Rights court takes climate crisis hearing to Brazilian Amazon

By AFP
May 27, 2024

Brazil has been hard-hit by extreme weather events attributed to climate change, the most recent of which are the historic floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that have left nearly 170 people dead and dozens missing - Copyright AFP Anselmo Cunha

Academics, activists and Indigenous people gathered Monday in the Brazilian Amazon to weigh in on a key legal question: What responsibility do states have in the face of climate emergencies?

The matter is one before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which was invited to Brazil to hold public hearings in a case that has drawn input from around the world.

The Brazilian Amazon, home to the world’s largest rainforest, is a “region of indisputable importance” when facing the effects of climate change, said the president of the Costa Rica-based court, Nancy Hernandez Lopez, at the opening of the session.

The case was brought in January 2023 by Chile and Colombia, who have asked the court for an advisory opinion on a country’s duties when “responding to the climate emergency under the framework of international human rights law.”

“We ask the court to consider states’ obligations to Indigenous peoples,” said Junior Anderson Guarani Kaiowa, from Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous community.

He said the region where his people live in Mato Grosso do Sul “is threatened by desertification, with no forest, no water, and no animals,” he said.

“In Guarani Kaiowa cosmology, the river and the forests maintain the balance of global warming. Pray that rivers contaminated with pesticides do not dry up later.”

The hearings are taking place from Monday to Wednesday in Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state.

The first hearings in the case took place in Barbados in April, before they moved to Brasilia last week.

Hernandez Lopez said the court had received more than 260 written contributions from civil society organizations around the world, “the largest participation in the history” of the court.

The advisory opinion is expected by the end of the year, a court source told AFP.

At the hearing in Brasilia, teenagers and activists from several South American countries warned that climate change affects young people “differently” with consequences for health, education, nutrition and hobbies.

Brazil has been hard-hit by extreme weather events attributed to climate change, the most recent of which are the historic floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that have left nearly 170 people dead and dozens missing.

Pharma firm urged to share new ‘game-changer’ HIV drug

AFP
May 30, 2024

Pharma firm Gilead has been called on to allow for generic versions of its new HIV drug - Copyright AFP Rajesh JANTILAL
Daniel Lawler

More than 300 politicians, health experts and celebrities on Thursday called for US pharmaceutical giant Gilead to allow cheap, generic versions of a promising new HIV drug to be produced so it can reach people in developing countries most affected by the deadly disease.

The drug Lenacapavir could be a “real game-changer” in the fight against HIV, according to an open letter to Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day signed by a range of former world leaders, AIDS groups, activists, actors and others.

Lenacapavir, which was approved for use in the United States and the European Union in 2022, only needs to be injected twice a year, making it particularly suited for people normally “excluded from high quality healthcare,” the open letter said.

“We urge Gilead to ensure that people in the Global South living with or at risk of HIV can access this groundbreaking medicine at the same time as people in the Global North can,” it added.

The signatories urged Gilead to licence the drug on the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool, which would allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured.

Two thirds of the 39 million people living with HIV were in Africa in 2022, according to the World Health Organization. Africa also accounted for 380,000 of the 630,000 AIDS-related deaths across the world that year, the WHO figures showed.

– ‘Horror and shame’ –

The letter said the “world now recalls with horror and shame that it took 10 years and 12 million lives lost before generic versions” of the first antiretroviral drugs became available worldwide.

“This innovation could help end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – but only if all who would benefit from it can access it.”

Because it only requires two shots a year, the drug could be particularly important for those who face stigma getting treated for HIV, including young women, LGBTQ people, sex workers and people who inject drugs, the letter said.

Among the signatories were former heads of state including Liberian ex-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Milawi’s Joyce Banda.

UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima and other humanitarian figures also signed on, as did actors including Gillian Anderson, Stephen Fry, Sharon Stone and Alan Cummings.

Another signatory Francoise Barre-Sinoussi — the French scientist who co-discovered the HIV virus — lamented “that inequality, not science, is the greatest barrier to fighting AIDS”.

On behalf of the scientists who paved the way for such new medicine, “I implore Gilead to erase much of that inequality and make a monumental step towards ending the AIDS pandemic,” she said in a statement.

Lenacapavir, sold under the brand name Sunlenca, has been shown to reduce “viral load in patients with infections that are resistant to other treatments,” according to the European Medicines Agency.

Cannabis terpenes may relieve chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain

By Dr. Tim Sandle
May 29, 2024

Germany will now have some of the most liberal cannabis laws in Europe - Copyright AFP/File John MACDOUGALL

A new study from University of Arizona Health Sciences finds that Cannabis sativa terpenes are as effective as morphine at reducing chronic neuropathic pain. Furthermore, the results indicated that a combination of the two analgesics further enhanced pain relief without leading to negative side effects.

While prior studies have shown that the Cannabis sativa plant along with its two primary cannabinoids – tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol – can be effective in managing chronic pain, the results were considered to be generally moderate. In addition, these earlier studies had flagged concern with unwanted psychoactive side effects.

In contrast, terpenes, the compounds that give plants their aroma and taste. These compounds offer an alternative path to pain relief without adverse side effects. Cannabis is unique in that it contains up to 150 terpenes with multiple terpenes acting as the dominant species.

Discussing the research, lead scientist John Streicher says: “A question that we’ve been very interested in is could terpenes be used to manage chronic pain?…What we found is that terpenes are really good at relieving a specific type of chronic pain with side effects that are low and manageable.”

Streicher tested five terpenes that are found in moderate to high levels in Cannabis: alpha-humulene, beta-caryophyllene, beta-pinene, geraniol and linalool. It had earlier been established that four of those terpenes mimicked the effects of cannabinoids, including a reduction in the sensation of pain, in animal models of acute pain.

For the new research, the scientists used a mouse model of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain, a type of chronic pain that occurs when highly toxic chemotherapy medications cause nerve damage that results in pain.

The terpenes were tested individually and then compared with morphine. It was found that each terpene was successful in reducing the sensation of pain at levels near to or above the peak effect of morphine.

Furthermore, when the terpenes were combined with morphine, the pain-relieving effects of all five terpene/morphine combinations were significantly increased.

Unlike opioids, none of the terpenes had reward liability, making them a low risk for addiction. Some of the terpenes also did not cause aversive behaviours.

The research appears in the journal Pain, titled “Terpenes from Cannabis sativa induce antinociception in a mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain via activation of adenosine A2A receptors.”

Google to invest $2 bn in Malaysia: government

AFP
May 29, 2024


Google's investment comes after Microsoft said it would pump billions into Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia -

 Copyright AFP PAU BARRENA

M JEGATHESAN

Google will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to house the firm’s first data centre in the country, the government said Thursday, making it the latest tech titan to pump cash into the region in search of growth opportunities.

The government said the cash would support 26,500 jobs across various sectors in Malaysia, including healthcare, education, and finance, and comes days after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim targeted at least $107 billion in investments for the semiconductor industry.

Anwar said in April that he planned to build Southeast Asia’s largest integrated circuit design park, while offering incentives including tax breaks and subsidies to attract global tech companies and investors.

Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent firm Alphabet, said: “Google’s first data centre and Google Cloud region is our largest planned investment so far in Malaysia — a place Google has been proud to call home for 13 years.

“This investment builds on our partnership with the Malaysian government to advance its ‘Cloud First Policy’, including best-in-class cybersecurity standards.”

Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the cash “will significantly advance” Malaysia’s digital ambitions outlined in a 2030 masterplan.

He added that the data centre and cloud region “will empower our manufacturing and service-based industries to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies to move up the global value chain”.

Earlier this month Microsoft said it would spend $2.2 billion on AI and cloud computing in Malaysia, with boss Satya Nadella pledging to invest billions in Thailand and Indonesia during a tour of the region.

And Amazon said it would spend US$9 billion in Singapore over the next four years to expand its cloud computing capabilities in the city.

The facility announced on Thursday will be located at a business park west of the capital Kuala Lumpur and will power Google’s popular digital services such as Search, Maps, and Workspace.

“When operational, Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and currently operates data centres to serve users around the world,” the statement said.

The Google Cloud region “will deliver high-performance and low-latency cloud infrastructure, analytics, and AI services to large enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations”, it added.

A key player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch.

Research by global consulting firm Kearney showed AI was poised to contribute $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s gross domestic product by 2030, with Malaysia predicted to see more than a tenth of that.

“Now that many of these American tech giants are diversifying their investment risks away from China, Malaysia with its traditional involvement in high-tech industry is in a good position to welcome the relocation of their operations,” said Oh Ei Sun, an analyst with the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia.

PEOPLES CAPITALI$M
Nobel winner Yunus brings ‘social business’ mantra to Olympics

AFP
May 29, 2024

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus sees the Paris Olympics as a means to promote his social business agenda - Copyright AFP Munir UZ ZAMAN

Since the early days of Paris’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, the city has been receiving advice from a prestigious counsel: Nobel peace prize winner and social business guru Mohammed Yunus.

Yunus pioneered microcredit in his native Bangladesh from the 1970s, helping lift millions out of poverty by providing traders with small loans to help them start businesses.

His role in Paris as an advisor and ambassador for socially responsible business is a departure from his usual work — and is all the more surprising given the reputation of the Olympics for embracing mega-projects and corporate sponsors.

The 84-year-old admits to not even being a sports fan, but he agreed to come on board after accepting a dinner invitation from Paris’s Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo in 2016 as she and her team were bidding to host the Games.

“I said to them the simplest thing you can do, before you make any decisions about allocating funds, is ask ‘does this item have any social purpose?'” Yunus said.

“If it doesn’t, not a penny should be allocated,” he added.

He says he quickly saw an opportunity to use the power of the Olympics to spread his message about the importance of embracing new ways of doing business, focusing on solving humanity’s problems rather than making profits.

“The moment Paris does something, it becomes globally interesting,” he said. “There is public awareness about Paris, the respect they have, their history and how they are known for creativity.”

– A different village –

Yunus says his ideas fell on fertile ground in the mayor’s office and the organising committee, with the city’s vision for the 33rd Summer Games being an event with a lower budget and environmental impact compared with previous editions.

Only two news sports venues have been built, in addition to the athletes’ village.

Having visited the village built for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro — a high-rise complex outside the city, with poor public transport links — Yunus knew the pitfalls.

“I saw all these tall buildings, one after another, and I thought ‘that’s not the right way to do it’,” he said.

By contrast, the Paris 2024 village is around 40 low-rise blocs on a brownfield site in one of the poorest parts of northern Paris, with new metro lines, schools and parks part of the redevelopment plan.

Around a third of the 2,800 apartments are set to be converted into social housing once the Olympics and Paralympics wrap up in September.

Yunus also urged organisers to consider adding “social businesses will be given priority” to their public tenders for services such as catering.

“All the big companies which are used to winning these tenders read that line and talk to each other and ask: What is a social business? Are we one? Will we get a priority?” he said.

“And the smart CEO will say, ‘Okay, since we’re not a social business, why don’t we have a partnership with one?’. So at least you are bringing them into the picture.”

– Corporate domination –

Ultimately, the catering contract to provide 40,000 meals a day was won by Sodexo, a listed French multinational with annual sales of more than 12 billion euros ($13 billion).

Elsewhere, the usual roster of global blue-chip sponsors will use the Games for promotional purposes, from Japanese carmaker Toyota and global steel maker ArcelorMittal to French luxury empire LVMH.

Most of the construction work was performed by France’s largest building companies — Bouygues Construction, Eiffage and Vinci.

But around the fringes, a desire to use the Games to nurture small, socially minded companies can be glimpsed, even if they have benefited from only a fraction of the nearly 9-billion-euro budget.

A Paris-based plastic recycling business called Le Pave won a contract to provide 11,000 seats at new Olympic venues, one of around 500 “social businesses” to win tenders.

Others included a business that converts building waste into topsoil, which was used at the athletes’ village. Laundry services there will be provided by a consortium of nine small local entrepreneurs.

On the Games building sites, contractors were also required to use long-term unemployed people for at least 10 percent of their workforce.

Yunus does not seek credit for any of these initiatives, but he is convinced that by putting his ideas and reputation at the service of the Games, he is helping to encourage change.

He has begun advising Milan-Cortina, the Italian host of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“They whisper in my ears, ‘we want to do better than Paris’,” he said.

Pitzer.edudwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/proudhon/dana.html

Proudhon and his "Bank of the People" - Anarchy Archives

M. Proudhon is about five feet eight inches high, of rather clumsy person. His hair is light, his complexion fresh, his eyes blue and keen, and ...

Exxon plays hardball against climate NGOs. Will investors care?


By AFP
May 28, 2024

ExxonMobil's aggressive posture towards climate activists has drawn criticism from Norway's sovereign wealth fund and others - Copyright AFP/File JADE GAO
John BIERS

ExxonMobil investors will have a chance to weigh in at Wednesday’s annual meeting on the company’s hardball approach to the latest shareholder challenge from environmentalists over climate change.

The US oil giant, which unapologetically favors petroleum investment despite its negative climate impacts, has adopted a more aggressive posture towards activists at this year’s virtual meeting compared with years past.

ExxonMobil has sued two shareholder groups, NGO Follow This and activist fund Arjuna Capital, which sought an investor vote on a measure to limit emissions.

Its suit, which includes seeking legal fees, has drawn criticism from shareholders like Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS).

A large number of votes against ExxonMobil board nominees would signify shareholder disgust with the company’s tactics.

CalPERS called climate change “a serious threat to long-term investment returns,” while arguing that ExxonMobil’s litigious tactics could have “devastating” consequences for corporate governance.

“If ExxonMobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits? Worker safety? Excessive executive compensation?”

CalPERS said it would vote against all 12 board nominees “to send a message that our voices will not be silenced.”

The move comes after Arjuna and Follow This demanded a shareholder vote in December on a plan directing ExxonMobil to accelerate emission reductions, requiring targets and timetables to lower “Scope 3” emissions.

The category of emissions includes those created by consumers using a company’s product, such as the CO2 released by the burning of oil and gas produced by a fossil fuel company.

ExxonMobil argued that the proposal was the same as one rejected by nearly 90 percent of company shareholders at the 2023 meeting.

Such proposals are “expensive and time-consuming to address,” said ExxonMobil, adding that the proposal “does not seek to improve ExxonMobil’s economic performance or create shareholder value,” according to the suit.

“Defendants’ overarching objective is to force ExxonMobil to change the nature of its ordinary business or to go out of business entirely,” said the lawsuit.

Soon after ExxonMobil filed the suit in federal court in Texas in January, Arjuna and Follow This withdrew the proposal.

However, ExxonMobil has persevered with the litigation, asking a federal judge to declare that the measure can be omitted from the company’s proxy statement.

US District Judge Mark Pittman last week approved a motion to dismiss the case against Netherlands-based Follow This, ruling that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the group. But Pittman permitted the suit to go forward against Arjuna.

In a May 27 letter to ExxonMobil, Arjuna managing partner Natasha Lamb rejected the oil giant’s characterization, saying her firm’s focus on climate change “is consistent with, and indeed necessary for, securing future financial success.”

Lamb pledged to refrain from further climate proposals at ExxonMobil, adding, “I expect that Exxon will now, albeit belatedly, do what justice and a respect for the rights of shareholders require and withdraw its lawsuit.”

Richest elite emit 12 times more greenhouse gases from transport than average


By Dr. Tim Sandle
May 29, 2024

Image: — © Digital Journal

A new study into pollution and environmentally-harmful emissions reveals that half of all transport emissions in Britain come from just one in five people (15 percent of the population). Plus, the worst polluting 10 per cent of the population are responsible for four tenths (42 per cent) of all transport emissions. Social class has a connection with environmental impact.

Furthermore, there is a connection related to relative wealth. People with an income over £100,000 travel, on average, at least double the distance each year of those earning under £30,000. People from more deprived neighbourhoods tend to travel significantly less and emit less greenhouse gas than those from the least deprived.

The information comes from the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research in the report Moving together: A people-focussed pathway to fairer and greener transport.

The report finds that the transport system, in terms of its environmental impact, reflects wider inequalities in society, with the highest earners the highest polluters. For example, the richest 0.1 per cent in Britain emit 22 times more from transport than low earners, and 12 times more than average.

The research also finds that men are more likely to be high emitters than women, travelling significantly further by both car and plane. Further with population data, people with a disability are likely to travel far less than those without (including by plane), and their emissions are much lower as a result.

Another measure finds that people from a non-white British ethnicity tend to travel less far and emit less. On the demographic front, those aged 35 to 64 emit the most from private transport.

Overall, the data is concerning for the UK has made limited progress over the past three decades in reducing emissions from transport, which is now the country’s largest emitting sector.

The report states that to decarbonise transport in the UK, the government must improve public transport, boost active travel and speed up the transition to electric vehicles. This must include the Committee on Climate Change and the UK government doing more to put fairness and the British public at the heart of their net zero plans.

In the conclusion to the report, the IPPR calls for new taxes on private jets and lifting the ban on municipal bus fleets, making franchising of buses easier and ensuring the rail network is run in partnership with local leaders. Furthermore, the policy group calls for reinstating the 2030 ban on the purchase of new internal combustion engine vehicles and realigning the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate behind this.

Canada’s Internet paradox: Will more Wi-Fi lower online addiction?


Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGTAL JOURNAL

May 24, 2024

More and more restaurants and coffee houses offer internet connection in a breeze for their customers. — © Digital Journal

It is estimated that 92 percent of Canada’s population are Internet users, which equates to 37.1 million Canadians being connected. As of the third quarter of 2023, Canadians spent an average of one hour and 17 minutes per day using social media and more than six hours per day using the Internet in general.

With these data comes increasing concerns over digital overuse and addiction.

How might this be tackled? Paradoxically, some argue that in this diverse and connected landscape then expanding Wi-Fi accessibility could be the optimal strategy to mitigate Internet addiction.

This argument comes from the firm ProxyScrape who put forward the notion that with Canada’s vast territories and scattered populations, comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage is crucial for economic growth and social inclusivity. However, as more areas get connected, concerns about Internet addiction also grow.

Here, it is suggested, that limited access leads to concentrated periods of online activity, and with it the intensification of addictive behaviours.

Hence, increasing Wi-Fi coverage and access, could lead to individual experiencing less compulsion to “binge connect.” The idea would be to transform Internet access from a coveted resource to a ubiquitous one. Here are some possible outcomes of widespread Wi-Fi access:

It may also turn out that continuous access could encourage more productive and educational uses of the Internet, reducing the attraction of compulsive and recreational use. The rise of technology in schools has made learning more efficient.

This could help students by making information accessible, reducing stress from repetitive tasks, and enabling faster communication with teachers, better preparing them for a tech-driven future.

Thibeau Maerevoet, CEO of ProxyScrape, tells Digital Journal: “Expanded Wi-Fi is not just about more bandwidth or faster speeds; it’s about recalibrating our relationship with digital spaces. When connectivity becomes a constant rather than a luxury, people begin to set healthier boundaries for themselves.”

To leverage increased Wi-Fi for reducing Internet addiction, Maerevoet thinks that several actionable measures can be introduced:Public Education on Healthy Internet Use: Communities need comprehensive programs on balanced Internet use.
Promote Digital Literacy: Understanding the diverse online tools and resources can transform user habits from passive consumption to active and purposeful interaction.
Encouraging Offline Communities: Building local community groups and activities that offer attractive alternatives to online entertainment.
Implement Usage Monitoring Tools: Encourage the use of apps that monitor time spent online, promoting self-awareness among users.

Employing these strategies alongside expanded Wi-Fi access could change how Canadians interact with their digital devices. Instead of compulsive scrolling sessions, users might engage in short, purposeful periods online, enhancing their awareness and control over their digital consumption, says Maerevoet.

He concludes with: “As we rethink our relationship with technology, perhaps the key lies not in reducing connections but in making them smarter, more accessible, and more integrated into a balanced lifestyle.”

Exposed to Agent Orange at U.S. bases, veterans face cancer without VA compensation

Hannah Norman, KFF Health News
May 27, 2024 

President Joe Biden greets military personnel ahead of the 'dignified transfer' ceremony for three slain US soldiers © Roberto SCHMIDT / AF

As a young GI at Fort Ord in Monterey County, California, Dean Osborn spent much of his time in the oceanside woodlands, training on soil and guzzling water from streams and aquifers now known to be contaminated with cancer-causing pollutants.

“They were marching the snot out of us,” he said, recalling his year and a half stationed on the base, from 1979 to 1980. He also remembers, not so fondly, the poison oak pervasive across the 28,000-acre installation that closed in 1994. He went on sick call at least three times because of the overwhelmingly itchy rash.

Mounting evidence shows that as far back as the 1950s, in an effort to kill the ubiquitous poison oak and other weeds at the Army base, the military experimented with and sprayed the powerful herbicide combination known colloquially as Agent Orange.

While the U.S. military used the herbicide to defoliate the dense jungles of Vietnam and adjoining countries, it was contaminating the land and waters of coastal California with the same chemicals, according to documents.

The Defense Department has publicly acknowledged that during the Vietnam War era it stored Agent Orange at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the former Kelly Air Force Base in Texas, and tested it at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base.

According to the Government Accountability Office, however, the Pentagon’s list of sites where herbicides were tested went more than a decade without being updated and lacked specificity. GAO analysts described the list in 2018 as “inaccurate and incomplete.”

Fort Ord was not included. It is among about four dozen bases that the government has excluded but where Pat Elder, an environmental activist, said he has documented the use or storage of Agent Orange.

According to a 1956 article in the journal The Military Engineer, the use of Agent Orange herbicides at Fort Ord led to a “drastic reduction in trainee dermatitis casualties.”

“In training areas, such as Fort Ord, where poison oak has been extremely troublesome to military personnel, a well-organized chemical war has been waged against this woody plant pest,” the article noted.

Other documents, including a report by an Army agronomist as well as documents related to hazardous material cleanups, point to the use of Agent Orange at the sprawling base that 1.5 million service members cycled through from 1917 to 1994.
‘The most toxic chemical’

Agent Orange is a 50-50 mixture of two ingredients, known as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Herbicides with the same chemical structure slightly modified were available off the shelf, sold commercially in massive amounts, and used at practically every base in the U.S., said Gerson Smoger, a lawyer who argued before the Supreme Court for Vietnam veterans to have the right to sue Agent Orange manufacturers. The combo was also used by farmers, forest workers, and other civilians across the country.


The chemical 2,4,5-T contains the dioxin 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD, a known carcinogen linked to several cancers, chronic conditions, and birth defects. A recent Brown University study tied Agent Orange exposure to brain tissue damage similar to that caused by Alzheimer’s. Acknowledging its harm to human health, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of 2,4,5-T in the U.S. in 1979. Still, the other weed killer, 2,4-D is sold off-the-shelf today.

“The bottom line is TCDD is the most toxic chemical that man has ever made,” Smoger said.

For years, the Department of Veteran Affairs has provided vets who served in Vietnam disability compensation for diseases considered to be connected to exposure to Agent Orange for military use from 1962 to 1975.


Decades after Osborn’s military service, the 68-year-old veteran, who never served in Vietnam, has battled one health crisis after another: a spot on his left lung and kidney, hypothyroidism, and prostate cancer, an illness that has been tied to Agent Orange exposure.

He says many of his old buddies from Fort Ord are sick as well.

“Now we have cancers that we didn’t deserve,” Osborn said.


The VA considers prostate cancer a “ presumptive condition” for Agent Orange disability compensation, acknowledging that those who served in specific locations were likely exposed and that their illnesses are tied to their military service. The designation expedites affected veterans’ claims.

But when Osborn requested his benefits, he was denied. The letter said the cancer was “more likely due to your age,” not military service.

“This didn’t happen because of my age. This is happening because we were stationed in the places that were being sprayed and contaminated,” he said.


Studies show that diseases caused by environmental factors can take years to emerge. And to make things more perplexing for veterans stationed at Fort Ord, contamination from other harmful chemicals, like the industrial cleaner trichloroethylene, have been well documented on the former base, landing it on the EPA’s Superfund site list in 1990.

“We typically expect to see the effect years down the line,” said Lawrence Liu, a doctor at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center who has studied Agent Orange. “Carcinogens have additive effects.”

In February, the VA proposed a rule that for the first time would allow compensation to veterans for Agent Orange exposure at 17 U.S. bases in a dozen states where the herbicide was tested, used, or stored.


Fort Ord is not on that list either, because the VA’s list is based on the Defense Department’s 2019 update.

“It’s a very tricky question,” Smoger said, emphasizing how widely the herbicides were used both at military bases and by civilians for similar purposes. “On one hand, we were service. We were exposed. On the other hand, why are you different from the people across the road that are privately using it?”

The VA says that it based its proposed rule on information provided by the Defense Department.


“DoD’s review found no documentation of herbicide use, testing or storage at Fort Ord. Therefore, VA does not have sufficient evidence to extend a presumption of exposure to herbicides based on service at Fort Ord at this time,” VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said in an email.

Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not on the table, Canada Post CEO says

WHO SAID IT WAS?!

CBC
Wed, May 29, 2024 

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger poses in front of an electric delivery vehicle after a news conference on the postal service’s plans to transform their fleet of 14,000 vehicles, in Ottawa, in June 2022. Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not an option Canada Post is considering, the Crown corporation’s president and CEO told MPs on Wednesday night. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)More


Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not an option Canada Post is considering, the Crown corporation's president and CEO told MPs on Wednesday night.

Canada Post has been asking for changes to its governing regulations, including around how often it has to deliver letter mail.

But Doug Ettinger told the House government operations committee that if anything, the Crown corporation needs to expand its operations to compete with private companies in package and parcel delivery.


"Even if we only deliver a letter every second day, we still have to go through the route, because to be competitive in e-commerce and parcels, we have to be there every day," Ettinger said, adding that the market is now focused on e-commerce.

"The answer to this … is we need seven-day delivery, that's what we need. We don't need fewer days."

A Canada Post spokesperson later told CBC News that the Crown corporation still wants Ottawa to change the legislation that mandates how quickly it delivers mail to make deadlines more flexible.

Crown corp. bleeding money

According to the its latest annual report, Canada Post lost a whopping $748 million pre-tax in 2023.

Ettinger said that is largely due to a widening gap between the cost of delivery and the price of postage. A lack of revenue and subsequent inability to invest in new services is Canada Post's biggest obstacle to modernizing, the CEO said.

In order for Canada Post to make changes to compete with private delivery companies, regulatory changes need to be made, Ettinger said.

"Our operating model was built … for a paper-based economy — almost pre-internet — and that is holding us back," Ettinger said.

"We are driving a 1967 Chevy in a Formula 1 race."

A Canada Post parcel delivery vehicle parks in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The crown corporation wants the federal government to re-examine its mandate that sets how often and quickly it must deliver letter mail. Canada Post lost $748 million last year, in large part due to declining revenues from letter mail and tough competition from other private parcel delivery services.More

A Canada Post parcel delivery vehicle parks in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Crown corporation wants the federal government to re-examine its mandate that sets how often and quickly it must deliver letter mail. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Unlike some other Crown corporations, Canada Post isn't taxpayer-funded. It needs to sustain itself through profits.

But many of its business practices still need to be approved by the federal government. That includes its corporate plan and the price of postage.

Ettinger pointed to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, that have been able to work out a scaled pricing approach based on a calculation of rising costs.

The minister who oversees Canada Post, Jean-Yves Duclos, has not explicitly committed to making regulatory changes in the past.

"Whatever we need to support Canada Post in supporting Canadians, it will be envisaged, as we need Canada Post in the future," Duclos said earlier this month.

Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in February 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Ettinger said Canada Post is working with the government on an updated corporate plan, but stressed that the Crown corporation needs more flexibility in order to compete.

Its annual report indicated that it could run out of money at some point within the next year. When asked how the Crown corporation's financial situation is sustainable, Ettinger replied, "It's not."

"We have to undergo substantial change. The business model … has outlived its useful life," he said.

"It is a fight. I'm not being dramatic by saying that. Our business model needs to be updated. It's done — finished — and probably has been for 10 years."