By Gary Sacks, Christina Zorbas and Kathryn Backholer/The Conversation

This year’s Australian of the Year, Dr James Muecke, is an eye specialist with a clear vision. He wants to change the way the world looks at sugar and the debilitating consequences of diabetes, which include blindness.
Muecke is pushing for Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government to enact a tax on sugary drinks to help make that a reality.
Such a tax would increase the price of soft drinks, juices and other sugary drinks by around 20%. The money raised could be used to fund health promotion programs around the country.
The evidence backing his calls is strong.

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Posted on January 30, 2020

By Julia Conley/Common Dreams

Out of the top 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises in the world last year – many of them climate-related – nine were on the African continent, according to a new report.
Madagascar had the least-reported crisis in the study – entitled “Suffering in Silence” – released Tuesday by CARE International, as 2.6 million people in the country are affected by chronic drought which has left more than 900,000 in immediate need of food assistance.

Does a crisis really happen if it is not in the headlines? 📰

YES. In 2019, over 50 million people suffered in silence 🌍

CARE’s new global report on the 10 most underreported #humanitarian crises of 2019 >> https://t.co/Ob8so9i96Y#SufferingInSilence #ForgottenCrisis pic.twitter.com/P1rtANH2RC

— CARE International (@CAREGlobal) January 28, 2020

Out of 24 million online media articles examined by CARE International, just 612 reports were about the humanitarian emergency in Madagascar – and the country was just the most extreme example of the international community’s neglect of the world’s second-most populous continent.

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Posted on January 29, 2020

By The Consumer Federation of America

On Friday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a policy statement attempting to narrow the federal law that prohibits abusive financial acts and practices by banks, debt collectors, payday lenders, and other consumer finance companies.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis Congress enacted a statute that prohibits abusive acts or practices in consumer finance. Current federal law prohibits taking unreasonable advantage of consumers who do not have the ability to protect themselves or lack an understanding of the risks in complicated financial contracts.
“Today’s policy statement attempts to rewrite federal law without authorization from Congress or a court order,” said Christopher Peterson, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America. “The new policy statement fabricates a ‘good faith’ exception that lets businesses engaging in abusive practices off the hook for financial penalties when they claim violations of the law were unintentional.”
The policy also imposes a new cost-benefit framework on law enforcement that will slow investigations and create an artificial barrier to protecting the public.

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Posted on January 24, 2020

By Helen Norton/The Conversation

When regular people lie, sometimes their lies are detected, sometimes they’re not. Legally speaking, sometimes they’re protected by the First Amendment – and sometimes not, like when they commit fraud or perjury.
But what about when government officials lie?

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Posted on January 14, 2020

By UIC

Lack of insurance coverage is a major cause of delayed breast cancer screening and treatment among minority women, which could lead to a decrease in a patient’s chance of survival. Nearly half of the disparity in later-stage diagnosis between non-Hispanic white women and black, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander women was mediated by being uninsured or underinsured, according to a new study conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.
Non-Hispanic white women were insured at a higher rate at the time of diagnosis compared with non-Hispanic black women, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic women, according to the study published in JAMA Oncology. The research was led by Gregory Calip, assistant professor of pharmacy systems, outcomes and policy at the UIC College of Pharmacy, and Dr. Naomi Ko, assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine.

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Posted on January 10, 2020

By Jake Johnson/Common Dreams

Ecologists at the University of Sydney are estimating that nearly half a billion animals have been killed in Australia’s unprecedented and catastrophic wildfires, which have sparked a continent-wide crisis and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in desperation.
News Corp Australia reported this week that “there are real concerns entire species of plants and animals have been wiped out by bushfires following revelations almost 500 million animals have died since the crisis began.”
“Ecologists from the University of Sydney now estimate 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles have been lost since September,” according to News Corp. “That figure is likely to soar following the devastating fires which have ripped through Victoria and the [New South Wales] South Coast over the past couple of days, leaving several people dead or unaccounted for, razing scores of homes and leaving thousands stranded.”

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Posted on January 4, 2020