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improve short sightedness

Letters to the Editor for Sept. 13, 2013 | ABC Newspapers

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County not short-sighted

To the Editor:

On reading “County Vote Short-Sighted” in your paper submitted by Ed Burns, I, and many of us, hold an opposite view.

We, taxpayers of Anoka County, are relieved that this county has rejected the new Minnesota law which allows each county to double the fee that Minnesota citizens pay on a wheelage tax (your vehicle  registration fee).

This Anoka County Board also eliminated the existing wheelage tax fee entirely!

This Anoka County Board (for the past three years) continues to live within the confines of taxes collected.

As a result of five current county board members being fiscally responsible, Anoka County taxpayers pay less taxes each of these years.

These commissioners are spending less to maintain the county’s general welfare. (Well beyond the good roads and law enforcement which are basic and necessary to Anoka County citizens.)

These five commissioners have established efficiencies and cost savings which have put Anoka County on a sound financial foundation.

To Mr. Burns, I suggest that he take note of the increasing numbers of bankruptcies filed by certain American city and county governments. Detroit, Mich., is one of the latest(and largest) such bankruptcy filing.

City leaders in Blaine allow spending beyond money received. Minneapolis, St. Paul, Coon Rapids and the city of Anoka apparently need LGA money to exist.

Our state is controlled by elected persons who do not understand the current Minnesota and U.S. economic phenomenon, i.e. the dangers of a cheapening dollar, the unreformed therefore uncontrollable large banks, an aging population, a growing income disparity, the lowering hourly wage and our chronic unemployment (especially of people under the age of 30).

If our cities and counties continue to sucker for every new stadium, every new park (or every new park improvement?), for every new light-rail corridor and for every fast-talking con-artist, our highways will continue to be under-built and over-used, our pension funds will be even less able to meet retiree obligation… and Mr. Burns, maybe  only Anoka County and the state of Wisconsin will survive the coming fiscal debacle.

Jerome Petron
Blaine

Voting rights are gutted

To the Editor:

As the summer heat began to build in Washington D.C., the US Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision which gutted key components of the monumental Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965.

The decision in the case of Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder erased fundamental protections against racial discrimination in voting that have been effective for more than 40 years and opened the floodgates for a wave of attacks on voters.

Only strong action from Congress can fix the court’s mistake.

Before the ink was even dry on the decision, several states rushed to implement racially-discriminatory, anti-voter laws, including several states where the League of Women Voters had previously succeeded in blocking voter restrictions in the courts and state legislatures.

Sadly, this is only the beginning. Without a strong VRA, our ability to fight off anti-voter legislation and keep our elections free, fair and accessible is significantly weakened.

As we approach the 48th anniversary of this historic civil rights legislation, the VRA remains an essential protection against the thinly veiled discrimination that still threatens Americans’ right to vote.

Congress needs to move swiftly to overcome this decision and restore the effectiveness of the VRA.

The Shelby decision is a call to action for all who believe all Americans should have fair and equal access to the ballot.

Now is the time to contact your member of Congress and tell him or her to repair the VRA before any more damage is done.

Katherine Whelchel
Anoka/Blaine/Coon Rapids chapter, League of Women Voters

Keep book in library

To the Editor:

I am writing to express concern about efforts to remove “Eleanor & Park” from the A-H Rock the Book summer read program curriculum and all Anoka-Hennepin school libraries.

I understand that the book has been challenged because of objections to profanity and subject matter.

I strongly feel this book should be kept in the curriculum and libraries and the freedom to read should be upheld for all students in our community.

The views of those seeking removal of the book are not shared by all.

The challengers have no right to impose their views on others or to demand that the educational program reflect their personal preferences.

If parents do not want their children to read a particular book, then they are free to request an alternative assignment.

But they may not infringe on the rights of others to read the book or to tell other parents what their children may read in school.

In addition, removing the book will only teach children to remain silent instead of asking questions for fear of addressing “offensive” or “inappropriate” topics.

They will learn that the way to deal with difficult speech is to avoid it, and that fear and ignorance supersede the quest for knowledge.

Reading is the safest way for kids to learn about the world in which they are growing up and to help them anticipate real-life problems.

Michele Behnke-Nead
Coon Rapids

The news wants a war

To the Editor:

News and war date back all the way to the USS Maine and William Randolph Hearst. Hearst stated, “You furnish the war, I will furnish the pictures”… and yellow journalism began.

The news and certain politicians want to begin a war… boots on ground… send our men and women into hell once again like Bush did, never finding his supposed war bombs.

Just repeat history, Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and more…. Why??? Because the news wants a war.
Which politician owns part of a news station like Hearst and McKinley did?

Laurie Olmon
Military wife
Nowthen

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Aeroscraft begins flight testing following FAA certification – Gizmag

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After a 70-year absence, it appears that a new rigid frame airship will soon be taking to the skies over California. Aeros Corporation, a company based near San Diego, has received experimental airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin flight testing the Aeroscraft airship, and it appears that the company has wasted no time getting started.

Aeros has provided these photographs of the Aeroscraft airship outside undergoing tethered testing on Saturday, September 7, 2013, and they clearly show the airship off the ground and under control. The large bag structures under airship are landing pads, a type of inflated hovercraft skirt that allow the airship to rest on the ground – or water, or ice – without wheels.

Speaking to Gizmag, company Communications Director John Kiehle says that the first untethered test flight will be “very soon – within a few weeks” and should see the airship fly around the airfield at a height of about 100 ft (33 m). First flights will not include operating the Aeroscraft’s trademark variable buoyancy system, but that system has been successfully tested inside the large hangar where the airship was built at Tustin, California.

President of Aeros Corporation, Igor Pasternak, announced the FAA approval on September 5: “I’d like to personally thank the Aviation Safety Inspectors Cindy Napolitano and Kurt Krumlauf at the FAA for their professionalism and effective collaboration with Aeros over these many months.”

The company also announced the flight test crew for first flights of the airship. Chief test pilot will be 40-year airship veteran Corky Belanger, who has flown just about every airship available. The co-pilot is retired four-star General Raymond Johns, former head of the Air Force Mobility Command. Also on the flight will be someone with a personal stake in the operation – Aeros CEO Igor Pasternak will take on the duties of Flight Engineer.

The Aeroscraft has been under development since 2006, and the US Government has contributed some $35M for research, along with expertise in aerodynamics and control systems from NASA.

The impressive Aeroscraft prototype is 266 ft (79 m) long and 97 ft (29.5m) wide and nearly fills a football field or soccer pitch. It is powered by three swiveling engines – two on the sides and one in the back – that provide both lift and thrust to lift the airship into the air and propel it forward. The rear engine gives control at low airspeeds by pushing the tail around, side to side or up and down. Two sets of wing-like control surfaces are mounted fore and aft, and two large rudders push up vertically from the tail end. These aerodynamic surfaces are used at higher speeds (above 20 mph / 30 kph). As big as this airship is, it is still a one-half scale prototype – the final design is expected to be more than 400 feet (121m) long and be able to lift a cargo weight of 66 tons.

The Aeroscraft is a fully rigid airship, of the type that has not been seen in the air since 1940 when the highly successful airship Graf Zeppelin was retired after flying over one million safe air miles and making 144 trips across the ocean. A rigid airship has a stiff outer frame that maintains its aerodynamic shape regardless of the amount of helium inside the ship. This is different from the more common blimp, where the shape of the airship must be maintained by the internal pressure of the gases inside the envelope. As with all modern airships, the lifting gas inside the large hull is helium, an inert element that cannot burn.

The Aeroscraft airship was designed from the start to haul cargo, and it needed to solve a problem that has prevented airships to be used for cargo in the past: the problem of ballast. Airships are basically balloons with motors and steering, and like balloons, the helium gas inside provides a fixed amount of lift all of the time. If you picked up 10 tons in an airship and delivered it to a remote location, before the 10 tons could be removed from the airship, 10 tons of other weight must be added in order to prevent the airship from rocketing skyward from the extra 10 tons of lift. You could dump a lot of helium overboard, but that gets very costly, as helium is an expensive, non-renewable resource that is found under the ground in natural gas wells.

What the engineers at Aeroscraft have done to compensate for this problem is to take a lesson from submarines. The Aeroscraft airship can compress a certain amount of its lifting gas and put it into fabric tanks, under pressure. The density of the compressed gas is higher so that it is no longer lighter than air, and therefore this airship, unlike any of its predecessors, can change its buoyancy. The company calls this system COSH, an acronym for “Control of Static Heaviness.”

This ability adds another benefit: reducing the ground crew. Since blimps and other airships are always close to neutrally buoyant, they are in fact always flying. To land an airship, a large ground crew comes out to catch ropes and hold it down until it can be attached to something – usually a mast anchored in the ground or connected to a very heavy truck. This ballet of ground handling can take a crew of up to 20 people for even a small airship … and the Aeros is not small.

With the Aeroscraft, the crew starts up a pumping system as it nears landing, which begins to compress the gas in the gas cells, making the craft heavier. The engines on either side power up to compensate, and by the time the vehicle touches down, it is quite a bit heavier than air and will stay in place on its own. The pumps continue to compress helium as cargo is removed and the craft remains heavy as long as it’s on the ground. When it is once again time for takeoff, a proper amount of helium is released from the tanks back into the gas cells, meaning the airship becomes lighter and the engines can easily lift it off the ground in a vertical take-off.

Blimps contain smaller gas bags inside their main envelope, called ballonets (French for “little balloons”) that are filled with air, and the crew can adjust the pressure in the envelope as the airship climbs and descends. As an airship climbs, the outside air pressure reduces, and the helium inside expands. The crew releases air from the ballonets to maintain the shape of the blimp.

Rigid airships do not have ballonets. Instead they have a series of gas cells inside the rigid frame that can expand and contract independently, and thus have more volume of helium to work with. The frame itself has weight, however, and must be balanced by more helium, which is why airships like the Aeroscraft are so large.

The rationale for bringing back this type of airship relates to its ability to deliver heavy, outsized cargo to remote locations without needing an airport to land at. Communities in locations like Alaska, the north of Canada, Africa, and the Australian outback are rich in minerals but lacking in infrastructure. It is the vision of Pasternak and his crew that the Aeroscraft will transform the delivery of cargo to mines, wind farms and oil fields in remote areas like these.

Source: Aeros

State looking to shrink the pool of students requiring extra help …

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When state test scores were released last month, the huge drops in proficiency meant that thousands of additional failing city students now qualify for extra help mandated by the state. But state officials are working to ensure the number of students requiring those services doesn’t change dramatically.

The state education department will ask the Board of Regents to change regulations requiring schools to give extra support to all students who score a level 1 or 2 on state reading and math exams, according to a memo sent by deputy state education commissioner Ken Slentz last week. Last year’s tougher, Common Core-aligned tests meant that just 26.4 percent of city students cleared that bar in reading, and 29.6 percent did in math.

The rest of the students in grades 3-8 now qualify for Academic Intervention Services: additional instruction, student support like counseling and study skills help, or both. The state is proposing that AIS only be required for students with raw scores below a threshold that, for most grades and subjects, is equivalent to last year’s passing mark. (You can compare 2013 scores and 2012 scores by percentile here.) Those shifts would keep the number of students requiring academic intervention relatively steady, which is what the Regents did in 2010 to keep AIS stable when cutoffs were adjusted.

An analysis by Dennis Atkinson, a data expert with the Western New York Regional Information Center, showed that districts in that part of the state would see their students eligible for AIS in reading jump about 3 percentage points and stay flat in math if the proposed cutoffs were adopted this year.

In the memo, Slentz said those adjustments would make sure services like AIS “remain relevant and appropriate.” But the changes also raise questions about the purpose of academic intervention, and a new scoring system, if the state is essentially converting to last year’s scale to determine who gets a boost.

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How school districts in western New York would see their AIS-eligible populations change, if the state’s proposed changes go into effect this year, according to Atkinson.

“We certainly welcome the department for providing the flexibility for districts,” said Bob Lowry, deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. ”But there are superintendents who will say, ‘We have an obligation to provide the extra help to any students who are not meeting standards.’ Some also expect that they will have parents beating down the door to make sure their kids get more help.”

The state’s proposed cutoffs for AIS fall in the middle of this year’s level 2 range for most grades and subjects. The proposed score of 297 on a 100-425 scale for fifth grade reading, for example, would mean that all students who scored a level 1 and about a quarter of those who scored a level 2 would qualify for AIS this year.

But for a few tests, like fifth and seventh grade math, not even all of this year’s level 1 scorers will qualify for extra help.

Tomkins said it was short-sighted to think that means the state isn’t taking the new standards seriously. “It assumes that the only way ‘up’ from the baseline is remediation when in fact the only true way ‘up’ is through improved, Common Core-aligned instruction based on effective and specific feedback from observers and based on data from thoughtfully implemented assessments which are given throughout the year,” he said. “That said, educators are going to provide interventions to those kids who most need it.”

Slentz sent that message in his memo as well. “As you know, while remediation for students who are struggling the most is critical, implementation of the Common Core requires key shifts in classroom instruction,” he wrote.

The city has allocated $650 million in AIS funding to schools this year, according to DOE spokesperson Erin Hughes, and in anticipation of the more difficult tests allocated another $10 million for support for students who scored a level 1 but were not identified for summer school. ”We are reviewing the State’s memo to determine the implications for AIS funding for future years and plan to release guidance in the coming months,” Hughes said.

Especially in middle schools, funds for AIS can make up a sizable chunk of a school’s budget. Principals use that money in a variety of ways: to pay for additional teachers who focus on core skills with smaller groups of students, before- or after-school programs, or additional counselors or social workers.

The immediate changes are up to the Board of Regents, which will vote on the emergency measure during its Sept. 16 meeting.

Canadian government examined limiting refugees with health …

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MONTREAL – The federal government has examined setting limits on the number of refugees that Canada takes in with health problems, such as trauma from torture.

Staff at Citizenship and Immigration Canada were asked last year to suggest ways to cut down on the number of “high needs” refugees in order to reduce strain on the health-care system, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

That request came from former immigration minister Jason Kenney, who is still the Conservatives’ minister responsible for multiculturalism.

He was eventually given a series of options including a cap on refugees with health problems — such as “developmental delay, blindness, victims of trauma and torture” — allowed from within a specific population group, according to one memo.

There were concerns such a change might create a public-relations problem.

Canadians might consider it an abdication of the country’s efforts to help the world’s most vulnerable, according to the 2012 memo.

“Implementing quotas for refugees with these needs could be perceived as a reversal of Canada’s humanitarian tradition,” says the memo, signed last Dec. 11 by a top official in the immigration department, Neil Yeates.

“Vulnerable refugees would be disproportionately affected, as vulnerability within refugee populations is often tied to health and mobility issues.”

Another option suggested was to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to change the definition of a “medical case referral,” in order to curb the number of refugee arrivals with “serious medical needs.”

Those proposals are now coming to light amid a major overhaul to Canada’s refugee policies, affecting everything from which refugees the country accepts to how claims are processed.

Starting in 2013-14, Ottawa will shift away from a global resettlement program to focus on between three and five specific refugee populations.

The Conservatives have, meanwhile, faced criticism for last year’s cuts to health services provided to refugees and refugee claimants. Doctors and refugee advocates argue that the move is short-sighted and puts the most vulnerable at risk.

The cost of the refugee health-care program had climbed to $82.9 million in 2011-12, from $48.3 million in 2006-07, Citizenship and Immigration statistics show.

It’s unclear whether the idea of health quotas remains under consideration.

Kenney was advised to give a response by Jan. 2, 2013, to the memo, which is heavily redacted. Chris Alexander took over Kenney’s ministerial post in the July cabinet shuffle.

A spokeswoman at Citizenship and Immigration, Andrea Khanjin, would neither confirm nor deny whether the federal government had chosen to pursue one of the options laid out in the memo.

“I can tell you that our Conservative government will continue to give refuge to the most vulnerable populations,” Khanjin said in an email.

“Canada welcomes one out of every 10 refugees resettled around the world, more than almost any other country in the world.”

The memo says Canada accepts 10 per cent of all medical cases referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — more than any country except the United States.

That memo is one in a series prepared for Kenney that propose changes to ensure refugees selected to live in Canada are healthier, more easily integrated, and allow for efficient processing.

The new approach marks a drastic shift — away from responding to the needs of refugees toward more self-serving aims, says one refugee advocacy group.

Economic benefits and cost-cutting are being prioritized over the humanitarian concerns of the world’s most vulnerable, said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“What we seem to be seeing is that everything is being subsumed under the overall objective of serving Canada’s economic needs,” she said in an interview.

“They’re evaluating refugees on the basis of which ones are going to be best for Canada’s economy.”

According to the memo, Kenney had asked the department to come up with a way to manage the number of refugees arriving with health problems as part of a “larger strategy to improve refugee outcomes.”

There’s apparently another factor influencing Canada’s refugee efforts: federal foreign-policy goals.

A proposal to resettle 5,000 refugees out of Ankara would complement “Canada’s efforts to build a bilateral relationship with Turkey,” said a memo dated Oct. 30, 2012.

The same memo shows that Ottawa’s move to narrow its focus to three to five populations went against the wishes of the UNHCR, which manages refugees internationally.

“UNHCR would prefer Canada not move away from its global approach,” the document said.


eHealthNews.eu Portal | European Health Award 2013: Six …

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Six cutting-edge projects are in the running for the prestigious €10,000 European Health Award 2013, sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and FOPI, which brings together Austria’s research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The winner will be chosen by a panel of leading health experts, and announced during the 16th EHFG conference, being held in the Gastein Valley from the 2nd to 4th October.


The European Health Award honours projects and initiatives aiming to improve public health or health care in Europe. Important criteria are that more than one European country should be involved in the project, that the results are transferable to other states, that the project addresses a significant health threat and that it directly benefits a substantial portion of the population or relatively large patient groups.


“The point of this award is to encourage not just intelligent, workable initiatives but ideas that lend themselves to effective trans-national cooperation,” Prof Helmut Brand, President of the International Forum Gastein, said today. “At this year’s European Health Forum Gastein the focus is on how we can best ensure that our future health systems are adaptable, responsive and open to new approaches and ideas. The European Health Award contributes to this theme by rewarding and highlighting projects that are original, timely and breaking new boundaries in their attempts to improve health in Europe.” The European Health Award, together with the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), is aimed at encouraging such an approach. “In healthcare there is always a risk of making short-sighted cuts instead of managing overlaps and inefficiency. The shortlisted projects have identified problems of healthcare delivery or significant threats to population health, and are directly addressing issues such as efficiency, quality of care and access to care that are so important to ensure our health systems are resilient and innovative” explained Prof Brand.


The European Health Award was established in 2007 by Honorary President and EHFG founder Prof Günther Leiner. Prof Leiner stressed that promoting trans-border cooperation in health policy had been a key motivating factor behind establishing the award: “Today it has become even more urgent. The challenges are now even more multifaceted and complex. They are compounded by demographic developments and by austerity measures introduced due to the financial crisis. Promoting a cross-border agenda in health policy, multi-country working and the development of transferable initiatives has never been more important,” Prof Leiner said.


Last year’s award went to HLS-EU – the European Health Literacy Project, that organised the multi-country European Health Literacy Survey, founded the international network ‘Health Literacy Europe’ and established national advisory boards on health literacy in eight countries to address the overall cultural, social and political impact of health literacy. In 2011 the award went to the Child Safety Report Cards, a pioneering system for monitoring and reducing injuries to children.


The 2013 short-list in detail: 


1. The Aphekom Project: Improving knowledge and communication for decision-making on air pollution and health in Europe
www.aphekom.org


Despite reduced levels, air pollution still causes serious health problems in Europe. And gaps remain in stakeholders’ understanding of this threat, impeding planning and implementation of measures that better protect our health. To bridge these gaps, the 3-year, EU-funded Aphekom project calculated the health impacts and monetary costs of air pollution in 25 European cities. It assessed the additional increase in chronic diseases from living near busy roads. And it estimated the health and monetary benefits of implementing EU legislation to reduce sulphur content in fuels. Out of a desire to turn science into action, the findings were conveyed in plain language tailored to users’ needs so decision makers can set more-effective local and Europe-wide policies; health professionals can advise vulnerable groups better; and individuals can modify their behaviours.


Participating countries: The Aphekom project was conducted in 25 cities in 12 European countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.


2. epSOS (Smart Open Services for European Patients) – making healthcare better
www.epsos.eu


epSOS attempts to offer seamless healthcare to European citizens by designing, building and evaluating a service infrastructure that demonstrates cross-border technical as well as semantic interoperability between electronic health record systems in Europe, with an initial focus on both patient summary/emergency data sets and medication record/ePrescribing solutions. epSOS will enable health professionals to access the medical information of a foreign patient in their own language, from the comfort of their own eHealth system. Key goals are to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for citizens when travelling to another European country, and for citizens that regularly work or study in another country (e.g. citizens living in a border region). epSOS can make a significant contribution to patient safety by reducing the frequency of medical errors and by providing quick access to documentation. In emergency situations, this documentation provides the medical personnel with life-saving information and can reduce the (sometimes needless) repetition of diagnostic procedures.


Participating countries: 25 different European countries, including: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK.


3. European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP)
www.EPAPonline.eu


The European Patient Ambassador Programme is a self-learning programme giving patients and carers the essential skills needed to interact with healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers and journalists. The importance of patient and carer involvement in improving the quality of healthcare services and research has been increasingly recognised in recent years. However, patients and carers may not be aware of the different ways they can be involved, or how to make their involvement more effective. In addition, health policy-makers and professionals may also experience difficulties in engaging or accessing people who want to become involved, as well as providing suitable training for these people. EPAP provides solutions to both these problems. It firstly introduces patients and carers to some of the skills and knowledge they may need to successfully represent themselves and others. Secondly, it will create a bank of suitably trained patient ambassadors across Europe with experience of a diverse range of conditions, which health service providers and policy makers can engage with for their particular purposes. EPAP is unique in this respect and holds great potential.


Participating countries: at the time of writing 152 patients from 17 different European countries are signed up to the initiative.


4. Interreg IVA Project “EurSafety Health-net”, euregional network for patient safety and infection prevention
www.eursafety.eu


EurSafety Health-net focuses on the prevention of health care-associated infections (HCAI), which together with antimicrobial resistance (e.g. MRSA, ESBL, VRE) are today one of the most important infectious disease threats in the European Union (ECDC, Stockholm, July 2007). The importance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a factor which increases mortality and morbidity of communicable disease for patients in European member states has been expressed by the Council Resolution (1999/C195/01) on antimicrobial resistance claiming a strategy against the microbial threat. The rate of antimicrobial resistance differs greatly between countries in Europe, reflecting different outcomes of different infection prevention policies, and creating a barrier to cross border patient healthcare. In addition, the harmonisation of healthcare quality with respect to HCAI and AMR is necessary as from October 2013 the EU-directive on cross border healthcare will come into force. The cross border exchange of knowledge and harmonisation of quality of healthcare with respect to patient safety and infection prevention is the main focus of EurSafety Health-net. Project activities include the development and implementation of a border-wide German-Dutch healthcare quality network; the development and implementation of regional competence centres; education and training of healthcare professionals and active public awareness activities in the whole German-Dutch border area together with a region in Belgium for the prevention of infections and improved patient safety.


Participating countries: Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands.


5. ReDNet project: new and rapid forms of identification and dissemination of evidence-based information on novel psychoactive substances (NPS) among vulnerable individuals
www.novelpsychoactivesubstances.eu


The Recreational Drugs European Network (ReDNet) is a multicentred project, funded by the European Commission (Grant agreement no: 20091216), based in eight EU countries, aimed at identifying new psychoactive substances sold online and improving the information stream to vulnerable individuals, especially young people and professionals working with them, via a range of innovative technological tools. The recent emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), or ‘new drugs’, combined with the ability of the internet to disseminate information quickly, have raised a number of concerns in the fields of drug policy, substance use research, and public health across the EU and internationally. Despite increasing amount of attention being given to this area, these new emerging products, often unregulated and sold online as ‘legal’ and ‘safer’ alternatives to traditional illicit drugs, are rarely mentioned in scientific literature, and there is limited information available on their nature and potential risks. Such a phenomenon has posed unprecedented challenges to global public health and there is therefore an urgent need to develop new approaches to identify their emergence, to inform and to develop cutting-edge preventative measures.


Participating countries: Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain and UK.


6. “Was hab’ ich?” gemeinnützige GmbH (“What’s my diagnosis?”)
www.washabich.de


“Was hab’ ich?” is an online platform where volunteer medical students explain medical reports to patients – anonymously, individually and free of charge. The overall aim of “Was hab’ ich?” is to foster a common understanding of a medical condition between doctors and patients in order to promote healing. The new patient generation has come of age and wants to understand their condition, take responsibility for their situation, and participate in the decision-making process concerning their treatment. Moreover “Was hab’ ich?” sensitises doctors and medical students on the issue and relevance of doctor-patient communication while providing training to all medics involved in the project. Thus, in the long term, “Was hab’ ich?” not only supports patients directly through the “translation” of their reports, but trains doctors and future doctors to become better communicators. Founded in early 2011, “Was hab’ ich?” has developed to become a network of almost 1,000 medics who have translated more than 14,000 medical reports to date. Currently, the team consists of over 600 active team members from almost 40 universities in at least five different European countries.


Participating countries: Austria, France, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland.

AARP: Reverse Mortgage Changes Without Public Input Will Be …

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While the mortgage industry and Federal Housing Administration have responded favorably to the recent granting of authority to the FHA to make reverse mortgage program changes, AARP is expressing disappointment over the process by which change will take place. 

The advocacy organization spoke in favor of the Department of Housing and Urban Development going through the rule making process to implement Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program change during a congressional hearing earlier this year. 

At the time, AARP’s Senior Strategic Policy Advisor Lori Trawinski expressed concerns about bypassing the rule making process.

“While we support the idea of tax and insurance escrows or set-asides, the public should have the opportunity to comment on the specifics of such program changes during the normal rule making process to ensure that changes contain adequate consumer protections and are reasonable regarding the amounts to be escrowed or set aside,” Trawinski said in testimony before members of Congress.

AARP this week responded to the changes in a statement to RMD. 

“We are deeply disappointed that HUD can now circumvent due process in an attempt to solve problems in the HECM program without the benefit of public comment,” said Cristina Martin-Firvida, Director Financial Security and Consumer Affairs, AARP State and National Group. 

AARP stressed the need for comments from those who have experienced problems with reverse mortgages as an integral component of developing program fixes. 

“Hearing from those affected by these problems and experts on reverse mortgages is an indispensable step in addressing the challenges that have resulted from dramatic market changes over the past decade,” Martin-Firvida said. “The HECM program needs reforms to address these challenges, but failure to allow for comment is short sighted and will not provide the information needed to solve the HECM program’s long term  or even short term problems.”

Written by Elizabeth Ecker





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Dredging Today – Greens Launch USD 176 M GBR Rescue …

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Greens Launch USD 176 M GBR Rescue Package

The Australian Greens have launched a $176 million rescue package to protect the Great Barrier Reef from mining.

“The Great Barrier Reef is under pressure like never before with UNESCO warning the reef could be added to the international list of World Heritage sites in danger by next year,” Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

“Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from bleaching, acidification and storm damage from climate change. On top of that, the old parties are on track to approve five new or expanded coal and gas ports along the reef’s coast.

“This will turn this World Heritage Area into a rubbish tip for dredge spoil and a highway for massive coal and gas ships.

“It’s incredibly short-sighted of the old parties to be tearing up the Great Barrier Reef for the sake of exporting hundreds of mega tonnes of coal that will significantly increase global warming.

“Labor and Tony Abbott just cannot be trusted to protect the environment.

“The Greens plan will stop new dredging or offshore dumping of dredge spoil in this World Heritage Area, protect the pristine areas of the reef and put an end to damaging port expansions like Abbot Point.

“Our package will also see an extra $100 million over four years for the Reef Rescue program, which supports Queensland farmers to improve the water quality of their runoff to the reef.

“On top of this, the Greens are committing to increasing funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority by $20 million per year to properly resource its important research, regulatory compliance and community engagement.

“The Greens will also invest $16 million in long-term reef planning to set clear no-go zones for destructive development.

“The Greens reef plan will require the government to hit pause on development approvals until the plan is completed ensuring Campbell Newman’s cannot approve any more destruction without facing federal scrutiny.”

Australian Greens lead Senate candidate, Adam Stone, said the Great Barrier Reef contributed more than $6 billion to the Australian economy.

“More than 60 000 people rely on the reef’s health for their job. These are sustainable jobs for Queenslanders that will outlast the mining bubble’s inevitable burst,” he said.

“On top of its economic importance, the reef is part of our state’s identity and I would be honoured to join Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters in Parliament to be another strong local voice for its protection.”

Press Release, August 16, 2013



Peak oil review – August 12

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1. Oil and the Global Economy

Oil prices rebounded last Friday on better-than-expected Chinese factory data after six days of decline. At the close NY oil futures were up $2.75 a barrel to close at $105.97 and London crude was up $1.45 to close at $108.22. The IEA reported last week that global refining increased by 3.1 million b/d in June as new refining capacity came online and maintenance shutdowns at several big refineries concluded. Although Beijing reported a 9.7 percent increase in factory production during July over last year, there has been growing skepticism of late about the accuracy of China’s economic statistics which are not only reported very quickly, but have not been consistent with other indicators such as electric power consumption. The six day drop in prices – the longest this year – came among concerns that the Federal Reserve will start slowing quantitative easing in September.

US crude production in July increased to 7.5 million b/d, the highest level in 20 years. As US consumption of oil products is still weak, the EIA is forecasting that US domestic crude production will surpass imports for the first time since 1995. Net US oil product exports are expected to hit a record high of 1.54 million b/d in August as compared to 690,000 b/d a year ago. Refiners are expected to process 15.8 million b/d, the highest since August 2004, as more oil is getting to refineries along the Gulf Coast and US refinery maintenance has been completed.

US natural gas prices continued to slip on Friday, closing at $3.23 per million after the EIA reported rising inventories and forecasts of unseasonably cooler weather across much of the US. The cool weather is forecast to continue through the third week in August. Natural gas prices have now fallen to the point where they become attractive as an alternative to coal for those utilities that have the option to switch. The government approved exporting LNG from a third terminal last week. The US has now given approval to export up to 5.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day or about 8 percent of production. Nearly two dozen additional applications to export gas are still pending. Some lawmakers and companies who will benefit from the exports are complaining that the approvals are taking too long while others who fear the loss of cheap domestic natural gas are calling for a slower approval process.

2. The Middle East & North Africa

Iraq: The pace of the bombings seems to be increasing. Some 100 were killed and over 300 injured as 17 car bombs exploded across Baghdad and other cites this past weekend. An additional 50 were killed and 100 wounded in attacks on Tuesday. Oil production in June slipped to below 3 million b/d from an initial target of 3.7 million and various agencies are warning that more problems are ahead. Planned outages connected with rebuilding of export infrastructure are expected to reduce production below 2.5 million in September.

Coordinated bombings across the country made this the bloodiest Ramadan in years with more than 800 killed and a gridlocked government, which cannot even keep captured bombers in prison, unable to cope much less make progress.

The randomness of the violence is forcing the closure of cafes and sports events as people fear congregating anywhere that will attract bombers. The various political factions are not even talking to each other, much less reaching any agreements and the national polity is deteriorating rapidly.

Baghdad is planning to build a new northern export pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey despite being unable to keep the current one running for more than a few days at a time because of terrorist attacks. There is nothing in sight short of return of US forces, an unlikely proposition, which can turn this situation around. There seems no other outlook than for oil exports continuing to slip.

Egypt: There has been little progress in the political standoff which has pro-Morsi supporters continuously in the streets and the new government threatening violence to clear the demonstrations. So far the government/army has exercised restraint and there have been few casualties.

Violence has been increasing in the Sinai in the five weeks since the Morsi government was overthrown. Insurgent groups are conducting nightly attacks on military and police installation and murdering those they do not like. The violence is starting to draw in Israelis who are concerned about attacks on the Red Sea resort of Eilat. Last week the Israelis conducted air strikes against insurgents allegedly preparing to fire missiles at Israeli territory.

Concerns are growing that the anarchy we are seeing in the Sinai will spread to the rest of Egypt unless there is a political settlement between the Islamists and the secularists.

Syria: The government is trying to consolidate its hold on the Damascus – Aleppo corridor. The rebels have started tearing up Alawite villages along the coast and the government is retaliating with aerial bombardment of Sunni villages. The government continues to lob large missiles in neighborhoods it believes support the insurgency. Moscow denies it has made a deal with the Saudis to back down on its support for the Assad government. There is little real progress in the situation—just increasing numbers of refugees and an ever growing body count. As the Jihadists pour into the country there are growing fears that it will become a center for terrorism in the years to come.

Iran: Newly sworn-in President Rouhani used his first news conference to call for serious negotiations to end the decade-old nuclear dispute. While these remarks appear to be seeking a settlement, it will take months of negotiations and concessions on both sides before we know how this is going to play out.

There is a new report that Tehran could start producing weapons-grade plutonium by next summer thereby complicating the dispute which has focused on enriching uranium with centrifuges.

Libya: Worker unrest at refineries and export terminals continues to restrict oil production and exports. Those who don’t have jobs want them, and those that do work for the oil industry want more pay. As best as can be determined from contradictory reporting is that exports are now about 600,000 b/d or about half of pre-unrest levels. Sporadic violence and assassinations continue across the country with no sign of a stable government in sight.

Yemen: The government said it uncovered an al Qaeda plot last week to seize port facilities and completely cut off exports of oil and LNG. The US and Britain have urged their nationals to leave the country as violence and threats increase.

The IEA in Paris reduced its forecast for the increase in global oil demand in 2014 by 100,000 b/d to 1.1 million b/d. Growth in demand for 2013 remains the same at 900,000 b/d. The cut in next year’s forecast is largely based on IMF economic projections which show China slowing and the US and EU stagnant. Global oil supply is believed to have increased by 575,000 b/d in July over June largely due to increased North American production.

OPEC production slipped by about 165,000 b/d in July due to the troubles in Iraq and Libya and despite an increase in Saudi production of about 100,000 b/d. This was the lowest OPEC production since March.

Global refinery demand increased by 3.1 million b/d in June, the largest monthly increase on record. At 77.2 million b/d, June processing was 2 million b/d higher than last year. Refining is expected to have increased further in July but to slow in August due to increased scheduled maintenance.

4. Quotes of the Week

“Iraqi supply is going backwards this year, when a lot of the market expected it to be delivering the biggest growth outside the US. That’s a big shock.” — Richard Mallinson, chief policy analyst at Energy Aspects consultancy

“There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean warming faster than the earth’s atmosphere. Sea level is rising. Arctic Sea ice is melting years faster than projected…. We can have both a strong economy and a livable climate. All parties know that we need both. The rest of the discussion is either detail, which we can resolve, or purposeful delay, which we should not tolerate.” — By William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K Reilly and Christine Todd Whitman, past Administrators of the US Environmental Protection Agency

5. The Briefs

  • China is poised to top the US as the world’s biggest importer of oil in October and will hold the ranking for all of 2014, according to forecasters at the US EIA. China’s fuel consumption is targeted to increase to nearly 13 million b/d next year, a 13-per-cent increase from 2011 levels. (8/11 #10)

  • China bought a record net 25.9 million metric tons of oil, or 6.13 million barrels a day, last month according to government data. (8/8 #2)

  • OPEC kept estimates for global oil demand growth in 2014 unchanged amid a stable outlook for the world economy. World oil consumption will increase by 1 million b/d, or 1.2 percent, next year to about 90.8 million b/d. Increasing output from countries outside OPEC means demand for the organization’s crude will slide to 29.7 million b/d, or about 600,000 a day less than its 12 members pumped last month. (8/11 #3)

  • The IEA warned Friday that oil supply from OPEC nations was falling, as it raised its forecast for demand for the exporters group’s crude this year. It said continued supply outages in Iraq and Libya…may reduce the group’s output in coming months. (8/11 #4)

  • North America’s shale boom is insulating the world from steep oil price spikes as several OPEC members struggle to maintain production due to unrest and infrastructure problems, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. (8/9 #6)

  • Wood Mackenzie would have us believe that US oil production will exceed peak production by about 2 million b/d, and will increase present production by almost 70%. That would be awesome but seems highly unlikely based on the history of oil production decline in countries and basins around the world. (8/8 #25)

  • So the high costs and harsh decline rates of the North American shales are two reasons for high WTI oil prices. Another reason that is starting to rear its ugly head is write-downs of shale formations. Shell was the first major to announce a major shale write-down in North America, writing down about $2 billion, mainly associated with liquid-poor shale projects. (8/6 #16)

  • Recent billion-dollar write downs by Shell and some other majors are a sign they came to the shale boom late in the day, overpaying for lower-quality and less well-explored assets – not that the shale revolution is stuttering. (8/7 #28)

  • Smaller oil explorers focused on high-margin shale drilling from Texas to North Dakota are set to outperform Big Oil this year. EOG Resources, Pioneer Natural Resources and Continental Resources are poised to reap bigger returns for investors than energy titans 15 times their market values as they devote almost all their drilling capital to higher-margin, domestic crude wells. (8/6 #19)

  • Iraq has gone from being a leading source of growth in global oil supplies to an uncertain one in just the last 12 months – a development that is putting pressure on prices and posing challenges for policy makers in Baghdad, Washington and Riyadh. (8/9 #12)

  • The production of Libya’s main grade of crude oil, called Es Sider, has collapsed after the terminal that exports the oil to global markets was shut by protesters, Libyan oil officials said late Wednesday. (8/9 #13)

  • The oil company calls it “seepage.” Environmentalists describe it as a “blow out.” Either way, the leak at the oil sands project in Northern Alberta – which has spilled 280,022 gallons of oil across 51 acres since June – is stoking controversy over the energy source. (8/9 #21)

  • Iraq has first production scheduled to come on line from three fields later this year: 150,000 b/d from the 13-billion-barrel supergiant West Qurna-2 by the end of this year or early 2014; 175,000 b/d from the 12.6-billion-barrel supergiant Majnoon oil field at the end of September; and up to 35,000 b/d from the Garraf oil field within a month. (8/8 #6)

  • Nigeria’s oil production is set to rise to 2.5 million b/d in the next two weeks as repairs are completed on a major pipeline. Output in the first quarter fluctuated between 2.1 and 2.3 million b/d, well below the forecast production level of 2.48 million b/d. (8/8 #11)

  • In Nigeria, foreign firms such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Eni and Total are only selling small blocks that are not worth their while — those assets worst affected by theft and sabotage or fields that risk expropriation in a government push to promote local ownership. The oil majors intend to remain in Nigeria. (8/8 #10)

  • Troops from former civil war foes Sudan and South Sudan clashed near a disputed oil field, threatening to spark fresh tensions along their poorly-marked common border. (8/7 #16)

  • Peak demand for oil? Analysts at Citi think the world’s thirst for oil could peak in a few years at around 92 million barrels per day — as long as vehicle efficiency for cars and trucks keeps improving by about 2.5 percent per year. This is an unusual prediction, to say the least. For context, BP expects global oil demand to keep growing from 89 million barrels per day today to around 104 million barrels per day by 2030. (8/11 #18)

  • The world doesn’t require an oil production to peak in order to suffer certain expected consequences of peak oil — like much higher oil prices. (8/6 #25)

  • A conflict-of-interest ethics probe of the contractor assessing the environmental impact of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline has energized critics who say it should be grounds for the project to be delayed. (8/8 #22)

  • The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would not have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions, a study by energy consultancy IHS CERA concludes. (8/11 #14)

  • Shipping oil across Canada to the Atlantic coast, as TransCanada proposes to do with its Energy East project, is hardly the industry’s first choice. Taking oil south to the Gulf coast via Keystone XL or west through British Columbia are clearly more expedient options. Still, it’s no surprise to see Energy East jump ahead in the queue, given the public and political opposition facing the other routes. (8/8 #26)

  • The 2013 spot prices for natural gas at the Henry Hub are expected to average $3.71 a million BTUs, the EIA said Tuesday. It is lower than the $3.76 forecast in July. But the agency edged up its 2014 forecast to $3.95, from $3.91 expected in July. (8/7 #22)

  • US regulators said they would propose for the first time lowering the mandated consumption of corn ethanol used in motor fuel, a reversal in policy that puts a powerful industry on the defense. (8/7 #24)

  • In a five-year lease plan outlined in November 2011, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the resource potential in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf “is not well understood and surveys of these areas are incomplete and out of date.” (8/7 #25)

  • Chesapeake Energy has given up a two-year legal fight to retain thousands of acres of natural gas drilling leases in New York State. (8/7 #27)

  • Australia is forecast to surpass Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of LNG by the end of the decade. (8/7 #30)

  • The cost of moving LNG from the US into foreign markets has been estimated at $6/Million BTUs, and in 2012 the differential between US natural gas and LNG in Japan was $14/Million BTUs. The differential between the US and European markets was above $8/ Million BTUs. These differentials provide a compelling economic case for LNG exports. (8/6 #25)

  • The first of five shipments of liquefied natural gas from Qatar arrived at an Egyptian port to help address energy concerns, the Qatari government said. Tight demand for energy in Egypt exacerbated frustration with post-revolution political developments. (8/6 #18)

  • In the U.K., companies looking to explore and develop shale gas need to engage with local communities much earlier in the process if the country’s fledgling industry is ever going to develop and have the transformative effect it has had in the U.S. (8/9 #23)

  • Royal Dutch Shell’s oil spill plans for drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas doesn’t violate environmental laws, a federal judge in Anchorage ruled in rejecting a challenge by conservation groups. (8/6 #20)

  • Improved rig efficiency is consuming capital budgets faster. This is not good news for drillers who are finding that fewer rigs are needed to drill the same number of wells each year. Unless capex budgets expand, the drilling rig count is unlikely to improve during the balance of this year and it raises questions about the pace of drilling and the number of rigs needed in future years. (8/6 #23)

  • The US drilling rig count decreased 4 units during the week ended Aug. 9 to reach a total of 1,778 rotary rigs. Rigs drilling for oil lost 3 units to reach 1,385, while those drilling for gas slipped 2 units to 388 rigs working. Compared with the same week last year, gas rigs were down 109 units. (8/11 #17)

  • In China, surprisingly firm rebounds in exports and imports during July offered some hope that the world’s second-largest economy might be stabilizing after more than two years of slowing growth, although an imminent rebound still looks unlikely. Imports of crude oil and iron ore rebounded from multi-month lows to record highs last month. (8/8 #14)

  • As more Chinese cities propose license-plate lotteries and other ways of limiting the number of cars on the road, consumers are responding by buying more expensive automobiles with bigger engines. (8/8 #16)

  • The EPA said it would give refiners until June 2014, a four-month extension, to increase the blend of renewable fuels in gasoline and diesel supplies. The announcement sparked mixed reaction; opponent said it seems short-sighted while green groups called for more action. (8/8 #23)

  • The world’s richest nations, moving to combat global warming, are cutting government support for new coal-burning power plants in developing countries, dealing a blow to the world’s dominant source of electricity. (8/6 #5)

  • At Japan’s Fukushima plant, a new rush of radioactive water has breached a barrier built to stop it, allowing heavily contaminated water to spill daily into the Pacific. As the scope of the latest crisis became clearer on Wednesday, Japan’s prime minister ordered his government to intervene in the cleanup of the plant. (8/8 #17)

  • Average global temperatures in 2012 were roughly in line with those of the past decade or so, but the year still ranked among the 10 warmest on record as melting arctic ice and warming oceans continued to boost sea levels, NOAA said in a recent report. (8/7 #5)