NEW ANALYSIS OF TOXIC WHALE & DOLPHIN MEAT SHOWS JAPAN STILL GAMBLING WITH HUMAN HEALTH

LONDON: As Japan’s annual coastal whale and dolphin hunting season began today with the aim of killing more than 15,000 marine mammals, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released new evidence that the Government of Japan continues to recklessly expose its citizens to heavily polluted whale and dolphin products.

The new EIA report Dangerous Diet outlines the significant risks to human health posed by eating and the frequent mislabelling of cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) products contaminated with excessive levels of mercury and other marine pollutants such as carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Independent EIA analysis in 2015 found all of the 20 products tested were above the Government’s recommended safe limit for mercury in marine food of 0.4 parts per million (ppm). One sample of long-finned pilot whale contained 19ppm total mercury – 47 times the safe limit. Of the 341 cetacean products tested by EIA between 2001-15, 56 per cent contained mercury levels in excess of recommended limits.

Clare Perry, Team Leader of EIA’s Oceans Campaign, said: ”Every government has a basic duty of care to its people, a duty the Government of Japan shamefully abdicates each time it permits a citizen to buy toxic whale and dolphin meat in ignorance of the serious health risks and, in many cases, of the species they are buying.

“EIA has documented mercury- and PCB-contaminated cetacean products in Japan for 15 years, always making our findings public, yet the Government has still to act meaningfully.

“Having suffered the world’s worst outbreak of mass mercury poisoning in Minamata in the 1950s and being one of the initial signatories to 2013’s Minamata Convention, it is incomprehensible that the Japanese Government continues to fail to protect its citizens from mercury in foodstuffs.”

Dangerous Diet strongly urges the Government of Japan to permanently ban toxic cetacean products for human consumption and to phase out all whale, dolphin and porpoise hunts, working with hunters to find alternative livelihoods.

In the interim, it should update its advice on safe intake levels, ensure wider public awareness of them, enforce the law to ensure products are labelled with the correct species information, legally require warnings of high pollutant levels on products and conduct new medical studies of the health status of the coastal communities most at risk.

84th annual Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs’ Summer Conference “

84th annual Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs’ Summer Conference ““Are we Failing Our Future? Time for a new deal between generations”,  that will be held on  August 7-9, 2015, in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.

In Canada, the allocation of scarce resources - both monetary and natural - is increasingly a source of tension. From pensions to health care, more dollars are spent on Canadians in later life than in any other age bracket. Yet the idea of generational accounting includes much more than dollars. Environmentally, socially, politically, morally, we are the products of our parents’ choices, and we are making decisions today that will affect our children and grandchildren. Who really owes what to whom? Are today’s youth being set up to fail? And what -if any - ar e our responsibilities and obligations to future generations? The 84th annual Couchiching Conference will challenge the usual conclusions and expand the future possibilities, question assumptions and inspire conversations that will resonate for decades to come.

EROSION DISPLACES FAMILIES - NEPAL

The erosion of the banks of Budhi Gandaki River has displaced about 33 families at Solti Bazaar in Thumi VDC, Gorkha district, central Nepal. A lake has been formed after the flood in Soti Khola deposited rocks, tree trunks and debris in the river. The water blocked by the debris has reached near human settlements.

July 10

http://www.ekantipur.com/2015/07/10/top-story/erosion-in-budhi-gandaki-river-displaces-33-families/407685.html

http://gorkhapatraonline.com/

PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING TO CHILDREN

The Youth Society Nepal Chitwan has given psychosocial counseling to over 300 children affected by the recent Gorkha earthquake, central Nepal. The counseling service has been completed in Shaktikhor, Bharatpur, Barhaghare, Devghat and at present focused on other areas of the district.

June 05

http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/3967

YARSAGUMBA COLLECTION CLOSES SCHOOLS

The schools of Dolpa district, mid-western Nepal and Darchula district, far western Nepal have been closed for 20 days as students abstain to collect Yarshagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis). The medicinal herb has been a major source of income in the districts.

June 02

http://www.ekantipur.com/2015/06/02/national/people-reach-highlands-in-droves-to-collect-himalayan-viagra/405999.html

Loss of biodiversity impacts human health, says CBD and WHO

Montreal, 4 June 2015 – Healthy communities rely on well-functioning ecosystems. They provide clean air, fresh water, medicines and food security. They also limit disease and stabilize the climate. But biodiversity loss is happening at unprecedented rates, impacting human health worldwide, according to a new state of knowledge review of the Convention on Biological Diversity and World Health Organization.

The report, Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, launched today in Brussels at Green Week 2015, Europe’s biggest annual conference on environmental policy, focuses on the complex and multi-faceted connections between biodiversity and human health, and how the loss of biodiversity and corresponding ecosystem services may negatively influence health. One of the first integrative reviews of its kind, the report brings together knowledge from several scientific disciplines, including public health, conservation, agriculture, epidemiology and development.

“This state of knowledge review is a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex relationships between biodiversity and health,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. “Increasing our knowledge enables us to develop effective solutions capable of strengthening ecosystem resilience and mitigating the forces that impede their ability to deliver life-supporting services.”

All aspects of human well-being depend on ecosystem goods and services, which in turn depend on biodiversity. Biodiversity loss can destabilize ecosystems, promote outbreaks of infectious disease, and undermine development progress, nutrition, security and protection from natural disasters,” said Dr Maria Neira, World Health Organization Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “Protecting public health from these risks lies outside of the traditional roles of the Health sector. We are ready to work with other sectors to bring about change.”

Access to sufficient quantity, quality and diversity of foods, clean air, freshwater, medicines and healthcare are not only central to maintaining healthy populations, they are foundational pillars of sustainable development. Meeting these needs while facing the persistent challenges of biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, emerging disease pandemics and shifting disease burdens is not an insurmountable feat, but it does require concerted action, based on robust evidence and coordinated cross-sector solutions.

This comprehensive report brings this knowledge to the forefront, demonstrating that biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and ill health often share common threats and pointing toward innovative, mutually-supportive and cross-sectoral solutions. This contribution is especially timely as governments finalize agreement on the post-2015 development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals and prepare to reach new global commitments to tackle climate change by the end of 2015.

Among the shared threats identified throughout the report, land-use change is identified as an important driver of biodiversity loss with concurrent implications for many of our most pressing public health challenges. For example, land use change through deforestation is a leading driver of disease emergence in humans and is believed to have contributed to the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

While the resulting development of our freshwater and terrestrial resources is also associated with some health benefits, these are unevenly distributed, often to the detriment of our most vulnerable populations and carry unintended consequences. For example, under unsustainable conditions, industrial agricultural practices in many parts of the world may also exacerbate biodiversity loss, pest and disease outbreaks, micronutrient deficiencies, antibiotic resistance and the impacts of climate change on the health. These outcomes are not inevitable. They can be averted through concerted global efforts, by connecting our vast scientific and local knowledge, and developing coherent, cross-sectoral policy priorities toward a healthier, more equitable, sustainable future.

Contributions from over 100 scientists and practitioners working in global public health and biodiversity conservation policy were included in the report, including experts from Bioversity International, COHAB Initiative, DIVERSITAS, EcoHealth Alliance, Harvard School of Public Health, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, IUCN, United Nations University, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The full report released today is now freely available online at: www.cbd.int/en/health/stateofknowledge www.who.int/phe

POLIO DETECTED - PAKISTAN

A new polio case has been detected from the Shabqadar Tehsil of Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north western Pakistan. The number of affected patients has reached 10 in KP alone.

May 13

http://www.khybernews.tv/newsDetails.php?cat=3&key=ODI4NDA=