WEDNESDAY, Dec. 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A large new study suggests that men who plan to be fathers should try to get themselves in shape first.

Researchers found that when fathers-to-be had health conditions like high blood pressure or obesity, the odds that their partner might experience miscarriage or stillbirth increased.

The findings do not prove that a father's health directly affects his partner's pregnancy, experts said. But given that men's health and lifestyle habits can affect sperm quality, it's plausible that dads make a difference in pregnancy outcomes.

"We do need more studies to figure out the mechanisms," said senior researcher Dr. Michael Eisenberg, director of male reproductive medicine and surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

In the meantime, he said, there's certainly no harm in encouraging men to eat healthfully, exercise and get any chronic health conditions under better control.

The findings, published online Dec. 18 in the journal Human Reproduction, are based on insurance records covering nearly 959,000 U.S. pregnancies. Almost 173,000 ended in a pregnancy loss -- a miscarriage, stillbirth or ectopic pregnancy (when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus).

Eisenberg's team looked at whether fathers' health diagnoses before conception showed any correlation with the risk of pregnancy loss.

In fact, they did. In general, the study found, the risk of pregnancy loss inched up with the number of health issues a father-to-be had.

If a man had one component of metabolic syndrome, for instance, the risk of pregnancy loss rose 10%. If he had three or more components, it rose by 19%, the investigators found.

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors for heart disease and stroke. It includes obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

Past studies have linked older age in the father to poorer pregnancy outcomes, possibly because sperm quality diminishes with age.

But, in this study, the findings were not explained by older age, Eisenberg said. At any age, poorer health in the father mattered.

Of course, men with more health conditions might have a partner who is in poorer health, too. But Eisenberg's team accounted for the health of moms-to-be, and it did not fully explain the findings on fathers' health.

Dr. Rahul Gupta is chief medical and health officer for the nonprofit March of Dimes. He said, "We've known that the family's health is important to the health of a child." One reason is because children learn diet, exercise and other lifestyle habits from the adults around them, he noted.

The new findings, according to Gupta, suggest that a father's influence begins as early as conception.

Exactly why is unclear. But, he said, past research has shown that genes from the father help form the placenta -- and pregnancy loss is often associated with problems with the placenta.

"This is a field of science that needs to be developed more," Gupta said.

For now, he agreed with Eisenberg that the health of dads-to-be should not be ignored.

"For a long time," Gupta noted, "we didn't think that way."

Women's health remains "paramount" when it comes to pregnancy outcomes, Eisenberg said. But, he added, fathers-to-be can only do themselves and their family good by taking their own health seriously, too.

More information

The March of Dimes has more on pregnancy loss.

SOURCES: Michael Eisenberg, MD, associate professor, urology, and director, male reproductive medicine and surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.; Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, MBA, chief medical and health officer, and senior vice president, March of Dimes, Arlington, Va.; Human Reproduction, Dec. 18, 2020, online

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Dads' Health Linked to Odds of Pregnancy Loss in Moms-to-Be - HealthDay News

A fathers poor health before conception may increase the risk for pregnancy loss, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed records from an employee insurance database that included data on 958,804 pregnancies between 2007 and 2016, along with information on the health of the parents for an average of about four years before conception. The study is in Human Reproduction.

They scored the fathers health based on elements of the metabolic syndrome: diagnoses of hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity or diabetes, plus the presence of other common chronic diseases. About one-fifth of the pregnancies ended in either ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion or stillbirth.

Compared with men who had none of these five indications of ill health, those who had one had a 10 percent increased risk for siring a pregnancy that ended in loss. Having two increased the risk by 15 percent, and men who had three or more had a 19 percent increased risk. The age of the mother made little difference, and the study controlled for other maternal and paternal health and behavioral factors.

We need to think about the father even pre-conception, said the senior author, Michael L. Eisenberg, an associate professor of urology at Stanford. We contribute half the DNA, so it makes sense that that would affect the trajectory of the pregnancy. I want to show that the father is important fertility is a team sport.

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Fathers Health Tied to Pregnancy Loss - The New York Times

A landowner has called for limits on childbirth to help save the planet.

Paul Lister, who inherited 50million when his family sold the MFI furniture chain and owns 23,000 acre Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Sutherland, wants women limited to just one child.

In an end-of-year message to supporters, Lister said: For all generations to continue living in a secure and healthy environment we must re-evaluate our choices and challenge long-held historical traditions and habits.

Less meat consumption, less carbon emissions, less waste, and last but not least the source of all excessive extraction and pollution, less human reproduction.

For the prosperity of all life on earth we simply must put nature preservation and landscape regeneration first, to not do so will be at our peril.

In a previous message to supporters from the European Nature Trust he established, Lister wrote: Against our emotional instincts, we need to consider a one-woman, one-child policy (with adoption as an option for a second child) and accept the short/medium-term issues that might prevail.

Highland councillor Bill Lobban has called his one-child suggestions disgraceful.

He added: Its the fundamental right of every woman to decide what she wants to do with her body.

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Millionaire landowner triggers outrage after he calls for limits on childbirth to save the planet - Daily Record

Researchers in the Florida Keys have determined that coral reefs can be saved from invasive seaweed with the help of a particular species of crab lovingly called the reef goat.

The new study from Florida International University determined that not only can the Caribbean king crab munch the corals free of seaweed faster than all methods involving human hands, but that the increase of coral reproduction spawned a boom in reef fish numbers as well.

All types of marine habitat are important. Seaweed meadows and coral reefs both play vital roles in the health of the ocean and the health of our communities.

However in the same way that a mountain lion, which provides a valuable service by preying on diseased or elderly deer, wouldnt be helping anyone if it took up residence in an office building, seaweed largely prevents coral from their key function in the ecosystem, just like the lion would prevent any of the terrified office workers from doing their work.

The researchers comment in their paper on the evidence of long-standing competition between seaweeds and corals.

This competition has been influenced heavily for over a century now by overfishing, climate change, and coral diseases, which resulted in many reefs being now too weak or too depleted to compete with seaweed.

RELATED: After Decades of Federal Protection, Hawaiian Coral Reefs Are Returning to Their Former Glory

Seaweeds too often are blocking sunlight from reaching the baby corals, while simultaneously releasing chemicals that prevent the corals from reproducingas well as making them more susceptible to disease.

The researchers hypothesized that if sufficiently distributed, the Caribbean king crab, the largest herbivore crustacean in the region, could clean corals free of clinging seaweed faster than human scrubbing, so they conducted a case-control study where they released reef goats on some reefs and let some others remain crab-less.

Weve had a lot of experience raising these crabs for human consumption, but I started looking at what their ecological role was on coral reefs. And they are like reef cows, or better yet, reef goats, because they will eat almost any type of algae, and they eat a lot of it, Mark Butler from Florida International University, a co-author on the study, toldFlorida Keys News.

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Butler, who worked on the research with Angelo Jason Spadaro, a professor at the College of the Florida Keys, said the voracious Caribbean king crabs (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) are prolific coral reef grazers.

Eating algae at a rate higher than any other grazer, including some species that can protect themselves from predation with chemicals or other defense strategies, the crabs were able to reduce seaweed cover by 80% compared to some reefs, while a 3 to 5 fold increase of both baby corals and fish species added to the successful outcome.

The study also boasts something becoming rare in many scientific fields of study reproducibility.

The generality of our results was validated by nearly identical results in two separate field experiments conducted at different locations and in different years, write the authors.

MORE: Family Sells Home to Move to the Smallest African Country and Save Its Coral Reefs

On dry land, goats have been used as ground clearers for thousands of years, as they eat everything from clover and grasses to poison oak and invasive blackberry thorns.

Hopefully, the brilliant results from Butler and his team can solidify Caribbean king crabs as their benthic equivalent at the bottom of the sea.

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Seaweed-Eating Giant Crabs Could Help Save Florida Coral Reefs And They're Lovingly Named 'The Reef Goats' - Good News Network

Since the late 1800s, kissing under the mistletoe has been a popular part of U.S. holiday season traditions, but this unique and interesting plant has long been associated with holiday rituals in other countries around the world.

It is an interesting plant with an even more interesting life history, which is why it is no wonder that it has captivated human attention throughout history.

The common name mistletoe refers to a group of parasitic plants across several genera that include over 1,400 species around the globe.

While I always thought of this plant as exotic, there is actually a species of mistletoe native to Illinois.

The American mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum) is native to much of the eastern U.S., including Illinois and Indiana. The plant is hardy to Zone 6, which encompasses most of southern Illinois, although central Illinois is just out of its natural range.

The genus name for American mistletoe, Phoradendron, is derived from the Greek language, with phor meaning thief and dendron meaning of a tree. The aptly-named plant could certainly be considered a thief given its parasitic nature.

Mistletoe does not have roots as we know them in other plants, but rather has a modified root structure, called a haustorium, that penetrates bark and attaches to the host trees conductive tissue to collect water and nutrients.

In this way, mistletoe collects a good portion of what it needs from the host plant, although this parasite does have leaves that photosynthesize, enabling production of some of its own energy.

Mistletoes are evergreen, which is why this plant draws such attention in winter. It commonly sticks out as a green tuft of stems in the canopy of otherwise barren deciduous trees.

American mistletoe infects a wide range of deciduous trees, from oaks and maples to many other very common Midwestern trees.

Other mistletoe species are more host-specific, with a narrower range of potential plants they may infect and some species actually infect evergreen hosts, making them a bit less conspicuous this time of year.

The fruits of American mistletoe are tiny, white berries that ripen in winter to provide its only means of reproduction, it does not have a vegetative means of reproduction as many other plants do. The ripe berries in winter are a favorite among birds, which readily spread the sticky berries while feeding.

Across its range, American mistletoe is often considered a pest or problem for the trees it infects. While it may reduce tree vigor somewhat, it typically has a minimal impact on overall plant health in a healthy, mature tree.

In fact, its actually a symbol of a healthy forest ecosystem since this native plant has high bird and insect value. Although it does remove some energy from the host, by and large, the presence of mistletoe in a woodland is a positive addition to the overall diversity of forested ecosystems.

The unique nature of these mysterious tree parasites has captured human attention for many centuries in America and Europe.

Early accounts of human interaction with mistletoe date back to Druid cultures that inhabited modern day Great Britain as early as the 4th century BCE. The plant was sacred to the Druids, and they believed it held special powders of fate along with medicinal values.

Due to the plants pagan connection, Christian cultures banned use of the plant during some time periods. However, Christina leaders eventually began to re-incorporate mistletoe into holiday dcor and celebration due to its long-standing relationship with humankind and to promote inclusion of the old tribes of Brittan and Europe.

In 16th century Europe, the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe began and eventually gained mainstream attention in the New World around the late 1800s.

Whether its legend and lore or mistletoes unique place in the plant kingdom, it has long been a plant of human interest and meaning.

Its a wonder that even to this day, a small parasitic plant can still demand a kiss from any passerby caught in its presence during the holidays.

Ryan Pankau is a horticulture educator with the UI Extension, serving Champaign, Ford, Iroquois and Vermilion counties. This column also appears on his Garden Scoop blog at go.illinois.edu/GardenScoopBlog.

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In the Garden | A species native to southern Illinois is a staple in many holiday traditions - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Research published inHuman Reproductionanalysed almost 1 million US pregnancies from 2009 to 2016. The findings of the study revealed that the more medical conditions men had, the higher the risk of the mother losing the baby.

"It's been known for some time that the health of mothers has an impact on the developing foetus and events at the time of birth. This is the first study to suggest that pregnancies sired by men with increasing numbers of medical conditions are at higher risk of ending in miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or stillbirth, Professor Michael Eisenberg, who led the research, said in apress release.

In the group of men we studied, the risk of losing the pregnancy was 17% in couples where the father had no components of the metabolic syndrome but increased to 21% in couples where the father has one metabolic syndrome component, 23% where he has two, and 27% where he has three or more, said Eisenberg.

According to the research, the mechanism of how the father's health might affect the risk of pregnancy loss is not known but there is a link in the length of the pregnancy term and the fathers lifestyle choices.

"We hypothesise that the father's health and lifestyle could adversely affect the genetic make-up and expression in the sperm, and that this may alter how well the placenta functions," Eisenberg explained.

"If the placenta isn't working properly, then this could lead to the pregnancy losses that we observed. For instance, we know already that paternal smoking and diet can affect sperm quality."

The researchers are now aiming to look at integrating paternal health in future studies and hope to find the mechanism that causes fathers poor health to be associated with loss of pregnancy.

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Health of fathers-to-be linked to pregnancy loss, study finds - News24

Poop samples are an effective, non-invasive tool for monitoring gray whale reproduction, stress and other physiological responses, a new study from Oregon State University shows.

Researchers from OSUs Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory collected 158 fecal, commonly known as poop, samples from Eastern North Pacific gray whales off the coast of Oregon between 2016 and 2018 and used the samples to assess endocrine levels and establish hormone baselines for stress and reproduction in the animals.

The study is believed to be the first to use fecal samples as an endocrine assessment tool in Eastern North Pacific gray whales. Fecal samples can provide a wide range of important information about whale health in a noninvasive way, said Leigh Torres, an associate professor in OSUs Marine Mammal Institute and director of the GEMM Lab.

Understanding whale physiology is really important to evaluate how human, activities impact whales, Torres said. But it is really, really hard to study whale physiology. You cant observe most physiological responses. And you cant just ask a whale: Are you stressed out? So we have to get creative.

The findings were published this month in the journal Conservation Physiology. The papers lead author is Leila Soledade Lemos, who recently completed her doctorate in Oregon States Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and worked with Torres in the GEMM Lab. Lemos is now a postdoctoral associate at Florida International University.

Most gray whales migrate from breeding grounds in Mexico to feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi seas between Alaska and Russia, where they spend the summer. Torres and her team study a distinct population of gray whales known as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group, which spend the summer months feeding in coastal waters of Oregon, as well as northern California, Washington and southern Canada.

Torres and her research team have been observing and conducting annual health check-ups on this population since 2016. When they spot a defecating whale from a boat or via a drone, they follow in the animals wake and use nets to capture samples. The drones are also used to capture images of the whales, allowing researchers to monitor the animals body condition and behavior.

Researchers used the collected fecal samples to analyze four hormone metabolites: two reproductive hormones; a stress hormone; and thyroid, which can indicate nutrition-related stress.

With this data, the researchers were able to see how hormones fluctuated with a whales age and sex and establish baseline hormone levels for different cycles of a whales life, including during pregnancy.

This was a first step to understanding how hormones vary through a whales life cycle and in times of stress, Lemos said. It helps us establish baselines and ranges of hormone levels.

The researchers also were able to document a stressful event in a specific whale. They collected a fecal sample from a whale within 24 hours of a documented injury from a propeller or vessel strike. The fecal sample collected after the injury showed a spike in stress hormone levels, almost three times higher than this whales stress levels on previous days without the injury.

The researchers also captured a fecal sample from a mature male who was engaged in competitive reproductive behavior with another male whale. That whales testosterone level was very high and may reflect the typical hormone levels of adult breeding males. The researchers ability to connect fecal samples to specific individual whales adds important context to the data to help understand what drives hormone variation, Torres said.

Researchers have continued to collect fecal samples over the last two summers and will continue to analyze hormones as part of their broader work on whale health.

The researchers ultimate goal is to understand how variations in human-generated ocean noise impacts whale health, Torres said. Analysis of fecal samples is emerging as an important new tool for understanding how different stressors impact whale physiology. They also hope to use the endocrine information to better understand the role of nutrition and changes in diet on overall whale health.

Our ability to link hormone variation to an individuals condition is really a significant advance for the study of whale physiology, Torres said. All of our future work on impacts of disturbance events will build on this foundation. Its super exciting to be able to use these tools to think about whale life in a holistic way.

The research was supported in part by NOAAs National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology Ocean Acoustics Program; Oregon Sea Grant; and the OSU Marine Mammal Institute. Lemos received funding from Brazils Science Without Borders Program and its National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Additional co-authors include Todd Chandler of Oregon State; Kathleen Hunt of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation; and Amy Olsen, Angela Smith and Shawn Larson of the Seattle Aquarium.

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Hormone metabolites found in poop give researchers new insight into whale stress - The News Guard

Michelle Bachelet, United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights, has appointed a Special ... [+] Rapporteur to look into human rights abuses linked to shipping and exposure to toxins

The U.N.s Human Rights Agency (UNOHCR) has begun an investigation into human rights abuses associated with the global shipping industry and exposure to toxic chemicals without prior consent.

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It has appointed a Special Rapporteur to look into these issues and report back.

Earlier this week, a special investigation in Forbes revealed a growing scandal behind this years hasty introduction of a highly hazardous and experimental type of oil in ships.

The ship fuel is called Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil or VLSFO. It contains a wide variety of undefined toxic chemicals, is now in 70% of all ships, and is likely to be an important focus for the inquiry. This fuel - which NGOs have referred to as a super-pollutant Frankenstein Fuel - is already suspected as a leading root cause of many shipping disasters around the world, putting the lives of sailors and coastal communities at risk, due to the use of unknown and highly volatile chemicals.

Senior Officials at the IMO were interviewed in December by the Special Rapporteur

The lead investigator for the UN Human Rights Agency has already begun interviewing officials at the global shipping regulator, the International Maritime Organization. The inquiry will continue collecting evidence through to 31 January 2021.

The investigation will cover both the human rights implications for seafarers on vessels who would have been exposed to the effects of toxic chemicals, as well as to those impacted by oil spills, such as islanders in Mauritius this year and Solomon Islands last year.

Thousands of Mauritians have been exposed to the effects of a harmful experimental ship fuel since ... [+] August, without any transparency on the chemicals contained within it.

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The U.N. has called the exposure of people to harmful substances without their prior informed consent a Human Rights abuse. It has also said that it is a human rights issue for which solutions exist. The question the Special Rapporteur will focus on is why known solutions had not been applied in the shipping industry.

The U.N. has been looking at Human Rights abuses linked to hazardous substances since a formal mandate was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council 25 years ago in 1995. On 6 October 2020, the U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution to look deeper into several issues associated with exposure to harmful substances without prior consent.

UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr. Marcos Orellana

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The Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights is Dr. Marcos Orellanawho was appointed earlier this year by the UN Human Rights body.

Orellana teaches Environmental Law at George Washington University School of Law in the United States, and had been involved in several high profile environmental justice cases. These have covered international human rights law and the environment including presenting at the U.N. Human Rights Council, International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, and in participating in international negotiations on Climate Change. He was worked extensively with Governments and NGOs around the world.

Michelle Bachelet addressing the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City ... [+] in 2017.

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The Head of the UN Human Rights Commission - former two term President of Chile Michelle Bachelet - has been a strong advocate for protecting Human Rights of what she describes as the planets Environmental Defenders.

In 2019, Bachelet brought up these human rights issues against environmentalists at the U.N. Human Rights Council, specifically highlighting the verbal attacks against the then 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg.

9 Oct 2020: Verbal attacks against Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg were highlighted by the ... [+] U.N. Human Rights head at the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2019.

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In August last year, the UN Humans Right Office signed a formal agreement with the UNs Environment Protection Program (UNEP) to strengthen human rights and the planet.

At the time, UN Human Rights Chief, Michelle Bachelet said, Our planet is being recklessly destroyed, and we urgently need stronger global partnerships to take action to save it. We call on leaders and governments to recognize that climate change and environmental degradation severely undermine the human rights of their people, particularly those in vulnerable situations including the generations of tomorrow.

Environmental protestors have been subject to a massive human rights crack down in Mauritius since ... [+] the large oil spill protests in August and September

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We encourage every State to develop and enforce national legal frameworks which uphold the clear linkages between a healthy environment and the ability to enjoy all other human rights, including the rights to health, water, food and even the right to life, she added. We also strongly encourage greater recognition that the actions and advocacy of environmental human rights defenders are deeply beneficial to all societies. They must be better protected against the threat of violence and intimidation.

Reports suggest that more than four environmental defenders were killed across the world every week in 2019. This rate has doubled in the last 15 years. The latest death toll highlights the ongoing dangers facing those who are defending their environmental and human rights.

The giant Japanese bulk carrier, the Wakashio, spilled an undisclosed amount of oil along the coast ... [+] of Mauritius in August, having run aground in July in as yet unexplained circumstances.

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This is the first time the global shipping industry has been subject to such a wide ranging Human Rights inquiry over exposure to toxins without consent.

The inquiry will also look into many of the root causes for how the industry has allowed such a situation to develop in shipping, such as poorly drafted laws, little oversight and monitoring of these laws, deliberately weak enforcement, pressure on poorer nations and communities to be responsible for cleaning up the risks caused by large shipping firms.

There has been a growing spate of maritime incidents that many local communities around the world have been calling for justice on. These include communities in Trinidad, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, around the coast of the Red Sea, Mauritius and Lebanon just this year alone.

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There are three themes that are likely to be particularly important for the investigation into shipping, human rights and toxins.

The Special Rapporteur has highlighted that he will look at both toxins spilled from ships, as well as air pollution released from ships that are adding to the climate crisis.

Indigenous communities in the Arctic are having their human rights impacted by toxic emissions from ... [+] ship fuels. Seen here Inuit Fishing in Canada.

Indigenous communities in the Arctic are having their human rights impacted by toxic emissions from ... [+] ship fuels. Seen here Inuit Fishing in Canada.

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Climate crisis: Indigenous communities in Arctic nations, and coastal communities on low lying island nations are particularly impacted by melting ice caps, rising sea levels and more acidifying oceans impacting coral reef protection. This year, the global shipping industry not only decided to break with Paris Climate Agreement pledges, but the Secretary General of the IMO actively tried to undermine the EUs own carbon emission regulations for shipping. This is in addition to the U.K. Parliament already calling the IMO no longer fit for purpose, for its stance on climate issues. Global shipping has been particularly criticized for using toxic chemicals in ship fuels across the Arctic that could accelerate climate change.

The Wakashio had a risky ship design that meant it was more prone to break if it grounded on a reef. ... [+] As ships have become larger, they carry more oil and have a higher risk of structural failure.

Toxins in ship oil (especially the VLSFO Frankenstein Fuel): The Special Rapporteur will also be looking at the risk of oil pollution, which has been increasing as ships have become larger, and yet ship designs and protection have not kept pace, a sign of major regulatory failure. The fuel now used by 70% of ships, called VLSFO and which was introduced this year, is likely to be a major focus for the Special Rapporteur.

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A controversial blend of chemicals, called VLSFO, is now the fuel for 70% of global shipping, ... [+] without having any independent regulatory oversight

Tens of thousands in Mauritius were exposed to VLSFO in the summer, and the shipping companies responsible have not provided a full chemical analysis breakdown of the toxins that the population was exposed to, including what the health risks are. This represents a major human rights abuse, as many in South East Mauritius who were exposed have been reporting serious health conditions (e.g., skin infections, breathing difficulties and mental illness), that have not been taken seriously by the companies responsible for bringing the pollution to Mauritius. Other communities impacted by ship fuel spills like Solomon Islands last year have seen similar experiences.

There are clear gender impacts from the oil spill, that the international consultants in Mauritius ... [+] ignored or dismissed.

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Gender impact of oil spills: Oil spills have a disproportionate impact on women. The chemicals have a much more significant on female reproductive organs and health, affecting the health of unborn children. Many women faced greater social and financial pressures following the oil spill as they had been employed in the informal sector (e.g., supporting husbands in the fishing business or making tourist products to be sold on informal beach stands), and so were not eligible for any compensation from funds allocated to the response. The gender dimension was completely dismissed by the companies and countries responding to the oil spill disaster in Mauritius, where in over 100 international consultants, not one was female. This created additional conflict in a country like Mauritius, where it was actually many of the female leaders who had led the response to the oil spill and the fight for environmental and social justice.

Sep 2020: the clean up operation was conducted in a highly secretive manner with no independent ... [+] scientific oversight. Media statements were not accompanied by allowing scientists to understand and verify the methods used.

Human rights abuses in the response to the oil spill: In what is likely to be a damning assessment of the corporate response to the oil spill in Mauritius, the Special Rapporteurs scope includes evaluating potential human rights abuses in how the oil spill was responded to. In Mauritius, the response by companies responsible saw a massive disruption of the social cohesion of Mauritius. The grassroots led movement that built the artisanal oil protection booms were sidelined by over 100 unaccountable international consultants who never once held a joint press conference to explain what was going on nor allowed any independent oversight of the cleanup techniques they were deploying.

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The IMO (seen on right) only met with Government of Mauritius representatives such as the Prime ... [+] Minister (seen left), and ignored calls by the opposition and independent scientists, despite Mauritius being in the middle of an electoral review.

Instead, these companies engaged in secretive talks with a Government who was already under pressure following a disputed election that is still undergoing a Law Court review. As a result, Mauritius experienced a massive clamp down on human rights, specifically targeted at Environmental Youth Activists, Journalists and community organizers. The reported abuses included strong-armed use of the police and judicial system, suspension of parliament as well as targeted digital interventions on platforms like Facebook, Google GOOG , YouTube and Whatsapp in the months following the Wakashio oil spill. The inquiry is also likely to look closely into how the lawyers of the captain of the Wakashio was controversially dismissed and replaced by lawyers engaged by the shipowner and insurer, a human rights abuse practice seen often in the shipping industry.

The U.N. will also look at the working conditions on ships. The introduction of VLSFO has made working conditions much harder for seafarers around the world (especially given COVID-19), impacting their human rights.

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It has had three effects on the human rights of seafarers.

Were crews of ships explained the health risks of the new type of VLSFO ship fuel, and were they ... [+] given options to work elsewhere if they did not wish to be exposed to the unknown, harmful chemicals?

Unknown chemical impacts of VLSFO on seafarers: First, there is the question whether seafarers were made aware of the chemical contents they were being exposed to with VLSFO, and the potential toxic effects? Many seafarers would have needed to be in direct contact with these chemicals in the engine rooms, and may be experiencing the side effects of exposure (breathing and by touch) of these chemicals.

VLSFO ship fuel has increased the risk of fire and major engine failure on board. Seen here the MT ... [+] New Diamond oil supertanker that caught fire in September 2020 with the loss of life of one crew. Was VLSFO a cause of the explosion?

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Increasing workload without additional support: Second, the engine issues caused by VLSFO has made working conditions much harder on board vessels. Workload would have increased as a series of mechanical and engine failure on ships put more pressure on crews. It is unclear that this additional workload has been discussed openly with labor unions and workers. Had crew sizes been amended appropriately to take into account this additional workload (which may have required 1 or 2 additional crew on board a 20-person vessel just to handle the complications caused by VLSFO fuel). This would have placed much more significant pressures on ship crews forced to stay in cramped conditions for over a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. It would also look at shipowners practice of attempting to blame human error for most shipping incidents, rather than address the underlying systemic risks caused by how poorly the industry is regulated. This was made more complicated this year with COVID-19 restrictions on crew changes, creating a humanitarian crisis on the seas.

Discarding toxic waste overboard: Third, questions are likely to be asked about how ship crews, captains and owners of vessels were handling these toxins. VLSFO has been shown to create excessive toxic sludge than previous types of ship fuel. Shipowners like Carnival Cruises CCL.U were fined $40 million for dumping excess sludge overboard using hose pipes attached to the engine (the famous magic pipes incidents), when a whistleblower exposed this practice. Why is there not more effective monitoring in place on vessels around the world? Are there human rights abuses against crews who are then forced to dump these chemicals overboard or face even stronger penalties from shipowners on shore? Just as police cameras have become accepted tools to ensure compliance by law officers, why isnt the equivalent being applied to vessels around the world with ships? This includes cameras, that artificial intelligence can use detect pollution violations, as well as sensors, where severe fines would be imposed for any tampering with these sensors. Countries like Venezuela have experienced ships dumping oil around its coasts, and there are reports all around the world of this taking place, without sufficient oversight.

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At the heart of the Human Rights inquiry has to be the regulation of the industry. The real question is whether the IMO the most effective body through which the regulate global shipping? Many are starting to call for more effective regional governance models, similar to how global fisheries are governed.

The Wakashio epitomizes all that is wrong with the global shipping industry, linked to how insurance, inspections, and management oversight works in shipping.

For example, some of the key questions that the Wakashio reveals are:

The sinking of the Wakashio on 24 August in calm weather was highly controversial and the IMO have ... [+] refused to answer questions about their role in this decision or what they knew about it

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The shipping industry has created a governance system under the IMO that means laws are ... [+] ineffectively drafted, monitored and implemented. Would a move to regional shipping organizations be more effective?

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Local communities who are most impacted by toxins carried by ships, do not have any official say in ... [+] how IMO policies are drafted and voted upon

The large grassroots, boom making effort was the birth of a large social movement in Mauritius that ... [+] was crushed by large corporate interests that conducted a more secretive clean up operation, undermining local community rights

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Secretary General of the IMO, Kitack Lim, has remained tight lipped about the IMO's involvement with ... [+] the Wakashio oil spill, the first involving VLSFO

The Special Rapporteur appears to be particularly focused on abuses linked to how global shipping is regulated by the IMO.

Several key international marine anti-pollution conventions were specifically highlighted, such as Maritime Pollution MARPOL Laws, Safety of Life at Sea SOLAS laws, Hong Kong Ship Disposal Convention, the Anti-Fouling Convention, Ballast Water Conventions, Civil Liability and Fund Conventions for Oil Pollution, the Dumping Convention.

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The nature of a major VLSFO spill and the deliberate scuttling of the front section of the Wakashio would fall into this category, and epitomizes why major change is needed in the industry.

Global shipping needs to be urgently restructured to avoid more environmental and human rights ... [+] catastrophes occurring. Seen here, the Golden Ray cargo ship lies on its side in Georgia, USA as salvors remove it section by section.

Another key question that the Special Rapporteur may need to grapple with is the scope of how the shipping industry is defined.

Part of the risk lies with the IMO and ship operating companies. However, the reason why much of the Human Rights abuses linked to toxin exposure continues to exist, is also due to how shipping insurance, ship owners and financing companies, salvage companies, the inspection regime (called Classification Societies) and Flags of Convenience ship registration jurisdictions like Panama, have been allowed to operate.

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8 Aug: local photographer Daphney Dupre captures how exposed local fishermen became to the oil while ... [+] trying to protect their coral lagoon that they depend on for their livlihood

Only by interviewing all participants in the shipping industry value chain, will the Special Rapporteur build a picture for how the industry came to end up where it did by the end of 2020 - the worlds most dangerous and unregulated industry in the world.

The Wakashio disaster was a needless tragedy for the local community and the environment of Mauritius. However, the ongoing response by the industry to not address root cause issues within shipping is what allows the industry to continue lurching from one catastrophe to the next.

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With other U.N. bodies now taking a closer interest in the events of last summer, it is hoped that more systematic risks in the shipping industry can finally be addressed.

Read more:
UN Opens Human Rights Investigation Into Global Shipping Over Use Of Toxic Fuels - Forbes