ABOUT TIME!UNIONIZE!
NLRB memo: College football players are employees

By JIMMY GOLEN

Northwestern football players gather during practice at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus in Kenosha, Wisc., in this Monday, Aug. 17, 2015, file photo. College football players and some other athletes in revenue-generating sports are employees of their schools, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in a memo Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, that would allow the players to unionize and otherwise negotiate over their working conditions. The nine-page NLRB memo revisited a case involving Northwestern University football players who were thwarted from forming a union when the board said that taking their side “would not promote stability in labor relations.”(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)

College athletes who earn millions for their schools are employees, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in guidance released Wednesday that would allow players at private universities to unionize and negotiate over their working conditions.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo also threatened action against schools, conferences and the NCAA if they continue to use the term “student-athlete,” saying that it was created to disguise the employment relationship with college athletes and discourage them from pursuing their rights.

“The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport,” Abruzzo wrote.

In a statement, the NCAA disputed the characterization of its athletes as employees and said that its member schools and conferences “continue to make great strides in modernizing rules to benefit college athletes.”

“College athletes are students who compete against other students, not employees who compete against other employees,” said the nation’s largest college sports governing body, with oversight of some 450,000 athletes. “Like other students on a college or university campus who receive scholarships, those who participate in college sports are students. Both academics and athletics are part of a total educational experience that is unique to the United States and vital to the holistic development of all who participate.”

Abruzzo’s memo does not immediately alter the dynamic between the schools and their athletes, who can receive scholarships and limited cost of attendance funding in exchange for playing sports. Instead, it is legal advice for the NLRB should a case arise.

That could be triggered by an effort by a team to unionize, a claim of an unfair labor practice or even by a school using the term “student-athlete” to mislead players about their employment status, Abruzzo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“It just perpetuates this notion that players at academic institutions are not workers that have statutory protection,” she said. “It is chilling workers’ rights to engage with one another to improve their terms and conditions of employment.”

Gabe Feldman, the director of the Tulane Sports Law Program, said the memo is “yet another threat” to the NCAA and its business model, which relies on unpaid athletes to reap billions in revenue that is distributed to its 1,200 member schools.

“All signs point to an increasingly at-risk and fragile system of college athletics,” he said.

Although football in the five largest conferences is college sports’ biggest money-maker, the memo would extend protections to all athletes who meet the legal definition of an employee: someone who performs services for an institution and is subject to its control.

The NLRB has authority only over private schools; public university athletes would have to look to state legislatures or Congress for workplace protections. But the NCAA and the conferences could be viewed as joint employers if they control some essential terms of conditions of employment, Abruzzo told the AP.

“If they’re engaged in commerce in the private sector, they are subject to that statute,” she said.

The NLRB’s new stance — which reinstates an old opinion that had been rescinded during President Donald Trump’s administration — is the latest test for the NCAA and the infrastructure of U.S. college sports.

This spring, a unanimous Supreme Court said the NCAA cannot limit education-related benefits while hinting at the end of the NCAA’s business model. A few weeks later the organization, under pressure from multiple states, cleared the way for athletes to earn money based on their celebrity.


In this Feb. 11, 2020, file photo, NCAA President Mark Emmert testifies during a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on intercollegiate athlete compensation on Capitol Hill in Washington. College football players and some other athletes in revenue-generating sports are employees of their schools, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in a memo Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, that would allow the players to unionize and otherwise negotiate over their working conditions.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Since March, the NCAA has also faced criticism over the disparity between the resources, branding and support afforded its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The organization is planning to overhaul its constitution, parts of which have been in place for a century.

Abruzzo also wrote that players across the country had engaged in collective action following the killing of George Floyd — action that “directly concerns terms and conditions of employment, and is protected concerted activity.” Players likewise banded together during the recent pandemic — both by arguing for games to go forward, and for rules to protect themselves once they did.

“Players at academic institutions have gained more power as they better understand their value in generating billions of dollars in revenue for their colleges and universities, athletic conferences, and the NCAA,” she wrote.

“And this increased activism and demand for fair treatment has been met with greater support from some coaches, fans, and school administrators. Players at academic institutions who engage in concerted activities to improve their working conditions have the right to be protected from retaliation.”

The nine-page NLRB memo revisited a case involving Northwestern football players who were thwarted from forming a union when the board in 2015 said that taking their side “would not promote stability in labor relations.”

Much has changed since then, including the collective social justice awakening and the Supreme Court’s Alston decision that Abruzzo said “clearly stated that this was a for-profit enterprise and wasn’t amateurism.”

If cases similar to the Northwestern one come before the NLRB, she said, it could be decided differently.

“I don’t think the board can or should punt,” she told the AP. “I think we have more information that they are statutory employees.”

The memo issued by Abruzzo, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, reversed a 2017 opinion by her predecessor. That memo had, in turn, rescinded a memo issued by President Barack Obama’s appointee, when Abruzzo was a deputy general counsel.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey noted that the repeated reversals and conflicting court rulings make it difficult for institutions to plan.

“Considering the resulting uncertainty and to address the many other challenges facing college athletics, we hope that Congress will step in and provide clear and uniform legal standards consistent with recent court decisions,” he said.

___

AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.

___

Jimmy Golen is a Boston-based sports writer for The Associated Press and a former Knight Journalism Fellow at Yale Law School. Follow him at https://twitter.com/jgolen

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

US stem cell clinics boomed while FDA paused crackdown UNDER TRUMP

By MATTHEW PERRONE

David Stringham holds prescription bottles at his home Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, in Provo, Utah. Stringham says undergoing a procedure for shoulder and elbow pain at a local clinic in 2018 was "the worst decision of my life" and left him in more pain. Since then, a neurologist has told Stringham he probably suffered nerve damage at the places where he was injected. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of clinics pushing unproven stem cell procedures caught a big break from the U.S. government in 2017: They would have three years to show that their questionable treatments were safe and worked before regulators started cracking down.

But when the Food and Drug Administration’s grace period expired in late May — extended six months due to the pandemic — the consequences became clear: Hundreds more clinics were selling the unapproved treatments for arthritis, Alzheimer’s, COVID-19 and many other conditions.

“It backfired,” says Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of California, Irvine. “The scale of the problem is vastly larger for FDA today than it was at the start.”

The continuing spread of for-profit clinics promoting stem cells and other so-called “regenerative” therapies — including concentrated blood products — illustrates how quickly experimental medicine can outpace government oversight. No clinic has yet won FDA approval for any stem cell offering and regulators now confront an enormous, uncooperative industry that contends it shouldn’t be subject to regulation.

Although emerging research suggests stem cells could someday have broad use for a number of medical conditions, experts say they should not be used outside of well-controlled studies or a handful of established uses. For instance, stem cells collected from blood or bone marrow have long been used to treat leukemia and other blood diseases.

Many clinics use so-called adult stem cells collected from tissue like fat or bone marrow — not the more versatile but controversial stem cells from embryos used in research.

Turner and other experts have tracked the growth of the clinics for nearly a decade. Clinics charge between $2,000 to $25,000 for adult stem cell injections and other infusions which they advertise for an assortment of diseases, including diabetes, autism, cancer, multiple sclerosis and vision problems. Some clinics use stem cells derived from fat, harvested via liposuction then reinjected into patients, aiming to repair joints or fight disease. Others use bone marrow or blood taken from umbilical cords after birth.

There is no government tally of how many clinics operate in the U.S. But Turner counted more than 1,200 of them in 2019, up from the 570 clinics he and a co-author identified in 2016. He’s working on an update but says the number has consistently grown.

The FDA has repeatedly warned Americans to steer clear of unapproved and unproven stem cell therapies, which have occasionally caused blindness, bacterial infections and tumors. During FDA’s three-plus years of “enforcement discretion,” the agency sent formal warning letters to more than a dozen businesses performing the riskiest procedures. Regulators also prevailed in a Florida court case to shutdown a major clinic offering unproven treatments. Another case against a similar prominent company is pending in California.

“It’s time to actually get the data we need,” to assess clinics’ stem cell procedures, FDA’s Dr. Peter Marks said at an industry conference in June. He pointed to a multiyear effort by FDA to help clinics through the review process.

Many stem cell doctors continue to argue that their in-office procedures are outside FDA’s purview. But FDA has concluded that processing stem cells and giving them to patients with serious diseases amounts to creating a new drug, which the agency regulates.

The FDA hasn’t disclosed how many clinics sought approval since 2017, but public comments suggest it was troublingly low.

“We have been very disappointed in the number of clinics that have come in,” FDA’s Dr. Wilson Bryan said at the same conference.

Bryan, who directs FDA’s cell therapies division, added that he is “extremely concerned” by how many stem cell and related offerings remain available.

Tracking injuries from the procedures is difficult. Drugmakers and hospitals are required to report drug-related complications to the FDA, but no such requirements exist for individual doctors. And patients often don’t know where to report problems.

David Stringham of Provo, Utah, says undergoing a procedure for joint pain at a local clinic was “the worst decision of my life.”

In 2018, Stringham was looking for an alternative to surgery for chronic pain in his right shoulder and elbows after years of weightlifting. He paid $2,400 for injections of so-called platelet-rich plasma at a clinic. It doesn’t involve stem cells but the procedure is similar: doctors take a blood sample, process it to concentrate the platelets and then reinject them into the patient’s problem areas in an attempt to speed healing.

The procedure went smoothly, but within hours Stringham was wracked by pain in his back, shoulder and arms.

“It was a crazy amount of pain and I kept calling them saying ‘something is not right,’” said the 51-year-old. ”And to this day I’m not right.”

The clinic gave Stringham medication for the pain and told him to be patient. But things didn’t improve, even after months of physical therapy. Since then, a neurologist has told Stringham he probably suffered nerve damage at the places where he was injected.

His case was included in a Pew Charitable Trusts review of 360 reported injuries from stem cell and other regenerative procedures between 2004 and 2020. Nearly all the reports came from medical journals, government publications, social media or news reports. Just five came from FDA’s database for medical injuries.

“There are a lot of holes in the safety system,” said Liz Richardson of Pew, who led the project.

The FDA didn’t clearly assert its authority over such clinics until 2017. The next year, it began sending form letters to some 400 clinics, warning that they may be violating FDA rules. But the names of the clinics haven’t been publicized, and such warnings are often ignored.

Traditional medical researchers welcome the FDA actions but say it’s impossible to gauge their effect.

“The business model is this: ’We can keep offering these products until things get serious with the FDA — and then we can just take down our website,” said Laertis Ikonomou, a stem cell researcher at the University of Buffalo.

He and other specialists say the clinics have damaged the reputation of legitimate stem cell research while also siphoning off patients who might otherwise enroll in studies.

Lawyers representing stem cell clinics say they have no choice but to resist FDA regulation.

“FDA is pushing them into this drug development pathway, which nobody is adopting because it requires a million dollars’ worth of toxicology and animal studies just to show something is safe for human use,” said Marc Scheineson, a former FDA attorney.

For now, people on both sides are waiting to see what FDA does.

“We shouldn’t feel too confident that the FDA has this wrapped up” said Turner, the bioethicist. “They really have invested some resources and they are trying to do something here but I think they’re just outmatched and overwhelmed.”

___

Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

KULTURKAMPF SOCIAL FASCISTS CALLING FOR FREEDOM

School board group asks US for help policing threats

By CAROLYN THOMPSON

 In this Aug. 12, 2021 file photo, protesters against a COVID-19 mandate gesture as they are escorted out of the Clark County School Board meeting at the Clark County Government Center, in Las Vegas. The nation's school boards are asking President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop a growing number of threats made against their members, on Thursday, Sept. 30. 

(Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

A group representing school board members around the country asked President Joe Biden on Thursday for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.

Parents and community members have been disrupting meetings and threatening board members in person, online and through the mail in a trend that merits attention from federal law enforcement agencies, the National School Boards Association said in a letter to Biden.

“Whatever you feel about masks, it should not reach this level of rhetoric,” NSBA Interim Executive Director Chip Slaven told The Associated Press by phone.

School boards around the country have been disrupted by unruly attendees out to interfere with business and silence other viewpoints.

Typically, threats toward school board members are handled by local law enforcement. But the association asked for the federal government to get involved to investigate cases where threats or violence could be handled as violations of federal laws protecting civil rights. It also asked for the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security and Secret Service to help monitor threat levels and assess risks to students, educators, board members and school buildings.

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the association wrote.

The letter documents more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption, and acts of intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other states. It cites the September arrest of an Illinois man for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly striking a school official at a meeting. In Michigan, a meeting was disrupted when a man performed a Nazi salute to protest masking.

“We are coming after you,” a letter mailed to an Ohio school board member said, according to the group. “You are forcing them to wear mask—for no reason in this world other than control. And for that you will pay dearly.”

It called the member “a filthy traitor.”

The association represents more than 90,000 school board members in 14,000 public school districts.

The threats have gone beyond board meetings.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021 file photo, community members gather inside the Dr. Karen M. Trujillo Administration Complex to give public comment against masking policy at a Las Cruces Public Schools board meeting in Las Cruces, N.M. The nation's school boards are asking President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop a growing number of threats made against their members, on Thursday, Sept. 30. (Miranda Cyr/The Las Cruces Sun News via AP, File)

In this Aug. 25, 2021 file photo, people hold signs and chant during a meeting of the North Allegheny School District school board regarding the district's mask policy, at at North Allegheny Senior High School in McCandless, Pa. The nation's school boards are asking President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop a growing number of threats made against their members, on Thursday, Sept. 30. (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP, File)

The father of an Arizona elementary school student was arrested after he and two other men brought zip ties to the campus, threatening to make a “citizen’s arrest” on the school principal over a COVID-19 quarantine.

School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, traditionally former educators and parents who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget. The current climate has led a growing number to resign or decide against seeking reelection.

Pot use by pregnant people rose during COVID-19 pandemic, study says

 

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE GET PREGNANT OTHER THAN WOMEN

By HealthDay News

Marijuana use by mothers-to-be may have increased by as much as one-quarter during the pandemic, a new study suggests.

Researchers found a substantial increase in the number of women in Northern California using pot early in their pregnancies after the pandemic emerged compared to the previous year.

"Our previous research has shown that the prevalence and frequency of prenatal cannabis use is increasing over time and that pregnant women are more likely to use cannabis if they are depressed, anxious, or have experienced trauma. It's very possible that more pregnant women are using cannabis in an attempt to self-medicate these issues during the pandemic," said lead author Kelly Young-Wolff.

She is a clinical psychologist and research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

RELATED Pot-consuming pregnant women have THC in breast milk weeks later

"The stay-at-home mandates, concerns about getting COVID-19, economic challenges, increased child-care burden, and other difficult aspects of the pandemic could contribute to pregnant women feeling more stressed and depressed during this time," Young-Wolff said in a Kaiser Permanente news release.

For the study, the researchers analyzed urine toxicology tests of more than 95,000 women having their first prenatal visit in Northern California Kaiser Permanente offices from January 2019 through December 2020.

The team compared the results to those for the 15 months prior to the pandemic.

RELATED CDC: 20% of U.S. women drink early in pregnancy

The investigators found a 25% increase in the rate of cannabis use. In the year before the pandemic, about 6.75% of pregnant women were using cannabis early in pregnancy in that area. During the pandemic, that rose to 8.14%.

The study did not differentiate among types of cannabis products used or concentrations of CBD or THC.

CBD, or cannabidiol, is the second most prevalent active ingredient in cannabis, or marijuana, but it does not cause a "high" by itself. THC is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces the high sensation.

Prenatal pot use has been associated with neurodevelopmental effects in children. It also may carry the risk of low infant birth weight, the study authors noted.

The new findings were published online this week in a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings can't prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the pandemic and greater prenatal pot use.

Still, "we need to get the word out more effectively that cannabis is not a healthy choice during pregnancy," said study co-author Dr. Deborah Ansley, regional medical director for Kaiser Permanente's Early Start prenatal health program.

"Women may be trying to manage nausea or mood problems early in pregnancy or may simply be continuing a habit from before they became pregnant. Clinicians -- and people who work in cannabis dispensaries -- need to help educate women that during pregnancy they should abstain from any type of cannabis use because of potential health risks to their babies," Ansley added.

Young-Wolff is also co-author of an editorial that was published earlier in JAMA Network Open that highlighted the need for legal and regulatory policies to protect infants and children.

She said she plans more in-depth, long-term research on use of various types of cannabis products and their health impacts on mothers and children.More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on marijuana use during pregnancy.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Fugitive former Nazi death camp secretary 'found' hours after fleeing ahead of war crimes trial

"Healthy enough to flee, healthy enough to go to jail!"

Issued on: 30/09/2021 -

Judicial officers stand in the empty court room of the Langericht Itzehoe court in northern Germany, on September 30, 2021, prior the trial of a 96-year-old former secretary for the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp. © Markus Schreiber, AFP

Authorities in Germany have located a 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary who failed to turn up for the start of her trial in Germany on Thursday, a court spokeswoman said.

Irmgard Furchner, who is charged with complicity in the murders of more than 10,000 people, "has been found", said Frederike Milhoffer, a spokeswoman for the court, adding that the judge will determine whether to remand her in custody.

Furchner had failed to turn up for the start of her trial in Germany on Thursday, the judge said earlier, issuing an arrest warrant for the "fugitive" at the dramatic hearing.

One of the first women to be prosecuted for Nazi-era crimes in decades, Furchner is charged with complicity in thousands of murders at the Stutthof concentration camp in occupied Poland.

She left her retirement home near Hamburg on Thursday morning and took a taxi to a subway station, said Frederike Milhoffer, a spokeswoman for the court in the northern German town of Itzehoe.

But she failed to turn up at the trial.

A spokeswoman for the police in Itzehoe had told AFP they were searching for Furchner and "do not know where she is".

The defendant's lawyer, Wolf Molkentin, was present in the court room but did not make a statement to journalists.

Prosecutors accuse Furchner of having assisted in the systematic murder of detainees at Stutthof, where she worked in the office of the camp commander, Paul Werner Hoppe, between June 1943 and April 1945.

The trial is taking place in a youth court as she was aged between 18 and 19 at the time.

Around 65,000 people died at the camp, not far from the city of Gdansk, among them "Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet Russian prisoners of war", according to the indictment.

After long reflection, the court decided in February that Furchner was fit to stand trial.

"Healthy enough to flee, healthy enough to go to jail!," Efraim Zuroff, an American-Israeli "Nazi hunter" who has played a key role in bringing former Nazi war criminals to trial, tweeted on Thursday.

Little time left

The planned opening of the trial in Itzehoe came one day before the 75th anniversary of the sentencing of 12 senior members of the Nazi establishment to death by hanging at the first Nuremberg trial.

It also comes a week before separate proceedings in Neuruppin, near Berlin, against a 100-year-old former camp guard.

Seventy-six years after the end of World War II, time is running out to bring people to justice for their role in the Nazi system.

Prosecutors are currently handling a further eight cases, including former employees at the Buchenwald and Ravensbrueck camps, according to the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

In recent years, several cases have been abandoned as the accused died or were physically unable to stand trial.

The last guilty verdict was issued to former SS guard Bruno Dey, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence in July at the age of 93.

Furchner is the only woman to stand trial in recent years for crimes dating to the Nazi era, as the role of women in the Third Reich has long been overlooked.

But since John Demjanjuk, a guard at a concentration camp, was convicted for serving as part of the Nazi killing machine in 2011, prosecutors have broadened the scope of their investigations beyond those directly responsible for atrocities.

Execution orders

According to Christoph Rueckel, a lawyer representing survivors of the Shoah who are party to the case, Furchner "handled all the correspondence" for camp commander Hoppe.

"She typed out the deportation and execution commands" at his dictation and initialled each message herself, Rueckel told public broadcaster NDR.

However, Furchner's lawyer told the German weekly Spiegel ahead of the trial that it was possible the secretary had been "screened off" from what was going on at Stutthof.

At least three other women have been investigated for their roles in Nazi camps, including another secretary at Stutthof, who died last year before charges could be brought.

The prosecutor's office in Neuruppin is currently looking into the case of a woman employed at the Ravensbrueck camp, according to officials at the Central Office in Ludwigsburg.

Among the women to be held to account for their actions during the Nazi era was Maria Mandl, a guard at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, who was hanged in 1948 after being sentenced to death in Krakow, Poland.

Between 1946 and 1948, in Hamburg, 21 women went on trial before a British military tribunal for their role at the Ravensbrueck concentration camp for women.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Over 2,000 health facilities shuttered in Afghanistan: Red Cross

YOU CAN'T BOMB THE TALIBAN INTO THE STONE AGE 

THEY ARE ALREADY THERE

Issued on: 30/09/2021 - 

Alexander Matheou said Afghanistan's health system is on the brink of collapse Hoshang Hashimi AFP

Kabul (AFP)

Afghanistan's health system is on the verge of collapse, a top Red Cross official warned Thursday, saying more than 2,000 health facilities had been shuttered across the conflict-ravaged country.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that a dire lack of funding was pushing Afghanistan's health system to the brink.

"People might agree to work without salaries for a few more weeks," Alexander Matheou, IFRC's Asia Pacific director, told a press conference in Kabul.

"But once medicines run out totally, if you can't switch on the lights, if you've got nothing to offer somebody who comes to your clinic, then they'll shut the doors."

Devastated by more than four decades of war, the Afghan economy has all but ground to a halt since the Taliban's takeover last month, amid sanctions and a cutoff in foreign aid.

This has taken a particularly heavy toll on the health sector, which was primarily run by NGOs with internal funding before the Taliban came to power.

"Over 2,000 health facilities have closed," Matheou told AFP at the end of a four-day visit to Afghanistan.

More than 20,000 health workers in the country were no longer working, or were working without being paid, he said.

More than 7,000 of them were women.

- Vaccines will expire -

The World Health Organization warned last week that less than a fifth of the country's health facilities remained fully functional, with two-thirds having run out of essential medicines.

This could have dire consequences, including for the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a country where only around one percent of people have received a vaccine, more than one million doses are waiting to be distributed.

They will expire by the end of the year, Matheou said.

The Afghan Red Crescent, which has been working in Afghanistan for decades including in Taliban-held areas during the insurgency, is part of the IFRC network and runs 140 primary health clinics across the country.

Afghanistan has been hit by a range of crises, from drought to mass displacement BULENT KILIC AFP

Those clinics, which have served around one million people since the start of the year, all remain fully functional and saw a surge of activity as other health facilities began closing down, Matheou said.

It comes on top of a wide range of crises stalking Afghanistan, from drought driving severe food shortages to mass displacement.

The United Nations has said more than 18 million Afghans, over half the population, is in dire need of aid, while a third are at risk of famine.

The international community has pledged $1.2 billion in humanitarian aid, but it takes time for the funds to flow.

The Geneva-based IFRC appealed Thursday for 36 million Swiss francs ($38.5 million, 33 million euros) to deliver emergency relief and recovery assistance to more than half a million people in the provinces worst affected by severe drought and displacement.

© 2021 AFP

PELE BUILDS GAIA AN ISLAND

Lava from Canaries eruption covers huge area at sea

Issued on: 30/09/2021 - 

The lava flow from the Cumbre Vieja volcano pours into the Atlantic Ocean 

Sunsets Sweden AFP

Isla de La Palma (España) (AFP)

Lava from the erupting volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands that began cascading into the ocean 36 hours ago has already covered more than 25 acres at sea, experts said Thursday.

Since it began on September 19, the dramatic eruption has forced thousands out of their homes, while lava has destroyed hundreds of houses, businesses and huge swathes of banana plantations.

The volcano spewed out rivers of lava that slowly crept towards the sea, eventually pouring into the Atlantic Ocean late on Tuesday in a flow which has not stopped.

"Estimates suggest it has already covered more than 10 hectares (25 acres)" at sea, David Calvo of the Canaries' volcanology institute Involcan told AFP, saying experts would carry out a more accurate assessment with drones in the coming hours.

Since then, the rivers of molten rock have not stopped cascading into the sea, creating a growing lava delta in what Calvo described as "a phase of stability".

"The lava is continuing to flow like a waterfall and a lava delta is forming at the base of the cliff, extending southwards," the Pevolca volcanic emergency committee said late Wednesday.


As the white-hot lava poured into the sea, it sent plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin  BURN IT MORE LIKE

Sunsets Sweden AFP

As the white-hot lava poured into the sea, it sent plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tracts, possibly causing breathing difficulties.

But fears it could affect the local population were quickly allayed as strong winds dispersed the vapours over the sea.

A spokesman for Spain's AEMET weather service on Thursday said the wind would continue to disperse the gases.

A map locating where lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano has reached the sea on the Canary Island of La Palma Tupac 

POINTU AFP

There will be "strong northeasterly winds on Thursday and Friday... that will disperse the volcanic emissions towards the sea," Ruben del Campo told AFP.

"So there will be no problem with air quality in populated areas, except in those closest to the eruption point."

- Disaster zone -

Even so, some 300 residents in the nearby town of Tazacorte have been told to stay at home to avoid any chance of inhaling the gases and a 3.5-kilometre (two-mile) exclusion zone remained in place, which also extends two nautical miles out to sea.

"Until we know that these areas are not at risk, these measures will be maintained," Pevolca's Ruben Fernandez said on Wednesday evening.

La Palma has been declared a natural disaster zone, with the lava scorching its way across 476 hectares (1,176 acres) of land, the local government said on Twitter.

It has so far destroyed 855 buildings, an increase of more than 200 in just over 24 hours, the EU's Copernicus observation programme said on Twitter.

The eruption of La Cumbre Vieja has forced some 6,000 people to flee their homes but so far, nobody has been injured or killed.

La Cumbre Vieja lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) west of the airport as the crow flies, although the lava has only spilt down the western side of the volcano.

© 2021 AFP

Volcano on Big Island of Hawaii began erupting quickly, scientists say


Officials said Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m.

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A volcano on Hawaii's Big Island started erupting on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said in an advisory that Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m., when officials with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory detected a glow in Halemaumau crater in the summit of Kilauea, indicating an eruption was in progress.

"Webcam imagery shows fissures at the base of Halemaumaua crater generating lava flows on the surface of the lava lake that was active until May 2021," the advisory said.

The volcano sits within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Island of Hawaii.

Officials said the primary issue for safety is the high levels of volcanic gas emitting from the mountain, which could "have far-reaching effects down-wind."

The eruption follows the USGS HVO observing increased earthquake activity and changes in the pattern of ground deformation at the mountain's summit.

Ken Hon, HVO scientist-in-charge, told Hawaii News Now that the eruption had a "very rapid onset" and was completely confined to Halemaumaua crater.

"Lava is basically flooding the bottom of Halemaumaua at this time but there is no real high fountaining that can be seen outside of the caldera," Hon said.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park said thousands of people have descended on the park to watch the eruption.

"Viewing lava at the summit of Kilauea is awe-inspiring. During this COVID-19 pandemic, we ask the public to recreate responsibly, maintain social distance and to wear a mask," Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a statement.

The eruption at Kilauea volcano comes a few short months after the last eruption there ceased in May. 

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanoes/Twitter

The USGS HVO has elevated the alert level for Kilauea from Watch, meaning the volcano is exhibiting heightened unrest with increased potential of eruption, to Warning as a hazardous eruption is underway.

Officials also lifted its aviation color code from Orange to Red.

The eruption comes four months after the previous eruption at Kilauea, which began in December, ended in May.

In May 2018, thousands of residents in the Puna community of Hawaii Island were urged to evacuate due to a Kilauea eruption.

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanoes/Twitter

Officials said Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanos/

Lava from La Palma eruption finally reaches the Atlantic


LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — A bright red river of lava from the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island finally tumbled over a cliff and into the Atlantic Ocean, setting off huge plumes of steam and possibly toxic gases that forced local residents outside the evacuation zone to remain indoors on Wednesday.

Provided by The Canadian Press

The immediate area had been evacuated for several days as authorities waited for the lava that began erupting Sept. 19 to traverse the 6 1/2 kilometers (four miles) to the island's edge. On the way down from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, the lava flows have engulfed at least 656 buildings, mostly homes and farm buildings, in its unstoppable march to the sea.

The meeting of molten rock and sea water finally came at 11 p.m. on Tuesday. By daybreak, a widening promontory of newborn land could be seen forming under plumes of steam rising high into the area.

Even though initial air quality reading showed no danger in the area, experts had warned that the arrival of the lava at the ocean would likely produce small explosions and release toxic gases that could damage lungs. Authorities established a security perimeter of 3 1/2 kilometers (about two miles) and asked residents in the wider area to remain indoors with windows shut to avoid breathing in any gases.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported from the island’s first eruption in 50 years, thanks to the prompt evacuations of over 6,000 people after the ground cracked open following weeks of tremors.

The flattening of the terrain as it approached the coast had slowed down the flow of the lava, causing it to widen out and do more damage to villages and farms. The local economy is largely based on agriculture, above all the cultivation of the Canary plantain.

Just before it poured down a cliff into the sea at a local point known as Los Guirres, the lava rolled over the coastal highway, cutting off the last road in the area that connects the island to several villages.

“We hope that the channel to the sea that has opened stops the lava flow, which widened to reach 600 meters (2,000 feet) at one point, from continuing to grow, because that has caused tremendous damage,” Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands regional government, told Cope radio.

Torres said his government is working to house those who have lost their dwellings. Authorities have plans to purchase over 100 currently unoccupied homes. Torres cited one village, Todoque, home to 1,400 people, which was wiped out.

La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point.

Cleaning crews swept up ash in the island’s capital, Santa Cruz, while more small earthquakes that have rumbled under the volcano for weeks were registered by geologists.

Favorable weather conditions allowed the first flight in five days to land at airport on La Palma, an important tourist destination along with its neighboring Canary islands, despite a huge ash cloud that Spain’s National Geographic Institute said reached up to seven kilometers (nearly 4 1/2 miles) high.

Laura Garcés, the director of Spain's air navigation authority ENAIRE, said she doesn't foresee any major problems for other airports on the archipelago because of the ash.

While the red tongue of lava lolled off the coast, the two open vents of the volcano continued to belch up more magma from below.

Experts say it's impossible too early to determine how long the eruption will last. Previous eruptions in the archipelago have lasted weeks, even months.

“We don’t know when this will be over,” volcano scientist Stavros Meletlidis of Spain’s National Geographic Institute told state broadcaster TVE. “Volcanos are not friends of statistics.”

___ Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Daniel Roca And Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press

#DECRIMINALIZEDRUGS

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to open 'fix rooms' for drug users

Issued on: 30/09/2021 -

French prime minister Jean Castex has given the green light for the creation of new centres in Paris where people can take drugs under medical supervision.

SELFLESSNESS

Petito’s dad: Give same attention to all missing people
By MICHAEL R. SISAK

1 of 13

Nichole Schmidt, mother of Gabby Petito, whose death on a cross-country trip has sparked a manhunt for her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, holds back tears during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, in Bohemia, N.Y. Schmidt, along with Petito's father and two stepparents, were recently tattooed in memory of their child with the words, "Let it be." (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NEW YORK (AP) — The family of slain traveler Gabby Petito on Tuesday implored the public and news media to put the same energy into helping find other missing people as they did Petito, a 22-year-old woman who vanished on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend.

Petito’s parents and stepparents spoke to reporters at a news conference in Bohemia, New York — showing off fresh tattoos based on her designs and mantra “Let it be” — as authorities in Florida continued searching for her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who is a person of interest in her disappearance and remains unaccounted for.

A lawyer for Petito’s family, Richard Stafford, renewed calls for Laundrie to turn himself in and criticized his parents for what he said was a lack of cooperation in the search that turned up Petito’s remains. The Laundries released a statement Monday saying they weren’t helping him flee.

“The Laundries did not help us find Gabby, they sure are not going to help us find Brian,” Stafford said. “For Brian, we’re asking you to turn yourself in to the FBI or the nearest law 

Petito’s body was discovered Sept. 18 in a remote area in northwestern Wyoming. A memorial service was held Sunday on Long Island, where Laundrie and Petito grew up before moving to Florida in recent years. Her family announced it was starting a foundation to support people searching for missing loved ones.



Petito’s case has led to renewed calls for people to pay greater attention to cases involving missing Indigenous women and other people of color, with some commentators describing the intense coverage of her disappearance as “missing white woman syndrome.”

Joseph Petito thanked the news media and social media for spotlighting his daughter’s disappearance, but he said all missing persons deserved the same attention.

“I want to ask everyone to help all the people that are missing and need help. It’s on all of you, everyone that’s in this room to do that,” he said, pointing to reporters and cameras in front of him. “And if you don’t do that for other people that are missing, that’s a shame, because it’s not just Gabby that deserves it.”

The search for Laundrie is also generating a frenzy, with TV personalities like Duane Chapman — known as Dog the Bounty Hunter — and longtime “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh working to track him down.

Stafford said Petito’s family welcomed everybody’s help in finding Laundrie and encouraged people with information on his whereabouts to contact the FBI or local police.

Petito was reported missing Sept. 11 by her parents after she didn’t respond to calls and texts for several days while she and Laundrie visited parks in the West.

Her death has been ruled a homicide, but authorities in Wyoming haven’t disclosed how she died pending further autopsy results. Petito’s stepfather, Jim Schmidt, said Wyoming authorities still had possession of her remains.

Petito and Laundrie posted online about their trip in a white Ford Transit van converted into a camper. They got into a physical altercation Aug. 12 in Moab, Utah, that led to a police stop, which ended with police deciding to separate the quarreling couple for the night. No charges were filed, and no serious injuries were reported.

Investigators have been searching for Laundrie in Florida, and searched his parents’ home in North Port, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Sarasota.

Last week, federal officials in Wyoming charged Laundrie with unauthorized use of a debit card, alleging he used a Capital One Bank card and someone’s personal identification number to make unauthorized withdrawals or charges worth more than $1,000 during the period in which Petito went missing. They did not say who the card belonged to.

Joseph Petito said the Gabby Petito Foundation is in the formative stages and will seek to fill in any gaps that exist in the work of finding missing people. He said they would work with organizations that helped them, like the AWARE Foundation and We Help The Missing.

“We need positive stuff to come from the tragedy that happened,” Joseph Petito said. “We can’t let her name be taken in vain.”

___

Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak

How humans and squirrels team up to collect tree seeds—and save the planet

Human gatherers of tree seeds are letting beady-eyed, bushy-tailed subcontractors take the lead

MUTUAL AID NOT OUTSOURCING

By Peter Kuitenbrouwer

September 15, 2021


American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) with a pine cone snack (NK Sanford/Alamy)

The forest’s location is secret. Chris McGee, tree seed collector, will permit only disclosure of the nearest town: Dornoch, Ont., 175 km northwest of Toronto. On a clear morning before most have awoken, McGee arrives in the plantation. Rows of red pine trees stand as silent sentinels. A red squirrel high in their branches emits what the naturalist Charles G.D. Roberts described in this magazine in 1930 as “a shrill chr-r-r-r of virulent disapproval.” McGee smiles. He sees the squirrel as an ally and a friend.

McGee steps over stone fences that date back to before tree-planting converted this field to forest. Pine resin stains his hat brim and tars the mouth of his pail. McGee’s trained ear hears (though a carpet of needles cushions its impact) the plop as each cone cut by a squirrel falls to earth. The rodents “squirrel away,” if you please, the cones in hiding places—which McGee has come here to find.

“The red squirrels—those are my workers,” says McGee, who by day is a recruiter in the aerospace industry. “Those are my buddies. I can’t get up an 80-foot pine tree to get those cones. You have to train the eye to see the caches. They are masters of hiding.”

Seed collector Chris McGee out prospecting different types of trees in anticipation for seed picking in the fall on June 25, 2021. (Photo by Carlos Osorio)

To mitigate climate change, the Trudeau Liberals pledged in 2019 to plant two billion trees in a decade. Trees sequester carbon and thus cool the planet. Enacting this campaign promise will require many tree planters. But tree planters need seedlings, and seedlings grow from seeds. Toiling in anonymity are the resupply forces of reforestation campaigns, the tree seed collectors, and their frequent partners, the red squirrels.

“We are the first link in the chain,” says McGee, one of the province’s independent, certified tree seed collectors. The collectors supply seed to tree nurseries to grow seedlings. The seedlings then go to tree planters. McGee notes of seed buyers: “If they don’t get good seed, what are they going to do?” But now, with hotter summers and farmers clearing woodlots, McGee and others warn that seed collection is increasingly difficult.

Chris and his brother Colin are fourth-­generation collectors. Trees produce seed on cycles of up to five years; the brothers succeed because they know where and when to look. Like the squirrels, they are ruthless about keeping secrets. On forms he submits with seeds for payment, Chris leaves blank the space labelled “UTM/GPS coordinates,” and indicates only the nearest town.

MORE: The sense of urgency around climate change is trending up

The McGees’ late uncle Bob, who loved to dole out nicknames, included the squirrels as family and called all squirrels “Sid.” The name stuck. “I am hoping Sid has them down at the end,” McGee says as he walks deeper into the forest. “He has his favourite spot. It’s like an Easter egg hunt. The little kid in us comes out.” (Canadian researchers in a 1987 paper called squirrels “detrimental to forestry” but hard to control. How should one gather tree seed? “Collecting cones already harvested by squirrels is probably the most practical approach.”)

Collectors have other tricks. For red and silver maple, they set out during spring in the still air of dawn or dusk, spread tarps under a tree, climb a ladder and bang the branches with a pole. For pea-sized tamarack cones, in August they ascend ladders in mosquito-infested swamps. Collectors check seeds for viability, too; for example, they “float” acorns in water. An acorn that floats is infertile. Collectors also scout forests every year in spring and summer to assess tree flowers and gauge future seed crops.

The job pays poorly and is getting harder. A hotter climate means some years pine cones open and disperse their seeds before the squirrels can cut them, notes Mark McDermid, seed and stock coordinator at the non-profit Forests Ontario. Southern Ontario counts fewer forests, too, laments Paul Richardson, owner of Pineneedle Farms tree nursery in Pontypool, Ont., northeast of Toronto.

RELATED: Have Guelph’s delightful ‘fairy doors’ become a forest plague?

One spring day, Richardson bought 20 litres of silver maple keys from McGee and planted them the same day. “Without seed pickers,” he says, “our industry ends.” Asked about Trudeau’s tree-planting promise, he says, “Two billion trees—it’s a lot.” Adds McGee: “It’s cool to say, ‘Let’s plant two billion trees.’ But the collectors are aging.”

McGee often collects seeds for Forests Ontario, which, with its partners, has planted over 34 million trees across Canada since 2008 and owns about 205 million seeds in cold storage. In his car on the day he visits the pine plantation, McGee carries a Forests Ontario purchase order for seven hectolitres of red pine cones, at $225 per hectolitre (a tight fit in a large potato sack). It’s not much: after five hours, he nets one bucket of cones, worth $40.

Climate change has buffeted the seed collectors’ workplace, bringing on invasive insects, ticks, drought, volatile weather. Tree planting can mitigate these threats. While McGee applauds the ambition of Trudeau’s planting target, he says the PM “probably doesn’t understand the challenging nature of collecting the kind of seed that they are going to need.”

The viability of tree-planting pledges relies on adequate compensation for seed collectors. In this regard we can learn from McGee, who is scrupulous about rewarding his own furry, four-legged subcontractors. Along with buckets and burlap bags to transport cones, McGee carries bags of peanuts, sunflower seeds and “floated” acorns—not viable as seeds but still tasty to a squirrel. He replaces the cones he takes with other food. “I would never rob from them,” he says. “They are doing all the work.”

THE MOMENT
I ran away from the Kamloops Residential School. This is where I hid.


On his 16th birthday, Ron Ignace's residential school allowed him go into town unsupervised. He didn't go back, instead hiding in his aunt and uncle's house. 'That was the best damn decision I ever made in my life.'


By Ron Ignace

September 29, 2021

Once a welcome shelter, the house where Ignace’s aunt and uncle let him stay has fallen into ruin

 (Ron Ignace)

I was born in a rural community. We’d be out riding horses, picking berries, working in the garden. We had about three generations living together. I was taken away and placed in residential school at eight or nine years old. When I walked through the front doors, it freaked me out, and I gave a primal scream like no other, knowing that my old life, I would never see again. And that’s what happened. Life in residential school was horrific—strappings from priests, every excuse they got. I wound up in the hospital with rickets because of the diet.

On your 16th birthday, the school allowed you to go into town unsupervised. I went and ran across my aunt and uncle. I spent the day with them and was really happy. At the end of the day, they said, “We’ll give you a ride back.” As we started driving back, I told my uncle, “Keep on—don’t stop.” So I went to their house and hid. Anybody that would come over, no matter who it was, I would run and hide. I stayed for two months, until the school year ended in June. That was the best damn decision I ever made in my life.

I later came back to my village. The family I had left behind, many of them had died. Many had left the community. Our home was dilapidated. The once-thriving agricultural economy was no longer there. Residential school led to the destruction of our community—not only to the person, but to the community, to the family and to our nation.

This story was told to Michael Fraiman by Ron Ignace, who is a former chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band and was recently appointed federal commissioner of Indigenous languages

The PPC got more than 800,000 votes, and that should worry all of us

Pam Palmater: The election result is yet another sign that Canada is becoming fertile ground for far-right groups

OPINION
By Pam Palmater

September 21, 2021

(Lars Hagberg/CP)

Pamela Palmater is a Mi’kmaw lawyer and the chair in Indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

The Liberals held a snap election in the middle of a pandemic, rolling the dice to gain a majority government, and they lost. Although the votes are still being counted, 320 of the 338 seats have been confirmed, and while the Liberals held on to their minority government status, they look to only gain one additional seat. At an approximate cost of $610 million dollars—which does not include the costs borne by Canadians to travel to their voting station or arrange child care while they stood in line for hours—this election, by any measure, cost far more than it was worth. However, the results did reveal a growing threat to public safety that has been largely unaddressed—the rise of far-right groups who have used the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic to gain support.


READ: The revenge of Maxime Bernier

While most political analysts were focused on whether the Liberals would hold on to their minority government, something else was happening throughout election night: the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) popular vote count continued to rise. In fact, they more than doubled the votes for the Green Party. In 2019, the PPC had almost 300,000 votes. But this election, at last count, the current total is more than 800,000—more than double that of two years ago. While none of the candidates in the PPC—not even leader Maxime Bernier—has won a seat, the party has been able rally the angry anti-maskers and those opposed to pandemic health measures under their far-right umbrella. A closer look at some of those who’ve joined the party include those who were rejected by the Conservative party or gained some degree of notoriety from racist rhetoric, or are opposed to pandemic health protections. And almost a million Canadians support them.

Although the rise of far-right populist rhetoric and groups is not unique to Canada, the federal government has been largely silent about the public safety risk it poses to Canadians—especially Black, Indigenous, and racialized people and women. Hate crimes have increased by 37 per cent in the last year and the proliferation of online hate groups in Canada is of particular concern. According to recent international studies, Canadians are among the most active in online right-wing extremism, which includes spreading racist, white supremacist and misogynistic views, and plotting acts of violence. While the United States has received the bulk of media attention for the rise in far-right ideology and violence in their country, the disturbing fact is, that Canada produces more far-right online content per web user than any other country. The violent inclinations, and ability to wield social media to recruit and radicalize younger Canadians, must be understood more broadly than the current lens of trying to address individual hate crimes: this is a group mentality.


READ: Same old balance in Parliament, same old question: Whither the NDP?

The PPC platform contained just the right combination of commitments to speak to those with far-right ideologies, anti-Indigenous views, pandemic gripes and pro-gun attitudes, including their promises to maximize freedom of expression (allow more hate speech); cut funding to universities if they silence those espousing hateful views; cut funding for CBC; cut funding for foreign aide; and lower the number of immigrants and stop the flow of refugees into Canada.

Beneath the surface of these promises are deeply embedded racist views against non-white people which would be bolstered by their plan to repeal multiculturalism laws and cut funding for multiculturalism with a view to forcing integration into Canadian society and culture. This together with the party’s promise to end the ban on military style weapons, is a recipe for disaster that appears to be gaining traction in Canada. While some may see individual incidents of Proud Boys and other white supremacist groups as one-off incidents, we know they are part of a larger phenomenon that is loosely rallying around the PPC. This Liberal minority government must look beyond the politics of the vote count and the fact that neither Bernier nor any of his candidates won any seats and consider carefully at what 800,000 votes for the PPC means in terms of far-right organizing and to public safety in the future.

Beyond, Impossible join crowded plant-based chicken market

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

September 27, 2021

1 of 7

Nathan Foot, R&D chef at Impossible Foods, takes its new meatless nuggets out of a deep fryer in the company’s test kitchen on Sept. 21, 2021 in Redwood City, Calif. The plant-based nuggets taste are designed to taste like chicken. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods found success with realistic plant-based burgers. Now, they’re hoping to replicate that in the fast-growing but crowded market for plant-based chicken nuggets.

Beyond Meat said Monday that its new tenders, made from fava beans, will go on sale in U.S. groceries in October. Walmart, Jewel-Osco and Harris Teeter will be among the first to offer them.

Impossible Foods began selling its soy-based nuggets this month at Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and other groceries. They’ll be in 10,000 stores by later this year.

The rival startups, both based in California, helped redefine what plant-based burgers could be. Beyond burgers were the first to be sold in grocery aisles next to conventional meat in 2016; Impossible burgers joined them a few years later.

But this time, Beyond and Impossible will be stacked in freezers already bursting with plant-based chicken options. More than 50 brands of plant-based nuggets, tenders and cutlets are already on sale in U.S. stores, according to the Good Food Institute, which tracks plant-based brands.

Some, like Morningstar Farms and Quorn, have been making plant-based meat for decades. But Beyond and Impossible have also spawned a host of imitators making realistic products marketed to omnivores, not just vegans and vegetarians. Fifteen percent of those 50 brands were new to the U.S. market in 2020, like Nuggs, from New York startup Simulate, and California’s Daring Foods.

They’re all trying to grab a slice of the plant-based market, which is still dwarfed by the conventional meat market but growing fast. U.S. sales of frozen, plant-based chicken tenders and nuggets jumped 29% to $112 million in the 52 weeks ending Aug. 28, according to Nielsen IQ. Sales of conventional frozen tenders and nuggets rose 17% to $1.1 billion in the same period.






Globally, retail sales of meat substitutes are expected to grow 2% to 4.6 million metric tons between 2021 and 2022, according to the market research firm Euromonitor. Processed animal meat sales are expected to stay flat in the same period, at 18.9 million metric tons.

Tom Rees, an industry manager with Euromonitor, said plant-based meat sales were already growing before the coronavirus hit. In Euromonitor surveys, nearly a quarter of consumers worldwide say they are limiting meat intake for health reasons.

But the pandemic gave plant-based meat a boost as consumers looked for new things to cook at home. Rees said meat shortages and coronavirus outbreaks at meat production facilities also made consumers think twice about the animal meat market.

Meat or no meat, breaded nuggets aren’t exactly a health food. One serving of Beyond’s chicken tenders have 12 grams of fat, 450 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of protein and 210 calories. Impossible’s nuggets have 10 grams of fat, 320 milligrams of sodium, 10 grams of protein and 200 calories. By comparison, a similar size serving of Pilgrim’s chicken nuggets contains 14 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein, 460 milligrams of sodium and 220 calories.

Impossible Foods Vice President of Product Innovation Celeste Holz-Schietinger said it was important to start with plant-based burgers because beef production is a bigger contributor to climate change. But Impossible spent the past year developing the plant-based tenders as part of a goal is to replace all animal agriculture with more sustainable alternatives by 2035.

Beyond Meat has been experimenting with chicken for even longer. The El Segundo, California-based company launched chicken strips in 2012. But it pulled them from the market in 2019, citing the need to devote more manufacturing capacity to its burgers.

Unlike the new fava bean-based tenders, Beyond’s burgers are made with pea protein. Beyond President and CEO Ethan Brown said the company has spent more than a decade researching various protein sources and their attributes and doesn’t want to limit itself to just one.

Dariush Ajami, Beyond’s chief innovation officer, said mimicking the fibrous texture and fat distribution in chicken was the biggest challenge with the new tenders. The company is still far from perfecting a plant-based chicken breast or a marbled steak, but has 200 scientists and engineers working on it, he said.

“The goal is to reduce that gap between our product and animal meat,” he said.

There’s also a price gap. Beyond Meat’s suggested retail price for an 8-ounce package is $4.99, while Impossible’s 13.5-ounce package costs $7.99. Tyson Foods sells a 2-pound bag of chicken nuggets at Walmart for $5.76.

But it’s clear many people are eager to try plant-based foods. In July, Panda Express quickly sold out of Beyond Meat orange chicken in a trial run at locations in Los Angeles and New York. Panda Express says it’s exploring a wider rollout of the product, which was specially developed for the brand.

Jasmine Alkire recently tried Beyond Meat orange chicken at a Panda Express in Los Angeles. Alkire became a vegetarian seven years ago, but the Beyond chicken tasted similar to the orange chicken she grew up eating.

“It was flavorful and didn’t have a weird aftertaste or off-putting texture,” she said.

For now, Beyond Meat has several advantages. It has partnerships with big brands like KFC and McDonald’s and has already opened its first manufacturing plant in China, where Impossible’s products aren’t yet sold.

Impossible is still waiting for regulatory approval to sell its burgers in Europe and China because they contain genetically modified ingredients. But Impossible’s chicken doesn’t contain those same ingredients. Both companies plan to sell their chicken overseas.

Impossible is confident that consumers will gravitate to its nuggets. In company taste tests, it found that most consumers preferred its product to actual chicken.

“It’s better for you, its better for the environment and it tastes better than the animal,” said Impossible Foods President Dennis Woodside. “So we think that’s a pretty strong value proposition.”

Other brands insist they’ll defend their turf. Morningstar Farms, the current plant-based poultry sales leader in the U.S., launched a separate brand called Incogmeato in 2019 with products that closely replicate meat.

Sara Young, the general manager of plant-based proteins at Kellogg Co., which owns Morningstar, said the brand has the biggest product portfolio and the highest repeat-buyer rate in the plant-based category.

“We’ve been at this for a long time,” she said.

___

Terence Chea contributed from Redwood City, California.