing environmental impacts. Or we could have it design a system that strikes some balance between the two.”

Highlighting the impact of policy

Using their model, the research team could also probe the role of policy incentives in shaping the preferred technologies and emissions impact of a biofuels supply chain.

For instance, the team found that the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture, which provides $85 per ton of sequestered carbon, sufficiently incentivized carbon capture across the system. However, tax credit values below $60 per ton of carbon — the 45Q tax credit was only worth $50 prior to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — were insufficient to drive investment in carbon capture and sequestration. In this case, the system generated rather than removed carbon emissions, though it still produced far fewer emissions compared to today’s fossil fuels.

“Even if the value of an incentive changes, we still wanted our results to be informative,” said Geissler. “It’s also a way to inform policymakers about how varying incentives support different technologies and configurations for the system.”

And while current incentive schemes only assign a monetary value for the carbon captured at the refinery itself, the researchers also modeled alternative scenarios that sought to minimize emissions from the entire supply chain, including both direct emissions from transportation and indirect emissions embodied in the electricity used to power the system.

These alternative scenarios highlighted even more tradeoffs. The tax credit would have to be worth at least $79 a ton to begin incentivizing carbon capture at the refinery and worth around $100 per ton for carbon capture to be installed at every refinery. Below those values, it would often be more cost effective to reduce transportation and offset emissions from purchased electricity before investing in carbon capture.

The researchers even charted pathways that mitigated carbon emissions beyond financial incentives, using site-specific soil carbon sequestration potentials and management decisions, such as whether to fertilize, to yield a landscape design with the greatest overall environmental benefits.

“Because these next-generation biofuels are still emerging as a technology, the model we developed allows us to make sure we’re designing these systems properly,” Maravelias said. “It’s important to have as much information as possible now, before we lock ourselves into less-than-ideal technologies and system configurations.”

The paper, “Large-scale spatially explicit analysis of carbon capture at cellulosic biorefineries,” was published May 22 in Nature Energy. In addition to Maravelias and Geissler, Eric O’Neill, who performed the research while a graduate student at Princeton University, was first author of the paper. The work was supported by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.

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JOURNAL

Nature Energy

DOI

10.1038/s41560-024-01532-8 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Large-scale spatially explicit analysis of carbon capture at cellulosic biorefineries

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-May-2024

 

Literature review finds that worldwide, most people find climate scientists to be trustworthy

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

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CLIMATE ACTION PROTEST

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CREDIT: LI-AN LIM

While most people worldwide trust climate scientists, a small, skeptical minority – such as conservatives in the U.S. – can lead to climate inaction, reports Viktoria Cologna of Harvard University and colleagues in a new article published May 23 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate.

According to climate experts, the window to address climate change and secure a livable and sustainable future is rapidly closing. However, most countries are not on track to reduce their emissions, largely due to powerful political and economic actors, like companies and lobbying groups, preventing action and attempting to undercut public trust in climate science. In the new review, Cologna’s team conducted a comprehensive narrative review of the current academic literature to investigate the possibility that a lack of public trust in climate science and climate scientists may be undermining the effectiveness of climate science communication to the public.

The researchers found that, while the percentage of people who trust climate scientists varies by country, worldwide, a majority of people find them to be trustworthy. Additionally, in many regions, confidence in climate science has increased in recent years. In the U.S., the people who are skeptical and spread false or misleading information about climate science are most often political conservatives.

The review article also reports that scientists can still be considered trustworthy if they advocate for greater climate action in general, but their credibility may take a hit when they advocate for specific climate policies, depending on the policy’s popularity. The researchers advise that climate scientists can increase their trustworthiness by demonstrating competence, benevolence, integrity and openness, and by “walking the walk” to reduce their personal carbon footprints.

Overall, the review finds that that narratives of widespread distrust in climate science are incorrect. However, distrust from even a minority of the public can have political consequences and lead to climate inaction.

The authors add, "Our narrative review shows that a large share of national publics perceive climate scientists and climate science as trustworthy. However, distrust in climate science can be politically consequential and should be taken seriously, even if exhibited by only a minority of the public.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Climate: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000400 

Citation: Cologna V, Kotcher J, Mede NG, Besley J, Maibach EW, Oreskes N (2024) Trust in climate science and climate scientists: A narrative review. PLOS Clim 3(5): e0000400. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000400

Author Countries: Switzerland, United States

Funding: This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Fellowship (P500PS_202935 to VC), the Harvard University Faculty Development Funds (to NO) and the USDA-NIFA (MICL02758 to JCB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLOS Climate

DOI

10.1371/journal.pclm.0000400 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

 

The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare: New book explores how charitable crowdfunding overtook public life

Book Announcement

THE MIT PRESS

 

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COVER ART TO THE MIT PRESS'S "CROWDED OUT: THE TRUE COSTS OF CROWDFUNDING HEALTHCARE" BY NORA KENWORTHY.

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CREDIT: THE MIT PRESS, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cambridge, MA, May 2024—An eye-opening investigation into charitable crowdfunding for healthcare in the United States—and the consequences of allowing healthcare access to be decided by the digital crowd.

Over the past decade, charitable crowdfunding has exploded in popularity across the globe. Sites such as GoFundMe, which now boasts a “global community of over 100 million” users, have transformed the ways we seek and offer help. When faced with crises—especially medical ones—Americans are turning to online platforms that promise to connect them to the charity of the crowd. What does this new phenomenon reveal about the changing ways we seek and provide healthcare? In Crowded Out, Nora Kenworthy examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is taking us, and who gets left behind by this new platformed economy.

Although crowdfunding has become ubiquitous in our lives, it is often misunderstood: rather than a friendly free market “powered by the kindness” of strangers, crowdfunding is powerfully reinforcing inequalities and changing the way Americans think about and access healthcare. Drawing on extensive research and rich storytelling, Crowded Out demonstrates how crowdfunding for health is fueled by—and further reinforces—financial and moral “toxicities” in market-based healthcare systems. It offers a unique and distressing look beneath the surface of some of the most popular charitable platforms and helps to foster thoughtful discussions of how we can better respond to healthcare crises both small and large.

Nora Kenworthy is Associate Professor at the University of Washington Bothell. She is the author and editor of several books, and her writing has appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, PLOS One, Scientific American, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

Editorial Reviews

“In this important book, Kenworthy explores why crowdfunding has become so prominent in social support systems and how it transforms practices of care, distributions of responsibility, and forms of precarity, exacerbating inequities as ordinary people encounter the financial toxicities of America´s healthcare systems.”
— Ruth J. Prince, Professor in Medical Anthropology, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo

“Nora Kenworthy’s excellent book exposes the failings of digital crowdfunding in America’s dysfunctional health system, showing it to be ineffective, inefficient, inequitable, and totally incompatible with the goal of achieving universal health coverage.”
—Robert Yates, Executive Director, Centre for Universal Health, Chatham House
 
“A compelling case for a world where health is no longer outsourced to ‘the kindness of strangers’ but is instead supported by our renewed commitment to justice, equity, and the common good.”
—Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health
 
“With moral urgency and compelling clarity, Kenworthy offers a searing indictment of the symbiosis between Big Healthcare and Big Tech that allows them to grind out their billions off the backs millions of Americans, offering a clearer picture of just how many industries are in on the exploitation of the American patient.”
—Abdul El-Sayed, Towsley Policymaker in Residence, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; author of Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide
 
“A critically important book for anyone interested in what our healthcare system is really doing to patients and their families. Nora Kenworthy skillfully weaves together patient stories and penetrating analyses to explore the dark side of a crowdfunding phenomenon fed by unaffordable medical care that is deepening inequalities and perpetuating disturbing ideas about who deserves help in our society.”
—Noam N. Levey, Senior Correspondent, KFF Health News

“In this important book, Kenworthy explores why crowdfunding has become so prominent in social support systems and how it transforms practices of care, distributions of responsibility, and forms of precarity, exacerbating inequities as ordinary people encounter the financial toxicities of America’s healthcare systems.”
—Ruth J. Prince, Professor in Medical Anthropology, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo

Additional Press:

• Read a Q&A with Nora Kenworthy in Mother Jones.
• Read a Q&A with Nora Kenworthy at STAT News.
• Listen to Nora Kenworthy discuss "Crowded Out" on Vox's Today, Explained podcast.
• Listen to Nora Kenworthy discuss "Crowded Out" on Slate's What's Next: TBD podcast.

 

Book details how federal government used bribery to end relationships with Native American tribes

In a new book, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor David Beck describes how the federal government used bribery to end its legal and political relationships with Native American tribes.

Book Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU

 

IMAGE: 

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT USED BRIBERY TO TRY TO END ITS LEGAL AND POLITICAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, SAYS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN HISTORY PROFESSOR DAVID BECK. IN HIS NEW BOOK, “BRIBED WITH OUR OWN MONEY,” BECK DESCRIBES HOW THE GOVERNMENT COERCED TRIBAL NATIONS TO ACCEPT TERMINATION BY THREATENING TO WITHHOLD MONEY OWED THEM.

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CREDIT: COURTESY DAVID BECK

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Federal policy toward Native American tribal nations in the first half of the 20th century sought to end the government’s legal and political relationship with tribes. A new book by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor David Beck looks at one aspect of termination policy — bribery.

“Bribed With Our Own Money: Federal Abuse of American Indian Funds in the Termination Era” examines how officials coerced tribal nations to accept termination by threatening to withhold money owed them by the federal government. Beck found that such coercion was a government policy, with both Congress and the interior department advocating using the money owed to tribes to force the end of the government’s relationship with them.

For example, in 1954, Congress appropriated money owed to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, which it won in a lawsuit over timber mismanagement after the federal government clear-cut tribal forests. Congress forced the tribe to accept termination of its federal trust relationship with the government as a condition of being paid the money it won in the lawsuit.

“Termination was foisted onto the tribes as a quid pro quo for the payments that were due to them,” Beck wrote of such tactics.

Federal Indian policy established a trust or fiduciary relationship with tribes under which the government is to provide protection and ensure the survival of the tribal nations. Among the government’s responsibilities are overseeing the governance of reservation lands and managing resources such as forests, minerals and game.

“It’s a legal as well as a moral responsibility. Almost from the very beginning, the federal government has been trying to get out from under that responsibility,” Beck said.

Beginning in the 1920s, tribes and the government sought to create greater self-governance within tribal communities. From the government’s perspective, this meant ending its trust relationship with tribes, Beck said. In 1953, the Termination Act gave Congress permission to pass laws terminating its trust relationship with specific tribal nations, which it immediately began doing, he said. Termination ends the political and legal relationship between the tribes and the government and disestablishes reservations.

Federal officials presented termination as advancing the “freedom” and “emancipation” of tribes.

“They tried to couch it in language that was euphemistic, with terms that were supposed to provide tribes with the idea that they had this great opportunity to move into the modern world, in a way that was defined by federal officials and not by tribal leaders,” Beck said.

In his book, Beck looks at the time period leading up to the Termination Act. He uses six case studies to illustrate how the government used tribal monies to try to force termination, with varying success.

In a section of the book on “Forests and Termination,” Beck wrote about the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Klamath of Oregon, both tribes with vast forest resources. The Klamath were promised payments to individuals for their forest land. Federal officials considered the two tribal nations model cases for termination, and in 1954 laws were passed to end their relationship with the U.S., Beck wrote.

In “Dams and Termination,” Beck wrote about the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold in North Dakota and the Seneca Nation of Indians of New York, both of which were owed large payouts for loss of reservation land to flooding due to newly built dams. Both avoided termination after a long fight that impacted their abilities to revitalize their communities and recover from their losses, Beck wrote.

A final section of the book, “Lands and Termination,” describes the situations of the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington and the Mixed-Blood Utes of Utah. Both tribes won lawsuits for compensation for lands taken from them. The Utes’ lawsuit led to a split in the tribe based on amount of Native American blood of individual members. Those of full blood avoided termination by letting the government end its relationship with those of mixed blood. The Colville tribes were split on the question of termination because a portion wanted their land returned to them, but ultimately they avoided termination.

The terminations of the Menominee, Klamath and Mixed-Blood Utes “caused lasting trauma to individual Indians and created dysfunction in tribal governance, economics and social structures,” Beck wrote.

“One way to view the termination policy is as one more brutal attack in a centuries-long assault on Indigenous rights to their lands, their resources, their cultural heritage and their self-determination. Another way is to view it within the context of the U.S. legal system that established a federal fiduciary responsibility to America’s Indigenous nations. The termination efforts that intensified in the 1940s are reflective of a century and a half of actions contradictory to the protections the law theoretically instituted for U.S. dealings with Indian nations,” he wrote.

Eventually, those fighting termination were able to convince legislators that termination would be more costly to the government than keeping the trust relationship intact. The Civil Rights movement also increased awareness of how minority populations in the U.S. had been mistreated, but not before more than 100 tribes were terminated, Beck said.

The Menominee tribe later brought another lawsuit over hunting and fishing rights, and was able to reverse its termination and regain federal recognition, he said.

The book’s conclusion focuses on “the lasting specter of termination.” While Congress has never repudiated termination, tribes now have much more authority and a stronger relationship with the federal government, thanks to new laws that empowered tribal governments, Beck said.