Health Care

Big Pharma spent more on Stock Buybacks and Dividends than on Research and Development even during COVID

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – The 14 largest publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends from 2012 through 2021 — substantially more than the $660 billion they spent on research and development. So argue economists William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, and Öner Tulum, a […]

Corporations

Parasitic Private Equity is Consuming U.S. Health Care from the Inside Out

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Fl. (Special to Informed Comment) – Private equity has succeeded in depicting itself as part of the productive economy of health care services. even as it is increasingly being recognized as being parasitic. The essence of this toxic parasitism is not only to drain the host’s nourishment, but also to dull the host’s brain […]

Climate Crisis

As Climate Change Provokes Mental Health Crisis, Psychiatrists call for Better Government Support

Clean Energy Wire

By Carolina Kyllmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The “Climate and Psyche” taskforce of the German Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Association (DGPPN) has called for better political support for mental health care through the climate crisis. In a report examining the direct effects of climate change on the psyche, the DGPPN found global […]

Climate Crisis

8 billion people: Four Ways Climate Change and Population Growth combine to threaten Public Health, with Global Consequences

The Conversation

By Maureen Lichtveld, University of Pittsburgh | – There are questions that worry me profoundly as a population- and environmental-health scientist. Will we have enough food for a growing global population? How will we take care of more people in the next pandemic? What will heat do to millions with hypertension? Will countries wage water […]

Climate Crisis

58% of human infectious diseases can be worsened by climate change – we scoured 77,000 studies to map the pathways

The Conversation

By Tristan McKenzie, University of Gothenburg; Camilo Mora, University of Hawaii; and Hannah von Hammerstein, University of Hawaii | – Climate change can exacerbate a full 58% of the infectious diseases that humans come in contact with worldwide, from common waterborne viruses to deadly diseases like plague, our new research shows. Our team of environment […]

Afghanistan

Pact Act is Vindication for Vets after US Denied for Years that Burn Pits in Afghanistan and Iraq made them Ill

The Conversation

By Jason A. Higgins, Virginia Tech | – During a 13-month stint in Iraq that began in 2006, Heath Robinson served as a medic with the Ohio National Guard. Like thousands of others soldiers stationed there, he was routinely exposed to toxic smoke emanating from what are known as burn pits. Located near military bases, […]